Reasoning, logic, and intuition: The keys to effective decision-making

When faced with a difficult decision, it can be helpful to understand the hierarchy of your thought processes. The six-level hierarchy of reasoning, logic, intuition, assertion, fate, and magical thinking. Each of these levels can be used in combination with each other or alone depending on the circumstances; for example, your reasoning may lead you to consider untried, intuitive solutions, or to fall back on familiar routines. Here’s how you can use each of these levels effectively as part of your decision-making.

Reasoning

Reasoning is based on open-ended consideration of facts, opinions, insights, beliefs and assumptions, to determine alternative courses of action. It is not a decision process in itself, but it provides a framework for making decisions. It can be formalised as an analytic process that considers alternatives with regard to factual information, risks, possible outcomes and their relative merits (costs and benefits). The decision-maker identifies and assesses the various options, calculates consequences, and then selects the option which seems most appropriate given its utility relative to other available options.

The focus of reasoning is on evidence rather than emotions or intuitions, so the logic step is used to evaluate arguments. If a person has to make a decision quickly, they might use intuition instead. Intuition: Intuition is quick and automatic thinking without deliberate reasoning from sense data or prior experience. It may be defined as cognition without comprehension; knowledge without awareness; insight without intention.

Logic

The "logic" decision process is needed for drawing conclusions from premises. In this case, one should ask what constitutes a sound argument and if the conclusion follows logically from the premises. Logic can be seen as a formal reasoning process, but it has an informal aspect to it as well (for example, in debating).

One of the most common logical fallacies is attacking the person making an argument instead of their arguments. Another common fallacy is to conclude that because B follows A then A must-have caused B. These are both wrong because they don’t follow logical reasoning standards, though they may seem plausible at first glance. There are many ways to prove something through logic, so logic is not always as straightforward as it seems. For example, there might be two people with opposite views on a controversial issue who will use different types of arguments in order to prove their points.

Intuition

Intuition is unconscious thinking that emerges as potentially useful insights, hunches, and guesses. A decision using intuition occurs when a person feels certain about something, but doesn't know why. Intuition can be a quick, or slow process.

Quick intuition is called thin slicing. A person takes a small sample of information and judges it to decide what to do without much reflection or contemplation. Slow intuition can come from hours of thoughtful contemplation before the pieces fall into place and possible decisions emerge. Intuitive processes are based on pattern recognition and past experience.

The problem with relying too heavily on intuition is that patterns might not always work in new situations. You may also have difficulty articulating your intuitive reasoning because you're so used to relying solely on this cognitive process. Be aware of when you should listen to your gut instinct, or when you should take time for deliberation and testing intuitive thinking to verify its usefulness.

Assertion

People make assertions when they express opinions or beliefs, without evidence, as if they are facts. An assertion is a statement made with no justification, other than someone’s personal feelings or experience. If you walk into a room and exclaim that it’s hot in there, you are making an assertion, as you are not referencing any specific evidence to support your claim. In order for your argument to be valid, you need to provide some type of reasoning for why it's hotter in the room than elsewhere.

Assertions can be either true or false based on one's opinion; therefore, asserting something does not necessarily mean that it is true. The only way to determine whether or not an assertion is true would be to provide a logical explanation and then use reason to judge its validity. For example, sales people often make assertions to boost their product or service: do you accept their claims at face value or check them out? Salespeople may have spent years perfecting their pitch, but that doesn't mean their assertions are necessarily accurate. It's always worth checking out assertive statements with logic and reason before blindly accepting what someone says.

Fate

Many people avoid decision-making and, instead, rely on the hand of fate to guide them. Does spiritual guidance have a place in decision-making? Should we make decisions based on faith, or just follow our heads?

Fate is not usually considered to be a method of decision-making, but that doesn't stop people from praying for guidance, or reflecting on holy scriptures. Is there really a difference between a spiritual guru and a management guru? They both guide us through life with their wisdom. A guru may appear in different forms; as an older person who tells you how to live your life (such as a parent) or as a spirit animal. Management gurus often advise leaders on how they should run their organisations. Leadership gurus instruct managers on how they should behave at work.

Think of Fate broadly and openly as any decision process that relies on some resource outside oneself, like divination. Faith can also be defined as reliance on outside sources, so combining Faith and Fate yields an interesting result: Fate can mean two things depending on which part of speech it's used - either an outcome that cannot be changed because it was destined to happen, or reliance on an outside resource like prayer.

Magical Thinking

Puzzled by complexity, Magical Thinkers accept things at face value. They ascribe puzzling events to unknown influences and concoct explanations to make sense of their world, interpreting what they glean from their environment and rely on explanations and suggestions of others. Without understanding causation and mechanisms, magical thinkers seldom take responsibility for their decisions and actions.

The point at which this process becomes problematic is when there are many complex options and no clear indication of which one will work best. At this point, some form of logical thinking needs to be applied in order for a decision to be made. It's not about picking a winner, but about taking ownership for the decision-making process itself.

Once you start looking more closely at your options, you can use logic to decide between them, weighing the benefits and drawbacks of each choice until you find an option that seems to meet all your needs. If you're still having trouble deciding, then intuition might help: intuition is based on past experiences, and often leads us in the right direction.

The ultimate combo

If you want to improve the quality of decision-making, it is crucial that you consider these six levels of thinking. And if you want to make better decisions overall, combine any three of the six levels that come up most often in your decision-making process. Being aware which levels are in play when making decisions, and you will be on the right road.

Overall, effective decision-making requires a combination of reasoning, logic, and intuition. By considering all of the available information and being open to multiple perspectives, we can make better choices and improve our decision-making skills.