The highest level of human knowledge is thinking. The development of thinking is a mental process of creating obvious patterns of the surrounding world that do not require proof. This is a mental activity that has a goal, a motive, actions (operations) and a result.

Development of thinking

Scientists offer several options for defining thinking:

1. The highest stage of assimilation and processing by a person of information, the establishment of cause-and-effect relationships between objects of reality.
2. The process of displaying the explicit properties of objects and, as a result, creating an idea of ​​the surrounding reality.
3. This is the process of cognition of reality, which is based on the acquired knowledge, the constant replenishment of the baggage of ideas and concepts.

Thinking is studied by several disciplines. The laws and types of thinking are considered by logic, the psychophysiological component of the process - physiology and psychology.

Thinking develops throughout a person's life, starting from infancy. This is a sequential process of displaying the realities of reality in the human brain.

Types of human thinking

Most often, psychologists divide thinking by content:

• visual-figurative thinking;

• abstract (verbal-logical) thinking;

• visual action thinking.

Visual-figurative thinking

Visual-figurative thinking implies a visual solution to the problem, without resorting to practical actions. The right hemisphere of the brain is responsible for the development of this species.

Many people think that visual-figurative thinking and imagination are one and the same. You are wrong.

Thinking is based on a real process, object or action. Imagination, on the other hand, includes the creation of a fictitious, unrealistic image that is not in reality.

Developed by artists, sculptors, fashion designers - people of the creative profession. They transform reality into an image, and with its help, new properties are distinguished from standard objects, and non-standard combinations of things are established.

Exercises for the development of visual-figurative thinking:

Question answer

If the capital letter N from the English alphabet is turned 90 degrees, what letter will be the result?
Ear shape of a German Shepherd?
How many rooms are in the living room of your house?

Image creation

Create an image of the last family dinner. Mentally draw an event and answer the questions:

1. How many family members were present, who was wearing what?
2. What meals were served?
3. What was the conversation about?
4. Imagine your plate, where your hands lay, the face of a relative sitting next to you. Feel the taste of the food you have eaten.
5. Was the picture shown in black and white or color?
6. Describe the visual image of the room.

Description of items

Describe each of the following items:

1. Toothbrush;
2. Pine forest;
3. sunset;
4. your bedroom;
5. drops of morning dew;
6. an eagle soaring in the sky.

Imagination

Imagine Beauty, Wealth, Success.

Describe the selected image using two nouns, three adjectives and verbs, one adverb.

Memories

Imagine the people with whom you have communicated today (or someday).

What did they look like, what were they wearing? Describe their appearance (eye color, hair color, height and build).

Verbal-logical type of thinking (Abstract thinking)

A person sees the picture as a whole, highlights only the significant qualities of the phenomenon, not noticing minor details that only complement the subject. Such thinking is well developed among physicists, chemists - people who are directly related to science.

Forms of abstract thinking

Abstract thinking has 3 forms:

• concept- objects are combined according to signs;

• judgment- approval or denial of any phenomenon or connection between objects;

• inference- conclusions based on several judgments.

An example of abstract thinking:

You have a soccer ball (you can even take it in your hands). What can be done with it?

Options: play football, throw into the ring, sit on it, etc. are not abstracts. But if you imagine that a good ball game will attract the attention of a coach, and you can get into a famous football team ... this is already beyond, abstract thinking.

Exercises for the development of abstract thinking:

"Who's extra?"

From a series of words, select one or more words that do not fit the meaning:

• cautious, fast, cheerful, sad;
• turkey, dove, crow, duck;
• Ivanov, Andryusha, Sergey, Vladimir, Inna;
• square, pointer, circle, diameter.
• plate, saucepan, spoon, glass, broth.

Finding differences

What is the difference:

• train - plane;
• horse-sheep;
• oak-pine;
• fairy tale-poem;
• still life portrait.

Find at least 3 differences for each pair.

Main and secondary

From a number of words, select one or two, without which the concept is impossible, cannot exist in principle.

• Game - players, penalty, cards, rules, dominoes.
• War - guns, planes, battle, soldiers, command.
• Youth - love, growth, teenager, quarrels, choice.
• Boots - heel, sole, laces, clasp, bootleg.
• Barn - walls, ceiling, animals, hay, horses.
• Road - asphalt, traffic lights, traffic, cars, pedestrians.

Read phrases backwards

• tomorrow the premiere of the play;
• Come visit;
• let's go to the park;
• what's for lunch?

The words

In 3 minutes, write as many words as you can that start with the letter w (w, h, z)

(beetle, toad, magazine, cruelty...).

Come up with names

Come up with 3 most unusual male and female names.

Visual Action Thinking

It implies the solution of mental problems through the transformation of the situation that has arisen in reality. This is the very first way to process the information received.

This type of thinking actively develops in preschool children. They begin to combine various objects into a single whole, analyze and operate with them. Develops in the left hemisphere of the brain.

In an adult, this kind of thinking is carried out through the transformation of the practical use of real objects. Visual-figurative thinking is extremely developed among people who are engaged in industrial work - engineers, plumbers, surgeons. When they see an object, they understand what actions to perform with it. People say that people of such professions have a “full hand”.

Visual-figurative thinking helped the ancient civilizations, for example, to measure the earth, because both the hands and the brain are involved in the process. This is the so-called manual intelligence.

The game of chess perfectly develops visual-effective thinking.

Exercises for the development of visual-effective thinking

1. The simplest, but very effective task for the development of this type of thinking is collection of designers. There should be as many details as possible, at least 40 pieces. Visual instructions can be used.
2. No less useful for the development of this kind of thinking and various puzzles, puzzles. The more details, the better.
3. Make 2 equal triangles from 5 matches, 2 squares and 2 triangles from 7 matches.
4. Turn into a square by cutting once in a straight line, a circle, a rhombus and a triangle.
5. Blind a cat, a house, a tree from plasticine.
6. Determine without special devices the weight of the pillow on which you sleep, all the clothes you are wearing, the size of the room in which you are.

Conclusion

Each person must have developed all three types of thinking, but one type always prevails. You can determine this even in childhood, while observing the behavior of the child.

Decisiveness, quickness and flexibility of thinking, developed intuition, the ability to overcome internal brakes and fears - this is not a complete list of qualities inherent in a person with a developed imaginative thinking. After all, with figurative thinking, right-hemispheric activity predominates, which oh, how lacking for a Western person.

Development of figurative thinking- weigh all the pros and cons? To start:
Thinking is a reflection of reality, mediated by the word.
Types of thinking:
in form(1. visual-effective; 2. visual-figurative; 3. abstract-logical);
the nature(1. practical; 2. theoretical);
by degree of expansion(1. discursive; 2. intuitive);
by degree of novelty(1. reproductive; 2. productive).

Figurative thinking - carried out on the basis of images, ideas of what a person perceived before. As we understand, these images are retrieved from memory, or they can be recreated by the imagination. And in the course of our mental tasks, these images can be transformed in such a way that as a result of working on them, we can find answers to new tasks.

That is why the development of figurative thinking is so important in our time. The development of imaginative thinking increases creativity and trains creativity. The difference between creativity and creativity - the essence of creativity is that having certain patterns, a person can come up with new ones from them, and creativity is conceptually new ideas, the ability to generate them.

But it is also worth considering that the development of figurative thinking and perception are completely different directions. Often people combine these concepts. Imaginative thinking deals with existing objects that a person has ever seen, and imagination is the reconstruction of an image from a figurative memory, as well as inventing a completely new one.

The development of imaginative thinking is a difficult but doable task. What can you try? For example, imagine your office in great detail. Is the image bright? Can you imagine other wallpapers now? This is now involved in the imagination in conjunction with figurative thinking. The development of imaginative thinking can be trained.

With constant training, you will then be able to use imaginative thinking in life tasks and goals. For example, apply the visualization of the goal, forming a mental image of yourself in the process and achieving the result.

Figurative thinking is a significant component in all types of human activity. The development of imaginative thinking contributes to the rapid assimilation of new information, memorization and develops the flexibility of thinking.

You may also be interested in books on the direction

Postalovsky I.Z. - Training of figurative thinking- The development of imaginative thinking is one of those fundamental features of the human intellect, to which the 21st century will make special demands. Without a highly developed figurative thinking, it will be impossible to solve many problems of the development of the individual and society. In the proposed manual, an attempt is made to create a systematic course of training and development of imaginative thinking, based on the purposeful and comprehensive training of our receptors, spatial representation and imagination. The course has passed many years of practical testing and showed quite good results.

Hicks Esther and Jerry - Law of Attraction- The development of imaginative thinking contributes to the rapid assimilation of new information, memorization and develops the flexibility of thinking. The authors are sure that, having learned about the operation of the Law of Attraction, we will understand that we create the reality around us with our thoughts! Our imaginative thinking can help this. After reading this book, you can learn how to create life as you wish! Decisiveness, quickness and flexibility of thinking, developed intuition, the ability to overcome internal brakes and fears - this is not a complete list of qualities inherent in a person with a developed imaginative thinking. You can get rid of everything unnecessary, achieve what you dream of, overcome your fears and, finally, understand what you really strive for...

Psychotechnics by direction

Ladder of concepts.

Annotation: Exercise for the development of conceptual thinking.

Sex differentiation: unisex

Age restrictions: for adults

Conducted: individually

Approach used: art therapy

unknown

The technician contributed to the fund: Administrator (148)

A look into the future.

Annotation: An exercise in figurative thinking.

Sex differentiation: unisex

Age restrictions: for adults

Conducted: individually

Approach used: gestalt therapy

Authorship or source of materials: I.Vagin

The technician contributed to the fund: Administrator (1559)

After 15 years.

Goals: Development of imaginative thinking Self-knowledge Life strategy

Annotation: 35 step from the training "Development of confidence".

Sex differentiation: unisex

Age restrictions: for adults

Conducted: individually

Approach used: gestalt therapy

Authorship or source of materials: Nina Rubstein

The technician contributed to the fund: Administrator (684)

The problem of precious stones.

Objectives: Development of intelligence Development of imaginative thinking

Annotation: Exercise for the development of intelligence and imaginative thinking.

Sex differentiation: unisex

Age restrictions: for adults

Conducted: individually

Approach used: game therapy

Authorship or source of materials: unknown

The technician contributed to the fund: Administrator (1064)

Ribbon problem.

Objectives: Development of intelligence Development of imaginative thinking

Annotation: Exercise for the development of intelligence and thinking.

Sex differentiation: unisex

Age restrictions: for adults

Conducted: individually

Approach used: game therapy

Authorship or source of materials: unknown

The technician contributed to the fund: Administrator (1063)

Images.

Objectives: Visualization Right hemispheric thinking Development of figurative thinking

Annotation: Exercise on images (visual, auditory, bodily, tactile and bodily).

Sex differentiation: unisex

Age restrictions: for adults

Conducted: individually

Approach used: self-regulation

Authorship or source of materials: unknown

The technician contributed to the fund: Administrator (62)

Cup.

Annotation: Exercise for the development of intellectual abilities, for the development of creativity.

Sex differentiation: unisex

Age restrictions: for preschoolers

Conducted: in a group

Approach used: cognitive psychotherapy

Authorship or source of materials: unknown

The technician contributed to the fund: Administrator (82)

Find something similar.

Objectives: Development of figurative thinking

Annotation: Step 7 of the course on "Correction of Anxiety in a Junior School Student". Goal: Development of motor skills, abstract thinking. Training for the correction of anxiety in junior schoolchildren.

Sex differentiation: unisex

Age restrictions:

Conducted: in a group

Approach used: art therapy

Authorship or source of materials: unknown

The technician contributed to the fund: Administrator (1289)

Application of skills.

Goals: Development of creativity Development of figurative thinking

Annotation: The exercise trains to generate ideas about ways of practical application of the resources available to the participants, increases self-esteem, and also increases the motivation to develop new skills and improve existing ones.

Sex differentiation: unisex

Age restrictions: for primary school age

Conducted: in a group

Approach used: game therapy

Authorship or source of materials: unknown

The technician contributed to the fund: Administrator (362)

Opposites.

Goals: Development of creativity Development of figurative thinking

Abstract: Training of thinking "from the contrary" - a way to find solutions to problems, in which for a more complete understanding of their essence, their opposite is presented. Development of flexibility in the perception of life situations. Search for non-obvious solutions.

Sex differentiation: unisex

Age restrictions: for teenagers and older

Conducted: in a group

Approach used: game therapy

Authorship or source of materials: unknown

The technician contributed to the fund: Administrator (360)

Linguistic pyramid.

Objectives: Development of intelligence Development of imaginative thinking

Annotation: An exercise to understand your own thinking patterns, develop skills of generalization, disaggregation and transition by analogy.

Sex differentiation: unisex

Age restrictions: for teenagers and older

Held: in pairs

Approach used: reality therapy

Authorship or source of materials: unknown

The technician contributed to the fund: Administrator (523)

Find missing words.

Goals: Development of intelligence Development of interest Development of figurative thinking

Annotation: An exercise for the development of figurative thinking.

Sex differentiation: unisex

Age restrictions: for any age

Conducted: individually

Approach used: game therapy

Authorship or source of materials: unknown

The technician contributed to the fund: Administrator (1059)

We often envy those who can, without wasting time on a long analysis of the situation, find a way out of it. Such people seem to have an incredibly developed intuition, because all subsequent calculations only confirm the correctness of their decision. Perhaps intuition also plays a role here, and perhaps the whole point is that they have developed imaginative thinking. What is it and how to become such a virtuoso of thought, we will talk now.

Figurative type of thinking and its varieties

Human thinking is very multifaceted, because we all have to solve very different tasks every day. But still there is a division into types, however, the classifications are different. Some schools divide thinking into practical and theoretical, others speak of template and non-standard thinking, while others classify thinking according to the use of various substitutes for reality - a word, an object or an image. That is, according to the latter classification, subject-effective, visual-figurative and verbal-logical thinking are distinguished.

We are interested in figurative (visual-figurative, figurative-associative or spatial-figurative) thinking. It is believed that this type of thinking was the next stage after the development of subject-effective. Figurative thinking allows you to see the whole situation as a whole, without relying on clear logical chains. If a verbal answer is not needed, then the conclusion is not formulated. The word in this type of thinking is only a means of expressing the transformations carried out through images. Some people tend to consider imagination as a kind of imaginative thinking, but this is not true. Imagination recreates the desired image from figurative memory, and figurative thinking is based on real-life objects.

The formation of figurative thinking occurs gradually, with the development of all mental processes and the accumulation of life experience. Some people, due to their individual characteristics, find it difficult to operate with mental images; they definitely need a visual basis. But as it turns out, it is possible to develop imaginative thinking, of course, if you spend time and make due efforts.

How to develop imaginative thinking?

There are many exercises for the development of visual-figurative thinking, let's look at the most common of them.

Perhaps at first the images will not be as bright as we would like. To fix this, try to just look, feel, but do not describe in words your feelings.

Erofeevskaya Natalya

The lack of imaginative thinking cannot be called the scourge of civilization, but many people will confidently say about themselves: “Yes, my imagination is tight.” At this stage, we should stop and explain right away: imaginative thinking and imagination are fundamentally different psychological processes.

In addition, the presence of developed figurative thinking does not interfere with people of other professions at all: a sharp mind and a broad outlook are valued in society and attract people. And in everyday life, imaginative thinking will become an indispensable assistant:

non-standard approach to the situation or circumstances that have arisen makes it easy to solve problems;
figurative thinking becomes a kind of psychological defense mechanism against an unpleasant person or a nervous situation: presenting an irritant in a comical or absurd way (representing an opponent in the form of a hamster is especially in demand) will smooth the situation and calm down;
visualization of an idea or dream with the imagination of the smallest details makes the realization of the desired easier and more real.

Ultimately, the greater the physical and psychological capabilities of one's own body a person uses, the more interesting and eventful his life, communication with other people, full self-realization.

Figurative thinking in a child

Childhood is good because a child, unlike an adult ossified in his own habits and abilities, absorbs new things like a sponge, easily and simply performing creative tasks. For children of different ages, many methods have been developed for the development of figurative representations - basically, they are associated with solving problems for the mental representation of the situation and objects in it, while real practical actions are not performed.

Many tasks for the development of figurative thinking in a child begin with the phrase "Imagine that ..." - and the child's fantasy rushed! Children's imaginative thinking rewards the represented object with a variety of properties and characteristics unusual for it - a purple bear, a fox with six legs, a bird the size of an airplane, etc. At this stage, imagination is inseparable from visual-figurative thinking and merges tightly with it.

The child’s thinking develops over the entire period: games selected for a specific age, drawing tasks, constructing models of varying complexity, cubes offer the child new tasks to represent something in the mind - this becomes the basis of figurative thinking. In the future, on its basis, the logical and verbal thinking necessary for learning at school is formed.

Figurative thinking in an adult

Before repairing your own consciousness, we propose to evaluate: how are things going with figurative thinking? A simple test will allow you to objectively identify the degree of development of figurative thinking: take any of the pictures (its complexity depends on your self-confidence) and look at it for just a minute, trying to note the location of the lines, colors - the main tones and shades, the play of light and shadow, the storyline etc. Did you understand that you have noted for yourself everything that is depicted? - close your eyes and mentally, in detail, reproduce in your mind the picture that you previously observed, achieving its clarity in your head.

If the restoration of the remembered image went without problems, everything is fine with figurative thinking, and your task is to maintain it at the proper level. If the picture in the mind did not take on clear forms, remained blurry or partially not filled in, it is worth working on figurative thinking: it is recommended to repeat such trainings with remembering the image using one example at least six times until a clear picture is obtained.

Complicate the task? Instead of a picture with a clear plot, offer your own imaginative thinking an abstraction of patterns, dots, color lines - remember and recreate it mentally. The ambiguity of the image can be "edited" gradually, consistently paying attention to specific features: shapes and colors, textures, sizes, etc. Such exercises of imaginative thinking are useful for maintaining the tone of brain activity throughout life.

A set of techniques and methods for the development of imaginative thinking of an adult

Psychologists are developing specialized techniques that help to realize the makings of their own figurative thinking, pay attention to its problems and develop it for further active use. We offer some of them:

Mental representation of real objects: a room in an apartment, a horse running across the steppe or a drop of morning dew, a childhood friend, a concert hall, the face of a person you know or recently seen on the street, etc. - anything that catches your eye every day or has ever been seen.
Mental representation of non-existent objects: fairy-tale creatures (Serpent Gorynych, unicorn, hobbit, Snow White and the seven dwarfs, etc.), a milky river with jelly banks, self-collected tablecloths, the many-armed god Shiva, angels, etc.
A mental representation of a recent event: a sporting event or a gala dinner, a motion picture with detailed faces, settings, colors, words, and sounds. Imagine even smells.
The technique of the square of lateral vision suggests that while maintaining the gaze in the forward direction, consider the peripheral field of view. Close your eyes and mentally reproduce what you saw, to facilitate the task, dividing the peripheral space into four squares with an analysis of the details in each part.
“I represent five…”: five objects of the same color, five objects with the letter “K” (or any other), five objects less than 10 cm, five underground objects (mole, tree roots, worms, etc.), five delivering pleasure items (dessert, bath, beach), etc.

6. Representation of geometric bodies (flat and three-dimensional, from the simplest ball and cube to multi-vertex 3D figures) with the complication of the problem by their placement in space and movement relative to each other. It is recommended to start with one object, achieving a clear vision, and then adding others to create their movement. Do not concentrate on one geometric body, but keep as many clear, complete images as possible in the field of thought.

7. Working with feelings. Introducing a positive emotion: delight, amazement, joy, surprise, etc. How clearly can you imagine the face of a stranger or your own face when experiencing hope, love, apathy, jealousy, etc.?

It is not recommended to try to forcefully improve the presented images if they are not clear and bright enough - the idea of ​​creating an image is important and useful in itself. Notice the basic features (shape, texture, color, size, quality) and concentrate on them, gradually delving into the details. Over time, the image will become stable, and it will not take much time to create it.

March 31, 2014, 14:12

Thinking beyond the ordinary and deeper than everyone else can be learned with the help of simple exercises. How to develop figurative thinking in adults? Allocating at least 15 minutes of time for exercises every day, you guarantee yourself an effective result.

The development of abstract thinking in humans

1. Read the labels from right to left while walking around the city or on the way to work. way signboard Fur shop invites will read like: teashalgirp ahem nizagaM.
2. When you waste time on something necessary (such as a queue), take out a book and read it from bottom to top. In this way you will get a sequence of events opposite to the real one.
3. How to develop abstract thinking in a child? Come up with strange and unusual male and female names with him. During one exercise, you can do about five. For example, Laprionida and Namertil.
4. On a piece of paper, draw a fictional animal that may have body parts from real animals. For example, the torso of a bear, a piglet and elephant ears. Come up with a name for this creature.
5. Come up with phrases that will be contradictory. For example, black snow, a low skyscraper, hard fluff.
6. How to develop creative thinking? Choose a word and represent it with an abbreviation. Then try to decrypt it. For example, the SKY is a silent ellipse of rich deer.
7. List several uses of a common item. However, you should not be limited to its standard functions. For example, at the table you can not only have lunch or read a book, but also sleep on it after a hard day or build a house out of it.
8. Development of thinking in old age. Associations can help here. In order to develop associations, take a sheet of paper and write on it as many words as possible for one letter in four minutes. For example, w — Chinchilla, fur coat, stamp, scarf, and the like.
9. How to develop divergent thinking? Choose a word (noun) and write ten adjectives that fit it in one column, and those that do not fit in the other. Try to use adjectives from different fields. For example, the mind is pure, clear, deep, teacher, in another column - delicious, prickly, soft.
10. An exercise that should be done several times a day: when you observe any picture from life, try to give it a name, like an artist. It doesn’t matter if it’s satirical or serious, the main thing is that it fully reflects the essence of the picture.

Using these simple techniques, after a while you will notice that you are looking at the world in a completely different way than the majority of the gray mass. You will be able to find non-standard solutions in everyday tasks. And who knows what success it will lead you to ...