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Chapter 9 - The Adaptive Function of Insight

from IV - After Insight

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 May 2024

By
Ruben E. Laukkonen
Edited by
Carola Salvi ,
Jennifer Wiley  and
Steven M. Smith
Carola Salvi
Affiliation:
John Cabot University, Rome
Jennifer Wiley
Affiliation:
University of Illinois, Chicago
Steven M. Smith
Affiliation:
Texas A & M University
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Summary

Insight experiences are powerful: They feel true, they are remembered, and they can shift our decisions and our beliefs. Feelings of insight are also accurate most of the time. However, recent work shows that it is possible to systematically induce false insights and even misattribute our Aha! moments to make false facts seem true. Insights, therefore, seem to be adaptive on average but error prone. This chapter suggests that these results can be integrated by thinking of insights as a metacognitive heuristic for selecting ideas from the stream of consciousness (dubbed the “Eureka heuristic”), reviews key findings about the accuracy of insights and where and why insights go wrong, and discusses implications for our understanding of the development of delusions, false beliefs, and misinformation. Ultimately, understanding the role that feelings of insight play in human cognition may make us better decision-makers in an uncertain world.

Keywords

insightahaheuristicsbiasesdecisionscreativityproblem solving
Type
Chapter
Information
The Emergence of Insight , pp. 183 - 198
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2024

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