INTUITION (+new picture added to Scrapbook, page 2)
The role of intuition, or "gut feelings" is interesting to me. We often think that we shouldn't trust the apparently baseless conclusions our intuition demands. The suggestions given by our intuition seem to come from nowhere, are apparently irrational, so we mistrust them. Worse, we try to ignore, to avoid even admitting, what intuition leads us to. For many people in many situations, only laborious analysis and careful reasoning will justify a decision. Yet we often find, usually after the fact, that our intuition was correct, that if we had followed our "gut feelings", we would have made better decisions. Why?
Recent studies support reliance on one's intuition, or unconscious thought processes. They conclude that there is so much information needed to make decisions that we couldn't efficiently reach any conclusions without reliance on the unconscious. Even before these studies, some psychologists concluded that trivia is the basis of intuition. That is, all the tiny, seemingly unconnected, bits of information we need to make good decisions are collected automatically and brought to bear on decisions in our unconscious. If we tried consciously to collect and apply all of this data to our decisions, we would be too slow in reaching a conclusion, we would be victims of "paralysis by analysis".
Does this mean we should ignore reason and avoid conscious thought in making key decisions? Should we always make snap decisions rather than waiting for conscious thought to guide us? As someone pointed out in connection with the recent studies, our unconscious side may not be our best side in social situations. That is, in many people, the conscious is governed by societal norms and behavioral training; the unconscious is unrestricted and may make us appear rude, even boorish, or thoughtless. We want to make good decisions but we also want to be polite and kind, we all have to give some thought to social norms. So what should we do?
I think the answers, as in so many things, lies in balance. We have to analyze, reason, act politely and kindly, we have to behave in a manner that matches society's rules, in a serious manner. But we also need to listen to our intuition and, if analysis doesn't lead to the same answer, continually reexamine our positions until there is a match. We must be wary of ignoring our intuition. I've come to believe that our intuition is rarely wrong. I've noticed that every time I've ignored it I've made a bad decision. In the future, I'm going to trust my intuition and reexamine every decision where conscious thought would lead me to a different conclusion. In that way, I've got a chance to make better decisions, for myself and for everyone around me.
10-21-02
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