Meta‐analytic Investigations of the Relation Between Intuition and Analysis

Abstract

Over 50 years of research on cognitive style has converged on the importance of individual differences in use of intuition and analysis. This program of research is characterized, however, by two incompatible perspectives about the relation between intuition and analysis. The distinction concerns whether intuition and analysis are opposite poles of a single dimension or whether they are orthogonal constructs. Two studies report meta‐analytic investigations of the relation between intuition and analysis. A meta‐analysis of the existing research base (k = 80; n = 27 501) showed that intuition and analysis are uncorrelated. A second meta‐analysis of combinations of subscales from different cognitive style measures (n = 511) supported the results of the first meta‐analysis. Confirmatory factor analysis also supported the existence of two uncorrelated constructs. Overall, the findings support the view that intuition and analysis are independent constructs, rather than opposite ends of a bipolar continuum. In addition, the findings suggest measures of analysis or rationality are not interchangeable. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Assessment of the affective and rational bases for urgent decision-making under extreme circumstances

“…Conversely, the rational urgent decision factor was positively associated with conscientiousness, and negatively associated with neuroticism, openness to experience, and extraversion. Finally, the differences in the associations between urgent decisions and the Big Five and between generalized decision making tendencies and the Big Five (Wang et al, 2015) support the notion that the construct urgent decision making under extreme circumstances and the construct generalized preference for decision making are different from each other. In this sense, these differences show that the hypothesized need for an instrument to measure urgent decisions is well-founded.…”

“…Firstly, taking into account that the BUDECI assesses the affective and rational bases for urgent decision-making under extreme circumstances, the scores of the affective urgent decision factor and the scores of the rational urgent decision factor were positively associated with the scores of PID tendency to intuition and the scores of PID tendency to deliberation, respectively. Secondly, on the whole, the affective urgent decision and rational urgent decision factors were associated with the Big Five factors similarly to the way the Big Five factors were associated with the generalized disposition to intuition and to rationality (Wang et al, 2015). However, it is noteworthy that other associations were found between urgent decisions and the Big Five.…”

“…Regarding discriminant validity, the Big Five model is associated with measures of generalized reasoning dispositions. A meta-analysis showed the confidence intervals of the correlations of intuition and rationality with the Big Five, and showed that, in general, both decision-making tendencies are positively associated with four of the factors of the Big Five, respectively, but not with emotional stability (Wang, Highhouse, Lake, Petersen, & Rada, 2015). According to the same study, intuition tends to have higher correlations with extraversion, while rationality tends to have higher correlations with conscientiousness and openness.…”

Paradoxes and Dual Processes: A Review and Synthesis

“…Wang et al .’s () recent meta‐analysis reviewed evidence relating to the validity of the unitary vs. dual models. From a database of 80 studies ( N = 27,501) Wang et al .’s () analyses showed clearly that intuition and analysis are uncorrelated, thereby strongly supporting the dual model. Wang and colleagues () concluded that their findings are consistent with previous research supporting a dual view (e.g.…”

Making Sense of a Most Popular Metaphor in Management: Towards a HedgeFox Scale for Cognitive Styles

“…They propose that analytical and intuitive processes are independent dimensions that fulfill different functions, and recent studies support this conceptualization (Akinci and Sadler-Smith 2013;Hodgkinson et al 2009;Wang et al 2017). In their meta-analysis, Wang et al (2017) show the independence of the analysis and intuition constructs. These results are underpinned by Simon (1987, p. 61), who states:…”