古德曼夫人延续了优秀小说家所提倡的“情节因人物而生”，也承继了优秀科学家所奉行的“任何人都不能歪曲客观事实”。《直觉》中的所有研究人员表面上一团和气，暗地里却都勾心斗角。实验室副主管桑迪很有人格魅力，一心扑在工作上，但虚荣心太强。他的搭档马里昂才华横溢，少言寡语，工作标准极高，但因为长期缺乏自信而萎靡不振。相比之下，克里夫却有些圆滑世故和自命不凡。揭发R7秘密的罗宾（克里夫前女友）则是一位朴实的科学家，不过她决心揭露骗局可能多少出于对爱情的失望。她重视直觉，而且，“年青研究者悄悄地抑制了他们的直觉力量，生怕会像刚学巫术的人一样，让实验室充斥着自负和虚夸。”

Ms Goodman follows the good novelist's ★credo[8] that plot ★proceeds from[9] character; and （3）she follows the good scientist's credo that objective truth is inexorably ★coloured[10] by whoever ★stands[11] to lose or gain by it. All the researchers in “Intuition” are sympathetic, and they are all ★screwed up[12]. Sandy, co-director of the lab, is a ★charismatic[13] dynamo[14], but too enamoured with worldly glory. His brilliant, shy partner Marion has ★impeccable[15] research standards, but is undermined by chronic self-doubt. By contrast, Cliff is ★glibly[16] over-c_________③. Robin, R-7's ★whistle-blower[17] (also Cliff's former girlfriend), is a natural scientist, but her determination to uncover fraud may be driven by romantic disappointment. Robin is heeding her intuition, and “young researchers had their intuition ★tamped down[18] lest, like the ★sorcerer's[19] apprentice, they flood the lab with their conceits.”