'Thinking in Words or Images' - Jordan Peterson

Jordan Peterson talks about different modes of thinking.

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[sarenawiebe]

Words. I imagine conversations happening more than I actually have them.

[ВадимДаянов-чм]

I think in pictures and scenarios. And it affects me. For example, most of the time when I walk and think of doing some physical activity - let’s say wrestling, I find myself bending, lifting hands and changing body positions, Increasing the pace of the walk etc

Same for thinking of situations when people involved - they cause real feelings

I sweat, get excited or anxious
Feel pain and happiness

Too vivid
Like seeing dreams while being awoke

[anautonomous]

Is anyone else able to visualize scenario’s in there head as well, not clear but clear enough to be able to know what’s happening in my own head

[the_grand_chawhee]

It's images and concepts for me. To think in words is cumbersome. My mind does not produce the words. I have to translate the concepts and images into words. This is why I pause when I speak or sometimes speak slowly.

[doodledumb]

When I think about something I'm gonna say or write or something I'm reading it is spoken words in my head. When I'm remembering something, it's an image. When I'm remembering a taste or a smell I can faintly taste/smell what im thinking of. If I think about temperature, I can feel warmer or colder.

[sezbautista]

I think using images a good example is when I build a work related procedure I see things in my head like a process map it is vivid like a movie.

[shavais]

I think when I'm awake, as opposed to being asleep or in some kind of altered state between asleep and awake, my visualization is poor and vague. But in dreams and in visions.. I've seen things more vividly and clearly and in more detail than I see them in reality. Sometimes when I've been in dreams and this has happened, I've become aware of the fact that I'm dreaming. Sometimes the thing that clued me in was the fact that I could see more clearly than I can actually see in reality. In those dreams I just look around myself in amazement. I touch things to feel the texture. All this enormous volume of detail that this human brain is just seemingly instantaneously creating or somehow pulling together and presenting. It's incredible. And the questions around it all are often unfathomable. Why? Why this place, this imagery, these sounds, smells, these textures? I've never been to a place like this so far as I recall, yet here I am, in this dream. Why? It's so strange.

If someone says something and you think "yeah that's right" or "no, wait, what about.." are you thinking in words? Like those words? Are you thinking in pictures? In the instant when the meaning of what they said is clear in your mind, it is either resonant or dissonant, or somewhere in between, but you often have a virtually instant response, and then you have to spend some time, maybe a fraction of a second, or a few seconds, to think about it more, maybe to be more sure of yourself, and then formulate your thoughts into words. So when the thought occurred to you initially, or even when you were thinking about it more, were you thinking words? In pictures? No. There wasn't time for it be in words. There was no time for even a single word to be spoken in my head. And for me it's not really pictures, either. I had an instantaneous thought, or nearly instantaneous, maybe it didn't come to me right away, but when it did, it sort of "arrived" in an instantaneous way, without any pictures or words, and then I had to put my thought into words. It seems like I see other people having the same kind of processes go on. Initial thought, further thought, word formulation. And the word formulation often takes time. Sometimes the formulation is very fast, but other times it definitely takes marked time. If you're thinking in words to begin with, why do you have to spend time putting your thoughts into words?

It seems like people think in meanings and then translate their thoughts from there.

[sacrilegiousboi]

I have trouble articulating myself and speaking fast and fluently as other people. I pause a lot or can’t respond as fast as others. Images, instincts, concepts and feelings come quickly, freely and naturally, but often have to be consciously translated to words. This extra step is probably why socialising and talking drains me more than other people. It’s also why I’ve never been able to wing presentations or interviews without preparation and why I struggle in fast paced group conversations. I sometimes sound like English is my second language lol.

For years I thought those internal monologues that anime characters do or like in Peep Show was unrealistic until my friends told me that’s how they think almost all the time which shocked me so much

I never got how people could have full on conversations on autopilot and not be fully aware of what they were saying until I realised they were probably verbal thinkers.

I can articulate myself really well in writing though given enough time because then I have enough time to translate properly.

People often look at my writing and think it’s written by a different person because it’s so much more fluent, coherent and expressive than what comes out of my mouth lmao

[bobfttw]

My ADHD has me alternate between thinking in words and in images. I think more effectively with words but often time find random images popping into my head. Trying to work now to get better control of my mind.

[Drejzer]

Words, words all the way.
Even when I'm thinking about an image, it's words describing it and not the image itself.

[inverclacky]

I think in words and have to concentrate to put the image together like a jigsaw puzzle. If I were to close my eyes and try to see my dog in my head I would get a shopping list of words, like I'm describing her to someone else. 4 legs, brown fur, pointy ears... The image does come, but it's like I'm looking at her without my glasses on.

[VandarAlden]

I don't think in either, rather in abstract concepts

[benben-dnck]

Thanks a million for sharing. My default thinking or processing style, of feelings emotions thoughts, is imagined conversations.It may be with a friend, family, stranger or myself.Its like i am explaning myself.

[linuxgaminginfullhdfps]

Words and images are just easily recognizable patterns that we use to think. I would say there are many others. It is not just words and images. I would say I think in "realities" or "overlays" which can be either bound to visual/auditory/sensory/other information or completely detached. Like a city map - it is always present in the overlay, so I know where things are and don't need to recall/memorize/imagine a path that I have taken or willing to take. When I think of a math problem there are no words or images, it is just axioms, rules and paths. Yeah, sometimes it is useful to also think of an image, but it is usually enough to think of a formula and a path how to get it from the axioms. Another example is the keyboard. I don't need to look at it, I don't need to think of its image, or where the buttons are, I just think what to type and fingers know what to do to make that thing typed. I don't remember my passwords, I just recall how to type them. There are multiple password, yet when I need to type one I type the one that is needed specifically here. So there is a password "overlay". When I am asleep I often use one of the bigger imaginary realities. So it is like a huge overlay, where I have an abstraction of memory thoughts, visuals and sensory info. When in a dream I can remember the previous dream and what was there. It is like when I go to sleep I get to chose whether I continue one of the previous dreams or create a completely new one.

P.S. I think forgetting is abnormal and actually is an illness that almost everyone seems to just accept and suffer from.

[katlamb]

I think bothways. Although thinking in images requires huge effort on my part cause I get sidetracked easily. Also, sometimes it's impossible for me to put my thoughts into words when I'm thinking in what I would call 'vibes'. I say that cause it's not even images I'm thinking in during those moments. It's some kind of intuitive understanding the mechanics of which I fail to explain.

[thekinginyellow]

Imagine you're sitting in a room with yourself with a computer in front of you, and other you is talking to you and explaining things, that's how I think. And when I need to imagine an object or way a mechanism moves, I just pull it up on the computer. Sehr interessant

[mayleespann]

I think very well in images and almost exclusively so. But I am very concept-oriented. My dreams are intensely vivid and detailed with layer upon layer of symbolism. The main way I understand abstract ideas is by assigning visual characteristics to them. So I think that makes me a lover of ideas, but I still think visually.

[rryanreid]

I think like a conversation in my head. I'm amazed that not everyone does this.

[stevenlghstevo]

Perhaps one of the most interesting topics I've pondered in years. The self reflection on this topic is massive.... Which one is better in which situation and am I applying them that way?

[ophelian]

I think in colors. Every letter, word and even person has a color. And they also have a shape. I thought everyone else was just like me and it was only about four years ago I found out it wasn't so. I think it's called 'synaesthesia'.