As seen in Malcolm Gladwell’s Blink—the modern, groundbreaking classic on effective decision making.
How people really make decisions: by drawing on prior experience and using a combination of intuition and analysis.
We have all seen images of firefighters rescuing people from burning buildings and paramedics treating bombing victims. How do these individuals make the split-second decisions that save lives? Most studies of decision making, based on artificial tasks assigned in laboratory settings, view people as biased and unskilled. In this modern classic, Gary A. Klein proposes a naturalistic approach to decision making, which views people as gaining experience that then enables them to use a combination of intuition and analysis to make decisions. To illustrate this approach, Klein tells stories of people—from pilots to chess masters—acting under such real-life constraints as time pressure, high stakes, personal responsibility, and shifting conditions.
Since its publication, Sources of Power has been enormously influential. The book has sold more than 50,000 copies, has been translated into six languages, has been cited in professional journals that range from Journal of Marketing Research to Journal of Nursing, and is mentioned by Malcolm Gladwell in Blink. Author Gary Klein has collaborated with Nobel laureate Daniel Kahneman and served on a team that redesigned the White House Situation Room to support more effective decision making. The model of decision-making Klein proposes in the book has been adopted in many fields, including law enforcement training and petrochemical plant operation.
ISBN-13: 9780262534291
Media Type: Paperback
Publisher: MIT Press
Publication Date: 09-15-2017
Pages: 354
Product Dimensions: 5.60(w) x 8.60(h) x 0.80(d)
Age Range: 18 Years
Series: Mit Press
Gary Klein is Senior Scientist at MacroCognition LLC. He is the author of The Power of Intuition, Seeing What Others Don't, Working Minds: A Practitioner's Guide to Cognitive Task Analysis (with Beth Crandall and Robert R. Hoffman), and Streetlights and Shadows: Searching for the Keys to Adaptive Decision Making, the last two published by the MIT Press.
What People are Saying About This
Cass R. Sunstein
Klein is one of our era's very few most important thinkers on decision making, and this brilliant book is a classic. Ever wonder how people solve fiendishly hard problems in an instant, or how you can do that, too? Look no further; this book offers answers.
Endorsement
Klein is one of our era's very few most important thinkers on decision making, and this brilliant book is a classic. Ever wonder how people solve fiendishly hard problems in an instant, or how you can do that, too? Look no further; this book offers answers.
—Cass R. Sunstein, Founder and Director, Program on Behavioral Economics and Public Policy, Harvard University
From the Publisher
Sources of Power opened my eyes to an entirely new way of looking at the world. It is as relevant now as it was twenty years ago.
—Malcolm Gladwell
Klein is one of our era's very few most important thinkers on decision making, and this brilliant book is a classic. Ever wonder how people solve fiendishly hard problems in an instant, or how you can do that, too? Look no further; this book offers answers.
—Cass R. Sunstein, Founder and Director, Program on Behavioral Economics and Public Policy, Harvard University
Malcolm Gladwell
Sources of Power opened my eyes to an entirely new way of looking at the world. It is as relevant now as it was twenty years ago.
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Table of Contents
EXamples
Figures
Tables
Acknowledgments
1 Chronicling the Strengths Used in Making Difficult
Decisions
Features of Naturalistic DecisionMaking Settings
2 Learning from the Firefighters
Recovering from a Research Plan
Figuring Out How to Do the Project
3 The RecognitionPrimed Decision Model
Listening to the Data
Comparing the Categories
Defining the RecognitionPrimed Decision Model
The Theoretical Importance of the RPD Model
Applications
Key Points
4 The Power of Intuition
The Infected Babies
Some of the Costs of Field Research
Applications
5 The Power of Mental Simulation
The Polish Economy
Models of Mental Simulation
How Mental Simulations Can Fail
Applications
Key Points
6 The Vincennes Shootdown
Chronology of the Vincennes Shootdown
Prior Events
7 Mental Simulation and Decision Making
Mental Simulation and the RPD Model
Testing the RPD Model in Different Domains
Applications
8 The Power to Spot Leverage Points
9 Nonlinear Aspects of Problem Solving
Traditional Models of Problem Solving
The Apollo 13 Mission: A Case Study of Problem Solving
Problem Solving and Decision Making
Applications
Key Points
10 The Power to See the Invisible
Patterns
Anomalies
The Big Picture: Situation Awareness
The Way Things Work
Opportunities and Improvisations
The Past and the Future
Fine Discriminations
Managing Our Own Limitations
EXpertise and Decision Making
Applications
Key Points
11 The Power of Stories
Features of Good Stories
Using Stories to Make Sense of Events
Applications
Key Points
12 The Power of Metaphorsand Analogues
The Logic of Metaphorical Reasoning
The Logic of Analogical Reasoning
Solving Problems
Applications
Key Points
13 The Power to Read Minds
Intent
Considerations in Communicating Intent
Applications
Key Points
14 The Power of the Team Mind
The Concept of Team Mind
The Functions of a Team Mind
How a Team Mind Develops
The Development of Team Decision Making
The Chaotic Nature of the Team Mind
The Team Mind as a Metaphor for Thinking
Applications
Key Points
15 The Power of Rational Analysis and the Problem of
Hyperrationality
The Role of Rational Analysis
The Nature of Rational Thinking
The Limits of Rational Thinking
The Hobgoblin
Key Points
16 Why Good People Make Poor Decisions
Are Poor Decisions Caused by Biased Thinking?
What Accounts for Errors in Natural Decision Settings?
The Effect of Stress on Decision Making
The Problem of Uncertainty
EXpertise versus Superstition
Applications
Key Points
17 Conclusions
Compiling the Assertions
Connecting the Sources of Power
Is This Science?
Final Thoughts and Final Perceptions
Notes
References
IndeX
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