CHAPTER 8- THINKING

NATURE OF THINKING

 Thinking is the base of all cognitive activities or processes and is unique to

human beings.
 It involves manipulation and analysis of information received from the
environment.
 It is a higher mental process through which we manipulate and analyze the
acquired or existing information.
 Such manipulation and analysis occur by means of abstracting, reasoning,
imagining, problem solving, judging and decision making.
 Thinking is mostly organized and goal-oriented.
 One desires to reach the goal by planning, recalling the steps that one has
already followed in the past if the task is familiar or by inferring strategies if
the task is new.
 Thinking is an internal mental process which can be inferred from overt
behavior.

Building Blocks of Thought

 Thinking relies on the knowledge we possess which is represented either

in the form of mental images or words.
 People usually think by means of mental images or words.

 Mental Image
 An image is a mental representation of a sensory experience, it can
be used to think about things, places and events.
 Concepts
 Whenever we come across an object or event familiar or unfamiliar,
we try to identify the object or event by extracting its characteristics
matching it with the already existing category of objects and events.
  A concept is a mental representation of a category which refers to a
class of objects, ideas or events that share common properties.
 Concept formation helps us in organizing our knowledge so that
whenever we need to access our knowledge, we can do it with less
time and effort.
 Concepts usually fall into hierarchies or levels of understanding. They
are superordinate, basic and subordinate .
 Children learn basic level concepts first then the other levels.
 Most of the concepts people uses in thinking are neither clear nor
unambiguous. They overlap one another and are poorly defined.
Therefore we construct a prototype.
 A prototype is the best representative member of the category.
 According to Eleanor Rosch, when people think about concepts,
prototypes are often involved in real life.
 In prototype matching, people decide whether an item is a member
of a category by comparing it with the most typical item/s of the
category.

The Processes of Thinking

 Problem Solving
 Problem solving is thinking that is goal-oriented.
 Almost all our day-to-day activities are directed towards a goal.
 Problems are not always in the form of obstacles or hurdles that one
faces, it can be any single activity that is performed to achieve a goal.
 There is an initial state (the problem) and an end state (the goal) which
are connected by several steps or mental operations.
Obstacles to solving problems

 Mental Set
 Mental set is the tendency of a person to solve problems by
following already tried mental operations or steps.
 Prior success with a particular strategy would sometimes help in
solving a new problem.
 This creates a mental rigidity which obstructs the problem solver
to think of any new rules or strategies.
 While in some situations, mental set can enhance the quality and
speed of problem solving in other situations it hinders problem
solving.
 Functional Fixedness occurs when people fail to solve a problem
because they are fixed on a thing’s usual function.

 Lack of motivation
  People who are good at problem solving, having skills and talents
which becomes useless if they are not motivated.
 Some people give up easily when they encounter a problem or
failure while implementing the first step.

 Reasoning
 Reasoning is the process of gathering and analyzing information to
arrive at conclusions.
 It is a form of problem solving.
 The goal is to determine what conclusion can be drawn from certain
given information.

 Deductive Reasoning
 The kind of reasoning which begins with an assumption is
deductive reasoning.
 An assumption which you know or believe to be true and
drawing specific conclusion from the assumption.
 It is reasoning from general to particular.

 Inductive Reasoning
 Reasoning that is based on specific facts and observation is
inductive reasoning.
 Inductive reasoning is drawing a general conclusion based on
particular observation.
 Most cases of scientific reasoning are inductive in nature.

 Analogy
 It is another form of reasoning which involves four parts.
 A is to B as C is to D with the relation between the first two parts
being the same as the relation between the last two parts.
 Analogies can be helpful in solving problems.
  They help us identifying and visualizing the salient attributes of
an object or event, which would otherwise go unnoticed.

 Decision Making
 Inductive and Deductive reasoning allows us to make judgments.
 In judgment , we draw conclusions, form opinions, evaluate events,
objects based on knowledge and available evidences.
 Sometimes judgments are automatic and require no conscious effort
by the person and occur as a matter of habit.
 The judgments are dependent of our beliefs and attitudes.
 We also make changes in our judgments based on newly acquired
information.
 Judgment and decision making are interrelated processes.
 In decision making, the problem before us is to choose among the
alternatives by evaluating the cost and benefit associated each
alternative.
 Decision making differs from other types of problem solving because in
decision making we already know the various solutions or choices and
one has to be selected.
 As people differ in their priorities their decisions also differs.
 In real life situations we take quick decisions and therefore it is not
possible always to evaluate every situation thoroughly and
exhaustively.

NATURE AND PROCESS OF CREATIVE THINKING

 Creative thinking is not always expressed in extra-ordinary work. One does

not have to be an artist or scientist o be a creative thinker.
 Everyone has the potential to be creative.
 Creative thinking can be applied in almost any area of human activity at
different levels like writing, teaching, cooking, playing, day-to-day activities,
problem solving, resolving conflicts, etc.
 This concept of ‘Everyday Creativity’ , reflected in one’s way of perceiving,
thinking and problem solving is different from the ‘special talent creativity’
seen in outstanding creative achievements.

 Nature of Creative Thinking

 Creative thinking involves the production of novel and original ideas

or solutions to problems.
 It is understood as a new way of thinking or thinking differently.
 Besides novelty, originality is also an important characteristic of
creative thinking.
 Creative thinking thus refers to originality and uniqueness of ideas or
solutions that did not previously exist.
 Creative thinking is generally characterized by Bruner as ‘effective
surprise’ i.e. if the product or idea is unusual, the response of most
who experience it is one of instant surprise or of being startled.
 Another important characteristics of creative thinking is
appropriateness.
 Thinking is said to be creative when it is reality-oriented, appropriate,
constructive and socially desirable.
 J.P. Guilford proposed two types of thinking: convergent and
divergent.
 Convergent thinking refers to thinking that is required to solve
problems which have only one correct answer. The mind converges
to the correct solution.
 Divergent thinking is an open-ended thinking where the individual
can think of different answers to the questions or problems in terms
of his/her experiences. Such kind of thinking helps in producing novel
and original ideas.
 Divergent thinking abilities include fluency, flexibility, originality and
elaboration.
  Fluency is the ability to produce many ideas for a given task or a
problem. The more ideas the person produce, the higher his fluency
ability.
 Flexibility indicates variety in thinking. It may be thinking of different
uses of an object or different interpretation of a picture, story or
different ways of solving a problem.
 Originality is the ability to produce ideas that are rare or unusual by
seeing new relationships, combining old ideas with new ones,
looking at things from different perspectives, etc. Research shows
that fluency and flexibility are necessary conditions for originality.
The more and varied ideas one produces, the greater the likelihood
of original ideas.
 Elaboration is the ability that enables a person to go into details and
workout implications of new ideas.

 Divergent thinking abilities facilitate generation of variety of ideas

which may not seem to be related.
 Both convergent and divergent thinking are important for creative
thinking.
 Divergent thinking is essential in generating a wide range of ideas
while convergent thinking is important to identify the most useful or
appropriate ideas.

 Process of Creative Thinking

 The starting point in creative process is the need to think or bring out
something new which initiates the effort.
 The need for search of new ideas and solutions arises from sensing
problems and gaps in information.
 The process of creative thinking begins with the preparation stage
that requires one to understand the task or problem in hand, analyze
the problem, and become aware of the background facts and related
information. The process evokes curiosity and excitement to think
 more and more in different directions i.e. look at problems from
different angles and viewpoints. Here, divergent thinking abilities
play their role to help one extend I new directions.
 When the person is trying to generate alternative ideas and trying to
view the problem or task from an unusual perspective, there may be
a feeling of getting stuck. Some may leave the problem or the task
for some time. This is the stage of incubation. Creative ideas may not
occur immediately during incubation when the individual is not
consciously thinking about the problem but seeking relaxation from
conscious effort. They may occur or strike when a person is doing
something else.
 Followed by incubation is the stage of illumination- the Aha
experience, the moment we normally associate with emergence of
creative ideas. It’s a feeling of excitement, even satisfaction, of
having found a creative idea.
 Last is the stage of verification when the worth or appropriateness of
ideas or solutions are tested and judged. Here, convergent thinking
plays its role in selecting the appropriate idea or solution that works.

THOUGHT AND LANGUAGE

 Language as a determinant of thought

 Benjamin Lee Whorf was of the viewpoint that language determines
the contents of thought. This view is known as linguistic relativity
hypothesis. This hypothesis holds what and how individuals can
possibly think is determined by the language and linguistic categories
they use (linguistic determinism).
 Experimental evidence maintains that it is possible to have the same
level or quality of thoughts in all languages depending upon the
availability of linguistic categories and structures.
 Some thoughts may be easier in one language compared to another.
 Thought as determinant of language
 Swiss psychologists, Jean Piaget believed that thought not only
determines language, but also precedes it. Piaget argued that
children form an internal representation of the world through
thinking.
 A child’s observation of other’s behavior and imitation of the same
behavior involves thinking not language.
 Language is just one of the vehicles of thinking.
 As actions become internalized, language may affect children’s range
of symbolic thinking but is not necessary for the origins of thought.
 Piaget believed that though language can be taught to children,
understanding of the words require knowledge of the underlying
concepts.
 Thus thought is basic, and necessary if language is to be understood.

 Different Origins of Language and Thought

 Russian psychologist, Lev Vygotsky argued that thoughts and
language develop in a child separately until about two years of age,
when they merge.
 Before two years, thought is preverbal and is experienced more in
action.
 The child’s utterances are more automatic reflexes than thought
based eg, crying when uncomfortable.
 Around two years of age, the child expresses thought verbally and
his/her speech reflects rationality.
 Now children are able to manipulate thoughts using soundless
speech.
 He believed that during this period the development of language and
thinking become interdependent.
 The development of conceptual thinking depends upon the quality of
inner speech and vice versa.
  Thought is used without language when the vehicle of thinking is
non-verbal such as visual or movement-related.
 Language is used without thought when expressing feelings or
exchanging pleasantries.
 When the two functions overlap, they can be used together to
produce verbal thought and rational speech.

DEVELOPMENT OF LANGUAGE AND LANGUAGE USE

 Meaning and Nature of Language

 In the absence of language we will not be able to communicate our
ideas and feelings nor will we have the opportunity to know or have
access to what others think and feel.
 We learnt words appropriate for situation and also learnt the rules of
putting these words in sentences.
 Initially we communicated in the language being used at home then
went to school and learnt the formal language of instruction and
were promoted to higher grades and learnt other languages.
 Language consists of a system of symbols organized by means of
certain rules that we use to communicate with each other.
 Language has 3 basic characteristics:
 The presence of symbols
 Symbols represent something or someone else.
 When the words are associated with some objects/
events they attain meaning and we begin recognizing
the objects/events etc. with particular words or
symbols.
 We use symbols while thinking.

 A set of rules to organize these symbols

 While combining two or more words we usually follow a
definite and accepted order of presenting these words.
  Communication
 It is used for communicating one’s thoughts, ideas,
intentions and feelings to others.
 On many occasions, we communicate through the use of
our body parts, called gestures or postures.
 This type of communication is called non-verbal
communication.
 Some people who cannot use oral speech, like the ones
with severe hearing and speech problems, communicate
through signs.
 Sign language is also a form of language.

 Development of Language
 Language is a complex system and unique to human beings.
 Human language is more complex, creative and spontaneous than
the system of communication other animals can learn.
 When you compare individual children, we find that they differ a
great deal in the rate of their language development as well as in
how they go about it.
 Children’s acquisition of language have some predictable pattern in
which children proceed from almost no use of language to the point
of becoming competent language users.
 Newborn babies and young infants make a variety of sounds, which
gradually get modified to resemble words.
 The first sound produced by babies is crying. Initial crying is
undifferentiated and similar across various situations.
 Gradually the pattern of crying varies in its pitch and intensity to
signify different states such as hunger, pain and sleepiness, etc.
These differentiated crying sounds gradually become more
meaningful cooing sounds usually to express happiness.
 At around six months of age, children enter the babbling stage.
Babbling involves prolonged repetition of a variety of sounds.
 By 9 months of age, sounds get elaborated to strings of some sound
combinations into repetitive patterns called echolalia.
 While the early babblings are random or accidental in nature, the
later babblings seem to be imitative of adult voices.
 Children show some understanding of a few words by the time they
are six months old.
 Around the first birthday, most children enter the one-word stage.
Their first word contains normally one syllable then they combine
one or more words to form sentences or phrases. There are called
holo-phrases.
 When they are 18-20 months, children enter a two-word stage and
begin to use two words together which exemplifies telegraphic
speech.
 Beyond two and a half years of age, children’s language development
gets focused on rules of the language they hear.
 Most psychologists accept that both nature and nurture are
important in language acquisition.
 Behaviorist B.F.Skinner believed that we learn language the same
way as animals pick keys or press bars.
 Language development, for the behaviorists follow the learning
principles such as association, imitation and reinforcement.
 There is also evidence that children produce sounds that are
appropriate to a language of the parent or care-giver and are
reinforced for having done so.
 The principle of shaping leads to successive approximation of the
desired responses so that the child eventually speaks as well as the
adult.
 Regional differences in pronunciation and phrasing illustrate how
different patterns are reinforced in different areas.
  Linguist Noam Chomsky put forth the innate proposition of
development of language.
 According to him, the rate at which children acquire words and
grammar without being taught cannot be explained only by learning
principles.
 Children also create all sorts of sentences they have never heard and
therefore could not be imitating.
 Children throughout the world seem to have critical period- a period
when learning must occur if it is to occur successfully- for learning
language.
 He believed that language development is just like physical
maturation-given adequate care, it happens for the child.
 Children are born with universal grammar. They readily learn the
grammar of whatever language they hear.
 Skinner’s emphasizes on learning explains why infants acquire the
language they hear and how they add new words to their
vocabularies.
 Chomsky’s emphasizes on our built-in readiness to learn grammar
helps explain why children acquire language so readily without direct
teaching.

 Language Use
 Language use involves knowing socially appropriate ways of
communication.
 Knowledge of vocabulary and syntax of a language does not ensure
proper use of language to achieve the purpose of communication in a
variety of social situations.
 When we use language, we have various pragmatic intentions such
as requesting, asking, thanking, demanding, etc.
 In order to effectively serve these social goals, language use must be
pragmatically correct or contextually appropriate besides being
grammatical and meaningful.
 Children often have difficult with choice of appropriate utterances
for politeness or for requests and their use of language conveys a
demand or a command instead of a polite request.
 When children are engaged in conversations, they also have difficult
in taking turns in speaking and listening like adults.