Random Thoughts and Self-Perception:
Random Thoughts May Offer Self-Insights
For those who feel overwhelmed by arbitrary thoughts, we have good news for you! Researchers now believe these spur-of-the-moment thoughts provide meaningful insight into ourselves.
Researches from Harvard Business School set out to find how people perceive their own thoughts and if their thoughts and intuitions influence judgement.
The findings show that spontaneous thoughts can provide very potent self-insight.
Also, the ideas have influence over judgements and decisions on more deliberate kinds of thinking, even on commitment on relationships.
“Rather than dismiss these seemingly random thoughts as meaningless, our research found that people believe, precisely because they are not controlled, that spontaneous thoughts reveal more meaningful insight into their own mind—their beliefs, attitudes, and preferences—than similar deliberate thoughts,” said Carey K. Morewedge, Ph.D., lead author.
Five different studies were done to find more about this theory.
The first three tests were designed to see if more spontaneous thoughts lead to more meaningful insights.
The subjects were to recall a pleasant or unpleasant experience as a child, evalutate the degree to which it would provide meaningful insight, and state whether or not it happened spontaneously.
They were also asked to generate thoughts about stragners through a deliberate
or spontaneous processes and stated how much those thoughts provided valuable insight.
Results showed that when people evaluate a thought, they consider its content, but they are also influenced by general beliefs about thought processes.
Thoughts of the same content are judged to be more meaningful if