Negative thought patterns are kind of a big deal, interfering with joy and sometimes even deluding us into making bad decisions. Negativity bias influences us significantly and unconsciously, and it can be a double hit – we’re more likely to slip into negative thought patterns than positive ones, and they’re harder to get out of. But learning to do so might just be the holy grail of personal growth.
Many of our negative perceptions are subjective and elective, yet they can heavily influence our actions – not to mention our feelings. Wouldn’t it be nice to stop unhelpful thought patterns at will or avoid them in the first place? This would make it easier for us to be happy, optimistic, and motivated in life. There’s also something to be said for practicing truly conscious choices more than reactionary ones. Personality types may offer some useful clues about how such ends can be achieved.
Here we’ll consider some key stats from our “Thought Patterns” survey and explore possible meanings behind them. Some personalities report being much less subject to negative thought patterns, and understanding why may provide inspiration for our own personal growth. What can we learn from these folks? Let’s find out.
Introverted (I) and Intuitive (N) traits. Let’s think about that correlation and why it might be.
Introversion typically relates to a tendency to focus on the internal – Introverts hold a lot of their thoughts and energy inside. Compared to Extraverts, they’re less pulled to engage externally with other people or dynamic circumstances. Their attention is directed more within, and it’s often inner feedback that guides their perceptions and feelings.
The Intuitive trait usually relates to an extremely active imagination – it’s a mindset that values exploring many diverse possibilities more than focusing only on those of high probability and relevance. In other words, it is vibrant but somewhat indiscriminate thinking that embraces theoretical exploration as much as (and often more than) practicality.
Combine those two traits, and you get fertile ground for subjective ideation – creative but self-referencing thought. Seed that with the human tendency toward negativity bias, and we get a possible explanation as to why Introverted, Intuitive personalities are the types most likely to get stuck in negative thought patterns. A negative idea or perception may sustain itself more easily in their minds because it’s like a spotlighted performer in an otherwise shuttered room – the obvious center of attention.
Extraverts, on the other hand, tend to place a lot of their attention on external interactions. Relatively speaking, they value and seek active engagement with other people and circumstances, providing a robust stream of external input that mixes with their internally generated thoughts and feelings. That extra input can make it less likely that they get stuck in a self-referencing thought pattern, negative or otherwise.
The Observant trait also relates to a focus on the present, tangible, and practical. The perceptions of Observant personality types may be based on a realistic appraisal of events more than imagined aspects of the events. For these personalities, negative thought patterns may be less likely to stick around on their own without ongoing events provoking them.
The way that Extraverts and Observant types direct their attention to the realities of their surroundings helps them regulate or reduce their negative perceptions. Is there a useful lesson in all of that for Intuitive Introverts? Perhaps the realization is that this is a method that anyone can practice. If our internal focus is likely to inflate and sustain negative thoughts, the fix might be to situationally shift our attention and energy outward.
It’s easy to get wrapped up in that negative performer onstage, but resetting an attitude starts with opening the shutters of perception to other input. That spotlight isn’t such a draw when other bright goings-on can be seen out the theater windows, eh? (We Intuitive Introverts like our metaphors too!) Allowing ourselves to engage externally with people and activities can not only break a negative thought pattern – it may also change our perception.
Turbulent Thoughts: The Identity Factor
An elephant in the room is the fact that people with a Turbulent Identity are nearly twice as likely as Assertive personalities to say that they often get stuck in negative thought patterns.
How to Take a Mental Health Day for Your Personality Type