Intuition versus rational decision making:
"analysis paralysis" overthinking and putting off a decision
Intuition: using gut feelings to make a decision.
Most decisions have very little time to think out and you have to be quick in making decisions.
Gut feelings go haywire when something is amiss, or is that just fear, and fear holding you back from making a good decision?
Rational thinking is tricky because you may not have all of the facts to make an informed decision.
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6 comments
Feel free to reply to any comment by clicking the "Reply" button.Good question! If I have time I use both. I value myself on my intelligence and my intuition. I can usually see the big picture. In a crisis moment I will use my intuition, nut would prefer to have as much information as possible. My last job required both and I have been able to refine both. I was always in the top ten of 34 branches. I believe that. when it comes to making decisions rational thought is the best.
Arasmuson
Level 6
Dec 12, 2017
0
Intuition is not picking randomly. It is using past experience to shortcut the full blown rational process. Good intuitive thinkers have honed the process fairly well. Intuitive thinking often does help in problem solving.
wordywalt
Level 9
Dec 12, 2017
1
@jwm03h I think i see where you are going which should you chose your gut or your rational thought. Do I always listen to my gut no. I choose the rational path sometimes. I would say that I have been burned more times than not, but is still do it. There also have been time when I've been stuck between both and basically flip a coin in my head because I can't make up my mind. I'm not perfect and can make bad decision, but I think it's better than not making one. I'm also human and my perception can cloud my conscious thought.
People who study information processing styles state, and I think correctly, that intuition is usually more than simply a gut feeling. It a hunch or a hypothesis which pops up in one;='s awareness from somewhere in the person's past experience without the person knowing exactly -- at the time -- where it came from. It is not a wild stab in the dark, not a sudden flash of insight from nowhere, nor a divine revelation Know your terms and use them correctly.
Rational thinking, I think, is tough on us humans. We don't DO rational very well (at least not yet) and our brains are still hardwired to our emotions. Still, we try to keep rationality in the mix. Yet if we get too rational we lose empathy, and that's just as bad.
I also think intuition is part of our evolutionary history (and we haven't figured out how to use it well). Out in the jungle, if something was sneaking up on us, our survival depended upon our ability to "sense" that even if we couldn't see it. If I'm walking down the street and someone's following me, I've got to suss out if they're just going the same direction I am, or if they have nefarious motives.
I think this is why we have practice dealing with emergency situations, so that "instinct" can take over. Fire drills, earthquake drills... self-defense classes... all of these "teach" us how to better understand intuition, while helping us balance that with reason. We get better at each of these if we practice them.
One of the best books on the subject is called The Gift of Fear: Survival Signals.
[amazon.com]
The book talks about how situations arise that carry with them warning signals. In some cases, it takes a certain amount of intuition, in others it's more common and recognizable if you know what you're looking for.
As with so many things in life, knowledge and awareness are the key.
Benthoven
Level 8
Dec 12, 2017
1
Very well put....I agree.
I'm not entirely sure that the disagreement would be between rational mind and intuition. I strongly suspect it would be between "fear" and rationality. We're very much connected to fear, and like it or not, it's at the back of everything we do and don't do.
Intuition isn't just some unchallenged gut feeling. It's brought on by knowledge and understanding. Doctor's intuition, for example, can only come from their training. An engineer's intuition comes from their training. Even those without "training" can have experience that will guide that intuition. Intuition doesn't happen in a vacuum.
In the fields of observation chance favours only the prepared mind.
~ Louis Pasteur
I think the same is true with intuition. It favors the prepared mind.
I think we just muddle through the best we can. If my gut tells me that something isn't right, I usually just back off, and suffer for it if I don't.
TommyMeador
Level 7
Dec 12, 2017
1
We pick things up subconsciously, like non-verbal communications. That's what most of that gut instinct is.
I think before I make a big decision.
Sarahroo29
Level 8
Dec 12, 2017
1
Give a for instance.
Don't buy it, it's only me living in it. It's cheaper for an apartment.
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