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Why Do We Doodle?
Have you ever been in a boring meeting and start drawing on the margins of your notepad? What about in a class or while talking on the phone? We all do it, but do we know why? Do they mean something?
WHAT IS IT?
Doodling is an absent minded scribble or marks without aim, purpose or thought. Some definitions describe it as a foolish or wasteful act. In some circles of psychology that is not the case. While a definite reason for the act is not that clear, there are some commonalities and hypotheses about the act of doodling.
Doodling usually happens when we are stuck in a place where we do not want to be. If you are in a boring meeting and you have other priorities or prefer to be someplace else, doodling is likely to occur. Like daydreaming, doodling helps us displace our thoughts to something more pleasurable.
Another characteristic is that it usually happens where open expression is disallowed. If you are on a conference call or in a class lecture and you cannot express yourself freely, doodling is a way to compensate for that restriction. The drawings can potentially have a meaning to the person creating the doodle.
THEORY
Some theories, including Freud and Jung, think that doodling is an act where the individual is conscious, but the meaning of the drawings is unconscious. Alfred Adler suggested that we tend to seek symmetry and doodles meet that need. Other psychologists suggest that doodles are a manifestation of an unconscious or emotional state.
What is interesting about doodles is that we all have a pattern. Some draw circles, while others draw shapes or jagged lines. Sometimes the doodle is based on an internal or external stimulus. If you look at your previous doodles, you may find patterns.
So my question to you is: When do you doodle and what do you doodle?
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About Me
Hi! My name is Roberto Montanez. I have always been curious about the way we do things and how we react to different situations. Even the most mundane things in our lives, I find interesting.
I have a M.S. in Psychology and have worked for a few years in the field of psychology and education. Working with people in the clinical setting and in the classroom has helped me gain a unique view about our world. More >>
well yah… a brilliant observation
… I usually doodle when I feel bored during a lecture and when in a meeting… I observed that my doodles are mostly continuous circles hahahahaha and at times I write my name and repeat it for several times… Sir, don’t you not think that doodles may serve also as a projection of one’s unconscious?
Doddles may, at times, project unconscious thoughts. Isidro, thanks for commenting.
well…yeah that’s what i can say a perspicacious mind…insightful psychological analysis..that’s pretty much right…people doodle when they feel slothful and work that’s somewhat tedious…..keep on writing such articles
I am on the phone with hospitals & MD’s offices throughout the day. I will usually doodle either boxes or caracitures. For some odd reason yesterday while talking with someone I ended up with something that looked very much like Dr. Seuss’s Grinch.
Analyze that! :>)