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KahnemanMental model

When expert intuition can be trusted

Экспертная интуиция · Когда можно доверять интуиции

Two conditions: a regular, predictable environment AND fast, clear feedback. Only when both hold can intuition become genuinely reliable.

Plain explanation

Firefighters, chess masters, and ER doctors develop real intuition because the world reliably tells them when they're wrong. Stock pickers, geopolitical forecasters, and book editors usually don't - the feedback is slow, noisy, or absent, and «experience» is just years of getting away with bad calls.

Why it matters

Don't dismiss intuition. Don't worship it either. Ask: «in this domain, does reality teach the practitioner?» If yes, trust intuition. If no, trust process.

Practical example

An anaesthetist with 20 years of experience is genuinely better at intuitive risk reading. A pundit with 20 years of geopolitical commentary is not - there's no calibration loop.

How to use
  1. 1Before trusting your or anyone's «gut», check: regular environment + fast feedback. Both?
  2. 2Where feedback is absent, replace intuition with explicit decision protocols.
Read the original book

This part of the knowledge base is inspired by the book. Go to the Ukrainian edition to explore the concept in depth.

Source notes
  • · Методичка по Канеману - когда экспертная интуиция работает