Provoking Thought: Intuition

I just had an interesting idea pop up in my head. I think that I'm going to add a new aspect to this blog, "Provoking Thoughts." I've never been good at being brief, but I'm going to try to post more often, just a quick hit about something that I find interesting from my research or the research that I come across. I think that some of the things that academics work on never really get out into the world at-large. Maybe you guys can see some interesting links into the random things that I find cool/amusing and what you do in your fields. Plus, it makes me read a little more if I'm expecting to post something interesting on a regular basis.

Today's thought: One of my buds has a theory-based paper that talks about intuition. (Dane and Pratt, 2007 - Academy of Management Review, 32 (1), 33-54, if you've got access to these academic journals). Essentially, it boils down the notion of intuition into being, "affectively charged judgments that arise through rapid, nonconscious, and holistic associations. They further suggest that intuition works best when done by those with some level of expertise in a given area, and that it's most appropriate for tasks that require judgment (not the synthesis of existing facts).

It's interesting if you get a chance to look at the paper to see how they conceptualize intuition. Their definition is appealing for smart folks who want to pat themselves on the back, for sure. I'm not sure how appropriate it is for more everyday tasks. I don't necessarily agree about the things that they suggest comprise expertise, nor am I in accord with the relatively limiting definition of judgment that they use. However, I do like very much how they put together expertise and judgment tasks together to describe intuition. Much of what they study is geared towards managerial tasks, and not for everyday people. However, they've positioned this as a rather general paper, so naturally, you have gaps.

Do you guys have places where you (or a colleague) seem to have a knack for having the right intuition in complex environments? Please explain in a comment.

-RG