Even the most hardened rationalists rely on their inner voice in some matters. But can you trust your intuition to make difficult decisions? Psychologists are sure: you should not always rely on the sixth sense. And that’s why.
For decades, psychologists and philosophers have viewed human decision making as purely rational. Then all of a sudden scientists said: “The more complex the problem, the stronger the intuition.” With the predicate “scientifically proven!”. Since then, the media has widely circulated the call: “Listen to your intuition.” But supporters of the rational approach bring new arguments. So what is the correct opinion?
Scientists believe that it is wrong to divide into black and white. “Today we know that it depends on specific situations which way of thinking is more successful,” says Henning Plessner, a psychologist at the University of Leipzig. He questioned the theory of unconscious thinking proposed by the Dutch psychologist Up Dexterhaus.
According to the theory of unconscious thinking, people can perform complex mental tasks without the participation of consciousness. Conscious thinking is effective only when there are few variables in the problem. In more important questions, according to the author, the answer itself arises from the bowels of the subconscious. Therefore, an intuitively thinking person has an advantage, the creator of the theory believes.
But lately, more and more criticism has been heard against him.
The unconscious has no advantage
Ben Newell, a psychologist at the University of New South Wales in Sydney, found no evidence in 2008 for unconscious thinking. In contrast, volunteers who let their intuition take the lead suffered the most from unaccounted for information.
The findings of psychologists Todd Thorsteinson of the University of Idaho and Scott Wyrow of Bowling Green State University are even more categorical. In 2009, they tried to replicate the results of Dexterhouse’s experiment – sometimes even on the same material. They didn’t succeed.
Thinking too long impairs the decision-making process
It is not always possible to quickly perceive important and comprehensive information. In his experiments, Newell noticed that those who have all the information in front of their eyes often make better choices than those who make unconscious decisions.
“The Dexterhaus experiments are fundamental research,” explains social psychologist Plessner. “And his findings cannot easily be applied to everyday life, no matter how convincingly the media write about it.”
The advantage of intuition may lie in another way: too much thinking worsens the decision-making process.
Sixth sense or experience?
If someone tries to study the results of research more closely, to compare the conscious and unconscious decision-making processes, then he will quickly be convinced of the power of intuition. In everyday life, we call it the sixth sense.
Henning Plessner explains that such seemingly magical insights are actually nothing more than the result of many years of experience and knowledge. We just process a lot of information very quickly at the same time.
According to psychologists Daniel Kahneman of Princeton University and Gary Klein of Applied Research Associates, two factors determine the success of professional intuition. First, the professional environment must be stable and provide reliable management of the situation. Secondly, we need quick feedback on the fallacy of intuitive decisions.
Supposed inspiration, Kahneman and Klein argue, is a form of insight in which we recognize patterns we have learned, but often cannot tell which information we used. It’s time to “demystify” this definition – an intuitive feeling, two researchers write.
About the benefits of feedback
“In a recent research project, we ran simulations where we gave feedback to referees,” says Plessner, who has studied intuition in sports refereeing. Its participants watched video replays of possible mistakes on the Internet and immediately after that sent an assessment. The researchers varied the parameters – for example, decreased or increased the time interval, the form of feedback to the subject.
For Plessner and his colleagues, the results supported the thesis that immediate feedback improved judges’ performance.
Beyond expert knowledge and years of experience, there is only one scenario in which professional intuition leads to success. “If the relevant information is well prepared and presented, for example, it is graphically attractive,” explains Andreas Glöckner, a researcher from Bonn. “Then even people who don’t have expert knowledge in a certain area can make the right intuitive decisions.”
Source: spektrum.de