We are getting closer to finding out how our mind (in the broadest sense) operates in making decisions. And intuition plays a major role. For sometime now we have had Epstein’s dual processing model of rational and experiential cognitive systems and now we have a summary of the three decades or more of research by Daniel Kahneman in his Nobel Prize acceptance lecture in 2002.

Kahneman sees intuitive and rational thinking operating together to produce decisions and judgments. In his acceptance lecture, Kahneman described “two generic modes of cognitive function: an intuitive mode in which judgments and decisions are made automatically and rapidly, and a controlled mode, which is deliberate and slower.”

According to Kahneman, there are four ways in which an individual can make a judgment or decision:

1. No intuitive response comes to mind, and the judgment is produced by the controlled mode, i.e., rational, logical thinking;
2. An intuitive judgment happens and is endorsed by the controlled mode;
3. An intuitive judgment happens and serves as an anchor for adjustments that respond to other features of the situation, i.e., is modified by the controlled mode; or
4. An intuitive judgment happens and is identified as incompatible with a subjectively valid rule, and blocked from overt expression thus leading to a requirement for the controlled mode to solve the problem.

Kahneman says that the relative frequencies of these ways, from most to least frequent, is #2 - #3 - #1 - #4

If we go overboard in imposing rigid, “scientific” thinking on community coalitions, we may be hindering them in their decision making, or, as worst, causing them to adopt two sets of “books.” One set of books are formal documentations and is shown to the sources of their funds; the other set is the informal ones of how things really get done.

Instead we need to work in assisting individuals and teams, such as coalitions to improve and develop both intuitive and rational decision making skills.