Analytical Intuitive Thinking Determine Your Thinking Process

Posted Jul 03, 2008

In 2002, Daniel Kahneman won the Nobel Prize in Economics. That was quite
remarkable because he is a psychologist. In his acceptance speech in Stockholm,
Sweden, he talked about people relying on reasoning out answers or intuitively
knowing answers.
Shane Fredericks designed a short quiz to try to identify a person's thinking mode
between analytical and intuitive processes. To determine your thinking mode, take
his Cognitive Reflection Test (CRT). Quickly jot down your answers to these three
questions:
1) If it takes 5 machines 5 minutes to make 5 widgets, how long would it take 100
machines to make 100 widgets? _______ minutes
2) In a lake, there is a patch of lily pads. Everyday, the patch doubles in size. If it
takes 48 days for the patch to cover the entire lake, how long would it take for the
patch to cover half the lake? _________ days
3) A bat and ball together cost $1.10. The bat costs $1.00 more than the ball. How
much does the ball cost? _________ cents
Now go to the PART II posting for the analytical and intuitive answers.
(See Shane Frederick, 2005, "Cognitive Reflection and Decision Making," Journal
of Economic Perspectives, 19(4), pages 25-42 and Daniel Kahneman, 2003, "Maps
of Bounded Rationality: Psychology for Behavioral Economists," American
Economic Review, 93(5), pages 1449-1475.)
If you haven't taken the CognitiveReflection Test (CRT), do so at the PART I posting
before continuing here.
The questions are designed so that one answer (the intuitive solution) immediately
comes to mind. The correct answer is the analytical solution, however. The most
common answers to Shane Fredericks' CRT questions are:
1

1) If it takes 5 machines 5 minutes to make 5 widgets, how long would it take 100
machines to make 100 widgets? _______ minutes
Analytical answer: 5 minutes
Intuitive answer: 100 minutes
2) In a lake, there is a patch of lily pads. Everyday, the patch doubles in size. If it
takes 48 days for the patch to cover the entire lake, how long would it take for the
patch to cover half the lake? _________ days
Analytical answer: 47 days
Intuitive answer: 24 days
3) A bat and ball together cost $1.10. The bat costs $1.00 more than the ball. How
much does the ball cost? _________ cents
Analytical answer: 5 cents
Intuitive answer: 10 cents
If you got two or three of the analytical answers, then you are an analytical thinker. If
you got none or one analytical answers, you are an intuitive thinker. Shane
found that the average number of analytical answers for Massachusetts Institute of
Technology students was 2.18. Since they tend to be engineering students, this is
not surprising. A Harvard choir group average was 1.43 and University of Toledo
student average was 0.57.
There are many decision-making activities in which it may be better to be an intuitive
thinker. Other situations favor analytical thinkers. What might be better for investing
decisions?