Think, Feel, Act Communication Process

methodical step by step “insightfulness”

Think, Feel, Act individuals begin with an inner focus on the thinking process. Their thoughts constantly drive them in considering new options, which then, if it meets their criteria for immediate action, they attempt to work out how they feel about each choice. Each choice is then thought out and all the emotions related to that choice are observed. What they seek is the best option that fulfills their pre-defined needs. If any choice meets all the criteria, it invokes immediate action. If none completely meet the criteria, they continue to work through each choice to determine the best choice. When they finally make a choice, the emotional pressure diminishes and they relax into getting things handled. Under pressure, Think, Feel, Act individuals can become more emotionally turbulent or dramatic, particularly when they can’t see an effective choice. In this situation, others could misidentify them as Feel first, when in fact, it is the strength of their thinking process which produces these emotional reactions.

Think First or “intellectually-centered” individuals will pursue truth before anything else. They can be identified by their desire for clarity and precision in communication. They use concepts, thoughts, ideas, and precise language as a basis for insight and understanding, learning visually and processing information linearly (focused in a specific timeframe). A Think First person usually talks more in a monotone voice, can be more detached, and has a steady pace which can, by its nature, put individuals in a trance. As intellectually centered individuals, they tend to use words and logic as basic tools in the communication process. They are content oriented and prefer prioritized structures where what is most important is handled first. They can therefore, appear somewhat slower than the Feel First individuals, who jump intuitively to an answer they cannot explain.

Feel Second individuals focus their energies on building intricate emotional diversions to protect their feelings and (they believe) the feelings of others. The emotional secondary is oriented toward an outside object with an awareness of self as well. This “divided attention” makes them great observers if they can eliminate their defensiveness. They are usually very objective and able to determine if a proposal is congruent with its intention. However, the more defensive they are, the more they act out their emotions in dramatic ways. What they need to do is to neutralize false attachments to care taking, being considerate and nice under all circumstances which reflects what others want them to be.

Act Last individuals enjoy doing things only after their feelings and thoughts are in congruence and have been expressed. Act Last is the predominate modality in the United States, which is also why so many individuals have partners with the same tertiary centering process. In this situation, everyone relaxes by doing things together.

A Think, Feel, Act person always starts with their ideas, which they then validate by examining their emotions regarding each idea, which lets them take action when one idea is more aligned than the others.