Thinking and feeling are essential cognitive processes that significantly impact our decision-making. Most of the decisions we make in our lives, whether routine or crucial, are made with the help of these two cognitive processes. It’s worth noting that any signal into and out of the brain has to pass through a system called the limbic system that controls our feelings before they come to the part where thinking occurs. But is there any difference between thinking and feeling? Let’s find out.
Thinking
We make sense of the world around us with the help of our sensory perceptions and an analysis and interpretation of what we see and hear. Thinking involves a thought process that is an integral part of all our actions and behaviors. It is both an activity on a biological level with neurons moving from one nerve end to another, carrying signals, and a psychological activity with our focus on finding a solution to a problem.
Thinking is an activity or process that has been considered objective and rational, as it is based upon facts and helps us arrive at decisions. Thinking allows us to judge and evaluate an object, issue, situation, or a person. It also tells us how to proceed in a given situation. If we are thinking about something, that thing happens to be at the focus of our thoughts. When thinking, we could be doing many things in our mind: solving a math problem, considering a possible action or choice in a situation, being conscious, revisiting things and places, and more. To think is to imagine or have an opinion about something.
Feeling
Feeling is a sensation different from the sensations of sight, hearing, taste, and smell. If we have a feeling of warmth for someone else, it means we care for that person. Our feelings make us feel sad or glad. Feelings also help people arrive at decisions. Such people are ruled by their hearts and are more subjective than those who think rationally. The feeling type is a personality type that categorizes people who make decisions that are subjective and based upon their values, morals, and principles.
Feeling is more an experience than just a physical sensation. That’s why we have so many different types of feelings, such as jealousy, supremacy, inferiority, anger, happiness, guilt, warmth, love, friendship, affection, awe, and more.
Key Takeaways
- Feeling is subjective, emotional, and based on our perception of right and wrong, while thinking is objective, rational, and based on facts and logic.
- Our culture values people with a thinking personality type more than those who have a feeling personality type.
- Both thinking and feeling help us in arriving at decisions, but thinking is continuous and nonstop, whereas feeling is an affective state of consciousness.
