Intuitive expertise: Theories and empirical evidence

Intuition has been long seen as an element of effective human performance in demanding tasks (i.e. expertise). But its form, constitutive elements and development remain subject to diverse explanations. This paper discusses these elements and explores theories and empirical evidence about what constitutes intuitive expertise, and offers an account arising from a review of these explanations. Commencing with a consideration of examples of intuition from distinct fields of working life, it uses a cognitive perspective to open up the discussion for theorizing about intuition from an information processing perspective. It evaluates the widely acknowledged theory of two systems of information processing that proposes two parallel operating systems: the rational and intuitive. This theory provides foundations for understanding experts’ abilities to act intuitively in high-performance-level activities. Research on expertise, finally, opens an educational perspective on intuition, with the progression from novice to expert being understood as an enduring and long-term learning process that inherently generates intuitive capabilities. The paper concludes by returning to and making connections with the literature on workplace and professional learning to provide insights into how individual and social learning processes support the development of intuitive expertise.

► We discuss different theories on intuition under a cognitive perspective.
► We explore empirical evidence of how intuition contributes to high performance.
► We develop an educational understanding of intuition under the perspective of expertise theories.
► We conclude how to support the development of expertise.