# Linear vs. Lateral Thought, and MBTI



## ricericebaby (Aug 18, 2017)

"Linear thinking is the process by which “linear thinkers” put things in order as they experience them and how they express them. Their thinking process proceeds in a sequential manner, like a straight line. A straight line between two points is the most efficient way to get from one place to another."

"Lateral thinking is solving problems through an indirect and creative approach, using reasoning that is not immediately obvious and involving ideas that may not be obtainable by using only traditional step-by-step logic."

I'm curious about which form of thinking each of you different types tend to use more. I'm a lateral thinker myself, for the most part. 

Anyone can use both types of thinking, so choose which one you tend to favor more. 

I'm also curious about whether you _value _one type of thinking over the other, regardless of whether or not you yourself tend to use it more. 

Select your preferred thinking process and your MBTI (and expound on it in your comments!).


----------



## piscesfish (Nov 30, 2013)

I was a bit confused by the short descriptions you provided (I was not familiar with this concept) so I did some digging and found this lovely graphic:










Based on this information, I'm more of a linear thinker. While my thought process isn't truly "logical", I do often believe there is one correct answer to a problem (or at least, one optimum answer). I predict you will see a clear Ni-Ne split with these results; Ni typically zeroes in on one intuitive jump, while Ne searches for breadth through brainstorming. 

Now, I do have a few concerns about treating these modes of thinking as a personality trait. For a start, there seems to be consensus in industry that lateral thinking is the "correct" way to attack problems, and linear thinking is viewed as archaic and obsolete. As a result, not only will you see a skew towards lateral thinking, but the descriptions of the two modes will be heavy with bias. It seems to me that this concept is meant to describe generational approaches towards problem solving, not individual personality preferences. There may still be incidental correlation due to the fact that a functional split likely lines up with these definitions, but what you are intending to measure has little to do with personality itself. 

tl;dr: Study Ni vs Ne, not this crap.


----------



## Turi (May 9, 2017)

Are you creative, or are you not creative?

Do you like to create new solutions to problems, or do you prefer not to do that?

Do you see the big picture, or do you only see the tiny little picture?


----------



## ricericebaby (Aug 18, 2017)

piscesfish said:


> I was a bit confused by the short descriptions you provided (I was not familiar with this concept) so I did some digging and found this lovely graphic:
> 
> 
> 
> ...


Thanks for the graph; I would have added that to the poll if I'd thought of it. (I won't now though, since the thing is right there below the main post for all the world to reference as needed.) The descriptions were just brief copy/paste stuff I picked up assuming most people were already somewhat familiar with the concept of the two processes.

It was never my intention to treat lateral or linear thinking as a personality trait. My intention is to see if some types consistently favor one type over the other, and whether that is their native process, or a learned process.

I strongly suspect some types are going to be naturally more inclined to one type of thought over the other (i.e., I fully expect based on what I know of my own personality type that ENFPs will tend to favor lateral thought), but I do not expect all people of a specific type to be either linear or lateral thinkers, and I fully expect that both will use a good measure of both. And frankly, I don't give a flying bullfrog over whether society and industry think one type of thought is better than the other. They're both important.


----------



## Jaune (Jul 11, 2013)

I think I use linear thinking more, or at least I'm more aware when I use it. I've been told I'm creative but I don't see it.


----------



## shameless (Apr 21, 2014)

Turi said:


> Are you creative, or are you not creative?
> 
> Do you like to create new solutions to problems, or do you prefer not to do that?
> 
> Do you see the big picture, or do you only see the tiny little picture?


:laughing:


----------



## shameless (Apr 21, 2014)

If I had to guess people with Ni use Linear, symbols, patterns, coincidences, premonitions, etc etc

I would guess lateral would be more so Ne.


----------



## pwowq (Aug 7, 2016)

One problem always have multiple solutions. My mind is working out the most valuable solution most often due to the nature of daily grind at work.

It's fully dependent on what kind of problem you are working on. Fault finding = Linear. Social conundrum = Lateral. Accounting = Linear. Economic policy = Lateral.


----------



## Wellsy (Oct 24, 2011)

INFP: Lateral/non-linear

I relate to this description of an INFP explaining their process in trying to write.


> _Overwhelmingly, INFP writers told me one of their biggest challenges was the non-linear way their brains work. Starting at the beginning, then writing the middle, and then finishing up with the end is simply a plain impossibility for most INFPs. However, because most INFPs have gone through the standard educational system, they’ve been taught that chronological order is the right way to do things. They’ve been convinced that the way their minds work is weird, or ineffective, or hard for others to follow. This results in many INFPs trying to force themselves to work on projects in some sort of order that only brings a disastrous outcome. When INFPs push themselves to work in a way that runs counter to their natural wiring, they find themselves near tears, paralyzed, and suffering from lower self esteem than ever before. Usually at this point, they give up on writing their story._
> 
> _One INFP I interviewed had this to say about it:_
> 
> ...


And I guess, because Ne is less about a conclusion and just exploring associations, that I like to justify it as not all that formally logical but able to be creative without being constrained to anxieties about error too soon 
Whitehead on Causality and Perception – The Pinocchio Theory


> Whitehead does not seem to think that the problem of error is of great importance. Indeed, he takes what most philosophers would consider a cavalier, and indeed irresponsible, attitude towards the whole question. For he holds that "in the real world it is more important that a proposition be interesting than that it be true" (PR 259). A scientific observation, a common-sense hypothesis, or even a rigorous philosophical formulation may have relevent and important consequences, despite the fact that it is erroneous. For this reason, Whitehead is less concerned with eliminating error than in experimenting with it, and seeing what might arise from it. Error is not an evil to be exterminated, but a frequently useful "lure for feeling" (PR 25 and passim). It is a productive detour in the pathways of mental life: "We must not, however, judge too severely of error. In the initial stages of mental progress, error in symbolic reference is the discipline which promotes imaginative freedom" (S 19).
> 
> It is worth underlining how rare this position is in Western philosophy. It may well be a cliché of educational method (a subject in which Whitehead himself was deeply interested) that making mistakes is a necessary part of learning. But most philosophers overlook this. They are more concerned with the nature and content of truth, than they are with the question of how we may learn to attain it. Deleuze is the only other major philosopher I know who joins Whitehead in regarding the problem of error as in itself merely trivial (Difference and Repetition 148-151).


But even just recently I was envious of an ENTJ's ability to say something so succinctly and eloquently that it took me a long time to journey through my thoughts to even touch the idea indirectly.


----------



## ricericebaby (Aug 18, 2017)

Wellsy said:


> INFP: Lateral/non-linear
> 
> I relate to this description of an INFP explaining their process in trying to write.
> 
> ...


Going a bit off topic, I definitely get the writing problem. I am incapable of writing like a normal person. And I'm not a product of the public school system, so I wasn't ever really forced to learn it that way (which is both a blessing and a curse). I received enough direction in college that I can write a decent paper with enough cohesion to be intelligible. As for my hobby writing, that's another story - but I do it mostly for myself anyway, so it doesn't really matter what other people think of it. Linear thinking is definitely a blessing when it comes to writing...


----------



## EliiCrazy11 (Sep 9, 2017)

INFJ: lateral thinking
I love taking a very simple thing and tear it into thousand pieces and write a novel about every single of those pieces, then connect them with colorful crayons and put that all together in one huge answer. 
So yeah. Definitely lateral for me, even though I'd probably call it a tree-like thinking - I start with a "problem", and while thinking about the answer, I come into another struggle within said problem, so I turn aside to work that through (possibly finding other problems within that) and when I'm happy with my explanation/solution/answer, I come back and continue where I ended. 
It could be also described like this:


----------



## Wellsy (Oct 24, 2011)

sylvirfoxx said:


> Going a bit off topic, I definitely get the writing problem. I am incapable of writing like a normal person. And I'm not a product of the public school system, so I wasn't ever really forced to learn it that way (which is both a blessing and a curse). I received enough direction in college that I can write a decent paper with enough cohesion to be intelligible. As for my hobby writing, that's another story - but I do it mostly for myself anyway, so it doesn't really matter what other people think of it. Linear thinking is definitely a blessing when it comes to writing...


What I find is that I have to organize the structure for the more formal papers, like big planning and then keep referring to the plan to keep myself on point. But it's a lot of work trying to keep ya self within that frame and make the points tight. 
I'm increasingly learning the importance of editing on writing a good paper


----------



## ricericebaby (Aug 18, 2017)

Wellsy said:


> What I find is that I have to organize the structure for the more formal papers, like big planning and then keep referring to the plan to keep myself on point. But it's a lot of work trying to keep ya self within that frame and make the points tight.
> I'm increasingly learning the importance of editing on writing a good paper


Same. I'm actually a pretty good editor, probably much better than I am a writer.


----------

