How do you think? (NLP)

[Thomas A. Anderson]

I recently read about Neuro Linguistic Programming and I learned something amazing. People think really differently. I am curious to see if there is a correlation between Myers-Briggs type and how people think.

For example, I am not at all visual. It was actually the biggest surprise for me, to learn that some people can see pictures in their head and that it is as clear as looking directly with your eyes. If I really concentrate I can visualize a shape, but that's it.

I also have big difficulty feeling things in my head. Some people are able to feel the water going on their body in their head. It is also strongly connected with emotions so I am guessing no INTP would think primarly in kinestetics.

I am auditory digital. I think by understanding things, by talking to myself. I am not even just auditory because my voice doesn't have pitch and I can't really hear music in my head.

So it makes a lot of sense that I am IXTP because I can only think with logic.

Here are the main ways to think:
- Visual
- Auditory
- Kinestetics
- Auditory digital
- Visual digital

So how do you think?

The term that NLP uses is representational system to say how someone think.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Representational_systems_(NLP)

I learned about it reading Frogs into princes by Richard Bandler.

It's crazy how much it explains a lot for me. I now understand why people care about looks, because when they think about someone they see it! I could not care less. I also now understand why people like reading descriptions in books. I always skip them, but for some people, it's literally like a movie in their head when they read!

 

[Alias]

I've always been on the middle ground on those tests, and it's frustrating. I think I'm not that Kinesthetic though.

EDIT: I think I lean to visual, because I search the inside of my head for images in a way, but Auditory isn't out of the question, I'm the king of remembering song lyrics (not so good at singing, though).

 

[Black Rose]

When I close my eyes all I see is black.
I cannot hear music in my head.
I think I am digital.

 

[Cognisant]

Very visual, I can have my eyes wide open and be blind to the world.

Also as a matter of curiosity try this for me, imagine a really bright light, the brightest light you can possibly imagine, not just just conceptually I mean visualise a point of light so bright it hurts to look at.

I can make dark spots in my vision by doing this, they persist just like if I had actually stared at a light source.

 

[Seteleechete]

Mainly digital sometimes auditory/visual.(I think)

 

[Thomas A. Anderson]

I've always been on the middle ground on those tests, and it's frustrating. I think I'm not that Kinesthetic though.

EDIT: I think I lean to visual, because I search the inside of my head for images in a way, but Auditory isn't out of the question, I'm the king of remembering song lyrics (not so good at singing, though).

Are you able to remember melodies too? I have a theory that pitch is actually kinesthetic because the best musical people I met are kinesthetic a lot and it "feels" right to them when it's the right note.

When I close my eyes all I see is black.
I cannot hear music in my head.
I think I am digital.

Glad to see I am not alone.

Very visual, I can have my eyes wide open and be blind to the world.

Also as a matter of curiosity try this for me, imagine a really bright light, the brightest light you can possibly imagine, not just just conceptually I mean visualise a point of light so bright it hurts to look at.

I can make dark spots in my vision by doing this, they persist just like if I had actually stared at a light source.

Nope. Can't do it. I think I focus to much on trying to see. Even if I close my eyes I just look at the black and the little light that passes.

 

[Tannhauser]

I remember Richard Feynman talking about a similar difference in the way people think. He did a (very informal) experiment where he tried to count seconds as precisely as possible in his head. It turned out that he could read while doing this, but not talk. He tried this on some other physicist and for that guy it was the opposite: he could speak while counting, but not read.

It turned out they had a different way of imagining the counting. Feynman 'pronounced' each second to himself inside his head, while the other guy had a visual image of the seconds passing by.

As for me, I very definitely 'speak' to myself inside my head. I can do visuals, but it is much less natural/helpful for me. For example when doing mathematics, I often build an argument vocally inside my head, like "this, then this, then this, etc.."

 

[The Gopher]

I remember Richard Feynman talking about a similar difference in the way people think. He did a (very informal) experiment where he tried to count seconds as precisely as possible in his head. It turned out that he could read while doing this, but not talk. He tried this on some other physicist and for that guy it was the opposite: he could speak while counting, but not read.

It turned out they had a different way of imagining the counting. Feynman 'pronounced' each second to himself inside his head, while the other guy had a visual image of the seconds passing by.

As for me, I very definitely 'speak' to myself inside my head. I can do visuals, but it is much less natural/helpful for me. For example when doing mathematics, I often build an argument vocally inside my head, like "this, then this, then this, etc.."

Yeah someone got me to do this. At first I was better visually then by counting.

I also see black. But what do you mean? You can't hear music in your head? You can't see movies while reading? How would you describe each section? What about creating 3d models in your head. basic ones on the black background? Say of a industrial complex.

 

[Ex-User (11125)]

Idk I don't think I stick to one of these more than the others...i would say auditory and digital auditory but I'm a bit hesitant. Google says digital auditory would encompass all 3 so I'm going with that.

As for the feynman experiment, i pronounce each number in my head. And when I read a book, rather than visualise, i think i tend put myself in each character's shoes and imagine what it would feel like to experience what theyre experiencing. When I try to recall past events, I can often recall with great clarity the emotions I felt during each. Also, lots of words seem to prompt imagery in my head

 

[Grayman]

Your link does not work and I couldn't find anything on digital visual.

http://www.renewal.ca/nlp48.html
Auditory digitial based on this definition.

I am capable of using all of them BUT I still seem to process statements through the audio-digital/kinestetics/visual instead of simply understanding what is said. Basically, I have to imagine the process being talked about in order to gain understanding on what is being said.

 

[Grayman]

As for me, I very definitely 'speak' to myself inside my head. I can do visuals, but it is much less natural/helpful for me. For example when doing mathematics, I often build an argument vocally inside my head, like "this, then this, then this, etc.."

I tried it and found that I can do both and it works well that way OR i can 'internally speak' only but for some reason I cannot only do visual. As soon as I visualize the number or group of balls I hear an uncontrollable voice that states the number that represents the image.

 

[Thomas A. Anderson]

I also see black. But what do you mean? You can't hear music in your head? You can't see movies while reading? How would you describe each section? What about creating 3d models in your head. basic ones on the black background? Say of a industrial complex.

I just remember the facts. This person killed that person at that place. So now I just read non fiction and comedies.

I am not able at all to build any images in my head. I do sometime see the faint of an image but it is a memory. Now that I know about it I'd say I surprise myself seing things once a twice a day for like a second only. But I cannot even picture the image of my mother.

My link does work it's just the forum parser does not include the last parenthesis.

But indeed there is barely any information on audio digital or visual digital. But it makes a lot of sense for me that I am auditive digital because it's the only thing I am able to do. And just auditive does not make sense because I suck at music.

As for visual digital maybe I should not have included it but it made sense to one reference. I think the guy could see formulas and stuff, but no pictures.

 

[Brontosaurie]

Auditory digital is my main. Five minutes research has it down to "seem nerdy but be cool".

 

[Sir Eus Lee]

I don't know about lights but I remember one ti.e I closed my eyes and was able to turn my eyelids various colors. I haven't managed to pull it off again though. I also can make my actual vision appear to twist and shift. That may be irrelevant.

Some things I can visualize. I can't recreate pictures in my head, but sometimes I use like a spacial visual method to organize data. Memories have faint details, and places ive paid attention to i can recreate, but not so much as a picture, more like a place with objects relative to other objects. I dobt know what that has to do with learning.

For cognitive functions, I always have the dominant on the left and the inferior on the right. I might not be aware of where things are as I'm putting things together but if I wanted a location I would find that they were in line. When typing People I position the functions in a line.

When learning certain flips, like back flips or backhandsprings, it helped a lot to walk my body through the actual flip.

In the same line, after getting familiar enough with things I can simulate them in my head. Like a flip or a videogame.

If I zone my ears or head out, I can make voices start whispering in my head that I don't consciously make. I can "hear" music, and even orchestrate new songs with random instruments I'm not aware of, but I have to have a certain mood or lead for it.

My speech inside my head is weird. Sometimes I fully walk myself through speak, other times I have a combination of talking and Ti unwordingly piecing through ideas. It varies.

As for preference, I'd have to go with auditory but I do have a pretty God visual. Just not the ability to recreate visual things like I can audio.

 

[onesteptwostep]

The person who created this program/system has some Ph.D in statistics lol.

Anyway I have an affinity to Auditory Visual, but to me it just seems like it's another way of saying Introverted Thinking, (in terms of MBTI).

I took their assessment quiz (it's really clumsy, had to use pencil and paper), and had these results:

• Visual = 29
• Auditory = 28
• Kinesthetic = 26
• Digital = 39

While taking the test I realized that there were four types outlined, and immediately thought up of the S/N and T/F dichotomies. After taking a look at the descriptions given to these four traits I noticed that most of these descriptions could be explained in MBTI.

Visual = Ne, I, TJ
Auditory = NF
Kinesthetic = SF with a touch of J
Digital = obviously NT

Then boredom took over.

 

[Jennywocky]

I'm a mix in a sense.

As far as studies go, I actually do much better reading, visualizing (and I tend to naturally visualize), getting a big picture, than I do listening to someone. having me sit through a lecture is probably the most boring, worst form of learning I can imagine for myself, and I quickly end up getting lost in my own thoughts / zoning out. I wonder sometimes too if it's because I can control my own pace when reading, but listening to someone I'm a prisoner of their delivery. I also have very high spatial sense.

However, I'm also very musical, can hear music in my head easily, sense the relationship between notes. I also find a silent world (if I were deaf) far more "dead" than a blind world (if I couldn't see). I think being able to see is the far more useful trait in our society, but a silent world is like a grave to me in terms of experiencing life and feeling alive.

I can't say I'm much of a kinesthetic learner, I'm fine with sitting still and absorbing solely with my mind versus my body; however, in terms of music, I do feel that in my body if I let myself go / give myself freedom to experience it. I can feel the pulse and feel the emotion. I would say emotions are more centered in my body than in my head. (One of my kids was very kinesthetic, however, and always seemed to need to be moving and seemed to pick up things much better when moving about.) Music for me is probably the one area that I can easily feel centered in my body, because otherwise I have to work very hard to focus on purely physical experience, my mind is always shifting back to spatial input (i.e., my relation to the data) versus the data itself.

Those things all just seem to be ways of disseminating data / transmitting data to your mind, however. Mental logic to me is the processing that occurs after the details arrive at your brain and you have to sort through them. I'm perfectly fine with chugging through large quantities of data looking for patterns once I receive the data.

 

[The Gopher]

Did the thing.

• Visual = 31
• Auditory = 39
• Kinesthetic = 20
• Digital = 30

Makes sense.

 

[StevenM]

- Visual - 15%
Not entirely great. I can summon images, but they tend to end up distorted and missing details.

- Auditory - 32%
Not too bad. I can clearly compose melodies and work out chords in my head. Also making different sounds in my head is clear, accurate and almost sounds real to me.

- Kinestetics - 32%
Same as auditory. I can imagine all kinds of physical sensations quite well.

- Auditory digital - 21%
I do talk to myself a lot, and can sometimes be evident to outside observers if I'm trying to figure something out.

 

[PmjPmj]

Mainly visual, plus some other bits and bobs. As someone put it above "I can have my eyes open and be blind to the world".

OP sounds like my friend, who was also blown away when he realised that I had this visual ability. He's very likely an ISTJ.

 

[Tannhauser]

Interesting thread.

I scored 42 on digital on that test, so very in line with the idea of Ti.

I also realised that in terms of mathematical thinking, audio-digital thinking might not be the best way to go. It confines you to make precise sentences about mathematical statements in order to move to the next step. This, in turn, conditions for a very algorithmic and constrained way of thinking. Maybe that is why INTPs in general struggle with math and much rather do programming?

 

[Grayman]

Auditory = 19
Visual = 25
Kinesthetic = 22
Digital = 34

You are primarily a digital type.

http://www.naturdoctor.com/Chapters/Quiz/communication.html

 

[Yellow]

Visual -- 31
Auditory -- 28
Kinesthetic -- 17
Digital -- 44

Meh. I guess I already knew that I'm not kinesthetic.

These categories, minus "digital", are familiar to teachers. In the US, at least, every teacher is required to outline in their lesson plans how they are going to cater to all three learning styles. This was a huge pain in the ass for me, teaching HS math. Apparently "doing math problems" wasn't "hands-on" enough. I remember having to sift through research for a "task force" that suggested that every year, we have an increase in the number of visual and kinesthetic learners (especially). This was to imply that "lecturing" is no longer an effective teaching method, as so few people can now learn by listening.

I also related to the "eyes open but blind to the world" concept. Deaf to the world too. Curiously, I can't see anything in any literal sense when I close my eyes (I can't reconstruct even the most familiar faces), but I can hear symphonies in the silence.

"quotes"

 

[Ex-User (9086)]

Auditory = 25
Visual = 19
Kinesthetic = 20
Digital = 36
You are primarily a digital type.

People can't hear music in their heads? That's quite shocking to learn.
I can imagine playing the piano and all the respective notes, maybe it's auditory or just that I've been doing it for so long. I can do it with music in general to a less precise extent.

I guess I'm auditory digital, I used to talk to myself a lot, but I've always been uncertain whether it's "sane", so I've learnt to 'envision' my speech and listening to it silently, rather than say it, but if I can I feel comfortable openly musing.

I've been kind of envious of photographic memory and the way people can visualise, I can't completely remember faces, I generally don't pay attention to what people were wearing or similar detail.

 

[Ex-User (5841)]

V 24
A 24
K 35
D 37

Interesting considering I live in headphones and I'm certainly not athletic. I'm wondering if Ni is essentially inseparable from Se in their measurement scheme? The wiki description of "kinesthetic internal," Ki, is "get an internal feeling from looking at it."

I do know that my visualization is 99.9% Visual Internal Constructed.

 

[Haim]

The person who created this program/system has some Ph.D in statistics lol.

Anyway I have an affinity to Auditory Visual, but to me it just seems like it's another way of saying Introverted Thinking, (in terms of MBTI).

I took their assessment quiz (it's really clumsy, had to use pencil and paper), and had these results:

• Visual = 29
• Auditory = 28
• Kinesthetic = 26
• Digital = 39

While taking the test I realized that there were four types outlined, and immediately thought up of the S/N and T/F dichotomies. After taking a look at the descriptions given to these four traits I noticed that most of these descriptions could be explained in MBTI.

Visual = Ne, I, TJ
Auditory = NF
Kinesthetic = SF with a touch of J
Digital = obviously NT

Then boredom took over.

From the start I thought MTBI really describe way of thinking and not personality.
I would go the other way around.
If I set up a theory.

Ti-internal voice,thinking in audio.
Te-imagining audio
Fi-feeling thinking
Fe-imagining feeling,like sympathy,to feel others feeling without actually persistently having them.
Ni-visual thinking
Ne-imagination
Si-kinesthetics thinking,whatever that is.
Se-Imagining physical feelings,like when you see someone get a kick in the balls.