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Some believe that the “sixth sense” is a gift or message from a higher power. Others seek an explanation in science. Who is right? Let’s deal with psychologists what intuition really is.
Knowing exactly what the interlocutor will say, a second before he opened his mouth. An alarming feeling that something happened to a loved one on the other side of the world at that moment. An inexplicable certainty that a meeting or trip, important and long planned, must be canceled, although there is no reason for this …
Intuition has many faces, and people who have never encountered its manifestations probably do not exist. Just as there are no those who could completely “tame” their intuition, master its hidden mechanisms and use it accurately in any situation. Although modern science is sure that this is exactly what should be striven for.
Left and right hemispheres
Numerous definitions of intuition boil down to something like this: “what we cannot know, but from somewhere we still know.” And oddly enough, scientists do not see any contradiction in this. They distinguish between two types of thinking depending on the dominant hemisphere of the brain.
Left-brain thinking is responsible for analysis, building logical chains, a sequence of conclusions – it manages logic and order, which form the basis of today’s attitude to life. And the right hemisphere is responsible for associative perception, creative processes and those very intuitive insights, the mechanics of which I would like to understand.
And when an intuitive insight suddenly dawns on us, it does not come from any mystical realms at all. It is generated by the activity of the right hemisphere of the brain.
“We live in a world of an infinite number of dynamic connections between objects, between people around us and virtual images,” explains psychophysiologist Vadim Rotenberg. – In order not only to adapt to this world, but also to try to change it in accordance with your needs, it is necessary to perceive these connections in all their diversity.
In mentally healthy people, the ability to perceive the world as a whole, to capture all these connections is provided by the right hemisphere of the brain. It is here that information from all the senses first of all enters, and it is the right hemisphere that is closely connected with the limbic system, which is responsible for our emotions.
Those familiar with the latest scientific advances insist on the benefits of intuition
The easiest way to illustrate this is with an example from detective or spy films, when the hero, having barely entered the house (or even before entering it), feels anxious and realizes that someone has been here. This is a completely normal manifestation of intuition.
Dozens and hundreds of the smallest details of the eye fix immediately. But it takes minutes and even hours for the left hemisphere to analyze all the details and come to the conclusion that the rug at the door is shifted by a couple of millimeters, and the collar on the coat rack in the hallway is turned up differently. The right hemisphere perceives the picture instantly and in its entirety. And, comparing with the image stored in memory, it sends an alarm signal: something is wrong!
In the same way, the right hemisphere is able to detect connections between objects that are not described by formal left-brain logic – and yet exist. We have yet to understand the nature of these connections, but Vadim Rotenberg is sure: “thanks to the intuitive “grasping” of connections not included in the logical chains, discoveries in science occur that cannot be reached by a consistent analysis of the available facts.”
Of course, such insights do not occur in a vacuum. The famous examples of Archimedes’ bath and Newton’s apple do not in any way indicate that the great scientists made their discoveries by accident. It’s just that the right hemisphere is connected to the work of the left hemisphere “in the background” at some point. And he discovers those very extra-logical, but still existing connections. This is followed by the exclamation of “Eureka!”.
In a word, the work that requires time from the left hemisphere, and sometimes turns out to be completely impossible, can be done by the right hemisphere in a fraction of a second. Or maybe not – it depends on many factors.
Steve Jobs who foresaw the future
Many modern electronic devices have an “intuitive interface”. Thank you for this is Steve Jobs, the creator of Apple. In 1984, he came up with a computer controlled by a mouse, whose programs could be seen on the screen. Prior to this, it was required to enter long lines of codes and jump with the cursor over endless tables with program names.
The programming world felt insanely complex, which it was clearly proud of. And the defiant simplicity of Jobs’s decisions was completely out of place: his first project ended in complete failure. But Jobs was a tough and stubborn perfectionist who wasn’t afraid to rely on his intuition. And if he saw a computer with icons on the screen, he made just such a computer.
Then he saw teardrop-shaped computers, and tactile screens, and a world music store in virtual space. It didn’t make sense every time. And today we are not able to imagine that all this did not exist. “The hardest thing is doing the simple things,” said Steve Jobs. “It takes a lot of courage to follow your heart, your intuition.”
Information is not everything
The relations of the hemispheres of the brain do not differ in “reciprocity”. And if the right is able to come to the aid of the left, then the reverse, alas, is not true. Quite the opposite: once we let the left brain take over, intuition doesn’t have a chance.
In our rational society, unwilling to admit what cannot be explained, the “sixth sense” lives on as a poor relative. Try, for example, to say at a meeting that “you have a feeling” that the new development strategy is unsuccessful … To force a modern rational sane person to listen to intuition is, in fact, an impossible mission. Meanwhile, scientists and those who are familiar with the latest scientific achievements insist on the benefits of intuition.
“We think it’s best if we collect as much information as possible and spend as much time as possible thinking about it. But there are times, especially under stress, when haste is not a bad thing, when our instant judgments and first impressions can offer more effective ways to adapt to this world, writes in her book “Insight. The Power of Instant Decisions by Malcolm Gladwell. “Excessive information is not an advantage, it is enough to know very little to see the main feature of the subject.”
John Lehrer, author of the best-selling book How We Make Decisions, shares the same view: “Too much time spent making a decision is no guarantee that it will be successful.” This means that we need to carefully monitor how we make decisions, train this skill in ourselves, fix what movements of thoughts and emotions led us to conclusions that later turned out to be correct. And of course, trust your intuition more.
Experience and fresh ideas
Our intuition is more diverse than it seems: a sudden insight or years of experience, optimism or caution can prompt the right decision. Psychologist William Duggan believes that ordinary intuition is just an internal instinctive sensation. But there are other types as well.
The intuition of experience appears quickly and works exclusively in familiar situations. So a professional tennis player knows where the ball will fly from under the opponent’s racket. The more we improve in our specialty, the better we understand standard work situations and the faster we solve the same type of problems.
Strategic intuition works slowly, but in new situations when fresh ideas are needed. Illumination comes suddenly, but thanks to it, a long-tormenting problem is solved. To do this, it is necessary to recognize the novelty of the situation and turn off the intuition of experience.
Psychologist and Nobel Prize-winning economist Daniel Kahneman sees a big difference between short-term and long-term forecasts: “A firefighter’s premonition that the house is about to collapse is not arranged in the same way as the forecasts of a Middle East specialist about the prospects for the development of the region. Intuitive competence can only be developed if situations are regularly repeated and there is an opportunity to study them for a long time; it takes at least 10 hours of practice to become a specialist.”
But when we, succumbing to the voice of intuition, deceive ourselves, this can be useful, the scientist believes: “We exaggerate our chances of success, and this optimism is one of the driving forces of the economy. It is balanced by “fear of failure,” so that our life is between bold expectations and modest decisions,” Kahneman says in an interview with Philosophie magazine.
Illumination Order
“Intuitive perception is more similar to perception by the senses, which is also irrational, since it depends primarily on objective stimuli of a physical rather than mental origin,” Carl Gustav Jung wrote about the emotional nature of intuition.
“Therefore, intuition “knows” more about emotions than logic. In interpersonal emotional relationships, which are based solely on multi-valued connections, the principles of logic do not work, Vadim Rotenberg notes. “If you can analyze why you love someone, it is doubtful that you really love him.”
However, Jonah Lehrer believes that the close connection between intuition and emotions can also have a downside. He considers the phenomenon of intuition akin to emotional memory. Once in a situation of choice, we weigh the arguments on the scales of logic, and in the meantime, our emotional memory has long found analogies in previous experience. And if the past decision was successful, intuition pushes us to take action. And if not, warn against them.
For example, experienced stock players can invest, relying on intuition. But if you are buying securities for the first time, it is still better to study the financial statements of companies, and not rely on the right hemisphere.
Such a “division of labor” would be optimal, in which the left hemisphere would solve logical problems, and the right hemisphere would take over the emotional side of life. For the vast majority of us, this balance is clearly skewed to the left, Myers insists in Intuition.
But restoring harmony is not an easy task. After all, we are trying to understand the mechanisms of the right hemisphere and are looking for ways to “turn on” it as needed, guided by … all the same left hemisphere logic. Vicious circle or mystery? Rather, the case when the answer can give insight.
They heard a “hint”
And they took it seriously – even if to refuse a vacation, leave a profitable job or interrupt a trip, it seemed at first glance a very strange act. Our readers shared their stories on the site.
“I felt like I should stay”
Elena: “An amazing story happened to me. A few years ago, my husband and I had to go on vacation. On the eve of departure, when the suitcases were already packed, I suddenly realized that I must definitely stay. I felt it, as they say, in my gut, like an order: you need to stay. After long conversations and arguments, my husband left alone. And since I didn’t have much to do, I spent almost all the time with my mother. We dined, chatted, laughed, remembering my childhood, her youth … It was an easy time. And once, when I was about to leave, she did not let me go for a long time. I even thought about whether to stay the night, but I had plans for the evening … At night, my mother died. Then I remembered my feeling: that’s why I couldn’t leave.”
“I have the strength to make an important decision”
Tatyana: “For eight years I worked in an office holding on to a good salary. It was boring, but I could not decide to leave. Once my husband and I flew away for three days to Istanbul – a beautiful city full of life. I don’t know why, but I got on the plane with the confidence that I would be back soon. On the very first day after the vacation, I wrote a letter of resignation … I did it easily, because I felt that I was doing the right thing. And a month later I found a job in the field of tourism and in four years I traveled all over the world with groups.
“My diagnosis was not confirmed”
Olga: “After the birth of my second child, I had to take care of my health closely: examinations, tests. And the most important – oncology. I had to wait a long time for the results, I was very worried. And then one day I return home, I go into the room where the TV is on, and I see the following plot: the judge at the court session reads out the verdict and, slamming the hammer on the table, issues a verdict: “Not guilty!” I entered the room literally at that moment! And it immediately became clear to me that there was no need to worry, everything would be fine with me. Needless to say, the diagnosis was indeed not confirmed!
“My grandmother warned me about the danger”
Dmitry: “A few years ago, my friend and I went on a trip to the Amazon. Describing it in a nutshell is not exactly possible! On some fragile boat, in unsanitary conditions, we moved along the river for ten days … At the end of the trip, half of our expedition was poisoned by local cooking – we ate what we cooked on board. Terrible pains in the abdomen, high fever … Horror! At night, in delirium, my beloved grandmother came to me in a dream. And she advised me … to eat a banana. I obeyed – and I really felt a little better.
At the very least, we arrived at the next point of the trip – Manaus. I was still very weak and just lay there, waiting for the departure. And then I dreamed about my grandmother again. She literally demanded that I no longer board the ship. As a result, he sailed without us, and my friend and I boarded the plane. A couple of days later we learned about the shipwreck and dozens of victims … My dream did not deceive me. Although, on the other hand, it was hard not to notice what condition that ship was in!”
The myth of female flair
Women are more emotional than men, they better understand the experiences of other people and have a sixth sense that allows them to anticipate what cannot be predicted on the basis of logic. Statements of this kind have been repeated so often that they now look like irrefutable truth. But is it?
Apparently, the ancient Greek thinker Aristotle was the first to speak on this topic. Male nature, he believed, is perfect and complete, while a woman is subject to emotions, which means she is less stable and less trustworthy. Following him, Immanuel Kant, a German philosopher of the XNUMXth century, argued that women’s philosophy is not to reason, but to feel. A century later, the English naturalist Charles Darwin contrasted “male energy and genius” with “female compassion and intuitive abilities.”
These theses are echoed by “historical” arguments: since a woman for a long time could only realize herself at home, in the family, and did not have access to social and professional activities, she developed not abstract thinking, but emotional intelligence, which allows her to capture the intentions and feelings of other people .
The opinion of the great about female intuition is nothing more than a prejudice
Apparently, it remains only to conclude that men have wide fields of pure reason, and women – the wrong swamp of intuition? However, this “truth” is strongly refuted by a large study conducted by the English psychologist Richard Wiseman. 15 men and women looked at pairs of photographs, one with a genuine smile and one with a fake one.
Prior to the start of the experiment, at the request of the researchers, the participants assessed their intuition. It was considered good by 77% of women and 58% of men. Then all participants had to indicate which of the two photographs the person is smiling sincerely. The difference between the sexes turned out to be minimal … and not in favor of women!
So, a sincere smile was identified by 71% of women and 72% of men. And one more amazing detail. When the photo was of a woman, men were more accurate in assessing the sincerity of her smile than women were in the case of a man’s picture. It turns out that the opinion of the great about female intuition is nothing more than a prejudice!