Dumb factoid that’s been misunderstood and misconstrued more every time I see it. 5-10% have no inner monologue. 30-50% have an inner monologue some of the time. The remaining have an inner monologue frequently or most of the time.
I mean you hear from fast food workers that they get middle aged customers who ask whenever the chicken wings they serve is made out of chicken breasts or chicken legs, so it does seem like plenty of people somehow do manage to coast through life without really thinking & still participate in society enough.
I'm probably just splitting hairs here because of what people think "functioning" means but you can function in society without having a role or a job. I'm honestly not trying to be a dick, but dehumanizing people isn't going to solve any issues you have with the homeless/criminals, or unemployed people. They are functioning in society. A very few number of people exile themselves from it. Homeless people are functioning in society. Unemployed people aren't necessarily excluding themselves from everyday tasks. Just because they're not doing it the way most people think they should doesn't mean they're not a part of it. And at risk of sounding like a "wokey virtue signaler" a lot of people can't fuckin help it. i.e. a person with extreme developmental disabilities isn't "not functioning in society" they are literally a part of it. You either treat them that way and suck up the cost or you dehumanize them.
There are some people who intentionally don’t function, or essentially end on long term psych holds. I don’t think those usually function in our society.
The people who are just chronically suicidal, who never want to contribute, are those functioning in society?
As for criminals, most do reform so I think it’s bad to consider them people that aren’t functioning in society.
I have 140 IQ, masters degree, bilingual and my thoughts aren't like a monologue most of the time. Not to be arrogant, but very often, my thoughts are faster than words. It's mostly images flashing really fast with sentences in between occasionally.
So thank you for pointing this out, no internal monologue does not mean no thoughts lol
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u/impostersyndrome3000 5h ago
Dumb factoid that’s been misunderstood and misconstrued more every time I see it. 5-10% have no inner monologue. 30-50% have an inner monologue some of the time. The remaining have an inner monologue frequently or most of the time.