A friend and colleague of mine at Xavier and I often get
onto the topic of “need for cognition” in our discussions. What “need for
cognition” means is that some people, and academics are often among them, have
a chronic and near constant need to “think” about things. He and I both have this quality, but neither
of us believes that this need is present in everyone. Many people, it seems, are rather happy to
let their brains idle. It’s not that
these folks are stupid by any means; it’s just that they don’t exert themselves
with thoughts when those thoughts are not directly related to the task at
hand. In quiet moments, their thoughts
are also relatively quiet. For me, it is
often in the “quiet” moments that my thoughts race and twist the most.
I’m reminded of a time in graduate school when a friend of
mine and I were at a local drinking establishment partaking of more than a few
alcoholic beverages. My friend’s
girlfriend came in, somewhat miffed that he had blown off plans with her to,
instead, go drinking with me. She asked,
in a rather exasperated voice, why we felt the need to occasionally drink too
much. And both of us said at the same
time, without any prior rehearsal or even discussion of the topic: “to stop our
heads from thinking.” What we meant, or
at least what I meant, was that sometimes I wanted my thoughts to shut the hell
up, and once I’d gotten enough alcohol in me those thoughts would obey.
As an adult, I’ve found that playing a video game or chess
has much the same effect as alcohol.
When I’m caught up in the game my thoughts are all focused. They’re not wandering around yammering at me
about this or that topic, and this can be a great relief after a day of
cogitating. I wonder whether writers in
general are more likely to come from the folks who have a “need for
cognition.” Does part of the drive to
write come from the very fact that writers’ thoughts are constantly yammering
at them? Or am I projecting my own
mental state onto others. What do you
think?
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