The Perils of Intuition

[IdeasNotTheProblem]

"It's true that our intuitive information processing powers are impressive for their efficiency, yet it is also true that they are prone to predictable errors and misjudgments."- (Intuition Its Powers and Perils. GREG G MYERS)


How have the perils of intuition affected you?(if at all)


I'll use a personal observation as a simplified example. While framing a house this week(for a wonderful Australian couple!), I was walking along the beams and top plates of the walls that would support the second floor(about 6inches wide and 10-12feet in the air). At the start of the day, my first intuition was that of fear and apprehension, warning me of the dangers of walking such a narrow structure. As a result, the first steps were shaky and awkward. It required intense concentration as I carefully planned when and where I would place my next step. An hour later, when it was time for a coffee break, I walked one end of the house to the other and down the ladder with ease. Furthermore, at the end of the day, when all the floor joists were in place and any possibility of a fall was eliminated, walking along the same beam was as natural as walking down a side-walk.


In this case, personal experience(Si) and some logical reasoning(Ti) resulted in a new skill which then became intuitive. This new, (intuitive)skill effectively inhibited the reactions and emotions produced by my initial intuition.
(some co-workers are unable develop this comfort level)



Is developing intuition through knowledge and experience, the only way to successfully alter or inhibit ones previously held?
Can reason alone, have the same impact?

 

[BigApplePi]

"It's true that our intuitive information processing powers are impressive for their efficiency, yet it is also true that they are prone to predictable errors and misjudgments."- (Intuition Its Powers and Perils. GREG G MYERS)


How have the perils of intuition affected you?(if at all)


I'll use a personal observation as a simplified example. While framing a house this week(for a wonderful Australian couple!), I was walking along the beams and top plates of the walls that would support the second floor(about 6inches wide and 10-12feet in the air). At the start of the day, my first intuition was that of fear and apprehension, warning me of the dangers of walking such a narrow structure. As a result, the first steps were shaky and awkward. It required intense concentration as I carefully planned when and where I would place my next step. An hour later, when it was time for a coffee break, I walked one end of the house to the other and down the ladder with ease. Furthermore, at the end of the day, when all the floor joists were in place and any possibility of a fall was eliminated, walking along the same beam was as natural as walking down a side-walk.

In this case, personal experience(Si) and some logical reasoning(Ti) resulted in a new skill which then became intuitive. This new, (intuitive)skill effectively inhibited the reactions and emotions produced by my initial intuition.
(some co-workers are unable develop this comfort level)

Is developing intuition through knowledge and experience, the only way to successfully alter or inhibit ones previously held?
Can reason alone, have the same impact?

I see intuition as an all at once focus on what is true about a something placed in some context. It's the opposite of analysis where we look inside something. Instead I would like to frame it as looking to the context.

Let's see it this works. You are walking along a beam. The truth of this (intuition, Ni) is to keep walking, balanced without falling. Like all intuition it's not certain of success but it looks good. The context is the balance and the possibility of falling. For the INTP (are you?), yes there is Ti and Si. Your story is Ne. But I'm thinking of something else: not a personality type, but a few moments in time. Like so:

The focus of the moment is Ni. You may not be an INTJ (Ni Te Fi Se), but you are using Ni Te in this moment in time. The thinking is you have a reason for making this walk (Te). Notice the Fi ("fear and apprehension"). Continuing along this thought, not sure how Se would apply. Ni and Se go together. One could say this is strongly Si, but I'm not expressing this well. Si comes into play only AFTER you take a few steps.

This strange interpretation feeds into an Ni I have, namely "Hierarchical Type Theory" which I mentioned a few weeks ago but don't feel too inspired to post about.

Please don't feel I am correct here just because I said it. This intuitive idea of mine has its perils: If type theory has been around for so long, why hasn't anyone else thought of it? I can't believe experts would favor me. Adymus wouldn't like it. Auburn would ignore it.

 

[IdeasNotTheProblem]

I see intuition as an all at once focus on what is true about a something placed in some context. It's the opposite of analysis where we look inside something. Instead I would like to frame it as looking to the context.

Let's see it this works. You are walking along a beam. The truth of this (intuition, Ni) is to keep walking, balanced without falling. Like all intuition it's not certain of success but it looks good. The context is the balance and the possibility of falling. For the INTP (are you?), yes there is Ti and Si. Your story is Ne. But I'm thinking of something else: not a personality type, but a few moments in time. Like so:

The focus of the moment is Ni. You may not be an INTJ (Ni Te Fi Se), but you are using Ni Te in this moment in time. The thinking is you have a reason for making this walk (Te). Notice the Fi ("fear and apprehension"). Continuing along this thought, not sure how Se would apply. Ni and Se go together. One could say this is strongly Si, but I'm not expressing this well. Si comes into play only AFTER you take a few steps.

This strange interpretation feeds into an Ni I have, namely "Hierarchical Type Theory" which I mentioned a few weeks ago but don't feel too inspired to post about.

man I hate that, I clicked "submit reply" and lost the whole message...sorry for the lazy 2nd try.

I understand my post may have been confusing with regards to the whole Ne/Ni aspect. I believe that all functions assigned to a particular type, simply imply a cognitive preference and by no means would restrict an INTP from using Ni,Fi,Se or Te(your theory may illustrate this better).



While most intuition is learned through experience, some is predisposed in our instincts. It allows for quick decisions and for predicting potential outcomes. I'm thinking that many of the "perils" of intuition occur when there is an emotional element included in either the learned or predisposed intuition.(hence the Fi reference) The main reason being the way our emotions can increase memory- which would result in learning a behavior, skill or idea much faster, and therefore, with little thought or logical scrutiny. This is the reasoning used for describing my fear of walking along the beam as intuition.