Cognitive and social factors influencing clinical judgment in psychiatric practice

Abstract

M. Gladwell, in his popular book Blink: The Power of Thinking Without Thinking, stated that the “important task of this book is to convince you that our snap judgments and first impressions can be educated and controlled… Just as we can teach ourselves to think logically and deliberately, we can also teach ourselves to make better snap judgments” 1, p. 15). To help determine if psychiatrists should make snap judgments and rely on first impressions, one can turn to research on cognitive and social factors that influence clinical judgment 2.