What are the known stages of thinking formation? Levels of development of thinking

Development of thinking in ontogenesis and experimental studies.

Response Plan

Stages of development.

Stages in ontogenesis.

Answer:

Development of thinking as species.

Thinking is the highest cognitive process; it is the generation of new knowledge, an active form of creative reflection and transformation of reality by man. Thinking can also be understood as the acquisition of new knowledge, the creative transformation of existing ideas in thinking, based on sensory information, certain theoretical and practical conclusions are drawn. It reflects existence not only in the form of individual things, phenomena and their properties, but also determines the connections that existed between them, which most often are not given directly, in the very perception of a person. 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. Thinking, as a separate mental process, does not exist; it is also present in other cognitive processes (perception, attention, imagination, memory, speech). Thinking is the movement of ideas that reveals the essence of things. Its result is a thought, an idea, a concept.

Thinking is a theoretical and practical activity that involves a system of actions and operations included in it of an indicative, research, transformative and cognitive nature. There are the following types of thinking:

1) theoretical conceptual thinking is such thinking, using which a person, in the process of solving a problem, turns to concepts, performs actions in the mind, without directly dealing with experience gained through the senses. Typical for scientific theoretical research.

2) theoretical imaginative thinking - differs in that the material that a person uses here to solve a problem is not concepts, judgments or conclusions, but images that are extracted from memory or creatively recreated by the imagination. Both types of thinking complement each other.

3) visual-figurative - the thought process is directly related to perception. Thoughts are visual and figurative, a person is tied to reality, and images are represented in his short-term and operative memory. This form of thinking is very well represented in preschoolers, and in general it is sufficiently developed in all people.

4) visual-effective - this is a practical transformative activity carried out by a person with real 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.

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. All species coexist and can be represented in the same activity. But depending on its nature and ultimate goals, one or another type of thinking dominates. Thinking occurs in accordance with a certain logic.

Stages of development.

Currently, there are various theories that try to determine the main stages and mechanisms of development of human thinking in its ontogenesis. A number of theories contradict each other. Nevertheless, there are generally accepted points of view regarding the patterns of development of thinking.

Generalization is a product of mental activity, a form of reflection of the general characteristics and qualities of the phenomena of reality.

In most currently existing approaches to the periodization of the stages of development of thinking, it is generally accepted that the initial stage of development of thinking is associated with generalizations. At the same time, the child’s first generalizations are inseparable from his practical activity: we see how the child performs the same actions with objects that are similar to each other. This tendency begins to appear at the end of the baby’s first year of life. Moreover, the manifestation of thinking in a child is a vital tendency, since the process of thinking itself for a child has a practical orientation. By operating with objects based on knowledge of their individual properties, a child can already solve certain practical problems at the beginning of the second year of life. For example, a child aged 1 year and 1 month is able to guess that in order to get nuts from the table, it is necessary to place a bench at the table. Or another example - a boy aged 1 year and 3 months, in order to move a heavy box with things, first took out half of the things, and then performed the necessary operation.

In all of the above examples, the child relied on experience he had already gained earlier. Moreover, it should be taken into account that this child’s experience is not always his personal experience. A child learns a lot when he watches adults.

The next stage in the development of a child’s thinking is associated with his mastery of speech. The words that a child masters provide him with a basis for generalizations. They very quickly acquire a general meaning for him and are very easily transferred from one subject to another. However, the meaning of the first words often includes only some individual signs of objects and phenomena, which the child is guided by when referring to them. It is quite natural that this sign, which is essential for a child, is in fact far from essential. For example, children often compare the word “apple” with all round objects.

Another very significant stage in the development of a child’s thinking is the stage during which the baby can name the same object in several words. This phenomenon is observed, as a rule, at the age of about 2 years and indicates the formation in the child of such a mental operation as comparison. At this stage of development of thinking, the process of discovering similarities or differences between objects and phenomena of the real world occurs in the child’s mind. Subsequently, on the basis of the comparison operation, induction and deduction begin to develop, which by 3-3.5 years have already reached a fairly high level of development.

The most significant feature of the development of a child’s thinking at the age of 2-6 years is that his first generalizations are associated with action. The child thinks “by doing.” For example, when a child aged 4-5 years is asked to determine what is common and what is the difference between a pear and an apple, he performs this operation much faster when he holds them in his hands, and experiences serious difficulties when he is asked to do this mentally.

Another characteristic feature of children's thinking is its clarity, which manifests itself in concrete thinking. The child thinks based on individual facts that are known and accessible to him from personal experience and observations of others. For example, to the question “why can’t you drink raw water”, the child answers based on a specific fact - “one boy drank raw water and got sick.”

In modern psychology, there are many different theories that try to explain or describe the patterns of development of human thinking. Among these theories, the theory of the development of intelligence by J. Piaget within the framework of the ontogenetic direction has become very widely known.

According to Piaget, an action scheme is the sensorimotor equivalent of a concept, a cognitive skill. Thus, action is a mediator between the child and the world around him, with the help of which he actively manipulates and experiments with real objects. Development of action patterns, i.e. cognitive development occurs as the child’s experience of practical action with objects increases and becomes more complex due to the internalization of objective actions, i.e. their gradual transformation into mental operations (actions performed internally). What are the mechanisms of this adaptation?

The first of them is the assimilation mechanism, when an individual adapts new information (situation, object) to his existing patterns (structures), without changing them in principle, that is, he includes a new object in his existing patterns of actions or structures. For example, if a newborn can grab an adult's finger placed in his palm, he can also grab a parent's hair or a cube placed in his hand. That is, each time he adapts new information to existing action patterns.

The other is the mechanism of accommodation, when the individual adapts his previously formed reactions to new information, i.e. he is forced to rebuild old schemes in order to adapt them to new information. For example, if a child continues to suck on a spoon in order to satisfy hunger, i.e. try to adapt a new situation to the existing scheme - sucking (assimilation mechanism), then he will soon become convinced that such behavior is ineffective (he cannot satisfy the feeling of hunger and thereby adapt to the situation) and he needs to change his old scheme (sucking), i.e. . modify the movements of the lips and tongue to take food from the spoon (accommodation mechanism). Thus a new scheme of action appears.

It is obvious that the functions of these two mechanisms are opposite.

Thanks to assimilation, existing schemes (concepts) are clarified and improved, and thus balance with the environment is achieved by adapting the environment to the subject, and thanks to accommodation, restructuring, modification of existing schemes and the emergence of new, learned concepts occurs. The nature of the relationship between these mechanisms determines the qualitative content of human mental activity. Logical thinking itself, as the highest form of cognitive development, is the result of a harmonious synthesis between them. In the early stages of development, any mental operation represents a compromise between assimilation and accommodation.

In the structure of thinking, the following logical operations can be distinguished: comparison, analysis, synthesis, abstraction and generalization. Analysis is the dissection of an object. Mental or practical, into its constituent elements and their subsequent comparison. Synthesis is the construction of a whole from analytical parts. Analysis and synthesis are usually carried out together and contribute to a deeper understanding of reality. Abstraction is the identification of any aspect of a phenomenon that in reality does not exist as an independent entity. Generalization - acts as a connection of the essential and connecting it with a class of objects and phenomena (concept). Concretization is the opposite operation to generalization. There are thinking processes: judgment - statement; containing a specific thought; inference - a series of logically related statements from which new knowledge is derived; definition is considered as a system of judgments about a certain class of objects, 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. Some scientists believe that these processes also arise in ontogenesis not simultaneously, but at different ages.

Stages in ontogenesis.

According to Piaget, the process of development of intelligence consists of three large periods, within which the emergence and formation of three main structures (types of intelligence) occur. The first of these is sensorimotor intelligence.

Period of sensorimotor intelligence (0-2 years).

During this period, the newborn perceives the world without knowing himself as a subject, without understanding his own actions. Real for him is only what is given to him through sensations. He looks, listens, touches, smells, tastes, etc. At this stage of development, the leading role belongs to the child’s immediate sensations and perceptions. His knowledge of the world around him is based on them. Therefore, this stage is characterized by the formation and development of sensory and motor structures - sensory and motor abilities. According to Piaget, intellectual development during the first two years of life goes from unconditioned reflexes to conditioned ones, their training and development of skills, the establishment of coordinated relationships between them, which gives the child the opportunity to perform trial-and-error actions. At the same time, the baby begins to anticipate the development of a new situation, which, coupled with the existing intellectual potential, creates the basis for symbolic or pre-conceptual intelligence.

Period of specific operations (2-11/12 years)

At this age, there is a gradual internalization of action patterns and their transformation into operations that allow the child to compare, evaluate, classify, rank, and measure. If during the period of development of sensorimotor intelligence the main means of mental activity of the child were objective actions, then in the period under review they are operations. The fundamental difference is that the birth of an operation is a prerequisite for the formation of logical thinking itself. If the child’s thinking at the stage of sensorimotor intelligence appears in the form of a system of reversible actions performed materially and sequentially, then at the stage of specific operations it represents a system of operations performed in the mind, but with mandatory reliance on external visual data.

According to Piaget, the central characteristics of a child’s mental activity during this period of his cognitive development are egocentrism of thinking and the idea of ​​conservation. Egocentrism of thinking determines such features of children's thinking as syncretism, inability to focus on changes in an object, irreversibility of thinking, transduction (from particular to particular), insensitivity to contradiction, the combined effect of which prevents the formation of logical thinking. Within this period, Piaget identified the pre-operational stage, which characterizes intuitive, visual thinking at the age of 2 to 6-7 years, and the stage of concrete operations (6.7-11.12 years).

Within preoperative stage figurative - symbolic schemes are formed, based on an arbitrary combination of any direct impressions. All mental activity of the child takes place in the light of egocentrism. Egocentrism forces him to focus his attention only on one side of the event and therefore acts as a brake on the path to establishing logical connections. An example of this effect is the well-known experiments of Piaget. If, in front of a child’s eyes, you pour equal amounts of water into two identical glasses, the child will confirm that the volumes are equal. But if in his presence you pour water from one glass to another, narrower one, then the child will confidently tell you that the amount of water in the glasses is different. The effect of egocentrism is the irreversibility of thinking, i.e. the child’s inability to mentally return to the starting point of his reasoning.

Stage of concrete operations (6-12 years)

It occurs when a child becomes able to understand that two characteristics of an object (for example, its shape and the amount of substance in it) do not depend on each other. One of the central characteristics of the cognitive development of children at this age is the emergence in them of the concept of conservation. The weakening of egocentrism in thinking and the transition from it to an objective assessment of things contributes to the emergence of ideas about the conservation of quantity. The concept of conservation appears as soon as the child begins to understand the need for a logical sequence of operations. The emergence of conservation is an important step in cognitive development because it promotes reversibility of thinking. Reversibility allows the child to retain in memory the initial data about the amount of liquid, length, area, mass, weight and volume. The process of intellectual development according to Piaget ends with a period of formal operations. It should be noted that to describe the development of thinking at the age of 6-11 years, Piaget introduced the following concepts:

Conservation- a term denoting an individual’s ability to see the unchanged against the background of visible changes. An example is pouring liquid into different vessels, etc.

Classification– the ability to classify a group of objects according to some criterion. Example - a child is shown pictures of four dogs and three cats and is asked who has more. A child can answer this question correctly, but if you ask who has more animals or dogs, he will answer that there are more dogs. According to Piaget, the child's ability to classify means not only his awareness of the existence of certain subclasses, such as cats or dogs, but also a full understanding that the subclasses added together constitute a third class (animals) and that this class can be divided again into two subclasses.

Seriation– denotes the child’s ability to arrange a set of elements in accordance with the connection between them. If, at the preoperational stage, the child is asked to arrange several sticks along their length, he copes with this only to a limited extent, most often placing two sticks correctly, but then placing a third stick just next to the first two. The ability to seriate fully develops at the stage of specific operations.

transitivity- the essence of this concept lies in understanding the following formulas - if a = b and b = c, then a = c... According to Piaget’s concept, at the pre-operational stage the child copes with this task very poorly, whereas at the stage of specific operations children usually answer correctly.

The age of 7-11 years, in its psychological content, is a turning point in the intellectual development of a child. His thinking becomes more and more similar to that of an adult.

Period of formal operations(11-15 years)

Within the framework of formal-logical intelligence, mental operations can be performed without relying on sensory perception of specific objects. Teenagers are able to operate with abstract concepts, they develop scientific thinking skills, where hypotheses and deductive-inductive reasoning play a major role.

The presence of developed formal logical thinking allows a teenager to solve problems in his head, as if “scrolling” in his head all possible options for solving a problem, and only then empirically check the expected results. Children who can think only concretely are forced to go through trial and error, empirically testing their every step, without trying to imagine possible results.

As for the thinking of an adult, as Vygotsky noted, within a single act of thought, transitions from figurative thinking to logical thinking and vice versa constantly occur. Thus, one of the main characteristics of the thinking of adults in the period 20-40 years is the complex nature of mental operations with a high level of integration of various types of thinking.

J. Piaget considers the child’s visual-figurative thinking to be secondary in relation to visual-effective thinking.

The features of the transition from visually-effective to visual-figurative and reasoning thinking were studied in the work of G.I. Minsk (carried out under the leadership of Zaporozhets). Children were offered tasks in which they were required to bring some object (picture, cube) closer to themselves using various types of levers.

Three series of experiments were carried out.

In episode 1, children directly observed levers located on the experimental table and, practically operating with them, brought the picture closer to themselves. In this series of experiments, the features of visual-effective thinking of preschoolers were studied.

In episode 2, children were offered images of these levers in a drawing and they had to tell how to get an object, which lever and where to move it (visual-figurative)

In series 3 of experiments, they were verbally described the situation of the task and asked to verbally give an answer. (verbal-logical).

At the end of the child's first year of life, objects seem to depend not so much on the nature of the objects themselves as on what actions they caused. For the infant, the actions caused by the stimulus may serve to a greater extent to “define” the latter. At this age, the child is not able to clearly differentiate perception and reactions. The sight of the box prompts Laurent to swing it, but when the box disappears, the action is used to see the box again.

Piaget wrote brilliantly about the sensorimotor stage 9 of visual-effective thinking), the phase of development, in which action and external experience are fused. He characterizes the first stage of sensorimotor intelligence as a phase in which objects are “experienced” rather than “thought.” He likens this type of intelligence to an irreversible and fixed sequence of static images, each of which is associated with action. Piaget notes that at times the child seems to be able to “hold an object in the mind” by increasingly indirect grasping of it with the hand. At first, the child reacts to the disappearance of an object with a search or at least disappointment only if this object is actively taken from his hands. Later, in the first year of life, it is enough to remove the object at the time when “the child has just begun to reach for it.” After a few more months, the child looks for an object that has disappeared from his field of vision, even if he has not previously made any attempts to get it, and long before reaching the age of two, he not only looks for objects hidden under the blanket, but also lifts other blankets, trying to see, where the object moved after it was hidden. The “existence” or “preservation” of an object becomes increasingly independent of direct action with it. This first period of development ends with the emergence for the child of a world in which objects do not depend on the actions taken with them.

The second stage in the development of the presentation of the individual world begins from the moment when the child can finally imagine the world in images or in a spatial scheme that is relatively independent of action. By the end of the first year of life, the child has already made a lot of progress towards this. At the beginning, manipulation still remains as a strong component necessary to maintain images.

The complexity of organizing the perceptual field of a small child is much less than that of adults. The child's perceptual attention is very unstable. He is extremely easily distracted. Perhaps this feature explains the insufficient number of studies of perception at an early age. Moreover, the progress of even symbolic representations is based on the basis of previously developed “imagery”. Thus, a child’s vocabulary usually develops in the direction from small, visually representable categories to increasingly broader and more sophisticated “unrepresentable” categories.

Thus, we can talk about three stages of development of thinking in which the world appears successively in three forms. Which are manipulated by a person during his time.

Visual-effective, visual-figurative and abstract-logical thinking. (research by Zaporozhets and Minsk)

The stages of development of thinking characterize the sequence of formation of individual mental activity (Nemov, 1990). There are four stages of development of thinking. It is quite difficult to draw clear boundaries between them. In a schematic presentation they are presented as follows.

1.Visual and effective thinking or sensorimotor thinking - thinking in the form of complex coordinated movements (sitting, standing, walking, pronouncing speech sounds, etc.), as well as through some simple actions with objects in the field of vision. Such movements and actions are carried out within the framework of research activity; with their help, one’s own body and the external environment are studied. A child can, for example, reach out to an object, touch it, grab it, hold it in his hand, push it away or throw it away, shake it, bring it to his mouth, etc. This, according to L.S. Vygotsky, is pre-verbal thinking, since it is carried out before the inclusion of speech in thinking in children under the age of 2–2.5 years.

It is believed that thinking in higher primates is similar. The term “thinking” itself seems somewhat unfortunate here, since the child does not yet have any actual thoughts. In sensorimotor acts one can, however, see prototypes of some future mental operations. If, for example, a child breaks a toy, this may be a prototype of analysis; when he drags different objects into his mouth, and then spits some out or prefers some toys to others - generalizations, abstractions. According to Bruner (1956), nothing can be incorporated into thought without first passing through the senses and especially through motor activity directed towards the external world. The development of sensorimotor thinking does not stop, however, in childhood, it continues further.

Thanks to sensorimotor thinking, the ability to coordinate various motor acts and form complex motor skills develops. Such, for example, as squatting, running, jumping, climbing, swimming, cycling, skating and skiing, throwing and catching objects, etc. Sensorimotor thinking reaches its heights of development among outstanding athletes and tightrope walkers.

Along with sensorimotor, at the early stage of development of thinking, the first operations of objective thinking are also formed, that is, the ability to adequately manipulate objects. The child learns, in particular, to eat independently with the help of a spoon, drink from a mug, he can flip a switch, pick up and put back a book, roll a toy car, strike a match on a box, hold a pencil, he can try to reach a toy with a stick that has rolled under the sofa or sweep the floor with a broom, etc.

Visual and effective thinking, characteristic of a child, is, under certain circumstances, activated in an adult, even if he has developed verbal and logical thinking. For example, when he studies a completely unfamiliar subject. He touches it, strokes it, turns it in different directions, tries to divide it into parts, etc. In historical terms, this is the thinking of a person passively adapting to certain conditions of existence. For example, he lives in a cave, since he has not yet learned how to build a home, or eats what he finds, since he does not know how to make tools. There is probably the possibility of regression of thinking to the sensorimotor level; something similar is observed, apparently, in patients with catatonia and mutism (inhibition of external and internal speech), with hysterical astasia - abasia. Stopping the development of mental activity at the sensorimotor stage is tantamount to idiocy.

2.Visual-figurative thinking, concrete thinking, objective, manual thinking (according to I.P. Pavlov), or, according to J. Piaget, the pre-operational stage of thinking - thinking through operations with visual images or, more precisely, in the form of expedient actions with various objects. This type of thinking is formed in children between the ages of 2–2.5 and 4–5.5 years and is believed to represent the first stage of internalization of actions. In other words, actions with objects are based on certain cognitive schemes; the child seems to know the purpose of objects and what he can do with their help. This is already verbal or symbolic thinking, since visual images and actions with objects have names, and this is the beginning of a concept, a thought. Nevertheless, the child does not yet separate the thought about an object and this object itself; for him they are fused together.

At this stage, the child thinks mainly out loud, his inner speech is not sufficiently developed. The cognitive need is clearly expressed; the child, unlike the adult, wants to know everything. At this stage of development of thinking, it becomes obvious that the child is definitely capable of performing mental operations with the objects that he perceives, for example, the operation of comparison. If you simply ask a child: “Petya is taller than Vasya, but shorter than Kolya. Which of them is the tallest?”, then he cannot cope with such a task on his own. But if he sees these boys at least in the picture, then he solves this problem without much difficulty. The child is able to generalize, that is, to form groups of objects or their images, guided by their external characteristics, such as color and size. He can cope with the task of eliminating unnecessary things, in other words, abstracting, but even here he still prefers to rely on his sensory experience, etc.

The first judgments about the visual properties of objects arise, but there is apparently no reason to talk about logic itself; the child connects his judgments according to the rules of contiguity and similarity. The basic principles of objective thinking are egocentrism, syncretism and evidence, since mental processes are closely tied to perception. The child, apparently, already realizes that he can think, he also understands what other people think, but at the same time he believes that those around him think like himself; he cannot yet see and evaluate himself from the outside.

Observations show, however, that you can talk to a 3-4 year old child not only about what he perceives at the moment. This means that he is able to produce not only visual, but also mental images, of which he has many by this age, and therefore, he can also fantasize, although he has not yet learned to voluntarily control the flow of his ideas. Mental images arise both by association with each other and by association with visual images. Having seen, for example, a horse, the child remembers something else that was previously combined with the perception of the horse, or remembers it by observing something related to it. His mental images appear as if spontaneously; they spontaneously emerge from memory in his mind. The vividness of ideas often reaches the level of eidetism.

Representations have such distinct properties of clarity and objectivity that children do not always distinguish their fantasies from reality. In other words, it is precisely at this stage of development of thinking that it can be autistic. It is at this age that interest in fairy tales, first dreams, fantasies arise, and in patients - and. At the same time, fantasies in the form of unusual forms of play activity predominate.

Visual-figurative thinking is quite often updated in adults, especially if they find themselves in a completely unfamiliar situation. Sometimes they have no choice but to compare current impressions with each other and try to understand what they mean. Since this type of thinking continues to develop after childhood, it often takes a mature form, defined by the term practical thinking. Some professions are closely related to precisely this kind of thinking - these are professions where an individual has to mainly “think with his hands.” There are people with truly “golden hands” who can do almost everything, and at the same time they are not at all inclined to general thoughts.

Thanks to manual thinking, an individual acquires the ability to control a particular situation, represented by a certain configuration of objects. He is able, for example, to repair a car, renovate a house, plant a garden, and much more. etc. It is believed that it is also characteristic of representatives of operator professions - executives, managers who have to make decisions during direct observation of something in a “here and now” situation. In historical terms, manual thinking is the pre-logical thinking of the Cro-Magnon man. A person no longer passively adapts to a situation, as his predecessors did; to some extent, he becomes able to change it in his own interests.

For example, he does not sit by the river to catch fish with his bare hands, he is already making fishing gear. He makes other simple tools, simple types of weapons, and builds a home for himself from scrap materials. The great discoveries of primitive man were raised by him as if from the earth, literally from under his feet, since they were made by him as if in imitation of natural processes. Of course, without any imagination at all, a person would not be able to accomplish them, but in his thinking he remains largely constrained by visual impressions. One should probably assume the possibility of developmental delay at this stage of thinking, which may be tantamount to imbecility, as well as its regression to this level under the influence of illness, which is observed with catatonia and.

3.Imaginative thinking, or, according to J. Piaget, the stage of concrete operations - thinking through operations with mental images or, which is approximately the same thing, with concrete and collective concepts; general and especially abstract concepts are presented in it in a vague form. Nevertheless, this thinking is inextricably linked with speech, in this sense it is verbal-figurative. This type of thinking dominates in children from 4–5 to 8–11 years old. The expression “dominates,” we note in passing, does not convey the full meaning of what is actually happening. It only means that the child’s cognitive horizons are significantly expanded, his mind decisively invades those areas of reality that were previously inaccessible to him. Generalizing and especially abstract concepts in mental activity are not sufficiently represented at this stage of development, or rather, they are too vague, their boundaries are mobile and uncertain. All operations of thinking with accessible concepts are performed, however, quite successfully.

Thinking not constrained by visual images allows one to separate different characteristics of objects and operate with such characteristics regardless of their dependence on each other. Thus, the child is able to understand that the shape and quantity of a substance are not related to one another, and the mass of an object does not depend on the material of which it is composed. For example, children can cope with the task: “What is heavier, 2 kg of fluff or 2 kg of lead?” Children aged 8–11 years old develop ideas about time, space and speed, that these phenomena can be measured using a standard, and objects can be located depending on their spatial and temporal characteristics. There is a need to independently read, watch and listen to educational television and radio programs, and discuss various problems with other people, including your own. The separation of thinking from clarity makes it possible to develop a sense of humor: everything unexpected that is associated with the free combination of representations of individual features of objects and situations seems funny.

Nevertheless, the child prefers to establish predominantly situational connections between objects and phenomena, still only guessing about cause-and-effect relationships and the strict requirements of logic. In addition, he cannot always accurately determine the line separating the real and the imaginary, the desired and the actual. In other words, this thinking is largely emotional, since it is strongly dependent on the affects and attitudes of the individual. It is worth noting that the concepts of “emotional thinking” and “autistic thinking” are not identical to one another. Emotional thinking, unlike autistic thinking, does not go beyond the limits of what is actually possible. The child, in addition, is already able to clearly distinguish between visual and mental images; he can also distinguish some of his dreams and fantasies from ideas of reality. Emotional figurative thinking is in this sense a kind of soft form of autistic thinking.

In real mental practice, the child firmly relies on previous structures of thinking and is in this sense a born realist. But in his imagination he can sometimes leave the limits of reality and sometimes have difficulty returning back to reality. When a preschooler sees, for example, a dog, he does not doubt for a second that it exists and that under no circumstances can any other living creature be represented in its image. But, listening to a fairy tale, he can completely believe it for a while, since under certain circumstances he can, as it were, identify mental images with visual ones; according to his sense of reality, some of them can still be identical to his perception. In other words, the pathological fantasies that arise in patients acquire a visualized, and as they approach adolescence, a verbal character, while in their fantasies patients can fully get used to the roles they imagine.

Imaginative thinking can very often be found in adults, and in most of them it is probably predominant. Thanks to him, adult individuals are able to solve many problems. For example, they can form a more or less clear idea of ​​various objects and phenomena that they have not observed with their own eyes. They are able to navigate well in phenomena and situations about which direct sensory experience says little. In particular, about what elections, parties, culture, traditions, economics, science and much more are. etc.; in other words, people already have quite definite and fairly abstract concepts about various things. They can compare memories of the past, draw some conclusions from this, and accumulate meaningful experience. They are able to remember, for example, their own experiences, thoughts, feelings, desires, subject them to analysis, comparison, etc. Thus, for the first time, they receive broad opportunities for self-knowledge.

Imaginative thinking often helps out in situations where there is a need to make serious changes in your life. Through imagination, create, for example, new models of behavior in order to get out of a difficult situation. In complex situations where one can understand only with the help of verbal and logical thinking, imaginative thinking is not effective enough and often, unfortunately, does a disservice. For example, a certain social system in the heat of emotion is declared criminal, and the natural laws of society are explained by the whims of individual people. Here you can clearly see how legal concepts are replaced by sociological ones, and scientific ones by everyday ones. Nevertheless, figurative thinking, as it were, prepares the individual for the perception of abstract concepts and theories, and thus plays a very significant role in the formation of abstract thinking.

Historically, imaginative thinking has given man the opportunity to domesticate animals, develop agriculture and industrial production, build houses, write books and music, create writing and visual arts, and ultimately create a completely new environment different from nature. Apparently, imaginative thinking has become the main support for humans relatively recently. Thus, he learned to domesticate animals only 7–9 thousand years ago. Serbian archaeologists have established, for example, that the first house was built 6 thousand years BC. e., and according to other sources, writing and counting were invented in the 5th–7th millennium BC. e.

The pinnacle of the development of imaginative thinking is artistic thinking. A person of art presents any values ​​of existence in one light or another not in the form of mathematical formulas or scientific theories, but in the form of emotionally rich images, allegories, and metaphors. The artist does not embody a ready-made idea in images, he thinks in images, and the very understanding of this idea comes to him later. In his thinking, the artist is guided by the power of creative imagination; he, according to L.S. Vygotsky, follows the “logic of the artistic image,” and takes such logic for something real, existing in reality.

L.S. Vygotsky gives the example of A.S. Pushkin, who, while writing the poem “Eugene Onegin,” once said to his friend: “Imagine what a thing, Tatyana ran away with me, she got married. I never expected this from her.” It is by following artistic logic that a writer or artist can make a discovery that is sometimes superior in insight to science. Admittedly, F. M. Dostoevsky’s descriptions of the inner world of his heroes in depth and realism far exceed everything that the most famous psychologists were capable of decades after him. R. Descartes wrote the following words: “It may seem surprising to many that great thoughts are more often found in the works of poets than in the works of philosophers... philosophers cultivate the germs of knowledge... with the help of reason, while poets kindle them... with the help of imagination.” A conscious attempt to combine scientific and artistic thinking was first made by the outstanding logician and philosopher of our time A.A. Zinoviev, eventually creating a series of deep sociological novels about the nature of Western and communist societies.

4.Conceptual thinking(verbal-logical, abstract, theoretical, conceptual, abstract), according to J. Piaget, the stage of formal operations - thinking through logical operations with ideas and concepts of various types, including general and abstract ones. Formed between the ages of 11–12 and 14–15 years. Mental operations can be performed at this stage without any specific support and with minimal participation of subjective factors. Logically, priority is given to cause-and-effect relationships. This type of thinking continues to develop further throughout the individual's life. Abstract thinking does not guarantee the infallibility of its results. Moreover, the likelihood of errors increases even more due to the possible separation from the ground of reality. Thanks to conceptual thinking, man created science and gained the opportunity to purposefully and consciously influence natural and social reality. In addition, he was able to significantly transform previous types of thinking.

As thinking develops at each previous stage, the foundations of the next are formed. These stages do not change as if on Tuesday thinking was figurative, and on Wednesday morning it turned into conceptual. These types of thinking, moreover, do not displace each other; they exist side by side, turning on alternately depending on the nature of the mental tasks at hand. In other words, if an individual in a given situation prefers to use manual or practical thinking, this does not mean that he has not developed more mature cognitive structures. It should be noted that these types of thinking have a certain independence, independence from each other. For example, an individual’s theoretical thinking can be developed to a much greater extent than figurative or practical thinking. There are outstanding scientists who seem completely helpless in everyday life, unable, for example, to fix a faucet or use a cell phone. At the same time, the thinking of each previous stage is transformed and improved with the advent of a more mature subsequent one.

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

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

Process Features

The first feature of thinking is its indirect nature. What a person cannot know directly, directly, he knows indirectly, indirectly: some properties through others, the unknown through the known. Thinking is always based on the data of sensory experience - sensations, perceptions, ideas - and on previously acquired theoretical knowledge. Indirect knowledge is mediated knowledge.

The second feature of thinking is its generality. Generalization as knowledge of the general and essential in the objects of reality is possible because all the properties of these objects are connected with each other. The general exists and manifests itself only in the individual, in the concrete.

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

Basic Concepts

The results of people's cognitive activity are recorded in the form of concepts. Concept– is a reflection of the essential features of the subject. The concept of an object arises on the basis of many judgments and conclusions about it. The concept, as a result of generalizing the experience of people, is the highest product of the brain, the highest level of knowledge of the world.

Human thinking occurs in the form of judgments and inferences. Judgment is a form of thinking that reflects the objects of reality in their connections and relationships. Each judgment is a separate thought about something. The sequential logical connection of several judgments, necessary in order to solve any mental problem, understand something, find an answer to a question, is called reasoning. Reasoning has practical meaning only when it leads to a certain conclusion, a conclusion. The conclusion will be the answer to the question, the result of the search for thought.

Inference- this is a conclusion from several judgments, giving us new knowledge about objects and phenomena of the objective world. Inferences can be inductive, deductive, or by analogy.

Thinking and other mental processes

Thinking is the highest level of human knowledge of reality. The sensory basis of thinking is sensations, perceptions and ideas. Through the senses - these are the only channels of communication between the body and the outside world - information enters the brain. The content of information is processed by the brain. The most complex (logical) form of information processing is the activity of thinking. Solving the mental problems that life poses to a person, he reflects, draws conclusions and thereby learns the essence of things and phenomena, discovers the laws of their connection, and then transforms the world on this basis.

Thinking is not only closely connected with sensations and perceptions, but it is formed on the basis of them. The transition from sensation to thought is a complex process, which consists, first of all, in isolating and isolating an object or its sign, in abstracting from the concrete, individual and establishing the essential, common to many objects.

For human thinking, the relationship is more important not with sensory knowledge, but with speech and language. In a more strict sense, speech is a process of communication mediated by language. If language is an objective, historically established system of codes and the subject of a special science - linguistics, then speech is a psychological process of formulating and transmitting thoughts through the means of language. Modern psychology does not believe that internal speech has the same structure and the same functions as expanded external speech. By internal speech, psychology means a significant transitional stage between the plan and developed external speech. A mechanism that allows you to recode the general meaning into a speech utterance, i.e. inner speech is, first of all, not a detailed speech utterance, but only a preparatory stage.

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

Types of thinking

• Thinking without imagery (eng. imageless thought) is thinking “free” from sensory elements (images of perception and representation): understanding the meaning of verbal material often occurs without the appearance of any images in consciousness.
• Thinking is visual. A method for solving intellectual problems based on internal visual images.
• Discursive thinking (discursus – reasoning) is a person’s verbal thinking mediated by past experience. Verbal-logical, or verbal-logical, or abstract-conceptual thinking. Acts as a process of coherent logical reasoning, in which each subsequent thought is conditioned by the previous one. The varieties and rules (norms) of discursive thinking are studied in most detail in logic.
• Complex thinking is the thinking of a child and an adult, carried out in the process of unique empirical generalizations, the basis for which are the relationships between things revealed in perception.
• Visual-effective thinking is one of the types of thinking, distinguished not by the type of problem, but by the process and method of solution; the solution to a non-standard problem is sought through the observation of real objects, their interactions and the implementation of material transformations in which the subject of thinking himself takes part. The development of intelligence begins with it both in phylo- and ontogenesis.
• Visual-figurative thinking is a type of thinking that is carried out on the basis of transformations of images of perception into images-representations, further changes, transformations and generalization of the subject content of ideas that form a reflection of reality in an imaginative-conceptual form.
• Figurative thinking is a process of cognitive activity aimed at reflecting the essential properties of objects (their parts, processes, phenomena) and the essence of their structural relationship.
• Practical thinking is a thinking process that occurs in the course of practical activity, in contrast to theoretical thinking aimed at solving abstract theoretical problems.
• Productive thinking is a synonym for “creative thinking” associated with solving problems: new, non-standard intellectual tasks for the subject. The most difficult task facing human thought is the task of knowing oneself.
• Theoretical thinking - the main components are meaningful abstractions, generalizations, analysis, planning and reflection. Its intensive development in its subjects is facilitated by educational activities.

Basic thought processes

Human mental activity is the solution of various mental problems aimed at revealing the essence of something. A mental operation is one of the methods of mental activity through which a person solves mental problems. Mental operations are varied. This is analysis and synthesis, comparison, abstraction, specification, generalization, classification. Which logical operations a person will use will depend on the task and on the nature of the information that he is subjected to mental processing.

Analysis and synthesis

Analysis is the mental decomposition of a whole into parts or the mental isolation of its sides, actions, and relationships from the whole. Synthesis is the opposite process of thought to analysis; it is the combination of parts, properties, actions, relationships into one whole. Analysis and synthesis are two interrelated logical operations. Synthesis, like analysis, can be both practical and mental. Analysis and synthesis were formed in the practical activities of man. In their work, people constantly interact with objects and phenomena. Their practical mastery led to the formation of mental operations of analysis and synthesis.

Comparison

Comparison is the establishment of similarities and differences between objects and phenomena. The comparison is based on analysis. Before comparing objects, it is necessary to identify one or more of their characteristics by which the comparison will be made. The comparison can be one-sided, or incomplete, and multilateral, or more complete. Comparison, like analysis and synthesis, can be at different levels - superficial and deeper. In this case, a person’s thought goes from external signs of similarity and difference to internal ones, from visible to hidden, from appearance to essence.

Abstraction

Abstraction is the process of mental abstraction from certain features, aspects of a particular thing in order to better understand it. A person mentally identifies some feature of an object and examines it in isolation from all other features, temporarily distracting from them. Isolated study of individual features of an object while simultaneously abstracting from all the others helps a person to better understand the essence of things and phenomena. Thanks to abstraction, man was able to break away from the individual, concrete and rise to the highest level of knowledge - scientific theoretical thinking.

Specification

Concretization is a process that is the opposite of abstraction and is inextricably linked with it. Concretization is the return of thought from the general and abstract to the concrete in order to reveal the content. Mental activity is always aimed at obtaining some result. A person analyzes objects, compares them, abstracts individual properties in order to identify what they have in common, in order to reveal the patterns that govern their development, in order to master them. Generalization, therefore, is the identification of the general in objects and phenomena, which is expressed in the form of a concept, law, rule, formula, etc.

Stages of thinking development

The ability to think, as a reflection of the connections and relationships existing between things, manifests itself in a person in a rudimentary form already in the first months of life. Further development and improvement of this ability occurs in connection with: a) the child’s life experience, b) his practical activities, c) mastery of speech, d) the educational influence of schooling. This process of thinking development is characterized by the following features:

• In early childhood, the child’s thinking is visual and effective in nature; it is associated with the direct perception of objects and manipulation with them. The connections between things reflected in this process are initially of a generalized nature, only being replaced later by more precise differentiation under the influence of life experience. Thus, already in the first year of life, a child, having burned himself on a shiny teapot, withdraws his hand from other shiny objects. This action is based on the formation of a conditioned reflex connection between the skin sensation of a burn and the visual sensation of the shiny surface of the object on which the child was burned. However, later, when touching shiny objects in some cases was not accompanied by a feeling of a burn, the child begins to associate this feeling more accurately with the temperature characteristics of the objects.
• At this stage, the child is not yet capable of abstract thinking: he develops concepts (still very elementary) about things and the connections that exist between them only in the process of directly operating with things, actually connecting and separating things and their elements. A child of this age thinks only about what is the subject of activity; his thinking about these things ceases along with the cessation of activity. Neither the past, nor even the future are yet the content of his thinking; he is not yet able to plan his activities, foresee its results and purposefully strive for them.
• A child’s mastery of speech by the end of the second year of life significantly expands his ability to generalize things and their properties. This is facilitated by naming different objects with the same word (the word “table” equally means dining, kitchen, and writing tables, thus helping the child form a general concept of a table), as well as naming one object in different words with a broader and more narrow meaning.
• The concepts of things formed by the child are still very strongly connected with their specific images: gradually these images, thanks to the participation of speech, become more and more generalized. The concepts with which the child operates at this stage of thinking development are initially simply of an objective nature: an undifferentiated image of the object he is thinking about appears in the child’s mind. Subsequently, this image becomes more differentiated in its content. Accordingly, the child’s speech develops: first, only nouns are noted in his dictionary, then adjectives and, finally, verbs appear.
• A significant restructuring of the thinking process occurs in children in preschool age. Communication with adults, from whom children receive verbal descriptions and explanations of phenomena, expands and deepens children's knowledge about the world around them. In this regard, the child’s thinking gets the opportunity to focus on phenomena that are only thought and are no longer the object of his direct activity. The content of concepts begins to be enriched due to conceivable connections and relationships, although reliance on concrete, visual material remains for a long time, right up to primary school age. The child begins to be interested in the causal connections and relationships of things. In this regard, he begins to compare and contrast phenomena, more accurately highlight their essential features, and operate with the simplest abstract concepts (material, weight, number, etc.). With all this, the thinking of preschool children is characterized by imperfections, replete with numerous errors and inaccuracies, which is due to the lack of necessary knowledge and insufficient life experience.
• At primary school age, children begin to develop the ability for purposeful mental activity. This is facilitated by a program and teaching methods aimed at communicating to children a certain system of knowledge, assimilation through exercise under the guidance of a teacher of certain thinking techniques (during explanatory reading, when solving problems on certain rules, etc.), enrichment and development in the process of teaching correct speech . The child increasingly begins to use abstract concepts in the process of thinking, but in general his thinking continues to be based on concrete perceptions and ideas.
• The ability for abstract logical thinking develops and improves in middle school and, especially, in high school age. This is facilitated by mastering the fundamentals of science. In this regard, the thinking of high school students proceeds on the basis of scientific concepts, which reflect the most essential features and interconnections of phenomena. Students are accustomed to a precise logical definition of concepts; their thinking in the learning process acquires a planned, conscious character. This is expressed in purposeful thinking, in the ability to build evidence of the propositions put forward or analyzed, analyze them, find and correct errors made in reasoning. Speech—the student’s ability to accurately and clearly express his thoughts in words—becomes of great importance.

Thinking Strategies

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

• Random search. This strategy follows trial and error. That is, an assumption is formulated (or a choice is made), after which its validity is assessed. So assumptions are made until the right solution is found.
• Rational overkill. With this strategy, a person explores a certain central, least risky assumption, and then, changing one element each time, cuts off the wrong directions of the search. By the way, artificial intelligence operates on this principle.
• Systematic search. With this thinking strategy, a person embraces with his mind the entire set of possible hypotheses and systematically analyzes them one by one. Systematic enumeration is rarely used in everyday life, but it is this strategy that allows you to most fully develop plans for long-term or complex actions.

Psychologist Carol Dweck has spent her career studying performance and mindset, and her latest research shows that your predisposition to success depends more on your attitude than on your IQ. Dweck discovered that there are two types of mindsets: a fixed mindset and a growth mindset.

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

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

• Don't remain helpless. Each of us finds ourselves in situations where we feel helpless. The question is how we respond to this feeling. We can either learn a lesson and move on, or we can despair. Many successful people would not have become so if they had succumbed to feelings of helplessness.

Walt Disney was fired from the Kansas City Star because he "lacked imagination and had no good ideas," Oprah Winfrey was fired from her job as a TV anchor in Baltimore because she was "too emotionally involved" into their stories,” Henry Ford had two failed car companies before starting Ford, and Steven Spielberg was expelled from the University of Southern California School of Cinematic Arts several times.

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

Warren Buffett recommends finding your passion using the 5/25 technique. Make a list of 25 things that are important to you. Then cross off 20 starting from the bottom. The remaining 5 are your true passions. Everything else is just entertainment.

• Take action. The difference between people with a growth mindset is not that they are braver than others and are able to overcome their fears, but that they understand that fear and anxiety are paralyzing, and the best way to deal with paralysis is to do something. People with a growth mindset have an inner core and realize that they don't have to wait for the perfect moment to move forward. By taking action, we transform worry and anxiety into positive, directed energy.
• Walk an extra kilometer or two. Strong people do their best even on their worst days. They always push themselves to go a little further.
• Expect results. People with a growth mindset understand that they will fail from time to time, but that doesn't stop them from expecting results. Expecting results keeps you motivated and pushes you to improve.
• Be flexible. Everyone faces unexpected difficulties. Inspired people with a growth mindset see this as an opportunity to become better, not a reason to give up on a goal. When life challenges, strong people will search for options until they get results.

• Research shows that chewing gum helps improve thinking skills. Chewing gum increases blood flow to the brain. Such people have better ability to concentrate and remember information. It is good to use chewing gums that do not contain sugar to avoid any side effects.
• When you study, try to activate all your senses. Different parts of the brain remember different sensory data. For example, one part of the brain is responsible for recognizing and remembering pictures, and another is responsible for sounds.
• As mentioned, puzzles can actually be very useful. They force you to think deeply about something. They stimulate the brain and also awaken a person’s ability to comprehend. Try buying a puzzle magazine to get more exercise.
• After a healthy sleep, it will be easier for you to think.
• Mediation helps improve thinking. Every day, devote 5 minutes to such activities in the morning and the same amount of time before bed.

A person’s thinking develops, his intellectual abilities improve. Psychologists have long come to this conclusion as a result of observations and practical application of thinking development techniques. In the practical aspect, the development of intelligence is traditionally considered in three directions: phylogenetic, ontogenetic and experimental. Phylogenetic aspect involves the study of how human thinking developed and improved in human history. Ontogenetic includes a study of the process and identification of the stages of development of thinking throughout the life of one person, from birth to old age. Experimental the approach to solving the same problem is focused on analyzing the process of development of thinking in special, artificially created (experimental) conditions designed to improve it.

One of the most famous psychologists of our time, the Swiss scientist J. Piaget proposed a theory of the development of intelligence in childhood, which had a great influence on the modern understanding of its development. In theoretical terms, he adhered to the idea of ​​the practical, activity-based origin of basic intellectual operations.

The theory of the development of a child’s thinking, proposed by J. Piaget, was called “operational” (from the word “operation”). An operation, according to Piaget, is “an internal action, a product of transformation (“interiorization”) of an external, objective action, coordinated with other actions into a single system, the main property of which is reversibility (for each operation there is a symmetrical and opposite operation)” A textbook on general psychology: Psychology of thinking. - M., 1981. - P. 47.

In the development of operational intelligence in children, J. Piaget identified the following four stages:

• 1. The stage of sensorimotor intelligence, covering the period of a child’s life from birth to about two years. It is characterized by the development of the ability to perceive and cognize the objects around the child in their fairly stable properties and characteristics.
• 2. The stage of operational thinking, including its development from the ages of two to seven years. At this stage, the child develops speech, the active process of internalization of external actions with objects begins, and visual representations are formed.
• 3. Stage of specific operations with objects. It is typical for children aged 7-8 to 11-12 years. Here mental operations become reversible.
• 4. Stage of formal operations. Children reach it in their development in middle age: from 11-12 to 14-15 years. This stage is characterized by the child’s ability to perform operations in the mind, using logical reasoning and concepts. Internal mental operations are transformed at this stage into a structurally organized whole. Nemov R.S. The theories of the development of children's intelligence, including Piaget's concept, are discussed in more detail in the second volume.

In our country, the theory of the formation and development of intellectual operations, developed by P.Ya. Galperin, has received the widest practical application in teaching mental actions 3 Galperin P.Ya. Formation of mental actions // Reader on general psychology: Psychology of thinking. -- M., 4981.

This theory was based on the idea of ​​a genetic dependence between internal intellectual operations and external practical actions. Previously, this position was developed in the French psychological school (A. Vallon) and in the works of J. Piaget. L.S. based his theoretical and experimental works on it. Vygotsky, A.N. Leontyev, V.V. Davydov, A.V. Zaporozhets and many others.

P.Ya. Halperin introduced new ideas into the relevant field of research. He developed a theory of the formation of thinking, called the concept of systematic formation of mental actions. Galperin identified the stages of internalization of external actions, determined the conditions that ensure their most complete and effective translation into internal actions with predetermined properties.

The process of transferring external action inside, according to P.Ya. Galperin, is carried out in stages, passing through strictly defined stages. At each stage, a given action is transformed according to a number of parameters. This theory states that complete 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 original, practical, visually effective, most complete and developed form.

The four parameters by which an action is transformed when it moves from outside to inside are the following: level of execution, measure of generalization, completeness of actually performed operations, and measure of mastery.

According to the first of these parameters, action can be at three sublevels: action with material objects, action in terms of loud speech and action in the mind. The other three parameters characterize the quality of an action formed at a certain level: generality, secrecy and mastery.

The process of formation of mental actions, according to P.Ya. Galperin, it appears as follows:

• 1. Familiarization with the composition of the future action in practical terms, as well as with the requirements (samples) that it will ultimately have to meet. This familiarization is the indicative basis for future action.
• 2. Performing a given action in external form in practical terms with real objects or their substitutes. Mastering this external action follows all the main parameters with a certain type of orientation in each.
• 3. Performing an action without direct support on external objects or their substitutes. Transferring action from the external plane to the loud speech plane. Transferring an action to the speech plane, P.Ya. Galperin believed, means not only the expression of the action in speech, but, first of all, the speech execution of an objective action. See: Galperin P.Ya. Formation of mental actions // Reader on general psychology: Psychology of thinking. -- M., 1981.

• 4. Transfer of loud speech action to the internal plane. Freely pronounce the entire action “to yourself.”
• 5. Performing an action in terms of internal speech with its corresponding transformations and abbreviations, with the departure of the action, its process and details of execution from the sphere of conscious control and the transition to the level of intellectual skills.

A special place in research devoted to the development of thinking belongs to the study of the process formation of concepts. It represents the highest level of formation of speech thinking, as well as the highest level of functioning of both speech and thinking, if they are considered separately.

From birth, the child is given concepts, and this fact is considered generally accepted in modern psychology. How are concepts formed and developed? This process represents a person’s assimilation of the content inherent in the concept. The development of a concept consists of changing its volume and content, expanding and deepening the scope of application of this concept.

The formation of concepts is the result of long-term, complex and active mental, communicative and practical activity of people, the process of their thinking. The formation of concepts in an individual has its roots in deep childhood. L.S. Vygotsky and L.S. The Sakharovs were one of the first psychologists in our country to study this process in detail. See: Vygotsky L. S., Sakharov L. S. Study of concept formation: Double stimulation technique // Reader on general psychology: Psychology of thinking. -- M., 1981.

They established a series of stages through which children's concept formation occurs.

The essence of the technique used by L.S. Vygotsky and L.S. Sakharov (it was called the “double stimulation” technique), boils down to the following. The subject is offered two series of stimuli that play a different role in relation to behavior: one is the function of the object towards which the behavior is directed, and the other is the role of a sign with the help of which behavior is organized.

For example, there are 20 volumetric geometric shapes, different in color, shape, height and size. On the lower flat base of each figure, hidden from the view of the subject, are written unfamiliar words denoting the concept being acquired. This concept simultaneously includes several of the above characteristics, for example, size, color and shape.

In front of the child, the experimenter turns over one of the figures and gives him the opportunity to read the word written on it. Then he asks the subject to find all the other figures with the same word, without turning them over and using only the features noticed in the first figure shown by the experimenter. When solving this problem, the child must explain out loud what signs he is guided by when selecting the second, third, etc. to the first figure.

If at some step the subject makes a mistake, then the experimenter himself opens the next figure with the desired name, but one that contains a feature that the child has not yet taken into account.

The described experiment continues until the subject learns to accurately find figures with the same names and identify the features included in the corresponding concept.

Using this technique, it was found that the formation of concepts in children goes through three main stages:

• 1. The formation of an unformed, disordered set of individual objects, their syncretic cohesion, denoted by one word. This stage, in turn, breaks down into three stages: selecting and combining objects at random, choosing based on the spatial arrangement of objects and bringing all previously combined objects to one value.
• 2. Formation of concept complexes based on some objective characteristics. Complexes of this kind have four types: associative (any externally noticed connection is taken as a sufficient basis for classifying objects into one class), collection (mutual addition and association of objects based on a particular functional characteristic), chain (transition in association from one characteristic to another so that some objects are united on the basis of some, and others - completely different characteristics, and all of them are included in the same group), pseudo-concept (externally - a concept, internally - a complex).
• 3. Formation of real concepts. This assumes the child’s ability to isolate, abstract elements and then integrate them into a holistic concept, regardless of the objects to which they belong. This stage includes the following stages: the stage of potential concepts, in which the child identifies a group of objects based on one common feature; the stage of true concepts, when a number of necessary and sufficient features to define a concept are abstracted, and then they are synthesized and included in the corresponding definition.

Syncretic thinking and thinking in complex concepts are characteristic of children of early, preschool and primary school age. A child begins to think in real terms only in adolescence under the influence of learning the theoretical foundations of various sciences. Facts obtained by L.S. Vygotsky and L.S. Sakharov, in this regard, are quite consistent with the data that J. Piaget cites in his works on the development of children's intelligence. Adolescence is also associated with the transition of children to the stage of formal operations, which, apparently, presupposes the ability to operate with real concepts.

In conclusion, let us consider the information theory of intellectual-cognitive development associated with the information-cybernetic theory of thinking. Its authors, Klahr and Wallace, suggested that from birth a child has three qualitatively different, hierarchically organized types of productive intellectual systems: 1. A system for processing perceived information and directing attention from one type of information to another. 2. The system responsible for setting goals and managing targeted activities. 3. A system responsible for changing existing systems of the first and second types and creating new similar systems.

Klar and Wallace put forward a number of hypotheses regarding the operation of systems of the third type:

• 1. At a time when the body is practically not busy processing incoming information from the outside (when, for example, it is sleeping), the third type system processes the results of previously received information that precedes mental activity.
• 2. The purpose of this processing is to determine the consequences of previous activity that are sustainable. For example, there are systems that manage the recording of previous events, the division of this record into potentially stable, consistent parts, and the determination of this consistency from element to element.
• 3. As soon as such a consistent sequence is noticed, another system comes into play - the one that generates a new one.
• 4. A higher level system is formed, including the previous ones as elements or parts.

So far we have considered the natural ways of individual development of thinking. Data obtained in recent years at the intersection of general and social psychology show that the formation of thinking can be stimulated by group types of intellectual work. It has been observed that collective problem-solving activities enhance people's cognitive functions, in particular improving their perception and memory. Similar searches in the field of psychology of thinking have led scientists to the conclusion that in some cases, with the exception, perhaps, of complex individual creative work, group mental work can contribute to the development of individual intelligence. It has been found, for example, that teamwork facilitates the generation and critical selection of creative ideas.

One of the methods for organizing and stimulating group creative intellectual activity is called “brainstorming” (literally “brainstorming”). Its implementation is based on the following principles:

• 1. To solve a certain class of intellectual problems for which it is difficult to find an optimal solution, working on them individually, a special group of people is created, between whom interaction is organized in a special way, designed to obtain a “group effect” - a significant increase in the quality and speed of adoption of the necessary solutions compared to individual search.
• 2. Such a working group includes people who differ from each other in psychological qualities, which are collectively necessary to find an optimal solution (one, for example, is more inclined to express ideas, and the other to criticize them; one has a quick reaction, but not able to carefully weigh the consequences with it, the other, on the contrary, reacts slowly, but carefully thinks through each step; one strives for risk, the other is inclined to caution, etc.). thinking creativity intelligence
• 3. In the created group, through the introduction of special norms and rules of interaction, an atmosphere is created that stimulates joint creative work. The expression of any idea is encouraged, no matter how strange it may seem at first glance. Only criticism of ideas is allowed, not of the people who expressed them. Everyone actively helps each other in their work; providing creative assistance to a group partner is especially highly appreciated.

In conditions of such organized group creative work, a person of average intellectual ability begins to express almost twice as many interesting ideas as in the case when he thinks about solving a problem alone.

4. Individual and group work alternate with each other. At some stages of searching for a solution to a problem, everyone thinks together, at others, everyone thinks separately, at the next stage everyone works together again, etc.

The described technique for stimulating individual thinking was created and has so far been used mainly when working with adults. However, we think that it would be very useful for the development of thinking in children, and most importantly, for uniting the children's team and developing in children of different ages the skills and abilities of interpersonal communication and interaction necessary in modern life.

It can rightly be called the crown of human knowledge. It is a mental activity with its own goals, motives, operational functions and results. It can be characterized in different ways: as the highest degree of assimilation and processing of information and the establishment of cause-and-effect relationships between objects of reality, as a process of displaying the obvious properties of objects and phenomena and, consequently, the formation of ideas about the surrounding reality, and as a process of cognition of the world based on on the continuous replenishment of the baggage of concepts and ideas about it.

But, regardless of the interpretation, it can be established that the better a person’s thinking is developed, the more effectively he can interact with the world around him and other people, study and cognize, understand phenomena and truths. Thinking is formed as a person develops from his very birth, but life circumstances do not always develop in such a way that it continues to develop. It often happens that, having reached a certain level, development slows down. However, each of us is able to influence this process, like many others. In other words, everyone is capable
, and how this is done, we will talk in this article.

But before we get down to the main material, we should say a few words about what thinking is like in general. In total, there are several of its main types, studied by specialists most often and most of all:

• Visual-figurative thinking;
• Verbal-logical (aka abstract) thinking;
• Visual-effective thinking;

Below we will provide a brief description of each type of thinking and indicate effective and simple ways to develop them.

Visual-figurative thinking and exercises for its development

With the help of visual-figurative thinking, reality is transformed into images, and ordinary phenomena and objects are endowed with new properties. It involves visually solving problems and problems without the need to resort to practical actions. The brain is responsible for its development. Visual-figurative thinking should not be confused with imagination, because... it is based on real objects, actions and processes, and not imaginary or fictitious ones.

Visual-figurative thinking can be developed in adults and children in the same ways. Here are some good exercises:

• Remember several people with whom you had the opportunity to communicate today, and imagine in detail their clothes, shoes, hairstyle, appearance, etc.
• Using just two nouns, one adverb, three verbs and adjectives, describe the words "success", "wealth" and "beauty".
• Swipe: imagine the shape of the ears of your pet or, for example, an elephant; count the number of apartments in your entrance and imagine how they are located in the house; Now turn the English letter “N” 90 degrees and determine what came out of it.
• Describe the following objects and phenomena in words: a flying swan, flashing lightning, the kitchen of your apartment, lightning, a pine forest, a toothbrush.
• Recall in your memory the image of a recent meeting with friends and give mental answers to several questions: how many people were in the company, and what clothes did each of them wear? What food and drinks were on the table? What were you talking about? What was the room like? What position did you sit in, what sensations did you experience, what did you taste from the food and drinks you consumed?

These exercises can be modified at your discretion - you can do whatever you want, but the main thing here is to use visual-figurative thinking. The more often you use it, the better it will develop.

You can also check out a course that will help you develop your thinking in just a few weeks. Check it out here.

Verbal-logical (abstract) thinking and exercises for its development

Verbal-logical thinking is characterized by the fact that a person observing a certain picture as a whole isolates from it only the most significant qualities, not paying attention to unimportant details that simply complement this picture. There are usually three forms of such thinking:

• Concept – when objects are grouped according to characteristics;
• Judgment - when any phenomenon or connections between objects are affirmed or denied;
• Inference – when specific conclusions are drawn based on several judgments.

Everyone should develop verbal and logical thinking, but it is especially useful to develop it from an early age in children, because this is an excellent training for memory and attention, as well as imagination. Here are some exercises you can use for yourself or your child:

• Set a timer for 3 minutes, during this time write the maximum number of words starting with the letters “zh”, “w”, “ch” and “i”.
• Take a few simple phrases, such as “what’s for breakfast?”, “let’s go to the movies,” “come visit,” and “there’s a new exam tomorrow,” and read them backwards.
• There are several groups of words: “sad, cheerful, slow, cautious”, “dog, cat, parrot, penguin”, “Sergey, Anton, Kolya, Tsarev, Olga” and “triangle, square, board, oval”. From each group, select those words that do not fit the meaning.
• Identify the differences between a ship and an airplane, grass and a flower, a story and a poem, an elephant and a rhinoceros, a still life and a portrait.
• A few more groups of words: “House - walls, foundation, windows, roof, wallpaper”, “War - weapons, soldiers, bullets, attack, map”, “Youth - growth, joy, choice, love, children”, “Road - cars, pedestrians, traffic, asphalt, poles.” Choose one or two words from each group, without which the concept (“house”, “war”, etc.) could exist as such.

These exercises, again, can be quite easily modernized and modified, simplifying or complicating them at your discretion. It is because of this that each of them can be an excellent way to train abstract thinking in both adults and children. By the way, any such exercises, among other things, perfectly develop intelligence.

Visually effective thinking and exercises for its development

Visual-effective thinking can be described as the process of solving mental problems by transforming a situation that has arisen in real life. It is rightfully considered the first way to process received information, and it develops very actively in children under 7 years of age, when they begin to combine all kinds of objects into one whole, analyze them and operate with them. And in adults, this type of thinking is expressed in identifying the practical benefits of objects in the surrounding world, being the so-called manual intelligence. The brain is responsible for the development of visual and effective thinking.

An excellent way to learn and train here is the usual game of chess, making puzzles and sculpting all kinds of plasticine figures, but there are also several effective exercises:

• Take your pillow and try to determine its weight. Then “weigh” your clothes in the same way. After this, try to determine the area of ​​the room, kitchen, bathroom and other areas of your apartment.
• Draw a triangle, a rhombus and a trapezoid on album sheets. Then take your scissors and turn all these shapes into a square by cutting once in a straight line.
• Place 5 matches on the table in front of you and make 2 equal triangles from them. After that, take 7 matches and make 2 triangles and 2 squares from them.
• Buy a construction set at the store and use it to create various shapes - not just those indicated in the instructions. It is recommended that there be as many details as possible - at least 40-50.

As an effective addition to these exercises, chess and more, you can use our excellent.

Logical thinking and exercises for its development

Logical thinking is the basis of a person’s ability to think and reason consistently and without contradictions. It is necessary in most life situations: from ordinary dialogues and shopping to solving various problems and developing intelligence. This type of thinking contributes to a successful search for justifications for any phenomena, a meaningful assessment of the surrounding world and judgments. The main task in this case is to obtain true knowledge about the subject of reflection with the basis for analyzing its various aspects.

Among the recommendations for the development of logical thinking are solving logical problems (and this is also an excellent training for memory and attention in children and adults), passing IQ tests, logical games, self-education, reading books (especially detective stories), and training intuition .

As for specific exercises, we advise you to take note of the following:

• From several sets of words, for example: “chair, table, sofa, stool”, “circle, oval, ball, circle”, “fork, towel, spoon, knife”, etc. you need to choose a word that does not fit the meaning. Despite its simplicity, this is a very effective technology for developing logical thinking, and similar sets and exercises can be found in large quantities on the Internet.
• Group exercise: Get together with friends or the whole family and divide into two teams. Let each team invite the opposing team to solve a semantic riddle that conveys the content of some text. The point is to determine. Here is a small example: “The clergyman had an animal on the farm. He had strong warm feelings for him, however, despite this, he carried out a violent action on him, which led to his death. This happened for the reason that the animal did something unacceptable - it ate part of the food that was not intended for it.” Thinking logically, one can recall a children's song that begins with the words: “The priest had a dog, he loved it...”
• Another group game: a member of one team performs an action, and a member of the other must find the reason for it, and then the reason for the reason, and so on until all the motives for the behavior of the first participant are clarified.

Let us repeat that these exercises (in particular the last two) are excellent ways to develop logical thinking and intelligence, suitable for people of all ages.

Creative thinking and exercises for its development

Creative thinking is a type of thinking that allows you to organize and analyze ordinary information in an unusual way. In addition to the fact that it contributes to an extraordinary solution to typical tasks, questions and problems, it also increases the efficiency of a person’s assimilation of new knowledge. Using creative thinking, people can consider objects and phenomena from different angles, awaken in themselves the desire to create something new - something that did not exist before (this is the understanding of creativity in its classical sense), develop the ability to move from one task to another and find many interesting options for doing work and ways out of life situations.

Methods for developing creative thinking are based on the idea that a person realizes only a small percentage of his potential during his life, and his task is to find opportunities to activate unused resources. The technology for developing creativity is based primarily on several recommendations:

• You need to improvise and always look for new ways to solve everyday problems;
• There is no need to focus on established frameworks and rules;
• You should expand your horizons and constantly learn something new;
• You need to travel as much as possible, discover new places and meet new people;
• You need to make learning new skills and abilities a habit;
• You need to try to do anything better than others.

But, of course, there are also certain exercises for the development of creative thinking (by the way, we advise you to familiarize yourself with our courses on the development of creative thinking and thinking in general - you will find them).

Now let's talk about exercises:

• Take several concepts, for example, “youth”, “man”, “coffee”, “teapot”, “morning” and “candle”, and select for each of them the maximum possible number of nouns that define their essence.
• Take several pairs of different concepts, for example, “piano – car”, “cloud – locomotive”, “tree – picture”, “water – well” and “plane – capsule” and select the maximum number of similar features for them.
• Imagine several situations and think about what could happen in each of them. Examples of situations: “aliens are walking around the city”, “not water, but lemonade is running from the tap in your apartment”, “all domestic animals have learned to speak human language”, “it snows in your city in the middle of summer for a week.”
• Look around the room where you are now and stop your gaze on any object that interests you, for example, on a closet. Write down on a piece of paper 5 adjectives that go with it, and then 5 adjectives that are completely opposite.
• Think about your job, hobby, favorite singer or actor, best friend or significant other, and describe it (him/her) in at least 100 words.
• Remember some proverb or, and write, based on it, a short essay, poem or essay.
• Write a list of 10 purchases you would make before the end of the world.
• Write a daily plan for your cat or dog.
• Imagine that, upon returning home, you saw that the doors of all apartments were open. Write 15 reasons why this could happen.
• Make a list of 100 of your life goals.
• Write a letter to your future self – when you are 10 years older.

Also, to activate your creativity and intelligence, you can use two excellent methods in everyday life - and. These ways to develop creativity will help you destroy all stereotypes, expand your comfort zone and develop an original and unique type of thinking.

In conclusion, we will say that if you have a desire to organize or continue your education and develop your thinking more effectively, then you will certainly like one of our courses, which you can familiarize yourself with.

Otherwise, we wish you every success and well-rounded thinking!