begin quote from:
Verified by 
Intuition
What Is Intuition?
It is common to think of intuition as an instinctual, or even magical phenomenon—but our hunches are assumptions formed on the basis of past experience and cumulative knowledge. They tend to arise holistically and quickly, without conscious awareness of the underlying mental process of information.
Intuition is nonconscious thinking; essentially, the brain on autopilot. Scientists have repeatedly demonstrated how information can register on the brain without conscious awareness and positively influence decision-making. Should people trust intuition? Gut feelings do have their value in decision-making—perhaps more than many would imagine.
The automatic information processing that underlies intuition can be seen in something many people experience daily: the phenomenon known as "highway hypnosis." This occurs when a driver travels for miles without a conscious thought about the activity of driving the car. Similarly, pedestrians walk down a street, get lost in thought, and find themselves at their destination without awareness of the processes that got them there.
Nonconscious processes operate not only in routine activities by also in complex decision-making, often without due credit. People typically cite rational-seeming criteria for their actions and do not disclose the subjective preferences of feelings that arise spontaneously.
Nonconscious processes operate not only in routine activities by also in complex decision-making, often without due credit. People typically cite rational-seeming criteria for their actions and do not disclose the subjective preferences of feelings that arise spontaneously.
There is no substitute for devoting time to gathering information about any task or situation, but neither should people be afraid of not consciously knowing every reason for feeling the way they do in a given situation.
When Should You Go With Gut Instincts?
Assessing intuition can be an excellent place to begin the decision-making process, before applying logic to determine if one has reached the correct conclusion. But the balance between the two can shift based on the decision at hand. For example, intuition is especially helpful for trivia and test taking, since test takers unconsciously access related cues and past problem-solving patterns. In relationships, hunches about a partner’s thoughts and feelings tend to be reliable, since partners know each other well.
First impressions are typically the product of unconscious processing of many cues at one time; they are based less on prior knowledge and need to be readily subject to revision. For situations with the greatest consequences, such as financial investments and ethical decisions, natural impulses are best checked by greater reflection or conferring with a friend or advisor.
CONNECTED TOPICS
Does the Gut Have Anything to Do with Gut Instincts?
There is growing scientific evidence that the gut actually plays a role in intuitive processes. The human intuitive sense itself may arise from signals sent via any of several channels of neural communication between the gut and the brain.
This is a relatively new area of investigation, and there is much more to be learned about the ways the gut influences brain activity. But we know that the healthy gut is normally rich in beneficial bacteria—collectively known as the microbiome. Gut bacteria are known to produce neurotransmitters and other active molecules that can circulate to the brain, or may interact directly with the vagus nerve to signal the brain and stimulate or alter its operations.
No comments:
Post a Comment