Intuitive Thinking Style Research Articles

A STUDY OF RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN INTUITION AND CREATIVITY

Main problem. At the moment, in post-Jungian personality typologies (socionics and MBTI) there are a lot of conflicting hypotheses regarding the intuition / sensory scale.Purpose. Purpose of this article was to testing the content of the Intuition/Sensing scale of Jungian personality types and, namely, the relationship between the Intuition pole and Imagination and Foresight.Methods. For this purpose, we have performed a correlation analysis of typological scales and the scales of the creative thinking model by Williams and the thinking styles model by Epstein.Results and their significance. The results of the analysis demonstrate a statistically significant relationship between the Intuition pole and Imagination. Consequently, it manifests itself in the fact that Intuitive people are more creative than Sensing types people. The Intuition/Sensing scale did not show any correlation with thinking styles by Epstein. According to Epstein, Intuitive thinking style correlateswith the Ethics pole, and Rational thinking style —with the Logic pole. These conclusions are also supported by the relationship between Intuitive thinking style by Epstein and high levels of Emotional Intelligence as measured with the RMET questionnaire. Another important result of this study is the examination of relationship between level of Creativity and Intuitive or Rational thinking styles by Epstein. The results of analysis have shown that high levels of Creativity correlate with high values of both Intuitive and Rational thinking. This suggests that people with a highly developed thinking ability, regardless of its style, are more creative.

The Role of Emotionality, Self-efficacy, Rational- and Intuitive- Thinking Styles in Advanced Chess Expertise

"Literature is scarce regarding the psychological predictors of chess expertise and A-level chess performance. Methods: A cross-sectional study was designed and conducted on a total number of 90 Hungarian and Romanian competitive chess players. More than half were males, the average age was 32.07 (SD=12.99). The study aimed to explore the predictive influence of age, gender, number of hours spent practicing, preferences for rational and intuitive thinking styles, self-efficacy, and emotionality on the likelihood of obtaining a publicly accessible ELO rating within the range of 1800-2500 (indicating at least A-level expertise or higher). Binary logistic regression was applied to examine the weight of each predictor. Results: The data evinced the statistically significant role of gender, and rational thinking style on A-level chess expertise and from all the conclusive predictors the most determinant was the rational thinking style which raised the chance of high expertise more than 60 times. Conclusions: Practice contributes positively to the development of A-level competence. However, the most crucial factor in predicting high chess expertise and performance is the preference for rational thinking style. Keywords: chess expertise, ELO rating, A-level, emotionality, self-efficacy, rational thinking, intuitive thinking, practice, adults"

Does the Cognitive Reflection Test Work with Chinese College Students? Evidence from a Time-Limited Study.

The cognitive reflection test (CRT) is an experiment task commonly used in Western countries to test intuitive and analytical thinking styles. However, the validity of this task for Chinese participants has not been explored. Therefore, this study recruited Chinese college students to finish CRT tasks with various experimental designs. To gauge the accuracy of the CRT tasks, 438 Chinese college students first completed online questionnaires. Participants were then invited to participate in an offline laboratory with the same experimental settings. Finally, time pressure was used to strictly control intuition and analytical thinking to explore the performance of Chinese college students on CRT tasks. The results show that of the three experiments, Chinese college students had the highest accuracy in the offline test, and the CRT's intuitive conflict problem still applies to Chinese students under the time-limited condition. This study demonstrates the validity of the CRT in China and proves that time pressure is an effective method for identifying individuals with strong logic ability.

Susceptibility to cancer misinformation: Predictors of false belief and false memory formation

AbstractPrevious research has shown that people sometimes come to believe in misinformation presented in the form of fake news, and even form false memories for the fabricated events described. This study aimed to investigate the effects of analytical reasoning, attitudes to complementary and alternative medicine, bullshit receptivity, and previous experience with cancer on the formation of false memory and false belief for cancer related misinformation. Participants (N = 466) were exposed to four fake news stories and four true news stories relating to cancer treatment and services. Male gender, low analytical reasoning, receptivity to bullshit, and endorsement of complementary and alternative medicine were all significant predictors of belief in cancer misinformation, while participants with poor analytical reasoning or higher receptivity to bullshit reported more false memories for fake news stories. These results indicate that reflexive, intuitive thinking styles contribute to susceptibility to cancer misinformation, suggesting a potential target for public health interventions.

Untangling the Mystery of Intuitive-Analytic Interactions in Crisis Response Operations: A Dual-Process Perspective

Whilst it is often claimed that experienced crisis responders are likely to adopt the intuitive and analytical thinking styles when solving complex problems in time-pressured crisis situations, scholarly efforts to explicate the nature of interactions between the intuitive and analytical modes remain sparse. To bridge this gap, we review four duality-based cognitive models and draw evidence from the Hudson River case study to better understand the patterns of the interplay between the intuitive and analytical information processing modes in time-pressured crisis situations. We found support for the dual-process theory, and note that although intuition is frequently deployed as the default cognitive mode in crisis situations, experienced crisis responders can exploit some features of the analytical mode to validate their intuitive tendencies when required. Based on evidence from the Hudson River case study, a range of intuitive-analytic tension points that largely explain the nature of interactions within the duality framework are identified. The paper concludes by discussing the implications of the dual-process information modes for crisis decision-making.

Focusing on fake news’ contents: The association between ingroup identification, perceived outgroup threat, analytical‐intuitive thinking and detecting fake news

AbstractThis study aims to reveal the fake news content in the context of the social identity approach and to examine the mediating role of perceived outgroup on the association between ingroup identification and detecting fake news blaming ingroup, outgroup, or fictional groups. Study 1 found that fake news could be gathered under six themes: contacted‐outgroup blaming, represented‐outgroup blaming, outgroup derogation, outgroup appreciation, ingroup glorification, and phantom‐mastermind blaming. In preregistered Study 2 with representative non‐weird participants (N = 216), we examined the mediating role of perceived outgroup threat on the association between ingroup identification and detecting fake news revealed in Study 1. Perceived outgroup threat was only mediating for detecting outgroup‐blaming fake news when intuitive and analytical thinking styles were controlled. Detecting ingroup‐blaming fake news was associated with ingroup identification. Analytical thinking predicted only detecting phantom‐mastermind‐blaming fake news. Findings demonstrated that the contents of fake news play a vital role in detecting them, and variables pointing to content (i.e., ingroup identification for ingroup‐blaming fake news, and perceived outgroup threat for outgroup‐blaming fake news) are predictive for detecting fake news.

Individual Differences in Argument Strength Discrimination

Being able to discriminate poorly justified from well justified arguments is necessary for informed citizenship. However, it is not known whether the ability to recognize argument strength generalizes across different types of arguments, and what cognitive factors predict this ability or these abilities. Drawing on the theory of argument schemes, we examined arguments from consequence, analogy, symptoms, and authority in order to cover all major types of arguments. A study (N = 278) on the general population in Finland indicated that the ability to discriminate between strong and weak arguments did not differ between these schemes. Argument strength discrimination ability correlated positively with analytic thinking dispositions promoting both quality and quantity of thinking, slightly positively with education, and negatively with overconfidence. It was unrelated to an intuitive thinking style, and to self-rated mental effort.

In the eye of the beholder: Decision-making of lawyers in cases of sexual harassment.

ObjectiveThe purpose of the present study was to examine the effect of deliberative vs. intuitive thinking styles on forensic judgments of legal professionals. Two hypotheses were tested: (a) that low deliberative thinking would be related to judgmental biases (b) that lawyers would report a greater tendency and preference toward deliberative thinking in comparison to students and make more rational judgments.MethodNinety-one lawyers and 120 undergraduate students, who served as controls, were asked to read a criminal case depicting sexual harassment (SH) and judge victim and offender blame, whether the case constitutes SH, and the damage for the victim.ResultsDeliberative thinking of lawyers was higher than students, and higher than their intuitive thinking style, supporting the more rational blame attributions of the former. In addition, higher deliberative thinking was related to a stronger perception of the event as SH. Nevertheless, all the participants were more inclined to perceive the case as SH when the victim was a woman instead of a man.ConclusionsThe results suggest that gender stereotypes and bias may persist despite high deliberative thinking and may even be manifested through deliberative thinking processes. Awareness of legal professionals of these biases as well as the development of more objective tools which will help make the judging process less subjective—will ensure more accurate assessment of victims, offenders, and cases.

Searching for the cognitive basis of anti-vaccination attitudes

Research on the reasons for vaccine hesitancy has largely focused on factors directly related to vaccines. In contrast, the present study focused on cognitive factors that are not conceptually related to vaccines but that have been linked to other epistemically suspect beliefs such as conspiracy theories and belief in fake news. This survey was conducted before the Covid-19 pandemic (N = 356). The results showed that anti-vaccination attitudes decreased slightly with cognitive abilities and analytic thinking styles, and strongly with scientific literacy. In addition, anti-vaccination attitudes increased slightly with teleological bias and strongly with an intuitive thinking style, ontological biases, and religious and paranormal beliefs. The results suggest that the same cognitive mechanisms that predispose to other epistemically suspect beliefs may predispose to anti-vaccination attitudes as well. The findings also indicate that pro-vaccination communication should focus on early prevention and that interventions against vaccine hesitancy should strive to be intuitively appealing.

The relations of reflective and intuitive thinking styles with task performance: A meta‐analysis

AbstractWe conducted a meta‐analysis to examine the relations of individual differences in reflective (or rational) and intuitive thinking styles with workplace task performance. We meta‐analyzed 113 effect sizes from 71 independent samples (N = 11,713). Results indicate that reflective thinking style has a positive and non‐zero meta‐analytic relation with task performance (ρ = .213). This positive relation is stronger in environments characterized by higher task complexity, greater importance of creativity and innovation for work tasks, and higher time pressure associated with work tasks. Intuitive thinking style, conversely, has a very small but positive meta‐analytic relation with task performance (ρ = .051), and this relation is stronger in environments characterized by higher task complexity. Finally, incremental validity analyses reveal that reflective thinking style explains unique variance in task performance, beyond conscientiousness and intelligence (general mental ability). Overall, this meta‐analysis demonstrates that reflective thinking style is an important antecedent to task performance.

The effect of rational-experiential thinking style on stock-flow performance: The mediating role of cognitive reflection

Stocks and flows are the foundations of dynamic systems. Understanding these mechanisms is essential in the lives of individuals. However, individuals often lack a good understanding of such systems. Previous studies have found that rational thinking as measured by cognitive reflection test (CRT) can positively influence stock-flow performance. CRT is an objective, 3-item scale for testing the level of rational thinking. However, it is unidimensional and does not assess rational and intuitive thinking styles, separately. Based on dual process theories, rational and intuitive styles are independent and separate with low correlations. To examine their separate effects, we designed a survey using Rational-Experiential thinking style test (REI-40). In addition, we examined the effect of ability and favorability as their sub-dimensions on stock-flow performance both directly and indirectly1through CRT. In total, 254 individuals participated in the study. The results provided support for the positive effect of rational thinking and negative effect of experiential (i.e., intuitive) thinking on stock-flow performance. Interestingly, the significant effects were related to the favorability sub-dimensions. Ability sub-dimensions had no significant effect on stock-flow performance. CRT partially mediated the effect of rationality dimension and its sub-dimension of rational favorability. It had no mediating effect on experientiality and its sub-dimensions. These results indicate that interest in rational thinking plays an important role in stock-flow performance. Furthermore, experiential ability has no negative effect on either CRT score or stock-flow performance. Rational favorability part of ERI-40 and CRT are most suitable for predicting performance in jobs related to stock-flow systems.

Intuition in Investment Decision-Making Across Cultures

Interest in the phenomenon of intuition in the fields of business and management has grown rapidly in recent years. However, whilst this subject has seen significant theoretical advances, empirical work in this area has tended to lag behind. Even fewer studies have examined intuition from a cultural and cross-cultural perspective. I studied the phenomenon of intuitive decision-making in the asset management sector through the use of in-depth semi-structured interviews (N = 42) and self-reported cognitive tests (N = 30) on a population of 72 experienced professional fund managers from both China and the West. The present research found that Chinese and Western fund managers were not significantly different in their preference for an intuitive cognitive thinking style. However, Chinese fund managers were more likely than Western fund managers to use intuition in their investment decision-making. It is thus concluded that the use of intuition is different from intuitive predisposition. In other words, individuals may have a dominant or preferred cognitive thinking style, whereas their decision-making behavior is influenced by the demands of the situation or task. Based on these findings, I update the typology of intuitive and contextual "signalling”, created by [Hensman, A., and E. Sadler-Smith. 2011. “Intuitive Decision Making in Banking and Finance.” European Management Journal 29 (1):51–66]. The updated typology provides a basis for practical recommendations and offers potential directions for future inquiries into this vital aspect of investment cognition and decision-making behavior.

Corruption, Fast or Slow? Ethical Leadership Interacts With Machiavellianism to Influence Intuitive Thinking and Corruption.

Ethical leadership has been suggested as an organizational factor that could reduce unethical behaviors in an organization. We extend this research by examining how and when ethical leadership could reduce followers’ corruption. We examined the moderating role of followers’ Machiavellianism and the mediating role of intuitive thinking style in the negative effect of ethical leadership on corruption. Across two different studies (field study and experiment), we found that ethical leadership decreases followers’ corruption (Studies 1 and 2) and that this negative effect is mediated by followers’ intuitive thinking style (Study 2). Furthermore, followers’ Machiavellianism moderated the direct negative effect of ethical leadership on corruption. However, the pattern of this moderation was not consistent. In Study 1, we found that ethical leadership has the strongest direct negative impact on corruption when followers’ Machiavellianism is high, whereas in Study 2, we found that ethical leadership has the strongest direct negative effect on corruption when followers’ Machiavellianism is low. The theoretical implications for corruption, ethical leadership, and information processing research, as well as practical implications for corruption prevention, will be discussed.

The Effect of Analytic Cognitive Style on Credulity.

Belief in astrology remains strong even today, and one of the explanations why some people endorse paranormal explanations is the individual differences in analytical thinking. Therefore, the main aim of this paper was to determine the effects of priming an analytical or intuitive thinking style on the credulity of participants. In two experiments (N = 965), analytic thinking was induced and the source of fake profile (astrological reading vs. psychological testing) was manipulated and participants’ prior paranormal beliefs, anomalous explanation, cognitive reflection, and depression were measured. Although analytic thinking was proved to be hard to induce experimentally, the results showed that analytic thinking predicts credulity and belief in the paranormal was linked with experiencing more anomalous experiences and more paranormal explanations. The more people were able to think analytically, the less credulous they were as reflected in the lower acceptance of fake profile as accurate.

Decision making processes underlying avoidance of mandatory child vaccination in Croatia - a qualitative study.

Despite extensive research evidencing child vaccination is safe and effective, we are witnessing a trend of increasing vaccine hesitancy which is listed among the top ten global health threats. Although some countries incorporate mandatory vaccination programs, no particularly efficient strategies for addressing vaccine avoidance have so far been identified. Within this study we investigated perceptions and reasoning of vaccine hesitant parents from Croatia where child vaccination is mandatory. The aims were to reveal different strategies by which they avoid mandatory vaccination schedules and hypothetical situations in which they would reconsider vaccinating, as well as to identify features of related decision-making. We conducted 25 semi-structured interviews with vaccine hesitant parents and analyzed the data using the framework of thematic analyses. The identified themes were related to the parents’ decision-making process, reflection as well as justification of their decision, avoidance behavior of mandatory vaccination schedules and related consequences, dealing with outcomes of the decision and reconsidering vaccinating. The results support and extend previous findings regarding vaccine reasoning, linking hesitancy with the experientially intuitive thinking style and social intuitionist model of moral reasoning. The findings provide important insights into vaccination avoidance and potential for reconsideration, as well as dealing with related risks. Furthermore, we offer a general framework as well as practical guidelines that may help the development of strategies aimed at increasing vaccination rates.Electronic supplementary materialThe online version of this article (10.1007/s12144-020-01110-7) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

Thinking Preferences and Conspiracy Belief: Intuitive Thinking and the Jumping to Conclusions-Bias as a Basis for the Belief in Conspiracy Theories.

BackgroundThe belief in conspiracy theories and paranoid ideation are often treated as almost synonymous. However, there is to date no research concerning shared underlying cognitive underpinnings of belief in conspiracy theories and paranoid ideation. One potential underlying factor could be the well-known jumping to conclusion (JTC) bias, the tendency of persons with delusions to perform hasty decisions that are sometimes based on little evidence. Furthermore, a preference for a more intuitive general thinking style, as opposed to an analytical thinking style, could be an additional underlying cognitive factor of both conspiracy theories and paranoia. Thus, the aim of the present study is to investigate in a large sample of non-clinical individuals whether the JTC-bias is more pronounced in individuals who display a stronger belief in conspiracy theories and whether both are related to a more intuitive thinking preference.MethodsWe assessed the data of 519 non-clinical individuals regarding their respective approval of 20 specific conspiracy theories in an online study. Further, we assessed the JTC-bias by using a computerized variant of the beads task (fish task). Thinking preferences were measured with the Rational-Experiential Interview.ResultsSubjects who displayed the JTC-bias presented a more pronounced belief in conspiracy theories. In addition, gathering little information in the fish task before performing a decision (less draws to decision) was related to a stronger endorsement of conspiracy theories and a more intuitive thinking style (and a less analytic thinking style). Finally, a preference for intuitive thinking predicted a stronger belief in conspiracy theories in a multiple regression analysis.ConclusionsOur results demonstrate the implication of a preference for an intuitive thinking style accompanied by a propensity to faster decision-making (JTC-bias) as possible cognitive underpinnings of beliefs in conspiracy theories. Furthermore, our study is the first to confirm the notion of the JTC-bias as a reflection of the use of an intuitive thinking style.

Divergent Thinking: The Role of Decision-Making Styles

ABSTRACT Divergent thinking involves the ability to find many different and new responses or solutions to open-ended problems. The ability to think divergently has been associated with different cognitive processes, including intuitive and rational thinking styles. However, research has not specifically addressed the extent to which divergent thinking is associated to decision-making styles, which involve habits to react in a certain way in specific decisional contexts. The present study was devoted to explore the relationships between verbal and visual divergent thinking, assessed using the Torrance Test of Creative Thinking, and decision-making styles (e.g., rational, intuitive, dependent, avoidant, and spontaneous), assessed using the General Decision-Making Style inventory. The scores of both verbal and visual divergent thinking (e.g., fluency, flexibility, originality; elaboration only for visual divergent thinking) were converted in z-scores and summed separately in order to get verbal and visual composite creative indices. Results revealed that only and rational decision-making style predicted both creative indices. This finding confirms the key role of rationality during the creative process. Possible explanations for the lack of significance of intuitive decision-making style are presented. Future research directions are also discussed.

The effect of brand identity-cognitive style fit and social influence on consumer-based brand equity

Purpose Brand identities have a dual nature that appeals to the head (rational appeal) and to the heart (emotional appeal) of their consumers. Furthermore, consumers can process information in a predominately analytic or intuitive cognitive style (CS) manner. This study aims to analyze the influence of brand identity-cognitive style (BI-CS) fit on the perceived value of a brand. It also analyzes how different forms of social influence affect the perceived value of the brand. Design/methodology/approach Using a two-step experimental design, Step 1 examines the effect that BI-CS fit has on consumer-based brand equity (CBBE); Step 2 evaluates the effect that the three elements of social influence–compliance, identification and internalization–have on CBBE. Findings Both the BI-CS fit, and the identification and internalization forms of social influence have a significant and positive effect over the perceived value of the brand. A rational brand identity is given a higher perceived brand value by analytic CS consumers than intuitive CS consumers. Conversely, an emotional brand identity is given a higher perceived brand value by intuitive CS consumers than analytic CS consumers. However, whether the brand identity is more emotional or rational is less important than the values and beliefs that the brand communicates to create social influence. Research limitations/implications This study contributes to the branding literature by introducing the CS concept to better understand the influence of emotional and rational brand identities on consumers with either rational or intuitive cognitive thinking styles and reinforce the importance of the brand duality concept. Practical implications The results demonstrate the importance of brand duality and show how firms could present emotional or rational brand identities depending on their consumers’ CS to increase the effectiveness of their messaging to build stronger brand images that increase the perceived value of the brand. These findings could have important implications for market segmentation. Originality/value Brand identities can be emotional or rational, and this creates more or less value depending on the consumers’ CS, but what is more important is that consumers internalize the brand’s message or identify with what the brand represents. Although this has been discussed in prior literature, the original contribution of this paper is tying all these concepts together.

It just doesn’t feel right – the relevance of emotions and intuition for parental vaccine conspiracy beliefs and vaccination uptake

Objective: Vaccine hesitancy has been identified as one of the major contributors to child under-vaccination. Research indicates that some hesitant parents’ mistrust extends to specific conspiracy ideation, but research on vaccine conspiracy beliefs is still scarce. Our objective was to explore factors contributing to parental vaccine conspiracy beliefs and actual vaccine uptake in children.Design: A cross-sectional correlational design with a non-probabilistic sample of 823 volunteer participants surveyed online.Main outcome measures: We focussed on the contributions of the analytically rational and experientially intuitive thinking styles, as well as measures of emotional functioning, namely optimism and emotions towards vaccination, to vaccine conspiracy beliefs and vaccine uptake as outcomes.Results: The obtained results showed that greater vaccine conspiracy beliefs were associated with stronger unpleasant emotions towards vaccination and greater experientially intuitive thinking, as well as lower levels of education. Furthermore, unpleasant emotions towards vaccination and intuitive thinking were associated with vaccine refusal.Conclusion: These findings confirm the primary importance of emotions, along with the propensity towards intuitive thinking, in the context of vaccine conspiracy beliefs and refusal, supporting the notion that parents’ avoidance is guided by their affect. These results have direct implications for addressing vaccine hesitancy within public campaigns and policies.

Gender role orientation, thinking style preference and facets of adult paranormality: A mediation analysis.

This study examines the extent to which masculine and feminine gender role orientations predict self-reported anomalous experiences, belief, ability and fear once relevant correlates including biological sex are controlled for. The extent to which rational versus intuitive thinking style preference mediates these relationships is also examined. Path analysis (n = 332) found heightened femininity directly predicts stronger intuitive preference plus more anomalous experiences, belief and fear with, additionally, intuitive preference mediating several gender role-paranormality relationships. By comparison, heightened masculinity directly predicts both thinking styles plus lower anomalous fear. The latter relationship is also shaped by the nature of mediators with (a) more anomalous experiences and belief associated with more anomalous fear and (b) either heightened rationality else more anomalous ability linked to, conversely, less anomalous fear. The extent to which findings support a gender (or social) role account of adult paranormality, together with methodological limitations and ideas for future research, is discussed.