Gut Feeling
| This section does not cite any references or sources. |
A gut feeling, or gut reaction, is a visceral emotional reaction to something, and often one of uneasiness. Gut feelings are generally regarded as not modulated by conscious thought, and as a reflection of intuition rather than rationality. They are thought to originate from the brain's insular cortex.
The phrase "gut feeling" may also be used as a short-hand term for an individual's "common sense" perception of what is considered "the right thing to do"; such as: helping an injured passerby, avoiding dark alleys and generally acting in accordance with instinctive feelings about a given situation. It can also refer to simple common knowledge phrases which are true no matter when said, such as "Water is wet", "Fire is hot", or to ideas that an individual intuitively regards as true, without proof (see "Truthiness" for examples).
Gut feelings, like all reflexive unconscious comparisons, can be re-programmed by practice or experience.
Read more about this topic: Feeling
Famous quotes containing the words gut and/or feeling:
“From the gut comes the strut, and where hunger reigns, strength abstains.”
—François Rabelais (1494–1553)
“The best emotions to write out of are anger and fear or dread.... The least energizing emotion to write out of is admiration. It is very difficult to write out of because the basic feeling that goes with admiration is a passive contemplative mood.”
—Susan Sontag (b. 1933)