Types of thought

It's no secret that I believe in independent thought. What actually qualifies as thought? Good question.


Most thought can be viewed as creativity. After all, independent requires you to create your own thoughts. Artistic creativity is what we normally think of as creativity. There is no question that this qualifies. It has also been a weak spot of mine for years that I have been trying to address.

Similar to artistic creativity is imagination. I actually used this on my education blog to point out that Kindergartners are more advanced than 12th graders in core mental ability. Creating worlds in your head is definitely a mental accomplishment.

How about snap decisions? It really depends on how you handle things. A conditioned response is not really thought. Having rushed decisions with valid reasoning undeniably qualifies.

Improvisation is actually a good example of how a snap decision can qualify. Watch Whose Line Is It Anyway? sometime. Ideas have to be developed on short notice to fit a sketch that they had only just been presented. They also have to make it flow.

I should point out that improvisation is not defined as comedy. While I personally enjoy that sort of improvisation, people who want to explore this form of thought have numerous options available.

Development of your own beliefs and opinions is an important form of thought. It's one thing to accept the beliefs and opinions of your peers. It's something different to actually look at various aspects of an issue to figure out what you truly believe. If you have been actively visiting my blogs, you know that this is one of my strengths.

There's a slight problem with listing types of thought. Categorization of thought will always be flimsy. What qualifies as artistic? Is there an overlap with imagination? How do you categorize certain forms of thought? The simple reality is that thought can't be properly categorized. While it might be nice to find forms of thought to improve, thought should never be restricted to categories. I guess that means this entire post was a waste.