Four types of thinker identified

scienceJul 25, 20262384

An investigation by economists at Claremont Graduate University and Wuhan University found evidence for four tentative groups of thinkers after sampling conscious thoughts in real time. Two hundred fifty eight volunteers aged 19 to 71 used an app that beeped eight random times a day for two weeks, producing more than 23,000 responses describing current thoughts, activities and happiness. Analysis showed thoughts followed daily rhythms, tilting toward work in daytime and entertainment in the evening, and clustering into four profiles: worriers who focused disproportionately on world events and politics; a domestic group preoccupied with household chores and finances; a mind-and-body group focused on internal states; and a work-hard, play-hard group combining career and leisure concerns. Overall, sensory impressions and tiredness made up nearly 20% of thoughts, work 17%, food 14%, hobbies and play about 10%, and relationships a similar share. Roughly half of thoughts were intentional and half intrusive; nearly half of want-related thoughts involved food or drink, especially coffee, and 29% of want-thoughts sought relaxation or sleep. The authors reported very few explicit sexual thoughts, noted a quarter of beeps went unanswered, and cautioned the sample is WEIRD and the preprint has not yet been peer reviewed. The study also found what people were thinking was more predictive of their reported happiness than other measures the researchers examined.

The Guardian

@theguardian.com

Four types of thinker have been identified. Which one are you?

3745d ago

LeRoc12

The kind of thinker who doesn't believe in this "four kinds of thinkers" BS.

jasonhill1.bsky.social7

I don't identify with any of that. It's almost as if you can't quantify eight billion people in four simple categories. 🤔

Boxes and Lines7

"... the categories are tentative and people probably move between them." So, pretty meaningless, then.

R. K. Singh2

And, the fifth thinker is the statistician wondering whether the sample size was large enough.

🇨🇦 RubyTuesday 🇨🇦2

Pretty confident that I'm a Worrier.

mat-tl.bsky.social2

senior study author: “The fact that we haven’t really looked at that as economists is really quite extraordinary.” - Concerning… “according to a preprint of the study, which has yet to be published in a peer-reviewed journal” - Why is this in the paper?

Quoting this

รℓσαɳε ℓყรɓεƭɦ 🏳️‍🌈30

none of them write for the guardian.

Candice Morey4

“So much of what it means to be human is going on in our head. The fact that we haven’t really looked at that as economists is really quite extraordinary.” And then a collective sigh from the earth’s cognitive psychologists rippled through the atmosphere

Prof Mark Priestley2

Crappy headline but interesting article

Glen2

the type that despises typologies with the fire of a thousand suns

Guardian US

@us.theguardian.com

Investigation finds evidence of distinct groups, from big-picture thinkers to those who sweat the small stuff

1345d ago

Hermetic Library

@hermetic.com

Wake up, babe! A new four humours / temperaments / thinking hats just dropped! www.theguardian.com/science/2026... and papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers....

544d ago

Ignoble Jim R Houghton

@jimrhoughton.bsky.social

I've got a fifth type of thinker. Vacuous pattern-seekers. Morons who generalise and categorise to the point of pointlessness about characteristics we all share to degrees, and then write slop like this about it. www.theguardian.com/science/2026...

544d ago

Punished 'Woke' Bane

@baneforyou.bsky.social

I assume "the only free thinker in this fucked up society" is one of the types. Because that's me.

544d ago

Emma Kennedy

@emmakeddev.bsky.social

Economist main character syndrome needs to stop. We have the brain covered! We have psychology, psychiatry, neuroscience! We don't need you! It's not at all extraordinary that you haven't been involved! www.theguardian.com/science/2026...

Economists at Claremont Graduate University, in California, and Wuhan University, in Hubei, China, explored people’s conscious thoughts after finding a surprising dearth of work on the topic. “So much of what it means to be human is about what’s going on in our head,” said Dr Joshua Tasoff, a senior author on the study. “The fact that we haven’t really looked at that as economists is really quite extraordinary.”

745d ago

Shulamit Lahat

@shulamitlahat.bsky.social

"Part of the study tested a thesis of the Roman emperor/ philosopher Marcus Aurelius: 'The happiness of your life depends on the quality of your thoughts" For our imagination lets us envision a better world than the one we currently encounter and to seek ways to repair what is damaged: Tikkun Olam.

444d ago

Mike Bailey

@linusd.bsky.social

Who do you think you are? Obsessed with external global, external domestic, internal angst or internal fun? www.theguardian.com/science/2026...

45d ago

Anakana Schofield

@anakanaschofield.bsky.social

Is there a 5th type? Because I don't align with any of these really. www.theguardian.com/science/2026...

244d ago

Joe Dunckley

@joedunckley.bsky.social

Can't believe they missed the fifth type of thinker, who spends most of their time thinking 'this thing I'm reading is obvious bollocks that's not going to survive scrutiny or attempts at replication, isn't it?' https://www.theguardian.com/science/2026/jul/25/four-types-of-thinker-which-one-are-you

245d ago

Katherine CM Cross

@kcross.bsky.social

‘Economists at Claremont Graduate University, in California, and Wuhan University, in Hubei, China, explored people’s conscious thoughts after finding a surprising dearth of work on the topic.’ Is that so. www.theguardian.com/science/2026...

144d ago

Jon

@jonw67.bsky.social

Guardian readers identified a 5th type of thinker: academics coming up with spurious nonsense based on tiny sample sizes in the hope of getting media attention.

144d ago

allablur

@allablur.bsky.social

I am definitely not, and never have been, work-hard, play-hard! www.theguardian.com/science/2026...

144d ago

Illuminatus

@illuminatus.bsky.social

So who was it describing the nature of thinking here? Economists. Yeah, right, sure.

145d ago

[email protected]

@stavvy.bsky.social

Worriers thought about world events, politics and social issues about 60% more than average, their minds occupied with concerns over wars, the Covid pandemic when it was raging, and other major events. www.theguardian.com/science/2026...

45d ago

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theguardian.comFour types of thinker have been identified. Which one are you?

Four types of thinker identifiedscience

Four types of thinker identified

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