Compartmentalizing.

[QuickTwist]

I have always had a weird relationship with compartmentalizing. On the one hand I do do this sometimes as anything with a brain does. On the other hand, and what may separate me from other humans is that I really have no control over this. I don't really have separate boxes for all my stuff in my head that is well mapped out for easy access and use. I don't really "measure" things consciously. When I do measure, its often the subconscious that does most of the heavy lifting. I have grown to depend on my intuition in this manner. To some degree I think everyone has some sort of mapping to other things and how they relate to each other. But for me, its mostly a subconscious thing that I really don't try to pursue consciously. TBH, both methods of compartmentalizing have their strengths and weaknesses. If you do this consciously, then you will prolly have a sharper memory regarding the topics you consciously compartmentalize. The downside is that if you go too far with this, it limits your ability to think intuitively (IMHO). The pro's to compartmentalizing subconsciously is that you may be better at instinctively knowing something without having to have a conscious memory of that occurrence. In a way, you could say that if someone compartmentalizes consciously, they have more "facts" at their fingertips while if you do this subconsciously you have more "information" at your fingertips. So allow me to illustrate this as two people watching a baseball game. Lets say the two people are both baseball fans and watch baseball avidly. The person who compartmentalizes in a conscious way is going to know the facts from memory about the player up to bat. They will know the pitcher as well. So this person will think, OK, his batting average is .235 against right handed pitchers and he is 0 for 1 since his last at bat. He hasn't gotten a hit in 5 at bats. He has 9 HR this year. The pitcher likes to throw high fastballs. Conclusion: there is a good chance this guy hits a homerun. Now the guy who compartmentalizes subconsciously is going to get a vibe from the pitcher and the hitter and he is going to "size them up". He comes to the same conclusion as the first guy. So on the third pitch, the guy hits a homerun.

I am curious how others think on this site. Do you compartmentalize consciously or subconsciously? Is this a trait of a particular type? Which category do you think INTPs typically fall under? Is there a "Correct" answer for this regarding INTPs? Are there differences in INTPs that allow for both trains of thought in this? Generally, what is your opinion of this?

 

[Cognisant]

My mind is partly visual, when I design things in my head I can literally see and manipulate a 3D object in my mind, even do structural integrity, electrical/thermal conduction and ballistics penetration simulations. The other part is a relational database of definitions, I like to spend a lot of time doing very in depth analysis behind the meaning of particular words and concepts, not as a matter of semantics but rather understanding the concepts behind the concepts.

It's like a messy workshop with tools and unfinished projects scattered all over the place and a bookshelf full of heavy technical/philosophical books with many bookmarks and notes scribbled in the margins.

Sport statistics go in one ear and are hastened out the other.

 

[Jennywocky]

Is this an actual term, or just something else that you have invented and defined yourself? (usually i see the term "compartmentalizing" used to describe people suffering cognitive dissonance.)

I would just break this down as a "reasoning" vs "instinctive" approach -- the first person needs more exactness and has to go through the numbers and feels more secure having it all spelled out, the second person can size it up in a fuzzy way without having to think through it in terms of specifics and follow their broad intuitions and are comfortable with that.

I see people here of both flavors. I will use either depending on my need to feel secure in my answer for a given question; i usually do get a vibe about something but will also sometimes feel the need to specifically crunch it.

 

[QuickTwist]

I should prolly mention what my frame of reference is for this.

Its the difference between my brother and I.

He tends to think much more categorically than I do. He tells me when someone is giving him new info that he will think through previous conversations that he has had with them and other people to get a frame of reference for the topic at hand to try and tell if what they are telling him is reliable or not. He says he does this with pretty much everyone with one exception: me. He says he doesn't even need to go through the preliminary process of pulling things from his memory to see if what I am telling him are my actual thoughts on the subject. IDK why its just me, but it is. I should ask him if he has to go through this process with my other family members. It could just be as simple as the fact that we have so much face time together that he knows I am going to tell him what I am actually thinking without even needing to check. But he says he DOES need to do this with some of his other very close friends, so that tells me it is something about me specifically that he feels he doesn't need to bother with this with me.

My brother and I converse about our differences in thought process fairly regularly. We've been able to narrow down that most of the differences stem from how we come to conclusions about things. Like I said, he thinks in associations from memory and I... I am not sure how I come to conclusions, but its not obvious that it is through associations.

 

[Hadoblado]

Your use of the word 'compartmentalisation' is confusing, as Jenny says.

A priest who sleeps around while still experiencing an authentic relationship with his god is compartmentalising his baser nature. It has pretty strong affective connotations...

 

[Pyropyro]

Not sure if this is the compartmentalization term as normally described as Hado and Jenny said or just a very strong Introverted Sensing.

It seems that the compartmentalized guy's mind just has a good recordkeeping ability.

 

[Grayman]

I suck at trivia and fact based activities. I can still intuitively come up with answers. My intuition hogs most of my workingmemory so when my concious mind wants access it has to struggle for it.