The mental activity of a person is multifaceted. After all, each of us has to face the most different tasks who demand their own special approach. Figurative thinking is directly related to the perception of objects by a person. real world. It occurs in close interaction with other mental processes - memory, attention, imagination.

Does every person have the ability to think figuratively?

The development of imaginative thinking is of interest to many, but there are adults who are not confident in their abilities. It must be understood that in human thinking some processes are carried out visually. Sometimes a person realizes that he operates with his past perceptions, their memories, as real items. To assess this feature, you can answer three next question:

• What material were your favorite shoes made from when you were 15? What did they feel like?
• How many windows does your grandmother (your grandfather, second cousin) have in a village house?
• What will the Latin letter S look like if it is “mirrored” in the opposite direction?

Typically, people who answer the first of these questions imagine the shoes they wore as teenagers, "touching" the surface in their mind's eye. As for the second question, usually a person retrieves the image of this house from memory, "goes around" it around, counting the windows. As for the letter S, usually in the process of mentally “mirroring” it, a person mentally rotates it and “looks” at the result. These examples show that the same mental processes.

Figurative thinking in preschool children

Visual-figurative thinking is the main type of thinking in a child in preschool age. It is with his help that the baby performs most of the operations. By the time the child enters this period of development, he is able to perform only those tasks that can be done with tools or pens. Such actions are aimed at achieving an immediate result. As the child develops, his actions become more and more complex. Problems of a different type arise, in which the result of the baby's activity will not be direct, but will have an indirect character. The simplest example is throwing a ball against a wall. The ball is thrown so that the child then catches it again. The same tasks in which the result of actions is indirect include playing with a constructor, mechanical toys, and so on.

The development of visual-figurative thinking in children - important task. After all, in order to solve complicated problems, one cannot do without the ability to manage images. Also, this type of thinking teaches the child to respond to the images presented outside world. Therefore, for a preschooler, the development of imaginative thinking is the key to successful learning in lower grades. In middle preschool age, children learn to keep in their imagination images of various objects, to fix patterns. For example, a cucumber is associated with the shape of an oval, a square with the shape of a table surface.

Simple ways to develop imagination in preschoolers

The simplest methods for developing visual-figurative thinking in preschoolers are:

• Observation beautiful scenery.
• Excursions to various exhibitions of works of art.
• Journeys in which the parent will tell in detail about the monument of nature.
• Puzzles of various difficulty levels.
• Making crafts from colored cardboard, applications.
• Drawing using both the dominant and non-dominant hand.

Origami

Making paper figures is very popular with parents and teachers. This requires only a few items - cardboard, paper, scissors. As a rule, young children are not very interested in the complex process of folding paper until they see the result. Therefore, it is good for an adult to demonstrate the “miracles” of this type of crafts for a start.

Modeling from plasticine

This is one of the easiest and most fun ways to develop imaginative thinking for toddlers. Modeling allows you to develop not only imagination, but also fine motor skills. Even if the baby will get the simplest products - “koloboks”, “carrots”, “balls”, the most important thing is that the lesson arouses interest in him. Plasticine should be soft, plastic. You can replace this material with polymer clay or offer your child modeling from salt dough.

Creative thinking. Junior School

Getting older, the child gradually ceases to rely on visual images in his thinking. The possibilities of thinking are becoming wider, the baby learns to give ever broader characteristics to objects. He learns to operate with different images in memory, to transform them - for example, to connect objects and separate them in his fantasy. The development of logical and figurative thinking is promoted various games:

• Board games(for example, dominoes, lotto). Special puzzles can also arouse interest in the baby.
• Reading various children's books, colorful magazines with interesting descriptions, encyclopedias.
• Work creative character: drawing, macrame, creation of applications. Modeling also helps the development of imaginative thinking in schoolchildren.
• Watching cartoons and films about the world.
• Family holidays, travel.
• Walk outdoors.

A good exercise for the development of visual-figurative thinking of preschoolers is the game "What does it look like?". It allows the child to learn an original and creative approach to solving problems. The task is that for each picture (circle, square, triangle, spiral, or abstract picture) you need to come up with as many associations as possible. This exercise is good for a group of children. This game contributes well to the development of imaginative thinking in junior schoolchildren.

Why is imaginative thinking necessary for an adult

Developed imaginative thinking is necessary in many professions - for example, designers cannot do without it. The phrase “draw me something bright and memorable” should not confuse the worker; on the contrary, these words should be a catalyst mental activity. Work on different thinking helps develop analytical skills. Exercises to develop such skills will be useful not only for employees creative professions but also to all those who would like to broaden their horizons.

Figurative thinking: how to develop an adult

Before proceeding with the exercises, an adult needs to believe in himself, throw out the idea that he does not have a good developed sense humor, creativity, imagination. Everyone has all these abilities - it's just that, most likely, they ended up in the "backyard" of consciousness.

A direct proof that every person has an imagination is the ability to call up visual images in memory. Everyone remembers what their parent, girlfriend or friend looks like. A person is also able to describe the features of the metro station closest to him or his favorite place in the city. You do not need to do long exercises on the development of imaginative thinking in order to recall the small details of your favorite places in your memory, to remember how houses and streets look like. hometown. So, you can make an imaginary "journey" in time and be captured again vivid memories. Therefore, you just have to work a little to expand the space of your imagination.

Bean fantasy

A good way to develop imaginative thinking is an exercise called the Fantasy Bean. Its author is the famous storyteller Gianni Rodari. I must say that the technique is suitable for both adults and children. The writer explains: ordinary associations do not develop the imagination. For example, the phrase "horse - dog" does not give room for imagination, being just a mention of animals from the same semantic series.

Gianni Rodari's method contributes to the development of artistic and figurative thinking. The "binomial fantasy" should ideally be determined by chance. For example, you can open a book at random (or different books) on different pages. You can combine two excerpts of phrases from advertising.

storyteller experiment

Gianni Rodari recalls how he experimented with children during the lesson with a randomly chosen word "cupboard". Taken separately, it could hardly evoke any emotions - no one will laugh or cry when thinking about the closet. However, if you connect the concept of "closet" with the concept of "dog", then everything becomes completely different. The easiest way to link these two images together is to use prepositions. For example, "dog in the closet", "dog on the closet". Then the imagination will prompt various images - it may be a dog running with its own booth on its back along the street. Or a dog that has a personal closet with different outfits.

Other Methods

A few more ways to develop imaginative thinking:

• Working with drudles - doodles with many meanings that need to be described. Such pictures in their appearance resemble scribbles that a person draws while talking on the phone or listening to a boring lecture. However, the drudle has one feature - its creators initially put meaning into it. In the picture below you can see drudles that contribute to the development of imaginative thinking.

• Another way is to try to imagine the objects you have just seen. A game called "Matches" helps a lot. To carry it out, you need to throw five matches on the table, look at them, turn away, and at the other end of the table depict their location with the other five matches. It may not work at first, but practice will bring results over time. Each time you need to try to spend less time on playback. When it starts to turn out, the number of matches can be increased.
• You can also come up with new functions for already familiar objects. For example, in the usual lace or nylon tights, you can dry onions, use them as a decorative element for decorating flower pots, and make dolls out of them.
• Another good way- this is a selection of epithets and anti-epithets for the word. To complete this exercise, you need to write out any word in the center of a sheet of paper, on the right side - those definitions that suit it. On the left - place words that cannot be used in any way with this object or phenomenon. An example is the word "person". A person can be free, smart, rich, thin, advanced, etc. Definitions that do not fit this word are ancient, refractory, liquid, pointed.
• You can try to reproduce last meeting with friends or colleagues. In the process of remembering, you need to try to remember: how many people were in the company? What were they wearing? What dishes were on the table? What was the conversation about, what topics were discussed? What experiences accompanied this meeting?

These exercises can be modified to your liking. The main thing in them is that these methods involve imaginative thinking. The more often you perform exercises, the more this property of the psyche will develop.

rev. dated 03/11/2016 (slightly supplemented)

One of the facets of figurative thinking is sensory knowledge or, in the language of parapsychologists, empathic perception. The criterion for a person to return to figurative thinking is the ability to think by the method of insight. This is a method of mental immersion in the problem, in which the answer comes instantly, like an insight. He just comes, shoots from the subconscious. An inner state of joy arises - here it is, now everything is clear. The answer comes by itself. For example, the same Mendeleev opened the table of elements in exactly this way. What about people who can instantly multiply any number? In such cases, figurative thinking works, which is usually accompanied by a feeling emotional intensity. A person internally does some work, he plunges into the problem, and then shoots out the answer. It is also called the immersion method.

It turns out that a person who reveals imaginative thinking in himself begins to solve the tasks assigned to him in a different way. Problem-solving mechanisms can also evolve or degrade as a person grows or declines.

Older people probably remember that at school they did not memorize the addition table. They understood the principle of how to put them together. Now in schools they teach not only multiplication tables, but also addition tables. They just memorize ready-made answers. Of course, this is a sign of degradation.

And yet, linguists are well aware that English language absolutely empty. It does not cause images in the mind of a person. It is sometimes called artificial or sign language. It's just a reflection of the material in a sound that comes from nowhere, where the sound is far from what it reflects. Let's take sound value eating, in Russian: food, food, grub, havchik, zhor, there are other sound designations for this process. And in English? One word food. Or: I love you, I love you, yes I love you! And in English: I love you. Everything, nothing else and nothing else! Only a sign, no figurative-temporal fullness. Therefore, honest scientists from Israel directly stated that the Russian language develops not only left hemisphere brain, but also the right. Because it creates images, and other European languages ​​\u200b\u200bare not capable of this. The most backward European languages- This is English. The only thing he is able to develop is memory and the left hemisphere of the brain. This is the answer why the most primitive of European languages ​​is being so rapidly imposed on the whole world. But this is so, speaking of linguistics.

Therefore, it is reasonable to assume that our ancestors had more mechanisms for solving the tasks. Let's say a person was looking for an answer to a question. He plunged into the matter. In fact, he combined two images: the image of himself on this moment, and the image of the situation in which he found himself. And then, synthesizing these two images on a sensual level, the answer of the most optimal solution came to him by the method of insight. Or the man was making a choice right action from a list of possible solutions. He took the image of himself, the image of the situation and further the image of a possible solution. Having synthesized these three images, he received the answer of what it would lead to. That is, what will happen if a person makes such a choice. And now many people do this, especially those who have a less developed left hemisphere (structural-logical thinking, abstract) compared to the right hemisphere (sensory-emotional, intuitive, connection with the information field of the Universe). There is a reading in the way of modeling events, in the way of choosing the vector of further movement.

It is worth noting that the left hemisphere and right hemisphere work are not opposed to each other at all. A common judgment says that the left hemisphere is responsible for structural-logical thinking, for logical-mathematical analysis, and right hemisphere for the figurative-sensual. The current education system claims to be designed to hypertrophy the left hemisphere while somehow limiting the right hemisphere. But we see that for modern people elementary logical constructions are no longer available.

Figurative work is activated when both hemispheres are in harmony in a person. We see the trinity again. And it's easy enough to justify it. How is the immersion method enabled? We begin to think and look for logical relationships with the object under study. We turn on the left hemisphere. But further, in the process of this work, there is a certain attunement with the image of the task. And thanks to this attunement, our right hemisphere is activated. We begin to feel this image at the level of empathy. extrasensory perception. Logic still works, but at the same time we are already looking for an answer, feeling the task. That's when the mental image of the answer shoots.

Another way of figurative thinking, but of a lower order, is colloquial speech. Have you ever wondered how words appear in your head? By and large, they arise spontaneously. We form in our head the image of the thought that we want to convey, and it pours out in the form of a sentence. If we thought about every word, we would not be able to speak so quickly. As soon as we begin to choose words, speech becomes interrupted. On this basis, a science appeared that studies the psychology of a person by his speech. Or, for example, an image of a zebra appears in the head, and we immediately understand that this is a striped artiodactyl. If the word is unknown, nothing arises. We can say that this is memory, but not a single modern computer can so quickly pick up the description that, like an insight, arises in our head. And where can all this fit in? We are not looking for an answer, we get it right away. Think about it.

A simple exercise will help you understand which hemisphere you have developed more. Fold, without hesitation, your fingers into the lock. Depending on which finger of which hand is on top, then the opposite hemisphere is more developed in you. If the finger of the left hand is on top, then the right hemisphere is more developed. Now fold your fingers so that the finger of the other hand is on top. The more inconvenient this procedure is for you, the greater the difference in the development of the cerebral hemispheres. In this case, you need to pull the lagging hemisphere to the more developed one, and not vice versa.

Important harmonious development both hemispheres. That is why in the old days people knew how to write with both hands, and warriors knew how to fight with two swords at once. If your child is left-handed, do not rush to retrain him to be right-handed. It is much more important to simply teach him to write or hold a hammer with his right hand as well as with his left. Then you will get harmonious personality and not a person with suppressed intuition.

One of the tasks that the ancient priests were able to do was the ability to simultaneously write texts on two topics with both hands in two notebooks. This is what was reflected in the legends about Caesar in that he was able to simultaneously solve several problems. Hence the Vedic notion of the twice-born. Yes, and a man and a woman, in fact, are halves of something united, although located on a different plane of the universe. Everything is in the image and likeness, as above, so below.

Therefore, imaginative thinking is thinking by the method of insight. Usually immersion occurs through the left hemisphere. We comprehend, think, try to logically identify patterns. Further, through concentration, the right hemisphere is activated, the person begins to feel the task. And when they align, insight occurs, a ready mental image of the answer is fired, which we simply read. This can be compared with the initial letter Izhei, with the image of the stream. The person enters, as it were, into a stream. A stream appears between the hemispheres, which is read by the mind. Stream-entry is an effect and a pleasure side effect alignment of the proportional ratio of activation of the cerebral hemispheres. Now it is clear why consciousness is compared with the flow, and life with movement?

When we work with syllables in a drop cap, what happens? We take a syllable, there is one initial letter with its own image, there is another with its own image. Next begins logical work immersion in the synthesis of these two images, and their sensual awareness. We take two particulars and give out a synthesized mental image of the general. In other words, we take a step with the left hemisphere, then a step with the right, we align and the stream of the general mental image shoots out. In fact, we are engaged in reconciliation, as opposed to development, synthesis as opposed to analysis. Hence the concept of vita - life. Now look at how the genetic code works. Don't you think they are identical?

And further. Imaginative thinking includes the process of unzipping compressed information from the energy-information field of Navi, and the images are the keys or principles for extracting information from the past experience of the universe. This experience is called the Akashic records and the Navi energy-informational field.

The path of development is necessary in order to find the unique, the unrepeatable in something in common. And the path of reconciliation is necessary in order to find something in common in unique things. In other words, self-improvement occurs through the knowledge of the unknown in oneself. Now think about the essence of the figurative "confrontation" of Belobog and Chernobog.

EPILOGUE

Let's look at one example of the feedback between imaginative thinking and mathematics. We mentioned when describing the Initial Letter that one facet of the image of the Initial Letter I(Izhei) is identical to the strength of the current. Essentially a force vector. In addition, we know that I=U/R, where, U- voltage, vector of aspiration of electrons, force per unit of space, R- resistance or inertia, equal to the mass per unit of time I- current strength, the number of electrons per unit of time.

What initial letter can be correlated with aspiration and approaching the goal? initial letter UK, the limit of which is the letter Ok. Now we remember - to turn on the flow, what needs to be stopped, what resists this? That's right - thought, the thought process of our brain. We get a drop cap Thinking. What have we come to? I=U/M. And if you substitute numerical values drop caps, we get: 10=400/40 . Coincidence? Okay, let's find the power - Р=U·I or Y I \u003d ҂ D(4000) - strengthening the flow of wills generates an action of a higher order. And the flow itself can be obtained by strengthening being ( There is) knowledge ( Come on) - I=B E.

Of course, the logician will say: I=M/D, I=S/K, I=F/N etc., etc. Let's remember what division by x "Aryan arithmetic means: the ratio of spheres of influence or the ratio of what is above to what is below. And in this case this relationship creates a flow. Then M/D- the ratio of thoughts and deeds generates a stream of divine light. S/K- the ratio of the voiced thought and the connection (filling) of several systems (volume) again generates a force vector. F/N- the ratio of the significance of the essence and the embodied image. All results of these arithmetic operations generate different kinds movement.

If you are still in doubt, you can go even further, arguing that when dealing with electric current, we are, in fact, dealing with the mechanical aspects of electricity and magnetism, and the phenomenon of current can be described by the same mathematical equations, which apply to ordinary movement in space. T e come to the equation v=s/t, where v - speed, s - space, t - time. The law of similarity in action.

It is appropriate here to quote the well-known alternative physics Bruce DePalma:
“Time, as a manifestation of a deeper and more basic force, is what concerns us. Point of contact - the inertia of objects is related to the energy of time flowing through them”.

Recalling quantum theory and equating space and time to unity, we can come to a unity speed of reading the flow of insight in material world. What do you think it equals? Consciousness is the flow, the flow is electricity, electric current is the speed of nerve impulses, nerve impulses are the basis of the brain. What is their basis? Light! Consequently, the natural unit of speed in the Explicit or material world is equal to the speed of light, i.e. 2.9989 x 10 10 cm/sec. Rounding up, we get 3 ( verbs) - movement, outflow, direction, transfer of knowledge from the source. Although without rounding - enough interesting number. And through the frequency of light we come to the physical quantities of units of space and time.

The magnitude of the current is measured by the number of electrons (units of space) per unit of time. A unit of space per unit of time is the definition of speed, so electric current is speed, i.e. movement. With mathematical point It does not matter to the eye whether the mass moves in space or whether space moves in the mass. It remains only to understand what kind of movement is at the base. Think about it in terms and images of the evolution and development of the Universe.

Understanding all this purely logically is a waste of time. It can only be felt. This is the whole essence of imaginative thinking.

The information received by a person from the surrounding world allows a person to represent not only external, but also inside object, to represent objects in the absence of them, to foresee their change in time, to rush with thought into boundless distances and the microcosm. All this is possible through the process of thinking. In under thinking understand the process cognitive activity individual, characterized by a generalized and indirect reflection of reality. Objects and phenomena of reality have such properties and relationships that can be known directly, with the help of sensations and perceptions (colors, sounds, shapes, placement and movement of bodies in visible space).

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

The second feature of thinking- its generalization. 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, language. Verbal designation refers not only to a single object, but also to a whole group of similar objects. Generalization is also inherent in images (representations and even perceptions). But there it is always limited visibility. The word allows you to generalize without limit. Philosophical concepts of matter, motion, law, essence, phenomenon, quality, quantity, etc. - the broadest generalizations expressed in a word.

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

Human thinking proceeds in the form of judgments and conclusions.. 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. A consistent 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 the objects and phenomena of the objective world. Inferences are inductive, deductive and by analogy.

Thinking is the highest level of human cognition of reality. Sensual basis of thinking are sensations, perceptions and representations. Through the sense organs - 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 tasks that life puts before a person, he reflects, draws conclusions and thereby cognizes 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 difficult process, which consists, first of all, in the selection and isolation of an object or its sign, in abstraction from the concrete, single and establishing the essential, common to many objects.

Thinking acts mainly as a solution to problems, questions, problems that are constantly put forward before people by life. Solving problems should always give a person something new, new knowledge. The search for solutions is sometimes very difficult, so mental activity, as a rule, is an active activity that requires focused attention and patience. The real process of thought is always a process not only cognitive, but also emotional-volitional.

For human thinking, the relationship is not with sensory cognition, but with speech and language. In a stricter sense speech- the 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 psychological process formulating and transmitting thoughts by means of language.

Modern psychology does not believe that inner speech has the same structure and the same functions as extended outer speech. By internal speech, psychology means an essential transitional stage between the idea and expanded external speech. A mechanism that allows you to recode the general meaning into a speech statement, i.e. inner speech is, first of all, not an extended speech statement, but only preparatory stage.

However, the inseparable connection between thinking and speech does not at all mean that thinking can be reduced to speech. Thinking and speaking are not the same thing. Thinking does not mean talking about yourself. Evidence of this is 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 your thought.

The objective material form of thinking is language. A thought becomes a thought both for oneself and for others only through the word—oral and written. Thanks to the language, people's thoughts are not lost, but are transmitted in the form of a system of knowledge from generation to generation. However, there are additional means of transmitting the results of thinking: light and sound signals, electrical impulses, gestures, etc. modern science and technology is widely used conventional signs as a universal and economical means of information transmission.

Thinking is also inextricably linked with the practical activities of people. Any type of activity involves thinking, taking into account the conditions of action, planning, observation. By acting, a person solves any problems. Practical activity is the main condition for the emergence and development of thinking, as well as a criterion for the truth of thinking.

thought processes

The mental activity of a person is a solution to various mental problems aimed at revealing the essence of something. A mental operation is one of the ways of mental activity through which a person solves mental problems.

Thinking operations are varied. These are analysis and synthesis, comparison, abstraction, concretization, generalization, classification. Which of logical operations applied by a person, it will depend on the task and on the nature of the information that he subjects to mental processing.

Analysis and synthesis

Analysis- this is a mental decomposition of the whole into parts or a mental separation from the whole of its sides, actions, relations.

Synthesis- the reverse process of thought to analysis, it is the unification of parts, properties, actions, relations 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 practical activities person. People constantly interact with objects and phenomena. Practical development of them led to the formation of mental operations of analysis and synthesis.

Comparison

Comparison- this is the establishment of similarities and differences between objects and phenomena.

The comparison is based on analysis. Before comparing objects, it is necessary to select one or more of their features, according to which the comparison will be made.

The comparison can be one-sided, or incomplete, and multi-sided, or more complete. Comparison, like analysis and synthesis, can be of different levels - superficial and deeper. In this case, a person's thought goes from external signs of similarity and difference to internal ones, from the visible to the hidden, from the phenomenon to the essence.

abstraction

abstraction- this is a process of mental abstraction from some signs, aspects of the concrete in order to better know it.

A person mentally highlights some feature of an object and considers it in isolation from all other features, temporarily distracted from them. An 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, a person was able to break away from the individual, concrete and rise to the highest level of knowledge - scientific theoretical thinking.

Specification

Specification- 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.

Thinking activity is always aimed at obtaining some result. A person analyzes objects, compares them, abstracts individual properties in order to reveal what is common in them, in order to reveal the patterns that govern their development, in order to master them.

Generalization, therefore, is the selection in objects and phenomena of the general, which is expressed in the form of a concept, law, rule, formula, etc.

Types of thinking

Depending on what place the word, image and action occupy in the thought process, how they relate to each other, distinguish three types of thinking: concrete-effective, or practical, concrete-figurative and abstract. These types of thinking are also distinguished on the basis of the characteristics of tasks - practical and theoretical.

Actionable Thinking

Visual and effective- a way of thinking based on direct perception items.

Specifically effective, or objectively effective, thinking is aimed at solving specific problems in the conditions of production, constructive, organizational and other practical activities of people. Practical thinking is, first of all, technical, constructive thinking. It consists in the understanding of technology and in the ability of a person to independently solve technical problems. The process of technical activity is the process of interaction between mental and practical components of work. Complex operations abstract thinking intertwined with the practical actions of a person, inextricably linked with them. Characteristic features concrete-effective thinking are bright strong observation, attention to detail, particulars and the ability to use them in specific situation, operating with spatial images and schemes, the ability to quickly move from thinking to action and vice versa. It is in this kind of thinking that the unity of thought and will is manifested to the greatest extent.

Concrete-figurative thinking

Visual-figurative- a type of thinking characterized by reliance on ideas and images.

Concrete-figurative (visual-figurative), or artistic, thinking is characterized by the fact that a person embodies abstract thoughts, generalizations into concrete images.

Abstract thinking

Verbal-logical- a kind of thinking carried out with the help of logical operations with concepts.

Abstract, or verbal-logical, thinking is mainly aimed at finding common patterns in nature and human society. Abstract, theoretical thinking reflects general connections and relationships. It operates mainly with concepts, broad categories, and images, representations play an auxiliary role in it.

All three types of thinking are closely related to each other. Many people have equally developed concrete-active, concrete-figurative and theoretical thinking, but depending on the nature of the tasks that a person solves, then one, then another, then a third type of thinking comes to the fore.

Types and types of thinking

Practical-active, visual-figurative and theoretical-abstract - these are the interconnected types of thinking. During historical development Human intellect was originally formed in the course of practical activity. So, people learned to measure land plots empirically, and then, on this basis, a special theoretical science- geometry.

Genetically, the earliest kind of thinking is action-oriented thinking; actions with objects are of decisive importance in it (in its infancy it is also observed in animals).

On the basis of practical-effective, manipulative thinking arises visual-figurative thinking . It is characterized by operating with visual images in the mind.

The highest level of thinking is abstract, abstract thinking. However, here, too, thinking retains a connection with practice. As they say, there is nothing more practical than a correct theory.

The thinking of individuals is also divided into practical-effective, figurative and abstract (theoretical).

But in the process of life, one and the same person comes to the fore either one or another type of thinking. So, everyday affairs require practical-effective thinking, and a report on scientific topic- theoretical thinking, etc.

Structural unit of practical-effective (operational) thinking - action; artistic - image; scientific thinking concept.

Depending on the depth of generalization, empirical and theoretical thinking are distinguished.

empirical thinking(from the Greek. empeiria - experience) gives primary generalizations based on experience. These generalizations are made at a low level of abstraction. empirical knowledge- the lowest, elementary level of knowledge. Empirical thinking should not be confused with practical thinking.

As noted famous psychologist V. M. Teplov (“The Mind of a Commander”), many psychologists take the work of a scientist, a theorist, as the only model of mental activity. Meanwhile, practical activity requires no less intellectual effort.

Mental activity theorist focuses mainly on the first part of the path of knowledge - temporary retreat, a departure from practice. The mental activity of the practitioner is mainly concentrated on the second part of it - on the transition from abstract thinking to practice, that is, on that "hit" in practice, for the sake of which the theoretical digression is made.

A feature of practical thinking is subtle observation, the ability to focus on individual details of an event, the ability to use to solve a particular problem that special and singular that was not completely included in theoretical generalization, the ability to quickly move from thinking to action.

In the practical thinking of a person, the optimal ratio of his mind and will, the cognitive, regulatory and energy capabilities of the individual is essential. Practical thinking is associated with the operational setting of priority goals, the development of flexible plans, programs, great self-control in stressful conditions of activity.

Theoretical thinking reveals universal relations, explores the object of knowledge in the system of its necessary connections. Its result is the construction of conceptual models, the creation of theories, the generalization of experience, the disclosure of patterns of development various phenomena, knowledge of which provides transformative activity person. Theoretical thinking is inextricably linked with practice, but in its own end results has relative independence; it is based on previous knowledge and, in turn, serves as the basis for subsequent knowledge.

Algorithmic, discursive, heuristic and creative thinking.

Algorithmic thinking is focused on pre-established rules, the generally accepted sequence of actions necessary to solve typical problems.

discursive(from lat. discursus - reasoning) thinking based on a system of interconnected inferences.

heuristic thinking(from the Greek heuresko - I find) - this is productive thinking, consisting in solving non-standard tasks.

Creative thinking- thinking that leads to new discoveries, fundamentally new results.

There are also reproductive and productive thinking.

reproductive thinking - reproduction of previously obtained results. In this case, thinking merges with memory.

Productive Thinking- thinking that leads to new cognitive results.

thereby defining its name. They would say, for example, that it is a bird, a mineral, a book, that is, they would determine the genus in which this object enters as a species. So, we would subordinate an unfamiliar object to a familiar group of objects, making, as they say, its subsummation. Outwardly, the savage does exactly the same thing - he also correlates the new object with a certain group, but not by subsummation, but in a completely different way. Seeing an umbrella, a savage calls it a "bat"; contemplating a bird, he says that it is a "butterfly"; extinguishing the candle, he "kills" it. This means that primitive thinking perceives an umbrella with the same figuration as a bat, and a butterfly with a bird figuration.

Therefore, an umbrella and a bat, a butterfly and a bird, are both the same significant phenomena, are included in separate groups located in one row. Therefore, it is really inappropriate to speak of subordination and subsummation here. According to Werner, in this case we are dealing more with "objective transposition" than with subsummation.

What is the result of all this? Figurative thinking combines into one group and designates with the same word such objects and phenomena that our logical thinking would never have united. For example, in the language of one of the North American tribes (guides), everything round - the sun, moon, ear, fish, etc. - is called in one word, uniting, respectively, into one group. In the same way, oblong objects are denoted by one word - for example, tongue and nose. This is because figurative thinking, reflecting objective reality, as if draws, describes her; therefore, it is clear that figurative thinking is not aware of subordination, it comprehends analogy rather than logical dependence.

4. Figurative thinking and reflection of ratios

As you know, thinking is especially interested in relationships. What is imaginative thinking in this regard?

1. According to formal logic, there are a number of concepts that express relationships, which are the main, not reducible to others, premise of discretion of any kind of order and connection. Such generalized, basic concepts are called "categories". These include, for example, the concepts identity, causality(causality), etc. It is understood that logical knowledge, whatever it may be, already initially presupposes such correlations. Therefore, thinking must necessarily be categorical.

The psychological analysis of figurative thinking proves that this provision formal logic wrong and psychologically. Figurative thinking - by at least at the main stages of its development - does not represent categorical thinking, being rather precategorical.

Any relation, such as causality, implies the presence of two terms - cause and effect; it is between them that the relationship is confirmed. This provision shall remain in force even if identities (identities)- an object in one case and an object in another case with itself is in an identical relationship. However, figurative thinking is not capable of such a selection and comparison of objects, because this requires more high level development of abstraction, which, as is known, figurative thinking does not have. Consequently, for figurative thinking there is no relationship between only two phenomena, for him every object and every phenomenon is also connected with all other objects and phenomena - the world for him is whole and one. Of course

this is not a dialectical unity, otherwise the thinking of the savage would be dialectical. No, here we are dealing - at least in the main - with an indivisible, diffuse integrity.

This discovery of the psychology of thinking clearly confirms that thinking in its essence is not the same as it is drawn by formal logic, that is, it is not necessarily formal-logical. At the initial stage of its development, thinking is holistic, and it is obvious that at higher levels In its development, it again returns to integrity, but not to diffuse, undifferentiated integrity, but to dialectical unity, thus turning into dialectical thinking.

Consequently, figurative thinking is alien to the categories of formal logic; This - precategorical thinking.

In this connection, the question naturally arises: how is thinking outside of categories carried out? What ways does figurative thinking resort to when it comes to basic relationships? For example, consider two main relationships - identity and causation.

2. Known whole line observations indicating that the true meaning of the relationship is not yet fully accessible to figurative thinking identities. For example, for a South African tribe, the rising and setting sun are by no means the same thing; and the moon in different phases is also not the same object. Of course, it is even more difficult for figurative thinking to comprehend the identity of an object that undergoes visible metamorphoses in the process of its development, as happens, for example, in the animal world. Once the psychologist Thurnwald, for example, was even ridiculed when he declared a butterfly and a caterpillar to be the same animal. Therefore, whenever the mental content evoked by some object under certain conditions clearly differs from the content evoked by the same object under other conditions, the figurative consciousness is unable to recognize the identity. this subject. Concrete thinking makes use of an image; thought outside the image is still unknown to it. Therefore, it is understandable that in figurative thinking the category of identity has not yet fully developed.

This will explain the circumstance that primitive man sometimes expresses completely contradictory judgments about the same subject. Based on this observation, Lévy-Bruhl came to the conclusion that primitive man does not feel the inconsistency of judgments, for him the law of contradiction of formal logic does not exist. In reality, this is due to the fact that the experience of identity is not sufficiently developed in primitive man, since he thinks in images, and as soon as they are visibly different from each other, he, accordingly, sees in them different objects. Therefore, of course, it is not surprising if he sometimes expresses completely opposite judgments about the same subject, because for him these are different subjects.

Thus, we can conclude that in the case of figurative thinking, the experience of identity is not yet sufficiently developed; it is still based on visibility - identity is experienced exclusively where there is a visual content, where the images are the same; it is not yet based on knowledge and concepts.

3. How does figurative thinking experience causality, the relationship between two successive phenomena, of which one is the cause, and the second is the effect?

When we become witnesses of a phenomenon that seems new, unusual, incomprehensible to us, we, as a rule, have a need to understand what we are faced with, what is the reason for it. In a word, we have a desire to explain this phenomenon, to find its cause. Undoubtedly, a person who is at the stage of figurative thinking also has an interest in explanation. How does he explain this or that phenomenon? This, of course, depends on how he understands causality.

Why do turtles have flat, cracked shells? A Brazilian Indian explains it this way: “The tortoise and the kite were arguing about who would get to the heavenly festival first. The turtle hid in the kite's basket of food, and together they

with basket lifted her high into the sky. So the kite was met at the festival by a turtle, who declared that she had arrived earlier and had been waiting for him for a long time. Without coming to an agreement, they decided that the dispute would be won by the one who quickly descended to the ground. The kite flew to the ground, while the tortoise simply fell from the sky and, naturally, ended up on the ground before the kite. But she hit the ground with such force that her shell became flat and cracked. This is why turtles still have flat shells today.

with cracks.

As can be seen, a Brazilian Indian is composing a story that describes why the tortoise's shell is cracked. This is his explanation. This happens in other cases too - a primitive person, trying to explain something, composes a story in which he describes how the phenomenon of interest happened. For figurative thinking, explanation and description coincide with each other. There is no doubt that imaginative thinking here, as in the case of identity, sees and reflects relationships only as they are directly given. Cause and effect are reduced to a simple sequence: after one phenomenon, the second occurs, one precedes the other - and this is what is limited to everything that is experienced in different thinking in the case of causal relationships. One might think that Hume's formula - post hoc ergo propter hoc (after that, therefore, for this reason) - expresses the understanding of causality by imaginative thinking.

However, the nature of causality, at least for our thinking, has the character of necessity. For figurative thinking, this is not so - the need for it is incomprehensible. When famous traveler Fondenstein, whose data we are constantly using here, told one Bakairi that "everyone must die", it turned out that for him the word "must" as a necessity was completely incomprehensible. He has not yet reached the level of seeing a general necessity out of a series of constantly repeating phenomena in an unchanged form. Figurative thinking is unfamiliar with the categories of the necessary and the general. Therefore, it is limited only to the narrative, only to the description.

But is it possible that figurative thinking does not see any connection between cause and effect other than a simple sequence? Observations on the different thinking of both primitive people and children prove that this type of thinking involves a kind of connection between cause and effect, according to which the effect means not just an effect, but rather product, result of action. Figurative thinking implies a connection between cause and effect, expressed in action - everything that happens and exists must be done by someone. This is the conviction of figurative thinking. Therefore, it is enough to say who and how made this or that object or phenomenon in order for the explanation to be recognized as completely satisfactory.

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Types of thinking.

In psychology, the most accepted and widespread is the following simplest and somewhat conditional classification types of thinking:

1) visual and effective;

2) visual-figurative;

3) verbal-logical;

4) abstract-logical.

Visual Action Thinking- a type of thinking based on the direct perception of objects in the process of actions 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 thinking. Main characteristic visual-effective thinking is determined by the possibility of observing real objects and cognizing the relationships between them in a real transformation of the situation. Practical cognitive objective actions are the basis of any later forms of thinking.

Visual-figurative thinking-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. The subject operates with visual images of objects through their figurative representations. At the same time, the image of the subject makes it possible to combine a set of heterogeneous practical operations into a coherent picture. Mastering visual-figurative representations expands the scope of practical thinking.

In its simplest form, visual-figurative thinking occurs mainly in preschoolers, i.e. at the age of four or seven. The connection between thinking and practical actions, although they retain, is not as close, direct and immediate as before. In the course of the analysis and synthesis of a cognizable object, the child does not necessarily and by no means always have to touch the object that interests him with his hands. In many cases, systematic practical manipulation (action) with the object is not required, but in all cases it is necessary to clearly perceive and visualize this object. In other words, preschoolers think only in visual images and do not yet master concepts (in the strict sense).

Verbal-logical thinking - a kind of thinking carried out with the help of logical operations with concepts. In verbal-logical thinking, operating logical concepts, the subject can learn the essential patterns and unobservable relationships of the reality under study. The development of verbal-logical thinking rebuilds and organizes the world figurative representations and practical actions.

Abstract-logical (abstract) thinking- a type of thinking based on the allocation of essential properties and relationships of the subject and abstraction from others, non-essential.

Visual-effective, visual-figurative, verbal-logical and abstract-logical thinking are successive stages in the development of thinking in phylogeny and ontogenesis. At present, psychology has convincingly shown that these four types of thinking coexist in an adult and function in solving various problems. All types of thinking are closely interconnected. When solving problems, verbal reasoning is based on vivid images. At the same time, the solution of even the simplest, most specific problem requires verbal generalizations. Therefore, the described types of thinking cannot be assessed as more or less valuable. Abstract-logical or verbal-logical thinking cannot be the “ideal” of thinking in general, the end point of intellectual development. Thus, the further improvement of thinking is associated in psychology with the expansion and concretization of the areas of application of the learned mental norms and techniques.

In addition, the selection of types of thinking can be done according to various grounds. So, relying on various sources concerning the study of thinking, the following types of thinking can be distinguished (see Fig. 7).

Rice. 7. Classification of types of thinking on various grounds

According to the nature of the tasks to be solved, there are theoretical and practical thinking.

Theoretical thinking - thinking on the basis of theoretical reasoning and inference.

practical thinking- thinking based on judgments and inferences based on a decision practical tasks. Theoretical thinking is the knowledge of laws and rules. The main task of practical thinking is the development of means practical transformation reality: setting a goal, creating a plan, project, scheme. Practical thinking was studied by B.M. Teplov. They established that important feature practical thinking is that it is deployed in conditions of severe time pressure and actual risk. In practical situations, the possibilities for testing hypotheses are very limited. All this makes practical thinking more difficult in a certain respect than theoretical thinking.

According to the degree of development of thinking in time, intuitive and discursive, or analytical thinking are distinguished.

Discursive (analytical) thinking- thinking, mediated by the logic of reasoning, not perception. Analytical thinking deployed in time, has clearly defined stages, is represented in the mind of the thinking person.

intuitive thinking- thinking based on direct sensory perceptions and direct reflection of the effects of objects and phenomena of the objective world. Intuitive thinking is characterized by the speed of flow, the absence of clearly defined stages, and is minimally conscious. Three criteria are usually used to distinguish between discursive and intuitive thinking: 1) temporal (time of the process); 2) structural (division into stages); 3) the level of awareness (representation in the mind of the thinker himself).

According to the degree of novelty and originality, reproductive and productive thinking are distinguished according to their functional purpose.

reproductive thinking- thinking on the basis of images and ideas drawn from some specific sources.

Productive Thinking- thinking based on creative imagination.

In their activities, people encounter such objects that have a holistic-systemic character. For orientation in such objects, a person needs to be able to distinguish their external and internal content, their internal essence and its external manifestations. In this regard, according to the type of knowledge, theoretical and empirical thinking are distinguished.

theoretical thinking- thinking for knowledge internal content and essence of complex system objects. The main mental action associated with such knowledge is analysis. An analysis of a holistic system object reveals in it some simple connection (or relation), which acts as a genetically initial basis for all its particular manifestations. This initial connection serves as a universal or essential source of the formation of an integral system object. The task of theoretical thinking is to discover this initial essential connection, with its subsequent isolation, i.e. abstraction, and, in the future, reduction to this initial connection of all possible particular manifestations of the system object, i.e. production of generalization action.

empirical thinking- thinking for knowledge external manifestations objects and phenomena under consideration. The main operations of empirical thinking are comparison and classification, which are associated with the actions of abstraction and generalization. same properties, objects and phenomena. The cognitive product of the implementation of these actions are general ideas(or empirical concepts) about these objects and phenomena. Empirical thinking performs very important and necessary functions in Everyday life people, as well as in the sciences located on early stages of its development.

By functional purpose Distinguish between critical and creative thinking.

Critical thinking aimed at identifying flaws in the judgments of others.

creative thinking associated with the discovery of a fundamentally new knowledge, with the generation of their own original ideas and not with the evaluation of other people's thoughts. The conditions for their implementation are opposite: the generation of new creative ideas must be completely free from any criticism, external and internal prohibitions; the critical selection and evaluation of these ideas, on the contrary, requires strictness towards oneself and others, and does not allow an overestimation of one's own ideas. In practice, there are attempts to combine the advantages of each of these types. For example, in well-known control methods thought process and improve its efficiency (“ brainstorm”) creative and critical thinking as different modes conscious work are used at different stages of solving the same applied tasks.

One of the traditional differences in thinking by types is based on an analysis of the content of the means of thinking used - visual or verbal. In this regard, visual and verbal thinking are distinguished.

visual thinking- thinking on the basis of images and representations of objects.

verbal thinking- thinking, operating 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. In psychology, it is believed that visual and verbal types of thinking are "antagonists": the carriers of the first are difficult to access even simple tasks, represented in sign form; carriers of the second are not easily given tasks that require operating with visual images.