Intuition is a form of knowledge that appears in consciousness without obvious deliberation. It is not magical but a faculty in the unconscious mind; it rapidly sifts through experience and cumulative knowledge to generate hunches.
Often called “gut feelings,” intuition tends to arise holistically and quickly, without awareness of the underlying mental information processing. Scientists repeatedly demonstrate that information can register in the brain without conscious awareness and positively influence decision-making and other behavior.
Where Intuition Comes From
Psychologists believe intuition relies on pattern-matching, as the mind combs experience stored in long-term memory for similar situations and presents in-the-moment judgments based on them. The automatic information processing that underlies intuition is the everyday phenomenon known as "highway hypnosis.” This occurs when a driver drives for miles without conscious thought.
Intuition is a “gut feeling.” They seem to arise fully formed from some deep part of us. In fact, they are the brain's processing product, automatically comparing swiftly perceived elements of current experience with past experience and knowledge, and they are brought to awareness with considerable emotional certainty.
Intuition, like first impressions, serves the brain’s need to predict and prepare for what will happen next. First impressions are rapid, holistic assessments of people based on subtle perceptual cues and judgment of intent to help or harm. Both rely on automatic processes and, as rapid evaluation systems, they are subject to error, especially from biases we hold.
Because human survival depends on avoiding danger, our mental apparatus is wired to be especially sensitive to signs of danger and to register them before we can recognize and act on them. This knowledge is a product of the brain’s built-in negativity bias and can feel intuitive. However, it is not always accurate, as the early warning system errs on the side of false alarms.
When to Trust Your Gut
Our gut feelings are often correct, but we tend to attach a certainty to them that they do not always merit. They tend to be more accurate in some domains of experience than others, such as in forming first impressions. Intuition is also often valuable in detecting deception and other forms of danger, and in detecting sexual orientation.
Gut feelings do have their value in complex decision-making. Studies of top executives show that even after analyzing mounds of data, the information doesn't tell them what to do; this is when intuition can guide them. People typically cite rational-seeming criteria for their actions and do not disclose the subjective preferences or feelings that arise spontaneously.
Experts find that intuition, no matter how right it feels, is more reliable in some areas than others. For example, it can help you generate new ideas or figures of speech, but don’t count on it to comprehend vocabulary, where reflective thinking may fit the task better, or to judge job candidates. Many situations can utilize a combination of intentional reflective deliberation and automatic intuition.
Intuition is a thinking style, and people differ in how much they rely on intentional reflection and automatic knowledge. People also differ in a specific facet of intuitive ability: implicit learning, or the capacity for taking in complex information without being aware of having learned it. Some people also have more experience and expertise stored in their memory database against which current perceptions can be matched.
Learning relies on memory input and retrieval, and although memory operates outside conscious awareness, we need deliberate effort to acquire information for memory storage. Intuition is not a good guide to how well you are learning something. Intuition suggests that long stretches of studying or practice are best for learning, when evidence indicates that studying in shorter chunks is more effective.
It is possible to hone your powers of intuition. To some degree, intuition stems from expertise, which relies on tacit knowledge. Strengthening intuition requires using feedback and comparing real-life outcomes of situations with the intuitive decisions you made. Even so, being highly intuitive in one domain of experience doesn’t guarantee reliability in every area.
