Human thinking and its types. Rational and irrational thinking. Practical or objective, effective thinking

By accepting information from the world around us, it is with the participation of thinking that we can realize and transform it. Their characteristics also help us with this. A table with this data is presented below.

What is thinking

This is the highest process of cognition of the surrounding reality, subjective perception. Its uniqueness lies in the perception of external information and its transformation in consciousness. Thinking helps a person gain new knowledge, experience, and creatively transform ideas that have already been formed. It helps to expand the boundaries of knowledge, helping to change the existing conditions for solving assigned problems.

This process is the engine of human development. In psychology there is no separately operating process - thinking. It will necessarily be present in all other cognitive actions of a person. Therefore, in order to somewhat structure such a transformation of reality, types of thinking and their characteristics were identified in psychology. A table with these data helps to better assimilate information about the activities of this process in our psyche.

Features of this process

This process has its own characteristics that distinguish it from other mental

Mediocrity. This means that a person can indirectly recognize an object through the properties of another. Types of thinking and their characteristics are also involved here. Briefly describing this property, we can say that cognition occurs through the properties of another object: we can transfer some acquired knowledge to a similar unknown object.
Generality. A combination of several properties of an object. The ability to generalize helps a person to learn new things in the surrounding reality.

These two properties and processes of this human cognitive function contain general characteristics thinking. Characteristics of types of thinking are a separate area of general psychology. Since types of thinking are characteristic of different age categories and are formed according to their own rules.

Types of thinking and their characteristics, table

A person perceives structured information better, so some information about the types of cognitive process of cognition of reality and their description will be presented systematically.

The best way to help you understand what types of thinking are and their characteristics is a table.

Visual-effective thinking, description

In psychology, much attention is paid to the study of thinking as the main process of cognition of reality. After all, this process develops differently for each person, it works individually, and sometimes the types of thinking and their characteristics do not correspond to age standards.

For preschoolers, visual and effective thinking comes first. It begins its development in infancy. Descriptions by age are presented in the table.

Age period	Characteristics of thinking
Infancy	In the second half of the period (from 6 months), perception and action develop, which form the basis for the development of this type of thinking. At the end of infancy, the child can solve basic problems based on the manipulation of objects	An adult hides a toy in right hand. The baby first opens the left one, and after failure, reaches for the right one. Having found a toy, he rejoices at the experience. He learns about the world in a visually effective way.
Early age	By manipulating things, the child quickly learns important connections between them. This age period is a vivid representation of the formation and development of visual and effective thinking. The baby performs external orienting actions, thereby actively exploring the world.	While collecting a full bucket of water, the child noticed that he reached the sandbox with an almost empty bucket. Then, while manipulating the bucket, he accidentally closes the hole, and the water remains at the same level. Perplexed, the baby experiments until he understands that to maintain the water level it is necessary to close the hole.
Preschool age	During this period, this type of thinking gradually passes into the next, and already at the end of the age stage the child masters verbal thinking.	First, to measure the length, the preschooler takes a paper strip, applying it to everything that is interesting. This action is then transformed into images and concepts.

Visual-figurative thinking

Types of thinking in psychology and their characteristics occupy an important place, since the age-related formation of other cognitive processes depends on their development. With each age stage, more and more mental functions are involved in the development of the process of cognition of reality. In visual-figurative thinking, imagination and perception play almost a key role.

Characteristic	Combinations	Transformations
This type of thinking is represented by certain operations with images. Even if we don’t see something, we can recreate it in our minds through this type of thinking. The child begins to think like this in the middle preschool age(4-6 years old). An adult also actively uses this type.	We can get a new image through combinations of objects in the mind: a woman, choosing clothes for going out, imagines in her mind how she will look in a certain blouse and skirt or dress and scarf. This is the action of visual-figurative thinking.	Also new image is obtained through transformations: when looking at a flowerbed with one plant, you can imagine how it will look with a decorative stone or many different plants.

Verbal and logical thinking

It is carried out using logical manipulations with concepts. Such operations are designed to find something in common between different objects and phenomena in society and the environment around us. Here images take a secondary place. In children, the beginnings of this type of thinking occur at the end of the preschool period. But the main development of this type of thinking begins at primary school age.

Age	Characteristic
Junior school age	When a child enters school, he already learns to operate with elementary concepts. The main basis for operating them are: everyday concepts - elementary ideas about objects and phenomena based on one’s own experience outside the school walls; scientific concepts are the highest conscious and arbitrary conceptual level. At this stage, intellectualization of mental processes occurs.
Adolescence	During this period, thinking takes on a qualitatively different color - reflection. Theoretical concepts already assessed by a teenager. In addition, such a child can be distracted from visual material, reasoning logically in verbal terms. Hypotheses appear.
Adolescence	Thinking based on abstraction, concepts and logic becomes systematic, creating an internal subjective model of the world. At this age stage, verbal and logical thinking becomes the basis of the young person’s worldview.

Empirical thinking

The characteristics of the main types of thinking include not only the three types described above. This process is also divided into empirical or theoretical and practical.

Theoretical thinking represents the knowledge of rules, various signs, and the theoretical basis of basic concepts. Here you can build hypotheses, but test them in practice.

Practical thinking

Practical thinking involves transforming reality, adjusting it to your goals and plans. It is limited in time, there is no opportunity to study many options for testing various hypotheses. Therefore, for a person it opens up new opportunities for understanding the world.

Types of thinking and their characteristics depending on the tasks being solved and the properties of this process

They also divide types of thinking depending on the tasks and the subjects of the tasks. The process of cognition of reality happens:

intuitive;
analytical;
realistic;
autistic;
egocentric;
productive and reproductive.

Every person has all these types to a greater or lesser extent.

Thinking – mental process modeling the patterns of the surrounding world based on axiomatic provisions. However, in psychology there are many other definitions.

Information received by a person from the surrounding world allows a person to imagine not only the external, but also the internal side of an object, to imagine objects in their absence, to foresee their changes over time, to rush with thought into the vast distances and the microworld. All this is possible thanks to the thinking process.

Process Features

The first feature of thinking is its indirect nature. What a person cannot know directly, directly, he knows indirectly, indirectly: some properties through others, the unknown through the known. Thinking is always based on the data of sensory experience - sensations, perceptions, ideas - and on previously acquired theoretical knowledge. Indirect knowledge is mediated knowledge.

The second feature of thinking is its generality. Generalization as knowledge of the general and essential in the objects of reality is possible because all the properties of these objects are connected with each other. The general exists and manifests itself only in the individual, in the concrete.

People express generalizations through speech and language. A verbal designation refers not only to a single object, but also to a whole group of similar objects. Generalization is also inherent in images (ideas and even perceptions). But there it is always limited by clarity. The word allows one to generalize limitlessly. Philosophical concepts of matter, motion, law, essence, phenomenon, quality, quantity, etc. - the broadest generalizations expressed in words.

Basic Concepts

Results cognitive activity people are captured in the form of concepts. Concept– is a reflection of the essential features of the subject. The concept of an object arises on the basis of many judgments and conclusions about it. The concept, as a result of generalizing the experience of people, is the highest product of the brain, the highest level of knowledge of the world.

Human thinking occurs in the form of judgments and inferences. Judgment is a form of thinking that reflects the objects of reality in their connections and relationships. Each judgment is a separate thought about something. The sequential logical connection of several judgments, necessary in order to solve any mental problem, understand something, find an answer to a question, is called reasoning. The reasoning has practical meaning only when it leads to a certain conclusion, a conclusion. The conclusion will be the answer to the question, the result of the search for thought.

Inference- this is a conclusion from several judgments, giving us new knowledge about objects and phenomena of the objective world. Inferences can be inductive, deductive, or by analogy.

Thinking and other mental processes

Thinking is the highest level of human knowledge of reality. The sensory basis of thinking is sensations, perceptions and ideas. Through the senses - these are the only channels of communication between the body and the outside world - information enters the brain. The content of information is processed by the brain. The most complex (logical) form of information processing is the activity of thinking. Solving the mental problems that life poses to a person, he reflects, draws conclusions and thereby learns the essence of things and phenomena, discovers the laws of their connection, and then transforms the world on this basis.

Thinking is not only closely connected with sensations and perceptions, but it is formed on the basis of them. The transition from sensation to thought is a complex process, which consists, first of all, in isolating and isolating an object or its sign, in abstracting from the concrete, individual and establishing the essential, common to many objects.

For human thinking, the relationship is more important not with sensory knowledge, but with speech and language. In a more strict sense, speech is a process of communication mediated by language. If language is an objective, historically established system of codes and the subject of a special science - linguistics, then speech is a psychological process of formulating and transmitting thoughts through the means of language. Modern psychology does not believe that internal speech has the same structure and the same functions as expanded external speech. By internal speech, psychology means a significant transitional stage between the plan and developed external speech. Mechanism that allows recoding general meaning into a speech utterance, i.e. inner speech is, first of all, not a detailed speech utterance, but only a preparatory stage.

However, the inextricable connection between thinking and speech does not mean that thinking can be reduced to speech. Thinking and speech are not the same thing. Thinking does not mean talking to yourself. Evidence of this can be the possibility of expressing the same thought in different words, and also the fact that we do not always find the right words to express our thoughts.

Types of thinking

Thinking without imagery (eng. imageless thought) is thinking “free” from sensory elements (images of perception and representation): understanding the meaning of verbal material often occurs without the appearance of any images in consciousness.
Thinking is visual. A method for solving intellectual problems based on internal visual images.
Discursive thinking (discursus – reasoning) is a person’s verbal thinking mediated by past experience. Verbal-logical, or verbal-logical, or abstract-conceptual thinking. Acts as a process of coherent logical reasoning, in which each subsequent thought is conditioned by the previous one. The varieties and rules (norms) of discursive thinking are studied in most detail in logic.
Complex thinking is the thinking of a child and an adult, carried out in the process of unique empirical generalizations, the basis for which are the relationships between things revealed in perception.
Visual-effective thinking is one of the types of thinking, distinguished not by the type of problem, but by the process and method of solution; the solution to a non-standard problem is sought through the observation of real objects, their interactions and the implementation of material transformations in which the subject of thinking himself takes part. The development of intelligence begins with it both in phylo- and ontogenesis.
Visual-figurative thinking is a type of thinking that is carried out on the basis of transformations of images of perception into images-representations, further changes, transformations and generalization of the subject content of ideas that form a reflection of reality in an image-conceptual form.
Figurative thinking is a process of cognitive activity aimed at reflecting the essential properties of objects (their parts, processes, phenomena) and the essence of their structural relationship.
Practical thinking is a thinking process that occurs in the course of practical activity, in contrast to theoretical thinking aimed at solving abstract theoretical problems.
Productive thinking is a synonym for “ creative thinking”, associated with solving problems: new, non-standard intellectual tasks for the subject. The most difficult task, facing human thought, is the task of knowing oneself.
Theoretical thinking - the main components are meaningful abstractions, generalizations, analysis, planning and reflection. Its intensive development in its subjects is facilitated by educational activities.

Basic thought processes

Human mental activity is the solution of various mental problems aimed at revealing the essence of something. A mental operation is one of the methods of mental activity through which a person solves mental problems. Mental operations are varied. This is analysis and synthesis, comparison, abstraction, specification, generalization, classification. Which logical operations a person uses will depend on the task and on the nature of the information that he is subjected to mental processing.

Analysis and synthesis

Analysis is the mental decomposition of a whole into parts or the mental isolation of its sides, actions, and relationships from the whole. Synthesis is the opposite process of thought to analysis; it is the combination of parts, properties, actions, relationships into one whole. Analysis and synthesis are two interrelated logical operations. Synthesis, like analysis, can be both practical and mental. Analysis and synthesis were formed in the practical activities of man. IN labor activity people constantly interact with objects and phenomena. Their practical mastery led to the formation of mental operations of analysis and synthesis.

Comparison

Comparison is the establishment of similarities and differences between objects and phenomena. The comparison is based on analysis. Before comparing objects, it is necessary to identify one or more of their characteristics by which the comparison will be made. The comparison can be one-sided, or incomplete, and multi-sided, or more complete. Comparison, like analysis and synthesis, can be different levels– superficial and deeper. In this case, a person’s thought comes from external signs similarities and differences to internal ones, from visible to hidden, from appearance to essence.

Abstraction

Abstraction is the process of mental abstraction from certain features, aspects of a particular thing in order to better understand it. A person mentally identifies some feature of an object and examines it in isolation from all other features, temporarily distracting from them. Isolated study of individual features of an object while simultaneously abstracting from all others helps a person to better understand the essence of things and phenomena. Thanks to abstraction, man was able to break away from the individual, concrete and rise to the highest level of knowledge - scientific theoretical thinking.

Specification

Concretization is a process that is the opposite of abstraction and is inextricably linked with it. Concretization is the return of thought from the general and abstract to the concrete in order to reveal the content. Mental activity is always aimed at obtaining some result. A person analyzes objects, compares them, abstracts individual properties in order to identify what they have in common, to reveal the patterns that govern their development, in order to master them. Generalization, therefore, is the identification of the general in objects and phenomena, which is expressed in the form of a concept, law, rule, formula, etc.

Stages of thinking development

The ability to think, as a reflection of the connections and relationships existing between things, manifests itself in a person in a rudimentary form already in the first months of life. Further development and improvement of this ability occurs in connection with: a) the child’s life experience, b) his practical activities, c) mastery of speech, d) educational influence schooling. This process of thinking development is characterized by the following features:

In the early childhood The child’s thinking is visual and effective in nature; it is associated with the direct perception of objects and manipulation with them. The connections between things reflected in this process are initially of a generalized nature, only being replaced later by more precise differentiation under the influence of life experience. Thus, already in the first year of life, a child, having burned himself on a shiny teapot, withdraws his hand from other shiny objects. This action is based on the formation of a conditioned reflex connection between the skin sensation of a burn and the visual sensation of the shiny surface of the object on which the child was burned. However, later, when touching shiny objects in some cases was not accompanied by a feeling of a burn, the child begins to associate this sensation more accurately with the temperature characteristics of the objects.
At this stage, the child is not yet capable of abstract thinking: he develops concepts (still very elementary) about things and the connections that exist between them only in the process of directly operating with things, actually connecting and separating things and their elements. A child of this age thinks only about what is the subject of activity; his thinking about these things ceases along with the cessation of activity. Neither the past, nor even the future are yet the content of his thinking; he is not yet able to plan his activities, foresee its results and purposefully strive for them.
A child’s mastery of speech by the end of the second year of life significantly expands his ability to generalize things and their properties. This is facilitated by the naming various items with the same word (the word “table” equally denotes dining, kitchen, and writing tables, thus helping the child form a general concept of a table), as well as the designation of one object with different words with a broader and narrower meaning.
The concepts of things formed by the child are still very strongly connected with their specific images: gradually these images, thanks to the participation of speech, become more and more generalized. The concepts with which the child operates at this stage of thinking development are initially simply of an objective nature: an undifferentiated image of the object he is thinking about appears in the child’s mind. Subsequently, this image becomes more differentiated in its content. Accordingly, the child’s speech develops: first, only nouns are noted in his dictionary, then adjectives and, finally, verbs appear.
A significant restructuring of the thinking process occurs in children in preschool age. Communication with adults, from whom children receive verbal descriptions and explanations of phenomena, expands and deepens children's knowledge about the world around them. In this regard, the child’s thinking gets the opportunity to focus on phenomena that are only thought and are no longer the object of his thoughts. direct activities. The content of concepts begins to be enriched due to conceivable connections and relationships, although reliance on concrete, visual material remains for a long time, right up to primary school age. The child begins to be interested in the causal connections and relationships of things. In this regard, he begins to compare and contrast phenomena, more accurately highlight their essential features, and operate with the simplest abstract concepts (material, weight, number, etc.). With all this, the thinking of preschool children is imperfect, replete with numerous errors and inaccuracies, which is due to the lack of necessary knowledge and lack of life experience.
At primary school age, children begin to develop the ability for purposeful mental activity. This is facilitated by a program and teaching methods aimed at communicating to children a certain system of knowledge, mastering certain thinking techniques through exercise under the guidance of a teacher (during explanatory reading, when solving problems based on certain rules, etc.), enrichment and development in the learning process correct speech. The child increasingly begins to use abstract concepts in the process of thinking, but in general his thinking continues to be based on concrete perceptions and ideas.
The ability for abstract logical thinking develops and improves in middle school and, especially, in high school age. This is facilitated by mastering the fundamentals of science. In this regard, the thinking of high school students proceeds already on the basis scientific concepts, which reflect the most significant features and relationships between phenomena. Students are accustomed to a precise logical definition of concepts; their thinking in the learning process acquires a planned, conscious character. This is expressed in purposeful thinking, in the ability to build evidence of the propositions put forward or analyzed, analyze them, find and correct errors made in reasoning. Great value at the same time, speech acquires - the student’s ability to accurately and clearly express his thoughts in words.

Thinking Strategies

When solving any problem, we use one of three thinking strategies.

Random search. This strategy follows trial and error. That is, an assumption is formulated (or a choice is made), after which its validity is assessed. So assumptions are made until the right solution is found.
Rational overkill. With this strategy, a person explores a certain central, least risky assumption, and then, changing one element each time, cuts off the wrong directions of the search. By the way, artificial intelligence operates on this principle.
Systematic search. With this thinking strategy, a person embraces with his mind the entire set of possible hypotheses and systematically analyzes them one by one. Systematic search is used in everyday life rarely, but it is this strategy that allows you to most fully develop plans for long-term or complex actions.

Psychologist Carol Dweck has spent her career studying performance and mindset, and her latest research shows that your predisposition to success depends more on your attitude than on your IQ. Dweck discovered that there are two types of mindsets: a fixed mindset and a growth mindset.

If you have a fixed mindset, then you believe that you are the way you are and cannot change it. This creates problems when life challenges you: if you feel like you have to do more than you can handle, you feel hopeless. People with a growth mindset believe that they can become better if they put in the effort. They outperform people with a fixed mindset, even if they have lower intelligence. People with a growth mindset approach challenges as opportunities to learn something new.

No matter what type of mindset you currently have, you can develop a growth mindset.

Don't remain helpless. Each of us finds ourselves in situations where we feel helpless. The question is how we respond to this feeling. We can either learn a lesson and move on, or we can despair. Many successful people would not have become so if they had succumbed to feelings of helplessness.

Walt Disney was fired from the Kansas City Star because he "lacked imagination and had no good ideas," Oprah Winfrey was fired from her job as a TV anchor in Baltimore because she was "too emotionally involved" into their stories,” Henry Ford had two failed car companies before starting Ford, and Steven Spielberg was expelled from the University of Southern California School of Cinematic Arts several times.

Give in to passion. Inspired people relentlessly pursue their passions. There may always be someone more talented than you, but what you lack in talent you can make up for with passion. Passion keeps the desire for excellence in inspired people undiminished.

Warren Buffett recommends finding your passion using the 5/25 technique. Make a list of 25 things that are important to you. Then cross off 20 starting from the bottom. The remaining 5 are your true passions. Everything else is just entertainment.

Take action. The difference between people with a growth mindset is not that they are braver than others and are able to overcome their fears, but that they understand that fear and anxiety are paralyzing, and best way cope with paralysis - do something. People with a growth mindset have an inner core and realize that they don't have to wait for the perfect moment to move forward. By taking action, we transform worry and worry into positive, directed energy.
Walk an extra kilometer or two. Strong people do their best even on their worst days. They always push themselves to go a little further.
Expect results. People with a growth mindset understand that they will fail from time to time, but that doesn't stop them from expecting results. Expecting results keeps you motivated and pushes you to improve.
Be flexible. Everyone faces unexpected difficulties. Inspired people with a growth mindset see this as an opportunity to become better, not a reason to give up on a goal. When life challenges you strong people will look for options until they get the result.

Research shows that chewing gum helps improve thinking skills. Chewing gum increases blood flow to the brain. Such people have better ability to concentrate and remember information. It is good to use chewing gums that do not contain sugar to avoid any side effects.
When you study, try to activate all your senses. Different parts of the brain remember different sensory data. For example, one part of the brain is responsible for recognizing and remembering pictures, and another is responsible for sounds.
As mentioned, puzzles can actually be very useful. They force you to think deeply about something. They stimulate the brain and also awaken a person’s ability to comprehend. Try buying a puzzle magazine to get more exercise.
After healthy sleep it will be easier for you to think.
Mediation helps improve thinking. Every day, devote 5 minutes to such activities in the morning and the same amount of time before bed.

Everyone doubts their memory and no one doubts their ability to judge.

La Rochefoucauld

Concept of thinking

Thinking is a cognitive process characterized by a generalized and indirect reflection of reality.

We resort to thinking when we cannot obtain information relying only on the work of the senses. In such cases, you have to obtain new knowledge through thinking, building a system of inferences. So, by looking at a thermometer hung on the outside of the window, we find out what the air temperature is outside. You don't have to go outside to gain this knowledge. Seeing the treetops swaying strongly, we conclude that there is wind outside.

In addition to the two usually recorded signs of thinking (generalization and indirectness), it is important to point out two more of its features - the connection of thinking with action and speech.

Thinking is closely related to action. A person cognizes reality by influencing it, understands the world by changing it. Thinking is not simply accompanied by action, or action by thinking; action is the primary form of existence of thinking. The primary type of thinking is thinking in action or by action. All mental operations (analysis, synthesis, etc.) arose first as practical operations, then became operations of theoretical thinking. Thinking originated in work activity as a practical operation and only then emerged as an independent theoretical activity.

When characterizing thinking, it is important to point out the connection between thinking and speech. We think in words. The highest form of thinking is verbal-logical thinking, through which a person becomes able to reflect complex connections, relationships, form concepts, draw conclusions and solve complex abstract problems.

Human thinking is impossible without language. Adults and children solve problems much better if they formulate them out loud. And vice versa, when in the experiment the subject’s tongue was fixed (clamped between his teeth), the quality and quantity of solved problems deteriorated.

It is interesting that any proposal to solve a complex problem causes distinct electrical discharges in the subject’s speech muscles, which do not appear in the form of external speech, but always precede it. It is characteristic that the described electrical discharges, which are symptoms of inner speech, arise during any intellectual activity (even that which was previously considered non-speech) and disappear when intellectual activity acquires a habitual, automated character.

Types of thinking

Genetic psychology distinguishes three types of thinking: visual-effective, visual-figurative and verbal-logical.

The peculiarities of visual-effective thinking are manifested in the fact that problems are solved with the help of a real, physical transformation of the situation and manipulation of objects. This form of thinking is most typical for children under 3 years of age. A child of this age compares objects, placing one on top of another or placing one next to another; he analyzes by breaking his toy into pieces; he synthesizes, putting together a “house” from cubes or sticks; he classifies and generalizes by arranging cubes by color. The child does not yet set goals and does not plan his actions. The child thinks by acting. The movement of the hand at this stage is ahead of thinking. That’s why this type of thinking is also called manual thinking. One should not think that visual-effective thinking does not occur in adults. It is often used in everyday life (for example, when rearranging furniture in a room or when it is necessary to use unfamiliar equipment) and turns out to be necessary when it is impossible to fully foresee the results of some actions in advance.

Visual-figurative thinking is associated with operating with images. It allows you to analyze, compare and generalize various images, ideas about phenomena and objects. Visual-figurative thinking most fully recreates all the diversity various characteristics subject. The image can simultaneously capture the vision of an object from several points of view. In this capacity, visual-figurative thinking is practically inseparable from imagination.

IN simplest form Visual-figurative thinking manifests itself in preschoolers aged 4-7 years. Here practical actions seem to fade into the background, and when learning an object, the child does not necessarily have to touch it with his hands, but he needs to clearly perceive and visually imagine this object. It is clarity that is a characteristic feature of a child’s thinking at this age. It is expressed in the fact that the generalizations that the child comes to are closely related to individual cases, which are their source and support. The child comprehends only the visually perceived signs of things. All evidence is visual and concrete. Visualization seems to outstrip thinking, and when a child is asked why a boat floats, he can answer: because it is red or because it is Bovin’s boat.

Adults also use visual imaginative thinking. So, when starting to renovate an apartment, we can imagine in advance what will come of it. Images of wallpaper, color of the ceiling, coloring of windows and doors become means of solving the problem. Visual-figurative thinking allows you to come up with an image of things that are invisible in themselves. This is how images of the atomic nucleus were created, internal structure globe, etc. In these cases, the images are conditional.

Verbal-logical, or abstract, thinking represents the latest stage in the development of thinking. For verbal logical thinking characterized by the use of concepts and logical constructions, which sometimes do not have a direct figurative expression (for example, value, honesty, pride, etc.). Thanks to verbal and logical thinking, a person can establish the most general patterns, foresee the development of processes in nature and society, and generalize various visual materials.

In the process of thinking, several operations can be distinguished - comparison, analysis, synthesis, abstraction and generalization. Comparison - thinking compares things, phenomena and their properties, identifying similarities and differences, which leads to classification. Analysis is the mental dissection of an object, phenomenon or situation to isolate its constituent elements. In this way, we separate out the irrelevant connections given in perception. Synthesis is the reverse process of analysis, which restores the whole by finding significant connections and relationships. Analysis and synthesis in thinking are interconnected. Analysis without synthesis leads to a mechanical reduction of the whole to the sum of its parts; synthesis without analysis is also impossible, since it must restore the whole from the parts isolated by analysis. Some people have a tendency towards analysis in their way of thinking, others towards synthesis. Abstraction is the selection of one side, property and abstraction from the rest. Beginning with the identification of individual sensory properties, abstraction then moves on to the identification of non-sensory properties expressed in abstract concepts. Generalization (or generalization) is the discarding of individual characteristics while maintaining common ones, revealing essential connections. Generalization can be accomplished through comparison, in which common qualities are highlighted. Abstraction and generalization are two interconnected sides of a single thought process, with the help of which thought goes to knowledge.

The process of verbal-logical thinking proceeds according to a certain algorithm. Initially, a person considers one judgment, adds another to it, and makes a logical conclusion based on them.

1st proposition: all metals conduct electricity. 2nd judgment: iron is a metal.

Conclusion: iron conducts electricity.

The thinking process does not always follow logical laws. Freud identified a type of illogical thought process that he called predicative thinking. If two sentences have the same predicates or endings, then people unconsciously associate their subjects with each other. Advertisements are often designed specifically for predictive thinking. Their authors might, for example, claim that “great people wash their hair with Head and Shoulders shampoo,” hoping that you will argue illogically, something like this:

■ Prominent people wash your hair with Head and Shoulders shampoo.

■ I wash my hair with Head and Shoulders shampoo.

■ Therefore, I am an outstanding person.

Predicative thinking is pseudological thinking, in which various subjects are unconsciously associated with each other based on the presence of one common predicate.

Educators began to express serious concern about the poor development of logical thinking in modern teenagers. A person who does not know how to think according to the laws of logic and critically comprehend information can be easily fooled by propaganda or fraudulent advertising.

Tips for Developing Critical Thinking

■ It is necessary to distinguish those judgments that are based on logic from those that are based on emotions and feelings.

■ Learn to see positive and negative sides in any information, consider all the “pros” and “cons”.

■ There is nothing wrong if you doubt something that does not seem entirely convincing to you.

■ Learn to notice inconsistencies in what you see and hear.

■ Hold off on drawing conclusions and decisions if you do not have sufficient information.

If you apply these tips, you will have a much better chance of not being scammed.

It should be noted that all types of thinking are closely interconnected. When starting any practical action, we already have in our minds the image that remains to be achieved. Selected species thoughts constantly transform into each other. Thus, it is almost impossible to separate visual-figurative and verbal-logical thinking when you have to work with diagrams and graphs. Therefore, when trying to determine the type of thinking, one should remember that this process is always relative and conditional. Usually all types of thinking are involved in a person, and we should talk about the relative predominance of one or another type.

Another important feature according to which the typology of thinking is built is the degree and nature of the novelty of information that is comprehended by a person. There are reproductive, productive and creative thinking.

Reproductive thinking is realized within the framework of reproducing in memory and applying certain logical rules, without establishing any unusual, new associations, comparisons, analysis, etc. Moreover, this can happen both consciously and on an intuitive, subconscious level. A typical example of reproductive thinking is solving standard problems using a predetermined algorithm.

Productive and creative thinking are united by such features as going beyond the limits of existing facts, highlighting hidden properties in given objects, identifying unusual connections, transferring principles, methods of solving a problem from one area to another, flexible change of methods for solving problems, etc. If such actions give rise to new knowledge or information for the student, but are not new to society, then we are dealing with productive thinking. If, as a result of mental activity, something new appears that no one has thought of before, then this is creative thinking.

Coming from the outside world. Thinking is carried out in the course of the flow of thoughts, images, and various sensations. A person, receiving any information, is able to imagine both the external and internal sides specific subject, predict its change over time, imagine this object in its absence. What is a thinking type? Are there any techniques for determining types of thinking? How to use them? In this article we will look at the main types of thinking, their classification and features.

General characteristics of thinking

Studying information about the types and types of thinking, we can come to the conclusion that there is no single characteristic to define them. The opinions of scientists and psychologists are similar in some ways and different in others. The classification of the main types of thinking is a rather arbitrary thing, since the most characteristic types and types of human thinking are supplemented by their derivative, individual forms. But before moving on to considering the various types, I would like to find out how the process of mental activity itself proceeds. Thinking can be divided into certain mental operations that result in the formation of a concept.

First of all, through analysis, a person mentally breaks the whole into its component parts. This occurs as a result of the desire for a deeper knowledge of the whole by studying each of its parts.
As a result of synthesis, a person mentally connects individual parts into a single whole, or groups individual signs, properties of an object or phenomenon.
In the process of comparison, many types and types of thinking are able to identify the common and different in objects or phenomena.
The next operation of the thinking process is abstraction. This is a simultaneous mental distraction from non-existent properties while highlighting the essential features of an object.
The generalization operation is responsible for systematizing the properties of an object or phenomenon, bringing together general concepts.
Concretization is a transition from general concepts to a single, specific case.

All these operations can be combined to various variations, resulting in the formation of a concept - the basic unit of thinking.

Practical (visual-effective) thinking

Psychologists divide human thinking types into three groups. Let's consider the first type - visual-effective thinking, as a result of which a person is able to cope with a task as a result of a mental transformation of the situation based on previously gained experience. From the name itself it comes that initially there is a process of observation, a trial and error method, then, based on this, theoretical activity is formed. This type of thinking is well explained following example. A person first learned in practice to measure his plot of land using improvised means. And only then, based on the knowledge gained, geometry was gradually formed as a separate discipline. Here practice and theory are inextricably linked.

Figurative (visual-figurative) thinking

Along with conceptual thinking, figurative or visual-figurative thinking appears. It can be called thinking by representation. Figurative type thinking is most clearly observed in preschoolers. To solve a certain problem, a person no longer uses concepts or conclusions, but images that are stored in memory or recreated by imagination. This type of thinking can also be observed in people who, by the nature of their activities, are called upon to make decisions, taking as a basis only observation of an object or visual images of objects (plan, drawing, diagram). The visual-figurative type of thinking provides the possibility of mental representation, selection various combinations objects and their properties.

Abstract logical thinking

This type of thinking does not operate on individual details, but concentrates on thinking as a whole. Developing this type of thinking since early age, in the future you won’t have to worry about problems solving important problems. Abstract-logical thinking has three forms, let's consider them:

A concept is a combination of one or more homogeneous objects using essential features. This form of thinking begins to be developed in young children, introducing them to the meaning of objects and giving them definitions.
Judgment can be simple or complex. This is a statement or denial of any phenomenon or relationship of objects. A simple proposition has the form short phrase, and a complex one can be in the form of a declarative sentence. “The dog barks”, “Mom loves Masha”, “The water is wet” - this is how we teach kids to reason while introducing them to the outside world.
An inference is a logical conclusion that follows from several judgments. Initial judgments are defined as premises, and final judgments are defined as conclusions.

Everyone is capable of independently developing a logical type of thinking; for this there are a lot of puzzles, rebuses, crosswords, and logical tasks. Properly developed abstract-logical thinking in the future makes it possible to solve many problems that do not allow for close contact with the subject being studied.

Types of economic thinking

Economics is that branch of human life that everyone faces. Every day learning something from everyday practice, a person forms his own guidelines that relate to economic activity. This is how economic thinking is gradually formed.

The ordinary type of thinking is subjective in nature. Individual economic knowledge is not so in-depth and is not able to prevent mistakes and errors. Ordinary economic thinking is based on one-sided and fragmentary knowledge in this industry. As a result, it is possible to perceive part of an event as a single whole or a random phenomenon - as constant and unchanging.

Opposite the ordinary is scientific economic thinking. A person who owns it knows the methods of rational and scientifically based economic activity. The reasoning of such a person does not depend on anyone’s opinion; she is able to determine the objective truth of the situation. Scientific economic thinking covers the entire surface of events, reflecting the economy in its comprehensive integrity.

Philosophical thinking

The subject of philosophy is spiritual experience human, both psychological and social, and aesthetic, moral and religious. Both the worldview itself and the types of philosophical thinking have their origin in productive doubt about the correctness of everyday opinions. Let's consider the main features of this type of thinking:

Conceptual validity is the sequence of solving worldview issues in accordance with the established order.
Consistency and systematicity implies the construction by a philosopher theoretical system which provides answers to many worldview questions.
The universality of theories lies in the following: a philosopher rarely gives answers to questions that concern a particular person; his theories only indicate the right way to find these answers.
Openness to criticism. Philosophical judgments are amenable to constructive criticism and are open to revision of basic provisions.

Rational type of thinking

What type of perception and processing of information operates with competence and knowledge, ability and skill and does not take into account such operations as feeling and premonition, impulse and desire, impression and experience? That's right, rational thinking. This is a cognitive process that is based on a reasonable and logical perception of an object or situation. A person does not always have to think about anything during his life; sometimes he makes do with feelings and habits that have become automatic. But when he “turns on his head,” he tries to think rationally. You can attract such a person only with facts based on reality, and only after realizing the importance of the final result will he begin to act.

Irrational thinking

Irrational thinking does not obey logic and control over its actions. Irrationalists are active individuals. They take on many things, but there is illogicality in their actions. Their thoughts and judgments are not based on real facts, but on the expected result. Irrational thinking can be based on distorted conclusions, on understatement or exaggeration of the significance of any events, personalization or overgeneralization of the result, when a person, having failed once, draws a corresponding conclusion for the rest of his life.

Synthesizing type of thinking

Using this type of thinking, a person creates a holistic picture based on various fragments and pieces of information. Human encyclopedists, librarians, office workers, scientists, enthusiastic programmers - all of them are representatives of synthesizing thinking. It is impossible to expect them to be interested in extreme sports and travel; their usual field of activity is a constant work routine.

Human analysts

Observers, people who are able to get to the root cause of an event, those who like to think about life path, having only a few facts in their arsenal, detectives and investigators are typical representatives analytical type of thinking.

It's a kind of scientific type of thinking, strong point which is logic. This type of information perception can be compared to the rational one, but it is more long-term. If a rationalist, solving one problem, quickly moves on to solving the next, then the analyst will spend a long time digging, assessing the development of events, and thinking about what could have been the root cause.

Idealistic type of thinking

The most common types of human thinking include idealistic thinking. It is typical for people with somewhat inflated demands on others. They subconsciously try to find previously created ideal images in those around them, they tend to harbor illusions, which entails disappointment.

Idealists can operate with social and subjective factors as accurately as possible in their decisions; they try to avoid conflict situations, considering them an unnecessary waste of time. In their opinion, all people can agree among themselves. To do this, it is important for them to correctly determine the final goal. Their standards may seem too high, but the quality of their work is truly high and their behavior is exemplary.

People "Why?" and people "Why?"

Another characteristic of thinking types was proposed by Stephen Covey. He came up with the idea that different types thinking can be divided into only two types. Later, his theory was supported by Jack Canfield, who deals with human motivation. So what is this theory? Let's figure it out.

People of the first type live in thoughts about their own future. All people’s actions are aimed not at realizing their desires, but at thinking about tomorrow. At the same time, they don’t think about whether “tomorrow” will come at all. The result of this is a lot of missed opportunities, an inability to make fundamental changes, and dreams of a bright future often never come true.

Why people live in the past. Past experience, past victories and achievements. However, they often do not notice what is happening on the at the moment, they may not think about the future at all. They look for the causes of many problems in the past, and not in themselves.

Methodology “Type of Thinking”

Today, psychologists have developed many methods with which you can determine your own type of thinking. The respondent is asked to answer questions, after which his answers are processed, and the dominant type of perception and processing of information is determined.

Determining the type of thinking can help in choosing a profession, tell a lot about a person (his inclinations, lifestyle, success in mastering a new type of activity, interests and much more). After reading the test question, you should answer affirmatively if you agree with the judgment, and negatively if you do not.

The “Type of Thinking” technique showed that there are rarely people whose thinking type is defined in its pure form; most often they are combined.

It is worth noting that there are many different exercises that allow you to train and develop certain types of thinking. Thus, types of creative thinking can be developed with the help of drawing, logical thinking, as mentioned earlier, with the help of crosswords and puzzles.

Different types of thinking help us solve hundreds of emerging problems every day. To do this, we use all kinds of tools from the arsenal of our brain. Systematization, generalization, analysis, synthesis and much more give us the opportunity to develop and more fully perceive the picture of the world around us. However, they are only special cases of large-scale processes occurring inside consciousness.

Basic structures are the main types of thinking:

concretely effective (practical);
concrete-figurative;
abstract.

A concretely effective type of human thinking. This type is based on direct perception of objects through the senses and provision of an adequate motor response. It is one of the first to manifest itself in humans, so the most striking example is the ability of young children to use various objects, catching analogies for their intended purpose. Used by a person to solve technical problems, its characteristics include attention to particulars and the ability to use them according to the situation, observation, the ability to operate with spatial images, as well as a quick switch from mental activity to practice. Predominant among people of technical professions (engineers, doctors, designers, etc.)

The concrete-figurative type of human thinking is characterized by the perception of information through the construction of images, that is, by combining disparate images a person is able to create something completely new.

This mindset is also called artistic. People with pronounced imaginative thinking find themselves in the professions of an artist, writer, fashion designer, etc.

The abstract type of human thinking (verbal-logical) is based on concepts and is aimed at finding various patterns in the structure of everything, be it nature as a whole or specific relationships in human society.

Presentation on the topic: "Thinking and its types"

Mainly uses broad conceptual categories; images, although present here, play only a supporting role. If this type of thinking prevails, then, most likely, a person will choose the profession of a philosopher, psychologist, or theorist in some scientific fields.

These were the main types of thinking, but there are also other types of human mental activity.

Minor types of thought processes

Based on the above, a classification of secondary types of thinking and their characteristics was formed.

Based on the type of problems being solved, practical and theoretical types of thinking are distinguished:

Practical is preparation for the physical stage of activity. An example would be building a diagram, drawing up a plan, etc.
Theoretical is the knowledge of rules and laws, which reflects the essence of phenomena, objects and their interactions.

Theory and practice interact with each other, since the people who make up the theory do not care at all how it will look in practice. While practitioners are trying to make this theory work.

The nature of subtypes of thought processes

Based on structure and time extension, types of thinking are distinguished as analytical and intuitive.

Analytical is a person’s mental activity, unfolded over time, in which individual stages of thought are clearly expressed. His technique promotes full awareness of the content of your thoughts as a whole, and also conveys the essence of each stage separately.
Intuitive is the opposite of the analytical type. It is characterized by folding in time and the absence of clearly defined stages.

The nature and types of thinking, characterized by different directions:

The realistic type, in which a person’s thinking is aimed at the surrounding reality. All thoughts at a given moment in time are aimed at solving problems only indirectly related to his personality.
Autistic - this type of thinking implies that all actions performed are aimed at satisfying one’s own needs and solving problems of a purely personal nature.
Egocentric – the inability to put oneself in someone else’s place prevails. In this case, all thoughts are aimed only at obtaining one’s own benefit.
Based on the novelty of the resulting knowledge products, Z. I. Kalmykova’s research methodology distinguishes reproductive and productive (creative) mental activity:
- Reproductive is a type of reproduction of information previously acquired by an individual. Considering this feature, they speak of a close relationship between this type of mental activity and memory.
- A productive type of thinking involves the assimilation of new information and its subsequent use.

Particular types of mental activity

The nature and types of thinking that arises on the border of basic types and has independent expression:

Empirical – makes it possible to build primary generalizations based on previously gained experience. These processes are lowest level knowledge and they are based on the simplest abstractions.
The algorithmic type of thinking is oriented towards previously established rules; it reproduces the sequence of actions that is always used in the process of solving such problems.
Discursive - based on reasoning reproduced in a system of mental conclusions logically interconnected.
Non-standard or heuristic is a subtype whose goal is to obtain solutions for non-standard tasks.

Each person uses all types and types of thinking throughout his life, but under the influence of external factors they develop in different ways. Solving any problem requires using various types, both individually and in combination with each other.

But only by taking into account all types and forms of thinking can we build the most clear and complete model of human consciousness.

The methodology for studying thought processes includes a huge number of stages and helps to derive the most rational and systematized decisions.