Exercise
Write down what you were thinking about at this moment. Then classify your thoughts as follows:
1. Are they deliberate or spontaneous?
2. Are they internally focussed, i.e., about something other than what we were doing and other than the immediate surroundings?
3. Are they stimulus-independent or stimulus dependent?
4. Are they fanciful or realistic?
5. Was self-talk present?
6. Were there picture-like qualities?
7. Were there improbable activities or distorted images characteristic of dreams?
8. Would they shock or dumbfound your acquaintances?
9. Are they about other people and relationships?
 

Norms found by Eric Klinger

 

References

Klinger, E. (1971). Structure and functions of fantasy. New York: Wiley-Interscience.

Klinger, E. (1978). Modes of normal conscious flow. In K. S. Pope & J. L. Singer (Eds.), The stream of consciousness: Scientific investigations into the flow of human experience. New York: Plenum.

Klinger, E. (1990). Daydreaming: Using waking fantasy and imagery for self-knowledge and creativity. Los Angeles: Jeremy P. Tarcher.

Klinger, E. (1999). Thought flow: Properties and mechanisms underlying shifts in content. In J. A. Singer & P. Salovey (Eds.), At play in the fields of consciousness: Essays in honor of Jerome L. Singer (pp. 29–50). Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.

Klinger, E. (2000). Daydreams. In A. E. Kazdin (Ed. in Chief) Encyclopedia of psychology: Vol. 2. Washington, DC and New York: American Psychological Association and Oxford University Press.

Klinger E. & Cox, W. M. (1987). Dimensions of thought flow in everyday life. Imagination, Cognition and Personality, 7(2), 105S128.

                    Klinger, E., & Kroll-Mensing, D. (1995). Idiothetic assessment experience sampling and motivational analysis. In J. N. Butcher (Ed.), Clinical personality assessment: Practical approaches, (pp. 267–277). New York: Oxford University Press.