The Role of Intuition in Psychology
Psychology is the systematic study of the mind.
In order to study the mind, there needs to be data gathered from ourselves and others.
With data, patterns are noticed.
One of the patterns are articulated in the following ways:
- ‘Whenever I didn’t listen to my gut, I ended up regretting it.’
- ‘Something about my intuition made that decision.’
- ‘The choice was beyond logic alone.’
It’s easy to wave off those sayings.
However, when people who do not know each other are acknowledging similar sentiments…
That’s saying something.
In this article, I’ll be breaking down the role of intuition in psychology.
- What is intuition exactly?
- Can intuition be measured?
- Are intuition and intellect meant to be friends or enemies?
These are some questions we will be discussing.
What is Intuition?
Intuition is a flash of insight that is created from an internal state.
This is similar to inspiration.
When someone is inspired, there is a flush of energy + a narrative that is experienced internally.
The internal experience is also known as a subjective experience.
The study of subjective experience is known as: subjective science.
‘What’s the difference between subjective science and objective science?’
Not to be sarcastic, but objective science is the study of things that can be objectified.
Things are objects when a party can notice it.
Thoughts, physical sensations, robots, tools, and much more.
The subject is the entity doing the noticing.
With intuition, it is a direct experience.
It’s hard to quantify it.
‘Why?’
Because quantification is the method of measurement for objective sciences.
While with subjectivity, it’s an experiential process.
One example is love.
Sure, you can quantify it by measuring someone’s brain scans when they are near loved ones.
But when someone talks about love in a traditional sense, they are talking about their subjective experience.
Not a bunch of chemicals, data points, and brain scans.
Are Intuition and Intellect Enemies?
I do not believe that intuition and intellect are enemies.
Actually, I think they are meant to be best friends over time!
I am not too trusting of those people who are like:
- I’m naturally a very intuitive person.
Mainly because the ability to read intuition is earned.
Intuition may always exist, but the ability to tune into it is a muscle that must be exercised.
I like to view intuition very similar to machine learning.
With machine learning, a bunch of data is fed into a data processing system.
The data is processed with certain rulesets.
Once it’s processed, it spits out a result.
It’s very similar to a human.
A human goes through a bunch of experiences, aka the data.
They process the data with their life purpose and intellect, aka the rulesets.
Once it’s processed, it spits out certain flashes of intuition, aka the results.
Although the end result is directly experienced as a flash…
There was a bunch of work that led to the result.
Intuition and intellect are not enemies.
However, they are often perceived as enemies.
‘Any idea why?’
Yea…
Intuition vs Intellect?
The reason that intellect and intuition are often perceived as enemies is because intuition does not always make logical sense.
You ever met someone who was saying all the right things?
They made the right eye contact, laughed at your jokes, and acted like a stand-up guy.
But your gut felt iffy about the person??
Well, that’s not logical.
However, your body may be referencing a storehouse of experiences of past betrayals.
The subconscious mind noticed micro-body language moves by this person that it deemed suspicious.
And beyond logical analysis, it made a subjective conclusion that this person is shady.
This was a case where intuition and intellect were seen as enemies.
A lot of times, intuition and intellect do not agree.
And it comes down to a judgment call.
Is the Intuition Always Right?
There are times people use ‘intuition’ to justify their selfishness.
‘Oh, I ended up cheating on my husband because my heart told me to.’
With situations like this, I can completely see why people choose to view intellect in a much higher regard than intuition.
That’s because intuition is vague and cannot be measured.
It requires us to take the subject seriously.
‘Now what??’
Now it comes down to assessing the subject’s lifestyle.
I’ve noticed those who have a high ego, often confuse self-interest for intuition.
My simple question is:
- What is this person building?
What is one act they are doing in their lifestyle that forces them into a humble state?
Maybe it’s creating a business in the startup stages.
This proud person is constantly getting their ass kicked with their products not hitting while racking up negative reviews.
Humility is subtly being unlocked (hopefully).
Their ego gets humbled and they make a paradigm shift of:
‘How can I make more money’ -> ‘how can I offer more value?’
That paradigm shift allows them to stop only focusing on themselves:
- The pixel.
Now they can focus on others first, then themselves:
- Picture, then pixel.
With the big picture thinking, intuitive judgment rises at rapid rates.
So, ask yourself:
Is this person building anything that leads to continuous melting of the pride?
Intuition in Psychology
Intuition in psychology is a fascinating topic.
No 2 people have been through identical experiences.
However, there are certain things that humans have in common.
The best way to learn psychology is through curiosity.
The more curious you are, the more you learn things at rapid rates.
Those who stop learning begin decaying.
Curiosity and intuition are often best friends.
A person who is highly curious about knowing more eventually unlocks big picture thinking.
They never let credentials make them too proud.
To unlock your inner curiosity and build judgment towards intuition, be sure to check out my book:
- Modern Day Polymath
This book will teach you how to:
- Leverage the gut feeling.
- Be a lifelong learner.
- Study effectively.
- And make the intellect and heart best friends.
GRAB A COPY HERE!
