Study identifies four types of thinkers based on random thought sampling
8 reported
A study by economists at Claremont Graduate University and Wuhan University has identified four distinct groups of thinkers based on random sampling of people’s conscious thoughts. The research, which involved 258 volunteers aged 19 to 71, used an app that beeped eight times per day for two weeks, collecting more than 23,000 real-time responses. The findings, published as a preprint and not yet peer-reviewed, show that thoughts are dominated by work, the need for coffee, and a desire to return to bed. The four groups are worriers, domestics, bodily thinkers, and work-hard, play-hards, though the researchers caution that the categories are tentative and people likely move between them. The study also tested a claim by Roman emperor Marcus Aurelius that happiness depends on the quality of one’s thoughts, finding that what people were thinking was more predictive of happiness than other factors examined. The authors warned against extrapolating the results globally, as all volunteers were classified as western, educated, industrialised, rich and democratic.
What’s reported
258 volunteers aged 19 to 71 downloaded an app that beeped eight random times per day for two weeks.
More than 23,000 real-time responses were gathered.
Roughly half of people’s thoughts were intentional; the rest were intrusive or accidental.
Sensory information and mental impressions accounted for nearly a fifth of all thoughts, followed by work at 17% and food at 14%.
Nearly half of thoughts about wants involved food or drink, especially coffee.
Only a fraction of a per cent of responses reported no thoughts at all.
The four thinker groups are worriers, domestics, bodily thinkers, and work-hard, play-hards.
The study is a preprint and has not yet been published in a peer-reviewed journal.
Key figures
Dr Joshua Tasoff, senior author on the study, economist at Claremont Graduate University.
Marcus Aurelius, Roman emperor and philosopher, referenced in the study.
Sources: The Guardian
