Researchers Collected 23,000 Everyday Thoughts. Four Very Different Patterns Emerged – Which One Sounds Like You?

Imagine your phone buzzing while you’re answering an email, making lunch, waiting in traffic or trying to fall asleep.

Instead of another message, you see a question: What were you thinking immediately before this notification appeared?

Now imagine receiving that question eight times a day for two weeks.

Your answers might include a deadline, a conversation from the previous evening, the coffee you haven’t made yet, an ache in your shoulder or something you need to buy. Some thoughts would be intentional. Others would arrive without being invited.

Would all those brief entries reveal anything about the way you think?

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A group of economists recently attempted to find out. After collecting more than 23,000 accounts of everyday thoughts, they identified four broad patterns among the participants.

But there’s an important distinction to make before deciding which one sounds most like you. These aren’t four established personality types, and the researchers haven’t created a psychological test. They are tentative clusters found within one group of participants during a particular period of their lives.

The full study also contains findings that are at least as interesting as the four labels – including how often people thought about work, food, sleep, coffee and the physical sensations they were experiencing. I thought that this study was interesting – as its conclusions, 

How do you study what people think about all day?

The study, titled What Do People Think About?, was conducted by Shanshan Zhang, Zhou Fang and Joshua Tasoff.

The researchers used the experience sampling method, which is designed to collect information while people are going about their normal lives.

The 258 participants were Americans recruited through the online research platform Prolific. They ranged in age from 19 to 71.

Participants downloaded an app and received notifications at eight randomly selected moments each day. The study was scheduled to last two weeks, although some participants continued longer if they hadn’t submitted enough entries.

When a notification appeared, they were asked to record the thought they had been experiencing immediately beforehand. They also answered questions about what they were doing, what they believed had prompted the thought and how happy they felt at that moment.

This method can capture thoughts that might be forgotten by the end of the day. Someone may remember worrying about an important meeting but forget the brief thoughts about lunch, tiredness, a song, an unfinished chore or the temperature in the room.

Even random prompts cannot capture every thought. Approximately one-quarter of the study notifications went unanswered. People may have been driving, working, talking to someone or unable to use their phones. They may also have chosen not to record thoughts that felt too personal.

Still, the researchers ended up with 23,113 thought records – enough to look for common subjects, changes across the day, and differences between participants.

What were people thinking about?

The largest category involved senses and perceptions, accounting for almost one-fifth of the recorded thoughts.

This category included physical and mental impressions such as feeling tired, sleepy, cold, uncomfortable or aware of something happening in the immediate environment.

Work accounted for approximately 17% of thoughts, while food accounted for about 14%.

Hobbies, games, play and art made up around 10%, with a similar percentage involving relationships.

The proportions changed as the day progressed. Work became more prominent during typical working hours, while entertainment appeared more often later in the day.

Coffee, food and the wish to go back to bed

Participants were also asked about things they wanted and needed.

Almost half of the reported wants involved food or drink, with coffee appearing prominently in the responses.

When people described something they needed, relaxation came first. It accounted for approximately 29% of these entries, with sleep and naps playing a large role.

The findings offer a recognizable picture of daily life. Alongside work, family, entertainment and practical responsibilities, people were frequently thinking about being tired, eating something, making coffee or getting a chance to rest.

Sex-related phrases, by comparison, appeared in only 25 of the 23,113 recorded thoughts. The researchers acknowledged that participants may have been reluctant to record certain subjects. The low number is another reminder that experience sampling records what people are willing and able to report, not unrestricted access to everything occurring in their minds.

Many thoughts weren’t deliberately chosen

The researchers also examined why each thought had appeared. Approximately half were described as intentional. The others included reminders, mind wandering, accidental thoughts, and unwanted intrusive thoughts.

The distinction between an unexpected thought and an unwanted intrusive thought is important. Remembering that you need to buy milk isn’t the same as experiencing a recurring thought that causes anxiety or distress.

In the study, unwanted thoughts were frequently associated with emotions and subjects such as anger, anxiety, sadness, illness, guilt and shame.

People also reported feeling happier when their thoughts were more intentional. That doesn’t prove that deliberately choosing every thought will make someone happier. The relationship could work in several directions, and a person’s health, circumstances and emotional state may affect both thought content and happiness.

How the four thinking patterns were found

The researchers used a statistical method called k-means clustering to group participants whose collected thoughts had similar characteristics.

This wasn’t a questionnaire in which people selected statements such as “I worry about current events” or “I think about work more than leisure.” The groups were created from patterns across the thought records.

The statistical analysis suggested that either three or four clusters could provide a reasonable interpretation of the data. The researchers selected four because that solution produced clearer, more distinguishable patterns.

That choice is one reason the categories should be presented carefully. The study didn’t uncover four biological divisions that separate everyone into fixed types. It found four useful groupings within this dataset.

Here is what distinguished them.

1. The Worriers

People in The Worriers cluster devoted approximately 60% more of their thoughts than average to world events, political subjects and social issues.

They also thought about health and safety almost 50% more than the overall average.

Common words in their entries included terms related to being awake, lonely, hungry, tired, in pain and concerned about Covid. The data collection period overlapped with the pandemic, which influenced what people were experiencing and thinking about.

The Worriers also thought about music almost twice as often as average. The researchers considered whether music might offer some relief from the emotional weight of their other thoughts, although the study couldn’t establish why this pattern appeared.

Someone might resemble The Worriers cluster during a stressful news cycle, a period of illness or a time when personal safety feels uncertain. That doesn’t make “Worrier” a permanent identity.

2. The Domestics

The Domestics cluster was more focused on practical life.

Compared with the full sample, participants in this group devoted approximately 50% more of their thoughts to finances and housing, household chores, and narratives or stories from books, television, and movies.

Their minds appeared occupied by things that needed to be handled, solved, processed or organized.

The label “The Domestics” could be misunderstood as referring only to housework or to a particular family role. In the study, it covered a wider combination of home, money, practical responsibilities and stories. A person preparing to move, managing a tight budget, dealing with home repairs or caring for family members could temporarily produce a thought record that resembles this cluster.

3. The Bodily

The Bodily cluster recorded the greatest concentration of thoughts about senses, perceptions, feelings, and mental impressions. Such thoughts appeared approximately 50% more often in this group than in the sample overall.

The cluster also had the highest proportion of unwanted intrusive thoughts, at about 28%. Words appearing prominently in the group’s entries included references to therapy, aches, and feeling overwhelmed.

The Bodily cluster was the youngest group on average, with a mean age of approximately 32, and close to two-thirds of its members were women.

However, those demographic differences shouldn’t be interpreted as proof that young women naturally belong to one thinking category. Physical symptoms, menstrual cycles, illness, pain, emotional strain and therapy could all direct a person’s attention toward the body and mind during a two-week study.

4. Work-Hard Play-Hard

Participants in the Work-Hard Play-Hard cluster thought about work approximately 50% more often than average.

At the same time, they thought about hobbies, games, art and other leisure interests approximately 25% more often.

This wasn’t simply a group whose thoughts were consumed by their jobs. Both productive and recreational subjects occupied a larger share of their attention.

The Work-Hard Play-Hard cluster reported the highest income and the highest happiness scores of the four groups. It also contained slightly more men than women.

Those findings don’t prove that thinking about work and leisure causes higher income or happiness. People with higher incomes may have different jobs, schedules and access to recreational activities. Happier people may also experience and describe their thoughts differently.

Which of the four patterns are you?

You may recognize parts of yourself in all four.

During work, you might resemble the Work-Hard Play-Hard cluster. When bills are due or something breaks at home, your thoughts may look more like those recorded by The Domestics. A health concern can move physical symptoms to the front of your mind, while major news may push you closer to The Worriers cluster.

The researchers’ categories were based on repeated reports collected over time, not one answer selected from a list.

Even then, two weeks provide only a short view of someone’s life. A different month could produce a different result.

For that reason, it would be misleading to turn the four clusters into an unsupported online personality quiz. There are no validated scores showing how many answers associated with each cluster a person would need before receiving one of these labels.

A more useful question is not necessarily “Which type am I?” It may be: What has been occupying more of my attention recently, and is that different from what I actually want to be thinking about?

What thoughts revealed about happiness

One of the study’s broader goals was to examine the relationship between thoughts and self-reported happiness.

The researchers found that what participants were thinking about predicted more of the variation in their momentary happiness than their activities, demographic information and socioeconomic status combined.

The actual language people used in their thought and activity reports was also more informative than broad predefined categories.

This doesn’t mean researchers can read one sentence and calculate someone’s happiness. It means that detailed descriptions contained information that was lost when answers were reduced to categories such as work, eating, socializing or resting.

Two people could both report that they were working, for example, while having completely different thoughts. One might be pleased about finishing a project. The other might be worried about making a mistake.

The activity is the same. The mental experience isn’t.

The findings show an association rather than proof of cause and effect. Unhappy circumstances can affect thoughts, and distressing thoughts can influence how someone feels. Both may also be affected by factors the study didn’t measure.

Why these aren’t four permanent personality types

The four labels are the most shareable part of the research, but they are also the easiest part to overstate.

The study is currently a preprint and hasn’t completed peer review. Its authors say that larger and longer studies are needed to test whether the same clusters appear again.

The number of clusters was not inevitable. The statistical analysis supported either three or four, and the researchers chose the four-cluster solution because it was easier to interpret.

The sample also consisted of 258 Americans recruited online. The authors caution against applying the results to the entire world, particularly because thought patterns may differ across cultures and social environments.

There is also the problem of missing and filtered responses. About one-quarter of notifications received no answer, while extremely personal thoughts may have been underreported.

None of these limitations makes the research unimportant. They simply change what we can reasonably conclude from it.

The study provides a detailed collection of what a particular group of people reported thinking during daily life. It offers early evidence that individuals may show recognizable thought patterns and that the specific content of their thoughts is strongly connected with how they feel.

It doesn’t prove that every person belongs to The Worriers, The Domestics, The Bodily or Work-Hard Play-Hard.

Conclusion

Being asked what you’re thinking eight times a day might become irritating very quickly. It might also reveal how much of your attention is taken by subjects you barely notice.

Work, food, tiredness and physical sensations occupied a substantial part of the thoughts recorded in this study. Coffee appeared repeatedly. So did the desire for sleep and relaxation.

The four clusters add another layer to the findings, but their boundaries shouldn’t be seen as permanent. Health, money, family responsibilities, work demands, world events and access to leisure can all alter what fills someone’s mind.

You may identify most strongly with one of the four patterns today and another during a different period of your life.

Perhaps the more revealing exercise is to notice the thought that was in your mind immediately before you started reading this article – and whether you chose it.

FAQ

What are the four thinking patterns identified in the study?

The researchers named the four clusters The Worriers, The Domestics, The Bodily, and Work-Hard Play-Hard. The groups differed in the subjects that appeared more frequently in participants’ recorded thoughts.

Is this a psychological personality test?

No. The study used statistical clustering to group patterns found in more than 23,000 thought records. It didn’t create or validate a diagnostic or personality test.

Can someone belong to more than one group?

The categories weren’t presented as fixed identities. A person’s dominant thought pattern could change with health, work, finances, relationships, current events and other circumstances.

Has the four-types-of-thinker study been peer reviewed?

At the time of writing, What Do People Think About? is an SSRN preprint and hasn’t been published in a peer-reviewed journal.

Violeta-Loredana Pascal is a communications expert, business mentor, and the founder of Earth’s Attractions and PRwave INTERNATIONAL. A pioneer in the Romanian digital PR landscape since 2005, she holds a degree in Communication and Social Sciences from SNSPA Bucharest. Violeta is a senior trainer at AcademiadeAfaceri.ro, where she leverages over 20 years of experience to teach professional courses in PR strategy and workplace productivity. By blending high-level business consulting with a passion for holistic travel and wellness, she empowers solopreneurs to overcome procrastination, build profitable brands, and design a life of purposeful adventure.