Thinking in monologues vs. thinking in dialogues

[huiheiwufhawriuhg]

Me and my friends once had a conversation about the way we think and most of them just told me they think in monologues and talk to themselves internally in a 1st person e.g "I should do this..." While I was the only who said I have a never ending dialogue within my own self and sometimes I even internally talk to myself in a 2nd person e.g "Fay, you should do that.."
When I said it my friends were looking at me like crazy, but eventually I met people who told me they do the same thing.

Now I wonder is it type related? Do you think in a monologue or a dialogue? Is it really rare to think in dialogues?

[ashlesha]

i more commonly think in dialogue. but not with myself. i have imaginary conversations with people or some kind of faceless audience. i'm curious if its type related - for me it seems vaguely ethical or maybe enneagram related.

[huiheiwufhawriuhg]

i more commonly think in dialogue. but not with myself. i have imaginary conversations with people or some kind of faceless audience.

This! I actually do both, but it's usually more fun to imagine you're actually talking with someone

[Jeremy8419]

I do what lungs does. Prone to ruminate on the same conversations with others through various possibilities. Basically, I'll repeat the same conversations dozens of times with different things happening.

[Contra]

I do both. I notice more ideas coming from dialogue than monologue so i notice the dialogue more often. I don't think it's type related. I think practically everyone does it.

[ouronis]

Sometimes I think "I should". Sometimes I think about conversations that are stuck in my mind for some reason. Sometimes I have dialogues with myself. I do a lot of different things mentally and just go with the flow of it all.

[ashlesha]

Sometimes I think "I should". Sometimes I think about conversations that are stuck in my mind for some reason. Sometimes I have dialogues with myself. I do a lot of different things mentally and just go with the flow of it all.

lol, yeah.

[Neneth]

Definately monologues for me. I talk to myself, ask myself questions, tell stories.

[Reficulris]

Same as ouronis.

[ashlesha]

I think the question of monologue versus dialogue can be answered without just saying that you also think outside of those two things, because duh.

[Hot Scalding Gayser]

Kind of neither, or both all at once.

My ego is rather chaotic. Like a pinball machine going off or something? It just kinda pings back and forth.

I have this theory that Fe valuers thinking is more this way, Fi valuing thinking feels a lot more concise and scripted. Well Fe thinking = outcome scripted, internally chaotic. Fi thinking = outcome chaotic, internally scripted.

[Pookie]

I cant create a separate entity talking with me in my head. It is always me speaking if there is speaking. Even if it was somebody else I imagined the words coming from, it would still be me and my thoughts theyre projecting, so I don't really understand how a dialogue could ever be had with yourself

[anndelise]

I mentally monologue if I'm trying to motivate myself (i consider it a monologue even if I'm saying "you should"), or trying to figure out how to explain or word something,

I mentally dialogue when I am trying to resolve a relationship/interaction type problem, and when playing devil's advocate to myself. It's much like how I work out a problem, seeing it from multiple viewpoints, flipping it around on itself, etc. Only, since it involves another person, or another mindset, it comes out as a dialogue and brings in everything I know/understand about them to help me infer what might be their belief/reaction/etc.

[Not A Communist Shill]

I probably think in a somewhat rhetorical style where I proceed from one point to another in a systematic way, and attempt to pick apart my own thoughts by asking myself hypothetical questions, and thus strengthening my own position/s. (I can understand why Cicero's method of loci would be useful for preparing for speeches etc. on a slightly related point, although I don't actively use it myself in any consistent manner).

With daydreaming and perhaps introspection in general, it can feel as though I imagine myself as many different people, roles, or emotions while always remaining one person: I don't feel like I lose my sense of self (this is distinct from whether or not I have self-doubt) while doing so, so I would probably consider this a monologue where I play all the parts! (so not strictly a dialogue: but then, what is a dialogue when it only involves the mind of one person? ...I can only think it is the involvement of at least one persona that the person does not recognise as their own?).

[Pink]

For me personally, it is only me speaking inside my own head. I don't engage in dialogues with myself, and the entire concept of that is extremely foreign.

When I am deep in thought, I am thinking of the world, people, and objects around me, with imaginary scenarios in my head, and often putting myself in others shoes (Imagining and envisioning their entire life story)..

If I have to force myself into action, it's never in a way that is, for example; "Pink, you've got to do .."
It's more like, "Maybe it's finally time to do ..."

I have had friends tell me that in their heads they experience a "2nd person" who controls their thoughts and actions, which I've always found a little bit weird..

[ashlesha]

When I'm having my imaginary conversations there's never any question whatsoever that I'm actually having a conversation with myself (i mean, i don't think I'm delusional lol). I think there are various uses it serves for me to imagine another person - it's an attempt at looking at my ideas from different angles in a way that's easier to acheive than would be otherwise, it helps me blow off steam and come up with new ways of expressing my ideas by arguing, and i just process my thoughts better when i have somebody to bounce them off, even if that other person is just a brain hologram lol. I also relate to the second paragraph of what @anndelise said.

[The Exception]

I have dialogues with myself and monologues with other people.

[ClownsandEntropy]

I have dialogues with myself and monologues with other people.

This... is almost accurate. Only I know how to frame discussions in the right way so that I will be able to answer them well. No one else can so I have to monologue over them!

I mean, the logical place to look is this, right? http://wikisocion.org/en/index.php?t..._and_declaring

[Olduvai]

It's much like how I work out a problem, seeing it from multiple viewpoints, flipping it around on itself, etc.

lol, Jesus Christ.

Prone to ruminate on the same conversations with others through various possibilities. Basically, I'll repeat the same conversations dozens of times with different things happening.

This is more or less exactly what I do.

It does appear that not everyone experiences this:

I cant create a separate entity talking with me in my head. It is always me speaking if there is speaking. Even if it was somebody else I imagined the words coming from, it would still be me and my thoughts theyre projecting, so I don't really understand how a dialogue could ever be had with yourself

For me personally, it is only me speaking inside my own head. I don't engage in dialogues with myself, and the entire concept of that is extremely foreign.

[Jeremy8419]

lol, Jesus Christ.

This is more or less exactly what I do.

It does appear that not everyone experiences this:

Yeah, I dunno. People may all do exactly the same thing, but not describe it the same.

[Cerelict]

I used to, or at least like to think I did. I'd get random spurts where I'd mentally throw points and counterpoints back and forth. It got me thinking I was great at making dialogue and understanding personalities, which was totally wrong. The statements were extremely basic, sometimes even ad-hominem, rarely enough to fully prove or disprove a point. IRL I don't know what to expect in someone else's reaction. I just go in with whatever I can and say it as cleanly as possible and don't expect anything great from the other person, so I don't get disappointed.

[jaein]

I think more in monologue. When Im stressed my 'better self' comes in and coaches me so its a dialogue, kind of like,

Me:Woe is me! Despair! Evermore!
Better me: Get a grip. You always get like this around your monthlies.
Me: Screw my monthlies! This is how I FEEL.
Better me: Then go write something, otherwise youre wallowing and useless.

So yeah mostly monologues.

[Animal]

You might find this old thread I posted of interest: http://www.the16types.info/vbulletin...Think-In-Words

[Cerelict]

Wonder how this could tie in to cognitive styles? I could already see a connection to Determinists and Algorithmics.

[huiheiwufhawriuhg]

Wonder how this could tie in to cognitive styles? I could already see a connection to Determinists and Algorithmics.

I wonder about the same thing

[mu4]

I definitely don't think in dialogue, unless I'm simulating possible dialogue from other people. I rarely think in monologue, I usually think in pictures unless I'm doing a linguistic task and I rarely do linguistic tasks other than reading, coding or writing.

My linguistic process is kind of like a train and I don't tend to be able to get words out super consciously, it sort of comes out in a stream of consciousness sort of way where i'm sort of just applying paint to a canvas in a random way to make coherent my cognitive state.

So for me to like write these statements, I'm actually imagining like paint splashing on a canvas, a train rumbling down a track and various visual analogies which comes to mind in regard to this topic and I use my linguistic skills to organize these picture/analogies into a narrative format, but the first step is almost never a word.

It took me a while to start writing this and I had to see myself in the past talking about how my mind is kind of like a train and it has a lot of inertia to someone before I could start verbalizing.

I also don't think in like sensory pictures, it's more internal pictures, visual analogies, conceptual maps.

[huiheiwufhawriuhg]

I definitely don't think in dialogue, unless I'm simulating possible dialogue from other people. I rarely think in monologue, I usually think in pictures unless I'm doing a linguistic task and I rarely do linguistic tasks other than reading, coding or writing.

My linguistic process is kind of like a train and I don't tend to be able to get words out super consciously, it sort of comes out in a stream of consciousness sort of way where i'm sort of just applying paint to a canvas in a random way to make coherent my cognitive state.

So for me to like write these statements, I'm actually imagining like paint splashing on a canvas, a train rumbling down a track and various visual analogies which comes to mind in regard to this topic and I use my linguistic skills to organize these picture/analogies into a narrative format, but the first step is almost never a word.

It took me a while to start writing this and I had to see myself in the past talking about how my mind is kind of like a train and it has a lot of inertia to someone before I could start verbalizing.

I also don't think in like sensory pictures, it's more internal pictures, visual analogies, conceptual maps.

I am the same! Everything connects with an image in my mind, but it is usually not concrete or sensory more internal and abstract....
But the image or the scenes in my mind don't have to be really totally connected to what the words are... like for example when I talk about a relationship between people I often think of a black line that is getting wider or shorter and my gestures are actually based on the image in my mind...so for example you can sometimes see me streching an invisible line in my hands when I talk...something like that... I wonder what that is... Is it functions related?


And I also wonder ... I have an interesting example... I once was in an office with a guy and we were talking about more or less serious stuff, when I looked at the flower pot next to me and I saw there were small stones inside... I imagined I am a cat and I play with those stones and how great would be to play with them as a cat... lol... while having a normal business-like conversation with that guy...
I always do it...I see an object and I imagine a story or a scene about it. It's automatic, I can't force it or stop it. But it often disturbes my attention and makes me seem scattered.

[mu4]

I am the same! Everything connects with an image in my mind, but it is usually not concrete or sensory more internal and abstract....
But the image or the scenes in my mind don't have to be really totally connected to what the words are... like for example when I talk about a relationship between people I often think of a black line that is getting wider or shorter and my gestures are actually based on the image in my mind...so for example you can sometimes see me streching an invisible line in my hands when I talk...something like that... I wonder what that is... Is it functions related?


And I also wonder ... I have an interesting example... I once was in an office with a guy and we were talking about more or less serious stuff, when I looked at the flower pot next to me and I saw there were small stones inside... I imagined I am a cat and I play with those stones and how great would be to play with them as a cat... lol... while having a normal business-like conversation with that guy...
I always do it...I see an object and I imagine a story or a scene about it. It's automatic, I can't force it or stop it. But it often disturbes my attention and makes me seem scattered.

I can't really relate to relationships since either people exist or they don't. I forget people very easily sometimes, even people I knew for years. They sort of become a black shadow. My memory structure is fairly bad for somethings due to dissociation and PTSD, conversation, name, people, etc are extremely hard for me to remember because these sort of fearful anxiety induced experiences induce a dissociation. However I can remember people I interact with online much better. I can also remember people I've read about in the news or am comfortable with. This also may be related to Fi polr but I know SLE's who have very good memory with people/names, conversations.

I certainly do not attribute a lot of the way my cognition presents itself as purely function related but I think extroverted perception is more visual and image oriented. And I think there are different types of visual thinking as well, something like spatial orientation and solving spatial problems are different than say the sort of thinking I think engages in and I believe it's largely unconscious,

[huiheiwufhawriuhg]

I can't really relate to relationships since either people exist or they don't. I forget people very easily sometimes, even people I knew for years. They sort of become a black shadow. My memory structure is fairly bad for somethings due to dissociation and PTSD, conversation, name, people, etc are extremely hard for me to remember because these sort of fearful anxiety induced experiences induce a dissociation. However I can remember people I interact with online much better. I can also remember people I've read about in the news or am comfortable with. This also may be related to Fi polr but I know SLE's who have very good memory with people/names, conversations.

I certainly do not attribute a lot of the way my cognition presents itself as purely function related but I think extroverted perception is more visual and image oriented. And I think there are different types of visual thinking as well, something like spatial orientation and solving spatial problems are different than say the sort of thinking I think engages in and I believe it's largely unconscious,

The relationship thing was just a pure example, nothing that my own psyche would be preoccupied with either.