This Guys Day Was Ruined After Finding Out Not Everyone Has An Internal Monologue With Themselves

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not everyone thinks in monologues

By Mayukh Saha / Truth Theory

Many of us have an assumption that everyone thinks in monologues. That is, their thoughts are like audible sentences. While this is true for many of us, some people just don’t think in this way! The following tweet has led to an elaborate discussion on the same topic.

As someone belonging to either of the 2 types, people are surprised at the existence of the other type of thinking.

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https://twitter.com/vanbadham/status/1223192182191902721

You can do a small experiment by asking people around you about their thinking process. It’s highly likely that you’ll find a few people who think differently than you.

https://twitter.com/howd9rk/status/1221721361242042368

Someone who thinks in monologues will probably be talking to themselves while doing things. Like, they might be telling themselves to climb the stairs, go to the bathroom and wash their face. For such people, those having no monologues inside their heads seem to be monks. While for one who doesn’t have an inner monologue, the idea of a constant internal conversation sounds very exhausting.

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https://twitter.com/ljfxiki/status/1221726608924348417

Then some people have a thinking process that is a mixture of these two types. For daily chores like eating, bathing, etc, they don’t think in monologues. Their abstract thinking kicks in and they picture the images of those things or feel the hunger pangs. But when it comes to complex thoughts like planning about the future, they tend to hold inner monologues.

Sometimes, the monologues are so vivid that it almost feels like watching a sitcom show! One who thinks in monologues generally has argumentative conversation inside their head, accepting/ dismissing something they said in their head.

A Twitter poll revealed that the majority (58%) of the people who voted, think in words. About 14% of the voting population thinks in concepts. And 19% of them have a mix of both these kinds of thoughts.

Above is a non-scientific poll, but a scientific study showed most people to have a mixed process of thinking. A study conducted in 2011 aimed at knowing the thinking process of various people. A random group of students was selected and given beepers. As soon as the beepers went off, they were supposed to write down whatever was going on in their minds. This activity was conducted for many weeks to get the students accustomed to it. This gave the researchers a fair idea of what took place in the minds of those students.

About 26% of them were found to hold monologues in their minds. But when seen individually, there were huge differences in thinking processes. Some people never held internal conversations while others had about 75% of their thoughts coming to them as monologues! The average was taken as about 20%.

If you’re curious, a deaf person also thinks in monologues. Their monologues, however, are not sound-based but are image-based. Some people are also there who are unable to draw mental images and this is called aphantasia.

https://twitter.com/charleful/status/1221718296262778881?s=20

Isn’t it interesting to know that not everyone thinks in monologues? Ask your friends what is their thinking type? Have fun exploring!

Featured Image: The Brain

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