Thinking Styles: what are they and how can I develop them?

Thinking styles are found in the cerebral cortex, where conscious and unconscious thought and cognitive processes are organized.. We have to understand is that the brain is divided into 2 hemispheres: the right, which is closely related to sensitivity and closeness; and the left, which is more related to the rational. It does not mean that one excludes the other or that the fact of not having a dominance prevents us from access to some skills, however, we will have innate abilities that are easier to transit.

The first thing that we are going to define are the styles of thought, which develop in different ways, understanding that we have a basic genetic or biological predisposition that will give us a line in our development neurological. The environment also participates in the development of thinking styles, upbringing, family, experiences, the education acquired, and everything that somehow impacts the development of the child and the Teen.

Ending adolescence and reaching adulthood, the person defines what is or what are his most dominant thinking styles; Next we are going to define them to understand how they impact people's lives positively (in light) or negatively (in shadow). So, according to Dr. Benziger, who devoted much of his life to studying brain development,

indicates that the four specialized areas of the brain are: Frontal Right, Frontal Left, Basal Left and Basal Right.

• We recommend you read: "Dualistic thinking: what it is and how it affects us"

Characteristics of thinking styles

Each thinking style has some special characteristics, it does not mean that one is better, but when the person is aware of their characteristics and its possibilities, it can indeed flow naturally and of course generate a greater impact on the tasks and challenges it assumes in the day to day So, what are the particular characteristics of each of the thinking styles?

1. left front

Let's start with the left front. People who have developed their dominance in this style of thinking tend to perceive their reality from the analysis, they are strict when making decisions, logical, of mathematical and numerical structure, they feel very comfortable understanding reality based on pragmatic logic, quantitative, they have no difficulties giving instructions, evaluating and leading, they like precise words, models and theories, proceed with hypotheses and facts, seek clarity as the main source for decision making, are rigorous in his proceeding.

Their learning process is generated from the reasoning of ideas and concepts, valuing logical thinking and the facts and data that support it. demonstrate, for them the theory and the casuistry formulation are very important, in this way they jump to learning new concepts and ideas of the world. Their innate abilities lead them to make difficult and complex decisions, they define goals very easily, establishing priorities and clarifying objectives, analyzing problems.

Negotiation is one of his great talents. They solve financial problems and identify different variables using precision, logic and critical thinking, they are experts in diagnoses and giving a line to change what does not work and in this logic, what should be done, analyzing cost benefit and cause effect. They have a long-term vision with a special ability to maximize the return on investment.

In Luz, this style tends to present high results since they are achievement-oriented and highly competitive people, a strong and decisive leader, an expert. In shadow, they are people who tell them to see beyond the objectives, leading them to individualism and selfishness, critical, not emotional and very hard with other people.

2. basal left

Now, Left basal dominance refers to care, tend to be conservative, detail-oriented, highly procedural, sequential. They are very comfortable with planning, with a sequential structure in the procedural, they make decisions and proceed from the planning, the verification and the method. His learning process is gestated through the theoretical test, that is, the evidence and the structure. Their learning process occurs through self-discovery, which leads them to build concepts, being intuitive they seek the exploration of curiosity as a source of learning, giving value to hidden and non-evident possibilities.

Their innate abilities allow them to apply and monitor the tasks learned in a sequential order, they are very efficient at a procedural level, complying with schedules and established deadlines, optimizing the value of time and efficiency in the processes, high attention to detail, they are very compliant with the standard, policies and standards procedures.

At Luz they are highly careful of processes and details, they seek order and planning as part of the procedure, hardworking, productive, reliable and meticulous. In shadow they tend to present compulsive behaviors and may even become so rigorous that they have to adapt to changes and new processes, This characteristic does not allow them to take on new challenges and trends, they can be seen as boring or monotonous, resistant to change and dogmatic..

3. right front

The front right presents an artistic structure, they are creative, inventive and artists, they connect with holistic integration, they easily express ideas and concepts, they are intuitive, innovative, spatial, dreamy. They show a high connection with nature, with the state of the art, they process information from the conceptualization and synthesis, globalization, acting by associations and integrating through images and metaphors. His learning process occurs through listening, sharing ideas, valuing intuitive thinking and the experience of being.

Their innate abilities allow them to generate new ideas, they invent and design new products, processes and services, they are capable of connecting reality with trends, challenges them with the impossible, wide creative resolution, their gaze is disruptive so they deliver non-traditional solutions, they are spatial, corporal, artistic, they are capable of conquering through their ideas, being influential, they are entrepreneurs, they detect problems in complex situations, they are negotiators, they are charismatic leaders.

In light, they are disruptive, seek innovation in projects, focused on movement and the creation of new ideas, high energy flow in creative matters, visionary leader. In the shadow they can present long-term instability and may need too much stimulation from the environment for their motivation, scattered and dreamy, disconnected from their sense of reality.

4. Right basal

Finally we have the right basal style that is characterized by its high ability to connect with people, They are empathetic, close, sensitive to non-verbal behaviors, very emotionally connected, they are intuitive, rhythmic, integrate information through experience, mobilized by the pleasure principle, highly involved with affection and closeness.

Their innate abilities lead them to connect with people, creating connection bridges, having an important impact in the creation of belonged to and community, they are capable of transmitting ideas and educating people from empathy, they provide an experience of well-being and service, they are inspiring, they do not seek to take advantage arbitrarily, they focus above all on win-win, capable of reading needs not verbal.

The light, are people who tend to connect with feelings and with listening, they ask to understand the experience of the people, empathize with the place of the other, seek harmony, like and enjoy the act of sharing, are supportive and evaluate the behaviors. In shadow they can take things very personally and get hooked on emotions, they can be easily distracted by activities relationships and lose focus of the tasks, they can fall into value judgments and make subjective associations mediated by the emotions. It can be difficult for them to set clear limits with people and distort processes.

The thinking styles theory

It is important to know our dominance to begin to develop our structure of auxiliary thought, which will be the cooperator who can leverage us in different ways of perceiving reality. Normally we develop a dominant style (unimodal) and sequentially an auxiliary (bimodal), there are people who could even develop three styles of thinking (trimodal) and up to the same four (quatrimodal) these last two are really special cases and it is not common, but those who come to develop them have an important challenge on an emotional level: The anxiety.

The brain does not communicate diagonally, it requires a great effort to do it this way, for this reason the most common is that if a person has a dominance Left Frontal its auxiliary is either Right Frontal or Left Basal, leaving relegated to the Right Basal for this very reason, it implies a great cerebral effort for a left Frontal to develop the right Basal, it is not common but it could happen in the order of adaptation and evolution human.

The thinking styles theory was presented by Dr. Betzinger, psychiatrist; taking up the analysis and findings of Dr. Carl Jung Swiss psychiatrist and psychologist founder of the school of analytical psychology. In her visits to the aboriginal tribes of Australia, America, Africa, she observed that the tribes had common languages ​​even when they did not communicate with each other, which after several years became her typology of thought, presenting four specific functions that she named: Thinking, Intuition-Feeling-Sensing, and the concepts of introversion/extroversion.

This is how Dr. Bezinger integrated the works of Jung with the different findings of the neurosciences leading her to the formulation of the model in question. There are different models and techniques that leverage the development and stimulate the connection of new neural networks, the main thing is to know what our dominance is, Starting from this, we develop sustainable adjustments, activities that generate a challenge at the brain level and that invite our nervous system to act differently. The development occurs to the extent that the person allows discomfort as the basis of the experience, expose yourself to new realities and ways to stimulate information processing and flexibility mental.

At the therapeutic level there are tools that accompany the development of new nerve connections, the unlearning processes require practice and method. Language is one of the most accessible tools when generating new ideas, perception finally it is stimulated through thought, which requires a linguistic symbology for its correct execution. As a therapist I have different programs that facilitate the development of people in the different environments and life processes, for more information I invite you to get in touch with me.