Theories of thinking in psychology. Active psychological research into thinking has been conducted since the 17th century, but the psychology of thinking began to be specifically developed only in the 20th century. In the 17th-18th centuries. became widespreadassociative psychology,based on the fact that all mental processes proceed according to the laws of association, association was recognized as the main structural unit of the psyche. Representatives of associationism, namely D. Hartley, J. Priestley. J.S. Mill, A. Ben, T. Ziegen and others did not see the need for a social study of thinking. A concept was identified with a representation and was interpreted as an associatively connected set of characteristics, a judgment as an association of representations, and an inference as an association of two judgments. It was believed that thinking is figurative, the process of thinking is an involuntary change of images, the development of thinking is a process of accumulation of associations. Thus, the rational was reduced to the sensitive.
Representatives Wurzburg schoolput forward the position that thinking has its own specific content, irreducible to the content of sensations and perception. Thinking was understood as an internal act of considering relationships, a relationship - everything that does not have the nature of sensations. The process of thinking was considered ugly. Between sensitivity and thinking only an external opposition was established, without unity. The Würzburg school pointed to the subject orientation of thought, emphasized the orderly, directed nature of thinking and revealed the importance of the task in the thinking process. Akh identified two components of the task: 1) determining tendency; 2) presentation of the goal. In his opinion, it is the determining tendency that gives thinking a purposeful character, streamlining the ability for self-realization.
The ideas of the Würzburg school were developed in the works O.Zeltsa . He identified two aspects of intellectual activity: productive and reproductive. He believed that productive thinking lies in the functioning of specific intellectual operations. Seltz's merit: for the first time he began to study thinking as a process and sought to study its stages. However, defining the role of the task in the mental process, he returns to a mechanistic position: goal setting is recognized as a stimulus that triggers the corresponding operations as reactions.
Gestalt psychologists(Wertheimer, Keller, Koffka, Dunker), just like the associationists, tried to reduce thinking to visual content. Thinking was defined as sudden understanding significant relationships in a problematic situation. In a problematic situation, a certain tension arises in the body, as a result the situation is restructured, its parts begin to be perceived in a new gestalt, new relationships, which leads to solving the problem. Thus, the problem turns out to be solved simply as a result of the fact that we see the content of the initial situation differently than at the beginning. The main disadvantage of this theory is that the specifics of thinking were ignored; it turned out to be as close as possible to perception.
For behaviorists thinking is a special type of behavior. They tried to interpret internal mental activity as a set of complex chains of speech (silent) skills. Watson believed that the main forms of thinking are either the simple deployment of skills (reproducing poems) or the solution of rarely encountered problems that require tentative behavior (attempts to remember half-remembered poems). Solving new problems is a small part of human behavior. Thanks to behaviorism, the field psychological research Practical thinking has entered, but this theory is limited in understanding thinking as an adaptation process, due to which inconsistencies are eliminated.
In psychoanalysis cognition is studied only in relation to motivation. For example, Freud believes that dreams are a type of figurative thinking in which unconscious motives are manifested. The merit of psychoanalysis can be recognized as focusing on the possibilities of motives in the study of thinking. Disadvantages of this theory: biologizing approach to motivation, reducing thinking to the area of its manifestation.
Concept intellectual development J. Piaget.Piaget uses the concept of “intelligence” rather than thinking. Human intelligence is one of the means of adaptation at the highest level. Intelligence is a system of operations. Operation is an internal action that comes from external, objective actions. An operation is a shortened action; it is performed with symbols and signs. The development of children's thinking is presented as a change of stages.
Based on the development of cybernetics and computer science, a new theory has emerged that considersthinking as an information processing system.Representatives of the theory (Neisser, Lindsay, Norman) believe that operations performed by computers are in some cases similar to cognitive processes. Cognitive activity is defined as activity associated with the acquisition, organization and use of knowledge (the generation of new knowledge is not considered). This theory opens up new possibilities in the study of thinking, but its significant limitation is the failure to distinguish between informational and psychological systems themselves. The subjective conditioning of thinking is not studied.
In domestic psychology, based on the doctrine ofactive naturehuman psyche, thinking has received a new interpretation. It began to be understood as one of the forms of manifestation human activity aimed at transforming reality. In the works of L.S. Vygotsky, A.N. Leontyeva, P.Ya. Galperin made a significant contribution to the development of the problem of ontogenetic formation of mental processes. One of the main provisions is that the development of thinking is considered as a process of a child mastering a system of socio-historically developed knowledge and skills. A.N. Leontyev wrote that thinking is a natural process, because is a function of the human brain, but at the same time has a social nature.
In Russian psychology, the problem of the relationship between external and internal activities has received significant development. Of great importance was the proposal put forward by A.N. Leontiev's hypothesis about the fundamental commonality of their structure. According to A.N. According to Leontiev, internal mental activity is derived from external, practical activity and has the same structure. In it, as in practical activities, individual actions and operations can be distinguished. In addition, the structure of mental, theoretical activity may include external, practical actions, and vice versa, the structure of practical activity may include internal mental operations.
On the basis of the activity theory of thinking, such theories of learning as the theory of P.Ya. Galperin, theory of D.B. Elkonina V.V. Davydov, theory L.V. Zankova.
P.Ya. Halperin developed the concept of the gradual formation of mental actions. They identified the stages and conditions for the internalization of external actions into internal ones. The process of transferring external action inside goes through strictly defined stages. At each stage, a given action is transformed according to a number of parameters: levels of execution, a measure of generalization, completeness of operations and a measure of mastery. It is argued that full action, i.e. an action of the highest intellectual level cannot take shape without relying on previous methods of performing the same action, and ultimately, on its practical, visually effective form.
Stages of formation of mental actions: 1) Acquaintance with the indicative basis of future action. 2) Materialized mental action on a full indicative basis. 3) Stage of loud speech (Speech performance of an objective action). 4) Stage of “inner speech” or speech “to oneself”. 5) Performing an action in terms of internal speech with its corresponding transformations and abbreviations with the action leaving the sphere of conscious control and moving to the level of intellectual skills.
D.B. Elkonin and V.V. Davydov developed a theory according to which there are 2 types of consciousness and thinking: empirical and theoretical. Empirical consciousness and thinking is aimed at classifying objects, based on comparison and formal generalization (identifying identical, similar, formally common features in a group of objects). Formal (empirical) generalizations and thinking based on them allow the child to organize the surrounding objective world and navigate well in it. With the help of empirical thinking, focusing on visual-sensory general properties objects, the child solves numerous problems that arise in the situation of certain objects familiar to him.
The basis of theoretical consciousness and thinking is a meaningful generalization. A person analyzing some developing system of ideas. Can reveal its genetically original, essential or universal basis. Isolating and fixing this basis is a meaningful generalization of this system. Based on the generalization, a person can then mentally trace the origin of particular and individual features of the system from a genetically original, universal basis. Theoretical thinking consists precisely in creating a meaningful generalization of a particular system, and then mentally constructing this system, revealing the possibilities of its essential, universal basis. Components of thinking such as analysis, planning and reflection have two main forms: empirical-formal and theoretical-substantive. The theoretical-substantive form of these mental actions is characterized by a connection with the reflection of significant relationships and connections of the surrounding world.
L.V. Zankov believed that the very splitting of thinking into empirical and theoretical as independent forms of knowledge is deeply erroneous. These forms of knowledge are not simply opposite to each other, but represent the unity and struggle of opposites. According to Zankov, it is important not to limit the content of education only to empirical or only theoretical knowledge. In what proportion and in what relationships both should be presented depends on the didactic approach, as well as on the uniqueness of each given educational subject.
Concepts of imagination.One of the earliest concepts of fantasy should be considered the views of Lucretius Cara, who interpreted fantasy as the result of a random coincidence in time and space of images or their components. In his opinion, fantasy does not create anything new in principle, but only combines ordinary ideas in an extraordinary way. This is the point of view of empiricism.
The philosophy of rationalism, recognizing the reality of fantasy, contrasted it with conceptual and logical thinking. For example, Blaise Pascal saw in fantasy a force hostile to reason. He wrote: “Imagination is the deceptive side of a person, it is a mentor in error and falsity...”.
Descartes, in almost all of his works (philosophical), contrasted rational thinking with imagination, in which he saw the source of delusions and erroneous conclusions.
According to Spinoza, “it depends on the imagination alone that we look at things as accidental,” and, on the contrary, “it is in the nature of the mind to consider things ... as necessary.” The views on fantasy of Pascal, Descartes and Spinoza gave rise to the belief that there is an antagonism between reason (intellectual processes) and fantasy.
Fantasy, as a special creative essence, appears most clearly in the works of the idealist philosopherHenri Bergson, who put forward in his books the concept of “life impulse,” which ultimately consists in the need for creativity. This need is realized at the human level in creative thinking, intellectual abilities, and creative initiative. Thus, fantasy is derived from a certain universal, all-encompassing force that controls biological, psychological and historical processes. Rugg, the author of the extensive monograph “Imagination,” comes to the conclusion that “the key to the energy of creative imagination is the system of tensions in the body,” which “manifests itself already in the irritability of protoplasm.”
Another extreme theoretical position on the question of the essence of fantasy is the complete reduction of fantasy to other mental processes. Maine de Biran argued that imagination cannot be considered as a special function, since it consists of two mental phenomena - understanding and will. Tissot wrote in 1868 that “the imagination consists of 4 or 5 faculties: of perception (which supplies us with material), of fantasy (which reproduces this material), of intellect (which gives proportion and unity) and of taste (or intellectual sensitivity). ) (which allows you to experience pleasure at the sight or simple mental comprehension of beauty."
Thus, the imagination is completely dissolved in other functions. Guilford pointed out the polysemy of the concept of “creative activity”, which includes such concepts as “task”, “installation”, “determining tendency”, “scheme”, “trial and error”, “insight”, etc. Bergius argues that fantasy is an abstract concept that essentially describes many different states. The comparison of facts related to the problem of fantasy by reductionism with the laws of other processes made it possible to more clearly identify and outline some of its problems. One such aspect is the relationship of fantasy to reality. The view according to which fantastic images depend on reality is based on the materialistic principle of knowledge: our knowledge is drawn from the really existing objective external world. Authors who depicted completely implausible events in their works always proceeded directly or indirectly from real phenomena.
Lowesa wrote that “the idea that the creative imagination... has little or nothing to do with facts is a false doctrine. For imagination never works in a vacuum. A product of the imagination is a fact that has undergone transformation.”
The relationship of fantasy to reality can be quite complex and subtle. Thus, Bouarel connects creative activity with the identification of the virtually (implicitly) “inventory” of images inherent in nature and things. That is, the material itself, as it were, predisposes to the choice of solution (for example: the figure of Venus was already enclosed in a block of marble). But in any product of fantasy there are always certain aspects that cannot be explained only by imitation or imitation, since the creation of fantastic images is not a mechanism for copying reality or simple imitation, imitation. The hypothesis of chance finds was also common. It is pure chance that some fantasy researchers explain all creative successes and discoveries. In accordance with the hypothesis of “serendipity” (random finds), the emergence of new ideas is caused either by a random coincidence of several images of perception, or by a random collision of a person with some external circumstances.
The famous physiologist W. Cannon, in his article “The Role of Chance in Discovery,” gives a long list of discoveries made, in his opinion, thanks to a happy accident: Columbus’s discovery of the New World, Galvani’s discovery electrical phenomena in living tissue, Claude Bernard's discovery of the nervous regulation of blood circulation, and so on. Proponents of this view directly state that such cases are the result of the fact that the person who made the discovery “simply found himself in in the right place V right time" But supporters of this hypothesis are aware that their theory in practical terms does not mean passively waiting for a favorable opportunity. Therefore, they emphasize the need to embrace chance and take appropriate measures to increase the likelihood of a favorable event. This concept was not distinguished by internal harmony and consistency, but was an electrical connection of disparate approaches. It was complemented by other ideas that explained it: recombination, trial and error. The idea of recombination (rearrangement) shifts the emphasis from external stimuli to phenomena occurring within the psyche.
Ribot suggested that the fantasy mechanism operates in several stages: first, dissociation of states of consciousness occurs, due to which individual images are freed from perceptual connections and thereby gain the opportunity to enter into new combinations; then a regrouping of these states occurs, ending with an association, a new combination. Consequently, the interpretation of fantasy as a purely mechanical process has become widespread. Thus, in 1960, Welch wrote: “Recombination involves division, subtraction, (separation), addition and multiplication. This applies to any area of thinking. I saw and remembered images of a gold watch and a mountain covered with snow. I separate the color from the image of the clock and add it to the shape of the mountain, as a result of which the thought of a golden mountain arises, that is, of an object that I have never seen.” Consequently, Welch defined fantasy as the emergence of new and bizarre images. But the main disadvantage of associationism is that it explains all mental phenomena by circumstances that took place in the past, that is, a person’s thoughts, images, and actions are predetermined by previously occurring events that arose and were imprinted earlier by associations. Thus, fundamentally excluding the possibility of creativity. Therefore, representatives of the Würuburg school (De Dulpe, Ach, Buhler, Messer, Watt) were the first to criticize and focus on the factors that operate at the moment when mental activity is performed, putting forward such explanatory concepts as “set”, “task” , "determining tendency". They did not reject the system of associationism at all, but supplemented it with new explanatory concepts. One of these concepts is the concept of a task, which is thought of as a guiding, organizing tendency that subordinates the movement of associative fields. It “provides a certain meaningful series of reproductions.” The task awakens the attitude, which refers to the internal readiness that governs the selection process. The concept of attitude was introduced at the beginning of our century by Marbe, who explained by it perceptual illusions that arose under the influence of repeated preliminary perceptions. Thus, the Vyuruburians made an attempt to go beyond the associationist idea and replaced the connections between the contents of consciousness with connections and relationships between the current state of consciousness and previous as well as future states. The concept of attitude was subjected to even greater treatment in the works of D.N. Uznadze and his school, who saw in it the fundamental principle of all personality psychology. Thus, with the help of the concept of “attitude,” an attempt was made for the first time to theoretically link mental activity with personality characteristics.
A compromise concept should be considered various teachings about the staged course of creative activity. There were many schemes of early researchers of fantasy (D. Dewey), but the scheme of R. Walls, who singles out next stages:
- Preparation a person collects the necessary information and considers the problem from a variety of perspectives;
- Incubation the person does not consciously engage with the creative problem being solved;
- Enlightenment essentially insight. A “happy idea” appears, which is accompanied by corresponding mental states (satisfaction, joy, etc.);
- Examination weighing and considering the credibility and value of a new idea.
This scheme differs from others in that it considers the stage of incubation, which other authors skipped. Similar phenomena have been described by many scientists, for example: Poincaré tells how it “came to him” during one geological excursion, when he was not thinking at all about the mathematical problems that had previously interested him.
A subtle and disguised form is the explanation of fantasy by analogy, when the products of fantasy are not directly derived from perceptual images, but are linked to them indirectly, indirectly, by introducing the concept of similarity. The influence of analogy can be traced by psychologists in allegories, comparisons and especially in metaphors, which are very characteristic of artistic creativity. The most emphatic recognition of analogy as an explanatory principle of fantasy is seen in Spearman's book The Creative Mind. According to Spearman, identifying similarities underlies all factors of creativity. Argues that the human mind is the transfer of some relationship from one object to another. (For example: Watt built a steam engine based on observations of the lid of a teapot; Archimedes first noticed a decrease in the weight of his own body in water, and then transferred this observation to all bodies immersed in liquid, etc.).
Analogy plays a role in artistic creativity(for example: the sight of a bush preserved in a plowed field gave Leo Tolstoy the idea of writing a story about Hadji Murad). But analogies cannot be considered as simple and primordial psychological mechanism, since it involves the correlation of at least two phenomena. Explanation using analogy does not reveal the laws of creativity.
A number of psychologists have drawn attention to a special reality in the depths of the psyche, which, in their opinion, also serves as material for fantasies. Psychoanalysis initially turned attention to one of the most neglected forms of fantasy - dreams. Freud discovered that dreams, no matter how meaningless, incoherent and absurd, they are in close connection with all our inner life, therefore, have psychological meaning. Dream images have very real sources - not only sources of external reality, but also of internal mental life. The transition from the unconscious sphere to the sphere of consciousness is carried out with the help of projection. Ernst Neumann illustrates the phenomenon of projection in the following way: “Just as the cinematographic apparatus located behind the audience creates a picture in front, so the content of the unconscious is projected outward and perceived as data from the external world, and not as the content of the unconscious. Adequate knowledge of the fantasy process requires a serious study of the deep layers of the psyche.
Let's consider the most well-known theories that explain the thinking process. They can be divided into two large groups: those that proceed from the hypothesis that a person has natural intellectual abilities that do not change under the influence of life experience, and those that are based on the idea that a person’s mental abilities are mainly formed and developed during life. .
Concepts according to which intellectual abilities and intelligence itself are defined as a set of internal structures that ensure the perception and processing of information in order to obtain new knowledge constitute one group of theories of thinking. It is believed that the corresponding intellectual structures exist in a person from birth in a potentially ready-made form, gradually manifesting (developing) as the organism matures.
This idea of a priori existing intellectual abilities - inclinations - is characteristic of many works in the field
"Data from the book: Melhorn G., Melhorn H.-G. Geniuses are not born. - M., 1989.
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thinking carried out in the German school of psychology. It is most clearly represented in the Gestalt theory of thinking, according to which the ability to form and transform structures, to see them in reality is the basis of intelligence.
In modern psychology, the influence of the ideas of the theories discussed can be traced in the concept of schema. It has long been noted that thinking, if it is not associated with any specific, externally determined task, is internally subject to a certain logic. This logic, which is followed by a thought that has no external support, is called a scheme.
It is assumed that the scheme is born at the level of internal speech, and then guides the development of thought, giving it internal harmony and consistency, logic. A thought without a schema is usually called an autistic thought; its features have already been discussed by us. A scheme is not something given once and for all. It has its own history of development, which occurs due to the assimilation of logic and means of controlling thought. If a certain scheme is used quite often without any special changes, then it turns into an automated thinking skill, into a mental operation.
Other concepts of intelligence involve the recognition of the innateness of mental abilities, the possibility and necessity of their lifetime development. They explain thinking based on the influence of the external environment, from the idea of the internal development of the subject or the interaction of both.
Peculiar concepts of thinking are presented in the following areas of psychological research: in empirical subjective psychology, associative in nature and introspective in the main method; in Gestalt psychology, which differed from the previous one only by the denial of elemental mental processes and the recognition of the dominance of their integrity over the composition of these elements, including in thinking; in behaviorism, whose supporters tried to replace the process of thinking as a subjective phenomenon with behavior (overt or hidden, mental); in psychoanalysis, which subordinated thinking, like all other processes, to motivation.
Active psychological research into thinking has been conducted since the 17th century. At this time and during the next rather long period in the history of psychology, thinking was actually identified with logic, and conceptual theoretical thinking was considered as its only type to be studied.
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logical thinking, which is sometimes not entirely correctly called logical (incorrectly because logic is present in any other type of thinking no less than in this one).
The ability to think itself was considered innate, and thinking, as a rule, was considered outside of development. The intellectual abilities at that time included contemplation (some analogue of modern abstract thinking), logical reasoning and reflection (self-knowledge). Contemplation, in addition, was understood as the ability to operate with images (in our classification - theoretical imaginative thinking), logical reasoning - as the ability to reason and draw conclusions, and reflection - as the ability to engage in introspection. The operations of thinking, in turn, were considered generalization, analysis, synthesis, comparison and classification.
Thinking in associative empirical psychology in all its manifestations was reduced to associations, connections between traces of the past and impressions received from present experience. The activity of thinking and its creative nature were the main problem, which (like selectivity of perception and memory) this theory could not solve. Therefore, its supporters had no choice but to declare mental creative abilities a priori, independent of associations with the innate abilities of the mind.
In behaviorism, thinking was considered as a process of forming complex connections between stimuli and reactions, developing practical skills and abilities related to problem solving. In Gestalt psychology, it was understood as an intuitive perception of the desired solution through the discovery of the connection or structure necessary for it.
It cannot be said that both recent trends in psychology have not provided anything useful for understanding thinking. Thanks to behaviorism, practical thinking entered the sphere of psychological research, and in line with Gestalt theory they began to turn Special attention to moments of intuition and creativity in thinking.
Psychoanalysis also has certain merits in solving problems of the psychology of thinking. They are associated with drawing attention to unconscious forms of thinking, as well as studying the dependence of thinking on human motives and needs. The defense mechanisms we have already discussed can be considered as unique forms of thinking in humans, which also began to be specifically studied for the first time in psychoanalysis.
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In domestic psychological science, based on the doctrine of activity nature. human psyche, thinking has received a new interpretation. It began to be understood as a special species cognitive activity. Through the introduction of the category of activity into the psychology of thinking, the opposition between theoretical and practical intelligence, subject and object of knowledge was overcome. Thus, a new one was opened for specific research; the previously invisible connection that exists between activity and thinking, as well as between different types of thinking itself. For the first time, it became possible to raise and solve questions about the genesis of thinking, its formation and development in children as a result of targeted training. Thinking in the theory of activity began to be understood as the ability to solve various problems and expediently transform reality, aimed at revealing aspects of it hidden from direct observation.
A. N. Leontiev, emphasizing the arbitrary nature of the highest forms of human thinking, their arbitrariness from culture and the possibility of development under the influence of social experience, wrote that human thinking does not exist outside of society, outside of language, outside of the knowledge accumulated by mankind and the methods of mental activity developed by it: logical, mathematical and other actions and operations... An individual becomes a subject of thinking only after mastering language, concepts, and logic. He proposed a concept of thinking, according to which there are relationships and analogies between the external structures that constitute behavior and the internal structures that constitute thinking and activity. Internal, mental activity is not only derived from external, practical activity, but has fundamentally the same structure. In it, as in practical activities, individual actions and operations can be distinguished. At the same time, external and internal elements of activity are interchangeable. The structure of mental, theoretical activity may include external, practical actions, and vice versa, the structure of practical activity may include internal, mental operations and actions.
The activity theory of thinking contributed to solving many practical problems related to learning and mental development children. On its basis, such theories of learning were built (they can also be considered as theories of development
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Chapter ]]. Psychology of activity and cognitive processes
thinking), like the theory of P.Ya. Galperin, the theory of L.V. Zankov, the theory of V.V. Davydov.
In the last few decades, based on successes in the development of ideas from cybernetics, computer science, and algorithmic languages high level in mathematical programming it became possible to construct a new, information-cybernetic theory of thinking. It is based on the concepts of algorithm, operation, cycle and information. The first denotes a sequence of actions, the implementation of which leads to the solution of the problem; the second concerns the individual action, its character; the third refers to performing the same actions repeatedly until the desired result is obtained; the fourth includes a set of information transferred from one operation to another in the process of solving a problem. It turned out that many special operations that are used in computer information processing programs and in the process of solving computer problems are similar to those that people use in thinking. This opens up the possibility of studying the operations of human thinking on a computer and building machine models of intelligence.
INTRODUCTION 3
1. THE CONCEPT OF THINKING IN PSYCHOLOGY 5
2. BASIC THEORIES OF THINKING 11
2. 1. Western theories of thinking 11
2.2 Theories of thinking in domestic psychology 18
CONCLUSION 23
REFERENCES 25
INTRODUCTION
Thinking is a cognitive process that is associated with the discovery of subjectively new knowledge, problem solving, and the creative transformation of reality. Therefore, in psychology, thinking is considered and studied as a mental process and as a problem-solving process. Thinking is included in all types of human activity (work, cognition, communication, play) and is associated with all personal characteristics of a person (motivation, emotions, will, abilities, etc.). Thinking is considered the highest cognitive process.
Thinking as a mental process occurs in mental (mental) actions and operations.
Throughout the 20th century, many outstanding psychologists turned to the topic of psychological research of thinking, each in his chosen theoretical model. Among them are Wundt, James, Thorndike, Dewey, Watson, Piaget, Wertheimer, etc. Among domestic scientists one can name S. L. Rubinstein, L. S. Vygotsky, P. Ya. Galperin, A. N. Leontiev, L. V. Zankova, Y. A. Ponomarev, L. F. Tikhomirov and others.
Representatives of various sciences are currently engaged in research on thinking: psychology, biology, medicine, genetics, cybernetics, logic and a number of others. Each of these sciences has its own questions, due to which they address problems of thinking, their own system of concepts and, accordingly, their own theories of thinking. But all these sciences, taken together, expand our knowledge about human thinking, complement each other, and allow us to look deeper into this, one of the most important and mysterious phenomena of human psychology.
There are different views on the nature and mechanisms of functioning of this mental process. In this work we will look at the main ones.
The object of our course work is thinking.
The subject of the study is various psychological theories of thinking.
The purpose of the work is to consider the nature of human thinking, its understanding and explanation in various psychological theories.
Research objectives:
1. Analyze the theoretical literature on the research problem, familiarize yourself with the history of the emergence of the psychology of thinking.
2. Study the concept of thinking and its types in modern psychology.
3. Consider the basic psychological theories of thinking.
When writing this course work, the following methods were used scientific research:
1) theoretical analysis scientific works devoted to this problem;
2) methods of description and synthesis.
1. THE CONCEPT OF THINKING IN PSYCHOLOGY
Active research into thinking has been carried out since the 17th century. The initial period of research into thinking was characterized by the fact that thinking was actually identified with logic, and conceptual theoretical thinking was considered as its only type to be studied. The very ability to think was considered innate and therefore, as a rule, was considered outside the problem of the development of the human psyche. The intellectual abilities at that time included contemplation (as some analogue of abstract thinking), logical reasoning and reflection. The operations of thinking were considered to be generalization, synthesis, comparison and classification.
Thinking is a mental process of a generalized and indirect reflection of reality. In contrast to direct reflection in sensations and perception, thinking is mediated by a system of various signs developed by humanity. The means of mediation and generalization is language. Thinking plays an important role in a person's attempts to adapt to real life. The result of thinking is a thought, idea, concept.
Human cognitive mental activity is complex and diverse. Cognition begins with the fact that analyzers give us a variety of sensations; a complex of individual sensations develops into a holistic perception; attention serves as a filter that selects the most important signals for us; The primary information obtained in this way enters the storage of long-term and short-term memory, and then it is the turn of thinking. One of the main tasks of thinking is identifying connections, making decisions and forecasting. As a result of thinking, new knowledge arises, which cannot be obtained from direct experience. Thus, thinking is closely connected with other mental processes: it relies on memory, using its products to perform its functions; it cannot be productive without attention and creative without imagination. It is unthinkable outside of language, its symbolic structure, which allows thinking to realize one of its functions of knowing reality with the help of symbolic means.
The main differences between thinking and other higher mental processes are, in particular, that:
it generates a result that either in reality or in the subject himself did not exist before;
it is almost always associated with the presence of a problematic situation;
thinking goes beyond sensory knowledge;
it reveals connections between objects and phenomena that are not given to a person directly;
it is present in all higher mental processes, and the level of development of each of them is determined by the degree of involvement of thinking in it.
Thinking as a special mental process has a number of specific characteristics and signs presented in Fig. 1.1.
Despite the close interaction between thinking and speech, these two phenomena are not the same thing. Thinking does not mean talking out loud or 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. Despite the fact that the thought that arises in our mind is clear to us, often we cannot find a suitable verbal form to express it.
Rice. 1.1General characteristics of thinking as a mental process.
Like any mental process, thinking is a function of the brain. The physiological basis of thinking is brain processes at a higher level than those that serve as the basis for more elementary mental processes, such as sensation. However, at present there is no consensus on the significance and order of interaction of all physiological structures, providing the thinking process. It is undeniable that the frontal lobes of the brain play a significant role in mental activity as one of the options for purposeful activity. In addition, there is no doubt about the importance of those areas of the cerebral cortex that provide gnostic (cognitive) functions of thinking. There is no doubt that the speech centers of the cerebral cortex are also involved in the thought process.
Thinking is present in all other cognitive mental processes, including perception, attention, imagination, memory, and speech. All higher forms of these processes, to a certain extent, depending on the level of their development, are associated with thinking. Thinking is a special kind of activity that has its own structure and types (Fig. 2).
Rice. 2 Basic types of thinking
Most often, thinking is divided into theoretical and practical. At the same time, in theoretical thinking, conceptual and figurative thinking are distinguished, and in practical thinking, visual-figurative and visual-effective.
Conceptual thinking is thinking in which certain concepts are used. At the same time, when solving certain mental problems, we do not resort to searching for any new information using special methods, but use ready-made knowledge acquired by other people and expressed in the form of concepts, judgments and inferences.
Imaginative thinking is a type of thought process in which images are used. These images are extracted directly from memory or recreated by imagination. In the course of solving mental problems, the corresponding images are mentally transformed so that, as a result of manipulating them, we can find a solution to the problem that interests us. Most often, this type of thinking prevails among people whose activities are related to some type of creativity.
It should be noted that conceptual and figurative thinking, being varieties of theoretical thinking, in practice are in constant interaction. They complement each other, revealing to us different aspects of existence. Conceptual thinking provides the most accurate and generalized reflection of reality, but this reflection is abstract. In turn, imaginative thinking allows us to obtain a specific subjective reflection of the reality around us. Thus, conceptual and figurative thinking complement each other and provide a deep and diverse reflection of reality.
Visual-figurative thinking is a type of thought process that is carried out directly during the perception of the surrounding reality and cannot be carried out without this. By thinking visually and figuratively, we are tied to reality, and the necessary images are presented in short-term and operational memory. This form of thinking is dominant in preschool and junior children. school age.
Visual-effective thinking is a special type of thinking, the essence of which is practical transformative activity carried out with real objects. This type of thinking is widely represented among people engaged in production work, the result of which is the creation of any material product.
It should be noted that all these types of thinking can also be considered as levels of its development. Theoretical thinking is considered more perfect than practical thinking, and conceptual thinking represents a higher level of development than figurative thinking.
So, thinking is the highest cognitive mental process. Its essence lies in the generation of new knowledge based on the creative reflection and transformation of reality by man. Thinking is inextricably linked with speech.
2. BASIC THEORIES OF THINKING
2. 1. Western theories of thinking
1. Associative
Thinking in associative empirical psychology in all its manifestations was reduced to associations, connections between traces of the past and impressions received from present experience. The activity of thinking, its creative nature were the main problem, which (like the selectivity of perception and memory) this theory could not solve. Therefore, its supporters had no choice but to declare mental creative abilities a priori, independent of associations with the innate abilities of the mind.
2. Wurzburg School
Representatives of the Würzburg school, who, along with A. Binet in France, laid the foundation for the systematic study of the psychology of thinking, first of all put forward the position that thinking has its own specific content, irreducible to the visual-figurative content of sensations and perceptions.
In contrast to the subjectivism of associative psychology, for which the mental process is reduced to a simple association of subjective ideas, the Würzburg school, relying on the concept of intention coming from F. Brentano and E. Husserl, put forward the position of the objective orientation of thought and emphasized the role of the subject in the mental process. process.
Representatives of the Würzburg school emphasized the ordered, directed nature of thinking and identified the importance of the task in the thinking process.
During its existence, the Würzburg school has undergone significant evolution. Starting with statements about the ugly nature of thinking (O. Külpe, H. J. Watt, K. Bühler in his early works), representatives of the Würzburg school (the same K. Bühler in his later works, O. Selz) then identified and even specifically emphasized the role of visual components in the thinking process. However, visibility was thoroughly intellectualized, visual representations were turned into plastic tools of thinking, devoid of an independent sensory basis; Thus, the principle of intellectualization was realized in new forms. A similar evolution occurred in the views of the Würzburg school on the relationship between thinking and speech. At first (in O. Külpe, for example), thinking was considered externally, being already ready, independent of it. Then thinking and the formation of concepts (N. Akh) were transformed as a result of the introduction of a formally understood speech sign into the solution of a problem. This last position, transforming a meaningless sign into the demiurge of thinking, was, with all its apparent opposition, essentially only the reverse side of the same original position, separating thinking and speech.
3. Functionalism
John Dewey believed that thinking occurs when a person discovers a discrepancy between his expectations and actual events. This theory is called conflict theory. Only in the case of the conflict described above, according to Dewey, does thinking become involved in the process of resolving the problem that has arisen. If there is no conflict, a person’s actions are automatic and the thinking process is not included in them.
4. Psychoanalytic version
From the point of view of psychoanalysis, human thinking, which is an attribute of consciousness (“I”), is under the influence of multidirectional influences: the unconscious (“it”) and the current requirements of the culture in which a person lives (“super-ego”). These circumstances dictate a completely definite function for thinking. Thinking in this case should be a process aimed at finding a way to realize unconscious aspirations, taking into account a specific sociocultural situation.
Sigmund Freud believed that the reason for the emergence of thinking was the need to satisfy biological needs: when an image of objects appeared in a person’s brain that could satisfy his need, for example, for food, thinking manifested itself by finding ways to transform the internal image into reality . In other words, thinking acted as a mechanism for controlling the actions necessary to achieve the goal.
5. Cognitive
Jean Piaget reasoned as follows: the emergence of thinking is due to biological processes of adaptation to the environment. In the process of development, a child improves his understanding of the world around him and forms schemas (internal representations). This allows him to structure his behavior in a way suitable for adaptation to the environment and, on this basis, form future actions in new situations. As experience is gained, these schemes are improved by two possible ways. This is assimilation (ordering external impressions and events into a subjective system of connections) or accommodation (transformation and adjustment of subjective schemes under the influence of external events). Piaget identified the following age stages of cognitive development:
stage of sensorimotor intelligence: 0-2 years - during this period the child develops the ability to retain in memory images of those objects with which he interacted. This is the sensorimotor period of development. It is characterized mainly by the formation and development of sensory and motor structures. The child actively listens, tastes, smells, touches, throws various objects and thus, by the end of the period, has absorbed enough information to be able to begin symbolic activities;
stage of pre-operational thinking: 2-7 years is the age of a child’s entry into the sociocultural space, he masters language, forms and assimilates concepts, their meaning and significance. This is how symbolic thinking develops: with the help of gestures, concepts and language;
stage of concrete operations with objects: 7-11 years - the child develops the ability to internally carry out those operations that he previously performed externally. Such thinking already allows the child to compare, classify, systematize, but only on specific material.
stage of formal operations: 11 - 14 years - the ability to think abstractly, abstractly, mathematically, logically is formed. Hypotheses and deductive conclusions begin to play a major role in thinking. This is the highest level of thinking.
Jerome Bruner, another prominent representative of cognitivism, argued that human cognition is primarily sensory and motor in nature. Nothing, according to Bruner, can form into a thought before it passes through human feelings and through motor activity directed to the outside world. The development of thinking takes place in several stages. To the sensorimotor representation of reality indicated above is added an iconic representation (impressing the world in mental images), and later a symbolic representation (the world of images is supplemented by the world of concepts).
The stimulus for the formation of higher manifestations of thinking, from the point of view of cognitive scientists, is mainly speech. In the process of its development, the child learns to assimilate and form concepts.
In mental activity, concepts perform several important functions:
Cognitive economy. Cognitive economy is the division of the world into units that can be manipulated. As a result, we are freed from the need to designate each object and phenomenon with a separate word, and refer it to the class of identically named objects or phenomena (“man”, “cabinet”, “point”).
Going beyond the limits of this information (forecast). Attributing an object, action or state to a certain concept automatically means that this object, action or state has a number of properties associated with this concept. These include properties that are not perceived in this moment. This function of the concept allows us to predict information that is not visible at first glance. Thus, the concept of “bird cherry” includes our ideas about a deciduous tree that blooms with white flowers in the spring, and in the summer produces a harvest of tart, sweet berries with a specific taste. We can use visible properties (shape of leaves, flowers) to categorize an object as “cherry bird” and make a prediction regarding currently invisible properties (future berries).
6. Behaviorist concepts
According to John Watson's hypothesis, both thought and speech are generated by the same motor activity. The only difference is that thought is an internal dialogue, and speech is a thought spoken out loud. Behavioral psychologists represent internal mental activity as a set of complex chains of internal speech skills, formed according to the “stimulus-response” scheme. Behaviorists supported their theories with interesting experiments. Electrodes were attached to the tongue or lower lip of a person performing mental operations (for example, multiplying some numbers in his mind). It turned out that a sensitive device connected to these electrodes recorded pronounced changes in the electrical potential. Similar changes in potential during mental problem solving were recorded from the fingertips of a deaf person communicating using gestures. The conclusion that behaviorists draw looks something like this: thinking is always accompanied by motor activity. In fairness, it should be noted that thought is still richer than speech and it is not always formalized in words.
7. Gestalt approach
Representatives of this psychological direction proceed from the ideas of subordination of mental processes to the principle of the formation of integral forms. They understand thinking mainly as the direct perception of the sought solution. They were among the first to begin systematic research into the process of problem solving. Edward Lee Thorndike, studying the behavior of hungry cats that needed to get out of the cage to get food by pressing a certain pedal or pulling a loop, concluded that their learning occurs slowly due to the availability of only a trial method. and errors. However, Wolfgang Köhler later proved that animals are more capable of solving problems. While studying the thinking of experimental monkeys, he discovered a phenomenon called “insight” (guess, insight). The presence of insight in animals and humans meant that as a result of re-structuring the task, new relationships and properties were revealed to the thinking subject. With their scientific experiments, Gestalt psychologists have demonstrated the differences between productive (in which the problem is restructured and can be solved in a new way) and reproductive (in which the solution to a new problem is based on past experience) thinking. The work of Gestalt psychologists (Kohler, Mayer, Metcalf) has proven that the concept of insight has a certain scientific value. They also proved that past experience does not always have a positive effect on problem solving; Moreover, the process of finding a solution often cannot be derived from the experience of behavior and learning, from previously accumulated associations; it is an “autochthonous”, self-generating process.
8. Information-cybernetic theory
In the last few decades, based on successes in the development of ideas from cybernetics, computer science, and high-level algorithmic languages in mathematical programming, it has become possible to build a new, information-cybernetic theory of thinking. It is based on the concepts of algorithm, operation, cycle and information. The first denotes a sequence of actions, the implementation of which leads to the solution of the problem; the second concerns an individual action, its character; the third refers to the repeated execution of the same actions until the desired result is obtained; the fourth includes a set of information transferred from one operation to another in the process of solving a problem. It turned out that many special operations that are used in computer information processing programs and in the process of solving computer problems are similar to those that people use in thinking. This opens up the possibility of studying the operations of human thinking on a computer and building machine models of intelligence.
2.2 Theories of thinking in Russian psychology
In Russian psychological science, based on the doctrine of the active nature of the human psyche, thinking has received a new interpretation. It began to be understood as a special type of cognitive activity. Through the introduction of the category of activity into the psychology of thinking, the opposition between theoretical and practical intelligence, subject and object of knowledge was overcome. Thus, for specific research, a new previously invisible connection was opened that exists between activity and thinking, as well as between different types of thinking itself. For the first time, it became possible to raise and solve questions about the genesis of thinking, its formation and development in children as a result of targeted training. Thinking in the theory of activity began to be understood as the ability to solve various problems and expediently transform reality, aimed at revealing aspects of it hidden from direct observation.
Psychologists belonging to this direction (Sergei Leonidovich Rubinshtein, Lev Semenovich Vygotsky, Boris Mikhailovich Teploye, Pyotr Yakovlevich Galperin, Alexey Nikolaevich Leontiev, etc.) consider thinking as an indirect generalized cognition of objective reality. They connect a person’s mental life with specific, external, objective activity. A. N. Leontyev proposed the concept of thinking, according to which there are analogies between the structures of external (component behavior) and internal (component thinking) activity. Internal mental activity is not only a derivative of external, practical activity, but also has fundamentally the same structure. In it, as in practical activities, individual actions and operations can be distinguished. At the same time, internal and external elements of activity are interchangeable. The structure of mental, theoretical activity may include external, practical actions, and vice versa, the structure of practical activity may include internal, mental operations and actions. Consequently, thinking as a higher mental process is formed in the process of activity.
P.Ya. Halperin developed the concept of the gradual formation of mental actions. It is based on the fact that mental activity is the result of the transfer of external material actions to the plane of reflection - to the plane of perception, ideas and concepts, that is, to the internal structure of mental activity. P.Ya. Halperin put forward his hypothesis based on consideration of the totality of the following empirical facts: the convergence of the internal structure of mental activity with the structure of the corresponding external action, striking changes in action in the process of its reduction, a ladder of gradual ascent from external action to internal action. The scientist believed that the transfer of external action inside occurs in a strict order, step by step. When moving from the outside to the inside, the action must go through the following stages of the formation of mental actions:
formation of an indicative basis for future action: familiarization with the essence of future action in practical terms;
performing an action in external form in practical terms with real objects or their substitutes;
performing an action without relying on external objects; transferring an action from the external plane to the plane of loud speech - “speech execution of an objective action” (Galperin P.Ya.);
transfer of loud speech action to the internal plane; pronouncing the action entirely “to oneself”;
performing an action in terms of internal speech with the necessary transformations and abbreviations; transition of action from the sphere of intellectual control to the level of intellectual skills.
This concept has become widely known and has found application in teaching mental actions.
A.N. Leontyev, emphasizing the arbitrary nature of the highest forms of human thinking, their derivativeness from culture and the possibility of development under the influence of social experience, wrote that human thinking does not exist outside of society, outside of language, outside of the knowledge accumulated by mankind and the methods of mental activity developed by it: logical, mathematical and other actions and operations... An individual becomes a subject of thinking only after mastering language, concepts, and logic. He proposed a concept of thinking, according to which there are relations of analogy between the structures of the external, which constitutes behavior, and the internal, which constitutes thinking, activity. Internal, mental activity is not only derived from external, practical activity, but has fundamentally the same structure. In it, as in practical activities, individual actions and operations can be distinguished. At the same time, external and internal elements of activity are interchangeable. The structure of mental, theoretical activity may include external, practical actions, and vice versa, the structure of practical activity may include internal, mental operations and actions.
The activity theory of thinking contributed to the solution of many practical problems related to the learning and mental development of children. On its basis, such theories of learning (they can also be considered as theories of the development of thinking) were built, such as the theory of P.Ya. Galperin, the theory of L.V. Zankov, the theory of V.V. Davydov.
Thus, theories that explain the thinking process can be divided into two large groups: those that are based on the hypothesis that a person has natural intellectual abilities that do not change under the influence of life experience, and those that are based on but the idea that a person’s mental abilities are mainly formed and developed during life.
So, the study of thinking has given rise to many different theories, briefly presented in Table. 1.
Table 1. Basic theories of thinking
No. Name of theory Representatives Essence
1 Associative Hartley, Priestley, etc. Thinking is a connection (association) of ideas.
2 Behaviorism J. Watson Thinking is the process of developing skills and abilities associated with solving problems.
3 Würzburg K. Bühler et al. Thinking is an act of internal action, in isolation from language
4 Functional O. Seltz Thinking - the functioning of intellectual operations, a process that has stages and operations
5 Gestalt psychology M. Wertheimer, K. Koffka Thinking is a sudden understanding of the essence of a problem situation, the decisive factor in solving is the organization of the conditions of the problem
6 Psychoanalytic 3. Freud Thinking - associated with unconscious motivation and considered a defense mechanism
7 Activity S.Ya. Rubinshtein A.N. Leontyev
P.Ya. Galperin
Thinking is a special type of cognitive activity. Thinking is derived from the culture of society, language, mental actions are derived from external ones and have the same structure. Thinking is the process of solving problems, problems
8 Cognitive J. Piaget Thinking is a lifetime education, acquired in special conditions stage by stage
9 Information-cybernetic G. Simon et al. Thinking - an analogue of machine thinking
CONCLUSION
The initial period of research into thinking was characterized by the fact that thinking was actually identified with logic, and conceptual theoretical thinking was considered as its only type to be studied. The very ability to think was considered innate and therefore, as a rule, was considered outside the problem of the development of the human psyche. The operations of thinking were considered to be generalization, synthesis, comparison and classification.
Later, with the advent of associative psychology, thinking was reduced in all its manifestations to associations. The connection between traces of past experience and impressions received in present experience was considered as mechanisms of thinking. The ability to think was considered innate.
Thinking has also been widely studied within the framework of behaviorism. At the same time, thinking was presented as a process of forming complex connections between stimuli and reactions. The indisputable merit of behaviorism was the consideration within the framework of the studied problem of the formation of skills and abilities in the process of solving problems. Thanks to this direction of psychology, the problem of practical thinking entered the field of study of thinking.
Psychoanalysis also made a certain contribution to the development of the psychology of thinking, in which much attention was paid to the problem of unconscious forms of thinking, as well as to the study of the dependence of thinking on the motives and needs of a person. It was thanks to the search for unconscious forms of thinking in psychoanalysis that the concept of “defensive psychological mechanisms” was formed.
In Russian psychology, the problem of thinking developed within the framework of the psychological theory of activity. The development of this problem is associated with the names of A. A. Smirnov, A. N. Leontiev and others. It should be noted that the activity theory of thinking contributed to the solution of many practical problems related to the learning and mental development of children. On its basis, well-known theories of learning and development were built, including the theories of P. Ya. Galperin, L. V. Zankov, V. V. Davydov. However, recently, with the development of mathematics and cybernetics, it has become possible to create a new information-cybernetic theory of thinking. It turned out that many special operations used in computer information processing programs are very similar to the thinking operations used by humans. Therefore, it became possible to study the operations of human thinking using cybernetics and machine models of intelligence. At present, a whole scientific problem, called the problem of “artificial intelligence”.
It should be noted that, despite numerous theoretical searches and experimental studies, there is no consensus on the structure and nature of thinking. It is now indisputable that thinking is one of the highest cognitive mental processes, which has a significant impact on all human activities, and also that certain mental operations can be distinguished in the structure of thinking.
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Theories of thinking can be divided into two large groups: those that are based on the hypothesis that a person has natural intellectual abilities that do not change under the influence of life experience, and those that are based on the idea that a person’s mental abilities are mainly formed and developed lifetime.
Concepts according to which intellectual abilities and intelligence itself are defined as a set of internal structures that ensure the perception and processing of information in order to obtain new knowledge constitute one group of theories of thinking. It is believed that the corresponding intellectual structures exist in a person from birth in a potentially ready-made form, gradually manifesting (developing) as the organism matures.
This idea of a priori existing intellectual abilities - inclinations - is characteristic of much work in the field of thinking carried out in the German school of psychology. It is most clearly represented in the Gestalt theory of thinking, according to which the ability to form and transform structures, to see them in reality is the basis of intelligence.
In modern psychology, the influence of the ideas of the theories discussed can be traced in the concept of schema. It has long been noted that thinking, if it is not associated with any specific, externally determined task, is internally subject to a certain logic. This logic, which is followed by a thought that has no external support, is called a scheme.
It is assumed that the scheme is born at the level of internal speech, and then guides the development of thought, giving it internal harmony and consistency, logic. A thought without a schema is usually called an autistic thought; its features have already been discussed by us. A scheme is not something given once and for all. It has its own history of development, which occurs due to the assimilation of logic and means of controlling thought. If a certain scheme is used quite often without any special changes, then it turns into an automated thinking skill, into a mental operation.
Other concepts of intelligence involve the recognition of the innateness of mental abilities, the possibility and necessity of their lifetime development. They explain thinking based on the influence of the external environment, from the idea of the internal development of the subject or the interaction of both.
Peculiar concepts of thinking are presented in the following areas of psychological research: in empirical subjective psychology, associative in nature and introspective in the main method; in Gestalt psychology, which differed from the previous one only by recognizing the dominance of the integrity of mental processes over the composition of these elements, including in thinking; in behaviorism, whose supporters tried to replace the process of thinking as a subjective phenomenon with behavior (overt or hidden, mental); in psychoanalysis, which subordinated thinking, like all other processes, to motivation.
Active psychological research into thinking has been conducted since the 17th century. At this time and during the next rather long period in the history of psychology, thinking was actually identified with logic, and conceptual theoretical thinking, which is sometimes not entirely correctly called logical (incorrectly because logic is present in any other form), was considered as its only type to be studied. form of thinking no less than in this one).
The ability to think itself was considered innate, and thinking, as a rule, was considered outside of development. The intellectual abilities at that time included contemplation (some analogue of modern abstract thinking), logical reasoning and reflection (self-knowledge). Contemplation, in addition, was understood as the ability to operate with images (in our classification - theoretical imaginative thinking), logical reasoning - as the ability to reason and draw conclusions, and reflection - as the ability to engage in introspection. The operations of thinking, in turn, were considered generalization, analysis, synthesis, comparison and classification.
Thinking in associative empirical psychology in all its manifestations was reduced to associations, connections between traces of the past and impressions received from present experience. The activity of thinking and its creative nature were the main problem, which (like selectivity of perception and memory) this theory could not solve. Therefore, its supporters had no choice but to declare mental creative abilities a priori, independent of associations with the innate abilities of the mind.
In behaviorism, thinking was considered as a process of forming complex connections between stimuli and reactions, developing practical skills and abilities related to problem solving. In Gestalt psychology, it was understood as an intuitive perception of the desired solution through the discovery of the connection or structure necessary for it.
It cannot be said that both recent trends in psychology have not provided anything useful for understanding thinking. Thanks to behaviorism, practical thinking entered the sphere of psychological research, and in line with Gestalt theory, they began to pay special attention to moments of intuition and creativity in thinking.
Psychoanalysis also has certain merits in solving problems of the psychology of thinking. They are associated with drawing attention to unconscious forms of thinking, as well as studying the dependence of thinking on human motives and needs. The defense mechanisms we have already discussed can be considered as unique forms of thinking in humans, which also began to be specifically studied for the first time in psychoanalysis.
In domestic psychological science, based on the doctrine of activity nature. human psyche, thinking has received a new interpretation. It began to be understood as a special type of cognitive activity. Through the introduction of the category of activity into the psychology of thinking, the opposition between theoretical and practical intelligence, subject and object of knowledge was overcome. Thus, a new one was opened for specific research; the previously invisible connection that exists between activity and thinking, as well as between different types of thinking itself. For the first time, it became possible to raise and solve questions about the genesis of thinking, its formation and development in children as a result of targeted training. Thinking in the theory of activity began to be understood as the ability to solve various problems and expediently transform reality, aimed at revealing aspects of it hidden from direct observation.
A.N. Leontyev, emphasizing the arbitrary nature of the highest forms of human thinking, their arbitrariness from culture and the possibility of development under the influence of social experience, wrote that human thinking does not exist outside of society, outside of language, outside of the knowledge accumulated by mankind and the methods of mental activity developed by it: logical, mathematical and other actions and operations... An individual becomes a subject of thinking only after mastering language, concepts, and logic. He proposed a concept of thinking, according to which there are relationships and analogies between the external structures that constitute behavior and the internal structures that constitute thinking and activity. Internal, mental activity is not only derived from external, practical activity, but has fundamentally the same structure. In it, as in practical activities, individual actions and operations can be distinguished. At the same time, external and internal elements of activity are interchangeable. The structure of mental, theoretical activity may include external, practical actions, and vice versa, the structure of practical activity may include internal, mental operations and actions.
The activity theory of thinking contributed to the solution of many practical problems related to the learning and mental development of children. On its basis, such theories of learning were built (they can also be considered as theories of development.
Types of thinking
One of the classifications of the types of mental activity of people according to the signs of extraversion and introversion, the dominance of the rational or irrational, emotional and logical in the thinking processes was proposed by K. Jung. He identified the following types of people according to the nature of their thinking:
- Intuitive type. Characterized by the predominance of emotions over logic and the dominance of the right hemisphere of the brain over the left.
- Thinking type. He is characterized by rationality and the predominance of the left hemisphere of the brain over the right, the primacy of logic over intuition and feeling.
The criterion of truth for the intuitive type is the feeling of correctness and practice, and the criterion of correctness for the thinking type is experiment and logical impeccability of the conclusion.
The cognition of the thinking type differs significantly from the cognition of the intuitive type. The thinking type is usually interested in knowledge as such, seeks and establishes a logical connection between phenomena, while the intuitive type is focused on pragmatics, practical beneficial use knowledge regardless of its truth and logical consistency. That which is useful is true—that is his life credo.
Basic types of thinking
Theoretical conceptual thinking is such thinking, using which a person, in the process of solving a problem, refers to concepts, performs actions in the mind, without directly dealing with the experience gained through the senses. He discusses and searches for a solution to a problem from beginning to end in his mind, using ready-made knowledge obtained by other people, expressed in conceptual form, judgments, and inferences. Theoretical conceptual thinking is characteristic of scientific theoretical research.
Theoretical figurative thinking differs from conceptual thinking in that the material that a person uses here to solve a problem is not concepts, judgments or inferences, but images. They are either directly retrieved from memory or creatively recreated by the imagination. This kind of thinking is used by workers in literature, art, and in general people of creative work who deal with images. In the course of solving mental problems, the corresponding images are mentally transformed so that a person, as a result of manipulating them, can directly see the solution to the problem that interests him.
Both types of thinking considered - theoretical conceptual and theoretical figurative - in reality, as a rule, coexist. They complement each other quite well, revealing to a person different but interconnected aspects of existence. Theoretical conceptual thinking provides, although abstract, but at the same time the most accurate, generalized reflection of reality. Theoretical figurative thinking allows us to obtain a specific subjective perception of it, which is no less real than the objective-conceptual one. Without one or another type of thinking, our perception of reality would not be as deep and versatile, accurate and rich in various shades as it actually is.
Distinctive feature the following type thinking – visual-figurative – is that thinking process it is directly related to perception thinking person surrounding reality cannot be accomplished without it. Thoughts are visual and figurative, a person is tied to reality, and the images themselves necessary for thinking are presented in his short-term and operative memory (in contrast, images for theoretical figurative thinking are extracted from long-term memory and then transformed).
This form of thinking is most fully and comprehensively represented among children of preschool and primary school age, and among adults – among people employed practical work. This type of thinking is quite developed in all people who often have to make decisions about the objects of their activity only by observing them, but without directly touching them.
The last of the types of thinking indicated in the diagram is visual-effective. Its peculiarity lies in the fact that the thinking process itself is a practical transformative activity carried out by a person with real objects. The main condition for solving the problem in in this case are the correct actions with the appropriate objects. This type of thinking is widely represented among people engaged in real production work, the result of which is the creation of any specific material product.
Let us note that the listed types of thinking also act as levels of its development. Theoretical thinking is considered more perfect than practical thinking, and conceptual thinking represents a higher level of development than figurative thinking. On the one hand, there is a real meaning behind such reasoning, since conceptual and theoretical thinking in phylo- and ontogenesis actually appears later than, say, practical and figurative thinking. But, on the other hand, each of the four named types of thinking in itself can develop relatively independently of the others and reach such a height that it will certainly surpass the phylogenetically later, but ontogenetically less developed form. For example, among highly qualified workers, visual-effective thinking can be much more developed than the conceptual thinking of a student reflecting on theoretical topics. An artist's visual and figurative thinking can be more perfect than the verbal and logical thinking of a mediocre scientist. This idea was well noted by B.M. Teplov.
The difference between theoretical and practical types of thinking, according to B.M. Teplov, is only that “they are related to practice in different ways... The work of practical thinking is mainly aimed at solving particular specific problems..., while the work of theoretical thinking is aimed mainly at finding general patterns.” Both theoretical and practical thinking are ultimately related to practice, but in the case of practical thinking this connection is more direct, immediate. The practical mind, as a rule, is aimed at solving a practical problem at every step, and its conclusions are directly verified by practice here and now. The theoretical mind appears as mediated: it is tested in practice only in final results his works.
All of the listed types of thinking coexist in humans and can be represented in the same activity. However, depending on its nature and ultimate goals, one or another type of thinking dominates. For this reason they all differ. In terms of their degree of complexity, in terms of the demands they place on a person’s intellectual and other abilities, all of these types of thinking are not inferior to each other.
The nature of thinking
Thinking is the highest cognitive process. It represents the generation of new knowledge, an active form of creative reflection and transformation of reality by man. Thinking generates a result that does not exist either in reality itself or in the subject at a given moment in time. Thinking (in elementary forms it is also present in animals) can also be understood as the acquisition of new knowledge, the creative transformation of existing ideas.
The difference between thinking and other psychological processes is also that it is almost always associated with the presence of a problem situation, a task that needs to be solved, and an active change in the conditions in which this task is given. Thinking, unlike perception, goes beyond the limits of the sensory data and expands the boundaries of knowledge. In thinking based on sensory information, certain theoretical and practical conclusions are made. It reflects existence not only in the form of individual things, phenomena and their properties, but also determines the connections that exist between them, which most often are not given directly to man in his very perception. The properties of things and phenomena, the connections between them are reflected in thinking in a generalized form, in the form of laws and entities.
In practice, thinking as a separate mental process does not exist; it is invisibly present in all other cognitive processes: perception, attention, imagination, memory, speech. The highest forms of these processes are necessarily associated with thinking, and the degree of its participation in these cognitive processes determines their level of development.
Thinking is the movement of ideas that reveals the essence of things. Its result is not an image, but a certain thought, an idea. A specific result of thinking can be a concept - a generalized reflection of a class of objects in their most general and essential features.
Thinking is a special kind of theoretical and practical activity that involves a system of actions and operations included in it of an indicative, research, transformative and cognitive nature.
Thinking processes
Thinking processes include judgment, inference, definition of concepts, induction, deduction. A judgment is a statement containing a certain thought. An inference is a series of logically related statements from which new knowledge is derived. The definition of concepts is considered as a system of judgments about a certain class of objects (phenomena), highlighting their most general characteristics. Induction and deduction are methods of producing inferences that reflect the direction of thought from the particular to the general or vice versa. Induction involves the derivation of a particular judgment from a general one, and deduction presupposes the derivation of a general judgment from particular ones.
Operations of thinking
Thinking, unlike other processes, occurs in accordance with a certain logic. Accordingly, in the structure of thinking the following logical operations can be distinguished: comparison, analysis, synthesis, abstraction and generalization. Comparison reveals the identity and difference of things. The result of the comparison can also be a classification. Often it acts as the primary form of theoretical and practical knowledge.
A deeper penetration into the essence of things requires the disclosure of their internal connections, patterns and essential properties. It is performed using analysis and synthesis. Analysis is the division of an object, mental or practical, into its constituent elements and their subsequent comparison. Synthesis is the construction of a whole from analytically given parts.
Analysis and synthesis are usually carried out together and contribute to a deeper understanding of reality. “Analysis and synthesis,” wrote S.L. Rubinstein, “common denominators” of everything cognitive process. They relate not only to abstract thinking, but also to sensory cognition and perception. In terms of sensory cognition, analysis is expressed in the identification of some sensory property of an object that had not been properly identified before. The cognitive significance of analysis is due to the fact that it isolates and “emphasizes”, highlights the essential.” Theoretical, practical, imaginative and abstract intelligence in its formation is associated with the improvement of thinking operations, primarily analysis, synthesis and generalization.
Abstraction is the isolation of any side or aspect of a phenomenon that in reality does not exist as an independent entity. Abstraction is performed for a more thorough study and, as a rule, on the basis of a previously performed analysis and synthesis. The result of all these operations is often the formation of concepts.
Not only properties, but also actions, in particular methods of solving problems, can become abstracted. Their use and transfer to other conditions is possible only when the selected method of solution is realized and meaningful regardless of the specific task.
Generalization acts as a connection of the essential (abstraction) and linking it with a class of objects and phenomena. The concept becomes one of the forms of mental generalization.
Concretization acts as an operation inverse to generalization. It manifests itself, for example, in the fact that general definition– concepts – a judgment is made about the belonging of individual things and phenomena to a certain class.
Moscow State University named after M.V. Lomonosov.
Faculty of Teacher Education.
Essay
in the discipline "General Psychology"
on the topic of:
"Psychological theories of thinking."
Completed:
3rd year student
Faculty of Soil Science
Ogorodnikov S.S.
Moscow 2014
Content
Introduction…………………………………………………………….3 Chapter 1. Associative theory……………………………………………………4 Chapter 2 Würzburg School…………………………………………...5 Chapter 3. Reproductive theory of O. Seltz……………………………..6 Chapter 4. Behaviorism ……………………………………………………8 Chapter 5. Gestalt - psychology………………………………………………………..10 Chapter 6 . Piaget's theory of cognitive development……………………….11
Chapter 7. Productive thinking……………………………………..13
Chapter 8. Theories that are not widely used……….13
Conclusion……………………………………..………………………...16
Literature……………………………………………………..…………………………16
Introduction
The psychology of thinking is one of the most complex areas of general psychology. In the last century, this science has actively developed. Various methods, theories, and concepts were proposed. Therefore, in the psychology of thinking we can observe sharply manifested differences between psychological schools.
This paper examines the main theories of thinking put forward by scientists in different time. An attempt has been made to show the cause-and-effect relationship and logic of the emergence of various theories of thinking from the 17th century to the present day.
There are many definitions of thinking in the literature; we will give just one of them. “Thinking can be defined as an area of human activity and the ability of an individual that allows one to obtain knowledge about reality on the basis of reasoning and other mental actions with ideas, knowledge or concepts.”
V.M. Rozin identifies four main types of thinking:
1. Philosophical.
2. Scientific.
3. Various spheres of life (artistic, religious, etc.).
4. Practical, at the behavioral level.
However, there are other classifications. Without dwelling on this issue in detail, we note that different schools Depending on the method, different types of thinking were studied. The difference in research methods and definitions largely explains the fundamentally different approaches of researchers to this issue. For a teacher, the study of various theories of thinking is especially important, since this knowledge can be used by him in teaching practice.
Chapter 1. Associative theory
The founder of this theory can be considered the English philosopher Thomas Hobbes (1588-1639). He considers thinking processes as processes of associative connections, following one after another. Although he does not introduce the term “association” itself.
Benedict Spinoza (1632-1677) identified the concept of “contiguity” in time or space, as necessary condition association formation. This condition is directly related to memory: a person who has a memory of some event, having encountered something similar, now instantly reproduces the images stored in memory.
The term association was first introduced by John Locke (1632-1704). According to Locke, association is the cause of habit formation and the condition for the emergence of false ideas. He also formulates the concept of generalization. The main point is that all human knowledge comes with experience.
The classic association originates from D. Hartley’s book “Observation of Man.” The author believed that mental and nervous processes occur in parallel.
To form associations it is necessary:
Contiguity in time.
Repetition frequency.
Within the framework of subjective idealistic philosophy, these provisions were developed by D. Hume (1711-1776). From his point of view, the process of thinking is making copies of impressions and their subsequent association.
IN In the 19th century, associative psychology was widely used in various fields of science. Without being able to dwell in detail on the development of this theory, we note that in accordance with the laws of NEP, the processes of thinking and learning belong to the laws of memory.
Important generalizations were made by T. Tsigin: “thinking does not always consist of a series of simple ideas. At a higher stage of its development, it is composed of ... judgments and conclusions.” In his opinion, with scientific point From a perspective, it is more convenient to reduce these concepts to the process of ordinary association. As a result, all the various forms of thinking must be reduced to the laws of simple association.
Let us distinguish two types of thinking: voluntary and involuntary.
The first ultimately comes down to the second. Associative psychology defines thinking as the process of remembering and reproducing. In this case, a natural question arises: how does the discovery of something fundamentally new occur? It is impossible to clearly answer this question within the framework of the associative theory, so other psychological theories of thinking have arisen.
Chapter 2 Wurzburg School
The Würzburg school laid the foundation experimental research thinking. Speaking against associationism, representatives of the Würzburg school improved the introspective method. But later they came to the conclusion that it was not suitable for experiments.
Let's consider the main research results of this school:
Discovery of nonsensory components of thinking.
As part of the experiments carried out by Messer Watt, subjects were asked to perform some task and describe the process of thinking. No one mentioned the presence of images during the task. People could not explain how they completed the task.
Further research by K. Büller confirmed the theory of non-figurative (non-imaginative) thinking.
The process of thinking is not limited to the work of memory. During the experiments, semantic connections were identified, key links in the thinking process that constitute and define thought.
2. Installation problem. In the course of his experiments, Watt discovered three factors that determine the response during controlled associations:
A) Installation – task, instructions, past experience.
B) The word is a stimulus.
C) Associations associated with the stimulus word.
The main conclusion is that thinking processes are determined by the setting (instruction) that precedes them.
3. The important role of activity when concentrating on some object of perception is emphasized. Activity comes first, and the act of perception itself and the mechanism of ideas are in second place.
Chapter 3. Reproductive theory of O. Seltz
He made an attempt to experimentally restore the thinking process and proposed some scheme for this process. When performing a task, the thinking process begins not with working with the presented stimulus, but with a complex and reconstruction of conditions. For example, during a test, a student solves a problem. He has a general solution scheme, which includes a sequence of actions, the ability to work with units of measurement, and the like. Using this knowledge, he can answer the specific question of the problem. In this case, the decision process is “filling the complex based on anticipation general scheme about the unknown." In other words, the student’s abstract solution scheme is concretized.
This example illustrates the deterministic updating of solution tools.
Seltz himself did not conduct such complex experiments, but limited himself to easier tasks, for example, completing a word according to clues in the form of its definition and several letters. Because of this, he did not have material characterizing methods of generalization and identification of new patterns. K. Duncker notes that these experiments by Seltz illustrate elementary cases of solution.
From Seltz's point of view, thinking functions as a system of operations that is activated sequentially. This process can be compared to drawing a polygon: having correctly drawn one line, we can also draw the next one. The author understands operations as repeating processes leading to the achievement of a set goal.
Selz identified three general intellectual operations:
Complementing the complex is the search for the unknown; the purpose of this search is to fill the “empty space” in a certain complex.
Abstraction is one of the processes that leads to the discovery of the unknown. With its help, you can identify general ways to solve similar problems.
Reproduction of similarities - in this case, the unknown is discovered by drawing analogies with similar cases from the past. This process is close to the associative process, but has a clearly defined goal.
The operations identified by Selz can be characterized as processes that fit well into the thinking scheme he proposed.
The concept of a problematic task was highlighted. It consists of three components:
What you are looking for
Requirements for what should be found
Starting stimulus
Since Seltz’s concept did not consider solutions to real problems, it became necessary to correlate the constructed idea of thinking and its implementation in the solution process real problems. The method of introspection, which was the central link in Selz's research, did not allow this to be done. Ways to solve this problem have been proposed within the framework of behaviorism and Gestalt psychology.
Chapter 4. Behaviorism
Behaviorism as a separate branch of psychology arose in the twentieth century. Human thinking was presented as “machine-like,” which was explained by the presence of reflexes, the same as those of animals. The teaching adopted two main components of the reflex:
The stimulus is the initial link.
Reaction is the final link.
Referring to Charles Darwin's theory, psychologists argued that the psyche performs an adaptive function that allows it to adapt to environmental conditions. E. Thorndike (1874-1949) made an attempt to identify the thinking of animals and humans. The method of experimental observation and description of behavior in situations that prevent the achievement of any goal has come to the fore.
This method can be called the “obstacle method.” During the experiment, the animals were placed in a “problem cage” that had an obstacle (latch, lock, etc.). By trial and error, the animal coped with the obstacle, and the fact of successful behavior was reinforced and repeated after some time in other cells. As a result of his research, Thorndike discovered three laws of learning that can be used when teaching a person:
Law of Exercise
Law of Effect
The law of recency of learning
However, it should be noted that strictly speaking, these laws are laws of training, and not laws of thinking.
D. J. Otson is the main theorist of behaviorism. He rejected two main provisions of previous theories.
1. Consideration of consciousness within the framework of psychology.
2. Introspection as a method of psychological research.
According to Otson, all reactions of the body, regardless of their complexity, ultimately come down to movement. Thinking is motor behavior. Vernal speech (sounds) turns into inner speech (thinking itself).
There are three main types of thinking:
Answering standard questions in which the order of words does not change (in fact, this is not thinking, but a reaction to a familiar stimulus).
The solution to a problem known to man is so rare that verbal behavior such as attempts is required (the use of various mathematical formulas).
Solving new problems using trial and error.
During the development of the theory, training became the main task of teaching. Various training exercise systems have been created.
Further development teachings found post-neobehaviorism. The idea of learning management was put forward, which should eliminate errors. The problem of understanding is completely removed from the learning process. Learning should become absolutely controllable (programmed learning theory).
Gestalt psychologists criticized behaviorism.
Chapter 5. Gestalt - psychology
Representatives of this movement made constructive criticism of all previous schools that studied this issue.
The main differences between the concepts are listed below in tabular form.
Table 1. Differences between Gestalt psychology and basic theories of thinking
Gestalt - psychology
Sequential education association (Associative thinking).
Statement on the integrity (gestalt) of new psychological processes.
Extraordinary thinking (Wurzburg school).
The principle of similarity (identity) between the laws of thinking and perception.
Reproductive nature of thinking (Selts).
Productivity is a specific characteristic of psychological processes.
The process of thinking as a process of trial and error (Behaviorism).
The process of thinking as a set of processes of understanding.
A prominent representative of this trend was the Soviet scientist L.S. Vygodsky.
Criticizing behaviorism, Keller noted that it is necessary for an animal to perform tasks that correspond to the animal’s species experience. Puzzle tasks were replaced with comprehension tasks.
Wertheimer (1912) wrote an article about the “phi phenomenon.” The main conclusion of the scientist is that sequential, partial stimuli are not perceived individually, but as a gestalt - an integral structure. Based on this, many laws of perception were derived.
The most important of them are four:
Law of figure and ground.
Law of constancy.
Law of transposition.
Law of Pregnancy.
All of them show that gestalt is an image that provides an adequate perception of the constant qualities of objects.
Chapter 6 Piaget's Theory of Cognitive Development
Piaget's theory of cognitive development stands apart from other theories. Taking part in the processing of IQ tests, the scientist noticed that children of the same age make the same type of mistakes that were not characteristic of older participants in the study. Based on this, Piaget theorized that children of the same age are at the same stage of development and exhibit similar cognitive abilities.
Reasoning like behaviorists, the researcher believed that the emergence and development of thinking is a manifestation of biological adaptation to the environment.
As a result of this, an internal understanding of the world is formed, which allows one to formulate actions in new situations for rapid adaptation. There are two ways to process accumulated knowledge:
Assimilation - external events and impressions are ordered (connected) into a subjective system.
Accommodation - subjective schemes are adjusted and transformed under the influence of external influences.
Based on the research, Piaget identified four stages of age-related cognitive development, presented below in table form.
Table 2. Stages of cognitive development according to Piaget.
Stage
Age, years
Emerging abilities
Sensorimotor intelligence
0-2
Storing images in memory; development of motor and sensory abilities.
Preoperative thinking
2-7
Mastering language, concepts and their meanings. Formation of symbolic thinking.
Specific operations
7-11
The ability to classify, compare, systematize specific material.
Formal transactions
11-14
Ability to think logically, abstractly, abstractly.
Representatives of cognitivism paid great attention to the development of speech. Believing that speech is the main stimulus for the formation of thinking, since with its help the child assimilates and forms concepts.
By relating an object to a certain concept, one can make a prediction as to what properties it will have. (For example, by relating the object pear to the concept fruit, one can assume that the object will have taste and can be eaten).
Chapter 7. Productive Thinking
The concept of productive thinking belongs to Gestalt psychology. However, it is highlighted in a separate chapter, as it is extremely important in pedagogical practice.
Productive thinking is based on a problem situation. And insight is the “end” of the thinking process. At this stage, a certain understanding has been achieved and a new gestalt is formed.
The concepts of centering and re-centering were highlighted.
Centering is how we view the parts in relation to the whole. Recentering is a natural process in which the situation changes in relation to the goal being achieved.
From the point of view of Z.I. Kalmykova, developmental education should form productive, creative thinking. The main indicators of such thinking are:
1) Originality of thought, the ability to give non-standard answers.
2) Quick Appearance non-standard associations.
3) An unusual solution to the problem posed.
4) Speed of thought (the number of associations or ideas that arose in a certain time).
5) The ability to discover new functions of an object or its part.
Chapter 8. Theories that are not widely accepted
This chapter briefly examines theories of thinking that, in the author's opinion, have not received wide enough distribution.
Conflict theory. When there is a discrepancy between a person’s desires and reality, thinking arises as a necessary phenomenon that serves to resolve the conflict. If there is no conflict, a person’s actions can be considered automatic, and the thinking process does not occur. The author of this theory is John Dune.
Thinking in Freud's psychoanalysis. Sigmund Freud believed that thinking is determined by the need to satisfy the needs that arise in a person. Thinking is an attribute of the conscious “I”, but is influenced by the unconscious. Thus, the thinking process realizes the unconscious aspirations of a person within the social environment.
Information-cybernetic theory. The development of this theory is associated with the development of high-level programming languages, such as C/C++. An analogy is drawn between human thinking processes and the processes of algorithmization of computer operation. The theory operates with the following concepts: cycle, algorithm, operation. This theory is mainly used in the development of artificial intelligence models.
From a pedagogical point of view, this theory is applicable when using the programmed learning method. As an example of a teaching aid in which this approach is implemented, one can cite Nentvig’s book “Chemical Simulator”. It presents new approach to the study of chemistry and presentation of material, training is built as a cycle computer program; Without completely mastering one of the sections, the student will not be able to move on to the next one.
Under the influence of the rapid development of cybernetics in the 60s of the twentieth century, the semantic theory of thinking by O.K. Tikhomirov. Within the framework of this theory, the principle of selectivity of thinking was formulated.
O.A. Skorlupina identifies three stages in the development of semantic theory.
1. The subject of research is thinking, as the highest form of reflection of matter.
2. Mental activity as a self-regulating system.
3. Thinking as an open psychological system that generates new formations “meanings, values, goals, etc.”
Among researchers at Moscow State University, semantic theory has become widespread and more developed. There is a whole “Tikhomirov school”. The scientist's followers study the connection between the psychology of thinking and the psychology of computerization. Applied research is also actively carried out. We can say that this theory is currently being successfully developed.
The theory of systems thinking. One of the youngest theories, which originated at the end of the last century in the USA. The main goal of this theory is to develop in a person the ability to think systematically, that is, not just to solve problems, but also to predict the consequences that a decision can lead to after a long period of time. The theory is closely related to synergetics. Its use is relevant in solving economic, environmental and other pressing problems. At present, this theory has not received final completion.
In particular, attempts are being made to characterize the role of mystical experience in the processes of thinking and to show its connection with the development and formation of religions.
The influence of a person’s thinking on his health, success, and self-realization is widely discussed in popular science literature.
All kinds of courses on “Business Thinking”, “Success Thinking”, etc. are gaining increasing popularity. Time will tell how productive these will be educational programs, but we can already say that without relying on scientific psychology and without scientific substantiation of the pedagogical feasibility of these programs, real benefits from them can hardly be expected.
Conclusion
The work examined the main theories of thinking and their interrelation. A brief overview of the current development of this psychological direction is given.
Without claiming any depth of presentation, the author hopes that this small analysis will general outline gives an idea of such a complex and important process - the process of thinking.
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