The Smell Test and Gut Feelings: Understanding Intuition in Decision-Making

At a conference in Gettysburg, 300 Republicans and 300 Democrats were supposed to meet and mingle without being mean to each other. The event featured a super liberal speaker from the CDC and a super conservative speaker who didn't agree with the liberal's views. They mentioned the concept of the 'smell test' and how it relates to trusting one's gut feelings. However, relying solely on intuition can lead to more mistakes as feelings can be misattributed to unrelated experiences. Additionally, people tend to favor information that aligns with their existing beliefs. Therefore, encountering conflicting information can feel uncomfortable and disrupt thinking.