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 cognitivepsychology 

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