Self-Perceived High Intuitiveness: An Initial Exploration

Abstract

This article presents the results of an exploratory and qualitative examination of the beliefs, experiences and alleged abilities of 50 individuals claiming to be highly intuitive. Participants offered three distinct mechanisms to explain how their intuition works—psychological, psychic, and spiritual. They reported relying on intuition mainly to judge the personality of strangers and predict the outcome of future events. Most could not recall instances of their intuitive judgments failing, and believed it was always wise to act on an intuition. Almost all reported believing that the onset of intuition was uncontrollable, but could be enhanced by becoming more receptive to one's “gut feelings.” These results are discussed in terms of developing a more detailed and ecologically valid understanding of intuition.