• Moments before the giant waves of the 2004 tsunami crashed onto the Indian coast, elephants screamed and ran for higher ground as if they sensed impending doom.
• British singer Joss Stone left the 2005 MTV Video Music Awards early-narrowly escaping being caught in gunfire-because, she told her boyfriend, "I've got to get out of here now. I have a bad feeling."
• Spider-Man is endowed with a fictional intuition, dubbed spider sense, which warns him of hidden weapons and disguised enemies.

Psychologists explain that intuition is a speedy decision-making process originating in the unconscious, a level of thought so deep that we're not even aware we have it. When we meet a stranger or experience something new, our unconscious mind sizes up the situation, picks up on subtle clues all around us, and quickly decides: Can I trust this person? Is this situation dangerous? How should I react to this new idea?

Intuition is immediate, and usually can't be analyzed on a conscious level. People who experience intuition can't explain why they have a particular feeling-they just do. That's why it's often called the sixth sense-while it isn't a physical sense like touch, smell, taste, sight, or hearing, it's just as powerful in helping us understand our surroundings.

When it focuses on the right cues, our intuition comes through for us in the blink of an eye with instant, reliable information. There are times, however, when relying on unconscious thought fails us, leaving us vulnerable to prejudice or bad decision-making. We may trust good-looking people even though they are unreliable or prejudge people based on their skin color. This kind of judgment is not intuition, and can often lead to bad choices.

UNBIASED DECISIONS
The key to better intuition is to trust your gut while being careful to avoid biased first impressions. Before you judge people based on their clothing, hairstyle, or dorky ringtone, get to know them for who they are inside. After all, it’s the inside of a person, not his or her wardrobe, that makes someone a valuable friend. As the mishnah reminds us, “Do not look merely at the wine flask, but examine what is in it; for there are new wine flasks filled with old wine, and there are old wine flasks that don’t even have new wine” (Pirkei Avot 4:27).