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Specificity and features of thinking.

The specificity of thinking is that:

Thinking makes it possible to understand the deep essence of the objective world, the laws of its existence;

Only in thinking is it possible to understand the becoming, changing, developing world;

Thinking allows you to foresee the future, operate with what is potentially possible, and plan practical activities.

For the psychological analysis of thinking, it is important to point out two more of its features that characterize the specific qualities of human thinking - the connection of thinking with action and speech. “Thinking is closely connected with action. A person cognizes reality by influencing it, understands the world by changing it. Thinking is not simply accompanied by action, or action by thinking; action is the primary form of existence of thinking. Primary view thinking is thinking in action and by action, thinking that occurs in action and is revealed in action” (S.L. Rubinstein).

The thinking process is characterized by the following features (see Fig. 2):

Rice. 2. Features of the thinking process

1. Thinking always has an indirect nature. Establishing connections and relationships between objects and phenomena of the objective world, a person relies not only on immediate sensations and perceptions, but also on data from past experience preserved in memory.

2. Thinking is based on the knowledge a person has about the general laws of nature and society. In the process of thinking, a person uses knowledge already formed on the basis of previous practice general provisions, which reflect the most general connections and patterns of the surrounding world.

3. Thinking comes from “living contemplation”, but is not reduced to it. Reflecting connections and relationships between phenomena, we always reflect these connections in an abstract and generalized form, as having general meaning for all similar phenomena of a given class, and not just for a given, specifically observed phenomenon.

4. Thinking is always a reflection of connections and relationships between objects in verbal form. Thinking and speech are always in inextricable unity. Due to the fact that thinking takes place in words, the processes of abstraction and generalization are facilitated, since words by their nature are very special stimuli that signal reality in the most generalized form.

5. Human thinking is organically connected with practical activity. In its essence, it is based on human social practice. This is by no means a simple “contemplation” of the external world, but a reflection of it that meets the tasks that arise before a person in the process of labor and other activities aimed at reorganizing the world around him.

To describe the manifestations of thinking, psychology uses the definition of thinking in a broad sense: this is the active cognitive activity of the subject, necessary for his full orientation in the surrounding natural and social world. To study specific psychological mechanisms thinking in psychology speaks of thinking in the narrow sense as a process of problem solving.

Fundamentals of Thinking

Cognizing and transforming the world, a person reveals stable, natural connections between phenomena. These connections are reflected in our consciousness indirectly - a person recognizes in the external signs of phenomena signs of internal, stable relationships. Whether we determine, looking out the window from the wet asphalt, whether it was raining, whether we establish the laws of movement of heavenly bodies - in all these cases we reflect the world in general And indirectly- comparing facts, making conclusions, identifying patterns in various groups phenomena. Man without seeing elementary particles, learned their properties and, without having visited Mars, learned a lot about it.

Noticing connections between phenomena and establishing the universal nature of these connections, a person actively masters the world and rationally organizes his interaction with it. A generalized and indirect (sign) orientation in a sensory-perceptible environment allows the archaeologist and investigator to reconstruct the real course of past events, and the astronomer to look not only into the past, but also into the distant future. Not only in science and professional activities, but also in all everyday life activities, a person constantly uses knowledge, concepts, general ideas, generalized schemes, reveals the objective meaning and subjective meaning of the phenomena surrounding him, finds a way out of a variety of problematic situations, and solves the problems that arise before him. In all these cases, he carries out mental activity.

- the mental process of a generalized and indirect reflection of stable, regular properties and relationships of reality, essential for resolving cognitive problems.

Thinking forms the structure of individual consciousness, the classification and evaluation standards of the individual, his generalized assessments, his characteristic interpretation of phenomena, and ensures their understanding.

To understand something means to include something new in the system of existing meanings and meanings.

In the process of historical development of mankind, mental acts began to obey a system of logical rules. Many of these rules have acquired an axiomatic character. Stable forms of objectification of the results of mental activity have formed: concepts, judgments, conclusions.

How mental activity thinking is a problem solving process. This process has a certain structure - stages and mechanisms for solving cognitive problems.

Each person has his own style and strategy of thinking - cognitive (from the Latin cognitio - knowledge) style, cognitive attitudes and categorical structure (semantic, semantic space).

All higher mental functions of a person were formed in the process of his social and labor practice, in inextricable unity with the emergence and development of language. The semantic categories expressed in language form the content of human consciousness.

An individual's thinking is mediated by his speech. A thought is formed through its verbal formulation.

“The “spirit” is cursed from the very beginning to be “burdened down” by matter, which appears... in the form of language.” However, thinking and language cannot be identified. Language is a tool of thought. The basis of a language is its grammatical structure. The basis of thinking is the laws of the world, its universal relationships, enshrined in concepts.

Classification of thinking phenomena

In the diverse phenomena of thinking, the following are distinguished:

• mental activity- a system of mental actions, operations aimed at solving a specific problem;
• : comparison, generalization, abstraction, classification, systematization and specification;
• forms of thinking: concept, judgment, inference;
• types of thinking: practical-effective, visual-figurative and theoretical-abstract.

Mental activity

According to the operational structure, mental activity is divided into algorithmic carried out according to previously known rules, and heuristic— creative solution of non-standard problems.

According to the degree of abstraction, it stands out empirical And theoretical thinking.

All acts of thought are performed on the basis of interaction analysis and synthesis, which act as two interconnected aspects of the thought process (correlated with the analytical-synthetic mechanism of higher nervous activity).

When characterizing individual thinking, we take into account qualities of mind- systematicity, consistency, evidence, flexibility, speed, etc., as well as individual's type of thinking, his intellectual features.

Mental activity is carried out in the form of mental operations that transform into each other: comparison, generalization, abstraction, classification, concretization. Mental operations — mental actions, covering reality with three interconnected universal forms of cognition: concept, judgment and inference.

Comparison- a mental operation that reveals the identity and difference of phenomena and their properties, allowing for the classification of phenomena and their generalization. Comparison is an elementary primary form of cognition. Initially, identity and difference are established as external relations. But then, when comparison is synthesized with generalization, ever deeper connections and relationships are revealed, essential features of phenomena of the same class.

Comparison underlies the stability of our consciousness, its differentiation (immiscibility of concepts). Generalizations are made based on comparison.

Generalization- a property of thinking and at the same time a central mental operation. Generalization can be carried out at two levels. The first, elementary level is the connection of similar objects based on external characteristics (generalization). But the true cognitive value is the generalization of the second, more high level, when in a group of objects and phenomena essential common features are identified.

Human thinking moves from fact to generalization, from phenomenon to essence. Thanks to generalizations, a person foresees the future and orients himself in the specific. Generalization begins to arise already during the formation of ideas, but in full form embodied in the concept. When mastering concepts, we are distracted from random properties objects and highlight only their essential properties.

Elementary generalizations are made on the basis of comparisons, and the highest form of generalizations is made on the basis of isolating what is essentially common, revealing natural connections and relationships, i.e. based on abstraction.

Abstraction(Latin abstractio - abstraction) - the operation of reflecting individual properties of phenomena that are significant in some respect.

In the process of abstraction, a person, as it were, clears an object of side features that make it difficult to study it in a certain direction. Correct scientific abstractions reflect reality deeper and more fully than direct impressions. Based on generalization and abstraction, classification and specification are carried out.

Classification— grouping of objects according to essential characteristics. In contrast to classification, the basis of which should be characteristics that are significant in some respect, systematization sometimes allows the choice as a basis of features that are unimportant, but operationally convenient (for example, in alphabetical catalogs).

At the highest stage of cognition, a transition from the abstract to the concrete occurs.

Specification(from Latin concretio - fusion) - cognition of an integral object in the totality of its essential relationships, theoretical reconstruction of an integral object. Concretization is the highest stage in the knowledge of the objective world. Cognition starts from the sensory diversity of the concrete, abstracts from its individual aspects and, finally, mentally recreates the concrete in its essential completeness. The transition from the abstract to the concrete is the theoretical mastery of reality. The sum of concepts gives the concrete in its entirety.

As a result of the application of the laws of formal thinking, people's ability to obtain inferential knowledge was formed. A science about formalized structures of thoughts arose - formal logic.

Forms of thinking

Formalized thought structures— forms of thinking: concept, judgment, inference.

Concept- a form of thinking that reflects the essential properties of a homogeneous group of objects and phenomena. The more essential features of objects are reflected in the concept, the more effectively human activity is organized. Thus, the modern concept of “structure atomic nucleus"to a certain extent made it possible to practically use atomic energy.

Judgment- certain knowledge about an object, affirmation or denial of any of its properties, connections and relationships. The formation of a judgment occurs as the formation of a thought in a sentence. A judgment is a sentence that states the relationship between an object and its properties. The connection of things is reflected in thinking as a connection of judgments. Depending on the content of the objects reflected in the judgment and their properties, the following types of judgment are distinguished: private And general, conditional And categorical, affirmative And negative.

The judgment expresses not only knowledge about the subject, but also subjective attitude person to this knowledge, varying degrees confidence in the truth of this knowledge (for example, in problematic judgments like “perhaps the accused Ivanov did not commit a crime”).

The truth of a system of judgments is the subject of formal logic. The psychological aspects of judgment are the motivation and purposefulness of an individual’s judgments.

IN psychologically the connection between an individual's judgments is considered as his rational activity.

In inference, the operation is carried out with the general that is contained in the individual. Thinking develops in the process of constant transitions from the individual to the general and from the general to the individual, that is, on the basis of the relationship of induction and deduction, respectively.

Deduction is a reflection of the general connectedness of phenomena, categorical coverage of a specific phenomenon by its general connections, analysis of the specific in a system of generalized knowledge. Professor of Medicine at the University of Edinburgh J. Bell once amazed A. Conan Doyle (the future creator of the image of the famous detective) with his keen powers of observation. When another patient entered the clinic, Bell asked him:

• Have you served in the army?
• Yes sir! - the patient answered.
• In a mountain rifle regiment?
• That's right, Mister Doctor.
• Recently retired?
• Yes sir!
• Have you been to Barbados?
• Yes sir! — the retired sergeant was amazed.

Bell explained to the surprised students: this man, being polite, did not take off his hat when entering the office - his army habit affected him; as for Barbados, this is evidenced by his illness, which is common only among the inhabitants of this area (Fig. 75).

Inductive Inference- probabilistic inference, when, based on individual signs of certain phenomena, a judgment is made about all objects of a given class. Hasty generalization without sufficient evidence is a common error in inductive reasoning.

So, in thinking, objective essential properties and relationships of phenomena are modeled, they are objectified and fixed in the form of concepts, judgments, and inferences.

Rice. 75. The relationship between the individual and the general in the system of inferences. Determine the starting and ending points of the route of the owner of this suitcase. Analyze the type of inference you used

Patterns and features of thinking

Let's consider the basic patterns of thinking.

1. Thinking arises in connection with solving a problem; the condition for its occurrence is problematic situation - circumstance. in which a person encounters something new, incomprehensible from the point of view of existing knowledge. This situation is characterized lack of initial information. the emergence of a certain cognitive barrier, difficulties that must be overcome with the help of the subject’s intellectual activity - by finding the necessary cognitive strategies.

2. The main mechanism of thinking, his general pattern is analysis through synthesis: identifying new properties in an object (analysis) through its correlation (synthesis) with other objects. In the process of thinking, the object of cognition is constantly “involved in ever new connections and, because of this, appears in ever new qualities, which are fixed in new concepts: from the object, thus, as if all new content is drawn out, it seems to turn each time with its other side , more and more new properties are revealed in it.”

The process of cognition begins with primary synthesis - perception of an undifferentiated whole (phenomenon, situation). Next, based on the primary analysis, secondary synthesis.

At primary analysis a problem situation requires orientation to key initial data that allows one to reveal hidden information in the initial information. The discovery of a key, essential feature in the initial situation makes it possible to understand the dependence of some phenomena on others. At the same time, it is important to identify signs of possibility - impossibility, as well as necessity.

In conditions of a shortage of initial information, a person does not act by trial and error, but applies a certain search strategy - optimal scheme for achieving the goal. The purpose of these strategies is to cover a non-standard situation with the most optimal common approaches - heuristic search methods. These include: temporary simplification of the situation; use of analogies; solving auxiliary problems; consideration of “edge cases”; reformulation of task requirements; temporary blocking of some components in the analyzed system; making “leaps” across information “gaps”.

So, analysis through synthesis is the cognitive “unfolding” of the object of knowledge, studying it from different angles, finding its place in new relationships, and mentally experimenting with it.

3. Thinking must be reasonable. This requirement is due to the fundamental property of material reality: every fact, every phenomenon is prepared by previous facts and phenomena. Nothing happens without a good reason. The law of sufficient reason requires that in any reasoning a person’s thoughts be internally interconnected and follow from one another. Each particular thought must be justified by a more general thought.

The laws of the material world are enshrined in the laws of formal logic, which should also be understood as the laws of thinking, or more precisely, as the laws of the interrelation of the products of thinking.

4. Another pattern of thinking - selectivity(from Latin selectio - choice, selection) - the ability of the intellect to quickly select the knowledge necessary for a given situation, mobilize it to solve the problem, bypassing the mechanical search of all possible options(which is typical for computers). To do this, an individual’s knowledge must be systematized, brought into hierarchically organized structures.

5. Anticipation(Latin anticipatio - anticipation) means anticipation of events. A person is able to foresee the development of events, predict their outcome, and schematically represent the most likely solution to the problem. Forecasting events is one of the main functions of the human psyche. Human thinking is based on high-probability forecasting.

The key elements of the initial situation are identified, a system of subtasks is outlined, an operational scheme is determined - the system possible actions over the object of knowledge.

6. Reflexivity(from Latin reflexio - reflection) - self-reflection of the subject. The thinking subject constantly reflects - reflects the course of his thinking, critically evaluates it, and develops self-assessment criteria.

7. Characteristic of thinking constant relationship his subconscious and conscious components- deliberately deployed. verbalized and intuitively collapsed, non-verbalized.

8. The thought process, like any process, has structural organization. It has certain structural stages.

Thinking - this is a mental cognitive process of reflecting significant connections and relationships of objects and phenomena of the objective world.

The thinking process is characterized by the following features.

1. Thinking always has indirect nature. Establishing connections and relationships between objects and phenomena of the objective world, a person relies not only on immediate sensations and perceptions, but also on the data of past experience preserved in his memory.

2. Thinking based on available to a person knowledge about the general laws of nature and society. In the process of thinking, a person uses the knowledge of general provisions that has already been established on the basis of previous practice, which reflects the most general connections and patterns of the surrounding world.

3. Thinking comes from “living contemplation”, but is not reduced to it. Reflecting connections and relationships between phenomena, we always reflect them in an abstract and generalized form, as having a general meaning for all similar phenomena of a given class, and not just for a specific, specifically observed phenomenon.

4. Thinking is always there reflection of connections and relationships between objects in verbal form. Thinking and speech are always in inextricable unity. Due to the fact that thinking is reflected in words, the processes of abstraction and generalization are facilitated, since words by their nature are very special stimuli that signal reality in the most generalized form.

5. Human thinking is organic associated with practical activities. In its content it is based on human social practice. This is by no means a simple “contemplation” of the external world, but a reflection of it that meets the tasks that arise before a person in the process of labor and other types of life activity aimed at reorganizing the world around him.

There are certain operations of thinking.

Analysis- the mental operation of dividing a complex object into its constituent parts.

Synthesis- a mental operation that allows one to move from parts to the whole in a single analytical-synthetic process of thinking.

Comparison- an operation consisting of comparing objects and phenomena, their properties and relationships with each other and thus identifying the commonality or differences between them.

Abstraction- a mental operation based on abstracting from unimportant signs of objects, phenomena and highlighting the main, main thing in them.

Generalization- the unification of many objects or phenomena according to some common characteristic.

Specification- movement of thought from the general to the specific.

There are specific forms of thinking.

Concept- reflection in the human mind of the general and essential properties of an object or phenomenon.

Judgment- the main form of thinking, during which connections between objects and phenomena of reality are affirmed or reflected.

Inference- isolating a new judgment from one or more judgments. There are inferences inductive, deductive, by analogy.

By analogy is an inference in which a conclusion is made on the basis of partial similarities between phenomena without sufficient examination of all conditions.

There are certain types of thinking.

Visually effective- thinking directly involved in activity.

Figurative- thinking carried out on the basis of images, ideas of what a person perceived before.

Abstract- thinking that occurs on the basis of abstract concepts that are not represented figuratively.

And finally, there are certain ways of thinking.

Induction- a way of thinking in which inference proceeds from individual facts to a general conclusion.

Deduction- a way of thinking carried out in the reverse order of induction.

1. The concept of thinking, its essence, features

1.1 Concept of thinking

1.2 Psychological essence thinking and its features

1.3 Typology and qualities of thinking

1.4 Types of thinking

1.5 Individual psychological characteristics of thinking

2. The concept of creativity

3. The concept of creative thinking

4. The importance of creative thinking, problems of trait development creative personality and some recommendations for their solution

5. Features of creative personalities

Conclusion

List of used literature

INTRODUCTION

The problem of creative thinking has become so relevant these days that it is rightfully considered the “problem of the century.” Creative thinking is far from new item research. It has always interested thinkers of all eras and aroused the desire to create a “theory of creativity.”

Currently, the absolute value of personality-oriented education is the person. And as a global goal they consider a person of culture: a free, humane, spiritual, creative personality. The main thing in a person is a focus on the future, towards the free realization of one’s potentials, especially creative ones, towards strengthening self-confidence and the possibility of achieving an ideal “I”.

In the new sociocultural situation, the humanistic paradigm is the main idea of ​​psychological and pedagogical thinking. For her, personality is a unique value system, which represents an open possibility of self-actualization, inherent only to man. Recognition of human creative freedom is the main wealth of society. And the personality is the bearer of the objectively not predetermined, which, with its will, imagination, creativity and stubbornness, supports the subtle mechanisms of self-organization of existence and, on their basis, the emergence of order from chaos.

The main value of humanistic personality-oriented equipment is creativity as a way of human development in culture. The creative orientation of training and education allows for the implementation of personality-oriented education as a process of development and satisfaction of the needs of a person as a subject of life, culture and history.

Currently there is an acute social need in creativity and creative individuals. The desire to realize oneself, to demonstrate one’s capabilities is the guiding principle that manifests itself in all forms of human life - the desire for development, expansion, improvement, maturity, the tendency to express and manifest all the abilities of the body and the “I”.

Research by foreign psychologists and educators: R. Sternberg, J. Guilford, M. Wollach, E.P. Torrance, L. Theremin, as well as domestic ones: Danilova V.L., Shadrikova V.D., Mednik S., Galperin P.Ya., Kalmykova Z.I., Khozratova N.V., Bogoyavlensky D.B. , Ponomareva Y.A., Alieva E.G., Pushkina V.N., Tyutyunnik V.I., Gnatko N.M., Druzhinina V.N., in the field of creative thinking are theoretically justified, but work is being done to improve this property continue to develop. Much attention focuses on identifying the mechanisms of creative activity and the nature of creative thinking.

The study of creative thinking is a rather complex problem that involves solving the most important methodological issues of the nature of creativity, sources of development of creative thinking, the relationship in this process of biological and social, objective and subjective, individual and social, etc. The complexity of the problem lies in the fact that the internal essence of the phenomenon is inaccessible to direct research. Therefore, despite the centuries-old history of study, creative thinking remains insufficiently studied.

1. THE CONCEPT OF THINKING, ITS ESSENCE, TYPES, FEATURES

1.1 Concept of thinking In the process of sensation and perception, a person learns the world as a result of its direct, sensory reflection. However, internal patterns, the essence of things, cannot be reflected directly in our consciousness. Not a single pattern can be perceived directly by the senses. Cognition is based on identifying connections and relationships between things. Thinking is an indirect and generalized reflection of the essential, natural relationships of reality. This is a generalized orientation in specific situations of reality. 1.2 Psychological essence of thinking and its features Thinking as a phenomenon that provides a generic feature of a person, in the structure of the human psyche refers to mental cognitive processes that provide people with primary reflection and awareness of the influences of the surrounding reality. Traditional definitions of thinking in psychological science usually fix its two essential features: generalization and indirectness, i.e. . thinking is the process of a generalized and indirect reflection of reality in its essential connections and relationships. Thinking is a process of cognitive activity in which the subject operates various types generalizations, including images, concepts and categories. The essence of thinking is to perform certain cognitive operations with images in the internal picture of the world. These operations make it possible to build and complete a changing model of the world. 1.3 Typology and qualities of thinking In psychological science, there are such logical forms of thinking as: concepts, judgments, conclusions. A concept is a reflection in the human mind of the general and essential properties of an object or phenomenon. A concept is a form of thinking that reflects the individual and the particular, which is at the same time universal. The concept acts both as a form of thinking and as a special mental action. Behind each concept there is a special objective action hidden. Concepts can be: general and individual, concrete and abstract, empirical and theoretical. A general concept is a thought that reflects the general, essential and distinctive (specific) characteristics of objects and phenomena of reality. A single concept is a thought that reflects the characteristics inherent only to a separate object and phenomenon. Depending on the type of abstraction and generalizations underlying it, concepts can be empirical or theoretical. Empirical concepts capture similar items in each distinct class of items based on comparison. The specific content of the theoretical concept is the objective connection between the universal and the individual (whole and different). Concepts are formed in socio-historical experience. A person acquires a system of concepts in the process of life and activity. The content of concepts is revealed in judgments, which are always expressed in verbal form - oral or written, out loud or silently. Judgment is the main form of thinking, during which connections between objects and phenomena of reality are affirmed or denied. Judgment is a reflection of the connections between objects and phenomena of reality or between their properties and characteristics. Judgments are formed in two main ways: directly, when they express what is perceived; indirectly - through inferences or reasoning. Judgments can be: true, false, general, particular, individual. True judgments are objectively true judgments. False judgments are judgments that do not correspond to objective reality. Judgments can be general, particular and individual. In general judgments, something is affirmed (or denied) regarding all objects of a given group, a given class. In private judgments, affirmation or negation no longer applies to all, but only to some objects. In single judgments - to only one. Inference is the derivation of a new judgment from one or more judgments. The initial judgments from which another judgment is derived are called premises of the inference. The simplest and typical form of inference based on particular and general premises is a syllogism. Inferences are distinguished: inductive, deductive, by analogy. Inductive inference is such an inference in which reasoning proceeds from individual facts to a general conclusion. A deductive conclusion is one in which reasoning is carried out in the reverse order of induction, i.e. from general facts to a single conclusion. An analogy is an inference in which a conclusion is drawn on the basis of partial similarities between phenomena, without sufficient examination of all conditions. 1.4 Types of thinking In psychology, the following several are accepted and widespread: conditional classification types of thinking on such various grounds as: the genesis of development, the nature of the problems being solved, the degree of development, the degree of novelty and originality, means of thinking, functions of thinking, etc. According to the genesis of development, thinking is distinguished: visual-effective, visual-figurative, verbal-logical , abstract-logical. Visual-effective thinking is a type of thinking that is based on the direct perception of objects in the process of acting with them. This thinking is the most elementary type of thinking that arises in practical activity and is the basis for the formation of more complex types of thinking. Visual-figurative thinking is a type of thinking characterized by reliance on ideas and images. With visual-figurative thinking, the situation is transformed in terms of image or representation. Verbal-logical thinking is a type of thinking carried out using logical operations with concepts. With verbal-logical thinking, using logical concepts, the subject can cognize significant patterns and unobservable relationships of the reality under study. Abstract-logical (abstract) thinking is a type of thinking based on identifying the essential properties and connections of an object and abstracting from other, unimportant ones. Visual-effective, visual-figurative, verbal-logical and abstract-logical thinking are successive stages in the development of thinking in phylogenesis and ontogenesis. According to the nature of the problems being solved, thinking is distinguished: theoretical, practical. Theoretical thinking is thinking based on theoretical reasoning and inferences. Practical thinking is thinking based on judgments and inferences based on solving practical problems. Theoretical thinking is the knowledge of laws and rules. The main task of practical thinking is to develop means of practical transformation of reality: setting a goal, creating a plan, project, scheme. Based on the degree of development, thinking is distinguished: discursive, intuitive. Discursive (analytical) thinking is thinking mediated by the logic of reasoning rather than perception. Analytical thinking is developed in time, has clearly defined stages, and is represented in the consciousness of the thinking man. Intuitive thinking is thinking based on direct sensory perceptions and direct reflection of the influences of objects and phenomena of the objective world. Intuitive thinking is characterized by rapidity, the absence of clearly defined stages, and is minimally conscious. According to the degree of novelty and originality, thinking is distinguished: reproductive; productive (creative). Reproductive thinking is thinking based on images and ideas drawn from certain sources. Productive thinking is thinking based on creative imagination. Based on the means of thinking, thinking is distinguished: verbal, visual. Visual thinking is thinking based on images and representations of objects. Verbal thinking is thinking that operates with abstract sign structures. It has been established that for full-fledged mental work, some people need to see or imagine objects, others prefer to operate with abstract sign structures. Thinking is distinguished by functions: critical; creative. Critical thinking aims to identify flaws in other people's judgments. Creative thinking is associated with the discovery of fundamentally new knowledge, with the generation of one’s own original ideas, and not with evaluating the thoughts of others. 1.5 Individual psychological characteristics of thinking The thinking of a particular person has individual characteristics. These features in different people are manifested, first of all, in the fact that they have different relationships between complementary types and forms of mental activity (visual-effective, visual-figurative, verbal-logical and abstract-logical). In addition, individual characteristics of thinking also include such qualities of cognitive activity as: mental productivity, independence, breadth, depth, flexibility, speed of thought, creativity, criticality, initiative, quick wit, etc. At the same time, the speed of thinking is the speed of flow thought processes. Independent thinking is the ability to see and pose a new question or problem, and then solve it on your own. The creative nature of thinking is clearly expressed precisely in such independence. Flexibility of thinking - the ability to change aspects of consideration of objects, phenomena, their properties and relationships, the ability to change the intended path to solve a problem if it does not satisfy the changed conditions, active restructuring of initial data, understanding and use of their relativity. Inertia of thinking is a quality of thinking that manifests itself in a tendency towards a pattern, towards habitual trains of thought, and in the difficulty of switching from one system of actions to another. The pace of development of thought processes is the minimum number of exercises necessary to generalize the solution principle. Economy of thinking is the number of logical moves (reasoning) through which a new pattern is learned. Breadth of mind - the ability to cover a wide range of issues in various fields of knowledge and practice. Depth of thinking - the ability to delve into the essence, reveal the causes of phenomena, foresee consequences; manifests itself in the degree of significance of the features that a person can abstract when mastering new material, and in the level of their generality. Consistency of thinking is the ability to maintain a strict logical order in considering a particular issue. Critical thinking is a quality of thinking that allows for a strict assessment of the results of mental activity, finding strengths and weak sides, to prove the truth of the proposed provisions. Stability of thinking is the quality of thinking, manifested in orientation towards a set of previously identified significant features, towards already known patterns. All of these qualities are individual, change with age, and can be corrected. These individual characteristics of thinking must be specifically taken into account in order to correctly assess mental abilities and knowledge.
2. THE CONCEPT OF CREATIVITY

Creativity is a mental process of creating new values, like a continuation and replacement of children's play. Activities the result of which is the creation of new material and spiritual values. Being essentially a cultural and historical phenomenon, it has psychological aspect- personal and procedural. It assumes that the subject has abilities, motives, knowledge and skills, thanks to which a product is created that is distinguished by novelty, originality, and uniqueness. The study of these personality traits revealed important role imagination, intuition, unconscious components mental activity, as well as the individual’s needs for self-actualization, to reveal and expand their creative capabilities.

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A comment

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

Information received by a person from the surrounding world allows a person to imagine not only external, but also inner side an object, to imagine objects in their absence, to foresee their changes over time, to rush with thought into the vast distances and microcosms. All this is possible thanks to the thinking process.

Process Features

The first feature of thinking is its indirect nature. What a person cannot know directly, directly, he knows 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 mediated knowledge.

The second feature of thinking is its generality. 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 and language. A verbal designation refers not only to a single object, but also to a whole group of similar objects. Generalization is also inherent in images (ideas and even perceptions). But there it is always limited by clarity. The word allows one to generalize limitlessly. Philosophical concepts of matter, motion, law, essence, phenomenon, quality, quantity, etc. - the broadest generalizations expressed in words.

Basic Concepts

The results of people's cognitive activity are recorded in the form of concepts. Concept– 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 generalizing the experience of people, is the highest product of the brain, the highest level of knowledge of the world.

Human thinking occurs in the form of judgments and inferences. 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. The sequential 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 objects and phenomena of the objective world. Inferences can be inductive, deductive, or by analogy.

Thinking and other mental processes

Thinking is the highest level of human knowledge of reality. The sensory basis of thinking is sensations, perceptions and ideas. Through the senses - 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 problems that life poses to a person, he reflects, draws conclusions and thereby learns the essence of things and phenomena, discovers the laws of their connection, and then, on this basis, transforms the world.

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 isolating and isolating an object or its sign, in abstracting from the concrete, individual and establishing the essential, common to many objects.

For human thinking, the relationship is more important not with sensory knowledge, but with speech and language. In a more strict 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 psychological process formulating and conveying thoughts through language. Modern psychology does not believe that internal speech has the same structure and the same functions as expanded external speech. By internal speech, psychology means a significant transitional stage between the plan and developed external speech. A mechanism that allows you to recode the general meaning into a speech utterance, i.e. inner speech is, first of all, not a detailed speech utterance, but only a preparatory stage.

However, the inextricable connection between thinking and speech does not mean that thinking can be reduced to speech. Thinking and speech are not the same thing. Thinking does not mean talking to yourself. Evidence of this can be the possibility of expressing the same thought in different words, and also the fact that we do not always find the right words to express our thoughts.

Types of thinking

• Thinking without imagery (eng. imageless thought) 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 consciousness.
• Thinking is visual. A method for solving 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. Acts as a process of coherent logical reasoning, in which each subsequent thought is conditioned by the previous one. The varieties and rules (norms) of discursive thinking are studied in most detail in logic.
• Complex thinking is the thinking of a child and an adult, carried out in the process of unique empirical generalizations, the basis for which are the relationships between things revealed in perception.
• Visual-effective thinking is one of the types of thinking, distinguished not by the type of problem, but by the process and method of solution; solution non-standard task is sought through the observation of real objects, their interactions and the implementation of material transformations in which the subject of thinking himself takes part. The development of intelligence begins with it both in phylo- and ontogenesis.
• Visual-figurative thinking is a type of thinking that is carried out on the basis of transformations of images of perception into images-representations, further changes, transformations and generalization of the subject content of ideas that form a reflection of reality in an imaginative-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 thinking process that occurs 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 solving problems: 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

Human mental activity is the solution of various mental problems 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 varied. This is analysis and synthesis, comparison, abstraction, specification, generalization, classification. Which logical operations a person will use will depend on the task and on the nature of the information that he is subjected to mental processing.

Analysis and synthesis

Analysis is the mental decomposition of a whole into parts or the mental isolation of its sides, actions, and relationships from the whole. Synthesis is the opposite process of thought to analysis; it is the combination 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 were formed in the practical activities of man. IN labor activity people constantly interact with objects and phenomena. Their practical mastery 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 identify one or more of their characteristics by which the comparison will be made. The comparison can be one-sided, or incomplete, and multilateral, 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 visible to hidden, from appearance to essence.

Abstraction

Abstraction is the process of mental abstraction from certain features, aspects of a particular thing in order to better understand it. A person mentally identifies some feature of an object and examines it in isolation from all other features, temporarily distracting from them. 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, man 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. Mental activity is always aimed at obtaining some result. A person analyzes objects, compares them, abstracts individual properties in order to identify what they have in common, in order to reveal the patterns that govern their development, in order to master them. Generalization, therefore, is the identification of the general in objects and phenomena, which is expressed in the form of a concept, law, rule, formula, etc.

Stages of thinking development

The ability to think, as a reflection of the connections and relationships existing between things, manifests itself in a person in a rudimentary form already in the first months of life. Further development and the improvement of this ability occurs in connection with: a) the child’s life experience, b) his practical activities, c) mastery of speech, d) educational influence schooling. This process of thinking development 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 process are initially of a generalized nature, only being replaced later by more precise differentiation under the influence of life experience. Thus, already in the first year of life, a child, having burned himself on a shiny teapot, withdraws his hand 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. However, later, when touching shiny objects in some cases was not accompanied by a feeling of a burn, the child begins to associate this sensation more accurately with the temperature characteristics of the objects.
• At this stage, the child is not yet capable of abstract thinking: he develops concepts (still very elementary) about things and the connections that exist between them only in the process of directly operating with things, actually connecting and separating things and their elements. A child of this age thinks only about what is the subject of activity; his thinking about these things ceases along with the cessation of activity. Neither the past, nor even the future are yet the content of his thinking; he is not yet able to plan his activities, foresee its results and purposefully strive for them.
• A child’s mastery of speech by the end of the second year of life significantly expands his ability to generalize things and their properties. This is facilitated by naming different objects with the same word (the word “table” equally means dining, kitchen, and desk tables, thus helping the child to form general concept about the table), as well as designating 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 specific images: gradually these images, thanks to the participation of speech, become more and more generalized. The concepts with which the child operates at this stage of thinking development are initially simply of an objective nature: an undifferentiated image of the object he is thinking about appears in the child’s mind. Subsequently, this image becomes more differentiated in its content. Accordingly, the child’s speech develops: first, only nouns are noted in his dictionary, then adjectives and, finally, verbs appear.
• 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 due to 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 the causal connections and relationships of things. In this regard, he begins to compare and contrast phenomena, more accurately highlight their essential features, and operate with the simplest abstract concepts (material, weight, number, etc.). With all this, the thinking of children preschool age characterized by imperfections, replete with numerous errors and inaccuracies, which is due to the lack of necessary knowledge and insufficient life experience.
• At primary school age, children begin to develop the ability for purposeful mental activity. This is facilitated by a program and teaching methods aimed at communicating to children a certain system of knowledge, assimilation through exercise under the guidance of a teacher of certain thinking techniques (during explanatory reading, when solving problems on 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 in general his thinking continues to be based on concrete perceptions and ideas.
• The ability for abstract logical thinking develops and improves in middle school and, especially, in high school age. This is facilitated by mastering the fundamentals of science. In this regard, the thinking of high school students proceeds on the basis of scientific concepts, which reflect the most essential features and interrelationships of phenomena. Students are accustomed to a precise logical definition of concepts; their thinking in the learning process acquires a planned, conscious character. This is expressed in purposeful thinking, in the ability to build evidence of the propositions put forward or analyzed, analyze them, find and correct errors made in reasoning. In this case, speech becomes of great importance - the student’s ability to accurately and clearly express his thoughts in words.

Thinking Strategies

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

• Random search. This strategy follows trial and error. That is, an assumption is formulated (or a choice is made), after which its validity is assessed. So assumptions are made until the right solution is found.
• Rational overkill. With this strategy, a person explores a certain central, least risky assumption, and then, changing one element each time, cuts off the wrong directions of the search. By the way, artificial intelligence operates on this principle.
• Systematic search. With this thinking strategy, a person embraces 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 spent her career studying performance and mindset, and her latest research shows that your predisposition to success depends more on your attitude than on your IQ. Dweck discovered that there are two types of mindsets: a fixed mindset and a growth mindset.

If you have a fixed mindset, you believe that you are who you are and cannot change it. This creates problems when life challenges you: if you feel like you have to do more than you can handle, you feel hopeless. People with a growth mindset believe that they can become better if they put in the effort. They outperform people with a fixed mindset, even if they have lower intelligence. People with a growth mindset approach challenges as opportunities to learn something new.

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

• Don't remain 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 a lesson and move on, or we can despair. A bunch of successful people They would not have become such if they had succumbed to the feeling of helplessness.

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

• Give in to passion. Inspired people relentlessly pursue their passions. There may always be someone more talented than you, but what you lack in talent you can make up for with passion. Passion keeps the desire for excellence in inspired people undiminished.

Warren Buffett recommends finding your passion using 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 are able to overcome their fears, but that they understand that fear and anxiety are paralyzing, and the best way to deal with paralysis is to do something. People with a growth mindset have an inner core and 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 kilometer or two. Strong people do their best even on their worst days. They always push themselves to go a little further.
• Expect results. People with a growth mindset 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 unexpected difficulties. Inspired people with a growth mindset see this as an opportunity to improve, not a reason to give up on a goal. When life challenges you strong people will look for options until they get the result.

• Research shows that chewing gum helps improve thinking skills. Chewing gum increases blood flow to the brain. Such people have better ability to concentrate and remember 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 your senses. Different parts of the brain remember different sensory data. For example, one part of the brain is responsible for recognizing and remembering pictures, and another is responsible for sounds.
• As mentioned, puzzles can actually be very useful. They force you to think deeply about something. They stimulate the brain and also awaken a person’s ability to comprehend. Try buying a puzzle magazine to get more exercise.
• After a healthy sleep, it will be easier for you to think.
• Mediation helps improve thinking. Every day, devote 5 minutes to such activities in the morning and the same amount of time before bed.