Intuition: Its Powers and Perils

by David G. Myers

Book Overview

How reliable is our intuition? How much should we depend on gut-level instinct rather than rational analysis? In this engaging book, David G. Myers shows us that while intuition can provide us with useful--and often amazing--insights, it can also dangerously mislead us.
"Myers' book brilliantly establishes intuition as a legitimate subject of scientific inquiry."--Michael Shermer, Los Angeles Times Book Review
"A lively and thorough review...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0300103034
• ISBN13: 9780300103038
• Release Date: April 2004
• Publisher: Yale University Press
• Length: 336 Pages
• Weight: 0.62 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.9" x 5.1" x 7.7"

Customer Reviews

A fascinating read

This is an amazing book; it explains how and why we think and respond in ways that we do, and how much of our entire thought process takes place below the surface of our conscious mind. Myers takes the results from dozens of psychological studies and explains them in ways that are interesting and humorous. He also looks at which elements of our intuition we should question, and which are more reliable. His writing style is engaging, and I had a hard time putting the book down. It is a fascinating and relevant read.

Question your assumptions.

A lot of pop-psy books fall into the habit of reviewing basic information on the topic before getting to the meat of the book, which ends up being one or two chapters. Intuition is not like that at all. I felt there to be astounding information throughout the entire book. Some of the results of studies recounted in Intuition will make you give your "hunches" and degree of certainty a second thought next time. Some of what we believe just doesn't make sense - like fears of getting bitten by a shark or being in a plane crash; we should apparently worry more about slipping in the bathroom. The reference list is huge and has given me a great jumping off point to find out more information on specific topics covered.

Simpy fascinating

This is a book that will make you think and will challenge many of your perceptions. It's written in a clear, concise and entertaining style; Myers makes certain difficult concepts very understandable by using examples, logic and humor. Highly recommended!

Excellent overview of intuition, decision making and risk

Myers brings together a lot of research into a very readable book about "knowing." Myers explains to some degree how we know...and why we are likely to be correct. This is well documented although perhaps not as thorough as Sources of Power or Strangers Unto Ourselves by Wilson. Nevertheless there is plenty of meat here.Then he talks in much greater detail about how and when our intuition is likely to fail us. This is much more enjoyable reading and thorough in scope.Myers gives a significant amount of attention to ESP, psychic intuition and gambling, all of which are evenly presented and well thought out.If you have an interest in decision making, intuition, risk, and how we "think" this is a brilliant introduction.

What we know but dont know we know affects more than we know

Intuition is a hot topic. Today there are lots of trainers, coaches, consultants, and authors advocating the powers of intuition. 'Don't be too rational, trust you intuition!', they say. But how well-informed are these people about what intuition really is? To what extent can you rely on your intuition and to what extent should you be skeptical? In this book, David Myers, a well-known writer on psychology, explains what is known about intuition. WE KNOW MORE THAN WE KNOW WE KNOWWhat is it anyway? David Myers explains that intuition is our capacity for direct knowledge, for immediate insight without observation or reason. In contrast, deliberte thinking is reasoning-like, critical, and anlytic. So there are two levels of thinking:1. DELIBERATE THINKING: this level of thinking is conscious and analytical. It is very valuable because it helps us to focus on what is really important and protects us from having to think about everything at once. It is as it where the mind's executive desk. 2. INTUITION: this unconscious level is automatic. It seems, inside our minds there are processing systems that work without us knowing it. To use a metafor by David Myers: we effortlessly delegate most of our thinking and decisions making to the masses of cognitive workers busily at work in our minds's basement. These processes enables us, for instance, to recognize instantly, among thousands of humans, someone we have not seen in five years. We do know, but we don't know how we know. WHAT WE KNOW, BUT DON'T KNOW WE KNOW, AFFECTS MORE THAN WE KNOWBoth ways of knowing are present within each person. Often they support eachother, sometimes they lead to conflicting conclusions. One thing is important: we tend to underrate how much of our actions are guided by unconsicous thinking. A vast proportion of our behavior is under control of unconscious perception and information processing. This 'automaticity of being' helps us through most of the situations we encounter (you type without consciously knowing where exactly the letters on your keyboard are; you'd have to 'ask your fingers` to know where they are). What's more, it is even so that we can process and be influenced by unattended information (for instance you had not noticed someone talking at a party until s/he mentioned your name, then you suddenly noticed this). Furthermore, we sometimes unconsciously continue processing information regarding problems (after having stopped trying to remember a name, we sometimes 'suddenly` remember it). WE DON'T SEE THINGS AS THEY ARE, WE SEE THINGS AS WE AREIntuition is powerful and important and often it will pay to 'listen to your heart`. But intuition also often errs. An important example is that our theories and assumptions distort our perceptions and interpretations. For instance if we hold a stereotype about a certain category of people, we unknowingly tend to selectively perceive what they do. We tend to notice information that confirms the stereotype more readily than o