Ever get that weird feeling in your gut about something?

That's your intuition, a kind of internal hunch.

It's like a superpower telling you what to do, right?

Well, not exactly. Science shows our intuition can be surprisingly sneaky and sometimes wrong.

Think of your intuition like a fast-thinking friend. They give quick advice, but they might not have all the facts.

Studies by Leanne ten Brinke at the University of California, Berkeley showed people were only slightly better than guessing at catching liars based on gut feeling alone [1].

Here's the twist: intuition isn't always bad. It's like a first draft. It picks up on quick cues, like a nervous laugh or a shifty glance. These can be warning signs, but they don't tell the whole story.

So, what do we do?

Author and therapist Charlie Bond says we shouldn't ignore our gut entirely, but we shouldn't blindly follow it either [2].

The key is to take a step back. Let's first understand why intuition exists.

Intuition is an Evolutionary Shortcut

Our intuition is an evolutionary shortcut. Over thousands of generations, our ancestors who were good at quickly reading situations and acting on instinct survived and passed on their genes.

Imagine facing a dangerous animal – intuition might make you jump back before you even fully understand the threat. In those situations, a fast reaction could be the difference between life and death.

However, the world today is much more complex. What worked for our hunter-gatherer ancestors navigating a dangerous jungle might not be the best approach for a tricky social situation at school or in the office.

In a life or death situation, you did not have time to gather all the data. You were literally "better safe than sorry". Most situations in today's world are quite the opposite.

We're safer than ever in history. This means that almost all of our decisions give us time- and this is crucial in making better decisions consistently- more on this later.

The Brain and The Body: Behind the Gut Feeling

The lightning-fast process of intuition involves a fascinating interplay between your brain and nervous system. When you encounter a situation, your senses send information to a part of the brain called the amygdala. This area is like an alarm system, quickly evaluating if something is a threat.

The amygdala is the brain's fear centre. It's main job? To keep your safe- literally prevent you from dying.

It then triggers the release of hormones like adrenaline, which gives you that "butterflies in your stomach" feeling. This physical reaction is your body preparing for action.

This was great on the savannah when the threat was certain death. But our brains have not evolved fast enough to interpret the relatively benign threats of today as anything different.

That's why when your boss comes at you with a tirade, your heart rate goes up, you start to sweat and feel extremely anxious- it the flight or fight response being triggered. This same mechanism is why initial gut instinct can misfire- your amygdala is trying to figure out imminent threats to your life- even when there are none.

Meanwhile, another part of your brain, the prefrontal cortex, is slowly analyzing the situation.

This is where logic and reasoning come in. It considers past experiences, social cues, and other factors to give you a more nuanced understanding. This aligns with the concept of thinking systems laid out by Nobel laureate Daniel Kahneman in his book "Thinking, Fast and Slow" [3].

Our intuition- or gut- is Kahneman's System 1 – fast, automatic, and emotional. Our slower, more deliberative thinking belongs to System 2. In most decisions you'll make in the modern world- you'll need both.

Where Intuition Can Lead You Astray

There are certain learning scenarios where intuition may be impossible to develop.

This is the concept of kind and wicked learning environments.

Kind learning environments are characterized by structure and pre-determined rules that don’t change dynamically. Feedback is also immediate, allowing you to analyze mistakes precisely and learn from them.

Think Chess.

Wicked learning environments are much more complex, with multiple factors involved, and dynamic rules. The feedback is also not immediate, and there is a great degree of uncertainty. Experience can lead experts astray, as there is a tendency to overgeneralize and fall prey to recency bias, because we naturally tend to value our recent experiences more.

Skill and hence, intuition cannot be developed in wicked learning environments, at least in a way that can be consistent. It can however, be developed in kind learning environments. Chess Grandmasters like Magnus Carlsen often remembers hundreds of tactical patterns and thousands of positions, and can intuitively find the best moves in most situations.

If you want to learn more about this, you can read the article on kind and wicked learning environments here.

Combining Intuition and Logic: System 1 and System 2 in Tandem

By combining your gut feeling with some good old-fashioned thinking, you can make much smarter decisions. Intuition can be a great starting point, but it's logic that helps you reach the finish line.

Here's some practical tips for using intuition and logic together:

Slow Down

System 1 thrives on quick judgments. To activate System 2, take a step back and give yourself time to think. Ask yourself questions, gather evidence, and consider different perspectives.

Beware of Biases

System 1 is prone to mental shortcuts called biases, which can distort our thinking. For example, the anchoring bias can lead us to rely too heavily on the first piece of information we receive. When making decisions, be aware of potential biases and try to look at the situation objectively.

Frame the Situation Carefully

The way a problem is presented can influence our intuition. Try reframing the situation in different ways to see if it alters your initial gut feeling.

Don't Be Afraid to Ask "Why?"

System 1 often jumps to conclusions. Challenge your initial intuition by asking yourself "Why do I feel this way?" Dig deeper to understand the underlying reasons behind your gut feeling.

We can leverage the strengths of both intuition and logic in tandem. Intuition, with its quick processing, can alert you to potential problems or opportunities. Logic, through slower and more deliberate reasoning, can help you refine your initial hunches and make well-informed decisions, and override the misfires in the intuition.

Intuition is like a smoke detector – it might go off sometimes for no reason, but it's still important to listen. The key is to combine that initial signal with some critical thinking to avoid false alarms and make the best choices.

Sources

[1] Ten Brinke, Leanne. "Unconscious, Gut-Level Lie Detection?" Psychology Today. https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/living-single/201305/why-are-we-so-bad-detecting-lies

[2] Bond, Charlie, and Philip Tetlock. "The Hows and Whys of Lies." 2017.

[3] Kahneman, Daniel. Thinking, Fast and Slow. Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2011.

[4] Why you cannot master everything, Ajinkya Bhat, https://ajinkyabhat.com/blog/kind-and-wicked-learning-environments