Thursday, 24 September 2015

What is Intuition? Excerpt from The Genius Famine (my forthcoming book)

From Edward Dutton & Bruce G Charlton. The Genius Famine - why we need geniuses, why they're dying out, and why we must rescue them. University of Buckingham Press - in the press.

From the Chapter - The Creative Triad

What is intuition?


So, what is the thought mode of intuition? It is not by instinct nor by logic - but by something of both, and more. Therefore, intuition is a mode of thinking which simultaneously uses emotion and logic but operating in a context of (for example) motivation, purpose, meaning and relationships. In a nutshell, intuition uses all possible modes of thinking; and this is why it intuition leads to a greater feeling of sureness, of certainty, than other and more partial forms of thought.




Bruce B. said...

Is this the same thing as what’s measured by the “sensing-intuitive” spectrum in the Myers-Briggs test? My measurement was pegged all the way to the sensing end of the spectrum – not at all intuitive – and I am not at all creative.

Bruce Charlton said...

@BB- Not really. We are trying to get away from the idea of measuring personality by adding up clusters of self-evaluated behaviours. The idea is that personality is a basic set up of the mind, (in cognitive terms) the way the mind is qualitatively 'hard wired'.

The most basic single variable is between pro-social and asocial - between people (the majority) who are Exogenous (externally, especially socially, orientated - and those who are Endogenous (internally orientated). Such differences would be innate, become apparent in childhood and persist through life.

By contrast, actual behaviours vary according to specific circumstances, social pressures, upbringing etc.

By this account; strongly Intuitive people are internally driven - pay attention to internal signals, are mostly rewarded by their own thinking, and re-deploy for internal purposes some of the specialized brain areas typically used for social and sexual behaviours.

Anonymous said...

Sold. Looking forward to it.

Bruce Charlton said...

@Anon - Thank you for your confidence! BTW could you use a pseudonym in future - I generally don't post anonymous comments.

Anonymous said...

Looking forward to it! Based on your outstanding recent post on the media as an "evil eye," I read "Addicted to Distraction" and enjoyed it very much, especially your list of the four forms that messages take. As someone whose work involves the crafting of messages, this is of great interest to me. I'm also glad you referenced Neil Postman. "Amusing Ourselves to Death" changed my life when I read it 20 or so years ago.