"We don't see things as they are. We see things as we are." ~Anais Nin

Buddhism, in a nutshell.

Perception is certainly shaped by experience.

How we think (imho) is determined by how we are trained to think. Luckily, with enough introspection, anyone can change the way they think, which supports your statement. How things really are, though, seems unknowable, since perception is reality. No one knows how things really are, only how they perceive them to be.

That's not a well-formed question.
You are positing that there is something called "the mind" which stands in opposition to "how things really are" and asking which determines "how we think".
I don't even accept the premises, never mind that all the terms are vague.

I thought I knew but having read all the comments on here I'll have to spend some time re-evaluating..

I don't think this is false or entirely true.

I hate to seem indecisive, but I believe you've presented a false dichotomy.

In my opinion, how we think is determined very loosely by the mind and influenced by our experience, education, and reality.

All about perception. Technically there is no right/wrong, left/right, Hot/Cold, blue/black/green/red... There is our brain receiving raw information and trying to interpret it... But we invented the concepts to describe certain kinds of input. To communicate properly we hold each other to the same standards when describing things. (ex. I saw a red car not a blue truck).
So when you say 'How things really are' that itself is information has already been processed and formed an opinion on, there is no way of truely knowing 'How things really are', all you know is what your body told your brain and then your brain processed and told your conscious self.

Id say its a bit of both. nurture and nature.

True

We were evolved to survive not to perceive some objective reality. What we perceive is intended to help us not to accurately reflect reality. For example we see patterns in everything. It is useful because seeing a pattern that identifies a predator means we survive but seeing the same pattern and there being no predator is essentially harmless as we still survive. So, we see patterns that like to us about reality.

I think, therefore I drink.

I'd say true. We can only consciously focus on a very small percentage of all the sensory information our brains absorb over any period of time. And what we focus on tends to affect our mood and behavior.

I think that it'a mixture both for far too many people. People tend to cling to things. Even when presented with evidence to the contrary.

All I can say is that my reality is all in my mind. Are things as I perceive them? Probably not very often but I would like to assume that reality mirrors my perception of it to a greater extent more often than not.

False Dilema, it could be something in between or a combination of both.

Are we talking mind & brain?
Or mind/brain?

Both. Thoughts are generated in the mind, more so with creative brains and experiences based on external stimuli. Our brain deciminates the information and stores it, as it is a biomechanical computer. All sensory information that has been stored is of the past, but our brains are engineered (by evolution) to incorporate our past (even our recent past) to function in the present. Healthy brains are able to decipher the real from the false. Also the brain can be taught how and what to think by means of education and or indoctrination.

This is very true. When I talk to my ex husband about things that happened when we were together we see it very differently even though it was the same experience. It's all perception.

True. I've heard it said this way: we don't see the world as it is, but as we are.

I agree. And when you realize that it is enlightening.

That depends on the effectiveness of the cognitive schema we develop and on the accuracy of our cognitive structures.

Took a test once, says there are 4 types of thinkers, left brain (analytical), right brain (artistic) mixed (random) and combined (uses both sides equally).

Oh I agree, at least to an extent. I know in my own life that sometimes I am far more deeply influenced by my hormones than by external reality. These hormones give context to each and every thought.