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I thought I would post a poll, just for fun, to see if others here think in either pictures or words. Plus I think awareness of how we think differently might help us understand how our children think and learn. These styles of thinking tend to run in families with the occassional child being a different type of thinker than the rest of the family.
Many people probably don't realize that others think differently. I was surprised to learn that over 65% of the population thinks in pictures. I always pictorial thinking was only reserved for extremely creative people and people with autism.
Why am I interested in this? There's so much information about pictoral thinking, portrayed as if it's rare and unique; meanwhile, the styles of thinking possessed by small segment of the population aren't often portrayed as rare. There's little information available on types of thinking other than pictorial thinking.
Pictorial thinkers think with pictures. They literally see pictures in their minds while they are thinking.
Verbal Logical thinkers think in words. Their mind actually plays out thoughts in their heads in the form of words. Their thoughts are conceptual and analytical.
Music Math thinkers think in rythems and patterns. They can see pictures of the patterns or think of the patterns in words. But they mostly think in patterns.
This is very simplistic. There are many other types of thinkers. And most people think in more than one way or even all ways. But everyone has one MAIN way thoughts go through their heads on an ongoing daily basis.
It's important to understand so we can better understand our children for education. We all know people have different learning styles and those learning styles are the result of thinking styles.
I'll use my son as an example of how it's relevant. He was diagnosed in kindergarten with a learning disability in the language arts, (which was quickly corrected within two years via special instruction). He didn't have dyslexia. As a matter of fact, I never truly knew or understood his learning disability until just last night when he told me that he thinks in words. Not only does he think in words, he HEARS his thinking. (Not everyone who thinks in words literally hears their own thinking as sound. I think in words but rarely hear my thoughts as sound. Sometimes I do, but it's very rare for me.) When he looked at the letters of the alphabet, he couldnt make sense of them because he doesn't think pictorially---letters are basically sounds represented as a picture. He can think spacially and envision things, but his everyday style of thinking is in the form of words and sounds in his head.
He said he has always asked his friends if they heard their thoughts as words. Everyone has always told him they think in pictures. This intrigued me because I always thought pictorial thinking was rare. I did research on the internet this morning and discovered that pictorial thinkers are the majority of the population!
I said words, but really I would have rather said the patterns one if it was an option.
I was going to add all of them, but it seems like all types of thinking come down to words and pictures at the core, unless someone is deaf and blind at the same time.
Can you be a little of both words and pictures? I have what some would term a "photographic memory". I can see images and easily recall them in great detail. For instance, I can picture my filing cabinet at home and remember exactly where a particular folder is among the dozens in there. However, when I am "thinking" it tends to be in words, unless it is something conceptual at which point I try to picture it.
Can you be a little of both words and pictures? I have what some would term a "photographic memory". I can see images and easily recall them in great detail. For instance, I can picture my filing cabinet at home and remember exactly where a particular folder is among the dozens in there. However, when I am "thinking" it tends to be in words, unless it is something conceptual at which point I try to picture it.
That's me too. When I was in my late 20s, I went with my sisters to a small town in the South where we lived when I was 4. My sisters were older then me, but I'm the one who knew our way around the town and exactly how to find out old house. Even though I have a photographic memory, I'd say our core is thinking with words in our everyday thinking. We're just good at swtiching to pictorial images when we need to. We don't think in pictures constantly. Our natural, rested thinking is words, but we use pictorial thinking for specific tasks. Make sense?
That's me too. When I was in my late 20s, I went with my sisters to a small town in the South where we lived when I was 4. My sisters were older then me, but I'm the one who knew our way around the town and exactly how to find out old house. Even though I have a photographic memory, I'd say our core is thinking with words in our everyday thinking. We're just good at swtiching to pictorial images when we need to. We don't think in pictures constantly. Our natural, rested thinking is words, but we use pictorial thinking for specific tasks. Make sense?
Makes sense to me, lol. I remember when I was like 10 we went on a family vacation to Williamsburg, VA for the 4th of July. Leaving after the fireworks I remember being the one telling my parents how to get back to the hotel.
I also have a Eidetic or photographic memory. I can close my eyes and see the words printed on the page of a book and know where in the book the page is. My father had this as well so perhaps it's inherited? Though his memory was by far the best of anyone I've ever known. Just phenomenal. I can remember events from early childhood in detail. (Though I can't do math without a calculator and my spelling is horrendous so I guess it all evens out.) One of my sons has an exceptional memory as well. And all of them think in pictures.
Anybody else associate people with colors? Some people are greens. Some are blues. There is a poster on here who is yellow-green. I don't know a lot of yellow-greens.
The written word is an actual picture with meaning just as much as a drawing of a house or recalling an image of a butterfly. Seeing the word 'butterfly' will more likely bring about the sound of the spoken word while seeing the 'beautiful Monarch butterfly' will bring about an actual image.
So, if you meant thinking by using the sound of the spoken word instead of the written word, then that would make more sense and the question would be do you think in images or sound?
As I think about this topic, for instance, I am typing what I hear in my head, not words I have written out in my head.
However, I would have an image in my head if I was trying to type out instructions on how to get to my house or if I was thinking about emotions.
I think much in the way you described your son thinks although I never had an LD. I actually taught myself how to read right before I started kindergarden. My memory is TERRIBLE, I can literally sit down and watch a movie and at the end you can ask me about a certain part and I will not remember it I always feel bad when friends bring up "remember when we..." moments and I have no clue what they are talking about.
I have always wondered how people who are deaf and blind think, obviously they do, but what is it like??
Anybody else associate people with colors? Some people are greens. Some are blues. There is a poster on here who is yellow-green. I don't know a lot of yellow-greens.
That's fascinating! Tell us more!
Quote:
Originally Posted by hypocore
Those two choices can be a bit confusing.
The written word is an actual picture with meaning just as much as a drawing of a house or recalling an image of a butterfly. Seeing the word 'butterfly' will more likely bring about the sound of the spoken word while seeing the 'beautiful Monarch butterfly' will bring about an actual image.
So, if you meant thinking by using the sound of the spoken word instead of the written word, then that would make more sense and the question would be do you think in images or sound?
The reason I didn't use 'sound' is because my son thinks in sound, but I think in words. I'm having difficulty explaining it. I don't literally hear my thoughts, but he hears his.
Let's try this. When I lay down in bed, relax and think, my thoughts are like a book or a conversation--dialog and sentences and ideas are in the form of words. I don't hear the words though as sounds, but my son literally hears his thoughts as we hear with our ears, just quieter, of course, most of the time. I can understand what he describes because I have on occassion heard my thoughts----like hearing my mother's voice when I'm remembering her. This has happened very rarely to me, but I think it's as close as I can get to understanding how my son hears his thoughts. People with pictorial thinking will lay and visualize their thoughts---flashes of pictures roll through their minds, not words.
Quote:
Originally Posted by hypocore
As I think about this topic, for instance, I am typing what I hear in my head, not words I have written out in my head.
However, I would have an image in my head if I was trying to type out instructions on how to get to my house or if I was thinking about emotions.
Do you literally hear them? It's so interesting that I am finding people here who HEAR their thoughts like my son does!
Quote:
Originally Posted by icibiu
Interesting thread Hopes!
I think much in the way you described your son thinks although I never had an LD. I actually taught myself how to read right before I started kindergarden. My memory is TERRIBLE, I can literally sit down and watch a movie and at the end you can ask me about a certain part and I will not remember it I always feel bad when friends bring up "remember when we..." moments and I have no clue what they are talking about.
A word thinker in sound! My son has an exceptional memory though. I would think that thought and memory must be influenced by different factors.
Do you think you can't remember the movie because you are listening to your thoughts more than listening the movie?
Quote:
Originally Posted by icibiu
I have always wondered how people who are deaf and blind think, obviously they do, but what is it like??
I never thought about it until I was typing this thread. If they don't have ears for the sounds of words and don't have vision to form pictures----as we know words and pictures, how do they think? I think it's pretty obvious that a deaf person would think in pictures and a blind person would think in words. But it's fascinating to me what thoughts are like for someone who is both blind and deaf.
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I always feel bad when friends bring up "remember when we..." moments and I have no clue what they are talking about. 
