notes
The stranger across the table is not as knowable as you assume—and that assumption can be deadly. Gladwell weaves together stories of spies, police brutality, suicide, and social psychology to reveal a haunting truth: our instincts for reading people often fail us, especially when it matters most. Here’s what stuck with me: 1. We default to truth—even when we shouldn’t Humans are hardwired to believe what others say until given overwhelming evidence not to. This “truth-default theory” makes society function, but it also makes us vulnerable to deception. 2. We are terrible at reading strangers We assume we can read faces, gestures, and tones accurately—but cultural and individual differences often make our snap judgments dangerously wrong. 3. Transparency is a myth We expect people’s emotions to match their expressions. But many people mask, miscommunicate, or express emotions differently. The face does not always reveal the truth. 4. Context matters more than we think We often ignore s...
