Do you think that people are able to access a variety of levels of thinking?

It is my belief that people need to learn how to think. Silly as that may sound, I believe the same thing about loving. We humans confuse all types of things. There are many levels of thinking…

Study things like the Myers-Briggs type indicator test. You’ll find people often think in very different ways – and it’s wired in pretty hard. Among other things, types indicate how we socialize, how we communicate, how we write, how we learn, how we pleasure ourselves, how much credence we give to logic, how much credence we give to ethics, and how emotional our responses might be.

Different people think in very different ways, and the reasons are likely evolutionary.

@bolwerk Nice thinking!

I don’t think it’s possible for people to change their way of thinking, any more than they can change their level of intelligence. As @bolwerk says, I think it’s hard-wired into the brain.

@downtide: actually, MBTIs do change, but usually in response to trauma.

That said, drastic change is probably unlikely.

@bolwerk. Nice answer but is everything hard wired exactly?
@downtide
Have you ever come across an idea that just seemed too abstract to understand and then after some time later it suddenly becomes clear. I like to think our brains are the simplest part of evolution. In the sense that through time it continues to grow in knowledge. Unless you suffer from some sort of brain injury, I think it possible for people to acquire connections where there were none before.
IQ levels do change over the years. It can go up or down depending how proactive you are with sharpening your knowledge.

I hope this makes sense. Right now my coffee hasn’t kicked in and my level of thinking is probably at a 5th grade level right now if I’m lucky.

I have always thought everyone possesses the ability to think at higher levels, they just don’t want to!

@Pandora: I don’t know what you mean. MBTIs certainly do change. Those on the cusp of one personality type may find themselves with another later in life just because some variable moved a little. Dramatic change is possible with trauma, as far as I know.

@Pandora Have you ever come across an idea that just seemed too abstract to understand and then after some time later it suddenly becomes clear.
Actually I don’t think that’s ever really happened to me. I’ve never been able to understand abstract ideas at all.

It sounds like you’re talking about critical thought. The process where one does not simply accept a thing but questions it and tries to see it from all angles. This is actually brain exercise and takes effort. Many people are unable or unwilling to expend this effort so many people live their entire lives without applying critical thought. If you look around. you can easily see who these people are.

@bolwerk, Dramatic change on its own can change your personality. Your suddenly with different people and out of your element. I moved around for over 25 years and I have to say I am not the same person I was at 18 as I am now at 49. Nor was I the same girl who was 10 at I was at 18.
This is if you are speaking of personalities. There are some things that are hard wired. Like you probably won’t be a nasty person if you always found it difficult to confront people.
Now if your talking critical thought like Trillion suggest. Like I stated before, unless you suffer from some sort of brain malfunction it is still possible to do. I agree with @Trillian that some people simply are not willing to expend the effort. Some simply are too engrossed in everyday matters to stop and give some things thought.
Either one of those things tend to expand with the knowledge we gain over the years. I don’t think I have never met someone I knew from way back that I can say hasn’t changed in some way as a person over the years. The ones with the littlest growth were the ones I suspected of some sort of mental dysfunction.

There are certainly many different ways in which a brain can think, but to call them levels would be a bit subjectively judgemental.
“Levels” also implies neat, distinct, discrete, non-overlapping categories. You don’t get that a lot with this sort of thing.

I believe everyone has the ability to think on a deeper level. I agree with @ShanEnri
I agree that sometimes it takes a traumatic event to trigger people into wanting to.

People become dependent upon simple modes of thought while in stressful environments. From abusive households to oppressed populations, this pattern of adaptation can be seen. Only in low levels of stress can the mind open up and expand safely.

Too much time spent in these simple modes can render more complex states very hard to achieve. And even when they are achieved, it requires experience in these states before it is possible to express with them.

So, it’s not that so many people are born shallow, they’re formed by their environments. And, just because a person relies on a simple mode of thought while in certain environments does not mean that they don’t adopt deeper ways of thinking in others.

The most tragic part of this maybe, is that in more extreme examples, people can be driven to insane actions when you render their simple-modes useless and force them to think—it’s like waking up from anesthesia and realizing that your legs are gone but you can’t remember how you lost them. People will do all sorts of mental tricks to stop this from happening; the older these people get, the better they are at doing this usually.

I guess it’s something everyone has to do to some degree.

So the social environment and happenings that a person goes through is what really affects their level of thought?

@AHC898 Humans are not naturally shallow-minded.