Cilia Witteman, University of Nijmegen, Netherlands

Abstract: Clinical Intuition: utility and pitfalls

Everybody, including all clinical professionals, uses their intuition; people are definitely not always good at being rational. And why not: If the learning that underlies intuition has been thorough, dedicated, and has taken place in representative situations with adequate feedback, then intuitions can be trusted. Of course such learning does not always happen, in which cases intuition leads astray. Still: making errors is not the prerogative of intuition; rational thinking may also lead to mistaken decisions. Often professional clinicians will combine the use of intuition with System 2, rational processes. I will illustrate these ideas with our own and others’ research findings.