by Elsie Lincoln Benedict
Available in 98 free installments
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¶ His "line" may not interest you but the Thoracic himself is usually interesting. He is an actual curiosity to the quiet, inexpressive people who never can fathom how he manages to talk so frankly and so fast.
Such a person is seldom dull. He is everything from a condiment to a cocktail and has the same effect on the average group of more or less drab personalities.
¶ "Glad one moment and sad the next" is the way the ticker would read if it could make a record of the inner feelings of the average Thoracic. These feelings often come and go without his having the least notion of what causes them. Ordinarily these unaccountable moods are due to sensations reaching his subconscious mind, of which no cognizance is taken by his conscious processes.
¶ This ability to "get" things, to respond quickly with his physical reactions while devoting his mental ones to something else, has obtained for this type the reputation of possessing more "intuition" than others.
¶ That there is no such thing as intuition in the old sense of getting a "hunch" from the outside is now agreed by psychologists. The thing we have called intuition, they maintain, is not due to irregular or supernatural causes but to our own normal natural mental processes.
The impression that he gets this knowledge or suspicion from the outside is due, the scientists say, to the fact that his thinking has proceeded at such lightning-like speed that he was unable to watch the wheels go round. The only thing of which he is conscious is the final result or sum at the bottom of the column called his "hunch." He is not aware of the addition and subtraction which his mind went through to get it for him.
¶ "Off like a shot" is a term often applied to the Thoracic. He is the most easily excited of all types but also the most easily calmed. He recovers from every mood more quickly and more completely than other types. Under the influence of emotion he often does things for which he is sorry immediately afterward.
¶ This type usually does a thing quickly or not at all. He is a gun that is always cocked. So he hits a great many things in the course of a lifetime and leads the most exciting existence of any type. Being able to get thrills out of the most commonplace event because of seeing elements in it which others overlook, he finds in everyday life more novelty than others ever see.
¶ Romance and adventure always interest this type. He lives for thrills and novel reactions and usually spares no pains or money to get them. A very slangy but very expressive term used frequently by these people is, "I got a real kick out of that."
This craving for adventure, suspense and zest often lures this type into speculation, gambling and various games of chance. The danger in flying, deep-sea diving, auto-racing and similar fields has a strong appeal for this type?so strong that practically every man or woman who follows these professions is of this type.
¶ The Thoracic soon tires of the same suit, the same gown, the same house, the same town and even the same girl. He wrings the utmost out of each experience so quickly and so completely that he is forever on the lookout for new worlds to conquer. Past experiences are to him as so many lemons out of which he has taken all the juice. He anticipates those of the future as so many more to be utilized in the same way.
¶ We all like answers. We want to be assured that what we have said or done has registered. The Thoracic is always saying or doing something and can't understand why other people are so unresponsive. He is as responsive as a radio wire. Everything hits the mark with him and he lets you know it. So, naturally, he enjoys the same from others and considers those less expressive than himself stiff, formal or dull.
The kind of person the Thoracic likes best is one sufficiently like himself to nod and smile and show that he fully understands but who will not interrupt his stream of talk.
