General concept of thinking
Objects and phenomena of reality have such properties and relations that can be known directly, with the help of sensations and perceptions (colors, sounds, forms, placement and movement of bodies in the visible space), and such properties and relations that can be known only indirectly and through generalization i.e. through thinking. Thinking is a mediated and generalized reflection of reality, a type of mental activity consisting in cognition of the essence of things and phenomena, of natural connections and relations between them.
The first feature of thinking is its mediated nature. The fact that a person cannot cognize directly, directly, he cognizes indirectly, indirectly: some properties through others, the unknown – through the known. Thinking always relies on the data of sensory experience – sensations, perceptions, ideas – and on previously acquired theoretical knowledge. Indirect cognition is mediated cognition.
The second feature of thinking is its generalization. Generalization as the knowledge of the general and essential in objects of reality is possible because all the properties of these objects are related to each other. The general exists and is manifested only in the individual, in the concrete.
Generalizations people express through speech, language. Verbal designation refers not only to an individual object, but also to a whole group of similar objects. Generalization is also inherent in the images (ideas and even perceptions). But there it is always limited visibility. The word allows you to generalize without limit. Philosophical concepts of matter, motion, law, essence, phenomenon, quality, quantity, etc. – the broadest generalizations expressed by the word.
Thinking is the highest level of human knowledge of reality. Sensual basis of thinking are sensations, perceptions and ideas. Through the senses – these are the only channels of communication of the body with the outside world – information flows to the brain. Information content is processed by the brain. The most complex (logical) form of information processing is the activity of thinking. Solving the mental tasks that life puts before a person, he reflects, draws conclusions and thereby cognizes 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 related to sensations and perceptions, but it is formed on the basis of them. The transition from sensation to thought is a complex process, which consists primarily in isolating and isolating an object or a sign of it, in distracting from a concrete, individual, and establishing what is essential, common to many objects.
Thinking acts mainly as a solution to the problems, issues, problems that are constantly being put forward before people by life. Problem solving should always give a person something new, new knowledge. The search for solutions is sometimes very difficult, therefore, mental activity, as a rule, is an active activity that requires focused attention and patience. The real process of thought is always a process not only informative, but also emotional-volitional.
Objective material form of thinking is language. A thought becomes a thought for itself and for others only through a word – oral and written. Thanks to the language, people’s thoughts are not lost, but are transmitted as a system of knowledge from generation to generation. However, there are additional means of transmitting the results of thinking: light and sound signals, electrical impulses, gestures, etc. Modern science and technology widely use conventional signs as a universal and economical means of transmitting information.
Having put on the verbal form, the thought is at the same time formed and realized in the process of speech. The movement of thought, its refinement, the connection of thoughts with each other, and so on, occurs only through speech activity. Thinking and speech (language) are one.
Thinking is inextricably linked with speech mechanisms, especially speech-hearing and speech-motor.
Thinking is also inextricably linked with the practical activities of people. Any kind of activity involves thinking about, taking into account the conditions of action, planning, monitoring. Acting, the person solves any problems. Practical activity is the main condition for the emergence and development of thinking, as well as the criterion of the truth of thinking.
Thinking is a function of the brain, the result of its analytical and synthetic activity. It is provided by the operation of both signaling systems with the leading role of the second signaling system. When solving mental problems in the cerebral cortex, a process of transformation of the systems of temporary neural connections occurs. Finding a new thought physiologically means closing the neural connections in a new combination.
Thinking processes
Human mental activity is the solution of various mental tasks 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 diverse. This is analysis and synthesis, comparison, abstraction, specification, generalization, classification. Which logical operations a person applies will depend on the task and on the nature of the information that he refines.
Analysis is the mental decomposition of the whole into parts or mental isolation from the whole of its sides, actions, relationships.
Synthesis is the reverse process of thought analyzing; it is the union 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 formed in practical human activity. In work, people constantly interact with objects and phenomena. The practical development of them and led to the formation of mental operations of analysis and synthesis.
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 single out one or several signs of them, which will be compared.
The comparison may be one-sided, or incomplete, and multilateral, or more complete. Comparison, like analysis and synthesis, can be of different levels – superficial and deeper. In this case, the thought of a person goes from external signs of similarity and difference to internal, from the visible to the hidden, from the phenomenon to the essence.
Abstraction is a process of mental abstraction from certain signs, the sides of a particular in order to better know it. The person mentally selects some sign of the object and examines it in isolation from all other signs, temporarily distracting from them. Isolated study of individual features of an object while simultaneously distracting from all the others helps a person to better understand the essence of things and phenomena. Thanks to abstraction, man was able to break away from the single, concrete and rise to the highest level of knowledge – scientific theoretical thinking.
Concretization is a process inverse to abstraction and 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 a result. A person analyzes objects, compares them, abstracts individual properties in order to reveal the common in them, in order to reveal the laws that govern their development, in order to master them.
Generalization, therefore, is a selection in objects and phenomena of the general, which is expressed in the form of a concept, law, rule, formula, etc.
Judgment and Inference
Human thinking proceeds in the form of judgments and conclusions. Judgment is a form of thinking that reflects the objects of reality in their connections and relationships. Every judgment is a separate thought about something. The consistent logical connection of several propositions, which is necessary in order to solve any mental task, to understand something, to find the answer to a question, is called reasoning. Reasoning has practical meaning only when it leads to a certain conclusion, a conclusion. Inference will be the answer to the question, the result of the search for thoughts.
Inference is a conclusion from several judgments that gives us new knowledge about objects and phenomena of the objective world. Inference can be inductive, deductive and analogous.
Inductive reasoning is the conclusion from the single (particular) to the general. From judgments about a few isolated cases or groups of their people makes a general conclusion.
Reasoning, in which thought moves in the opposite direction, is called deduction, and the conclusion is deductive. Deduction is the derivation of a particular case from a general position, the transition of thought from the general to the less general, to the particular or individual. In deductive reasoning, we, knowing the general position, rule or law, make a conclusion about particular cases, although we have not studied them specifically.
Inference by analogy is a conclusion from the particular to the particular. The essence of inference by analogy is that, on the basis of the similarity of two objects, in some respects it is concluded that these objects are similar in other respects. Inference by analogy underlies the creation of many hypotheses and guesses.
Notion Conceptualization
The results of people’s cognitive activity are fixed in the form of concepts. To know a subject is to reveal its essence. The concept is a reflection of the essential attributes of the object. In order to reveal these signs, it is necessary to thoroughly study the subject, to establish its connections with other objects. The concept of an object arises on the basis of many judgments and conclusions about it.
The concept as a result of the generalization of people’s experience is the highest product of the brain, the highest stage of knowledge of the world.
Each new generation of people assimilates scientific, technical, moral, aesthetic and other concepts developed by society in the process of historical development.
To assimilate a concept is to realize its content, to be able to single out the essential features, to know its borders precisely (volume), its place among other concepts so as not to be confused with similar concepts; be able to use this concept in cognitive and practical activities.
Understanding. Solving mental problems
Human mental activity is manifested in the understanding of the objects of thinking and in solving on this basis a variety of mental tasks.
Understanding is the process of penetration of thought into the essence of something. The object of understanding can be any object, phenomenon, fact, situation, action, speech of people, a work of literature and art, scientific theory, etc.
Understanding can be included in the process of perception of an object and expressed in recognition, awareness of it, it can be carried out outside of perception.
Understanding is a prerequisite for solving mental problems.
Acting, a person solves a variety of tasks. A task is a situation that determines the action of a person who satisfies a need by changing this situation.
The essence of the task is to achieve the goal. Man solves complex tasks in several stages. Realizing the goal, the question, the need that has arisen, he then analyzes the conditions of the task, draws up a plan of action and acts.
A person solves some tasks directly, by performing usual practical and mental actions, solves other tasks indirectly, by acquiring the knowledge necessary for analyzing the conditions of the problem. The tasks of the latter type are called mental.
The solution of mental tasks goes through several stages. The first stage is awareness of the question of the task and the desire to find an answer to it. Without a question there is no task, there is no thinking activity at all.
The second stage of solving mental tasks is the analysis of the conditions of the problem. Without knowing the conditions, it is impossible to solve a single task, either practical or mental.
The third stage of solving a mental task is the decision itself. The decision process is carried out through various mental actions using logical operations. Mental actions form a certain system, successively replacing each other.
The last step in solving mental problems is to check the correctness of the decision. Checking the correctness of the decision disciplines mental activity, allows you to comprehend every step of it, find unnoticed errors and correct them.
The ability to solve mental problems characterizes a person’s mind, especially if a person can solve them independently and in the most economical ways.
Types of thinking
Depending on what place in the thought process the words, image and action occupy, how they relate to each other, there are three types of thinking: concretely effective, or practical, concretely figurative and abstract. These types of thinking are also highlighted on the basis of the features of the tasks – practical and theoretical.
Concrete-effective thinking is aimed at solving specific problems in the conditions of industrial, constructive, organizational and other practical activities of people. Practical thinking is primarily technical, constructive thinking. It consists in the understanding of technology and the ability of a person to independently solve technical problems. The process of technical activity is the process of interaction of mental and practical components of work. Complex operations of abstract thinking are interwoven with practical actions of a person, inextricably linked with them. Characteristic features of concrete-effective thinking are pronounced observation, attention to details, particulars and the ability to use them in a particular situation, operating with spatial images and schemes, the ability to quickly move from thinking to action and back. It is in this type of thinking that the unity of thought and will is most pronounced.
Specific figurative, or artistic, thinking is characterized by the fact that a person embodies abstract thoughts, generalizations into concrete images.
Abstract, or verbal-logical, thinking is mainly aimed at finding common patterns in nature and human society. Abstract, theoretical thinking reflects common connections and relationships. It operates mainly with concepts, broad categories, and images, representations in it play a supporting role.
All three types of thinking are closely related to each other. Many people are equally developed specifically-effective, specifically-figurative and theoretical thinking, but depending on the nature of the tasks that a person solves, one or the other, then the third type of thinking comes to the fore.
If thinking is considered in the process of its development in children, then it can be found that the first thing that arises is concrete-effective thinking, then concrete-shaped and, finally, abstract-logical. But the characteristics of each of these types of thinking in children are somewhat different, their connection is simpler.
Individual differences in thinking
Types of thinking are at the same time typological features of mental and practical activity of people. At the heart of each species is a special relationship signaling systems. If a person is dominated by concrete-active or specifically-figurative thinking, this means the relative predominance of his first signal system over the other; if verbal-logical thinking is most peculiar to a person, this means the relative predominance of the second signaling system over the first one. There are other differences in the mental activity of people. If they are stable, they are called qualities of the mind.
The concept of mind is broader than the concept of thinking. The human mind is characterized not only by the peculiarities of his thinking, but also by the features of other cognitive processes (observation, creative imagination, logical memory, attentiveness). Understanding the complex relationships between objects and phenomena of the world, an intelligent person should be well aware of other people, be sensitive, responsive, kind. The qualities of thinking are the basic qualities of the mind. These include flexibility, autonomy, depth, breadth, consistency and some other thinking.
The flexibility of the mind is expressed in the mobility of thought processes, the ability to take into account the changing conditions of mental or practical actions and in accordance with this change the ways of solving problems. Flexibility of thinking resists inertia of thinking. A reproduction of what was learned is more characteristic of a man of inert thought than the active search for the unknown. An inert mind is a lazy mind. Flexibility of the mind – a mandatory quality of people of creativity.
Independence of the mind is expressed in the ability to raise questions and find original ways to solve them. Independence of the mind implies self-criticism, i.e. the ability of a person to see the strengths and weaknesses of their activities in general and mental in particular.
Other qualities of the mind – depth, breadth and consistency are also important. A man of deep mind is able to “reach the root,” to delve into the essence of objects and phenomena. People of a consistent mind can strictly logically reason, convincingly prove the truth or falsity of any conclusion, check the course of reasoning.
All these qualities of the mind are brought up in the process of teaching children in school, as well as through persistent work on themselves.
Formation of thinking in children
A child is born without thinking. To think, it is necessary to have some sensual and practical experience fixed by memory. By the end of the first year of life, the child can observe the manifestations of elementary thinking.
The main condition for the development of children’s thinking is purposeful education and their training. In the process of upbringing, the child masters objective actions and speech, learns to independently solve first simple and then complex tasks, as well as understand the requirements imposed by adults, and act in accordance with them.
The development of thinking is expressed in the gradual expansion of the content of thought, in the sequential emergence of forms and methods of mental activity and their change as the overall formation of the personality. At the same time, the child’s motivation for thinking activity — cognitive interests — intensifies.
Thinking develops throughout the life of a person in the process of his activity. At each age stage, thinking has its own characteristics.
Thinking of a young child acts in the form of actions aimed at solving specific problems: get some object in sight, put rings on the core of a toy pyramid, close or open the box, find the hidden thing, get into a chair, bring a toy and t .P. Performing these actions, the child thinks. He thinks by acting, his thinking is visual and effective.
Mastering the speech of the people around them causes a shift in the development of the child’s visual-effective thinking. Thanks to the language, children begin to think in a general way.
Further development of thinking is expressed in a change in the ratio between action, image and word. In solving problems, the word plays an increasing role.
There is a certain sequence in the development of types of thinking in the preschool years. Ahead is the development of visual-effective thinking, followed by visual-figurative and, finally, verbal thinking.
The thinking of pupils of secondary school age (11-15 years old) operates with knowledge acquired mainly verbally. When studying a variety of subjects – mathematics, physics, chemistry, history, grammar, etc. – students deal not only with the facts, but also with the natural relationships, the general relations between them.
In high school age, thinking becomes abstract. At the same time, the development of concrete-figurative thinking is observed, especially under the influence of the study of fiction.
While learning the basics of science, schoolchildren learn the systems of scientific concepts, each of which reflects one of the sides of reality. The formation of concepts is a long process, depending on the level of generality and their abstractness, on the age of schoolchildren, their mental focus and on teaching methods.
In the assimilation of concepts, there are several levels: as they develop, students are getting closer to the essence of the subject, the phenomenon indicated by the concept, it is easier to generalize and connect individual concepts with each other.
The first level is characterized by an elementary generalization of specific cases taken from the personal experience of schoolchildren or from literature. At the second level of assimilation, separate signs of the concept are distinguished. The boundaries of the concept of the students then narrow, then unnecessarily expand. At the third level, students try to give a detailed definition of the concept, indicating the main features and give true examples from life. At the fourth level, there is a complete mastery of the concept, an indication of its place among other moral concepts, the successful application of the concept in life. Along with the development of concepts, judgments and conclusions are formed.
For students of grades 1-2 characterized by categorical judgments, affirmative forms. Children judge a subject unilaterally and do not prove their judgment. In connection with the increase in the volume of knowledge and the growth of the vocabulary, schoolchildren of 3-4 grades appear as problematic and conditional judgments. Students in grade 4 can reason, relying not only on direct, but also on circumstantial evidence, especially on specific material taken from personal observations. At middle age, schoolchildren also use dividing judgments and more often substantiate and argue their statements. High school students have almost all forms of expression. Judgments with assumptions of expression, assumptions, doubts, etc. become the norm in their reasoning. With the same ease, older students use inductive and deductive inference and inference by analogy. Independently can put a question and prove the correctness of the answer to it.
The development of concepts, judgments and conclusions occurs in unity with mastering, generalization, etc. Successful mastery of mental operations depends not only on the assimilation of knowledge, but also on the special work of the teacher in this direction.
