How Would YOU Describe Your Primary Thought Process?

[Dreamer]

So I came across this video on YouTube not too long ago and that’s where the idea of this thread came from. I wanted to see if people could describe how they view and experience the world and see if it relates, or how they personally relate to their dominant function through this unique outlook. Now, I don’t have synesthesia, had some massive brain injury, or any event that could mirror what was shared in the video, but I would say I experience and understand things in a way similar to this guy, but rather than seeing all these mathematical representations presented before him, I see things through their dynamics and relationships, more along the lines of physics and how properties play out. This is easily translatable to objects in my environment, sure, but, also think and perceive in this mode as it applies to the dynamics/relationships in people through their emotions, between people in social dynamics, ideas and concepts are “seen” as a series of shared relationships, everything, is understood through this applied, universal understanding.

As a side note, this is why I’ve been typing as ESFP as of late because I am wondering if this understanding of the mechanics behind everyday life, people, ideas, and objects, is really what Se is. But, that’s a side topic. Anyways, here’s the video

 

[Peter Deadpan]

This is a completely foreign concept to me. I cannot imagine perceiving some sort of visible geometrical overlap.

I do have some understanding of energy flow though and particularly how to use that to make processes more efficient. For example, years ago at a different company (same job), I was rinsing the dog hair out of the bathing room with a hose sprayer attachment. I was using a precise and intentional sweeping motion to capture as much hair as possible in such a manner that the flow of the water toward the drain would maintain an efficient wavelike movement. Someone noticed and complimented me on the way I was doing it (weird compliment but okay). I also utilize items in a manner that makes things more efficient, like using the high powered blow dryer at work to clear out areas that are hard to reach with the vacuum.

There is no visible pattern recognition in these actions for me, but rather a felt awareness within me sorta, like I can just feel what the most optimal move would be. I do have to consciously tap into this though... I'm definitely not automatically a graceful mover by any reasonable standard.

Also, synesthesia is one of my favorite nerd subjects. ASMR is fascinating too and I wonder just how connected they are.

 

[RadicalDoubt]

I would describe it as.... A mess/a shitshow!

Nonetheless, since a lot of it's unconscious it can become difficult to describe. I guess you could say that my thought process is heavily categorical, predictive, and possibility oriented. Most of my time is just me taking in information, analyzing it half to death, and trying to generalize the way things work and systems progress so that I can adapt to and respond to things appropriately. In a technical sense, often I'll generalize different concepts, notice how they function together/separately/similarly, and then play with those ideas in my head to figure out how such concepts would apply to different scenarios or in different conditions, sometimes for predictions other times for problem solving. In a more human sense, I'll tend to pay attention to the environment I'm in and generalize people's behaviors as to provide a proper and appealing response. I'm almost constantly adjusting the systems I create because a) There's always new input to deal with and b) Being as general as I am, there tends to be a lot of errors that must be adjusted for and finally c) I'm a very doubtful and skeptical person who cannot even trust their own thoughts fully.

It's funny that synesthasia was brought up in this though, because it was (semi)-recently suggested that I could have that. Going off of the fact that I'm pretty general and seek patterns rather than details to adjust to the world around me, I tend to categorize a lot of this information in an awkwardly impressionistic way. When I think of certain words, concepts, people, or even sounds, I tend to attach colors or visuals to them, which sometimes can be really useful in connecting concepts to one another. It helped me early on in school, for example, with prefixes. Sometimes, I will associate certain one's with color (ie. Kines- I'll think of red, phys- with purple, ect), which probably helped me with vocabulary building early on. It's nothing super exciting, and for the most part useless outside of maybe that one example, but I tend to categorize a lot of things in my head through colors. I don't think it's actually synesthasia though, rather just me being impressionistic and categorical in nature.

 

[kittenke]

Also, synesthesia is one of my favorite nerd subjects. ASMR is fascinating too and I wonder just how connected they are.

I have both, but I don't know if they are connected at all in any way for me...? If you want, you can ask me questions on that though

For the synesthesia, I wrote more below btw. And, as for the ASMR, I get it strongly when I get to feel fascinated by some... uh Intuitiveish awe thingy? Maybe it would correspond to Ni or Ne in MBTI, not sure which. I just suddenly feel like the thing I'm thinking of has some really far reaching or deep implications - and that's unusual for me to think like that btw but somehow really enjoyable too and that's when I get ASMR. It doesn't happen often but it's awesome to me.

It's funny that synesthasia was brought up in this though, because it was (semi)-recently suggested that I could have that. Going off of the fact that I'm pretty general and seek patterns rather than details to adjust to the world around me, I tend to categorize a lot of this information in an awkwardly impressionistic way. When I think of certain words, concepts, people, or even sounds, I tend to attach colors or visuals to them, which sometimes can be really useful in connecting concepts to one another. It helped me early on in school, for example, with prefixes. Sometimes, I will associate certain one's with color (ie. Kines- I'll think of red, phys- with purple, ect), which probably helped me with vocabulary building early on. It's nothing super exciting, and for the most part useless outside of maybe that one example, but I tend to categorize a lot of things in my head through colors. I don't think it's actually synesthasia though, rather just me being impressionistic and categorical in nature.

Ah wow. I have pretty similar synesthesia, I mean mine also often relates to categorising and concepts. Though I can't use it to connect concepts to each other and I never tried to. I DO have synesthesia for concepts in systems though. It's just involuntarily created but stable visuals-sounds-colours. I have loads of this stuff in my head. Every word's initial is coloured also, along with all number digits, for a less special form of the synesthesia. It does help me find number digits more easily and helps me remember words a tiny bit better. For number digits and also for quite some bigger numbers I also have sounds-visuals beside the colours. Of course that makes me remember numbers even better beyond me being already very good with numbers. There is also spatial synesthesia for when I do operations on numbers that speeds up the operations. And I do have some sortof impressionistic-synesthesia-ish thingy - again maybe like your stuff? - that helps me remember some other stuff, I mainly have/use this for remembering list items when I create lists that otherwise have too many disparate seeming items. I do try to categorise the items to remember better but sometimes it's just too disparate so the categories are not neat enough so then the impressionistic-synesthesia-ish thingy helps remember better. I actually have a very high capacity for remembering things using that thingy... And I've - involuntarily again - developed synesthesia for emotional states in recent years. (This came with my overall developing emotional awareness.) That really surprised me that it could develop for a whole new category of things as an adult, it's just colour synesthesia though, not more complex synesthesia. Otoh, I don't have it for people, wow that one synesthesia of yours is weird to me.

No idea if any of that can be linked to anything in MBTI though lol

Why do you call your impressionistic categorising awkward? I didn't understand what you feel is awkward in that, so that's why I'm asking.

 

[kittenke]

Oh to reply to [MENTION=25763]Dreamer[/MENTION] 's OP too...

I dunno about dominant function for now, but many of my default processes are very spatially oriented, and I see holistic perceptions of what objects look like around me. I sense a structure of space and orient by an organisation of objects and their placements also based on their function if function is relevant, so that I always know where I am and things and actions are predictable. My memory is also totally location based - beside the above mentioned impressionistic synesthesia and a good memory for numbers - I navigate very well, and a large part of my logic is spatially oriented too. The other part of my logic is more like formal deductive logic but these two sides of my logic do work well together, along with a strong sense of quantification/numbers. Beside all this, my orientation in the world and my thought processes heavily depend on details of categories based on sensory templates that I've seen and I've absorbed into/familiarised myself with. But it's easily sensory and clinical-detached at the same time, when the sensory experience becomes these categories or templates. These categories of detailed experience, my sense of quantification, the spatial logic and the deductive logic together all give a good basis to my understanding of things.

I often just work like, I simply look and see and I know what I see and how the thing works. Based on all the above. I don't have to go mentally deep in my head to be able to do any of this. But I do need details and experience I've familiarised myself with as above. I watch/observe things, also I understand things and processes by putting observed and analytically broken down information bits together on the move if I need to do more than just looking at things to understand, and I commit it all to memory by observing and by doing. Still none of this is mentally deep in the head.

And when it's an intellectually heavy topic with a lot of details, I rely on processing with concretely detailed deductive logic the most. When I can translate a problem into spatial logic then I like to do that too because that works really nice comfortably fast, for many everyday things too I like to do this but it works for things like maths too, and then it easily translates into formal logic too if needed. As for the more heavily intellectual aspects, I remember explicit rules and systems by logically understanding them while organising the concrete details and then by practicing/by doing them to remember more deeply.

If anyone thinks any of this relates to MBTI, feel free to let me know. I guess this described more than one function though... And I hope my description was helpful in some way at least.

 

[The Cat]

I just sort of go with what seems like the best idea at the time...

 

[Magnus]

Bit and pieces of insight and understanding from unknown sources. I get the idea that most other types have some measure of control over their dominant function, whereas we (or I) don't because it relates more to the unconscious mind. So I guess it's sort of like invisible help is coming from an invisible place. The conclusion can be trustworthy but I think it still gets second-guessed by the other functions because its origins aren't clear.

"Wtf am I even looking at, what is this? ... Ohhhhhhhh, I get it now. Hehe, this reminds me of a combination lock! The tumblers are falling into place. Except... this thing over here will become a problem later on. Better fix it now. *Later* Yep, it would've been a problem. Good thing I fixed it earlier. Wait, how did I know that would be a problem??"

 

[Obfuscate]

"does this seem accurate?"

 

[Pionart]

What more can I discover about this...

 

[The Cat]

I can't tune out. So I always stay on.
​

 

[RadicalDoubt]

Ah wow. I have pretty similar synesthesia, I mean mine also often relates to categorising and concepts. Though I can't use it to connect concepts to each other and I never tried to. I DO have synesthesia for concepts in systems though. It's just involuntarily created but stable visuals-sounds-colours. I have loads of this stuff in my head. Every word's initial is coloured also, along with all number digits, for a less special form of the synesthesia. It does help me find number digits more easily and helps me remember words a tiny bit better. For number digits and also for quite some bigger numbers I also have sounds-visuals beside the colours. Of course that makes me remember numbers even better beyond me being already very good with numbers. There is also spatial synesthesia for when I do operations on numbers that speeds up the operations. And I do have some sortof impressionistic-synesthesia-ish thingy - again maybe like your stuff? - that helps me remember some other stuff, I mainly have/use this for remembering list items when I create lists that otherwise have too many disparate seeming items. I do try to categorise the items to remember better but sometimes it's just too disparate so the categories are not neat enough so then the impressionistic-synesthesia-ish thingy helps remember better. I actually have a very high capacity for remembering things using that thingy... And I've - involuntarily again - developed synesthesia for emotional states in recent years. (This came with my overall developing emotional awareness.) That really surprised me that it could develop for a whole new category of things as an adult, it's just colour synesthesia though, not more complex synesthesia. Otoh, I don't have it for people, wow that one synesthesia of yours is weird to me.

No idea if any of that can be linked to anything in MBTI though lol

That's really interesting actually. The sound visual thing specifically intrigues me, do you mean that sight can sometimes create certain pitches or noises or the reversal? I've recently started reading more into synesthesia and I've yet to come across the prior so that's really unique. The emotional state sort of thing is also really interesting. I guess I can relate to that to some degree in the sense that I associate colors with the concepts of emotional states (if we are looking at something more impression based), but not necessarily to my own. I'd be curious to see how that worked, I'm sure it itself could have the potential to aid in emotional awareness. You tend to be somewhat synesthetic in general, so perhaps the synesthesia is just something your brain does naturally with things as it begins to understand them, interesting how you somewhat develouped it overtime though, that's what seemed to happen with me and some of my sound based perceptions.

God I wish this related to mbti, that'd be super cool

Why do you call your impressionistic categorising awkward? I didn't understand what you feel is awkward in that, so that's why I'm asking.

Probably because it sounds weird coming out of my mouth, or perhaps it just has to do with me being relatively insecure about myself (tbh most of the things I do and ways of doing things seem awkward to me). It's something that's heavily subconscious, and the way it manifests is sometimes awkward and out of place too especially when I talk about it or try to convey these perceptions.

 

[Siúil a Rúin]

I spend time analyzing my own emotions quite a bit and refer back to very core, basic principles of kindness, patience, flexibility, honesty, etc. as a moral point of reference. As a result I tend to know almost every cause and effect of why I feel and behave as I do. I can't always do anything about it - knowing doesn't always solve problematic feelings, but it tends to all make sense to me. This is a source of stability for me and just about the only thing that I have a sense of knowing definitively. Almost everything else is a feeling of confusion on the negative side, or a feeling of wonder and mystery on the positive side. I have an ongoing sense of feeling lost, but sometimes it is a beautiful feeling and sometimes terrifying.

I also have a tendency to obsess about certain social relationships that are important to me, and sometimes random ones that trigger me because they internally reference something that is significant to me, but I find these are almost always stressful, looping, uncomfortable thoughts. I do best when I don't think too much about social relationships. They cause obsessive and depressive thinking in me. I almost always feel very alone, but have moments of 'highs' when I have a newfound hope in a new friend or something. Sometimes my own emotional problems can cause obsessive loops if I can't resolve the issue, but far more often the social thinking is my Achilles Heel.

I tend to feel inspired when I kind of let go of everything and allow impressions to come to me. It feels like doing the backfloat in the middle of the ocean without a care in the world. I am overcome with a sense of wonder, letting go into the abyss, and then sometimes clarity will come and sometimes I just feel incredibly small and overwhelmed which gives me a feeling of security for some reason. I am an observer of processes in this mode of thinking and will sometimes have metaphysical experiences that I can't describe and don't really understand. I just go with the flow and don't try to control or define anything. I also experience it looking into the night sky or at fractal geometry or tesseracts. I like the feeling of my brain being stretched beyond comprehension, control, or definition.

I do my best creative work when I don't define anything, don't judge anything, but just focus every cell in my body on what I feel and intend. Then it comes to me without trying, without really even thinking, but more like a pleasant surprise.

 

[Non_xsense]

That's really interesting actually. The sound visual thing specifically intrigues me, do you mean that sight can sometimes create certain pitches or noises or the reversal? I've recently started reading more into synesthesia and I've yet to come across the prior so that's really unique. The emotional state sort of thing is also really interesting. I guess I can relate to that to some degree in the sense that I associate colors with the concepts of emotional states (if we are looking at something more impression based), but not necessarily to my own. I'd be curious to see how that worked, I'm sure it itself could have the potential to aid in emotional awareness. You tend to be somewhat synesthetic in general, so perhaps the synesthesia is just something your brain does naturally with things as it begins to understand them, interesting how you somewhat develouped it overtime though, that's what seemed to happen with me and some of my sound based perceptions.

God I wish this related to mbti, that'd be super cool

Probably because it sounds weird coming out of my mouth, or perhaps it just has to do with me being relatively insecure about myself (tbh most of the things I do and ways of doing things seem awkward to me). It's something that's heavily subconscious, and the way it manifests is sometimes awkward and out of place too especially when I talk about it or try to convey these perceptions.

I guess the most know source i can use is Scrabin music , basically his art is quite unique ... he could use harmonic /colors to express something that really is like something like my teacher told me : Scriabin is a lone star in the galaxy.
Tho i think we can get awareness about that ... it's just require a lifetime of training.

 

[kittenke]

That's really interesting actually. The sound visual thing specifically intrigues me, do you mean that sight can sometimes create certain pitches or noises or the reversal? I've recently started reading more into synesthesia and I've yet to come across the prior so that's really unique. The emotional state sort of thing is also really interesting. I guess I can relate to that to some degree in the sense that I associate colors with the concepts of emotional states (if we are looking at something more impression based), but not necessarily to my own. I'd be curious to see how that worked, I'm sure it itself could have the potential to aid in emotional awareness. You tend to be somewhat synesthetic in general, so perhaps the synesthesia is just something your brain does naturally with things as it begins to understand them, interesting how you somewhat develouped it overtime though, that's what seemed to happen with me and some of my sound based perceptions.

God I wish this related to mbti, that'd be super cool

Probably because it sounds weird coming out of my mouth, or perhaps it just has to do with me being relatively insecure about myself (tbh most of the things I do and ways of doing things seem awkward to me). It's something that's heavily subconscious, and the way it manifests is sometimes awkward and out of place too especially when I talk about it or try to convey these perceptions.

Sorry, if I was unclear, what I really meant is that I have several types of synesthesia for concepts, so it's any of the following or all of the following: visual in terms of colours, impressionistic visual, auditory.

The emotional-colour synesthesia for me is actually for my own emotional states, not really just for the concepts of them. But yeah it's just like, I get to see a colour when I feel the corresponding emotional state. It only happens though if I try to focus on my internal state at least a little bit, or if I spontaneously get aware of it a bit. If I don't then it's just business as usual, I do whatever and the emotion usually just exists on the side without me really paying attention and I don't see the colour then either.

And yes I would agree, my brain just does this in the process of understanding some stuff, idk what it depends on beyond that.

For sure it's to do with that though yeah, I started getting the colour synesthesia for the emotional states after I started reading up more on emotions and analysing and understanding them in general.

I didn't develop any of it consciously really, for the emotion stuff either, it just started happening and then I noticed it was happening.

Actually it is interesting because it looks like that somehow my brain subconsciously must be categorising the emotional states based on my understanding (what I read up on about emotions, etc.) when activating the corresponding colour for the emotional state, and then I only see that "after the fact", i.e. I sense I have some emotional state, and I see the colour and then I realise what I am feeling and the colour tends to point to the correct category for the emotional state, yep. Even when it's an emotional state that I'm still not entirely familiar with, am still identifying it, etc. I'm not sure I should fully trust this ability lol, but yeah, it's been surprisingly reliable. Of course only as far as my understanding of emotions goes.

In MBTI if I really really had to try and link it with anything, it for sure is some introverted function and not Fi because it doesn't seem all that values based obviously . It's either Si by being internal sensing, or Ni by being conceptual assocations in some way (??), or Ti by being conceptual (in a logical way). Maybe two of these functions being linked actually. Really not sure beyond that.

And I didn't think your stuff sounded weird or awkward.

 

[Pionart]

Sorry, if I was unclear, what I really meant is that I have several types of synesthesia for concepts, so it's any of the following or all of the following: visual in terms of colours, impressionistic visual, auditory.

The emotional-colour synesthesia for me is actually for my own emotional states, not really just for the concepts of them. But yeah it's just like, I get to see a colour when I feel the corresponding emotional state. It only happens though if I try to focus on my internal state at least a little bit, or if I spontaneously get aware of it a bit. If I don't then it's just business as usual, I do whatever and the emotion usually just exists on the side without me really paying attention and I don't see the colour then either.

And yes I would agree, my brain just does this in the process of understanding some stuff, idk what it depends on beyond that.

For sure it's to do with that though yeah, I started getting the colour synesthesia for the emotional states after I started reading up more on emotions and analysing and understanding them in general.

I didn't develop any of it consciously really, for the emotion stuff either, it just started happening and then I noticed it was happening.

Actually it is interesting because it looks like that somehow my brain subconsciously must be categorising the emotional states based on my understanding (what I read up on about emotions, etc.) when activating the corresponding colour for the emotional state, and then I only see that "after the fact", i.e. I sense I have some emotional state, and I see the colour and then I realise what I am feeling and the colour tends to point to the correct category for the emotional state, yep. Even when it's an emotional state that I'm still not entirely familiar with, am still identifying it, etc. I'm not sure I should fully trust this ability lol, but yeah, it's been surprisingly reliable. Of course only as far as my understanding of emotions goes.

In MBTI if I really really had to try and link it with anything, it for sure is some introverted function and not Fi because it doesn't seem all that values based obviously . It's either Si by being internal sensing, or Ni by being conceptual assocations in some way (??), or Ti by being conceptual (in a logical way). Maybe two of these functions being linked actually. Really not sure beyond that.

And I didn't think your stuff sounded weird or awkward.

It's multiple functions being activated simultaneously.

I wonder which colours you associate with which emotions? I have a theory about which emotions go with which colours but I don't experience that way, it's just a concept I have. I wonder if you divide things up similarly.

 

[Stanton Moore]

I utilise the Plenko method.

 

[Maou]

After reading a lot of the responses, I am not sure if I think the same way as many in this thread. How I think is directly related to the task at hand. I don't have a constant "function" that I use, and I switch between outward (reality) and inward (imagination/minds eye/thoughts) awareness frequently. If I am not doing anything physical, I am guaranteed to be off in my imagination. Or when I am required to interact with reality, I am quick, precise, and seemingly without effort accomplishing things, and with extremely accurate awareness of time because I feel like I do not want to be there. If I had a preference, it would be being trapped in my head and disregarding reality completely. The only reason I do not do that, is fear of psychosis (which I had a taste of ~10 years ago). Even when I experience things like anxiety, it feels separate from my sense of self. As if I am a soul hovering in a jar. Everything happening to me, is happening to the Jar, and not me. (not sure if disassociation, because I can switch between states). But somewhere along the way, I got tired of being in my mind, and I wanted to seek new forms of inspiration to fuel my imagination. What caused that massive shift in preference? No idea.

I am also a HSP, but the intensity seems to vary for me along with my moods. Why that is, I do not know. But when it is intense, I can sometimes see sounds (synesthesia) and sometimes feel like my minds eye was hit physically when I hear certain sounds. Another weird mental skill that I seem to have, is the ability to control dreams. That all came to me naturally. So I somewhat feel that I have some sort of control over my subconscious. As well as the ability to adjust my cognitive behavior, to suit my needs over time. I seem to be capable of changing my personality somewhat with that. Whether that is healthy or not, I do not know. (I have only ever met one other person that could do this)

 

[kittenke]

It's multiple functions being activated simultaneously.

I wonder which colours you associate with which emotions? I have a theory about which emotions go with which colours but I don't experience that way, it's just a concept I have. I wonder if you divide things up similarly.

The colours are based on my previously already existing synesthesia for other things - I didn't decide to do this, it just happened, involuntary and I noticed this later - and that synesthesia is very arbitrary overall - consistent in the activation of connections but arbitrary in what colours are picked for what thing, this abritrariness is just characteristic of synesthesia - so I doubt it's anything like your theory, but if you want, you can say more on the theory.

After reading a lot of the responses, I am not sure if I think the same way as many in this thread. How I think is directly related to the task at hand. I don't have a constant "function" that I use, and I switch between outward (reality) and inward (imagination/minds eye/thoughts) awareness frequently. If I am not doing anything physical, I am guaranteed to be off in my imagination. Or when I am required to interact with reality, I am quick, precise, and seemingly without effort accomplishing things, and with extremely accurate awareness of time because I feel like I do not want to be there. If I had a preference, it would be being trapped in my head and disregarding reality completely. The only reason I do not do that, is fear of psychosis (which I had a taste of ~10 years ago). Even when I experience things like anxiety, it feels separate from my sense of self. As if I am a soul hovering in a jar. Everything happening to me, is happening to the Jar, and not me. (not sure if disassociation, because I can switch between states). But somewhere along the way, I got tired of being in my mind, and I wanted to seek new forms of inspiration to fuel my imagination. What caused that massive shift in preference? No idea.

I am also a HSP, but the intensity seems to vary for me along with my moods. Why that is, I do not know. But when it is intense, I can sometimes see sounds (synesthesia) and sometimes feel like my minds eye was hit physically when I hear certain sounds. Another weird mental skill that I seem to have, is the ability to control dreams. That all came to me naturally. So I somewhat feel that I have some sort of control over my subconscious. As well as the ability to adjust my cognitive behavior, to suit my needs over time. I seem to be capable of changing my personality somewhat with that. Whether that is healthy or not, I do not know. (I have only ever met one other person that could do this)

All that just sounds very Ni, including your adjusting capabilities and control over the subconscious, I think... I think it's healthy if it leads to good outcomes...? It sounds pretty cool actually.

 

[Saturnal Snowqueen]

My thought process hardly feels like a process, but ah, here goes:"

"Does this really mean anything at the end of the day?"
"What if X is really why?"
"I want coffee"
"It's all too much"
"Why is the world so ugly?"
"Why is the world so beautiful?"
"Calm down Sat"
*thinks of fandoms*
*random fact comes out of purgatory*
"Why didn't I do this?"
"Who are these strange people?"
"Who is this strange person(AKA me)

"aahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh"
Basically my Fi process is basically measuring what's important to me, and feeling in congruence with myself, maintaining this certain essence about me, and being aware of my internal flow.

 

[Tonitrum]

My thought process usualy consists of what makes sense to me personaly, by that I evaluate what would be the right choice amongs the available paths to me, or what is up to my tastes.