Summary

Pro tennis coach Vic Braden found he was able to accurately predict when a tennis player was about to double-fault on his or her serve. He was thin-slicing the serves of the tennis pros but couldn’t really explain his accuracy. His ability resided in his subconscious and he relied on it to make quick, snap-judgments about the serves. Those who allow their subconscious to take the lead experience physical reactions including mental rushes and even nausea.

Snap decisions take place behind locked doors in our subconscious. Braden tried to look inside that room to learn how he was able to predict double-faults with such accuracy but he was unable to. Instead of trying to figure out the ability to make snap judgments, it should just be appreciated and respected.

Psychologist John Bargh developed an experiment that used words related...