Talking to Strangers by Malcolm Gladwell
February 10, 2020
First of all, when i bought this book I thought this book gonna teach me how to talk to strangers. I was wrong. This book is not about how, it is about what happens when we talk to strangers.
The book talked about Truth-default theory (TDT)
This idea suggests that people presume others to be honest because they either don't think of deception as a possibility during communicating or because there is insufficient evidence lending them unable to prove they are being deceived.
Read more at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Truth-default_theory
The theory says that we tend to assume the stranger we are talking to is honest. This is not a bad idea anyway. Imagine you suspect every stranger you talk to is a liar. The whole world will be a mess.
The first chapter of the book started with the story of innocent Sandra Bland jailed and killed herself afte a few days in the jail. The video below is the footage of Sandra Bland and the police officer.
Sandra Bland just wanted to start a new life at a new city and was stopped by a police officer. Some misunderstandings happened and she was jailed. The police officer was fired after some time. The police officer should not to be blamed 100%, because officer was trained and tasked to do so. Officers were supposed to assume that everyone could be a suspect (at that time). This is what happens when we are not default-to-truth.
I suggest you read that book. There are few more stories related to TDT such as a pedophilia in Penn State University, Amanda Knox was jailed innocently after her friend got killed, Cuban spy in DIA and more.
This is my sharing of what I just read. Please contact me if I have mistaken any content about the book.
