We use the term intuition for judgments (i) that are fast, (ii) whose mechanisms are usually unconscious but can eventually be made conscious, and (iii), that are nevertheless still strong enough to act upon. We argue that intuitions can be described with fast and frugal heuristics. These heuristics are process models that adaptively combine evolved capacities of the human brain with structures occurring in the environment. Models of heuristics can make predictions which systematically deviate from those of optimization models. The ecological rationality of heuristics, established as consequence of the match between mind and environment, allow predictions to be made about when less information can be better and thereby when intuitive judgments can be better than "rational" ones.

Resources: KOPS Uni Konstanz