Concrete Random Thinking
May 11th, 2014
This week, I read up on some resources to understand what kind of personal thinking style I have when learning.
From what I understand from the research, there are generally four groups of thinking styles:
- Concrete Sequential Thinkers tend to be based in reality. They process information in an ordered, sequential, linear way.
- Concrete Random Thinkers are experimenters.
- Abstract Random Thinkers organize information through reflection, and thrive in unstructured, people-oriented environments.
- Abstract Sequential Thinkers love the world of theory and abstract thought.
The research stresses that no thinking style is superior; they are simply different. Each style can be effective in its own way. The important thing is that you become more aware of which thinking style works best for you. Once you know your own style you can then analyze the others, and help understand other people better.
After taking the personal thinking style self-evaluation, I came up as a Concrete Random Thinker. Taking a closer look at what this means:
- Concrete: This quality enables you to register information directly through your five senses: sight, smell, touch, taste, and hearing. When you are using your concrete ability, you are dealing with the obvious, the "here and now." You are not looking for hidden meanings, or making relationships between ideas or concepts. "It is what it is."
- Random: Lets your mind organize information by chunks, and in no particular order. When you are using your random ability, you may often be able to skip steps in a procedure and still produce the desired result. You may even start in the middle, or at the end, and work backwards. You may also prefer your life to be more impulsive, or spur of the moment, than planned.
Furthermore, concrete random learners like experimenting to find answers, taking risks, using intuition, and solving problems independently. They learn best when able to do trial-and-error, compete with others, and given the opportunity to work through the problem by themselves.
Here's what's hard for a concrete random learner:
- Restrictions and limitations
- Formal reports
- Routines
- Re-doing anything once it’s done
- Keeping detailed records
- Showing how they got an answer
- Choosing only one answer
- Having no options