SafetyInsights.org

Extracts from Gary Klein’s ‘Seeing What Others Don’t’, about how insights and intuitions emerge, or don’t.

Based on cases examined by Klein:

·        Insights failed to emerge when some “fixated on some erroneous ideas that blinded them to the discovery”

·        “The strategy for the successful twins seemed to be to speculate and test, whereas the failure twins clung to the flawed belief and wouldn’t let go of it”

·        “We’re likely to miss the insight if we rely on a flawed belief, either in a theory or in data, and we make it worse if we’re pigheaded and fixate on that belief”

·        “The more central the belief is to our thinking, the harder it is to give up”

·        “We are much more likely to explain away any anomalies rather than revise our beliefs in the face of them”

·        “17 out of the 30 failure twins simply lacked the experience to see the implications and gain the insight”

·        “Experience isn’t just about having the necessary knowledge. Experience is about how we use our knowledge to tune our attention”

·        “Our background can sensitize us to cues or patterns that others might miss”

·        “People with a generally prepared mind haven’t done specific homework to get ready for their insight. Rather, their efforts and their interests have prepared them to notice things others miss”

·        “Many of the failure twins seemed passive. They took care of the necessary tasks but didn’t actively scan for new developments and opportunities”

·        “The active stance twins were open to data and inquiry, collecting new data” whereas “The twins with the passive stance didn’t even inquire”

·        “People differ in how well they tolerate contradictions and ambiguity, and this personality style likely affects their success at gaining insights”

·        Concrete thinkers, “just want to work with the facts, not with flights of fancy”

·        “This concrete reasoning style wouldn’t leave people very open to insights”

·        “The playful reasoning style likes to juggle ideas and imagine hypothetical scenarios”

·        “This personality trait is about having a playful mind and enjoying speculations about hypothetical situations”

·        Hence, insights emerge where people entertain the improbable and imagine the impossible

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Ref: Klein, G. 2017, Seeing What Others Don’t.