Basically, you’re either the analytical or intuitive type. Let’s start with the Analytical Type since it seems the less complicated one. I was surprised by the first attribute Alan Norton (of TechRepublic) gave the analytical -’information addict’ -which is very me! Maybe it’s a curse to him since it causes stress. Here are his 10 curses of the analytical (all phrases in parentheses are mine):
Curse
1. information addict
2. vacillatory (synonymous with indecisive)
3. indecisive (at least how others see him)
4. insensitive (at least how others see him too)
5. habitual (depends on the habit)
6. socially inept
7. skeptical
8. poor marketers
9. politically incorrect (a real curse)
10. loners (very true)
Now the blessings according to him:
1. well-read
2. unbiased
3. well-thought
4. childlike naivety
5. consistent
6. brutally honest (how could this be a blessing when it makes you socially inept!?)
7. reality based
8. thorough analysis
9. straightforward
10. independent (this could be a curse too so maybe that’s why Norton added: ‘Each curse can be viewed as a blessing.’)
Intuitive Thinking
Intuitive thinking is thinking with the heart or ‘gut feeling’. In the famous kidnapping case of Jaycee Dugard, the kidnapper was caught simply by the ‘intuition’ of female officers and not by the usual police analytics. Here is how Charles Parselle of EzineArticles lucidly defines intuition: ‘Intuition is experience translated by expertise to produce rapid action.’
According to him, analytical and intuitive abilities could be combined and the result would be ‘holistic.’ And according to my researches and tests, I am analytical when I prefer to be intuitive (most possibly, I’m exactly 50% of both)! The true Chess player might be the best model of both analytical and intuitive thinking. You can’t be a real chess player without being analytical but considering Parselle’s statement, ‘Intuition is experience translated by expertise to produce rapid action’, a chess player needs intuition for tactical moves because of time presssure (and analytical thinking for strategical moves).
Do You Have too much Brain?
Is it an asset or not?
A new study by Ryota Kanai and his colleagues at University College London says that those who are easily distracted from the task in hand may have “too much brain”.
pochp
There may also be an association between these thinking types with the left brain – right brain concept which is similar and also has indicators with left handed and right handed individuals. There are some interesting tests for this as well involving which direction you look in when accessing information to answer questions.
I don’t recall anything being right or left handed related to way of thinking. But you made me realize an analogy (thanks!) -if we could be ambidextrous with our hands, we could also be with our brains.