Behavioral and Brain Sciences



Short Communication

Introspection and intuition in the decision sciences


Daniel John Zizzo a1
a1 Department of Economics, University of Oxford, Oxford, OX1 3UQ, United Kingdom daniel.zizzo@economics.ox.ac.uk http://www.econ.ox.ac.uk/Research/Ree/ZizzoWebpage.htm

Abstract

Self-experimentation is uncommon in the decision sciences, but mental experiments are common; for example, intuition and introspection are often used by theoretical economists as justifications for their models. While introspection can be useful for the generation of ideas, it can also be overused and become a comfortable illusion for the theorist and an obstacle for science.