Switching Cognitive Gears : How Intuitive Interruptions Benefit Analytic Processes During Complex Decision Making

The interaction between the two cognitive modes—the automatic, intuitive mode, and the conscious, analytic mode—has been a long-standing debate in the psychological fields. In a seminal paper, Louis and Sutton (1991) suggested that cognitive switches from the default automatic mode (“intuition”) to the conscious mode (“analysis”) could improve decisions. We develop a complementary theoretical perspective titled intuitive interruptions in the context of complex managerial decisions when analysis is the default mode. Combining hints in extant literature with decision thought experiments, we propose that a way for managerial decision makers to enjoy the complementarities between analysis and intuition is to allow intuitions to interrupt the default analytic processes of complex decision making—that is, to switch from the conscious, analytic mode to the automatic, intuitive mode, and then to switch back. Such intuitive interruptions focus and redirect subsequent analysis and consequently improve decision quality in situations of information overload and information insufficiency. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed