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Do you think mostly in words or something else

Do you think mostly in words or not?

  • Think in words

    Votes: 48 43.6%
  • Not think in words (I'm not sure of all the different ways people would think in.)

    Votes: 62 56.4%

  • Total voters
    110

TheGolfCourse

New member
Joined
Jan 18, 2010
Messages
11
MBTI Type
INTJ
Golly what a tough question. I use words to communicate intrapersonally. I think that's to say I think in words. The words as they come are usually fast. This isn't to say that I don't think of things: people, places, music, etc.
 

Fluffywolf

Nips away your dignity
Joined
Mar 31, 2009
Messages
9,581
MBTI Type
INTP
Enneagram
9
Instinctual Variant
sp/sx
When I'm tired or just lazy I think in words.

Mostly I think in sentences, images, ideas or otherwise conceptual thoughts.

When I need to get to the bottom of something I alternate between conceptual thought and word for word thought.
 

TheMonocle

New member
Joined
Jan 29, 2010
Messages
37
I've tried to describe this process before. Imagine a vast open space and dense fog. You can see ten fifteen feet in front of you, but further than that it's a thick mist. You can see shapes, outlines, colors, but everything takes on an ethereal quality. You see a basic nature to everything. Seeing the complete form takes time and attentiveness. If you don't dismiss it right away. If you let the images linger... they evoke emotional states, connections and understanding. My thoughts are not solid. They are archetypal in nature.
 
Joined
Nov 7, 2009
Messages
68
MBTI Type
ENTP
Enneagram
7w6
Often in words (the form is auditive - the same speed like speaking them), and sometimes in pictures, when something is complicated and not already understood. When I draw something, I can combine both ways.
 
Joined
Apr 23, 2009
Messages
1,992
MBTI Type
ENTJ
Enneagram
8w9
I'm very much a visual thinker. Mostly I think in images, moving pictures or geometrical shapes. Often I see diagrams and charts of some sort in my head, too.

But I have a lot of inner monologues/dialogues doing on, at any given time. Those are mostly in words and sentences.
 

Parrish

New member
Joined
Dec 12, 2009
Messages
106
MBTI Type
infp
When you say think in words do you mean you actually visualize them or "hear" them or sth else?

My mind is usually a mix of snap shots, videos, colours, smells, feelings and other forms of perception. When I`m deep in thought my minds voice speaks in english most of the time (which is not my mother language) accompanied with the appropriate mental pictures. If I deliberately try to focus on a single trail of thought the others fade a little in the background, but are still there to turn back on if that singled out thought was not what I searched for.
But like TheMonocle said, it`s not eyesight clear, everything is slightly blurred.

It`s similar to how I remember new people I meet. If I don`t know them good enough I usually don`t recall their names until I prod on the mental image I have of them and when I see their face clearly enough I usually recall the right name to go with it.
 

Mole

Permabanned
Joined
Mar 20, 2008
Messages
20,284
I have noticed that teenagers think in motion. I can see this when they talk. They physically describe what they are talking about with body motions.

I must admit this annoys me as I prefer to keep my body still while talking and allow my words to delineate the feeling, the thought or the action.

I have often wondered why teenagers think in motion, particularly as it annoys me. And I think it is partly conformity because all the other teenagers think in motion. And of course teenagers want to belong more than they want to be free.

And of course a command of English does set us free and delineate us as mature individuals - the last thing a teenager wants.

I notice it more with teenage boys and I think this is because all girls have superior verbal ability, whereas the teenage boys are thrown back on the physical.

I can see this with bullying as well. As teenage boys bully physically, while teenage girls bully verbally.

And although I like to think in words, I also like to turn off the words and dance.
 

surgery

New member
Joined
Sep 28, 2007
Messages
257
MBTI Type
INFP
Enneagram
Four
I think primarily in words. There's never a moment when there are no words and just an image. I can't reason silently, in my head. When I problem-solve, I prefer to use a hypothetical situation. So, in my head, I usually hear my own voice explaining my thoughts and feelings as if someone where there listening, much the same way I am typing this post now. Often times, I even create a visual scenario in my head. I imagine the how the tone of my voice, my gestures the position of my body would affect people. I see their body language and can hear their reactions in their voice.

Perhaps, this just qualifies as normal daydreaming. Even if so, that's how I approach almost everything. I would never use numbers, graphs, lists, etc.

When trying to understand a complicated idea, it helps to formulate an image in my head or use metaphors. It's actually almost essential if I am reading or listening to someone speak, such as during a lecture.

Funnily enough, I am nineteen years old and male. I definitely do communicate with my body. Unless I am uncomfortable, my hands and head move every which way while speaking. If I'm talking while I'm not seated, my arms and legs will be everywhere too.
 

Jaguar

Active member
Joined
May 5, 2007
Messages
20,647
Just think of a movie. That's how my brain works.
Motion pictures, sound, words.

Julie Andrews is singing right now and running through the hills.
Where the hell did she come from?
 
G

Ginkgo

Guest
It's mostly a movie image of hypothetical things, accompanied by the observation of reality. So it basically alternate between fantasy and reality.

I've done so much thinking about my thinking that I really can't stand it anymore, so sorry for the shortness of my post. I made a blog about it actually.

(By the way, when you say "words", do you mean auditory or written words? Haha.)
 

Serendipity

the Dark Prophet of Kualu
Joined
Mar 24, 2009
Messages
852
MBTI Type
RAD
I think thoughts in taste, smell, touch, seeing, hearing, images; Not so often in emotions though but think in feelings.

I bet everyone use their head as playground, no matter how much damage one can actually do to it and thus, I've always adjusted to different ways of thinking instead of staying true to my own inherent way of doing so.
 
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