A phenomenon of the mind, intuition is being able to get knowledge without the use of reason or inference. Intuition is a word that is derived from the verb in Latin ‘intueri’ that means the same as ‘consider.’ Modern and ancient psychology makes intuition a popular subject of discussion and also a main topic in various esoteric domains and religions. In writings, it is also a common subject. Intuition is sometimes misinterpreted and misunderstood to be interchanged with meaning, belief, truth and instinct as well as other terms. When it comes to processes of intuition, the right brain is popularly related to this. It also includes creative abilities and aesthetics. Contentions by scientists at one point or another have stated that there is an association between intuition and scientific discovery innovations.
Philosophy of the Mind
One main philosophy dealing with the intuition concept is Philosophy of the mind. In this topic, intuition is discussed with both western and eastern philosophers in detail. Often, definitions have varied natures and are confused with other terms. In Western culture, intuition was mentioned in the book Republic by Plato. He defines intuition as a basic ability of human reasoning to comprehend reality’s true nature. In eastern cultures, intuition is intertwined with spirituality and religion with a variety of existing meaning from different texts of religion.
Colloquial Use
As an experienced-based gut feeling, intuition is found by business leaders to be useful for judging strategy, culture and people. Officers in law enforcement claim that they often immediately know when observing suspects whether there is a possession of illicit substances or weapons. They are not able to articulate why they had reacted and what prompted their actions during the events.
Intuition is Not Instinct
There are many times in which intuition is misinterpreted to be instinct. Thus, how reliable it is then depends on past occurrences and knowledge in specific areas. For instance, people that have a lot of experience with children will have a tendency to have better instincts about what needs to be done in specific situations. On the other hand, it does not always mean that people with tons of experience in specific areas will always have better instincts in that area.
Recognition Primed Decision
In recent psychology, intuition encompasses the abilities to know valid solutions to decision making and problems. For instance, the model of RPD or Recognition Primed Decision makes an explanation of how individuals can make rapid decisions relatively without comparing each option. It had been found by Gary Klein that with changing parameters, high stakes and time pressure, experts intuitively select solutions that are feasible. This is based on their experiences to identify situations that are similar. This model is thus a blend of analysis and intuition. In the RPD model, the process has to do with matching patterns that suggest feasible courses of action rapidly.
Roger Wolcott Sperry
According to renowned neurobiologist and neuropsychologist Roger Wolcott Sperry, intuition is an activity of the right brain while mathematical or factual analysis is an activity of the left brain.
