THINKING

Thinking is the  cognitive rearrangement of manipulation of both information from environment and the symbols stored in long term memory

  Thinking involves the cerebral manipulation of information, as when we form concepts, engage in problem solving, reason and make decisions.

  Thinking is a higher cognitive function and the analysis of thinking processes is part of cognitive psychology

COGNITON

 Processing of information obtained through sense organs

 It involves memory, learning, thinking etc                                                                                                                           

TYPES OF THINKING

AUTISTIC THINKING

 Highly personal                                              

 May use symbols

 Eg; dreams

DIRECTED THINKING

 Not personal

 For solving problems

 For creating something new

SYMBOL

Symbol stands for some event or item in the world. Important symbols used in thinking are language and images

THINKING PROCESS

  Thinking is a process occurring between a stimuli and response

  The symbols used in thinking process are images and languages

  The availability of language symbols make human thinking more sophisticated than animal thinking

  Imagine that you are standing on a certain street corner in a city How would you drive from this point to another point of the city?

  From where on earth would you walk first 1 mile south , 1mile east ,then 1mile north, and end up exactly where you began ? .

IMAGES

  Images are abstraction of certain features from previous experience

LANGUAGE AND THINKING

  A good deal of thinking involves language, the use of word symbols and rules of  grammar to join the word into phrases and sentences

  Linguistic relativity hypothesis says that language can actually determine thought

CONCEPTS

  A concept is a symbolic representation that represent some common and general features  of many objects or events

  Eg ; man, red ,triangle, atom , anger  etc

  Human ability to form concepts enables us to classify things into categories

  They are acquired easily and appear in thinking very early in our life and reflect the way the brain process information

  Other ways to acquire concepts are by discrimination  learning ,context works, and by definitions

PROBLEM SOLVING

  The goal of thinking is usually problem solving

  It can be considered as a form of rule guided motivated information processing

  Two major types of problem solving

  1) Algorithm

  2)Heuristics

ALGORITHMS

An algorithm is a set of rules which if followed correctly will definitely find a solution to a problem

HEURISTICS

  Heuristics are strategies  based on our past experience with problems that are likely to give a result

  Heuristics depend on   representatives, availability and adjustment

DECISION MAKING

  It is a kind of problem solving in which we are permitted with several alternatives and we have to choose one among them

  While taking decision we try to minimise the maximum possible loss or try to maximise the expected gains or try to have the optimum utility 

FACTORS INFLUENCING DECISION MAKING

  Utility

  Subjective possibility

  Heuristics

CREATIVE THINKING

CREATIVE THINKER TRIES TO CREATE SOMETHING NEW

  He became aware of the new idea suddenly

  Such sudden appearance of new idea is called insight

  Insight suddenly appears when they are doing something completely unrelated to the problem

  Insight may be incorrect

STAGES IN CREATIVE THINKING

  Preparation ( Thinker formulate the problem and collect the facts necessary)

  Incubation

  Illumination

  Evaluation

  Revision

NATURE OF CREATIVE THINKING

  Convergent thinking

  Divergent thinking

CONVERGENT THINKING

  Thinker collect information relevant to the problem and proceed by using problem solving rules to get an end result The result of convergent thinking is usually a solution that has been previously arrived by someone else

CONTROLLED THINKING

It is   convergent, goal directed or motivated and reality oriented

REASONING

  Reasoning is the best form of controlled thinking

  It is a step wise process which is consciously directed to a particular goal. It involves both induction and deduction

  A]        a goal or problem is identified

  B]        a hypothesis is set up

  C]        certain responses are selected and solution     attempted

  D]        final validation

DIVERGENT THINKING

  Varied thought about a problem. When thinking creatively people tend to think in a divergent manner

FREE THINKING

  It is a divergent, not reality oriented, not goal directed  or motivated

  There is no control over thinking process and it can go into any direction

  Imagination is a best form of free thinking. It receives some help from past experience, hence some degree of reality touch

  Day dreaming; Usually occurs during waking hours, reality touch is minimal. The content will be  what one likes to have or the unfulfilled wishes

CHARACTER OF CREATIVE THINKER

  They prefer complexity

  They are independent in their judgment

  They are more self assertive &dominant

  They reject suppression as a mechanism for the control of impulse

ORIGENCE

  Resist conventional approaches that have been determined by others and try to do something new

DISORDERS OF THINKING

  Dereism

  Autism

  Neologism

  Word salad

  Magical thinking

  Circumstantiality

  Tangentiality

  Clang association

  Stereotyping

  Perseveration

  Flight of ideas