Final answer:
Our effortless and automatic thoughts or feelings are known as intuitions, which are different from phonemes, algorithms, or mental sets. Intuitions can be quick and accurate in familiar contexts but may lead to cognitive biases in new situations. The correct option is (d).
Step-by-step explanation:
In contrast to our explicit conscious reasoning, our seemingly effortless and automatic feelings or thoughts are called intuitions. This is not the same as phonemes, which are the basic units of sound in a language, nor algorithms, which are step-by-step procedures for calculations. Mental sets refer to our tendency to approach problems in a particular way, often a way that has been successful in the past, but may not be helpful in solving new problems.
Intuitions are our natural, instinctive feelings, a kind of cognition that seems self-evident and often comes involuntarily without conscious deliberation. These are informed by our experience and can be surprisingly accurate in fields where we have expertise, but they can also lead to cognitive biases when we rely on them in unfamiliar territory.
Cognitive biases are patterns of thought that lead to perceptual distortion, inaccurate judgment, illogical interpretation, or what is broadly called irrationality. They result from our brain's attempt to simplify information processing. Heuristics, or mental shortcuts, such as the substitution heuristic, allow us to solve problems quicker and with less effort, but they can sometimes lead us to erroneous conclusions. It is crucial to distinguish between intuitions that serve as reliable insights and those that are merely baseless hunches.