From a physiological point of view, the thinking process is a complex analytical and synthetic activity of the cerebral cortex. For the thinking process, first of all, those complex temporary connections that are formed between the brain ends of the analyzers are important. Connections (associations) naturally caused by external stimuli constitute the physiological basis of the thinking process.

The psychological essence of thinking and its features.

Thinking as a psychological phenomenon.

Thinking, as a phenomenon that provides a generic characteristic of a person, in the structure of the human psyche refers to mental cognitive processes that provide people with primary reflection and awareness of the influences of the surrounding reality.

Traditional definitions of thinking in psychological science usually capture two of its essential features: generalization and mediation.

Thinking is the process of a generalized and mediated reflection of reality in its essential connections and relationships. Thinking is a process of cognitive activity in which the subject operates with various types of generalizations, including images, concepts and categories.

The specificity of thinking lies in the fact that: thinking makes it possible to understand the deep essence of the objective world, the laws of its existence; only in thinking is it possible to understand the becoming, changing, developing world; thinking allows you to foresee the future, operate with the potentially possible, and plan practical activities.

The thinking process is characterized by the following features: it is mediated; always proceeds based on existing knowledge; comes from living contemplation, but is not reduced to it; it reflects connections and relationships in verbal form; it is connected with the practical activities of man.

Forms of thinking. In psychological science, there are such logical forms of thinking as: concepts; judgments; inferences.

A concept is a reflection in the human mind of the general and essential properties of an object or phenomenon. A concept is a form of thinking that reflects the individual and the particular, which is at the same time universal. The concept acts both as a form of thinking and as a special mental action. Behind each concept there is a special objective action hidden. Concepts can be: general (a thought that reflects the general, essential and distinctive (specific) characteristics of objects and phenomena of reality) and individual (a thought that reflects the characteristics inherent only to a separate object and phenomenon); concrete and abstract; empirical (records identical objects in each separate class of objects based on comparison) and theoretical (objective connection between the universal and the individual).

Judgment is the main form of thinking, during which connections between objects and phenomena of reality are affirmed or denied. Judgment is a reflection of the connections between objects and phenomena of reality or between their properties and characteristics. Judgments are formed in two main ways: directly, when they express what is perceived; indirectly - through inferences or reasoning.

Judgments can be: true (objectively true); false (not corresponding to objective reality); general (something is affirmed (or denied) regarding all objects of a given group, a given class); private (affirmation or denial applies only to some objects); single (to only one).

Inference is the derivation of a new judgment from one or more judgments. The initial judgments from which another judgment is derived are called premises of the inference. There are inferences: inductive; deductive; Similarly. An inductive conclusion is one in which reasoning proceeds from individual facts to a general conclusion. A deductive conclusion is one in which reasoning is carried out in the reverse order of induction, i.e. from general facts to a single conclusion. An analogy is an inference in which a conclusion is drawn on the basis of partial similarities between phenomena, without sufficient examination of all conditions.

Types of thinking. In psychology, the following somewhat conventional classification of types of thinking is accepted and widespread.

1. According to the genesis of development. Visual-effective thinking is a type of thinking that is based on the direct perception of objects in the process of acting with them. This thinking is the most elementary type of thinking that arises in practical activity and is the basis for the formation of more complex types of thinking;

Visual-figurative thinking is a type of thinking characterized by reliance on ideas and images. With visual-figurative thinking, the situation is transformed in terms of image or representation.

Verbal-logical thinking is a type of thinking carried out using logical operations with concepts. With verbal-logical thinking, using logical concepts, the subject can cognize essential patterns and unobservable relationships of the reality under study.

Abstract-logical (abstract) thinking is a type of thinking based on identifying the essential properties and connections of an object and abstracting from other, unimportant ones.

2. Based on the nature of the problems being solved, thinking is distinguished: Theoretical thinking - thinking based on theoretical reasoning and inferences. Practical thinking is thinking based on judgments and inferences based on solving practical problems. Theoretical thinking is the knowledge of laws and rules. The main task of practical thinking is to develop means of practical transformation of reality: setting goals, creating a plan, project, scheme.

3. According to the degree of development, thinking is distinguished: Discursive (analytical) thinking - thinking mediated by the logic of reasoning, not perception. Analytical thinking unfolds in time, has clearly defined stages, and is represented in the consciousness of the thinking person himself. Intuitive thinking is thinking based on direct sensory perceptions and direct reflection of the influences of objects and phenomena of the objective world. Intuitive thinking is characterized by rapidity, the absence of clearly defined stages, and is minimally conscious.

4. According to the degree of novelty and originality, thinking is distinguished: Reproductive thinking - thinking based on images and ideas drawn from certain sources. Productive thinking is thinking based on creative imagination.

5. By means of thinking, thinking is distinguished: Visual thinking - thinking based on images and representations of objects. Verbal thinking is thinking that operates with abstract sign structures. It has been established that for full-fledged mental work, some people need to see or imagine objects, while others prefer to operate with abstract sign structures.

6. Thinking is differentiated by function: Critical thinking is aimed at identifying shortcomings in the judgments of other people. Creative thinking is associated with the discovery of fundamentally new knowledge, with the generation of one’s own original ideas, and not with evaluating the thoughts of others.

The thinking of a particular person has individual characteristics. Speed ​​of thinking is the speed of thought processes. Independent thinking is the ability to see and pose a new question or problem, and then solve it on your own. The creative nature of thinking is clearly expressed precisely in such independence. Flexibility of thinking - the ability to change aspects of consideration of objects, phenomena, their properties and relationships, the ability to change the intended path to solve a problem if it does not satisfy the changed conditions, active restructuring of initial data, understanding and use of their relativity. Inertia of thinking is a quality of thinking that manifests itself in a tendency towards a pattern, towards habitual trains of thought, and in the difficulty of switching from one system of actions to another. The pace of development of thought processes is the minimum number of exercises necessary to generalize the solution principle. Economy of thinking is the number of logical moves (reasoning) through which a new pattern is learned. Breadth of mind - the ability to cover a wide range of issues in various fields of knowledge and practice. Depth of thinking - the ability to delve into the essence, reveal the causes of phenomena, foresee consequences; manifests itself in the degree of significance of the features that a person can abstract when mastering new material, and in the level of their generality. Consistency of thinking is the ability to maintain a strict logical order in considering a particular issue. Critical thinking is a quality of thinking that allows for a strict assessment of the results of mental activity, finding strengths and weaknesses in them, and proving the truth of the propositions put forward. Stability of thinking is the quality of thinking, manifested in orientation towards a set of previously identified significant features, towards already known patterns.

By accepting information from the world around us, it is with the participation of thinking that we can realize and transform it. Their characteristics also help us with this. A table with this data is presented below.

What is thinking

This is the highest process of cognition of the surrounding reality, subjective perception. Its uniqueness lies in the perception of external information and its transformation in consciousness. Thinking helps a person gain new knowledge, experience, and creatively transform ideas that have already been formed. It helps to expand the boundaries of knowledge, helping to change the existing conditions for solving assigned problems.

This process is the engine of human development. In psychology there is no separately operating process - thinking. It will necessarily be present in all other cognitive actions of a person. Therefore, in order to somewhat structure this transformation of reality, types of thinking and their characteristics were identified in psychology. A table with these data helps to better assimilate information about the activities of this process in our psyche.

Features of this process

This process has its own characteristics that distinguish it from other mental

1. Mediocrity. This means that a person can indirectly recognize an object through the properties of another. Types of thinking and their characteristics are also involved here. Briefly describing this property, we can say that cognition occurs through the properties of another object: we can transfer some acquired knowledge to a similar unknown object.
2. Generality. A combination of several properties of an object. The ability to generalize helps a person to learn new things in the surrounding reality.

These two properties and processes of this human cognitive function are encompassed by the general characteristic of thinking. Characteristics of types of thinking are a separate area of ​​general psychology. Since types of thinking are characteristic of different age categories and are formed according to their own rules.

Types of thinking and their characteristics, table

A person perceives structured information better, so some information about the types of cognitive process of cognition of reality and their description will be presented systematically.

The best way to help you understand what types of thinking are and their characteristics is a table.

Visual-effective thinking, description

In psychology, much attention is paid to the study of thinking as the main process of cognition of reality. After all, this process develops differently for each person, it works individually, and sometimes the types of thinking and their characteristics do not correspond to age standards.

For preschoolers, visual and effective thinking comes first. It begins its development in infancy. Descriptions by age are presented in the table.

Visual-figurative thinking

Types of thinking in psychology and their characteristics occupy an important place, since the age-related formation of other cognitive processes depends on their development. With each age stage, more and more mental functions are involved in the development of the process of cognition of reality. In visual-figurative thinking, imagination and perception play almost a key role.

Verbal and logical thinking

It is carried out using logical manipulations with concepts. Such operations are designed to find something in common between different objects and phenomena in society and the environment around us. Here images take a secondary place. In children, the beginnings of this type of thinking occur at the end of the preschool period. But the main development of this type of thinking begins at primary school age.

Empirical thinking

The characteristics of the main types of thinking include not only the three types described above. This process is also divided into empirical or theoretical and practical.

Theoretical thinking represents the knowledge of rules, various signs, and the theoretical basis of basic concepts. Here you can build hypotheses, but test them in practice.

Practical thinking

Practical thinking involves transforming reality, adjusting it to your goals and plans. It is limited in time, there is no opportunity to study many options for testing various hypotheses. Therefore, for a person it opens up new opportunities for understanding the world.

Types of thinking and their characteristics depending on the tasks being solved and the properties of this process

They also divide types of thinking depending on the tasks and the subjects of the tasks. The process of cognition of reality happens:

• intuitive;
• analytical;
• realistic;
• autistic;
• egocentric;
• productive and reproductive.

Every person has all these types to a greater or lesser extent.

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Specificity and features of thinking.

The specificity of thinking is that:

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

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

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

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

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

Rice. 2. Features of the thinking process

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

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

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

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

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

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

1. The concept of thinking, its essence, features

1.1 Concept of thinking

1.2 Psychological essence of thinking and its features

1.3 Typology and qualities of thinking

1.4 Types of thinking

1.5 Individual psychological characteristics of thinking

2. The concept of creativity

3. The concept of creative thinking

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

5. Features of creative personalities

Conclusion

List of used literature

INTRODUCTION

The problem of creative thinking has become so relevant these days that it is rightfully considered the “problem of the century.” Creative thinking is not a new subject of research. It has always interested thinkers of all eras and aroused the desire to create a “theory of creativity.”

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Definition 1

Thinking is an indirect and generalized reflection of the real world, a type of mental processes. Its essence lies in the comprehension and understanding of things and various phenomena, as well as their interconnections and relationships.

Thinking includes the following features:

Indirect character

When creating connections and relationships with things, a person can rely not so much on his immediate feelings and sensations, but on the information of previous experience stored in his memory. This conditioning of thinking from past experience is clearly visible when a collision occurs with consequences, thanks to which a person determines the cause of the phenomena.

For example, if there is snow on the street early in the morning, then a person can understand the reason for this, which is the snowfall at night. The memory of previously experienced events helps a person to determine this relationship. So, if these memories were absent, it would be difficult for a person to find the cause of the event.

Thinking also has an indirect character when openly observing the interrelations of an event. For example, when a person sees how wet asphalt on the street is drying under the sun's rays, then he understands the reason for this event because during observation, a memory of a similar situation that happened before surfaced in his memory.

Thinking is based on the laws of phenomena

Thinking is based on the information that a person has about the basic laws of phenomena. When thinking, a person uses already established knowledge of the main provisions, which reflect the general relationships and patterns of our reality. In the above example, it is clearly observed that water can evaporate when exposed to hot rays. In this case, a judgment about causes and consequences can appear in an indirect way, by generalizing various phenomena located in memory, in which the relationships between specific facts can be traced.

Thinking is born from observation

Thinking is formed through contemplation, but is not identified with this process. Observing the relationships between phenomena, a person perceives them in a detached and generalized form. These relationships can be observed in a specific phenomenon, because they are characteristic of these things and are manifested by the law of reality common to everyone. In order to show the connection between processes, it is important to abstract from the features of these processes. The phenomenon of detachment itself is based on the knowledge acquired during life of the relationships and patterns of phenomena. Without them, it would be difficult to determine the essential from the unimportant, the joint from the individual processes.

Thinking manifests itself in verbal form

Thinking always reflects the relationships and relationships between various objects in verbal form. Human thinking and speech complement each other. Thinking is expressed in words, which facilitates the process of detachment and generalization. This happens due to the fact that the word is essentially a special irritant, signaling reality in a generalized form. “Every word (speech) serves to generalize.”

Thinking is based on life experience

A person's thinking is directly related to a person's life experiences. It is based on human social practice. This is not just observation of the outside world, but the perception of its reflection, which can respond to specific tasks that have arisen in the process of life and aimed at changing the surrounding reality.

Thinking can arise when difficult life situations arise. If you can react automatically, then thinking is not used.