Proceedings of the Annual Meeting of the Cognitive Science Society

We approach some decisions (e.g., choosing an investment plan) by deliberating about our options, and others (e.g.,choosing dessert) by relying on intuition. In a study with 259 participants evaluating hypothetical decisions, we investigatefactors that predict whether deliberation and/or intuition is judged appropriate. We find that participants are more inclinedto endorse deliberation, and less inclined to endorse intuition, when they believe the means and ends involved in a decisioncan be objectively evaluated (consistent with Inbar, Cone, & Gilovich, 2010). We also find that violations of coherence(i.e., endorsing contradictory beliefs about a decision) predict higher ratings for intuition, as does belief that a givendecision reflects ones identity. These findings hold after adjusting for perceived effort, importance, and stakes. We suggestthat deliberation is judged appropriate when people believe that norms governing rational action apply, and we considerthe implications for real-world decision-making.