Intuition

The heart has its reasons which reason does not know.Pascal, 1670.

He that trusteth his own heart is a fool.Proverbs 28:36

How much do we know at any time? Much more, or so I believe, than we know we know!Agatha Christie, The Moving Finger

Nothing is so difficult as not deceiving onself.Ludvig Wittgenstein

Intuition: does it exist?

General consensus that it exists

but we have been wrong before. . . . .

earth is flat . . .

sun travels around earth. . . .

Intuition: what is it?

things tell you things

•Implicit and unconscious, but depends on the 5 senses•Emotional (gut feeling) but has strong cognitive component•Error prone but do we ever say, “I just had a feeling in my gut…

that I was wrong about this?”•Slow to learn and hard to unlearn•Some people are just good at it, but develops with experience•Accessible to verbal articulation but self-report is fallacious•Leads to action except sometimes intuition is to not act•Occurs in split-second situations and develops slowly across time

things tell you things

Intuition: what else is it?

•Increased alertness or vigilance•Higher level of motivation•Better social skills•More common sense•Greater awareness of the situation•Being more assertive•Having greater empathy•Being more focused•More dedicated and enthusiastic for role of cop•Having integrity; character

Complex pattern recognition

Complex emergent process

Intuition: where/when does it occur?

•When are calm (and can observe more)•When in survival situation and need immediate decision•In crime scene investigation (that can go on for days or months)•When remain open to alternative hypotheses

•In law enforcement, medicine, airport & border security:car salesmen? out hunting and feel (animal’s) eyes on you?

Intuition: is it learned or innate?

•20% have it•National Academy classes: 90% report experiencing

“intuitive event”•People get better with experience and mentoring•Some people remain clueless even after years on the job

Has implications for training and assessment

Intuition: is it learned or innate?

Has implications for training and assessment

learning

genetics

Area of the individual needs H X W to exist

Intuition: what is it?

Immediate insight without observation or reason

Perception-like, rapid, effortless cognition leading to action

Social intuition: sensing that something is not right

Unconscious learning

Complex pattern recognition

Myers, D. G. (2002). Intuition: Its Powers and Perils. New Haven: Yale University Press.

Intuition: does it exist?

Science: if we can measure it

Describe operations of measurementAgree that may not have consensus

other abstractions are measured:

time

general relativity theoryspecial relativity theory

intelligence

Precedence exists

“However, the conviction remains that whenever we do use vision to become aware of objects or events, this must be accompanied by a corresponding visual experience. . . .The experiments reported here show that this belief is incorrect. In particular, some observers can consciously feel (or sense) a change in their surroundings even though they no visual experience of it. . . . “

“Forty naïve observers were tested. Observers viewed the display and were asked to press a response key twice. The first response was to be given when they sense a change – that is, had a “feeling” that a change was occurring. The second response key was to be given when they saw the change – that is, had a visual experience sufficient for a verbal description of the changing item. . . .”

Rensink, R. A. (2004). Visual Sensing Without Seeing. Psychological Science, 15, 27-32.

Intuition: in controlled settings?

Priming studies:

Present a word on a screen (e.g., “bread”) too briefly for people to be able to verbally report the word –

Then flash either “bubble” or “butter” briefly but slowenough that people can see it:

Will see butter more easily (faster) than bubble

Primed the word butter with a cue that person couldnot report seeing.

Intuition: how can we research it?

Descriptive studies:

Who: experienced vs rookiemen and women equally?bad guys and good guys

When: repeated or seldom ET“instantaneous” vs. slow realization

Where:alone or with partnersituations of high/low risksituations of high/low emotionsat work or “all the time”with constant or with changing environments

Intuition: how can we research it?

Retrospective studies:

Self-report . . . . .

memoryreporting requirementsfeedback

Talking through; think aloud

Intuition: how can we research it?

Co relational studies:•Implicit and unconscious, but depends on the 5 senses•Emotional (gut feeling) but has strong cognitive component•Error prone but do we ever say, “I just had a feeling in my gut…that I was wrong about this?”•Slow to learn and hard to unlearn•Some people are just good at it, but develops with experience•Accessible to verbal articulation but self-report is fallacious•Leads to action except sometimes intuition is to not act•Occurs in split-second situations and develops slowly across time

Look for presence or absence of one to occur with presence or absence of the other: e.g., does intuition occur more often under stress or calm?

Intuition: how can we research it?

Experimental studies:

Manipulate antecedents and measure behavior

E.g., person observes complex scene (with low or high density of cues) and track eye movement as a function of the cues moving around in that environment.

Vary the characteristics of the person – test the expert as well as the novice.

Have intuition

and act on it.

Have no intuition

and still act.

Have intuition

and do not act.

Have no intuition

and do not act.

“Signal”“R

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Present AbsentN

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Future Directions

Research Recommendations

Research Priorities

M.L.PANDIA