Turns out there’s real science to the phrase “trust your gut.” Your gut feeling or intuition is actually not in your gut at all but seated deep in your subconscious, the part of your brain that you are not consciously aware of. Your brain stores and filters through so much information that it would be incredibly inefficient to have access to all of it all of the time. Instead, your subconscious mind makes decisions and processes information that your conscious mind is not even aware of. And oftentimes we are left aware of the decision, without understanding how we came to it.
In the book “Blink: The Power of Thinking Without Thinking,” Malcolm Gladwell shares an example of intuition in action with an extraordinary scientific experiment by John Gottman and his “love lab.” Couples were instructed to spend 15 minutes discussing any topic that had become a point of contention between them. Then, based on that limited conversation alone, Gottman was able to predict with 95% accuracy whether or not that couple will still be together in 15 years. The science behind it is simple — intuitive, even. When instructed to argue, couples exhibit subtle cues of deeper patterns that Gottman and his lab analyzed to predict the longevity of the relationship. A seemingly agreeable couple may exhibit contempt with “yes, but” phrases and subtle eye-rolling. Gottman would start calling divorce attorneys. Another couple may exhibit anger and argue in-depth, but can still credit the other with good deeds and helpful actions. These indicate a long relationship. Gottman is able to make these predictions after years of analysis. But now he can make his predictions intuitively by being aware of one subtle and fleeting emotion: contempt.
SOURCE: https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/articles/200705/gut-almighty
SOURCE: https://www.dailyom.com/cgi-bin/display/librarydisplay.cgi?lid=1959
Right click and “save image as” to share the gift of knowledge!
