Scientists have studied for centuries how instinct and intellect are involved in decision making and concluded that people confidence in their own instincts is beneficial, since decisions taken on them prove correct in 90% of cases. A new study has shown that in 90% of cases, the decisions made by volunteers – who were given two options – based on instinct proved to be correct, informs dailymail.co.uk.
Marius Usher, Professor at the Faculty of Psychology of the University of Tel Aviv and his colleagues believe their findings showed that intuition can be a powerful tool for high accuracy. Even at the intuitive level, an important part of making decisions is the concept of “integration of value” – taking into account the strengths and weaknesses of each option.
“Research shows that people have a remarkable capacity to integrate value when doing this intuitively, which makes us believe in the possibility that the human brain has a specialized system for obtaining median values. This could be the operating system on which the joint decisions process is built,” explained Professor Usher.
To better understand the details of this system, Professor Usher has designed an experiment in which participants were subjected to a controlled process of decision making. On a computer screen, participants watched clips of pairs of numbers presented in rapid succession. All numbers that appear on the right side of the screen and all on the left were considered a group. Each group represented the benefits of companies listed on the stock market. Participants were asked to pick the group with the highest average.
As the numbers changed so quickly on the screen – two to four pairs every second – the participants could not memorize those numbers or to perform mathematical calculations. In order to determine the highest average in each group, they had to rely on intuitive arithmetic. The accuracy of their responses increased when more data were presented on the screen.
When they were shown six pairs of numbers, participants chose the correct answer in 65% of cases. But when they were shown 24 pairs, their degree of accuracy increased to 90%. “Intuitively, the human brain has the ability to assimilate information and decide on the spot their average value. People can trust their reaction based on instinct to make a quality decision,” added Professor Marius Usher.
The study results were published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
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