When a person makes a decision without conscious reasoning, they are
options:
A deciding rationally.
B anchoring and adjusting.
C relying on intuition.
D maximizing.
The correct answer and explanation is:
Correct Answer: C) relying on intuition.
When a person makes a decision without conscious reasoning, they are relying on intuition. Intuition refers to the ability to understand or know something immediately, without the need for deliberate thought or rational analysis. It is often described as a “gut feeling” or instinct that guides behavior or choices, especially in situations requiring quick judgment.
Intuitive decision-making is shaped by past experiences, pattern recognition, and emotional responses. Rather than analyzing all possible outcomes, a person relying on intuition draws on internalized knowledge and subconscious processing to arrive at a decision. For example, a firefighter may instinctively know when to evacuate a burning building based on subtle cues without logically evaluating every factor in the moment — this is intuition at work.
Let’s compare intuition to the other options:
- A) Deciding rationally involves logical analysis, weighing pros and cons, and using conscious thought processes. This is the opposite of intuitive decision-making.
- B) Anchoring and adjusting is a cognitive bias in which a person relies too heavily on the first piece of information (the “anchor”) and makes adjustments from that point. While this is a form of heuristic (mental shortcut), it still involves some degree of conscious thought, unlike pure intuition.
- D) Maximizing refers to a strategy where a person seeks the best possible outcome by exhaustively searching through all options. This requires deliberate, effortful analysis and is the opposite of relying on quick, subconscious judgment.
In many real-life situations, especially under time pressure or with incomplete information, people tend to rely on intuition to make efficient, though not always perfect, decisions. It plays a crucial role in expertise-based fields, creativity, and fast-paced environments.