INTUITION AND DECISION-MAKING: EXPLORING THE PSYCHOLOGY BEHIND GUT FEELINGS

Abstract

Background. Often people will say that they make a decision based on a “gut feeling,” which is a quick feeling that goes without conscious thought. This is the object of study with respect to psychology, known as intuition, and has grown to be a primary focus of the science of judgment and decision making. Objective. This article will review the nature of intuition in human decision making, its times when it can be trusted, and when it is not. Methodology. Study design: Narrative, literature review. It combines key theoretical and empirical research from two domains—cognitive psychology and decision science—with research from neuroscience. There were no primary data were collected. Major findings. The evidence suggests that there are two processes: fast and automatic intuition (System 1) and slow and effortful analysis (System 2) (Kahneman, 2011). Intuition is not a monolithic phenomenon but can be understood in a number of ways: as a process of pattern recognition acquired through experience (Klein, 1998); as a fast and frugal understanding of very complex problems in an uncertain environment (Gigerenzer & Gaissmaier, 2011); as a mental shortcut which can give systematic errors (Tversky & Kahneman, 1974); and as a kind of decision making using emotional and bodily information (Damasio, 1994; Bechara et al., 1997). One of the major findings is that intuition is reliable in "learnable" contexts, such as those that are regular, and where a person has an abundance of feedback from experience (Kahneman & Klein, 2009). Conclusion. Feelings are not to be dismissed as wrong or irrational, but rather a valuable cognitive resource that is suited to certain contexts, and not others. The best decision-making is through intuition and analysis, not a competition between