Thinking Process- it mental process, which helps subjects to find new knowledge and find solutions to various problems. The process of human thinking has specific characteristics, such as mediation, the flow occurs solely due to the reliance on knowledge, thought processes are repelled from the contemplation of the living, but are not reduced to it, they display the interactions of objects and events in verbal form, there is a connection with the practical activities of subjects . The thought process is a generalized and indirect display of the main and regular relationships of reality. Mental activity is socially conditioned. Because mental operations can only be found in the circumstances of the existence of human individuals in a social environment. The basis of the processes of thinking is the acquired knowledge, that is, the historical and social experience of people.

The human thought process is a perfect reflection real world, but is also characterized by the materiality of the forms of its own manifestation. Internal hidden speech acts as an instrument of people's mental activity.

Thinking as a mental process

Cogitative activity is an indirect reflection and a generalized reflection of reality. This is a kind of intellectual process, which consists in comprehending the essence of things and the essence of events, regular interactions and connections between them. In this process, word and speech play an essential role.

The greatest phenomenon is the brain's ability to make generalizations, taking as a basis the general features of objects and events, revealing the interactions between them.

Features of the thinking process. The first specific feature of thought processes is their mediation, which consists in the impossibility of direct knowledge by an individual. Such is the nature of people that the comprehension of something happens indirectly. For example, the understanding of some properties of objects occurs through the study of others.

Thinking processes are always based on information isolated from the sensory experience of individuals (sensations, ideas) and obtained from previously acquired theoretical information, which is transformed into knowledge. Indirect comprehension is mediated cognition. The mediation of thinking provides humanity with enormous advantages in acquiring reliable knowledge about objects that cannot be perceived. The next feature of mental operation is generalization. Actually, through generalization, a person comprehends inner essence events and interactions between them. It is the generalized comprehension of the surrounding world with the help of thinking that provides individuals with the opportunity to use human knowledge of the universal patterns and relationships of objects and events of the surrounding reality, established on the foundation of previous development practice. Thought processes allow you to foresee the direction of events and the fruits of your own actions based on this knowledge.

The process of human thinking is inextricably linked with perception and sensations. From the point of view of physiology, mental processes are a complex analytical activity of the cerebral cortex.

Pavlov believed that the peculiarities of the process of thinking of individuals is the appearance of associations, at first elementary, in connection with surrounding objects, and then a chain of associations, that is, the first association is the moment of birth of thought. Initially, associations are characterized by generalization and reflect the really existing connections in their undivided and most general form, often even incorrectly, according to the first insignificant signs that come across. And only thanks to repeated irritations, transient connections are demarcated, they lend themselves to clarification, consolidation and become the physiological basis for relatively accurate and correct information about the outside world.

Such associations are born, mainly under the influence of primary signal stimuli that provoke the emergence of corresponding sensations and ideas about the external environment that surrounds them. The true interactions of these stimuli also determine the appearance of the corresponding transient neural connections occurring in the first signaling system.

Mental operation is based not only on the connections of the primary signal system. They inevitably assume the inseparable functioning of the primary signal system in conjunction with the second signal system. The incentives in this case are no longer certain objects of the environment and their qualities, but words.

Thinking processes are such operations as analysis and synthesis, comparison and generalization, concretization and abstraction. The performance of these operations then leads to the development of concepts.

Analysis is the process of mental division of the whole into its constituent parts, the definition and selection of individual parts, properties and features.

Synthesis is the mental combination of the constituent parts into one integral whole.

Despite the apparent opposition of the operations analysis and synthesis, they are still inextricably interrelated. Because at certain stages of mental operation, analysis or synthesis comes to the fore. For example, to make a diagnosis, it is necessary to perform an analysis followed by a synthesis.

Comparison is the establishment of similarities or finding differences between objects of mental activity. In the course of comparison, various significant features of objects and events are found. Generalization is the mental association of objects and phenomena with each other through the selection of the main thing.

Abstraction is an abstraction from certain specific, sensual and figurative properties of an object. It has to do with generalization. In the process of abstraction, everything insignificant and accidental in an object or event is excluded.

Concretization is a demonstration, the discovery of an object on the example of an object or phenomenon that really exists.

Thus, the processes of thinking are certain mental operations that are carried out in the process of accumulating information. The whole thought process can suffer if one of the operations is violated.

Thinking as a cognitive process

A person cognizes the world that surrounds him through sensations and with the help of perception. That is, in the course of cognition, its direct sensory reflection takes place. At the same time, internal patterns, the essence of objects cannot be displayed directly in the human mind. A person, looking out the window, determines by the presence of puddles whether it was raining, that is, he performs a mental action or, in other words, there is an indirect reflection of essential connections between objects by comparing facts. Cognition is based on the discovery of connections and relationships between objects.

Comprehending the environment, the human individual generalizes the results obtained from sensory experience, displays the general signs of things. To comprehend the environment, it is not enough to find a connection between objects, it is necessary to determine that the found connection is the general quality of objects. It is on this generalized foundation that the solution of specific cognitive tasks by the individual is based.

Thinking activity solves questions that cannot be resolved through direct, sensual reflection. It is due to the presence of thinking that an individual can correctly find reference points in the environment, while applying previously obtained generalized information in a new environment. The activity of people is reasonable due to the knowledge of laws, norms, interactions of objective reality.

Thinking as a reflection of the existing connections and relationships between things is found in subjects in the first months after birth, but in a rudimentary configuration. Thinking in the learning process acquires a conscious character.

The essence of the human thought process is the definition of general relationships, the generalization of the features of a homogeneous class of phenomena, the understanding of the essence of a certain phenomenon as a variety of a specific class of phenomena.

However, mental operations, going beyond the boundaries of perception, still always remain inextricably linked with the sensory reflection of reality. Generalizations are developed based on the perception of single objects, and their correctness is tested through practical experience.

The key specificity of thinking processes is their generalized and indirect reflection of reality, their relationship with practical experience, close connection with speech, the obligatory presence of a problematic question and the lack of a ready answer to it.

In addition, thought processes, as well as all other cognitive processes of individuals, are characterized by the presence of a number of specific qualities that are present in varying degrees of severity in human subjects, and are also significant to varying degrees for solving various problematic issues. These qualities include: speed, flexibility and depth of thinking. The ability to find the right solutions in the conditions of lack of time is the speed of thinking. The flexibility of thinking is the ability to modify the intended strategy of action in case of changing conditions or criteria for the correctness of the decision. The depth of thinking is the level of insight into the essence of the object being studied, the ability to detect important logical chains between the elements of the problem.

Cogitative activity, as the individual's psyche is formed and in the process of personal socialization, gradually passes through four phases.

V age period From a year to three years old, children have object-effective thinking, in other words, thinking with the help of practical manipulations.

The next step is the visual-figurative mental functioning, which consists in visual images and representations. This type mental operations based on practical reality, but is already able to create and save images that do not have a direct analogue in representations (for example, fairy-tale characters). Visual-figurative thinking is of key importance in the process of teaching kids.

In figurative thinking, the tools for solving problems are images retrieved from memory or recreated with the help of imagination, and not concepts. The difference from the previous type is the widespread use of verbal elements in the formation and transformation of images and the use of abstract concepts.

The process of creative thinking is precisely based more on figurative mental activity. Creative thinking is one of the forms of the mental activity of an individual, which is characterized by the creation of a subjectively new object and the appearance of neoplasms directly in cognitive activity related to its creation. Such neoplasms occur in the motivational sphere and relate to goals, evaluation, meanings.

The process of creative thinking differs from other operations for the application of ready-made knowledge and skills, called reproductive thinking. In this way, main characteristic creative mental activity should be the presence of a result, that is, a subjectively new product created by an individual.

Abstract-logical operation functions in the form of abstract representations, symbols and numbers. operates with concepts that are not obtained empirically through the senses.

Thought processes are a cognitive process that acts in the form of a creative reflection by the subject of reality, generating such a result that does not exist directly in reality or with the subject now.

Thinking- it highest form cognitive activity of a person, a socially conditioned mental process of mediated and generalized reflection of reality, the process of searching for and discovering something essentially new.

In short, we can say that thinking- this is a mental cognitive process of reflecting the essential connections and relations of objects and phenomena of the objective world.

On the basis of thinking, a person, knowing the world, can link together individual events and phenomena with logical connections. At the same time, he generalizes the results of sensory experience, reflects the general properties of things. On this generalized basis, a person solves specific cognitive tasks. For example, we know not to smoke at a gas station, and we don't even try to do it. Our minds have built a logical connection between the explosiveness of gasoline and smoking and predicted what might happen if the safety rules were violated.

Thinking provides an answer to such questions that cannot be resolved by direct, sensory reflection. Thanks to thinking, a person correctly orients himself in the world around him, using previously obtained generalizations in a new, specific environment.

The main features of the thinking process are:

1. Generalized and indirect reflection of reality.
2. Communication with practical activities.
3. Inseparable connection with speech.
4. The presence of a problem situation and the absence of a ready-made answer.

Generalized reflection reality means that in the process of thinking we turn to that common thing that unites a similar series of objects and phenomena. For example, when we talk about furniture, we mean tables, chairs, sofas, armchairs, cabinets, etc. by this word.

indirect reflection Reality can be seen in the example of an arithmetic problem for adding several apples or for determining the speed of two trains moving towards each other. "Apples", "trains" are only symbols, conditional images, behind which there should not be specific fruits or compositions at all.

Thinking arises from practical activities, from sensory knowledge, but goes far beyond its limits. In turn, its correctness is checked in the course of practice.

Thinking is inextricably linked to speech. It operates with concepts, which in their form are words, but in essence - the result of mental operations. In turn, as a result of thinking, verbal concepts can be refined.

Thinking takes place only when there is problem situation. If the old methods of action can be dispensed with, then thinking is not required.

At present, there is no unified theory in science that explains such a complex mental process as thinking. Each major direction in psychology has its own point of view on this cognitive process.

So in terms gestalt psychology the basis of thinking is the ability of the psyche to form and transform images (“gestalts”). At the same time, thinking develops in closed sphere consciousness, and is an intuitive finding of the desired result in the form of insight.

In behaviorism, thinking is the subjective reflection of complex relationships between stimulus and response.

Associative psychology reduces thinking to complex associations between traces of past experience.

Representatives activity approach in psychology, thinking is considered as a special kind of cognitive activity, which is gradually formed in children as a result of socialization and training.

From the point of view of scientists working within the framework of this direction, thinking is a life-forming ability to solve various practical and theoretical problems related to the transformation of reality.

Qualitative characteristics of thinking

Thinking, like other human cognitive processes, has a number of specific qualities (Table 9.1).

Table 9.1. Basic qualities (properties) of thinking

These qualities are present to varying degrees in different people and are important to varying degrees in solving various problem situations. Some of these qualities are more significant in solving theoretical problems, some - in solving practical issues.

Thinking is a mental process of modeling the laws of the world around on the basis of axiomatic provisions. However, in psychology there are many other definitions.

The information received by a person from the surrounding world allows a person to represent not only the external, but also the internal side of an object, to represent objects in the absence of themselves, to foresee their change in time, to rush with thought into boundless distances and the microcosm. All this is possible through the process of thinking.

Process features

The first feature of thinking is its indirect character. What a person cannot cognize directly, directly, he cognizes indirectly, indirectly: some properties through others, the unknown through the known. Thinking is always based on the data of sensory experience - sensations, perceptions, ideas - and on previously acquired theoretical knowledge. Indirect knowledge is also indirect knowledge.

The second feature of thinking is its generalization. Generalization as knowledge of the general and essential in the objects of reality is possible because all the properties of these objects are connected with each other. The general exists and manifests itself only in the individual, in the concrete.

People express generalizations through speech, language. Verbal designation refers not only to a single object, but also to a whole group of similar objects. Generalization is also inherent in images (representations 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 in a word.

Basic concepts

The results of people's cognitive activity are recorded in the form of concepts. concept- there is a reflection of the essential features of the subject. 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 cognition of the world.

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. Each judgment is a separate thought about something. A consistent logical connection of several judgments, necessary in order to solve any mental problem, understand something, find an answer to a question, is called reasoning. Reasoning has practical meaning only when it leads to a certain conclusion, a conclusion. The conclusion will be the answer to the question, the result of the search for thought.

inference- this is a conclusion from several judgments, giving us new knowledge about the objects and phenomena of the objective world. Inferences are inductive, deductive and by analogy.

Thinking and other mental processes

Thinking is the highest level of human cognition of reality. Sensual basis of thinking are sensations, perceptions and representations. Through the sense organs - these are the only channels of communication between the body and the outside world - information enters the brain. The content of information 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 connected with sensations and perceptions, but it is formed on the basis of them. The transition from sensation to thought is a complex process, which consists, first of all, in singling out and isolating an object or its attribute, in abstracting from the concrete, individual and establishing the essential, common to many objects.

For human thinking, the relationship is not more significant with sensory knowledge but with speech and language. In a stricter sense, speech is a process of communication mediated by language. If language is an objective, historically established system of codes and the subject of a special science - linguistics, then speech is a psychological process of formulating and transmitting thoughts by means of language. Modern psychology does not believe that inner speech has the same structure and the same functions as extended outer speech. By internal speech, psychology means an essential transitional stage between the idea and expanded external speech. A mechanism that allows you to recode the general meaning into a speech statement, i.e. inner speech is, first of all, not a detailed speech statement, but only a preparatory stage.

However, the inseparable connection between thinking and speech does not at all mean that thinking can be reduced to speech. Thinking and speaking are not the same thing. Thinking does not mean talking about yourself. Evidence of this is the possibility of expressing the same thought in different words, as well as the fact that we do not always find the right words to express our thought.

Types of thinking

• Imageless thinking is thinking “free” from sensory elements (images of perception and representation): understanding the meaning of verbal material often occurs without the appearance of any images in the mind.
• Thinking is visual. A way to solve intellectual problems based on internal visual images.
• Discursive thinking (discursus - reasoning) is a person's verbal thinking mediated by past experience. Verbal-logical, or verbal-logical, or abstract-conceptual, thinking. It acts as a process of coherent logical reasoning, in which each subsequent thought is conditioned by the previous one. The most detailed varieties and rules (norms) of discursive thinking are studied in logic.
• Complex thinking is the thinking of a child and an adult, carried out in the process of peculiar empirical generalizations, the basis for which are the relationships between things that are revealed in perception.
• Visual-effective thinking is one of the types of thinking, distinguished not by the type of task, but by the process and method of solution; the solution of a non-standard task is sought by observing real objects, their interactions and performing material transformations in which the subject of thinking takes part. The development of intellect begins with it both in phylo- and ontogenesis.
• Visual-figurative thinking is a type of thinking that is carried out on the basis of the transformation of images of perception into images-representations, further changes, transformations and generalizations of the subject content of representations that form a reflection of reality in a figurative-conceptual form.
• Figurative thinking is a process of cognitive activity aimed at reflecting the essential properties of objects (their parts, processes, phenomena) and the essence of their structural relationship.
• Practical thinking is a process of thinking that takes place in the course of practical activity, in contrast to theoretical thinking, aimed at solving abstract theoretical problems.
• Productive thinking is a synonym for “creative thinking” associated with problem solving: new, non-standard intellectual tasks for the subject. The most difficult task facing human thought is the task of knowing oneself.
• Theoretical thinking - the main components are meaningful abstractions, generalizations, analysis, planning and reflection. Its intensive development in its subjects is facilitated by educational activities.

Basic thought processes

The mental activity of a person is a solution to various mental problems aimed at revealing the essence of something. A mental operation is one of the ways of mental activity through which a person solves mental problems. Thinking operations are varied. These are analysis and synthesis, comparison, abstraction, concretization, generalization, classification. Which of the logical operations a person will use will depend on the task and on the nature of the information that he subjects to mental processing.

Analysis and synthesis

Analysis is the mental decomposition of the whole into parts or the mental separation of its aspects, actions, relations from the whole. Synthesis is the reverse process of thought to analysis, it is the unification of parts, properties, actions, relations into one whole. Analysis and synthesis are two interrelated logical operations. Synthesis, like analysis, can be both practical and mental. Analysis and synthesis were formed in the practical activity of man. In labor activity, people constantly interact with objects and phenomena. Practical development of them led to the formation of mental operations of analysis and synthesis.

Comparison

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 select one or more of their features, according to which the comparison will be made. The comparison can be one-sided, or incomplete, and multi-sided, or more complete. Comparison, like analysis and synthesis, can be different levels superficial and deeper. In this case, a person's thought goes from external signs of similarity and difference to internal ones, from the visible to the hidden, from the phenomenon to the essence.

abstraction

Abstraction is a process of mental abstraction from certain signs, aspects of the concrete in order to better understand it. A person mentally highlights some feature of an object and considers it in isolation from all other features, temporarily distracted from them. An isolated study of individual features of an object, while simultaneously abstracting from all the others, helps a person to better understand the essence of things and phenomena. Thanks to abstraction, a person was able to break away from the individual, concrete and rise to the highest level of knowledge - scientific theoretical thinking.

Specification

Concretization is a process that is the opposite of abstraction and is inextricably linked with it. Concretization is the return of thought from the general and abstract to the concrete in order to reveal the content. Thinking activity is always aimed at obtaining some result. A person analyzes objects, compares them, abstracts individual properties in order to reveal what is common in them, in order to reveal the patterns that govern their development, in order to master them. Generalization, therefore, is the selection in objects and phenomena of the general, which is expressed in the form of a concept, law, rule, formula, etc.

Stages of development of thinking

The ability of thinking, as a reflection of the connections and relationships existing between things, manifests itself in a person in an embryonic form already in the first months of life. Further development and improvement of this ability proceeds in connection with: a) the child's life experience, b) his practical activities, c) mastery of speech, d) the educational influence of schooling. This process of development of thinking is characterized by the following features:

• In the early childhood the child's thinking is visual and effective in nature, it is associated with the direct perception of objects and manipulation with them. The connections between things reflected in this case are at first of a generalized nature, only under the influence of life experience replaced in the future by more accurate differentiation. So, already in the first year of life, a child, having burned himself on a shiny teapot, pulls his hand away from other shiny objects. This action is based on the formation of a conditioned reflex connection between the skin sensation of a burn and the visual sensation of the shiny surface of the object on which the child was burned. Later, however, when touching shiny objects in a number of cases was not accompanied by a sensation of burning, the child begins to associate this sensation more precisely with the temperature characteristics of the objects.
• At this stage, the child is not yet capable of abstract thinking: he has concepts (still very elementary) about things and the connections existing between them only in the process of direct operation with things, the real connection and separation of things and their elements. A child of this age thinks only about what is the subject of activity; his thinking about these things ceases with the cessation of activity. Neither the past, nor even the future, are as yet the content of his thinking; he is not yet able to plan his activities, foresee its results and purposefully strive for them.
• The child's mastery of speech by the end of the second year of life significantly expands his possibilities of generalizing things and their properties. This is supported by the naming various items one and the same word (the word "table" equally refers to the dining, and kitchen, and writing tables, thus helping the child to form general concept about the table), as well as the designation of one object with different words with a broader and narrower meaning.
• The concepts of things formed by the child are still very strongly connected with their concrete images: gradually, thanks to the participation of speech, these images become more and more generalized. The concepts with which the child operates at a given stage in the development of thinking are at first simply objective in nature: an undifferentiated image of the object that he thinks about arises in the child's mind. In the future, this image becomes more differentiated in its content. Accordingly, the child's speech develops: at first, only nouns are noted in his dictionary, then adjectives appear, and finally, verbs.
• A significant restructuring of the thinking process occurs in children before school age. Communication with adults, from whom children receive verbal descriptions and explanations of phenomena, expands and deepens children's knowledge about the world around them. In this regard, the child's thinking gets the opportunity to focus on phenomena that are only thought and are no longer the object of his direct activity. The content of concepts begins to be enriched at the expense of conceivable connections and relationships, although reliance on concrete, visual material remains for a long time, right up to primary school age. The child begins to be interested in causal connections and relationships of things. In this regard, he begins to compare and contrast phenomena, more accurately identify their essential features, while operating with the simplest abstract concepts (material, weight, number, etc.). For all that, the thinking of preschool children is imperfect, replete with numerous errors and inaccuracies, which is due to the lack of necessary knowledge and lack of life experience.
• At primary school age, children begin to develop the ability for purposeful mental activity. This is facilitated by the program and teaching methods aimed at communicating to children a certain system of knowledge, mastering certain methods of thinking through exercise under the guidance of a teacher (when explanatory reading, when solving problems for certain rules, etc.), enrichment and development in the process of teaching correct speech . The child increasingly begins to use abstract concepts in the process of thinking, but on the whole his thinking continues to be based on concrete perceptions and ideas.
• The ability for abstract-logical thinking develops and improves in middle and especially in senior school age. This is facilitated by the assimilation of the fundamentals of science. In this regard, the thinking of high school students proceeds already on the basis of scientific concepts, which reflect the most significant features and the relationship of phenomena. Students are accustomed to the exact logical definition of concepts, their thinking in the learning process acquires a planned, conscious character. This is expressed in the purposefulness of thinking, in the ability to build proofs of the propositions put forward or analyzed, to analyze them, to find and correct errors made in reasoning. Great importance at the same time, speech acquires - the ability of the student to accurately and clearly express his thoughts in words.

Thinking strategies

When solving any problems, we use one of three thinking strategies.

• Random bust. This strategy is consistent with trial and error. That is, an assumption is formulated (or a choice is made), after which its validity is assessed. So the assumptions are put forward until the correct solution is found.
• Rational enumeration. With this strategy, a person explores some central, least risky assumption, and then, changing one element at a time, cuts off the wrong search directions. By the way, artificial intelligence operates on this principle.
• Systematic enumeration. With this strategy of thinking, a person covers with his mind the entire set of possible hypotheses and systematically analyzes them one by one. Systematic enumeration is rarely used in everyday life, but it is this strategy that allows you to most fully develop plans for long-term or complex actions.

Psychologist Carol Dweck has been studying performance and mindset throughout her career, and her latest research has shown that the predisposition to success depends more on the attitude to problems than on high IQ. Dweck found that there are two types of mindset: fixed mindset and growth mindset.

If you have a fixed mindset, then you are sure that you are who you are and cannot change it. This creates problems when life challenges you: if you feel like you need to do more than you can handle, you feel hopeless about the undertaking. People with a growth mindset believe that they can become better if they put in the effort. They are superior to people with a fixed mind, even if their intelligence is lower. People with a growth mindset see challenges as an opportunity to learn something new.

No matter what type of mindset you currently have, you can develop a growth mindset.

• Don't be helpless. Each of us finds ourselves in situations where we feel helpless. The question is how we respond to this feeling. We can either learn the lesson and move on, or give up. A bunch of successful people they would not have become such if they had succumbed to a sense of helplessness.

Walt Disney was fired from the Kansas City Star newspaper for "lacking imagination and lacking good ideas", Oprah Winfrey was fired from her position as a TV presenter in Baltimore because she was "too emotionally involved in her stories", Henry Ford (Henry Ford) had two failed car companies before Ford opened, and Steven Spielberg (Steven Spielberg ) was expelled several times from the School of Cinematic Arts at the University of Southern California.

• Give in to passion. Inspired people incessantly pursue their passions. There can always be someone more talented than you, but what you lack in talent can be made up for with passion. Thanks to passion, the desire for perfection in inspired people does not weaken.

Warren Buffett advises finding your passion with the 5/25 technique. Make a list of 25 things that are important to you. Then cross off 20 starting from the bottom. The remaining 5 are your true passions. Everything else is just entertainment.

• Take action. The difference between people with a growth mindset is not that they are braver than others and able to overcome their fears, but that they understand that fear and anxiety paralyze, and The best way deal with paralysis - do something. People with a growth mindset have an inner core, they realize that they don't have to wait for the perfect moment to move forward. By taking action, we transform worry and anxiety into positive directed energy.
• Walk an extra mile or two. Strong people do their best even on their worst days. They always push themselves to go a little further.
• Expect results. Growth mindsets understand that they will fail from time to time, but that doesn't stop them from expecting results. Expecting results keeps you motivated and pushes you to improve.
• Be flexible. Everyone faces unforeseen difficulties. Inspired people with a growth mindset see it as an opportunity to get better, not an excuse to give up on a goal. When life is challenging strong people will look for options until they get a result.

• Research shows that chewing gum improves thinking skills. Chewing gum increases blood flow to the brain. Such people have best abilities to concentration of attention and memorization of information. It is good to use chewing gums that do not contain sugar to avoid any side effects.
• When you study, try to activate all the senses. Different parts of the brain store different sensory data. For example, one part of the brain is responsible for recognizing and remembering pictures, and another part is responsible for sounds.
• As has been said, puzzles can actually be very rewarding. They make you seriously think about something. They stimulate the brain, and also awaken in a person the ability to comprehend. Try to buy a puzzle magazine to practice more.
• After a healthy sleep, it will be easier for you to think.
• Mediation improves thinking. Every day, devote 5 minutes to such activities in the morning and the same amount of time before bed.

Thinking is mental and psychological process finding the right solution based on the available data about the problem or task, as well as possible ways to solve it with the greatest benefit for the applicant or at the lowest cost for him.

This term can also be called the process of cognition of the surrounding world in the physical or sensual plane. Thanks to him, there is imagination, memory and speech.

The sciences that study thinking include:

• Philosophy: studies the interaction of thought and being, and also often considers it as consciousness, spirit, or psyche;
• psychology is interested in it as the cause of the appearance of the results of work, as well as the process of its action, how it is carried out and due to what. Unlike logic, psychology studies it, including in a disturbed and distorted form;
• neurophysiology studies the mechanisms by which it is carried out;
• logic is only interested in true or correct thinking ();
• sociology studies this concept from the point of view of social groups;
• cybernetics is interested in it within the framework of artificial intelligence.

• understanding or analysis of the conditions of what is happening;
• solving a problem or setting the goal of the search, and later the connection between the known information and the unknown;
• building a chain of goals that will lead to the solution of an existing problem;
• analysis of his way of thinking, behavior or actions (reflection) allows a person to achieve goals and control himself.

The word "thinking" comes from the word "think". Thanks to the palatalization of sounds in the southern and eastern languages ​​of the Slavic group, the sound combination [sl '] turned into [sl ']. Changes occurred in the Proto-Slavic period.

What theories are being studied?

Depending on the understanding and perspective of studying the concept, the following theories and schools are distinguished:

• Associative. Mental processes proceed due to associations, and everything that is in the psyche is sensory representations connected by the same associations. Thinking consists of judgment and inference. Judgment is associated representations, inference is judgments associated with each other, as a result of which a third judgment arises from them as a conclusion.
• associationist. The development of thinking is considered the process of accumulation of associations, which occurs spontaneously.
• Theory of the Würzburg School. Thinking was considered an internal act or action. It was believed that thought develops due to the interaction of different opinions. For the first time, it was singled out as an independent activity. According to representatives of the school, it is not connected with practical activities, speech and sensual images.
• Logics studies this process from the point of view of its structure of thoughts, the correctness and incorrectness of reasoning, abstracting from the specific content of thoughts and their development.
• V gestalt psychology- this is a sudden process of highlighting significant features of the task.
• Thinking as reflection, contemplation and a way of solving problems;
• Thinking as activity;
• V humanistic psychology the problems of self-actualization and their influence on thought processes are studied.
• Information-cybernetic theory. It is based on the concepts of algorithm, operation, cycle and information. The first denotes a sequence of actions, the implementation of which leads to the solution of the problem; the second concerns a particular action, its character; the third refers to the repeated execution of the same actions until the desired result is obtained; the fourth includes the totality of information transferred from one operation to another in the process of solving the problem.
• Behaviorism considers thinking as learning, the formation of the skill of solving an intellectual practical problem.
• Theory of motivation studies the connection of thinking with the possible motivation that drives a person.

Thought processes in philosophy

Thinking is distinguishing feature man from an animal, which allows you to study and learn environment in a special way. It, unlike sensations or feelings, occurs consciously.

The psychophysiological problem in philosophy is the problem of the relationship between the body and the soul of a person.

Aristotle considered it as the only effective way to know the world. In his opinion, the goal of a thinking person is to generalize knowledge and move in his reasoning. from particular to whole. The philosopher considered the human body and soul to be inseparable.

Socrates connected thinking with the moral development of man. It is part of self-improvement and knowledge of oneself in the world. moral man cannot be non-thinking.

According to Marcus Aurelius, in addition to the body and soul, a person also has a mind.

In the medieval period, the scholastics believed that the human mind is God's grace. Scholastic views were a synthesis of ancient and religious thoughts. Thinking was approved only for charitable purposes, and not for studying the surrounding world. Philosophy and other sciences in this period were increasingly inferior to theology.

In modern times, thinking and being were the most important categories of study. Then came the catchphrase of Rene Descartes: “ I think, therefore I am". His theory was later called Cartesianism. If it is impossible to explain the situation with the help of rational judgments, the Cartesians turned to myths. According to the philosopher, thought does not interact with the body and vice versa. However, the physical and mental in a person are connected only thanks to Divine Providence.

Spinoza considered the psychophysiological problem to be false. Thinking and body, according to the author, are only two attributes of one person, and not different matters, as in Descartes.

Voltaire also opposed Cartesian duality.

Leibniz put forward the theory of psychophysiological parallelism: two matters are not connected with each other and work in parallel.

The opponent of the Cartesians was Emmanuel Kant, he believed that thinking is based on experiment, and it is impossible to separate empiricism and rationalism. The philosopher created a typology of thinking, dividing formal and dialectical thinking, concrete and abstract, practical and dialectical.

In the 19th century, Jules Poincare denied a priori knowledge and the ability of a person to objectively evaluate what is happening. Any theories, in his opinion, depend on the type of thinking of the author himself.

The German philosopher J. Molleschot declared the dependence of mental and spiritual processes on the physiological nature of man.

Scientists of the 1950s considered reflex activity as both physiological and psychological.

Thinking in psychology

cognitive

Thinking is associated with the processing of information and is studied in this context. Its development is possible with the emergence of symbolic functions and the formation of concepts. Internal cognitive structures include images and concepts, thanks to them a person has the opportunity to study the world understand it and apply knowledge in further cognitive activity.

She seeks to study it, memory and perception are not isolated. cognitive psychology developed a huge arsenal of methods and methods, and also developed a lot of theoretical models that can explain some aspects of the thought process.

Clinical

The study takes into account the following factors: appearance patient, speech, behavior. A reliable analysis requires the study of each of its stages and the entire mental course of the patient. When contacting a patient, it is important to establish the presence or absence of delusions, fears, false ideas, and also to find out what attitude the patient has towards them now and earlier, in addition, it is necessary to understand how the thinking of a person affects behavior.

To analyze the thought process of patients, clinical psychology also uses drawings, diagrams, or letters written to someone.

In pathopsychological diagnostics, the following methods are used for analysis:

• folding pictures;
• understanding of literary texts;
• determining the sequence of events and others.

Analysis in clinical psychology is important for determining the disease and, accordingly, the course of treatment.

Psychoanalysis

In psychoanalysis, thinking is seen as motivational process, i.e., its type and character are associated with the motivation of the person, but not with an active understanding of one's goal or needs, but with deep motivation. For example, Z. Freud, in his work on wit and its relation to the unconscious, argued that wit is the result or sign of a creative thought process that arose due to the dissatisfaction of one's needs in the past.

These processes are associated either with deep motives or with motives for getting what you want, which can also be deep, and therefore may not be realized by a person.

Their connection with motivation has been studied only indirectly in psychoanalysis. Psychoanalysis does not provide information on how practical motivation affects the organization and structure of this process.

E. Bleiler owns the theory of autistic thinking in psychoanalysis. The author believes that autism is a form in which a person's inner world dominates over the outer. There is no clear difference between autistic and ordinary thought processes, since the autistic is able to penetrate the ordinary. Autistic processes give expression to the latent tendencies and drives of a person. There is no time for this form, because it is not important.

Human thinking, according to E. Bleuler, is connected and explained by affective needs, fears, desires or complexes. Sometimes people unconsciously choose a certain form to protect themselves from the outside world.

Physiology

The thought process is both the highest form of reflection of reality and the psychological act of achieving the goal. It is possible only if there is motivation. Mental activity is realized through speech. In accordance with neurophysiological and neuropsychological studies, subject-figurative thinking exists thanks to the right hemisphere of the large brain, and abstract and verbal-logical thinking - to the left. Mental disorders are possible with damage to the parieto-occipital and temporal regions of the left hemisphere of the brain.

Social Psychology

Thinking is one of the most important characteristics of a person and society. Its development is possible only in society and through communication with other members of this society. Its emergence in sociology is a dialogue with oneself.

Human interaction with society continuously influences thought processes. People spend at least a third of their lives on learning how to survive in society. Some scientists believe that this period is much longer and is the whole life of a person.

The socialization of a person begins from birth, when parents teach him elementary skills, bring up some moral qualities in him, and lay in the offspring some kind of behavior model in society. After a person is influenced by his friends, classmates, and later spouse, colleagues and other people. The influence of society is inevitable, because in order to live in society, it is necessary to adapt and adapt to the general rules in society. Even with deliberate resistance to established norms of life, an unconscious influence on a person’s thought processes is inevitable, because. a person does not live apart in a forest or in a desert, but lives in society.

The collective unconscious, according to the works of K.-G. Jung, is universal and can be found everywhere. These are archetypes that existed before the birth of man. Archetypes may include patterns of behavior, feelings, experiences that can be found in mythological motifs.

The personal unconscious is those traits or elements of a person's personality that were suppressed in him due to education. You can make a person forget memories, painful thoughts, unconscious feelings, complexes.

Can these skills be developed?

Thinking skills can be developed throughout life. The main thing is not to stop there, be curious and not rely on the unconscious. To develop these abilities, it is recommended to ask yourself the right questions, and find other right questions to your questions, since the search for an answer breeds an even greater search for answers. The more a person knows, the more he understands that he still does not understand much.

The right questions are needed by a person to filter out unnecessary information that does not bring any benefit and takes only a person’s thoughts and his time. Timely questions help develop thinking and memory.

For development, it is important to be able to switch from one information to another, as well as to feel the relationship between them for further use of this information. It is important to remain curious, thoughtful, and interested in information.

Thinking- a form of reflection that establishes connections and relationships between cognizable objects. To think means to perform operations using formal logic.

Perspectives on the problem. Definition of the concept of thinking

From the point of view of psychology

In psychology, thinking is a set of mental processes that underlie cognition; Thinking refers to the active side of cognition: attention, perception, the process of associations, the formation of concepts and judgments. In a closer logical sense, thinking includes only the formation of judgments and conclusions through the analysis and synthesis of concepts.

Thinking is a mediated and generalized reflection of reality, a type of mental activity, which consists in knowing the essence of things and phenomena, regular connections and relationships between them.

Thinking as one of the mental functions is a mental process of reflection and cognition of the essential connections and relations of objects and phenomena of the objective world.