Jonah Lehrer over in Boston writes about how people make decisions. The most famous decider is in the White House, and goes with his gut, to the exclusion of obvious evidence to the contrary in some cases. John McCain is similar in style, preferring to make quick decisions and live with them without complaint. I think he expects us to do the same. Then there is Barak Obama, who weighs, things, ponders, evaluates and only then decides.

Which is the best style? Actually, scientists have been discovering that going with the gut, but also knowing how your own gut works, is the best.

Rather, it’s the willingness to engage in introspection, to cultivate what Philip Tetlock, a psychologist at the University of California, Berkeley, calls “the art of self-overhearing

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Associate Professor at a Women's University in Tokyo.