Hi kdag
I agree (and have said as much) that the gut should be trusted sometimes, and I agree that many (most) people will sense that something is wrong during an LGAT, but ignore that gut feel for various "reasons". Ironically, these other "reasons" are intuitions or "gut feelings" themselves... such as "not wanting to go against the group", or "not wanting to be accused of being arrogant... or a 'know-it-all'", or "not wanting to be labeled a quitter", or "feeling that it would only be fair to judge the training after participating fully".
LGATs constantly tell participants that their thinking is faulty and that they should trust "experience", "natural knowing", or some equivalent. These are just synonyms for "your gut", and the evidence of this tactic is laid out clearly in my PhD (more so than in the book) for anyone who would like to consider the evidence.
LGATs do mess with your intuition as well - we agree on this and this is exactly what I argue - but they devalue and disable critical thinking (rationality) through their doctrine, through sleep disruption, through limiting bathroom breaks, through an overload of (pretentious and convoluted "philosophy"), through restrictions on eating, and through exhausting participants mentally, physically, and emotionally. As Kahneman (a scientist... and a very good one... demonstrates... with evidence), these tactics result in ego-depletion (the disabling of the prefrontal cortex... the rational mind... or "System 2"). The elaboration likelihood model (which I explain in my PhD and book) reveals the problems with trusting your gut, and the conditions which make it more likely that you will trust your gut when you really shouldn't. LGATs do everything they can to get participants to trust their guts because they know that they can slip erroneous ideas (and obligations) past participants' rational defences when they believe (and are exhausted to the point) that they should "trust their guts".
We are on the same team, and I realise that you're not trying to push people towards LGATs (I've read your posts and agree with pretty much everything you've said), but both that book and Blink place too great an emphasis on intuition without warning readers sufficiently of the risks. Many people (intuitively) believe that they should trust their guts, and so it is not a tough sell to convince people that their guts are a reliable substitute for rationality. Engaging the rational mind (System 2) requires cognitive effort and, because people will generally take the path of least resistance it is far easier to convince people to trust their guts than to put the effort in, to consider all of the evidence, and to engage the rational mind.
LGATs do not promote logic - they cause participants to outsource their thinking to the trainers over time, and to accept "logic" that would never be accepted under less extreme conditions, or after unpressurised and careful consideration. This is not the same thing as promoting logic - it is intuition disguised as logic, which... like everything LGATs do... is highly manipulative.
I agree (and have said as much) that the gut should be trusted sometimes, and I agree that many (most) people will sense that something is wrong during an LGAT, but ignore that gut feel for various "reasons". Ironically, these other "reasons" are intuitions or "gut feelings" themselves... such as "not wanting to go against the group", or "not wanting to be accused of being arrogant... or a 'know-it-all'", or "not wanting to be labeled a quitter", or "feeling that it would only be fair to judge the training after participating fully".
LGATs constantly tell participants that their thinking is faulty and that they should trust "experience", "natural knowing", or some equivalent. These are just synonyms for "your gut", and the evidence of this tactic is laid out clearly in my PhD (more so than in the book) for anyone who would like to consider the evidence.
LGATs do mess with your intuition as well - we agree on this and this is exactly what I argue - but they devalue and disable critical thinking (rationality) through their doctrine, through sleep disruption, through limiting bathroom breaks, through an overload of (pretentious and convoluted "philosophy"), through restrictions on eating, and through exhausting participants mentally, physically, and emotionally. As Kahneman (a scientist... and a very good one... demonstrates... with evidence), these tactics result in ego-depletion (the disabling of the prefrontal cortex... the rational mind... or "System 2"). The elaboration likelihood model (which I explain in my PhD and book) reveals the problems with trusting your gut, and the conditions which make it more likely that you will trust your gut when you really shouldn't. LGATs do everything they can to get participants to trust their guts because they know that they can slip erroneous ideas (and obligations) past participants' rational defences when they believe (and are exhausted to the point) that they should "trust their guts".
We are on the same team, and I realise that you're not trying to push people towards LGATs (I've read your posts and agree with pretty much everything you've said), but both that book and Blink place too great an emphasis on intuition without warning readers sufficiently of the risks. Many people (intuitively) believe that they should trust their guts, and so it is not a tough sell to convince people that their guts are a reliable substitute for rationality. Engaging the rational mind (System 2) requires cognitive effort and, because people will generally take the path of least resistance it is far easier to convince people to trust their guts than to put the effort in, to consider all of the evidence, and to engage the rational mind.
LGATs do not promote logic - they cause participants to outsource their thinking to the trainers over time, and to accept "logic" that would never be accepted under less extreme conditions, or after unpressurised and careful consideration. This is not the same thing as promoting logic - it is intuition disguised as logic, which... like everything LGATs do... is highly manipulative.