Gut Feelings

This book is grounded in cutting-edge research, and its message is conveyed through compelling, real-life examples.

An engaging explanation of the science behind Malcolm Gladwellas bestselling "Blink"
Gerd Gigerenzer is one of the researchers of behavioral intuition responsible for the science behind Malcolm Gladwellas bestseller "Blink," Gladwell showed us how snap decisions often yield better results than careful analysis. Now, Gigerenzer explains why our intuition is such a powerful decision-making tool. Drawing on a decade of research at the Max Plank Institute, Gigerenzer demonstrates that our gut feelings are actually the result of unconscious mental processesaprocesses that apply rules of thumb that weave derived from our environment and prior experiences. The value of these unconscious rules lies precisely in their difference from rational analysisathey take into account only the most useful bits of information rather than attempting to evaluate all possible factors. By examining various decisions we makeahow we choose a spouse, a stock, a medical procedure, or the answer to a million-dollar game show questionaGigerenzer shows how gut feelings not only lead to good practical decisions, but also underlie the moral choices that make our society function.
In the tradition of "Blink" and "Freakonomics, Gut Feelings" is an exploration of the myriad influences and factors (nature "and" nurture) that affect how the mind works, grounded in cutting-edge research and conveyed through compelling real-life examples.