Chapter 8 Thinking

Introduction

Every human infant is born with a limited set of innate responses. As they grow, their capacity for making diverse responses expands significantly through learning.

Activities like building with blocks, as observed in young children, involve purposeful manipulation and often self-directed speech, indicating ongoing mental processes.

This chapter delves into thinking, a central aspect of human cognition that enables problem-solving, drawing conclusions, making judgments, and choosing among options.

We will explore the nature of thinking, its building blocks, the processes involved in problem-solving and decision-making, the characteristics and development of creative thinking, and the intricate relationship between thought and language.

Understanding thinking is fundamental to understanding how humans interact with and make sense of the world around them.

Nature Of Thinking

Thinking is a fundamental cognitive process unique to humans. It serves as the basis for all other mental activities.

It involves actively working with and analysing information received from the environment or retrieved from memory.

When you look at a painting, for instance, you don't just passively observe colours and lines; you interpret its meaning, connecting it to your existing knowledge and experiences, thus creating new understanding.

Thinking is a higher-level mental process that involves manipulating and analysing information through various cognitive operations like abstracting, reasoning, imagining, problem-solving, judging, and decision-making.

Most thinking is organised and directed towards achieving a specific goal, from simple daily tasks like cooking to more complex ones like solving mathematical problems.

Achieving goals involves mental planning, recalling past strategies for familiar tasks, or inferring new approaches for novel ones.

Thinking is an internal, unobservable mental process. We can only infer what someone is thinking by observing their outward behaviour or actions. For example, a chess player's thinking process is inferred from the move they eventually make after deep contemplation.

Building Blocks Of Thought

Thinking relies heavily on our existing knowledge. This knowledge is typically represented in the mind in the form of mental images or concepts.

When navigating to a familiar place, you might rely on visual memories of streets and landmarks (mental images). When choosing a book, your decision is based on abstract knowledge about authors, genres, and themes (concepts/words).

Let's examine these building blocks:

Mental Image: A mental representation that resembles a sensory experience. It allows us to "see" or "hear" things in our mind even when the actual stimulus is not present. Examples include visualising a scene described or forming a mental map of a route.

Mental images can be used to think about objects, places, events, and actions, providing a concrete form of mental representation.

Concepts: A mental representation of a category. Concepts group objects, ideas, or events that share common properties or features (e.g., 'lion' is a concept within the category 'animal' that distinguishes it from 'bird').

We form concepts by extracting common characteristics from instances and grouping them into categories.

Concepts are essential for organising our knowledge, making it quicker and more efficient to access and use. They function like mental filing systems, allowing us to categorise new information based on similarity to existing concepts.

Concepts are typically organised hierarchically:

• Superordinate Level: The broadest category (e.g., 'Animal').
• Basic Level: An intermediate, commonly used level (e.g., 'Dog'). Children learn basic level concepts first.
• Subordinate Level: The most specific level (e.g., 'German Shepherd').

Most concepts we use in daily thinking, especially natural concepts (like 'chair', 'cup'), are not rigidly defined. They often have "fuzzy boundaries" and overlap.

To deal with this ambiguity, we often use prototypes – the best, most typical examples of a category. We decide if something belongs to a category by comparing it to our prototype for that category.

As shown in the image, our idea of a "typical" cup influences what we label as a cup, bowl, or vase, highlighting the subjective nature of concept boundaries based on prototypes.

Culture And Thinking (Box 8.1)

Culture, including our beliefs, values, and social practices, significantly shapes our thinking patterns.

Research comparing American and East Asian students' descriptions of underwater scenes suggests cultural differences in perceptual and cognitive focus.

• Analytical Thinking (often associated with Western cultures): Tends to focus on individual objects, separating them from their context and analysing their specific features.
• Holistic Thinking (often associated with East Asian cultures - Japanese, Chinese, Koreans): Tends to focus on the relationships between objects and their background or context, perceiving the scene as an interconnected whole.

These studies indicate that cultural experiences can lead to different cognitive styles in perceiving and thinking about the world.

The Processes Of Thinking

Thinking is not a single, monolithic process but involves various specific cognitive operations. While thinking relies on building blocks like images and concepts, the mental work happens through processes like problem-solving, reasoning, and decision-making. The following sections delve into these specific processes.

Problem Solving

Problem solving is a type of thinking that is directed towards achieving a specific goal when the path to the goal is not immediately obvious.

Problems are not necessarily major obstacles; they can be any situation where there's an initial state (the problem) and a desired end state (the goal), and you need to find a way to get from one to the other (e.g., fixing a bicycle, planning a trip, preparing a snack).

Problem-solving involves a sequence of mental operations or steps to bridge the gap between the initial state and the goal state (Table 8.1 provides a general model).

Trying out problem-solving tasks (like anagrams, puzzles, or the water jar problem) allows us to observe and analyse the strategies people use.

Obstacles To Solving Problems

Several factors can hinder effective problem-solving:

Mental Set: The tendency to approach new problems using strategies or mental operations that worked successfully in the past on similar problems. While helpful in many situations, a strong mental set can lead to rigidity, preventing the individual from considering alternative or novel approaches when the old ones are not suitable for the new problem. This can block the discovery of more effective solutions.

Similar to mental set is functional fixedness, a specific type of cognitive bias where a person is unable to see that an object can be used in a way other than its typical function (e.g., failing to see that a book could be used as a hammer).

Lack Of Motivation

Effective problem-solving requires effort and persistence. Even with the necessary skills, a lack of motivation can lead individuals to give up easily when faced with challenges or initial failures, preventing them from exploring alternative solutions.

Reasoning

Reasoning is the mental process of drawing conclusions or making inferences based on available information or evidence. It is a form of problem-solving where the goal is to determine what conclusions logically follow from given premises.

Deductive And Inductive Reasoning

Two main types of reasoning:

• Deductive Reasoning: Starts with a general statement, belief, or premise that is assumed to be true, and moves towards drawing specific conclusions based on that general principle. It's reasoning from the general to the particular.
  A common pitfall is assuming the initial premise is true or making logical errors, which can lead to invalid conclusions even if the reasoning process itself is structured correctly.
• Inductive Reasoning: Starts with specific observations or facts and moves towards formulating a general conclusion or principle that explains those observations. It's reasoning from the particular to the general. This is common in scientific reasoning, where researchers observe many specific instances to identify general laws or patterns.

Analogy is a related form of reasoning involving comparing the relationship between two things to the relationship between two other things (A:B :: C:D), which can be useful in problem-solving by highlighting key attributes or relationships.

Decision-Making

Decision-making is the process of choosing among several available alternatives or options. It often follows judgment, where conclusions are drawn or evaluations are made based on knowledge and evidence.

Judgment involves assessing situations, objects, or people based on personal preferences, past knowledge, and available information. Judgments can be automatic or require conscious effort and can be revised based on new information.

Decision-making requires evaluating the potential costs and benefits associated with each available alternative before making a choice. Unlike some types of problem-solving where the solution needs to be discovered, in decision-making, the options are usually known, and the task is to select the best one.

Real-life decisions are often made quickly, based on personal priorities and without exhaustive evaluation of every possibility.

Nature And Process Of Creative Thinking

Creative thinking involves generating ideas or solutions that are novel, original, and appropriate for a given context. It's not limited to eminent individuals but is a potential inherent in everyone, applicable at various levels in almost any field of human activity.

Everyday creativity is reflected in how people approach daily tasks and problems, distinct from the exceptional creativity seen in groundbreaking scientific or artistic achievements.

Nature Of Creative Thinking

Key characteristics of creative thinking:

• Novelty and Originality: Produces ideas that are new and unique, not simply minor variations of existing ones.
• Effectiveness/Appropriateness: The ideas or solutions must be useful, relevant, and suitable for the task or problem at hand. Aimless non-conformity or bizarre ideas are not creative thinking.
• Effective Surprise: Creative ideas often evoke a sense of unexpectedness or being startled.
• Constructive and Socially Desirable: Creative thinking is generally considered to be reality-oriented and beneficial.

J.P. Guilford distinguished two types of thinking:

• Convergent Thinking: Focused on finding a single, correct answer to a problem. It involves narrowing down possibilities. (e.g., solving a standard math problem).
• Divergent Thinking: Open-ended thinking that explores multiple possible solutions or ideas for a problem. It involves expanding possibilities. (e.g., brainstorming uses for an object).

Divergent thinking abilities crucial for creativity include:

• Fluency: Generating a large number of ideas.
• Flexibility: Producing a variety of different types of ideas or categories of response.
• Originality: Generating unique, unusual, or statistically infrequent ideas. It often arises from combining fluency and flexibility.
• Elaboration: The ability to add details and flesh out ideas.

Both convergent and divergent thinking are important: divergent thinking generates possibilities, and convergent thinking helps select the most suitable one.

Lateral Thinking (Box 8.2)

Edward de Bono uses the term lateral thinking as similar to divergent thinking, contrasting it with vertical (logical, sequential) thinking. Vertical thinking digs deeper in the same direction, while lateral thinking explores alternative directions and perspectives, enabling mental leaps and new interpretations of problems.

De Bono's "Six Thinking Hats" is a technique to encourage different modes of thinking (information gathering, feelings, caution, benefits, creativity, process) to approach issues from multiple perspectives.

Process Of Creative Thinking

Creative thinking is not just a sudden "flash" but a process involving stages:

• Preparation: Understanding the task or problem, gathering information, analysing the context, and exploring different viewpoints. Involves curiosity and initial divergent thinking.
• Incubation: A period where conscious thought on the problem is set aside. Creative ideas can emerge during this time, often when engaged in other activities.
• Illumination: The "Aha!" moment, a sudden breakthrough or insight where the solution becomes clear.
• Verification: Testing, evaluating, and refining the idea or solution to determine its appropriateness and workability. Convergent thinking is important here.

Developing Creative Thinking

Creative potential exists in everyone and can be enhanced through practice and training. While genetics play a role, environmental factors significantly influence creativity development.

Identifying and overcoming barriers is the first step in fostering creativity.

Barriers To Creative Thinking

Obstacles that impede creative expression:

• Habitual Blocks: Over-reliance on familiar ways of thinking and doing things, leading to mental rigidity and difficulty seeing new perspectives.
• Perceptual Blocks: Limitations in how we perceive information or problems, such as assuming boundaries that don't exist (illustrated by the joining dots problem where the solution requires drawing lines outside the perceived square).
• Motivational and Emotional Blocks: Lack of motivation, fear of failure, fear of being different, fear of ridicule, poor self-confidence, and negative attitudes can stifle creative efforts.
• Cultural Blocks: Excessive adherence to traditions, conformity pressures, desire to maintain status quo, or willingness to accept mediocrity can inhibit originality.

Strategies For Creative Thinking

Cultivating certain attitudes, skills, and habits can enhance creative thinking:

• Increase Awareness & Sensitivity: Pay closer attention to feelings, details, problems, and inconsistencies in the environment. Read widely, ask questions, and explore unfamiliar information.
• Generate Many Ideas (Fluency & Flexibility): Deliberately brainstorm multiple possibilities, looking at issues from different angles. Techniques like Osborn's Brainstorming (separating idea generation from evaluation) can boost fluency and flexibility. Use checklists and questions to prompt new ideas.
• Develop Originality: Practice combining unrelated ideas (associative thinking), exploring new linkages, and looking for unusual connections. Consider the opposite of conventional solutions.
• Engage in Imaginative Activities: Participate in hobbies that require creativity (decorating, improvising, writing).
• Avoid Premature Judgment: Generate many ideas before evaluating them. Don't dismiss ideas as silly too quickly.
• Seek Feedback: Get perspectives from others less involved in the problem.
• Allow for Incubation: Take breaks from conscious problem-solving to allow ideas to emerge.
• Diagram Thinking: Use visual aids to map out ideas and their connections.
• Persist and Cope with Failure: Creative thinking often involves setbacks. Resist seeking immediate rewards and learn from failures.
• Develop Independent Thinking: Practice solving problems without external help.
• Visualise and Predict: Think about causes and consequences; imagine hypothetical scenarios.
• Address Personal Defenses: Be aware if fear or feeling threatened is blocking creativity.
• Be Confident and Positive: Believe in your creative potential and enjoy the process.

Answer:

Thought And Language

The relationship between thinking and language is a topic of debate. Three main viewpoints exist:

Language As Determinant Of Thought

This view, known as the linguistic relativity hypothesis, strongly associated with Benjamin Lee Whorf, suggests that the language we speak influences or even determines how we think and perceive the world. The strong version, linguistic determinism, claims that thought possibilities are limited by language categories.

Examples like the differing number of kinship terms in Hindi vs. English, or colour terms in different languages, are cited. The idea is that having more specific language terms might facilitate thinking about those distinctions.

However, empirical evidence suggests that while language can make certain thoughts easier or more accessible, it doesn't strictly *determine* what we can think. People can possess similar cognitive abilities regardless of language, although expression might vary.

Thought As Determinant Of Language

Swiss psychologist Jean Piaget argued that thinking is primary and precedes language. He believed children first develop cognitive structures and an internal representation of the world through mental actions and understanding, and language is then used to express these pre-existing thoughts.

Piaget saw language as a vehicle for thought, not its origin. He argued that children can think (e.g., through imitation) before they acquire language. Understanding language requires possessing the underlying concepts developed through thinking.

Different Origins Of Language And Thought

Russian psychologist Lev Vygotsky proposed that thought and language initially develop independently in children until around age two, when they merge and become interdependent.

• Before age two, thought is largely preverbal (sensory-motor actions, as in Piaget's view), and early utterances are more reflexive than thought-driven.
• Around age two, thought becomes verbal, and language becomes rational, influencing each other's development. Conceptual thinking relies on language (e.g., inner speech), and language is used to express complex thoughts.

Vygotsky believed that thought can exist without language (e.g., visual or movement-based thinking), and language can exist without complex thought (e.g., expressing simple feelings or social pleasantries). When they overlap, they combine to produce verbal thought and rational speech.

Development Of Language And Language Use

Language is a complex communication system unique to humans, consisting of symbols organised by rules to express thoughts, feelings, and intentions.

Its absence would severely limit communication and access to others' internal worlds. Language acquisition is a fascinating journey from early vocalizations to fluent communication.

Meaning And Nature Of Language

Language can be defined as a system of symbols and rules used for communication. Its core characteristics are:

• Symbols: Words or signs that represent objects, ideas, or events. Meaning is derived from the association between the symbol and what it represents.
• Rules (Syntax/Grammar): A set of rules governing how symbols are combined to form meaningful sentences. These rules dictate the accepted order and structure of words.
• Communication: The primary function of language, enabling the exchange of information, thoughts, feelings, and desires. Communication can be verbal (spoken/written) or non-verbal (gestures, posture). Sign language is also a form of language used by individuals with hearing/speech impairments.

Development Of Language

Human language is more complex, creative, and spontaneous than communication systems learned by animals.

Children worldwide follow a remarkably regular pattern in language acquisition, although the rate varies individually.

Key stages of language development:

• Early Vocalizations: Newborns cry (initially undifferentiated, later varying in pitch/intensity to express needs). This leads to cooing sounds (vowel-like, expressing happiness).
• Babbling: Around 6 months, infants produce repetitive consonant-vowel sounds (e.g., "ba-ba," "da-da"). Later babbling becomes more varied and imitative of adult speech patterns (echolalia around 9 months).
• One-Word Stage (Holophrases): Around 1 year, children use single words to convey broader meanings (e.g., "Mama" might mean "Where is Mama?" or "I want Mama"). These are called holophrases.
• Two-Word Stage (Telegraphic Speech): Around 18-20 months, children combine two words, typically nouns and verbs, in a simplified structure that conveys essential meaning (e.g., "Doggie go," "More milk"). This resembles a telegram.
• Beyond Two Words: From around 2.5 years, children rapidly acquire grammatical rules of their language, forming more complex sentences.

The acquisition of language involves both innate predispositions (nature) and environmental influences (nurture).

• Behaviourist Perspective (Skinner): Emphasises learning principles like association, imitation, and reinforcement. Children learn language by associating words with objects/events, imitating adult speech, and being reinforced for correct utterances. Shaping helps refine pronunciation and grammar through successive approximations.
• Nativist Perspective (Chomsky): Argues that the speed and complexity of language acquisition cannot be explained by learning alone. Children generate novel sentences and acquire grammar rapidly without direct teaching, suggesting an innate biological capacity. Chomsky proposed that humans are born with a "universal grammar" and a critical period for language learning.

Most psychologists agree that both perspectives are needed to fully explain language development; innate biological readiness interacts with environmental learning experiences.

Bilingualism And Multilingualism (Box 8.3)

Bilingualism is proficiency in two languages, while multilingualism is proficiency in more than two.

Mother tongue is typically the language learned from infancy, often the language of the home, with which one feels an emotional connection. Individuals can have multiple mother tongues, especially in multilingual environments.

India is characterised by widespread grass-root multilingualism, where individuals commonly use more than one language in daily life.

Studies suggest that bilingualism and multilingualism have cognitive, linguistic, and academic benefits for children.

Language Use

Beyond knowing vocabulary and grammar (syntax), effective language use requires understanding the pragmatics of communication – knowing how to use language appropriately in different social contexts to achieve communicative goals (requesting, thanking, demanding).

Children often struggle with pragmatic aspects, sometimes using language that sounds like a demand instead of a polite request. They also learn conversational skills like turn-taking.

Effective language use involves not just grammatical correctness and meaningfulness but also contextual appropriateness to serve social functions.