Do you think mostly in words or something else

[Zergling]

This is out of curiosity, I have heard about how people most easily think in different ways, and how it effects abilities and such, so am interested in seeing how different thought processes work for different people.


I tend to think in words when thinking of what to say to people, but otherwise think in pictures, movies, charts/graphs, or some other "sort of visual but not exactly" ideas when making plans, and visualizing non word related things. It does seem to cause some issues where I have a set of ideas that makes beautifully simple sense in my head, but when translated into words turns into a big mess.

 

[OctaviaCaesar]

I know what you mean about thinking styles...my mom shared parts of a book with me written by a woman with autism who thinks in pictures instead of words. I can't imagine what that must be like. All my thoughts take the form of unvoiced words.

 

[snegledmaca]

I know what you mean about thinking styles...my mom shared parts of a book with me written by a woman with autism who thinks in pictures instead of words. I can't imagine what that must be like. All my thoughts take the form of unvoiced words.

Same here.

 

[Totenkindly]

I think in both. Usually the only way to "see" a mental model is to see it as a picture (instantaneous and multi-dimensional), but to describe it / articulate it means translating it into a linear stream of words... and something is always lost in translation.

 

[Nadir]

It depends on what I'm thinking about.

For example, during interpersonal conduct, (not chatting though) I spend some time thinking about the following things:

• Mutual disposition of both parties toward each other
• My current understanding of how the dialogue is moving - is it going 'well'?
• The words I'm going to use
• The potential effects my words will have/already had on the other party, reflected in response or facial expression.

I am not sure if this makes sense. It isn't as calculated as it sounds, though. Sometimes it's all a flash - and it's not like it's chess. What I'm saying is that I can't really classify this kind of thinking as verbal or visual because I think it's probably the best to say that a combination of both is involved. Intuition also plays a part. It's also why that I really suck at responding to many people simultaneously or recovering from being caught offguard (I can be absent-minded - and classroom situations, anyone?)

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I'm not sure if this has been relevant to the topic, but anyway.
It becomes a little more different once you consider thinking in a non-social context. I'll post a follow-up (or update this post) later on!

 

[cascadeco]

I think in words.

But oftentimes when I'm just spacing out or not concentrating on anything in particular, I'll be re-living past events or locations or images, which are visual as if I'm there in that moment. You know, like watching and listening to a movie.

 

[quietgirl]

I think in pictures.

If I'm going through a "dialogue" in my head trying to sort things out, I am actually watching a scene unfolding over "hearing" a voice.

When I learn new materials, it automatically forms pictures in my head.

 

[Athenian200]

I think mostly in words... I can use pictures in limited situations where that's the only way to deal with the situation and it can't be translated into words easily, but even then I usually do better with words. In fact, I tend to learn something better by reading it from a book or hearing someone tell me about it than by watching it done. I tend to miss something if I just watch it done.

 

[Atomic Fiend]

I think mostly in words, sometimes I think in scenario's, playing situations out in my head. I wouldn't advise anyone else attempt to think in this style, as it has been a source of anxiety for me, sometimes.

 

[ygolo]

I know what you mean about thinking styles...my mom shared parts of a book with me written by a woman with autism who thinks in pictures instead of words. I can't imagine what that must be like. All my thoughts take the form of unvoiced words.

I think most thoughts are formless. They just need some form to represent them.

I think in diagrams often usually when I am working. Pictures not as often (usually when I am remembering something or imagining something happening in the future)

A lot of my thoughts have words now, and more of my thinking has words associated with them. I think in words when I am engaged in conversation or trying to write.

 

[Grayscale]

Sometimes there is a mental dialogue going on but usually I think in shapes and patterns. Think how a Venn diagram relates things, just on a much larger and more complicated scale.

 

[Randomnity]

I think in videos when thinking about events or relationships with people, and overall pictures/impressions/patterns/concepts when thinking about other things. There might be a word here and there but not ordered phrases or anything.

For instance, I wouldn't think "hmm, I wonder if so and so had a good time at the party"...I would picture their actions in my head and form an overall impression of their feelings, without actually thinking up words for it.

I suspect this is why I often have trouble putting words to thoughts. I kinda thought most people were like that though....I mean, images are so much faster than words to think with...

 

[miss fortune]

I think in words a lot- not very frequently in images :sad:

weirdly enough- I very frequently think in sensations- like what something feels like to drink, or what another person's skin texture is, or what sand feels like in my toes- no words or images needed for that- just physical sensations....


.... please don't take that in a sexual way it was only meant to describe how my mind works!

 

[INFPWoman]

This is hard to describe. My thoughts are global, nebulous forms, and the words are like a sculptor's tool that tries to bring a solid shape to these cloud-like impressions. Of course that is when I am at my best in communicating. Otherwise my thoughts are like trading cards: yes, no, right, left, red, orange, yellow, green, blue, purple, sqaure, triangle, up, down - very simplistic, especially under fatigue, which I experience much of the time.

 

[ygolo]

I think in words a lot- not very frequently in images :sad:

weirdly enough- I very frequently think in sensations- like what something feels like to drink, or what another person's skin texture is, or what sand feels like in my toes- no words or images needed for that- just physical sensations....


.... please don't take that in a sexual way it was only meant to describe how my mind works!

IMO, the kinesthetic modality is underutilized. Einstein used to imagine how it would feel to ride a beem of light, so your mind has similarities with Einstein's .

By brother (ISFP), used to remember phone-numbers by how he dialed them (when he was 7-8 years old). We all thought it was cute (he's the baby in the family).

 

[miss fortune]

I remember phone numbers by what it feels like to dial them! I get made fun of for that occasionally!

and I don't have the brilliant creative ability of Einstein either! (or quite as crazy of hair! )

 

[Athenian200]

I think in words a lot- not very frequently in images :sad:

weirdly enough- I very frequently think in sensations- like what something feels like to drink, or what another person's skin texture is, or what sand feels like in my toes- no words or images needed for that- just physical sensations....


.... please don't take that in a sexual way it was only meant to describe how my mind works!

Yeah, me too. It can be helpful to think verbally much of the time, right?

And I know what you mean about sensations... I can remember the taste of a particular food well enough to notice if the recipe is changed, or the way the keys feel on a particular keyboard.

 

[substitute]

Like you Zergling I think in very abstract sorta... well, it's hard to say what in, because it sorta all happens so fast that if I try to slow it down and stop and think about it, I straight away start thinking more consciously and then words begin to appear.

However I don't tend to find much difficulty when it comes to putting my thoughts into words. Some thoughts are very abstract and challenging to express, but I can usually find a way if I think about it. I wouldn't so much say that I can't find the right words, so much as that I can't find the words that some people could understand. I've written meditations in the past which have made perfect sense to me and some people read them and say wow, you know, that's how I feel or words to that effect. But then I can show it to someone else and they just scowl and sneer and say it's a load of gobbledigook or whatever. Possibly an S/N thing... I dunno.

I think I think in essences. Like each thing, each concept or idea or object has its own particular meaning to me, in my head - as well as being aware of various other meanings it has to other people I know or have known, and possible other meanings again to people i don't even know. Those things turn in my head into symbols... symbols without any particular sensory representation, it's just a collection of impressions, feelings, knowledges I have that always 'swim around' in particular combinations or patterns, around a certain idea... when something triggers me to need to access that idea, it's like I'm 'seeing' an atom or something... there's a nucleus that's its essential meaning or nature, and then many particles that orbit it in different paths/patterns/arrangements... and I can rearrange them if I want to, to see what it might 'swim' like... but I don't really see any of this and couldn't tell you anything even vaguely approaching tangible or whatever, about it. Except that it's very fast.

Haha... yeah, can't always express it in terms anyone would understand. I think some things, people either get or they don't.

But no, not words and not pictures or sounds. They're too damn slow. I know that one of the worst things for me about writing is when my thoughts are flying far too quickly for the language part of my brain to catch up, and so many things are lost before I get to speak them if I have to speak them as I go. I usually have a zillion ideas queueing up and falling over each other to reach the tip of my tongue.

And also being multilingual can be frustrating when I'm talking to people who don't know the languages I know or even one/some of them, cos even when I do try to slow myself down into words, it tends to come into my head as a jumbled up sentence containing all the most efficient words and ways of expressing the idea that I can think of, so there's a grammatical structure from one language and vocabulary from several others... to assemble it all into coherent sentences of one language can be anything from a thrilling challenge to a frustrating bore.

I don't really think it's my thoughts though... it's stuff from outside of me, the world out there... it just seems to fly into my head and bounce around and pick up pieces of other stuff and keep bouncing around until it ends up learning to assume so many different forms that I don't even know how it happened or where it came from.

Okay, I'll shut up now. But anyway, I think that's why ENTP's sometimes talk way too much!!

 

[Randomnity]

By brother (ISFP), used to remember phone-numbers by how he dialed them (when he was 7-8 years old). We all thought it was cute (he's the baby in the family).

When I worked as a cashier, I memorized hundreds of codes by my finger movements (without trying, just from constant use)...I had to move my fingers in the air to tell you what the code was. I was one of the best at knowing the codes though.

 

[Splittet]

To me it is curious to hear so many INFJs say they think mostly in words. Maybe it's a J thing, but I wouldn't think Ni was very word oriented. Personally I would say my mind is a mess, and all sorts of different ways of thinking are going on. Obviously there is tons of visual thinking, flashes, numbers and graph thinking or just imagining something by focusing on it and "becoming" it. I think some in dialogues, and that's often how I entertain ideas or philosophize. I might think as if I was writing a post on this board, for example. That's when my thinking is most word oriented. If I am solving a problem, I don't think much in words at all. I am just kind of focusing on looking for a solving idea, and wait for it to hit my consciousness. If it doesn't come to me, I try to look for and notice something new, turn my head around. Often these solving ideas will be visual, or just a vague sense of direction. I often think in incomplete sentences, maybe just a few words, that helps me to kind of focus on them and things related to them. When thinking in words, I think in both Norwegian and English.