“I think, therefore I exist” (lat. Cogito ergo sum) is Descartes’ philosophical reflection on the awareness of one’s thinking as an argument for discovering one’s existence.
Every person is endowed with the ability to think. A person’s thinking, including ideas and images, is not only an indicator of his mentality (mind, wisdom) and intelligence (IQ), but also, depending on the type, type, form of thinking - an indicator of his feelings, emotions and behavior, and therefore of his life program , fate, if you want...
Today on the psychological site http://site, you, dear visitors, will learn about such types, types and forms of human thinking as abstract, visual, effective, figurative, verbal-logical, scientific thinking, etc., and about that, how does this affect our life and destiny.
How I think is how I live (or exist). The whole scheme: How I think (think, imagine) in this or that situation (at this or that life event), so I feel... and how I feel (emotions), so I behave (actions, behavior, physiology) .
In general, all this forms learned, automatic patterns of thinking, feeling and behavior in similar situations, i.e. a successful, banal or unlucky (the latter - comic, dramatic or tragic) life scenario. Solution: Change your thinking and you will change your life
There are many types, types and forms of human thinking, through which our psyche perceives, processes and transforms all information read by the five senses (sight, hearing, smell, touch and taste) coming from the outside world.
We will consider the main types, types and forms of thinking: visual, figurative, objective, effective, verbal-logical, abstract, professional and scientific, as well as thinking errors that lead a person to psychological, emotional and life problems.
Visual-figurative thinking - the work of the right hemisphere of the brain - is predominantly visual (visual) processing of information, although it can also be auditory (auditory). This type of thinking is inherent in animals (they do not have a second signaling system- cannot think in words) and small children.
In adulthood, visual-figurative thinking (also called artistic look) is typical for people with a leading right hemisphere, creative professions, for example, artists, actors...
People with imaginative thinking often think in pictures, like to imagine situations in pictures, fantasize, daydream... and even daydream...
Operating with objects, interacting with them: looking, feeling, listening, maybe even smelling and tasting - represents object-active thinking. It is characteristic of small children, who learn the world in this way, gaining some life experience, and of animals.
An adult also exhibits objective and effective thinking - this type of practical, concrete thinking is used not only by people in practical professions, where objects need to be constantly manipulated, but also in ordinary, everyday life, for example, when a person puts all objects in their places and knows where what is located (in contrast to the creative type of thinking - such people are characterized by “ creative chaos"and constant search for something new).
As a person develops and matures, he learns to speak and think logically. Pictures and images, direct perception (see, hear, touch, smell, taste) are replaced by verbal designations and logical chains of reasoning leading to certain conclusions.
For many, the left hemisphere begins to work more, people perceive and interpret the world: life situations And various phenomena words, trying to logically comprehend what is happening around.
Right-hemisphere (figurative, emotional thinking) also does not disappear anywhere, and everything that was perceived visually, figuratively and objectively, along with emotional coloring, is stored in the person’s subconscious. However, most people do not remember their childhood and especially childhood experiences, because... As an adult, a person thinks logically, in words, and not in images and pictures, as in childhood.
And for example, if someone was frightened by a dog in childhood, as an adult he may continue to be terribly afraid of them, not at all understanding why... after all, he does not remember the moment of fright, because... Then I thought in images and objects, but now in words and logic...
And in order for a person to get rid of cynophobia, he needs to temporarily “turn off” (weaken) the left, verbal-logical hemisphere... move to the right, emotional-figurative hemisphere, remember and re-experience the situation with the “scary” dog in fantasies, thereby working out this fear.
Abstraction, distraction from what can be directly perceived, seen, touched..., thinking in generalized concepts, is abstract thinking characteristic of older schoolchildren and adults who have already developed verbal-logical thinking.
For example, the concept of “Happiness” is an abstraction, i.e. it generalizes many different human benefits, it cannot be touched or seen, plus, everyone understands in their own way what happiness means for them...
For example, it often happens that due to too abstract thinking, a person generalizes every situation in life, instead of looking at it in detail, objectively and practically. Those. if someone strives for something abstract, not concrete - besides happiness - then he will never achieve success.
In adulthood, a person acquires a profession, he begins to think in professional terms, and this is how he perceives the world and what is happening around him.
For example, what do you think, if you say the word “Root” out loud, what will people in such professions as a dentist, a literature teacher, a gardener (botanist) and a mathematician think about?
Professional thinking intersects with subject thinking, and scientific thinking intersects with creative thinking, because any scientist, researcher, constantly in search of new discoveries.
However, all these people are not alien to verbal-logical, abstract, and visual-figurative thinking. Another thing is when people often make - usually unconsciously, as if by program - many mental errors. Those. they subconsciously confuse when and how to think in order to achieve success in life, and the same notorious happiness...
Our thinking (words, pictures and images) largely depends on internal global, often generalized beliefs stored in the depths of the psyche (laid there from the outside, in the process of education, cultivation and primary socialization).
Comprehensive, deep, multifaceted knowledge of the world is impossible without a higher cognitive process - thinking. In psychology, several types of thinking are distinguished, differing primarily in content: abstract, visual-effective and visual-figurative thinking. In addition to this, there are also main feature which lies in the nature of the tasks: theoretical and practical, and that which includes a certain originality of thinking is classified into: creative and reproductive.
The essence is clear imaginative thinking consists in solving assigned problems through representation, images (the latter are stored in operative and short-term memory). In its simplest form, it manifests itself in a child before school age and primary school (4-7 years old). During this period, there is a transition from visual-effective to the type of thinking we are considering. The baby no longer needs, as before, to touch a new object with his hands. The main thing is the ability to clearly perceive and imagine it.
It is important to note that this type of thinking is present among architects, fashion designers, poets, perfumers, and artists. Its main feature is that a person perceives an object from the point of view of its versatility, skillfully combines unusual properties subject.
The Swiss psychologist Piaget conducted experiments, thanks to which it was possible to conclude that children think in visual images, without being guided by concepts. Thus, a group of children aged 7 years were shown two balls that were made of dough and had the same volume. The kid, having examined the objects in detail, claimed that they were the same. Next, the researcher, in front of the entire audience, turned one of the balls into a cake. The children, in turn, saw that the ball had simply changed its shape, not a single piece had been added to it, but despite this, they were of the opinion that the experimenter had increased the amount of dough in the flattened ball.
Psychologists explain this by saying that it is unusual for children of this age to use certain concepts to explain what happened. In most cases, their thinking depends on them. So, when kids look at a ball that has changed in shape and takes up more space on the table surface, they believe that dough has been added to this cake. This is due to their thinking in the form of visual images.
Even in the works of Aristotle, the importance of developing this type of thinking was noted. Creating a mental image helps a person to be result-oriented, strive to achieve what is planned, and allows him to be oriented in his own actions. This is what helps to activate creative potential, embedded in each of us. Those who have developed imaginative thinking are able to think faster than those who are dominated by abstract thinking.
Being closely connected with all other cognitive processes, such as perception, memory, attention, imagination, it represents the highest mental process generalized and indirect reflection of reality.
Due to the generalized nature of thinking, on its basis a deeper knowledge of reality is possible in comparison with knowledge at the level of ideas and perceptions, since in the process of thinking connections are established between processes and objects. In ontogenesis, the development of thinking follows the path of increasing generalization of characteristics and combining them into larger classes. A reduction or distortion of the generalization process indicates a pathological change in thinking.
The most important characteristic of the thought process is the use as mediation of such means as actions directly related to practical manipulations, and language as a symbolic expression of thought and a means of communication between people.
The thought process generates new(new, perhaps only for a thinking subject) knowledge in the course of solving problems based on processing the information received.
In its development, thinking goes through two stages: pre-conceptual and conceptual.
Preconceptual thinking operates not in concepts, but images and is initial stage development of thinking in a child. Features of pre-conceptual thinking are expressed in the fact that children’s judgments are singular, about a given specific subject; when explaining something, everything comes down to the particular, the familiar; most judgments are judgments by similarity or judgments by analogy, since during this period in thinking main role memory plays. At this level main form evidence is an example.
Thinking in ontogenesis develops from visual-effective (up to 2-3 years) to visual-figurative (up to 6-7 years). Starting from 6-7 years old, i.e. from the moment of studying at school, the child begins to intensively develop the leading type of thinking for a person - conceptual, or verbal-logical. An adult can master all types of thinking, although they may be developed to varying degrees.
Theoretical and practical thinking are distinguished by the type of problems being solved and the resulting structural and dynamic features of the thought process.
Theoretical thinking is associated with the knowledge of general laws.
Theoretical conceptual thinking is operating with concepts based on logic and existing knowledge without directly addressing the hoof. The main factor for successful problem solving is the completeness and reliability of the initial information. Theoretical conceptual thinking is most characteristic of scientific theoretical research.
Theoretical imaginative thinking differs from conceptual in that its material is not concepts, judgments or inferences, but images, which are either directly retrieved from memory or creatively recreated by the imagination. This type of thinking is inherent in creative people - writers, poets, artists, architects, fashion designers, etc.
The main task of practical thinking is to prepare the physical transformation of reality: goal setting, creating a plan, project. In practical thinking, the possibilities for testing hypotheses are very limited, since it often unfolds under conditions of severe time pressure, which makes practical thinking sometimes no less, but more complex than theoretical thinking.
Process visual-figurative thinking is directly connected with the thinking person of the surrounding reality and cannot be accomplished without him. By thinking visually and figuratively, a person is, as it were, tied to reality, and the images themselves necessary for thinking are presented in his short-term and random access memory(in contrast, images for theoretical figurative thinking are extracted from long-term memory and then converted). This form of thinking is most fully and comprehensively represented in children of preschool and primary school age, and in adults - among people who make decisions about the subjects of their activities based on observation of them (for example, air traffic controllers).
Process visually effective thinking represents practical transformative activities carried out by a person with real objects. The main condition for solving the problem in in this case are correct actions with relevant subjects, the so-called “manual intelligence”. This type is widely represented among people engaged in real production work, for example, a mechanical engineer or plumber.
IN real life There is no strict differentiation between types of thinking, and all of them are necessary for most types of activity. However, depending on its nature and ultimate goals, one or another type of thinking dominates. For this reason they all differ. In terms of their degree of complexity, in terms of the requirements placed on a person’s intellectual and other abilities, all of the above types of thinking are not inferior to each other.
The object of human mental activity is cognitive tasks that have different content bases and determine different ratios of objective-effective, perceptual-figurative and conceptual components in their solution.
Depending on this, there are three main types of thinking:
- characterized by the fact that when solving problems, subject-specific practical procedures are used - actions with objects. Genetically, this is the earliest stage of the development of thinking - in phylogenesis and ontogenesis (younger age) it is also characteristic of adults.
Visual-effective thinking - This is a special type of thinking, the essence of which lies in practical transformative activities carried out with real objects. This type of thinking is widely represented among people engaged in production work, the result of which is the creation of any material product.
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, testing the properties 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, breaks apart his toy; 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. Therefore, this type of thinking is also called manual.” One should not think that objective-active thinking does not occur in adults. It is often used in everyday life (for example, when rearranging furniture in a room, if 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 (the work of a tester, designer).
Visual-figurative thinking associated with the manipulation of images. This type of thinking is spoken of when a person, solving a problem, analyzes, compares, generalizes various images, ideas about phenomena and objects. Visual-figurative thinking most fully recreates the whole variety of different factual characteristics of an object. 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 its simplest form, visual-figurative thinking appears in preschoolers aged 4-7 years. Here practical actions as if they fade into the background and, while cognizing an object, the child does not necessarily need 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 content of his concepts initially includes only visually perceived signs of things. All evidence is visual and concrete. In this case, visualization seems to outstrip thinking, and when a child is asked why the boat floats, he can answer because it is red or because it is Vovin’s boat.”
Adults also use visual and figurative thinking. So, when starting to renovate an apartment, we can imagine in advance what will come of it. It is the images of wallpaper, the color of the ceiling, the color of windows and doors that become the means of solving the problem, and internal tests become the methods. Visual-figurative thinking allows you to give the form of an image to such things and their relationships that are in themselves invisible. This is how images of the atomic nucleus, the internal structure of the globe, etc. were created. In these cases, the images are conditional.
Verbal and logical thinking functions on the basis of linguistic means and represents the latest stage of the historical and ontogenetic development of thinking. Verbal-logical thinking is 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-logical thinking, a person can establish the most general patterns, anticipate the development of processes in nature and society, summarize visual material.
At the same time, even the most abstract thinking is never completely divorced from visual-sensory experience. And any abstract concept has its own specific sensory support for each person, which, of course, cannot reflect the full depth of the concept, but at the same time allows it not to be divorced from the real world. At the same time, an excessive number of bright, memorable details in an object can distract attention from the essential basic properties of the cognizable object and thereby complicate its analysis.
Based on the nature of the problems being solved, thinking is divided into theoretical And practical . In psychology, for example, for a long time only the theoretical aspect of thinking was studied as aimed at discovering laws and properties of objects. Theoretical, intellectual operations preceded practical activities aimed at their implementation, and because of this they were opposed to it. Any action that is not the embodiment of theoretical thinking could only be a skill, an instinctive reaction, but not an intellectual operation. As a result, an alternative has emerged: either the action is not of an intellectual nature, or it is a reflection of theoretical thought.
On the other hand, if the question of practical thinking was posed, it was usually narrowed to the concept of sensorimotor intelligence, which was considered inseparably from perception and from direct manipulation of objects. Meanwhile, in life it is not only “theorists” who think. In his brilliant work “The Mind of a Commander,” B.M. Teplov showed that practical thinking is not the initial form of thinking of a child, but a mature form of thinking of an adult. In the work of any organizer, administrator, production worker, etc. Every hour questions arise that require intense mental activity. Practical thinking is associated with setting goals, developing plans, projects, and is often developed under time pressure, which sometimes makes it even more difficult than theoretical thinking. The ability to use hypotheses in “practice” is incomparably more limited, since these hypotheses will be tested not in special experiments, but in life itself, and there is not always even time for such tests. In terms of the degree of development, thinking can be a discursive, step-by-step process, or an intuitive process, characterized by rapidity, the absence of clearly defined stages, and minimal awareness.
If we consider thinking from the point of view of novelty and originality of the problems being solved, then we can distinguish creative thinking (productive ) And reproducing (reproductive ). Creative thinking is aimed at creating new ideas, its result is the discovery of something new or the improvement of a solution to a particular problem. In the course of creative thinking, new formations arise concerning motivation, goals, assessments, and meanings within the cognitive activity itself. It is necessary to distinguish between the creation of an objectively new one, i.e. something that has not yet been done by anyone, and subjectively new, i.e. new for this particular person. So, for example, a student, performing an experiment in chemistry, discovers new properties of a given substance that are personally unknown to him. However, the fact that these properties were unknown to him does not mean that they were unknown to the teacher. Obstacles to the development of creative thinking may include excessive criticality, internal censorship, the desire to find an answer immediately, rigidity (the desire to use old knowledge) and conformism (the fear of standing out and becoming funny to others). Unlike creative thinking, reproductive thinking is the application of ready-made knowledge and skills. In cases where, in the process of applying knowledge, it is tested, shortcomings and defects are identified, we speak of critical thinking.
Fig.2. Basic types of thinking
In the case of visual-effective thinking, the main result is action. For example, through trial and error we determined which screwdriver is best suited for tightening a screw, and we use it to tighten it. Sometimes the result of visual-effective thinking is a new object: for example, we made a boat from a matchbox, a match and a piece of paper. The main result of abstract logical thinking is judgments and concepts (new or adjusted). For example, in the course of our research we found out (received a new judgment) that some cats have White color. Thus, the concept of “cats” has changed a little, now it includes a subset of “white cats”.
The main result of visual-figurative thinking, as you might guess, is images. Seeing a person standing facing us, we, with the help of some tricks in our imagination, can imagine what the same person looks like from behind. The result will be a new image. If we see a postcard cut into several parts, then in our imagination we can try to restore it. If this succeeds, a new image will be obtained. If a woman is going to work and she wants to appear in a new look, she can open a closet or chest of drawers, lay out a lot of existing things, and combine them in her head. As a result, a new image will also be obtained.
New images are obtained not only by combining existing images. A new image can be obtained by transforming an existing one. Looking at a house, you can imagine what it would look like if you added another floor to it and painted it red. Watching a famous artist in the role of, for example, Hamlet, you can try to imagine what he will look like in the role of Grandfather Mazai. Therefore, all exercises and methods of developing visual-figurative thinking can be divided into two groups:
Combination,
Transformational.
General idea combination exercises- give a set of some images as stimulus material and ask them to create something fundamentally new from these images. The source images can be very different: from schematic elements to photographs or complex figures. You can, for example, use symbols as initial images: letters, numbers, mathematical symbols.
The tasks are posed in two ways. The final image can be clearly described. For example: “Here is a set in front of you consisting of letters, numbers and mathematical symbols. How can you make a human figurine from them?” The simplest option here would be: the head is the letter “O” or a zero, the body with arms is a plus sign, the legs are the letter “L”. Another option for setting the task is to give complete freedom. Let the subject try to do what he wants, what he can do.
Combinational tasks also include tasks in which it is necessary to restore a missing element. A typical example is use for the development of visual-figurative thinking. Training here occurs due to the fact that the subject combines different images and elements of these images in his head.
General idea transformational exercises- give one complete image as stimulus material and ask to change it so that something new is obtained.
You can use problems with matches, in which you need to get another from one figure. You can, for example, give a photograph of a fashion model or ordinary woman and ask how her appearance could be improved.
You can do speed exercises: give group training participants sheets with the letters “Ш” or other simple figures drawn on them, in the amount of 20 units; the task is to add new elements to these letters as quickly as possible, so that recognizable images are obtained. For one person, all images should be different. Then there is a discussion and light criticism: how recognizable and original the images are. The letter "Ш", for example, can easily be drawn to a window with a window. Many training participants will most likely have this image. If someone completed this letter, for example, to the piano, this person can be praised.
Of course, visual-figurative thinking develops very well in the process of drawing. If you took part in a group training visual activities, then it is important to set the right task - so that a new, original image is obtained in the drawing. You can narrow the drawing thematically: ask to draw a non-existent animal, your dream house, a car of the future.
To summarize, we can distinguish two main targets in the development of visual-figurative thinking:
Development of the desire to create new images,
Unleashing fantasy.
