When Instinct Disguises Itself as Intuition

"Yet when we consider the human response to threat perception and human behavior under stress, a different picture emerges: What we often call intuition is actually instinct, a reflexive survival response generated from the oldest, least nuanced part of the brain. And when instinct disguises itself as intuition, it can lead us to misread situations, damage relationships, and make choices that feel self-protective in the moment but ultimately create more harm."

"Instinct originates from the reptilian brain-the structures responsible for survival behaviors. This part of the brain is fast, blunt, and binary. Its job is not accuracy; its job is survival. It asks a single question: "Am I safe?" And it answers in a simple binary way: yes or no. When the answer is "no," instinct activates fight, flight, or freeze before we can consciously process what's happening."

"We tend to think that we feel emotions because of external stimuli. But the James-Lange theory of emotions suggests a reciprocal process that sometimes works in reverse. That is, the process may start with a physical sensation (perhaps the hairs on the back of our neck standing up) that creates an emotional interpretation ("I must be under threat"). This reciprocity can muddy the waters."

Human instinct is a fast, primitive survival reflex originating in the reptilian brain that responds to perceived threat with binary answers of safety and triggers fight, flight, or freeze. Emotions can arise from bodily sensations, per the James-Lange theory, so physical responses can create emotional interpretations and sometimes reverse the expected stimulus-to-emotion order. Intuition differs by integrating information across the broader sensory network and is more complex than reflexive instinct. Confusing instinct for intuition can lead to misreading situations, damaging relationships, and making choices that feel protective in the moment but produce greater harm over time.

Read at Psychology Today