Imagination

Every now and then I come up with a hypothesis that sounds correct and has the added benefit of being totally impossible to verify. That’s almost as good as knowledge.

My hypothesis for today is that a person’s need for social interaction is inversely related to the quality of his or her imagination. In other words, if you have an excellent imagination, you might enjoy people, but you’re equally happy to be alone with your thoughts for large stretches. To put it bluntly, you fascinate yourself.

A key part of my hypothesis is the assumption that people have widely different powers of imagination. This seems likely. People are all over the map for every other mental ability. Whatever is happening inside the mind of the person with the worst imagination on earth is clearly very different from what’s happening in the mind of the most creative.

Presumably, if you have no imagination whatsoever, you need to get all of your stimulation from the environment, mostly from other people, or at least TV shows about other people. You wouldn’t want to be alone with your thoughts for more than two minutes because your thoughts would bore the living piss out of you.

On the other end of the spectrum, if your imagination is extraordinary, interaction with other people will just get in the way of the incredible experiences you could otherwise be having entirely in your head.

Your question of the day: Do you have an unusually good imagination? If so, do you enjoy being alone more than most people?

Comments

[gargamel]

Well I might have read it in one of scott's books...frankly I dont really recall if some of my most dogmatic opinions actually did come to me or I read it in one of his books, so if thats the case sorry for paraphrasing him.

I understand that in general terms, there are people's persons and ideas persons. Some people need to interact with people most of the time to fell happy, and talk most of the time about other people, what happened to them and so on.
Ideas persons on the contrary find most of the things that usually happen to people and/or what they talk about boring, so they are most of the time alone(or in very closed groups), thinking about whatever ideas they like to spend their time brooding about. It doesnt matter really what are them, they always seem absolutely amazing to them and absolutely boring and useless to other people!

Im the ideas kind, but try to become something in the middle. Its quite difficult, cause most of the time things that happen to people or the things they talk about are quite boring to me. Somehow I preffer to discuss the truthfullness of the coriolis effect intead of the mortage payments or the million absolutely incredible things that a two year old does (I spent 4 hours listening to that once...I had enough for a lifetime, I guess its like scott says powerpoints, it's pretty only to its creator hehehe...)
However to all those ideas guys out there, if you open up a bit and end up being lucky, you might find one or two people's person that are inteligent and funny, and if you listen to them...you might end up learning a lot of things that will rock your world upside down. It happened to me just this year! Best thing ever!

[alice]

for me; yes and definately so...but first of all i believe it would mainly apply to having enough time to one's self to get in the frame of mind - and/or a certain boredom with life. if there's a way of avoiding reality, then hey time suites well for some entrancing illusion to drown deep into, though most cases in life there's no allowance for it unless your job specially benifits from it. it is a shame because imagination is what makes the world uniquie.also i think lonliness is somewhat under-rated.

[Don]

Seems true to me that imagination and sociability are inversely related more or less. However, the issue is controversial probably because of the many possible meanings of both words. For example, imaginative people may have a more imaginative definition of imagination (and of everything else for that matter). Also, there are people who can be amazingly imaginative when prompted, but would never dream of being that way on their own. Also, I've found that everyone considers their imagination as excellent and are highly insulted if their ability is doubted. I find this fact especially interesting because I find most people actually extremetly unimaginative.

[Becca]

Imagination=Built-in entertainment system.
I like spending time with my imagination, but when I get the chance to follow some sort of storyline or anything, the people around me decide they need to up my meds.

[Ryab Habner]

when you are a social person with a good imagination they give you riddlin. I have a wildly vivid imagination but I refuse to use my Mp3 player in public because the people i meet fuel better adventures in this head of mine. Example of a man who's social interactions have fueled great imagination: Steven King.
Think about it.
The problem with your inductive reasoning on this theory was that you seem to be imaginative but you are making this blog to ineract socially. i bet that such interaction inspires your writing anc comics. Am I right?

[alta]

yes. YES.

[rjburchett]

yes and yes

[Melody]

I am now quite cured of seeking pleasure in society, be it country or town. A sensible man ought to find sufficient company in himself. -Emily Bronte, novelist (1818-1848)

[Skippy]

Funny you mention this. I daydream. ALLOT. Like when I was a kid, I learned to shut up about it. Even now, at 28, I have these wonderful experences of bouts of imagnination.

Of course I have a really bad case of ADHD, so while I can keep a dream alive for months, if not years, I can bairly start and finish a project. Some times I wonder what would be better:P

[Maurice Condie]

You missed a bit;
"a person’s need for social interaction is inversely related to the quality of his or her imagination", minus their need to show off .
Think about it....

[Liz]

I think that having a lot of time alone can spur you to be more creative. Penelope Trunk wrote about this in her blog. Right now I'm in social science grad school and spend a lot of time alone in my lab, and I think about different things, write, have the urge to create. Before I came to grad school, when I was working full time, with a commute, not a lot of unstructured time due to a sports team and language classes, this creative side was dormant.

In terms of people time, this confuses me. Do you mean time alone, no conversation, no one around, no tv, no book, no internet, just time that you need to fill alone with your thoughts, writing, art, other solitary activity?
My spouse for example always finds a way to break the ice, is very good with meeting new people. It seems to me like that requires a kind of creativity. I'm not the worst person at that, but a lot of time I can't think of anything to say when I first meet someone. That seems like a lack of imagination on my part.

Most of the easy ideas I had when growing up about imagination and creativity have turned out not to be true. I don't think, for example, that art, design, humanities are more creative or are done by more creative and imaginative people than science, math or engineering, or even business.

How can you measure imagination anyway? How do people know where they fall on the imagination scale? Can you measure it by creative output? By failure to understand simple orders because of creative thinking? Witty anecdotes? Maybe imagination is a big zone, and is differently expressed in different people. Some people can write a beautiful fantastic story from their imagination, someone else has a creative invention, someone else has a business idea that revolutionizes their industry, someone else imagines what would be the key to getting to the next level in a video game...

Very nice blog you have.

[Liz]

I think that having a lot of time alone can spur you to be more creative. Penelope Trunk wrote about this in her blog. Right now I'm in social science grad school and spend a lot of time alone in my lab, and I think about different things, write, have the urge to create. Before I came to grad school, when I was working full time, with a commute, not a lot of unstructured time due to a sports team and language classes, this creative side was dormant.

In terms of people time, this confuses me. Do you mean time alone, no conversation, no one around, no tv, no book, no internet, just time that you need to fill alone with your thoughts, writing, art, other solitary activity?
My spouse for example always finds a way to break the ice, is very good with meeting new people. It seems to me like that requires a kind of creativity. I'm not the worst person at that, but a lot of time I can't think of anything to say when I first meet someone. That seems like a lack of imagination on my part.

Most of the easy ideas I had when growing up about imagination and creativity have turned out not to be true. I don't think, for example, that art, design, humanities are more creative or are done by more creative and imaginative people than science, math or engineering, or even business.

How can you measure imagination anyway? How do people know where they fall on the imagination scale? Can you measure it by creative output? By failure to understand simple orders because of creative thinking? Witty anecdotes? Maybe imagination is a big zone, and is differently expressed in different people. Some people can write a beautiful fantastic story from their imagination, someone else has a creative invention, someone else has a business idea that revolutionizes their industry, someone else imagines what would be the key to getting to the next level in a video game...

Very nice blog you have.

[Danae]

Somebody probably already said this but I don't have time to read through six billion posts:

Yes, I have a good imagination. Yes, I enjoy spending time with myself more than with other people. But the reason isn't usually just so I can frolic in my own head; it's because people, in general, bore/irrate/drain the crap out of me. I can only take so much 'people' before I have to resuscitate myself with some good alone time. Some people get their energy from interaction with others and are drained by being alone; some get it from alone time and are drained by others. And it may not have a thing to do with imagination. (See the Myers-Briggs definition of the difference between an introvert and an extrovert.)

That said, here's my own personal impossible-to-verify hypothesis: A person's IQ is inversely proportional to their appreciation for country music. ;-)

[shryko]

I'm going to sit on the fence and say it's too close to 50/50 to be accurately determined...

I mean, I can dream up great wonders, but then I tend to thinkof the real world and how much it, well, fails to live up to this... this leads to depressing negative thoughts... however, other times, I'll look at a problem, and see so many great possible solutions I get excited/happy... quite optimistic... however, when dealing with people, it's normally in the middle, a bit on the happy side...

[Polymath]

Yes, and yes.

[DAN RATHER]

Sometimes when I ride in my car I pretend there is a human or pre-human (neanderthal) riding shotgun and I explain all the elements of living today (it helps me realize how silly and how much we take for granted). They are simply amazed at how far we have come. :)

[Simon]

I have an incredibly vivid imagination (probably due to 14 years of D&D) and could quite happily sit by myself daydreaming from now until the end of time :)

[Silly Sod]

Best of all is if you are in the company of other people with brilliant imaginations. Most of my best friends (one in particular) are perfect for bouncing crazy ideas off of. i often wonder how crap I find normal conversations and how everyone else puts up with them.

On reflection: brilliant imaginations that enjoy the same topics are best. Tangential conversations sometimes dont work too well (e.g. I'm not interested in what sociologists think about, except to ridicule it)

My mums a sociologist (and a good one) but she has some funny ideas about power. I prefer maths and politics.

[Caircair]

I once took one of those personality tests, and came out exactly 51% introverted, 49% extroverted. As a result, I enjoy being with people about half the time -- but really REALLY need some solitude as well. If I had to go all one way or the other, I'd prefer my own company rather than having to endure the company of humanity.

[Stentor]

Mr. Adams,
I consider myself to have an unusually good imagination, since I am quite an avid reader, and always have been since the time I was a young boy. But there are two components to consider in your hypothesis, and I think you're only thinking about one in this instance. First is the need for social interaction with others, which you are covering in your hypothesis, the need for which may be mitigated by an imagination that can fill in for that type of interaction. But the one you're not considering is the human being's need for physical contact, or touch. I can only be by myself for so long before I have to be around people, in some public place, or circumstance, because I feel the need to touch, and be touched, by others, even if it is in a casual, and not intimate, social setting.

Granted, this comment is over 400 down from the original post, so I don't expect you to ever read this, or respond, but I felt I had to let you know that this may be a bit of a false dichotomy. That there may be a third type of person with an unusually good imagination, but is gregarious or extroverted enough to not want to spend large amounts of time by themself.

I recently read the article on CNN about you, your work, and home life. Good separation in the way you devote yourself to your work, and the rigorousness you insist upon. That shows a level of professionalism I feel shines through in the quality of your comic strip.

I currently work for a large Aerospace/Defense Contractor out here in El Segundo, California, you can probably figure out which one it is, starts with an 'R', and sometimes I wonder if you have cameras inside the plant, because your strips seem to be so spot on about the circumstances here.

Keep up the very good work.

[M.Adkins]

I always equated the same rule about personal deities....we need/search for what is missing in ourselves. So, being imginative and centered requires less "fate" and religious hand-holding. Imagination often equals empathy, IMHO...

[Gimble]

Your post makes a lot of sense and seems very logical.

Personally, I feel my strongest when I have time to myself, but I very much enjoy time with other people.

Actually, experiences with others help add more to my imagination when I'm alone.

[Ben]

I embarrass myself, when I'm alone all the time. I'll catch myself singing to a stupid song and then tell myself (out loud) how stupid I must look singing to that, then I tell myself (out loud), how crazy I must be for telling myself out loud that I look stupid singing to a song.

It's a vicous circle that always makes my laugh in the end.

[Jens]

Actually, this seems very true for me. I do like to be on my own for remarkable time spans and I would say (and others do to) that I have plenty of vivid imagination. I actually sometimes write down those things I imagine if I find them especially fascinative.

Never thought though that the two facts could somehow depend on each other.

[Wolfger]

I think you're spot-on this time, Scott.