Thinking in psychology

1. THINKING
Mrs. U SREEVIDYA
MSC (N)

2.  People think-that’s obvious.
 Human are rational beings & our
rationality consists in our ability to
think & reason.
 It is because of our capacity for better
thinking that we are superior to other
animals in learning & in making
adjustment.
 During most of our waking hours, &
even when we are asleep & dreaming,

3. What are you thinking about right
now?

5. Thinking:
1. Ross:
“Thinking is a mental activity in its cognitive aspect or
mental activity with regard to psychological aspects”.
2. Garrett:
“Thinking is a behaviour which is often implicit and
hidden and in which symbols are ordinarily employed”.
3. Gilmer:
“Thinking is a problem-solving process in which we use
ideas or symbols in place of overt activity”.
4. Mohsin:
“Thinking is an implicit problem-solving behaviour”.

6.  It is essentially a cognitive activity.
 It is always directed to achieve some end
or purpose.
 It is described as a problem-solving
behavior.
 It is a symbolic activity.
 It is mental exploration instead of
motor exploration.
 It can shift very rapidly.
 It is internal activity.

7. 1. Perceptual or concrete
thinking
2. Conceptual or abstract
thinking
3. Reflective thinking
4. Creative thinking
5. Critical thinking
6. Logical thinking/ reasoning
7. Non directed / Associative
thinking

8.  It is based on perception.
 Perception is the process of
interpretation of sensation according
to one’s experience.
 It is also called concrete thinking as it is
carried over the perception of actual or
concrete & events.
 It is one-dimentional & literal thinking which
has limited use of metaphor without
understanding nuances of meaning.
 Being the simplest form of thinking, small

10.  It does not require the perception of actual
objects or events.
 It is also called abstract thinking as it
makes the use of concepts or abstract
ideas.
 It is superior to perceptual thinking's as it
economizes efforts in understanding & helps in
discovery & invention.
 It is ability to appreciate nuances of meaning.
 It is multidimensional thinking with ability to use
metaphors & hypotheses appropriately.
 Language plays an important part in conceptual

12. 3. Reflective Thinking:
This type of thinking aims in solving complex
problems; thus it requires reorganization of all the relevant
experiences to a situation or removing obstacles instead of
relating with that experiences or ideas.
This is an insightful cognitive approach in reflective
thinking as the mental activity here does not involve the
mechanical trial and error type of efforts.
In this type, thinking processes take all the relevant facts
arranged in a logical order into an account in order to
arrive at a solution of the problem.

15. 4. Creative Thinking:
This type of thinking is associated with one’s ability to
create or construct something new, novel or unusual.
• It looks for new relationships and associations to describe
and interpret the nature of things, events and situations.
• Here the individual himself usually formulates the
evidences and tools for its solution. For example;
scientists, artists or inventors.
Skinner, the famous psychologist says creative thinking
means that the prediction and inferences for the individual
are new, original, ingenious and unusual. The creative
thinker is one who expresses new ideas and makes new
observations, new predictions and new inferences.

16. Characteristics of Creative Thinking:
a. Creative thinking, in all its shapes and forms is absolutely an
internal mental process and hence should be considered as an
important component of one’s cognitive behaviour.
b. Every one of us is capable of creative thinking and hence it is a
universal phenomenon.
c. Creative thinking results in the production of something new or
novel including a new form of arrangement of old elements.
d. Creative thinking in all its dimensions involve divergent thinking
instead of the routine and final types of convergent thinking. The
mind must have complete freedom to wander around to create a new
idea.
e. The field of creative thinking and its out part is quite
comprehensive and built wide. It covers all the aspects of human
accomplishments belonging to an individual’s life.

18. 5. Critical Thinking:
It is a type of thinking that helps a person in stepping aside
from his own personal beliefs, prejudices and opinions to
sort out the faiths and discover the truth, even at the
expense of his basic belief system.
The critical thinking is of a higher order well-disciplined
thought process which involves the use of cognitive skills
like conceptualization, interpretation, analysis, synthesis
and evaluation for arriving at an unbiased, valid and reliable
judgment of the gathered or communicated information or
data as a guide to one’s belief and action.

20.  It is the cognitive process of looking for
reasons for beliefs, conclusion, actions or
feelings.
 It is the process of drawing conclusions
based on evidence.
 It is form of controlled thinking in which the
thought process is directed consciously
towards the solutions of a problem.
 Reasoning is the highest form of thinking to
find out causes & predict effects.
 An individual tries to solve a problem by

23. 7. Non-directed or Associative Thinking:
There are times when we find ourselves engaged in a unique type of
thinking which is non-directed and without goal. It is reflected through
dreaming and other free-flowing uncontrolled activities. Psychologically
these forms of thought are termed as associative thinking.
• Here day-dreaming, fantasy and delusions all fall in the category of
withdrawal behaviour that helps an individual to escape from the
demands of the real world by making his thinking face non-directed and
floating, placing him somewhere, ordering something unconnected with
his environment.
• A person under the influence of such delusions may think or believe
that he is a millionaire, the ruler of the universe, a great inventor, a
noted historian or even God.

25.  Convergent thinking is cognitive processing of
information around a common point, an attempt
to bring thoughts from different directions into a
union for common conclusion
 Divergent thinking starts from a common point
& moves outward into a variety of perspectives.
Eg; teachers use the content as a vehicle to
prompt diverse or unique thinking among

31.  There are six levels of thinking / learning
within cognitive hierarchy of behaviors;
1. Level1: Knowledge
2. Level 2: Comprehension
3. Level 3:Application
4. Level 4:Analysis
5. Level 5: Synthesis
6. Level 6: Evaluation

33.  It involve recall of facts, principles &
terms in the forms in which they are
learned.
 Key words: who, what, when, omit,
where, which, choose, find, how, define,
label, show, spell, list, match, name,
relate, tell, recall, select.
 Eg;When did --------------------------
happen?
Which one ---------------------------?

34.  It represent the lowest form of understanding.
 The student knows what is being communicated
without relating it to other material or seeing it in
its fullest meaning.
 It demonstrates understanding of facts & ideas by
organizing, comparing, translating, interpreting,
giving descriptions & stating main ideas.
 Key words: Compare, contrast, demonstrate,
interpret, explain, extend, illustrate, infer,
outline, relate, rephrase, translate, summarize,
show, classify.
 Eg;What facts or ideas show--

35.  It involve the use of abstractions in concrete
situation such as nursing or other specific
situations.
 It is solving problems by applying acquired
knowledge, facts, techniques & rules in a
different way.
 Key words: apply, build, choose, construct
develop, interview, make use of, organize,
experiment with plan, select, solve, utilize,
model, identify.
 Eg;What would result if--------------?

36.  It is examining & breaking information into parts
by identifying motives or causes; making
inferences & finding evidence to support
generalization.
 Key words: analyze, categorize, compare,
contrast, discover, dissect, divide, examine,
inspect, simplify, survey, take part in, test for,
distinguish, list, distinction, theme,
relationships, function, motive, inferences,
assumption, conclusion.
 Eg;What are key parts or features
of---------? What motive is there------

37.  It is compiling information together in a
different way by combining element in a new
pattern or proposing alternative solution.
 Key words: build, choose, combine, compile,
compose, construct, create, design, develop,
estimate, formulate, imagine, invent, makeup,
originate, plan, predict, propose, solve solution
etc.
 Eg; Can you propose an
alternative---------? Can you
formulate a theory for-----------?

38.  It is presenting & defending opinion by making
judgment about information, validity of ideas or
quality of work based on a set of criteria.
 Key words: award, choose, conclude, criticize,
decide, defend, determine, evaluate, judge,
justify, measure, compare, mark, rate,
recommend, prioritize, prove, disprove etc.
 Eg;What is your opinion of-----
------? Would it be better if-----
----------?
How would you rate the---------

39. Development of Thinking
Thinking is one of the most important aspects of
learning process.
Our ability to learn and solve the problems depends upon
our ability to think correctly which helps us in adjustment
and is necessary for a successful living.
As no person is born-thinker, one has to acquire
knowledge of technique and practice of proper thinking.

40. Development of Thinking
Piaget argued that the logical
way of thinking evolved gradually, at
about the age of two years and in about
seven years. Piaget explained, thinking
children did not like thinking adults.
Children's minds seem to be different
with a larger person. Children seem to
solve the problem in an entirely
different level. Differences children
who are smaller and bigger is not too
related to the issues that older children
have more knowledge, but because they
are different kinds of knowledge, the
present invention Piaget began studying
the development of mental structure.
Jean Piaget was a Swiss
developmental psychologist
and philosopher known for his
epistemological studies with
children. His theory of
cognitive development and
epistemological view are
together called "genetic
epistemology"

41. (2)
1. Sensory Motor Stage
Lasts from birth until the age
of 2 years. At this stage, infants
build an understanding of the
world by coordinating the
experiences of sensors (such as
seeing and hearing) with
physical motor actions, the so-
called sensory motor. At the
beginning of this stage, the
newborn has a little more than a
reflex patterns.
The following developmental stages according to Piaget:

42. 2. Pre-operational stage
Lasted roughly from age 2 to
7 years. At this stage, children
begin to describe the world with
words and pictures. Symbolic
thinking beyond the simple
relationship between the sensor
information and physical action.
However, even preschoolers can
symbolically depicts the world,
according to Piaget, they are still
not able to implement what is
called "surgery"-an internalized
mental actions that allow the
children to do mentally what was
previously done physically.

43. (2)
3. Concrete operational stage
Lasted roughly from ages 7-11
years. At this stage children can
carry out operations, and logical
reasoning replaces intuitive
thought as far as thought can be
applied to the specific examples or
concrete.
For example, concrete
operational thinking can not
imagine the steps necessary to
solve an algebra problem, which is
too vague to be considered at this
stage of development.

44. 4. Formal Operational Stage
It appears from the age of 11-15 years.
At this stage the individual beyond the real
world, concrete experiences and think in
abstract and more logical. As part of a more
abstract thinking, adolescents develop a
picture of an ideal state. They can think
what kind of parents the ideal and compare
their parents with this ideal standard. They
began to prepare for the possibilities for the
future and in awe of what they can do. In
solving the problem, the formal operational
thinker is more systematically, develop
hypotheses about why things happen like
that, then test this hypothesis by way of
deductive reasoning.

45. There are few methods which help to develop
thinking through training.
1. Adequacy of the Knowledge and Experience
2. Adequate Motivation and Definiteness of Aims
3. Adequate Freedom and Flexibility
4. Incubation
5. Intelligence and Wisdom
6. Proper Development of Concepts and Language
7. Adequacy of Reasoning Process

46. 1.
• Clutter creates confusion.
• Get organized & work with a fresh
canvas.
• On an average, we spend about 45
minutes a day looking for things eg;
Where are my keys?
• Keep only the current project you are
working on in front of you.

47.  Multi-tasking is highly over-rated &
causes a loss of upto 40% efficiency.
 Get yourself one hour of focused
seclusion to work on your important
task.
 It will increase both productivity,
creativity & morale.

48.  Go to a gallery, pick up an art book or spend
time with nature.
• This is a best practice that allows you to
visualize & map your projects, & strategies.
• It is also a life saving memory device that
will help you remember more & organize
your thinking.

49.  When you have been working on
something for more than an hour, you
start loosing concentration & focus.
 So, stop, get up & walk around & then
go back to your work.

50. THINKING IN RELATION TO
LANGUAGE AND
COMMUNICATION Through the use of language, we can develop
complex & abstract concepts. We learn through
discussion the essential characteristics of
concepts.
 Language like thought is directed to some
purpose or goal. It has a unity & organization
about the goal. Language is the symbolic
vehicle by which thought is carried.
 Language allow new learning to be communicated
to others & saved for future generations.
 The use of language – the communication of
information.

51. Our thinking, reasoning and problem-solving
behaviour all are largely influenced by our “sets”,
which is a kind of habit or a way in which we have
accustomed ourselves in perceiving certain situations.
Thus our thinking will be defective and harmful if it is
not based on correct data or information. Our biases,
prejudices and beliefs sometimes do not enable us to
think logically.

56. About