Are You a Thinker? Take This Quiz to Find Out!

1. Do you think a lot?

The mere fact that you think a lot doesn’t make you a Thinker (with a capital T). In the way I am using this term, a Thinker is an open-minded critical thinker—someone who consciously engages in evidence-based reasoning to reach conclusions. In contrast, Feelers rely on their heart and gut to feel their way. Everyone thinks a lot, Thinkers and Feelers alike! In fact, while we are awake, we are pretty much non-stop thinkers. Some of our thoughts are elicited by focused concentration, but many more of them just pop into our head from who-knows-where. We contemplate them for a few moments, at which point they wander off. What makes Thinkers special is not the sheer number of thoughts they have, but the number of focused thoughts they have in the process of gathering evidence and reasoning their way to conclusions about a topic.

2. Do you have profound thoughts?

This question gives rise to a new question: What counts as a profound thought? Consider the following candidates:

• There are no facts, only interpretations.

• Wherever you go, there you are.

• The only constant is change.

• Reality is an illusion.

• Love is just a word.

Such statements are pseudo-profound. They are better described as vacuous, nonsensical, or specious. The claim about love is a classic example of a deepity, a subject I explored in another essay. Thinkers will refrain from making such statements and might roll their eyes on hearing someone else make them.

3. Do you feel certain that your beliefs are correct?

As we have seen, Thinkers are rarely certain of their beliefs. Some exceptions are when making claims about logic, mathematics, and semantics. In other areas, they will be well aware of the limits of their reasoning ability. They will also openly acknowledge their ignorance about many subjects. If someone rejects their beliefs, they will be intrigued, and if their challenger is able to give a reasoned defense of his or her beliefs—in particular, gives evidence of being a fellow Thinker—they will investigate the possibility that this person is right and they are mistaken. As a result of the encounter, they might reduce their level of confidence with respect to the belief—or abandon it altogether.

4. Do you get your news from aggregator websites (such as Google News)?

These sites profit by figuring out what individual users want to hear. Subsequently, they provide a user not with all the news, and not even with news that they should hear, in order to stay well informed. Aggregators instead provide users with news that they, individually, want to hear. Because users’ news feeds are personalized in this manner, different users will get different news from the same aggregator, and as a result will reach differing conclusions about what’s going on around them. Thinkers realize this and will therefore eschew news aggregators in favor of a variety of traditional, “shoe-leather” news sources. These sources won’t be free, but from a Thinker’s point of view, their subscription fees are a small price to pay to stay grounded in reality.

5. Do you routinely “outsource” your thinking?

Although Feelers can’t get someone to exercise on their behalf so they can remain physically fit, they can get someone else to think on their behalf. They therefore outsource much of their thinking. Thinkers will also outsource their thinking but will do so with great care. If, for example, they experience an ominous swelling in their abdomen, they will try to find a medical expert to make the diagnosis and suggest a treatment. And what makes this person an expert? Their willingness to engage in evidence-based critical thinking to reach their conclusions, the way a Thinker would.

6. Do you think abortion is morally permissible or morally impermissible?

Ask a Thinker this question, and they will likely answer, “It depends.” This might sound like a waffle, but because they are thoughtful, Thinkers are reluctant to make sweeping generalizations. As a result, they are unlikely to believe that abortion is always morally permissible. They are also unlikely to believe that it is always morally impermissible. They will instead carve out exceptions: It will sometimes be morally permissible and sometimes be morally impermissible. They might, for example, point to ectopic pregnancies in which if there is an abortion, the mother will live but the fetus will die, but in which if there isn’t an abortion, the mother and fetus will both die. They might go on to argue that even someone who is “pro-life” should support abortion in such cases. After all, by performing the abortion we save a life—namely, that of the mother. So why are Feelers prone to make sweeping generalizations? In part because it requires less thinking on their part than developing nuanced beliefs does.

7. Do you make a point of stress testing your beliefs, and in particular, beliefs you are highly confident of?

Thinkers will routinely do this as part of their mindcleaning regimen, but Feelers won’t be similarly motivated: Why stress test a belief that they are sure is true? If you were raised in a religion, your religious beliefs are an obvious candidate for stress testing. Under those circumstances, you will not have reasoned your way to your beliefs; you will have inherited them. By adopting your parents’ beliefs, however, you will be outsourcing your religious thinking to them. They in turn might have outsourced their religious thinking to their parents, and so on, back through your family tree. It might turn out that ultimately, you hold the religious beliefs you do because centuries ago, an illiterate shepherd adopted a religion different from those of his ancestors. If it was okay for your ancestor to do this, wouldn’t it likewise be okay for you to abandon the religion you were raised in?

8. Do you get angry at people who challenge your beliefs?

If you do, it is evidence that you feel rather than reason your way to conclusions, meaning that you are not a Thinker. Thinkers don’t need to get angry, because they will be able to calmly, rationally defend their beliefs.

Okay, the test is over. How did you do?

In assessing your results, you need to keep in mind that the Feeler/Thinker distinction isn’t binary. There is an intellectual spectrum, with Feelers at one end, Thinkers at the other, and most people somewhere in the middle. By considering the questions I have asked, you can get a sense of where on that spectrum you lie. You can also get an idea of some of the steps you can take to move toward the Thinker end of the spectrum—if that is your goal. For more advice on how to do this, I recommend that you reread, or listen to, the first 22 posts in this Substack. I will also remind you that my book How to Think More and Better: Being Reasonable in Unreasonable Times is available at finer bookstores everywhere. Oh, and at Amazon as well.

Need more food for thought? Click here for my past essays, listed by title.

Want to listen to rather than read an essay? Open it on your mobile device’s Substack app and click on the listen button.

Paid subscribers can also listen to my initial 22 posts on their favorite podcast app, such as Spotify. Open the app, search for “Thinking More and Better,” and add episodes to your playlist. These are the posts in which I explain what is involved in being a Thinker, with a capital T, instead of a Feeler. By listening to them in order, you can, in under two hours, gain a full understanding of the Thinker concept.