From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Intuition is apparent ability to acquire knowledge without a clear inference or reasoning process.

It is "the immediate apprehension of an object by the mind without the intervention of any reasoning process" [Oxford English Dictionary].

Intuition, by definition, has no objective validity. However it is extremely widespread as an apparent phenomenon. For this reason, it has been the subject of study in Psychology, as well as a topic of interest in the supernatural.

Law enforcement officers often claim to observe suspects and immediately "know" that they possess a weapon or illicit narcotic substances. On such occasions, these officers are unable to articulate their accurate reactions that may represent building blocks to reasonable suspicion or probable cause indicators. Often unable to articulate why they reacted or what prompted them at the time of the event, they sometimes retrospectively can plot their actions based upon what had been clear and present danger signals.[1]

Intuition is one of Swiss psychologist Carl Jung's four 'psychological types' or ego functions. In this early model of the personal psyche, intuition was opposed by sensation on one axis, while feeling was opposed by thinking on another axis. Jung argued that, in a given individual, one of these four functions was primary — most prominent or developed — in the consciousness. The opposing function would typically be underdeveloped in that individual. The remaining pair (on the other axis) would be consciously active, but to a lesser extent than the primary function. ^[1] This schema is perhaps most familiar today as the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator.

In psychology, intuition can encompass the ability to know valid solutions to problems and decision making. For example, the recognition primed decision (RPD) model was described by Gary Klein in order to explain how people can make relatively fast decisions without having to compare options. Klein found that under time pressure, high stakes, and changing parameters, experts used their base of experience to identify similar situations and intuitively choose feasible solutions. Thus, the RPD model is a blend of intuition and analysis. The intuition is the pattern-matching process that quickly suggests feasible courses of action. The analysis is the mental simulation, a conscious and deliberate review of the courses of action^{[citation needed]}.

An important intuitive method for identifying options is brainstorming^{[citation needed]}. According to the renowned Neuropsychologist and Neurobiologist Roger Wolcott Sperry though, Intuition is a right-brain activity while Factual and Mathematical analysis is a left-brain activity[2].

• Casuistry
• Extra-sensory perception
• Intuition pump, a coin termed by Daniel Dennett
• Intuitionism
• Medical intuitive
• Preconscious
• Subconscious
• Tacit knowledge
• Portal:thinking
• List of thought processes
• Unconscious mind
• Gettier examples

1. ^ C.G. Jung. Psychological Types. Bollingen Series XX, Volume 6, Princeton University Press, 1971.

• Business With Your Intuition
• Big Deal With Your Intuition
• A selection of articles defining the nature of Intuition
• Essay about the philosophical and psychological dimensions of four types of intuition
• A scientific research group on intuition
• Ask Philosophers: Question on Intuition and Rationality