Do you have a vivid imagination?

[Walking Tourist]

I think in music and have this habit of singing much of the time. I hear melodies in my head and have had dreams that were complete with four-part harmony.

 

[Skyward]

That kind of 'imagination' that you mention I think is more a visualization skill/characteristic. Most people do *not* accurately visualize objects in 3D. They also do not accurately remember colors (which a lot of DIYers realize too late when buying paint or something interior decorating related).

Also, imagining something and remembering something - and then being able to modify it mentally in your head as a 3D shape (and spin it around for different sides etc.) is again, a very specific and I think uncommon ability.

I don't have that kind of precise recall/imagination. But I think the way I remember and visualize things is more applicable to an NP. I have a fuzzy idea about things but without a vibrant visual picture - I more get a gut feeling about whether something works or not. More often than not, my gut feeling is right.

Except when it comes to spatial accuracy. In which case I am usually waaaaaay off.

I'm sure some mechanics and engineers can do this or did this naturally

This is how my imagination works. It's in vague mental constructs. If someone asked me what the number 3 was, like in an above post, I would describe it like an engraving more like braille than the actual 3's shape.

I wonder if a vivid imagination is a skill like you said. more likely than not, to me, it is likely an inborn trait, like how tall person will be, rather than a skill, like playing an instrument. With how often I'm lost in my head, if it was a skill I would have it.

 

[FDG]

Yeah, sometimes I actually remember the exact picture of a given object, but I don't remember the associated word.

 

[ayoitsStepho]

What? You mean to tell me that most people don't/can't see things in 3D or as they are in reality? I have no problem picking out colors or sounds or anything. It's like my imagination is real life, though my imagination tends to have a lighter colored feel to it. Other than that, it's just like real life for me.

 

[Skyward]

What? You mean to tell me that most people don't/can't see things in 3D or as they are in reality? I have no problem picking out colors or sounds or anything. It's like my imagination is real life, though my imagination tends to have a lighter colored feel to it. Other than that, it's just like real life for me.

My normal imagination is a series of impressions a kind of 'hunch feeling' connecting ideas together. It takes a lot of concentration to get a wavering picture in 3D, and it's still covered with fog. For a long time I've figured that if my imagination were sharper I could do more.

The movie Amadeus has a good example of a vivid musical imagination when Salieri reads Mozart's work and music plays in the background, or when Mozart dictates a work to Salieri to write down.

Does anyone have any links for studies about vivid imaginations?

 

[21%]

Maybe it has to do with whether you're a visual person or not. I don't think 'vivid imagination' is only limited to seeing pictures in 3D. The fact that you mentioned Amadeus might suggest that you have a preference for auditory learning/perception?

I've always thought I was a visual person, but maybe I'm really tactile, because when I imagine something, I can also sort of imagine how it feels (like when I run my hands over it). I don't see 3D things floating in space. I see myself in the scene with the object I'm imagining. But honestly, I think I have never, ever imagined sound or even music.

It's very interesting that some posters have said they actually hear music in their imagination. That sounds awesome!

 

[JustHer]

I don't have any imagination at all :/

 

[ajblaise]

I don't have any imagination at all :/

Awww. To be an ENTJ... the only Ns with no strong imagination.

 

[nanook]

my imagery is fast and associative. it's difficult to focus on one item. i am a good drawer, because i can focus on shapes. such an image does not have to be static at all, it just has to be reproducable. when i paint i never see the whole picture in my mind in detail, except maybe for 0.0003 seconds, which means i either see the big picture or details, but never both. i am not good with adjective impressions (colors). i will see what looks right on paper, then correct a little.

i usually "do understanding" of what is (how things work),
imagining what is predictably implied by what is known ..
or i follow random associations ...

i hardly do any story type of daydreaming at all. like a fairytale or imaginary flirting with an unknown stranger. (= not predictable, but made up. wishful)

in fact, i can hardly ever get enough mental focus on a story-like unfolding to find masturbation interesting/satisfying. i think, i am just not interested enough. if i was interested in developing a story, the images would become more solid. but the experience seems to become boring, as soon as i know what it is going to be about. i won't evoke something that i already know. i mean, you have to be attached to repeat something over an over again, right? this is why i associate dreaming with emotion and not with intuition. when i am really attached to a memory (because it was very nice) or a solid concrete wish to do things with the bodyparts of a real person, then the images will be solid enough. but i don't usually use my emotions in a desiring way. i cant entertain myself emotionally. i use emotions right here right now, like perception. they are just my reactions to places i go mentally. if a place is really interesting to my emotions, they can make me stay there a little bit longer.

i make active use of extroverted feeling and my introverted feeling is supposed to be automatic (subconscious in it's source) and it's supposed to be supplementing to my conscious emotions. but my Fe is conditioned in such a way, that it won't allows the automatic introverted feeling to enter my awareness, most of the time. this is schizoid. i only have conscious Fi influence, if something drastic happens to me, like a conversation with a friend. if i am alone, i don't know what my Fi is doing inside of me. i can't allow it in. the suppression is automatic, because conditioning (of Fe) is automatic and 90% of what Fe or any function does is: it's being a major part of my conditioned personality.

so, this is type of being "weak" emotionally is often associated with being schizoid or autism or maybe just being male.

when people read on those silly sites about personality disorders, that schizoid people have rather flat feelings, they think these people are cold. that is far from the truth. they might be cold.
they may likely be way to sensitive emotionally to face their general emotions about live.
and they do have possibly very strong emotional reactions to what is happening to them right now.
whether they are cool or cold or not, has nothing to do with the problem of being schizoid.
they just cant hold on to emotions from the past,
for long enough to deepen them and can hardly feel about things that are not present.
so they can't have a emotional self-awareness or a consciosus emotional identity.
this means, they cant make a live-plan based on what they "want".
so they just live into the day, which is considered to be dysfunctional in our society.

however there is such a thing as schizoid [Fi (Pe) Te] types and what i said about myself is obviously not comparable to them.
i actually believe that it is nonsense to call them by the same name (schizoid), but what can you do, the world of the DSM is fucking stupid and a diagnosis like that is really just serving the purpose of declaring the patient to be unworthy of further treatment-investments. they might just call us "sensitive psychopaths" like they did 80 years ago. it just implies that we are not part of the huge group of people who don't have enough of a psyche to have a psycho-pathology, so i take it as a compliment.

 

[tcda]

Ok I'm gonna be a bit agumentative here, but I'm a big opponent of metaphysics/idealist philosophy so I can't help it (it's my beliefs man!)

I have an active "imagination" I guess, if by "imagination" you mean reinterpreting the world through parallel scenarios (which is really all "imagination" is, as nobody can create in their mind things which aren't made up of that around them). So on that ground I dispute the strict line between "imagination" and "thought":

• most of the time my "imagination" consists of imagining monologues in my head where I argue with others - this is a way of perfecting my "line" - Ti?
• Sometimes my "imagination" is a way of "making some sense out of the world through clashing all the contradictions around me into one another, and through this recreating the chaos around along comprehensible lines" - Ne-Ti?
• and sometimes my way of "recapturing and recreating old moments which made great impressions on me through semi-fictional reconstructions - concentrating on the songs, sounds, adrenaliane of past experiences" - Si?

I don't really know what "vivid" means either, to be honest. Does it refer to images, sounds etc.? Or does it just mean "active". Likewise, I can't see in other people's imaginations, so, can't really tell how "vivid" mine is.

Anyway, if all that I described amount to an "imagination", then, I guess, it's active, or something. But it all just seems like different forms of "thought" to be honest. (PS, the same goes for what most other people described as "imagination").

 

[The Outsider]

Yes. And there are really no bounds as to how detailed I can get. I can easily break things apart on subatomic level if I feel like it.

It can be anything I want it to. I do believe it is quite common.

 

[Unkindloving]

Pretty vivid for me, but quick or focuses in on specific things. Usually my imagination is in a reactive state. It will conjure things up when prompted by an outside source, but i can't just sit and prompt it myself. That's a big reason that i'm not trying to be an artist.

Yes. And there are really no bound as to how detailed I can get. I can easily break things apart on subatomic level if I feel like it.

It can be anything I want it to. I do believe it is quite common.

This doesn't surprise me at all.

 

[The Outsider]

Haha, aside from my horrid grammar, I'm not sure what to make of this.

 

[Unkindloving]

Haha, aside from my horrid grammar, I'm not sure what to make of this.

I was tempted to fix the grammar, but i beat that down into submission . In comparison to your INFP-trailing-off in vent it just fits.

 

[teslashock]

I was wondering what types could have a vivid imagination as INFJs seem to be associated with one. To define for this thread: A vivid imagination is the ability to easily see pictures and 3D forms in your mind rather than just the idea of something.

I think in pictures, and it's natural for me to associate thoughts and ideas to an image, but everything is quite general and fuzzy. My mind doesn't spend enough time on any one one specific thought for the picture to become completely crisp and clear. The pixels can't fully load before I'm clicking on another link to another page.

 

[Betty Blue]

Yes. And there are really no bounds as to how detailed I can get. I can easily break things apart on subatomic level if I feel like it.

It can be anything I want it to. I do believe it is quite common.

You'd be surprised at how uncommon it is, it always amazes me that people who have great 3d imaging imaginations do not realise that most people don't have this ability. It's a gift!

 

[ayoitsStepho]

You'd be surprised at how uncommon it is, it always amazes me that people who have great 3d imaging imaginations do not realise that most people don't have this ability. It's a gift!

Seriously?
I'm pretty surprised by this. lol.
Sweet, I have a gift!

 

[StrappingYoungLad]

I fake it.

 

[Betty Blue]

Seriously?
I'm pretty surprised by this. lol.
Sweet, I have a gift!

You totally do, it's very difficult for most people to seein 3d when they are thinking. My son has this ability, he's dyslexic and predominantly right brained which deals with all this stuff. I bet you'd come out right brained on a test. Only approx 15% of people have this ability and it really is a wonderful thing, it allows you to see the bigger picture and also the detail at the same time. By the way your also much more likely to be a self made millionaire.

 

[StrappingYoungLad]

You totally do, it's very difficult for most people to seein 3d when they are thinking. My son has this ability, he's dyslexic and predominantly right brained which deals with all this stuff. I bet you'd come out right brained on a test. Only approx 15% of people have this ability and it really is a wonderful thing, it allows you to see the bigger picture and also the detail at the same time. By the way your also much more likely to be a self made millionaire.

You mean imagining 3d objects with a distinct sense of depth? (Like perceiving depth using both eyes)

Or being to imagine 2d projections of a 3d object in all possible transformations? (Like perceiving images using one eye)
Because I can totally do the second.