Types of thinking in psychology: what they are, their description

Properties of thinking

The properties of human thinking allow us to perceive the world around us as we see it. Some of the properties include:

Direction is the main characteristic of thinking. Its presence is intended to tell about a certain final goal; the thought provides an answer to the questions raised (and the latter are not always important and can be arbitrary).
Thinking is also divided into: positive or negative . After all, a person perceives absolutely everything that happens in his life through the prism of personal thoughts and internal attitudes. Someone focuses only on the bad (manifestation of negative thinking). And someone else, on the contrary, even in the negative looks for something positive (an indicator of positive thinking). Psychology experts are unequivocal in their opinion that the last category of citizens (optimists) feels much better.
Mental activity is directed either to the past or to the future . In the first situation, the individual likes to analyze why events happened the way they did, rewinds his own actions in his head, criticizes himself for mistakes, and so on. In the case of future-oriented thinking, the individual will think about possible solutions to upcoming problems.
Mental activity necessarily creates concepts . It characterizes various situations, phenomena, objects, arranges them, compares them with each other, tries to detect differences, and the like.
Thinking cannot be called objective , since it is always characterized by subjectivity. This happens by adding personal emotions, thoughts and feelings. The listed properties force creative people to express themselves by creating something that conveys their ideas and images.
Thinking has logic . Moreover, it is not correct in all cases, but its presence is mandatory.
There are developed and undeveloped thinking . The second option, however, is typical exclusively for children, as well as narrow-minded individuals who do not seek to analyze what is happening. Such people are interested only in natural instincts and simple needs. In the majority of cases, adults have developed thinking, which is improved throughout their lives.

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Thanks to the properties of thinking, psychologists look at thought processes from different points of view. This, in turn, makes it possible to study more deeply the phenomena that constantly occur to us.

Thinking - how it works and how it is classified

Every person is capable of thinking; thinking is the highest degree of human knowledge, reflecting phenomena and objects, allowing us to gain knowledge about them. When we grow, we learn about the world around us, and here thinking helps to establish a general connection between phenomena - this helps to solve specific cognitive problems. To do this, we must be able to generalize, having the appropriate knowledge. Thinking helps a person to correctly navigate the world around him, understand the relationships, and behave correctly in specific situations.

The thinking process is always active with the interaction of representations (concepts) that are its elements. Operating with them in this way, a person moves from one thought to another - this is how the thought process proceeds. Each concept has content and scope. With the help of classification, we assign a particular concept to a certain class, with the help of understanding, we use the information that we already have, prediction helps to predict the result based on it, and reasoning will allow us to solve problems and tasks. Through communication, a person will convey his impressions. We learn concepts throughout our lives—this is what cognitive development is all about.

In order for a person to form a concept, he must rely on those concepts that are already familiar to him. All concepts are systematized and stored in our memory as if in a large warehouse. Mental models help to use them correctly - judgments about the operation of objects or abstract concepts. Also, language codes are used to form concepts - without it, it is impossible for people to communicate with each other.

If we talk about more complex types of thinking, then other constructions will be required here - logic is involved. This is how the process of logical inference is called deduction; it involves the transition from data premises to conclusions by using logical connections. An example of a connection is a syllogism - in it a person expresses an opinion about something or an attitude towards something, identifies connections between objects and facts.

Developing independently on the one hand and gaining the experience of generations on the other, a person lays the foundations of productive thinking. To master logical connections, personal experience alone will not be enough. A person who knows how to think is able to reason and find solutions to logical problems without any practical activity. Due to logical connections, thinking becomes objective, evidential and convincing. In this case, there is a direct connection with sensory knowledge.

Along with deduction, induction should also be mentioned - if in the first case it is based on logical connections, then in the second it is observation and organization of the process of productive creative thinking. This is also called heuristic activity and is used when finding solutions to complex life problems. There are two types of decision making - compensatory and non-compensatory model. The difference between them will be that in compensatory models attractive options are selected, while in non-compensatory models they are excluded.

A person is not always able to clearly follow logical judgments. The fact is that this task requires a large amount of RAM. If this is not enough, then failures occur. In addition, the thinking process is complex in itself and will never be the same for two different people, just as the decisions they make will not be the same.

Types of human thinking

Now let's move on to characterizing the types of human thinking. What is it like?

Visually effective

For this type of mental activity, it is typical that the individual solves various life problems, performing a real, physical change in what is happening, testing various properties of objects.

In childhood, visual and effective mental activity is responsible for the emergence of thinking and its improvement. In mature individuals, this type is often supplemented by visual-figurative and verbal-logical mental activity.

Visual-figurative

It involves visualizing what is happening and making changes to it. Visual-figurative activity allows you to fully create a variety of actual properties of objects. At the same time, the image captures a diverse vision of the picture at the same time.

The main distinguishing feature of such thinking is that unusual, “incredible” combinations of objects and their features are established. Due to which it is almost indistinguishable from imagination.

Verbal-logical

It is accompanied by various terms with logical constructions. Verbal-logical mental activity exists on the basis of linguistic means and is the most recent stage of the historical and ontogenetic improvement of thinking. According to the structure, this type of mental activity creates and ensures the functioning of various types of generalizations.

Theoretical

It is understood that the initial contradiction of the incident that is being analyzed or the problem being analyzed is identified and analyzed. By searching for means to eliminate contradictions, a method of action is created. The latter, for its part, contributes to the solution of entire classes of tasks.

The presence of theoretical thinking implies an analysis of the internal features of the phenomena that are being studied. It allows for a mental change in the object being studied, which even more accurately reveals its deep characteristics and relationships.

At the same time, there is a difference between theoretical and empirical thinking. The second is based on the generalization of sensory, visually perceived characteristics and relationships. People who have theoretical thinking, as a rule, become scientists.

Practical

It is another type of thinking and is an analogue of theoretical thinking. In this case, specific goals are set, plans and projects are made. Often, activities are carried out against the background of time pressure, which makes practical mental activity more difficult than theoretical ones.

Creative

People who think creatively are able to create a completely new product or make serious innovations in the cognitive activity itself. Associated with motivation, goals, assessments, meanings.

Creative activity is not the same as the processes of using ready-made knowledge and skills (reproductive thinking).

Prelogical

It is an early stage of the development of thinking, at which its main logical laws are not yet fully formed. In this case, cause-and-effect relationships have already been created, but their essence is offered in a mystified form.

Everything that happens is analyzed according to the presence of cause and effect. This type of mental activity explains the involvement of events that are united in time and space. Representatives of this thinking can explain almost everything that happens in the reality around them.

A characteristic feature of prelogical thinking is a close connection with the natural world, most of all with animals. With such thinking, the individual perceives natural and social situations in the form of processes that are accompanied and counteracted by various invisible forces.

Prelogical mental activity gives rise to magic - that is, the desire to influence the surrounding reality, guided by the connection between all phenomena (this especially happened in the primitive society).

Types of thinking.

The following types of thinking are distinguished:

— Visual and effective - here the solution to the problem is carried out using a real transformation of the situation based on a motor act. Those. the task is given clearly in a concrete form and the method of solution is practical action. This type of thinking is typical for a preschool child. This type of thinking also exists in higher animals.

Visual-figurative - a person recreates the situation necessary to solve a problem in figurative form. Begins to develop in older preschool age. In this case, in order to think, the child does not have to manipulate the object, but must clearly perceive or visualize this object.

- Verbal-logical (theoretical, reasoning, abstract) - thinking appears primarily in the form of abstract concepts and reasoning. Begins to develop at school age. Mastery of concepts occurs in the process of mastering various sciences. At the end of schooling, a system of concepts is formed. Moreover, we use concepts that sometimes do not have a direct figurative expression (honesty, pride). The development of verbal-logical thinking does not mean that the previous two types do not develop or disappear altogether. On the contrary, children and adults continue to develop all types of thinking. For example, an engineer or designer achieves greater perfection in visual and effective thinking (or when mastering new technology). In addition, all types of thinking are closely interrelated.

From the point of view of the originality of the problems being solved, thinking can be: creative (productive) and reproducing (reproductive). Creative is aimed at creating new ideas, reproductive is the application of ready-made knowledge and skills.

Forms of thinking - concepts, judgments, conclusions.

A concept is a thought that reflects the general, essential and distinctive features of objects and phenomena of reality (for example, the concept of “man”). A distinction is made between everyday concepts (acquired through practical experience) and scientific concepts (acquired through the learning process). Concepts arise and develop in the process of development of science and technology. In them, people record the results of experience and knowledge.

The content of concepts is revealed in judgments.

Judgment is a reflection of the connections between objects and phenomena of reality or between their properties and characteristics.

Inference is a connection between thoughts (concepts, judgments), as a result of which from one or more judgments we obtain another judgment, extracting it from the content of the original judgments.

Logical mental operations

Logical mental operations consist of:

comparisons,
abstractions,
generalizations
specification,
analysis,
synthesis.

Through comparison we can understand the reason for our failure and subsequently pay due attention to the problem and the conditions under which it was created.

The process of abstraction allows one to divert the attention of one object from other closely related objects. Abstraction makes it possible to see an object, determine its essence and give your own definition of this object. Abstraction refers to human mental activity. It allows us to comprehend the phenomenon, touching on its most significant characteristic features. By abstracting from problems, a person learns the truth.

Generalization allows you to combine similar objects and phenomena based on common characteristics. Typically, generalization is used to summarize or draw up rules.

The thought process of concretization is completely opposite to generalization. It serves for correct awareness of reality, not allowing thinking to break away from the real perception of phenomena. Concretization does not allow our knowledge to acquire abstract images, which in reality become useless.

Our brain uses analysis to separate in detail an object or phenomenon that is necessary for us. By analyzing a phenomenon or object, we can identify its most necessary elements, which will further help us improve our skills and knowledge.

We recommend that you read: What distinguishes a congruent person and how to become one?

Synthesis, on the contrary, allows you to create an overall picture of what is happening from small details. With its help, you can compare current events by going through several individual facts. An example of synthesis is puzzles. When assembling a mosaic, we imagine one or another part of it, putting aside what is unnecessary and adding what is necessary.

Applying logic

Logical thinking is used in almost every area of human activity (humanities, economics, rhetoric, creative activity, etc.). For example, in mathematical sciences or philosophy they use strict and formalized logic. In other areas, logic serves as a source of useful knowledge necessary to obtain a reasonable conclusion for the entire situation as a whole.

A person tries to apply logical skills at a subconscious level . Some people cope with this better, some worse. But in any case, using our logic, we need to know what we can do with it:

Select the necessary method to solve the problem;
Think faster;
Express your thoughts qualitatively;
Avoid self-deception;
Find and correct other people’s mistakes in their conclusions;
Select the necessary arguments to convince your interlocutor that you are right.

In order to develop correct logical thinking, you need not only desire, but also systematic training in the main components of this issue.