Do You Think in Words, Pictures or Silence?

Do you have an inner monologue? Not everyone thinks in words. Learn the 3 ways people think and which one is you, plus a 1-minute test for friends. Do you hear a voice in your head, see pictures, or just know things with no words at all? A small beeper study of 30 college students by psychologist Russell Hurlburt found big differences in how people experience their own thoughts, and 2024 research by Johanne Nedergaard and Gary Lupyan gave the lack of an inner voice a name: anendophasia. This video covers the false consensus effect, three thinking styles (Narrator, Projector, Silent Thinker), common myths about the inner voice, and ideas for using your own thinking style well. CHAPTERS 0:00 Do you have an inner monologue? The dinner test 0:52 Why we assume everyone thinks like us 1:26 The beeper experiment 2:08 Narrator, Projector, Silent Thinker 3:47 Life with no inner voice (anendophasia) 4:37 Your inner voice is a tool, plus 3 myths 6:05 How to use your thinking style 6:54 The 1-minute friend test KEY TERMS Inner speech: the experience of hearing yourself think in words. Inner seeing: thinking in mental pictures. Unsymbolized thinking: a specific thought with no words or images. Aphantasia: little or no mental imagery (estimates range from roughly 1% to 4% of people). False consensus effect: assuming other people think and feel like you do. GOOD TO KNOW The three types in this video simplify Hurlburt's five common kinds of inner experience (inner speech, inner seeing, unsymbolized thinking, feelings, sensory awareness), and most people mix them. The beeper study was small, and how well people can describe their own thoughts is still debated. The tips are ideas to try, not proven fixes. General information, not medical or psychological advice. TRY IT NOW Think about what you're having for dinner tonight. Did you hear words, see a picture, or just know? Tell us in the comments. Ink Repenser explains deep, human-feeling and silly everyday questions with doodle stickmen, for curious people who enjoy questions they never knew they had. Subscribe to get the next one. Watch next: [   • Why Time Feels Faster Every Year (And How ...  ] SOURCES Heavey, C. L., & Hurlburt, R. T. (2008). The phenomena of inner experience. Consciousness and Cognition, 17(3), 798-810. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.concog.2007... Nedergaard, J. S. K., & Lupyan, G. (2024). Not everybody has an inner voice: Behavioral consequences of anendophasia. Psychological Science, 35(7), 780-797. https://doi.org/10.1177/0956797624124... Galton, F. (1880). Statistics of mental imagery. Mind, 5(19), 301-318. https://doi.org/10.1093/mind/os-V.19.301 Zeman, A., Dewar, M., & Della Sala, S. (2015). Lives without imagery: Congenital aphantasia. Cortex, 73, 378-380. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cortex.2015... Wright, D. J., Scott, M. W., Kraeutner, S. N., et al. (2024). An international estimate of the prevalence of differing visual imagery abilities. Frontiers in Psychology, 15. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2024.14... Lupyan, G., & Swingley, D. (2012). Self-directed speech affects visual search performance. Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology. https://doi.org/10.1080/17470218.2011... Ross, L., Greene, D., & House, P. (1977). The "false consensus effect": An egocentric bias in social perception and attribution processes. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 13(3), 279-301. https://doi.org/10.1016/0022-1031(77)... Hurlburt, R. T., & Heavey, C. L. (2001). Telling what we know: Describing inner experience. Trends in Cognitive Sciences, 5, 400-403. https://doi.org/10.1016/S1364-6613(00... #InnerMonologue #Psychology #InkRepenser