More people tend to think that those who daydream are not smart, because daydreamers are generally considered inattentive and unable to focus on a single task. However, research shows that daydreamers are often smarter. They frequently find unconventional paths, discovering routes others haven't considered, and achieve remarkable accomplishments.Today, let's explore whether daydreamers are smarter and what benefits daydreaming offers. Are Daydreamers Smarter? From childhood onward, parents and teachers constantly urge us to focus. Yet if you tend to daydream and get easily distracted, does that mean daydreaming is inherently negative? Not necessarily. Psychologists suggest that daydreaming is actually a sign of intelligence.
Daydreaming and being easily distracted often carry negative connotations. We constantly hear that "distractions are harmful."
Think back to childhood: parents and teachers always taught us to focus, warning that daydreaming was a bad habit. In class, we'd vow to pay attention, only to drift off and miss all the key points.
Why is staying focused so hard? If I'm always daydreaming, how can I ever reach the pinnacle of life?
But is daydreaming truly worthless?
Psychological research on daydreaming/mind wandering dates back over a century. William James, the father of American psychology, already recognized its significant role.
Benefits of daydreaming:
While many studies point to the downsides of mind-wandering—like negative emotions and maladjustment—psychologists have also discovered its advantages. Let's examine daydreaming and mind-wandering from a different angle.1. You spend half your day daydreaming In psychology, daydreaming, distraction, and related concepts are defined as mind-wandering—a self-generated, stimulus-independent mental activity unrelated to the current task. Research shows we spend nearly half our waking hours mind-wandering.Whether you admit it or not, our brains simply cannot maintain constant focus.
Researcher Jonathan Schooler once had participants read for 45 minutes while tracking their distractions. The average number of distractions per person reached 6.6.
Even when our minds know they should be fully engaged in a study, distraction occurs this frequently—let alone during private study sessions or reading a book. Seeing this, you might feel a sense of relief if you're currently zoning out.
2. More Distractions, More Creativity
Psychologists have discovered that mind wandering may actually boost our creativity.
Researchers including Baird at UC Santa Barbara studied the relationship between mind-wandering and creativity. Participants were divided into three groups, each completing two creativity tests separated by a 12-minute interval. During this break, each group performed different tasks designed to induce varying degrees of distraction.
Results showed that after the interval, the group with the highest level of distraction experienced the greatest increase in creativity scores on the second test compared to the first. This suggests that significant distraction may be the very mechanism driving enhanced creativity.
Baird explained that during mind wandering, the brain's executive and default networks interact more intensely than during other cognitive processes.Thus, when thoughts wander, it's likely the collision of these two systems that facilitates the "incubation" of creativity.
Secondly, mind-wandering enhances unconscious associative processing, which in turn fosters the generation of novel ideas or unconventional solutions.
In essence, when we zone out, collisions occur between distinct neural networks in our brain. Our thoughts cease following predetermined paths, instead wandering randomly through vast uncharted territories. This unpredictable randomness sparks creativity. If you're fortunate, you might just stumble upon that electrifying "great idea" along some unexpected path.
This might explain why artists often pursue seemingly unrelated, bizarre activities to spark inspiration. Perhaps when the mind wanders freely, those flashes of insight come more easily.
3. Daydreamers Think Longer-Term
Research indicates that the longer one daydreams, the more likely they are to consider issues from a broader, more enduring perspective.
The concept of delay discounting, widely applied in economics and psychology, measures how much the value of a reward diminishes over time.
When given a choice between a smaller, immediate reward and a larger reward requiring waiting, individuals with higher delay discounting tend to favor the former. This indicates a willingness to sacrifice long-term goals for short-term gains.
Psychologist Jonathan Smallwood investigated the relationship between mind-wandering and delay discounting.In this 2021 study, Smallwood induced varying degrees of "task-irrelevant thinking" (essentially, levels of mind-wandering) in participants. He then measured their discounting rates using a choice between receiving $500 immediately or $800 a week later.
Results showed that participants who engaged in more task-irrelevant thinking were more likely to choose the $800 a week later.In other words, the longer participants daydreamed, the more willing they were to wait longer for a larger future reward.
The study explains that during daydreaming, individuals' thoughts become isolated from their external environment. For example, while completing an experimental task, you might find yourself distracted, pondering whether 500 or 800 yuan would be more advantageous.
These self-generated thoughts represent a deliberate disengagement from the "immediate events unfolding," allowing individuals to avoid their distractions. This enables focused attention on personally relevant questions, fostering more patient and comprehensive consideration of the pros and cons, as well as strategic choices for long-term benefits.
Furthermore, as previous research on mind-wandering and creativity suggests, this mental detachment may also lead individuals to discover novel, brilliant ideas beyond the initial options. Thus, those prone to daydreaming might craft a long-term plan brimming with fresh insights yet grounded in rational restraint (sounds pretty awesome, right?)
4.When you zone out, you're solving problems
Moreover, the content of daydreams reflects what people are most preoccupied with—unresolved issues, worries, or aspirations. Often, daydreaming happens unconsciously. Our brains seem to fidget and get excited before our conscious minds catch up. For instance, you might suddenly realize your focus has drifted from math formulas to that lingering question: Should I buy that gym membership?
The conscious mind has limited capacity; processing multiple pieces of information simultaneously can exhaust cognitive resources. In contrast, the unconscious mind possesses vast capacity. Thus, one adaptive function of daydreaming is to bridge consciousness and the unconscious, driving persistent concerns to surface in the mind. This prompts individuals to consciously address them, effectively resolving the underlying issues.
Viewed this way, daydreaming can essentially be a form of problem-solving.
Did this article shake your worldview? When you realize that zoning out isn't necessarily a bad thing—but can actually help you solve problems—are you ready to give it a try? In truth, most people can only maintain focused attention for about 10 to 20 minutes. It's impossible to stay fully concentrated on any single task the entire time. So when you encounter a difficult problem, why not try zoning out for a bit?