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  • Chapter 9 - The Adaptive Function of Insight

  • from IV - After Insight
  • Edited by Carola Salvi, John Cabot University, Rome, Jennifer Wiley, University of Illinois, Chicago, Steven M. Smith, Texas A & M University
  • Book:
    The Emergence of Insight
    Published online:
    02 May 2024
    Print publication:
    09 May 2024, pp 183-198

  • Summary

    Insight experiences are powerful: They feel true, they are remembered, and they can shift our decisions and our beliefs. Feelings of insight are also accurate most of the time. However, recent work shows that it is possible to systematically induce false insights and even misattribute our Aha! moments to make false facts seem true. Insights, therefore, seem to be adaptive on average but error prone. This chapter suggests that these results can be integrated by thinking of insights as a metacognitive heuristic for selecting ideas from the stream of consciousness (dubbed the “Eureka heuristic”), reviews key findings about the accuracy of insights and where and why insights go wrong, and discusses implications for our understanding of the development of delusions, false beliefs, and misinformation. Ultimately, understanding the role that feelings of insight play in human cognition may make us better decision-makers in an uncertain world.