The Science Of Intuition: Why You Can Trust Your Gut Feelings More Than You Think
Intuition - having a 'gut feeling' about a certain decision, but not actually knowing why.
Some people swear by their intuition, others say that it's a total myth - but what's really the cause for these decisions we make without logical analysis?
Our brain is processing information in 2 different ways - slow and fast thinking.
For example: when trying to figure out a mathematical problem, we need slow thinking to analyze the task and think of a way to solve it. This process is controlled by the left half of our brain and is very analytical and makes conscious decisions.
But fast thinking is something we do when we see someone else's expression, or look at a picture: we can immediately analyze the situation and know how the other person is feeling.
This is an immediate response by our brain - and is linked to intuition. It's an instinctual and fast decision, and often has some subconscious aspects to it as well, and is controlled by the right side of our brain,.
Let's look at an example:
A japanese study tested their subjects by having them solve the board game "Shogi" within one second. (The subjects were very familiar with the game).
Of course, one second is not enough time to actually think about the decision and analyze the situation!
So during that one second, the scientists monitored their brains:
Instead of the part of the brain that deals with conscious thought, the subject's basal ganglia was being activated - an area of our brain that's linked to automatic behaviour and habits.
So instead of trying to solve the game logically, the subjects relied on their experience in the game and on their intuition, and just did whatever move felt right to them.
Now the question whether or not you should trust your intuition depends on the decision -
When we're facing a big decision like buying a car, we often tend to write pro and cons lists and analyze the situation logically.
Which car offers the most quality? Which uses the least gas? And is it worth the price?
Surprisingly, tests have shown that intuitive decisions about something big were often better than trying to analyze everything.
People that have thought about which car to buy for a very long time were only happy with their choice 25% of the time later on.
But from the people that made the decision intuitively, 60% were happy with their decision in the long run.
Instead, when making small choices like shopping for groceries, researchers suggest that it's better to follow the logical approach and stick to your researched plan.
A very interesting study has also shown that sometimes, our unconscious mind understands something before our conscious does - which creates the feeling of following a mere intuition or gut feeling for us.
Tests subjects were presented with 4 decks of cards - A, B, C and D. Their task was to take the cards from the decks and reveal them.
What they didn't know is that decks A&B contained more negative cards, while C and D had positive ones.
After revealing 10 cards, the participants had no clue that there was a system behind the decks and the positive and negative cards.
When they had chosen 50 cards, they'd suspected some kind of pattern, but couldn't figure it out quite yet.
Only after 80 cards, they had found out by themselves that decks A & B contained negative cards, while C and D contained positive ones.
And now the interesting part:
During the study, the subject's skin conductance levels were being measured.
After only 10 cards, those levels were rising whenever the subjects was reaching towards decks A & B, and the sweat glands were opening ever so slightly.
The skin was already giving off signals about the right and wrong choices before the conscious mind had understood the pattern.
Well, the skin obviously didn't know which deck contained which cards - but the unconscious parts of the subject's brains had already realized the pattern long before their conscious mind could realize it.
Take a look at this video, which explains the studies I have mentioned again in great detail:
While Intuition is still being researched, it's safe to say that our unconscious mind is often faster at understanding a situation, which makes us think we have a 'gut feeling' about something being right or wrong.
Of course it's not always the right decision to rely on your instincts, but sometimes, it can help guide you in the right direction and you may be happier with your final decision in the end.
Images: 1, 2, 3, 4, Sources: 1, 2
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What a brilliant article and to me so true. That gut feel tells you all you really need to know and 99% you are proven right. I dont know what you do for a living but I have been a sales manager in food all my life and when interviewing always went with face to face interviews and gut feel on the person. Laterly HR dismissed ourselves from doing the interviews and did ond day assessments including numerical and verbal reasoning and appointed people to work for me. Out of the three candidates that they employed none lasted longer than their probation
very interesting, thanks for sharing!
Great to hear that your intuition has led you, and that you could always trust it.
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Very good Post .. Very intuitive and creative! Followed and upvoted!
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That is a pretty useful rule - worry over the details, let the big picture flow. The more factors the better is the intuition at assessing them... So it makes total sense.
and also it saves you a lot of time over-analyzing and worrying about the situation! Just go with what feels right
I like the idea a lot. If you couldn't possibly encompass enough information to make an informed decision, you can't leave it up to the analytical left brain, especially if it is an opportunity that will pass you by.
I always believe my Intution. Nice and Informative post! Followed and upvoted!
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that experiment with the Cards is crazy.
what an interesting topic! upvoted (Y)
thank you!
I'd choose a rational decision over a gut feeling.. Just because I think I'd be less likely to regret it later, when I know my decision was backed by facts?!
Every time?
I am quite a logical person too, but sometimes it is the most logical choice to hear for your guts.
How do you feel, Mr. Spock?
Also consider Decision Fatigue. The more you decide, the more exhausted you get and the worse your future decisions get (until you have a good sleep).
Do you really THINK every time before changing gear or switch on the turn signal when you drive?
No, not every time.. but I guess I'm just not a very intuitive person. I rarely get a strong gut feeling.
I actually didn't know about Decision Fatigue, sounds very interesting, thanks for the suggestion!
You can train your gut like any other muscle ;)
Try meditation. That is all about feeling yourself after all.
Also feeling your gut can help you with eating problems of different sorts, like eating too much. You can learn to differentiate between hunger and appetite and also learn when you had enough.
the fact with the cars was most surprising for me.
you'd think that it should be the other way around, and that important decisions should be made logically and analytically, but I guess that method isn't always the best!!
I thought the same thing - it's exactly the other way around.
of course this is only a statistic, but still, it's quite surprising.
The gut feeling is an automatic response based on the experiences we already have. To take the Shogi example (okay, I know it form Go, which has way more possibilities), a beginner might need to think half a minute about a often played) position, while the experienced players just places his stone, knowing (either by study or playing) where the best response is.
In Go, while there are often several good positions to play on, there is only one position that can be said as be the best. However there are always a lot bad moves.
With time players get a feeling for those moves, they "see" where they dont need to think about the placement (and indeed, scans have shown the part of the brain responsible for seeing is involved in the decision making) and where are possible good ones.
But of course the experience the gut feeling is based on may be totally wrong in this case or just not usable. That is the time where you should definitely use the other half of the brain more ;)
Yes, I read about a similar experience with chess as well!
Intuition is very often based on experience and patterns we've analyzed like I also mentioned above.
But in some examples like the card experiment, it had more to do with our subconscious "realizing" something quicker than our conscious mind actually does.
Thank you for your input, and you're right, there's no standard rule as to listening to your gut or your brain. it totally depends on the situation!