Thinking

Introduction to Thinking:

Cognitive abilities like thinking, reasoning and problem-solving may be considered to be

some of the chief characteristics which distinguish human beings from other species
including the higher animals. The challenges and problems faced by the individual or by
society, in general are solved through series of efforts involving thinking and reasoning. The
powers of thinking and reasoning may thus be considered to be the essential tools for the
welfare and meaningful existence of the individual as well as society.

Definition

“Thinking is a mental activity in its cognitive aspect or mental activity with regard to
psychological aspects”.

“Thinking is a behaviour which is often implicit and hidden and in which symbols are
ordinarily employed”.

Types of Thinking:

1. Perceptual or Concrete Thinking: 2. Conceptual or Abstract Thinking:

3. Reflective Thinking: 4. Creative Thinking:

5. Critical Thinking: 6. Non-directed or Associative Thinking:

1. Perceptual or Concrete Thinking:

This is the simplest form of thinking the basis of this type is perception, i.e. interpretation of
sensation according to one’s experience. It is also called concrete thinking as it is carried out
on the perception of actual or concrete objects and events.

2. Conceptual or Abstract Thinking:

Here one makes use of concepts, the generalized objects and languages, it is regarded as
being superior to perceptual thinking as it economizes efforts in understanding and problem-
solving.

3. Reflective Thinking:

This type of thinking aims in solving complex problems, thus it requires reorganization of all
the relevant experiences to a situation or removing obstacles instead of relating with that
experiences or ideas.
In this type, thinking processes take all the relevant facts arranged in a logical order into an
account in order to arrive at a solution of the problem.

4. Creative Thinking:

This type of thinking is associated with one’s ability to create or construct something new,
novel or unusual. It looks for new relationships and associations to describe and interpret the
nature of things, events and situations. Here the individual himself usually formulates the
evidences and tools for its solution. For example; scientists, artists or inventors.

Skinner, the famous psychologist says creative thinking means that the prediction and
inferences for the individual are new, original, ingenious and unusual. The creative thinker is
one who expresses new ideas and makes new observations, new predictions and new
inferences.

Characteristics of Creative Thinking:

a. Creative thinking, in all its shapes and forms is absolutely an internal mental process and
hence should be considered as an important component of one’s cognitive behaviour.

b. Every one of us is capable of creative thinking and hence it is a universal phenomenon.

c. Creative thinking results in the production of something new or novel including a new
form of arrangement of old elements.

d. Creative thinking in all its dimensions involve divergent thinking instead of the routine and
final types of convergent thinking. The mind must have complete freedom to wander around
to create a new idea.

e. The field of creative thinking and its out part is quite comprehensive and built wide. It
covers all the aspects of human accomplishments belonging to an individual’s life.

5. Critical Thinking:

It is a type of thinking that helps a person in stepping aside from his own personal beliefs,
prejudices and opinions to sort out the faiths and discover the truth, even at the expense of his
basic belief system.

Here one resorts to set higher cognitive abilities and skills for the proper interpretation,
analysis, evaluation and inference, as well as explanation of the gathered or communicated
information resulting in a purposeful unbiased and self-regulatory judgement.
An ideal thinker is habitually inquisitive, well-informed, open-minded, flexible, fair-minded
in evaluation, free from personal bias and prejudices, honest in seeking relevant information,
skilled in the proper use of the abilities like interpretation, analysis, synthesis, evaluation and
drawing conclusion and inferences, etc.

6. Non-directed or Associative Thinking:

There are times when we find ourselves engaged in a unique type of thinking which is non-
directed and without goal. It is reflected through dreaming and other free-flowing
uncontrolled activities. Psychologically these forms of thought are termed as associative
thinking.

Here day-dreaming, fantasy and delusions all fall in the category of withdrawal behaviour
that helps an individual to escape from the demands of the real world by making his thinking
face non-directed and floating, placing him somewhere, ordering something unconnected
with his environment.

A person under the influence of such delusions may think or believe that he is a millionaire,
the ruler of the universe, a great inventor, a noted historian or even God. In contrast, a person
in the grip of delusion may be inclined to be the most incapable, unworthy and unwanted
person and may develop guilt feelings or complain that he is the victim of some incurable
physical or mental diseases.

Development of Thinking:

Thinking is one of the most important aspects of learning process. Our ability to learn and
solve the problems depends upon our ability to think correctly which helps us in adjustment
and is necessary for a successful living.

Only those men who can think distinctly, constructively and carefully can very much
contribute something worthwhile to the society.
As no person is born-thinker, one has to acquire knowledge of technique and practise of
proper thinking.
There are few methods which help to develop thinking through training.

1. Adequacy of the Knowledge and Experience

2. Adequate Motivation and Definiteness of Aims
3. Adequate Freedom and Flexibility
4. Incubation
5. Intelligence and Wisdom
6. Proper Development of Concepts and Language
 7. Adequacy of Reasoning Process

1. Adequacy of the Knowledge and Experience:

Adequacy of the knowledge and experience is considered to be the background of systematic

thinking.

So care should be taken to help the children with adequate knowledge and experiences
which can be done by:

(a) Training the children to enhance the process of sensation and perception to gain better
knowledge and experience to improve critical thinking.

(b) A person should be provided with opportunities for gaining adequate experiences and
should be encouraged for self-study, discussion and participation in healthy and stimulating
activities.

2. Adequate Motivation and Definiteness of Aims:

Motivation helps in mobilizing our energy for thinking. It creates genuine interest and
voluntary attention in the process of thinking, and thus helps a lot in increasing the adequacy
and efficiency of our thinking. Thus one should try to think on definite lines with a definite
end or purpose, the problems we solve should have intimate connection with our immediate
needs and basic motives, and such thinking should be directed on creative and productive
activities.

3. Adequate Freedom and Flexibility:

Thinking should not be obstructed by imposing unnecessary restrictions and narrowing of the
field of thought process. If the past experiences or habitual methods do not help in solving the
problem we should strive for new association, relationships and possibilities for arriving at
satisfactory results.

4. Incubation:

When we set ourselves to solve a problem but fail to solve it in-spite of our strain, putting
more efforts to thinking and persistent thinking, it is better to lay aside the problem for some
time and relax for a while or engage in some other activity. During this interval a solution is
evolved to that specific problem through the efforts of our unconscious mind. This
phenomenon of incubation is helpful.
5. Intelligence and Wisdom:

Intelligence is defined as the ability to think properly, and thus proper development of
intelligence is essential for bringing adequate thinking. Proper care should be taken to use
intelligence, wisdom and other cognitive abilities for carrying out the process of thinking.

6. Proper Development of Concepts and Language:

Concept is a word or idea with a generalized meaning which represents an entire class of
objects, ideas or events; for example, a word “saree” is a concept, when you think this word it
represents all kinds of sarees which are six yards or eight yards long sarees made of silk,
cotton, nylon or a mixture of the concept formation begins in early childhood which are first
hand face-to-face example. It can be +ve or -ve.

Concepts, symbols, signs, words and language are the vehicles as well as instruments of
thought. Without their proper development one cannot proceed effectively on the path of
thinking. Their development stimulates and guides the thought process.

Improper development and faulty formation of concepts and likewise, symbolic behaviour
not only hampers a person’s progress in thinking but also proves fatal, as they may provoke
perverted thinking and wrong conclusions.

7. Adequacy of Reasoning Process:

Thinking is also influenced by the mode of reasons one adopts. Illogical reasoning often leads
to incorrect thinking. Logic is the science of correct reasoning which helps to think correctly.
Therefore, we should cultivate the habit of logical reasoning among our children.

Tools of Thinking:

There are a few important elements involved in the thinking process:

1. Images:
2. Concepts:
3. Symbols and signs:
4. Language:
5. Muscular activities:
6. Brain functions:
1. Images:

As mental pictures consist of personal experiences of objects, persons or situations, heard and
felt. These mental pictures symbolize actual objects, experiences and activities. In thinking,
we usually manipulate the images rather than the actual objects, experiences or activities.
2. Concepts:

A concept is a general idea that stands for a general class and represents the common
characteristics of all objects or events of this general class. Concept, as a tool, economize the
efforts in thinking, for example, when we hear the word ‘elephant’ we are at once reminded
not only about the nature and qualities of elephant as a class but also our own experiences
and understanding of them come to the surface in our consciousness to stimulate our thinking
at that time.

3. Symbols and signs:

Symbols and signs represent and stand for substitute of the actual objects, experiences and
activities. For example, traffic lights, railway signals, school bells, badges, songs, flags and
slogans all are symbolic expressions, they stimulate and motivate resultant thinking because
they tell us what to do or how to act.

4. Language:

Is the most efficient and developed vehicle used for carrying out the process of thinking.
When a person reads, writes or hears words or sentences or observes gesture in any language
one is stimulated to think. Thus reading and writing of documents and literature also help in
stimulating and promoting the thinking process.

5. Muscular activities:

Thinking in one way or the other shows the evidence of the involvement of some incipient
movements of groups of our muscles. A high positive relation has been found to exist for the
thinking and muscular activities of an individual. The more we engage ourselves in thought,
the greater is the general muscular tension and conversely as we moved towards muscular
relation, our thought processes gradually diminish.

6. Brain functions:

Whatever may be the role of the muscles, thinking is primarily a function of the brain. Our
mind is said to be the chief instrument of the thinking process. The experiences registered by
our sense organs have no meaning, and thus cannot serve as stimulating agents, or
instruments for thinking unless these impressions are received by our brain cells and properly
interpreted to derive some meaning.
The mental pictures or images can be stored, reconstructed or put to use only on being
processed by the brain. What happens in our thought process is simply the function or
product of the activities of our brain.

Errors in Thinking:

Our thinking, reasoning and problem-solving behaviour all are largely influenced by our
“sets”, which is a kind of habit or a way in which we have accustomed ourselves in
perceiving certain situations.

Whatever registered earlier in our perceptions or experiences provide the base for our present
and future thinking. We won’t change from our preset path of thinking which leads towards a
rigid behaviour.

Thus our thinking will be defective and harmful if it is not based on correct data or
information. Our biases, prejudices and beliefs sometimes do not enable us to think logically.
We make wrong conclusion because of our prejudices, hence we are inclined to ignore and
overlook those facts which support right conclusion.

1. Our thinking is defective because we have allowed ourselves to be swayed by our

emotions. Many people do not think clearly and accurately during an examination because
they have been disturbed by fear and failure.

2. Many times our thinking become fallacious, and cannot view the problem from different
angles broadly.

3. Many of our thinking may also be distorted by superstitions or by lack of information that
is relevant to the subject.

4. Many of our wishful thinking are also unscientific thinking. Our prejudices and biases
cause conflicts, rationalizations and delusions which are defective thinking as well.
Theories of Thinking

The process of the development of thinking has been studied by psychologists and a number
of theories have been advanced. The theories are:

1. Piaget’s Theory

2. Sullivan’s Concept of Modes of Thinking

3. Bruner’s Theory

4. Psychoanalytic Theory of Thinking.

1. Piaget’s Theory:

The Swiss psychologist, Jean Piaget, using his own children as subjects, devised ingenious
and simple experiments and showed how cognitive thought development takes place. He
explained behaviour in terms of the individual’s actions and reactions in adapting to his
environment.

Unlike animals and birds, human beings have very few instinctive responses and have to
constantly evolve new ways and means to deal with the environment. A lamb or chick, few
hours after birth, knows how to run away from danger or differentiate between things which
are edible and non-edible.

In contrast, the new-born human infant often does not know what to eat and what not to eat,
let alone being able to recognise danger and is not even capable of recognising the mother.
But three or four years later, the lamb or the chick grows up to be a goat or hen and reaches a
stage where it can produce milk or eggs.

Piaget became a keen child-watcher; he played with them, asked questions about their
activities, observed them silently for hours together when they were playing alone and with
others. He also devised games that would show how they were thinking. Gradually, he
understood that there is a pattern.

He realised that all children go through a series of stages as they grew. The stages identified
and described by Piaget are.

a. The Sensory-Motor Stage: b. Pre-Operational Stage:

c. Concrete Operations Stage: d. Formal Operations Stage:

a. The Sensory-Motor Stage:

The new-born infant sucks anything which is put into his mouth, grasps anything put into his
hands, and gazes at whatever crosses his line of vision. You may have seen small children
putting everything into their mouth, their own hands, fingers toes, toys and other objects
which are within their grasp.

They do not realise that only some objects can be sucked and others not. Similarly, a baby
may grasp a rattle, shake it, put it into the mouth, drop it and so on. However, the infant at
some point realizes that the noise he has been hearing comes from the rattle. He begins to
shake everything he gets hold of trying to reproduce the rattling sound.

Gradually he begins to realise that some things make a noise and others do not. In this way,
the infant begins to organise his experiences by fitting them into categories. Piaget calls these
categories schemata. They may be considered as simple frameworks which provide a basis
for intentional and adaptive problem-solving behaviour in later life.

The child also learns that the objects in the real world, including people, have an existence of
their own, independent of its perception of them. This awareness is not present in early
infancy. Piaget describes the following experiment with his eight-month old daughter
Jacqueline.

“Jacqueline takes possession of my watch which I offer her while holding the chain in my
hand. She examines the watch with great interest, feels it, turns it once, says “apff, etc… If
before her eyes, I hide the watch behind my hand, behind the quilt, etc. she does not react and
forgets everything immediately.”

However, after a few months, i.e. at the end of the sensory-motor period, Jacqueline became
quite capable of finding the watch if it was hidden behind the quilt or hand. This shows that
she learnt that objects continue to exist even when they cannot be seen. We often come across
a toddler playing with a ball or watching insects when they move under a chair or a cot.

The child begins to search and look for them, because he or she realizes that the ball or insect
exists though concealed. This indicates that the child has developed a sense of object
permanence or object constancy. This awareness is crucial to cognitive development, for it
enables the child to begin to see some regularity in the way things happen.
The perception of regularities is absolutely essential because if every time he encounters a
ball or an ant he experiences it as a new stimulus he will never be able to learn to associate
the ball or an ant as an external object and that his actions affect them.

Thus, by the end of the sensory-motor stage, the child acquires a kind of ‘motor intelligence’
through direct interaction with his environment. The child knows that his or her actions will
have an effect on things outside him or her.

b. Pre-Operational Stage:

The second stage in thought development runs from about two to seven years of age. The
child in this stage is action-oriented. His understanding and thought processes are based on
physical and perceptual experiences. The child begins to use symbols or representations of
events, and form images about everything he encounters.

The most obvious example of representation is the use of words or language and it is at this
stage that the child begins to use words to stand for objects. For example, the child is able to
talk about things that are not physically present, about lions, tigers, ghosts, etc., though he has
not seen them.

Children play a variety of imaginary games where a chair becomes a train or bus, dolls
become babies, leaves and flowers become food and so on. They are not fully capable of
making a distinction between themselves and the outside world.

They assume that objects have feelings. When playing with dolls, they think that dolls cry,
smile and behave like real babies. They consider their own psychological processes, such as
dreams, to be real and concrete events.

Piaget found that children at this stage tend to focus their attention on a single aspect of an
object or an event that attracts their attention, ignoring all other aspects. This was
demonstrated in the following famous experiment. Children were asked to fill two identical”
containers with beads.

When they had finished, Piaget poured the beads from one container into a tall thin glass and
asked them if one had more beads than the other. Invariably, the children said ‘yes’, even
though they realised he had not added or taken away any beads. This illogical response arises
because children can only think about one aspect or dimension at a time, i.e. height or width.
Piaget calls this single-mindedness.
Piaget found that thinking during this stage is rigid and ‘irreversible’. J.L. Phillips gives an
interesting example of irreversibility. He asked a four-year old boy if he had a brother; the
child replied ‘yes’. He then asked the brother’s name; the answer was ‘Jim’. ‘Does Jim have a
brother?’ The child responded with a definite ‘no’.

This illustrates that the child could not reverse the principle underlying the same concept, i.e.
of having a brother. Another feature identified in the above illustration is the child’s inability
to think of himself as somebody else’s brother. This inability to put himself in Jim’s position
and see himself as a brother is an example of egocentricism.

Another interesting aspect of pre-operational thinking identified by Piaget is the concept of

conservation. In the pre-operational period, the child does not know how to ‘intellectually
conserve’.

In his experiment, four marbles were arranged in the following pattern in front of the
child:

The child steadfastly maintained that the rearrangement contained more marbles. Piaget
explained that at this point the child is struck by the visual-spatial evidence at that moment
rather than by the knowledge that these are the same four marbles in new positions.

The child cannot realise and maintain the fact that the same number of marbles could occupy
more space. Piaget terms this, as an inability to ‘conserve’ the idea of number. The child also
has difficulty conserving other qualities of stimuli such as volume, mass, etc.

The concept of conservation of volume was demonstrated in a simple experiment using

containers of different shapes and water. Transparent glass containers A, B, C and D, as
shown in Fig. 11.2, were placed in front of a child. The containers B and C had identical
quantity of water. The experimenter poured water from the container B into A.
When the child was asked whether the amount of water contained in A is the same as in C,
the child unhesitatingly pointed towards container A (the taller one) and said that it contains
more water. Similarly, when the water from C was poured into D and the child was asked
whether the quantity of water in A and D is equal, the answer was that the quantity of water
in A is more.

The above experiment demonstrates what Piaget would call an inability to conserve. The
child’s idea or estimation of the quantity of water was influenced by the size, height, shape
and other characteristics of the containers. The child’s estimation of the quantity of water
showed a lack of stability and definiteness and appeared to depend on the characteristics of
the containers.

c. Concrete Operations Stage:

During this stage, which usually occurs between 7 and 11 years, the child acquires basic
notions of time, space, number, etc. and also a flexibility which was lacking in the pre-
operational stage. The child, during this stage, learns to retrace his thoughts, correct himself,
start working right from the beginning if necessary, consider more than one dimension at a
time and to look at a single object or problem in different ways. Three logical operations
characterize thinking at this stage: combining, reversing and forming associations. These
operations can be illustrated with a simple example.

Ask children of different ages, say below seven years and above seven years “Supposing,
you are given this coin (showing a one rupee coin) to buy chocolates. If the shop owner
gives you two chocolates in exchange for this coin (one rupee coin), how many
chocolates would you get in exchange for these four coins (showing four coins of twenty
five paise)”. Children under seven may come out with responses like four chocolates or eight
chocolates and so on.
However, children above seven, in the concrete operations stage, will be able to distinguish
and combine all the small coins (twenty five) into a superclass of hundred paise or one rupee.
They will also be able to conserve this process of adding four twenty five-paise coins into a
single coin or reduce single one rupee coins to four twenty five-paise coins.

They are also capable of associating a twenty five-paise coin with other coins like two ten-
paise coins and one five-paisa coin. Children at this stage, although quite logical in their
approach to problems, can only think in terms of concrete things they can handle or imagine
handling. But an adult is capable of thinking in abstract terms to formulate tentative
suggestions or hypotheses and accept or reject them without testing them empirically. This
ability is said to develop in the next stage.

d. Formal Operations Stage:

A remarkable ability is acquired in this fourth and final stage, which occurs between 11 and
15 years of age. To demonstrate the development of abstract thinking Piaget conducted a
simple experiment. He gave an opportunity to the children to discover for themselves
Archimedes principle of floating bodies.

Children in the concrete and formal operations stage were given a variety of objects and were
asked to separate them into two groups: things that would float and things that would not.
The objects included cubes of different weights, matches, sheets of paper, a lid, pebbles and
so on. Piaget then let the children test their selections in a tub of water and asked them to
explain why some things floated and others sank.

The younger children were not very good at classifying the objects and when questioned,
gave different reasons. The nail sank because it was too heavy; the needle because it was
made of iron; the lid floated because it had edges and so on. The older children seemed to
know what would float.

When asked to explain their choices they began to make comparisons and cross-comparisons,
gradually coming to the conclusion that neither weight nor size alone determined whether an
object would float; rather it was the relationship between these two dimensions. Thus, they
were able to approximate Archimedes principle (objects float if their density is less than that
of replaced water). The fact that these children searched for a rule or a principle is what
makes this stage of development superior and significant.
Younger children find reasons by testing their ideas in the real world. They are concrete and
specific. While children at the formal operations stage and beyond go further than testing the,
‘here and now’; they try to consider possibilities as well as realities and develop concepts.

Thus, we see that at the final stage, the individual is able to arrive at generalisations, and real
thought processes begin to develop. Piaget’s developmental theory essentially concentrates
on the structural and formal characteristics of thinking. He believes that his scheme of the
development of thinking is universal. Piaget introduces a number of concepts like adaptation,
accommodation, assimilation, centering, decentering, etc. It is not necessary to go into these
concepts here.

2. Sullivan’s Concept of Modes of Thinking:

Yet, another approach to the development of thinking comes from the views of H.S. Sullivan
who was a leading psychoanalyst. Sullivan postulates three basic modes. The first and the
earliest one is called the prototaxic mode. This stage operates in the first year of an
individual’s life and during this stage one has no awareness of oneself or one’s ego. Thought
process is mostly in the form of a feeling or apprehension. Thought, therefore, does not have
a definite structure and is vague.

The next is the parataxic mode. During this stage the global or undifferentiated response
gives way to specific elementary thought images and contents. Logical operations do not
occur yet. According to Sullivan the autistic state of communication reflects a parataxic
mode. Thought process is still confused and vague and almost comparable to the prelogical
stage described by Piaget.

The final stage which is known as the syntaxic mode represents the development of logical
thought processes, enabling the integration and organisation of symbols. It is at this stage that
thought becomes clear with the possibility of logical operations. This stage would correspond
to the stage of formal operations described by Piaget.

A distinction, however, may be made in that, while Piaget’s theory was specifically a theory
of thinking, Sullivan does not deal with thinking exclusively. His concept of modes is more
or less a view of cognitive organisation in general, a process by which the individual
perceives and experiences the environment, which necessarily includes thinking.

3. Bruner’s Theory:
Yet, another approach to the development of thinking was outlined by Jerome S. Bruner, who
like Piaget, observed the process of cognitive development or development of thinking.
Bruner also postulated certain stages. The stages formulated by him are enactive, iconic, and
symbolic representations which are considered more or less comparable to Piaget’s
preoperational, concrete operational and formal operational stages. However, Bruner differed
from Piaget in focusing on the representations the child uses in thinking rather than on the
operations or manipulations which take place in the process.

Bruner uses Piaget’s experiments to explain his point of view of cognitive development
which is briefly described below:

a. Enactive Representation Stage:

A child at this stage adopts the most basic or primitive ways of converting immediate
experience into a mental model. This mode of conversion is usually non-verbal and is based
on action or movement. Thus, a child’s representations of objects and events in terms of
appropriate motor responses or ‘acting out’ are known as enactive representation. Bruner
cites Piaget’s experiment to explain this stage.

“A baby drops a rattle through the bars of its crib. It stops for a moment, brings its
hand up to its face, and looks at its hand. Puzzled, it lets its arms fall and shakes the
hands as if the rattle were still there; no sound. It investigates its hand again.”

Bruner suggests that in this situation, the child is representing the rattle when it shakes its
hand, that is the rattle means shaking its hand-and hearing a noise. Gestures are enactive
representations. For instance thumbs up means victory; index finger on your lips means
silence, and so on.

b. Iconic Representation:

An icon or an image or a pictorial representation is considered to be the method of converting

immediate experience into cognitive models using sensory images. This stage was explained
by extending Piaget’s study which was described in the previous stage. The child a few
months later when it drops the rattle tries to look over the edge of its crib.

When an adult picks it up or if the child is unable to see it, the child may- start screaming and
crying. According to Bruner, this sense of loss indicates that the child has an image of the
rattle in its mind and that it now distinguishes between shaking his hand and the rattle. This
type of ‘picturing’ things to oneself is called iconic representations thinking.
c. Symbolic Representation:

As the child grows, it reaches a stage where its cognitions are not always dependent on motor
activities or images and pictures. Its cognitive process begins to function in terms of symbols.
The symbols do not depend on images or concrete appearances. For example, the word ‘giri’
neither looks nor sounds like a female child.

Similarly, the number eight does not resemble the quantity eight. Consider a simple
arithmetic problem. A boy has four mangoes and he buys two more. How many does he
have? A child of five or six years may solve the problem by drawing four and two mangoes
and counting them, while an older child may write the numbers, four and two, and adds them
up without imagining the mangoes.

4. Psychoanalytic Theory of Thinking:

It would have been surprising if an all-embracing theory like Freudian psychoanalysis did not
make its contribution, though indirectly, to our understanding of the process of thinking. The
Freudian theory of development with its concept of different stages like oral, anal, phallic and
genital, drew several conclusions for the understanding of thinking.

According to Freud, the early period of infancy is characterised by what is called narcissistic
thinking, wherein the thought process contains a high tint of wish fulfillment. Freud refers to
certain terms like omnipotence of the wish and the omnipotence of thought or word.

The stage of omnipotence of the wish is characterised by the fact that this stage thought is
highly coloured by instinctual impulses, a total absence of distinction between reality and
non-reality. The next stage shows what he calls omnipotence of thought. Here thinking
becomes symbolic and verbalized but still remains highly egocentric.

It is only at a later stage that thinking becomes objective and a distinction emerges between
the inner self and the outer world. Thought comes more and more under the influence of
perception and is emancipated from the stranglehold of instinctual impulses. During the
latency period, the thinking process expands and according to Anna Freud, there is an
enrichment of fantasy and abstract thinking.

Thought, according to Freud, is an integral part of the total function of living and the nature
of the thought process reflects the overall developmental stage of life itself. In simple terms,
thinking is one of the mechanisms of living and plays a vital role in the overall process of-
adjustment. Freud says that there is a thin dividing line between reality and fantasy. If this is
true, then, thinking is to fantasy what living is to reality.

History of the Study of Cognition

The study of how humans think dates back to the time of ancient Greek philosophers Plato
and Aristotle.

Philosophical Origins

Plato's approach to the study of the mind suggested that people understand the world by first
identifying basic principles buried deep inside themselves, then using rational thought to
create knowledge. This viewpoint was later advocated by philosophers such as Rene
Descartes and linguist Noam Chomsky. It is often referred to as rationalism.2

Aristotle, on the other hand, believed that people acquire knowledge through their
observations of the world around them. Later thinkers such as John Locke and B.F.
Skinner also advocated this point of view, which is often referred to as empiricism.3

Early Psychology

During the earliest days of psychology—and for the first half of the 20th century—
psychology was largely dominated by psychoanalysis, behaviorism, and humanism.

Eventually, a formal field of study devoted solely to the study of cognition emerged as part of
the "cognitive revolution" of the 1960s. This field is known as cognitive psychology.4

The Emergence of Cognitive Psychology

One of the earliest definitions of cognition was presented in the first textbook on cognitive
psychology, which was published in 1967. According to Ulric Neisser, a psychologist and the
book's author, cognition is "those processes by which the sensory input is transformed,
reduced, elaborated, stored, recovered, and used."

Types of Cognitive Processes

There are many different types of cognitive processes. They include:

 Attention: Attention is a cognitive process that allows people to focus on a specific

stimulus in the environment.
  Language: Language and language development are cognitive processes that involve
the ability to understand and express thoughts through spoken and written words. This
allows us to communicate with others and plays an important role in thought.

 Learning: Learning requires cognitive processes involved in taking in new things,

synthesizing information, and integrating it with prior knowledge.

 Memory: Memory is an important cognitive process that allows people to encode,

store, and retrieve information. It is a critical component in the learning process and
allows people to retain knowledge about the world and their personal histories.

 Perception: Perception is a cognitive process that allows people to take in

information through their senses, then utilize this information to respond and interact
with the world.

 Thought: Thought is an essential part of every cognitive process. It allows people to

engage in decision-making, problem-solving, and higher reasoning.

What Can Affect Cognition?

It is important to remember that these cognitive processes are complex and often imperfect.
Some of the factors that can affect or influence cognition include:

Age

Research indicates that as we age, our cognitive function tends to decline. 6 Age-related
cognitive changes include processing things more slowly, finding it harder to recall past
events, and a failure to remember information that was once known (such as how to solve a
particular math equation or historical information).

Attention Issues

Selective attention is a limited resource, so there are a number of things that can make it
difficult to focus on everything in your environment. Attentional blink, for example, happens
when you are so focused on one thing that you completely miss something else happening
right in front of you.

Cognitive Biases

Cognitive biases are systematic errors in thinking related to how people process and interpret
information about the world. Confirmation bias is one common example that involves only
paying attention to information that aligns with your existing beliefs while ignoring evidence
that doesn't support your views.

Genetics

Some studies have connected cognitive function with certain genes. For example, a 2020
study published in Brain Communications found that a person's level of brain-derived
neurotrophic factor (BDNF), which is 30% determined by heritability, can impact the rate of
brain neurodegeneration,7 a condition that ultimately impacts cognitive function.

Memory Limitations

Short-term memory is surprisingly brief, typically lasting just 20 to 30

seconds,8 whereas long-term memory can be stable and enduring, with memories lasting
years and even decades. Memory can also be fragile and fallible. Sometimes we forget and
other times we are subject to misinformation effects that may even lead to the formation of
false memories.9

Uses of Cognition

Cognitive processes affect every aspect of life, from school to work to relationships. Some
specific uses for these processes include the following.

Learning New Things

Learning requires being able to take in new information, form new memories, and make
connections with other things that you already know. Researchers and educators use their
knowledge of these cognitive processes to create instructive materials to help people learn
new concepts.10

Forming Memories

Memory is a major topic of interest in the field of cognitive psychology. How we remember,
what we remember, and what we forget reveal a great deal about how cognitive processes
operate.

While people often think of memory as being much like a video camera—carefully recording,
cataloging, and storing life events away for later recall—research has found that memory is
much more complex.11
Making Decisions

Whenever people make any type of a decision, it involves making judgments about things
they have processed. This might involve comparing new information to prior knowledge,
integrating new information into existing ideas, or even replacing old knowledge with new
knowledge before making a choice.

Impact of Cognition

Our cognitive processes have a wide-ranging impact that influences everything from our
daily life to our overall health.

Perceiving the World

As you take in sensations from the world around you, the information that you see, hear,
taste, touch, and smell must first be transformed into signals that the brain can understand.
The perceptual process allows you to take in this sensory information and convert it into a
signal that your brain can recognize and act upon.12

Forming Impressions

The world is full of an endless number of sensory experiences. To make meaning out of all
this incoming information, it is important for the brain to be able to capture the fundamentals.
Events are reduced to only the critical concepts and ideas that we need.13

Filling in the Gaps

In addition to reducing information to make it more memorable and understandable, people

also elaborate on these memories as they reconstruct them. In some cases, this elaboration
happens when people are struggling to remember something. When the information cannot be
recalled, the brain sometimes fills in the missing data with whatever seems to fit. 14

Interacting With the World

Cognition involves not only the things that go on inside our heads but also how these
thoughts and mental processes influence our actions.15 Our attention to the world around us,
memories of past events, understanding of language, judgments about how the world works,
and abilities to solve problems all contribute to how we behave and interact with our
surrounding environment.
Tips for Improving Cognition

Cognitive processes are influenced by a range of factors, including genetics and experiences.
While you cannot change your genes or age, there are things that you can do to protect and
maximize your cognitive abilities:

 Stay healthy. Lifestyle factors such as eating a nutritious diet and getting regular
exercise can have a positive effect on cognitive functioning.16

 Think critically. Question your assumptions and ask questions about your thoughts,
beliefs, and conclusions.

 Stay curious and keep learning. A great way to flex your cognitive abilities is to
keep challenging yourself to learn more about the world.

 Skip multitasking. While it might seem like doing several things at once would help
you get done faster, research has shown it actually decreases both productivity 17 and
work quality.18

Six Problem-Solving Steps

The most effective method uses both rational and intuitive or creative approaches. There are
six steps in the process:

1. Identify the problem

2. Search for alternatives

3. Weigh the alternatives

4. Make a choice

5. Implement the choice

6. Evaluate the results and, if necessary, start the process again

Identify the problem

To solve a problem, you must first determine what the problem actually is. You may think
you know, but you need to check it out. Sometimes, it is easy to focus on symptoms, not
causes. You use a rational approach to determine what the problem is. The questions you
might ask include:

 What have I (or others) observed?

 What was I (or others) doing at the time the problem occurred?
  Is this a problem in itself or a symptom of a deeper, underlying problem?

 What information do I need?

 What have we already tried to address this problem?

For example, the apprentice you supervise comes to you saying that the electric warming
oven is not working properly. Before you call a repair technician, you may want to ask a few
questions. You may want to find out what the apprentice means by “not working properly.”
Does he or she know how to operate the equipment? Did he or she check that the equipment
was plugged in? Was the fuse or circuit breaker checked? When did it last work?

You may be able to avoid an expensive service call. At the very least, you will be able to
provide valuable information to the repair technician that aids in the troubleshooting process.

Of course, many of the problems that you will face in the kitchen are much more complex
than a malfunctioning oven. You may have to deal with problems such as:

 Discrepancies between actual and expected food costs

 Labour costs that have to be reduced

 Lack of budget to complete needed renovations in the kitchen

 Disputes between staff

However, the basic problem-solving process remains the same even if the problems identified
differ. In fact, the more complex the problem is, the more important it is to be methodical in
your problem-solving approach.

Search for alternatives

It may seem obvious what you have to do to address the problem. Occasionally, this is true,
but most times, it is important to identify possible alternatives. This is where the creative side
of problem solving really comes in.

Brainstorming with a group can be an excellent tool for identifying potential alternatives.
Think of as many possibilities as possible. Write down these ideas, even if they seem
somewhat zany or offbeat on first impression. Sometimes really silly ideas can contain the
germ of a superb solution. Too often, people move too quickly into making a choice without
really considering all of the options. Spending more time searching for alternatives and
weighing their consequences can really pay off.
Weigh the alternatives

Once a number of ideas have been generated, you need to assess each of them to see how
effective they might be in addressing the problem. Consider the following factors:

 Impact on the organization

 Effect on public relations

 Impact on employees and organizational climate

 Cost

 Legality

 Ethics of actions

 Whether this course is permitted under collective agreements

 Whether this idea can be used to build on another idea

Make a choice

Some individuals and groups avoid making decisions. Not making a decision is in itself a
decision. By postponing a decision, you may eliminate a number of options and alternatives.
You lose control over the situation. In some cases, a problem can escalate if it is not dealt
with promptly. For example, if you do not handle customer complaints promptly, the
customer is likely to become even more annoyed. You will have to work much harder to get a
satisfactory solution.

Implement the decision

Once you have made a decision, it must be implemented. With major decisions, this may
involve detailed planning to ensure that all parts of the operation are informed of their part in
the change. The kitchen may need a redesign and new equipment. Employees may need
additional training. You may have to plan for a short-term closure while the necessary
changes are being made. You will have to inform your customers of the closure.

Evaluate the outcome

Whenever you have implemented a decision, you need to evaluate the results. The outcomes
may give valuable advice about the decision-making process, the appropriateness of the
choice, and the implementation process itself. This information will be useful in improving
the company’s response the next time a similar decision has to be made.
Creative Thinking

Your creative side is most useful in identifying new or unusual alternatives. Too often, you
can get stuck in a pattern of thinking that has been successful in the past. You think of ways
that you have handled similar problems in the past. Sometimes this is successful, but when
you are faced with a new problem or when your solutions have failed, you may find it
difficult to generate new ideas.

If you have a problem that seems to have no solution, try these ideas to “unfreeze” your
mind:

 Relax before trying to identify alternatives.

 Play “what if” games with the problem. For example, What if money was no object?
What if we could organize a festival? What if we could change winter into summer?

 Borrow ideas from other places and companies. Trade magazines might be useful in
identifying approaches used by other companies.

 Give yourself permission to think of ideas that seem foolish or that appear to break
the rules. For example, new recipes may come about because someone thought of new
ways to combine foods. Sometimes these new combinations appear to break rules
about complementary tastes or break boundaries between cuisines from different parts
of the world. The results of such thinking include the combined bar and laundromat
and the coffee places with Internet access for customers.

 Use random inputs to generate new ideas. For example, walk through the local
shopping mall trying to find ways to apply everything you see to the problem.

 Turn the problem upside down. Can the problem be seen as an opportunity? For
example, the road outside your restaurant that is the only means of accessing your
parking lot is being closed due to a bicycle race. Perhaps you could see the bicycle
race as an opportunity for business rather than as a problem.