What kind of thought is this wooden guitarist having? Cognitive therapy, and the cognitive revolution in general, freed us from the limits of both psychoanalysis and behaviourism. Freud and Skinner each in their own way devalued the thought, which cognitivists think is ineluctable, revealing and valuable. However, it is not to devalue thoughts to say that they are not all equal qualitatively. It may be a brave step for a cognitivist to take, especially since is merely an untestable introspective observation. Obviously, not all thoughts are created equal. Some are profound, coming at the expense of great psychic effort. Others are about dinner. The President of the United States' thoughts can influence war and peace; a hermit's may never influence another person directly. But even when dealing with the same issue, a person can have two dissonant thoughts without hearing the dissonance. Is that because one is "louder", or more valuable, or even more convenient? Not always, in my experience. Thoughts can feel different. When an exam is coming, I know that I have it, but put off studying. In abstract: I have the thought of the impending exam, and the thought of the importance of studying, but fail to structure my activity around that second thought. It has value to me - I do not ignore it - but it fails to be an efficacious thought. Then, at some point, and without cue, I feel a great emotional desire and cognitive imperative to study. I already knew that I had an exam coming, but at that point I know it in a deeply affective way that structures my behaviour, not to mention holding my emotions and sympathetic nervous system in its thrall. To me, that represents best my observation that thoughts exist in two ways: a superficial and purely cognitive way; and a deep, cognitive-affective way that structures other thought. I would call the former a superficial thought and the latter an embedded thought. I have seen similar in my very limited exposure to patients with phobias, or even in patients who have insight into hallucinations. I wonder what literature addresses this phenomenon.
