PROMPT: Instincts

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Do you trust your instincts?

With regards to some types of questions, I trust my instincts implicitly. This is NOT because I think I have infallible instincts or a gift, but rather because reasoning and conscious cognitive processes are often demonstrably and systematically wrong in some domains. For example, the science shows people who think they can detect lies by observing and employing their reasoning to what they observe are wrong far more often than people who go with their gut, sans analysis. There are many areas like this, where being overly cerebral offers bad outcomes.

Of course, there are cases like the Monty Hall problem, in which being more deeply analytic and reasoned yields a better outcome. And, so, the trick is to know when to go with your gut and when to systematically think things through.

28 thoughts on “PROMPT: Instincts”

    • Again, it depends upon the characteristics of the case under consideration. There does seem to be a class of problems for which getting analytical can only worsen the decision-making process / outcome. The simplest example is if you are being punched in the face, any attempt to analyze the situation and consciously determine a solution will ensure you get punched in the face. Instead, you should let your motor cortex do its thing without competition for resources. A more cognitive example is seen in the research I mentioned about lie detecting. In one study they had one group do activities that distracted their prefrontal cortex (consciousness brain) and that group did better at detection than those who were free to consciously analyze. A major factor is how much processing time you have with the information and how much you have to rely on memory (which is highly fallible.) The conscious mind can weave a tale that has more to do with one’s biases and limited information than it does with the event at hand. To get to the nitty-gritty of it there’re books out there: e.g. “Blink” by Malcolm Gladwell and “Gut Feelings” by Gerd Gigerenzer. Also, Daniel Kahneman’s “Thinking, Fast and Slow” probably addresses what distinguishes the types of problems most explicitly.

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  3. I usually trust my instincts, but I like to be open for things to change. Sometimes, when I meet new people, I will get like a sense of how good our relationship might be, and for some people, we are simply not meant to be friends. I like to trust my instinct until proven wrong, hanging out with people that I feel good around and staying away from those that give off bad vibes, but trying to be open if someone really wants to be friends and I read them wrong or something

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  4. Pingback: PROMPT: Instincts – STARFIRESOUNDS

  6. I always trust my instincts, because I usually have a foreboding feeling about something. Sometimes I also have dreams about a situation and then it happened the next day. This one time, I dreamt about finding a certain book in the library (boring, I know 😂). But then I went to the library the next day and I found that exact book exactly at the place I dreamt it would be. Another time, my family and I were on a roadtrip in Namibia. We were going to Ai-Ais, a resort. I had never even heard of the resort before and I had no way of Googling it, because there wasn’t any signal. The whole time in the car I had a feeling that the place wouldn’t be what we expected it would be in a bad way. When we arrived, the place was practically deserted. The only people were a few workers and that was it. No guests. So yes, I think instinct is a real thing that has to be trusted. After all, it was what kept us alive in the old days.

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    • I don’t exactly trust my instincts to a level of perfection, but I’m trying to make sense out of each instinct at the least and rather rationalizing it- although that defeats the whole purpose of having an instinct.
      Over time I have recognised my disadvantage and hence try to surround myself with people who have better grip at understanding the situation and enable improvement of my instincts in the process.

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  9. Yes, I do trust my instincts. I believe that God doesn’t provide us with anything in excess; rather, what we receive is perfectly attuned to our minds and bodies. Living in harmony with these instincts allows us to thrive and behave well.

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  10. I think the Monty Hall problem is also an example of instincts winning because Marilyn vos Savant got the answer when top rated mathematicians like Paul Erdos got it wrong, or so the story goes. Our survival depends on our ability to assess situations and people and so while not everyone is good at it, it makes sense that some are just naturally good at it.

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    • Perhaps for certain specific (unusually intelligent and naturally cerebral) people. But, in the Monty Hall case, the psychology encourages people to stick with what they have (even though we know that the odds have gone down that that is the right thing to do.) A person’s gut tells them to stick with what they have because it feels worse to lose if you change your mind than it does if you stick to your guns (at least for most people.) So, people who don’t analyze the nature of the problem, accounting for the fact that the host knows where the prize is, and just go with what feels good will disproportionately get it wrong.

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      • But my point is that mathematicians wrote in saying that sticking is mathematically right. Most people’s instincts were wrong but the genius IQ lady I mentioned had the instincts to get it right when mathematicians couldn’t even get it right.

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      • I see what you’re saying. My point is that she probably wasn’t using her gut, but was rather thinking it through to come to the answer. Just being a non-expert doesn’t inherently make one less analytical.

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