Development of thinking. Social and cultural conditioning of thinking

Thinking- a tool that every person has, solving various problems in life. Thinking can be developed, its speed, depth, freedom, meaningfulness can be changed. Also, thinking can become more interesting and positive.

Development of logical thinking

Logical thinking very useful for every person. It will facilitate the understanding of any laws in science or society. Logic is often needed in everyday life.

The brain needs constant training in order to maintain its mental activity, to have good thinking and memory. Regular exercise can improve mental performance.

Have fun with benefits

  1. Start solving logic puzzles for children and adults (puzzles, find 10 differences, riddles for attention).
  2. Find games that develop attention and logic that you can play with friends and no matter how old you are, it will be fun and enjoyable to spend time with friends.
  3. Use IQ tests. There are interesting tasks that require a lot of logical thinking. Although there are many others besides IQ tests.

educate yourself

For example, you can start with the mega-helpful course "Money and the Mind of a Millionaire".

Development of critical thinking

Critical thinking is a step towards active, creative methods. What is critical thinking?

  1. Thinking is independent, and the owner puts his ideas, evaluates the situation, has his own beliefs regardless of others.
  2. Receiving information is only the beginning, and the end will be processing, that is. generating a complex thought as a conclusion. Another thought is subjected to critical reflection.
  3. This kind of thinking starts with questions and identifying problems.
  4. Critical thinking is persuasive arguments, evidence, conclusion.
  5. Such thinking helps to exchange opinions and points of view.

How to develop critical thinking?

  1. Assess reality. Reality is a world independent of your desires. Your thinking will be most effective if you learn to understand and "translate" this reality.
  2. Mass hobbies. Any concept becomes popular, a large number of people accept it, that is, they create a crowd. And there can be no question of critical thinking there, but only of consistency. Think before you join.
  3. Draw parallels between observation and inference.
  4. Don't judge a situation or a person until you've verified your information.
  5. Don't lose your sense of humor.
  6. Be curious. There are many unknown, interesting, shocking things in the world. The presence of curiosity indicates the presence of the mind. A curious person is looking for new ways, ways to solve problems, for example, which gives him new opportunities.
  7. Do not give free rein to emotions, because they can cloud the mind. A prime example is anger, which can cause you to do things you will regret.
  8. Don't overestimate yourself.
  9. Learn to listen to people.
  10. Use your intuition, do not ignore. Because such thoughts can come to your mind at a subconscious level. This is the result of once accepted information, which you probably don’t remember anymore.

Tasks for the development of thinking

1) What number is hidden under the car?

2) Find an extra piece. Only 15% of people can cope with this task.

3) Where does the bus go?

1. 87, just flip the photo.
2. The answer is -1, because it is a standard, because the rest of the figures of its modification, either the shape, or the color, or the frame has been changed.
3. While the bus is moving forward and moving on the right side, as usual, it is moving to the left. Because the door is not visible.

The development of speed reading

Fast reading will always allow you to read more interesting and useful books, as well as excellent will develop thinking. Sign up for our 30 Day Speed ​​Reading course. We will teach you not only to read faster, but also to think faster, understand and remember the text, as these are the basic requirements for the reading process.

Verbal counting

Learn how to quickly and correctly add, subtract, multiply, divide, square numbers and even take roots. I will teach you how to use easy tricks to simplify arithmetic operations. Each lesson contains new techniques, clear examples and useful tasks.

Money and the mindset of a millionaire

Knowing the psychology of money and how to work with them makes a person a millionaire. 80% of people with an increase in income take out more loans, becoming even poorer. Self-made millionaires, on the other hand, will make millions again in 3-5 years if they start from scratch. This course teaches the proper distribution of income and cost reduction, motivates you to learn and achieve goals, teaches you to invest money and recognize a scam.

Development of creative thinking

Creative thinking - thinking in which the owner finds unusual solutions, improved or shorter, the best. Creative thinking will allow you to generate new ideas.

Creative thinking will give you the opportunity to try your hand at art. You must be able to find yourself in music or drawing, poetry or something unusual. For example, creating sculptures from improvised means and so on.

We offer several interesting exercises for the development of creative thinking:

  1. Find a drama or horror movie and remake it into a comedy genre.
  2. Also try the opposite. Turn comedy into drama.
  3. Come up with a script for a movie. Take 2-3 pairs of people who have disagreements with each other and develop this plot.
  4. Imagine some person or animal or object that could become a serial killer.

Thus, scripts for films and books can appear. And the very process of such a game will be fun for you and the circle of people with whom you will try to discuss it. This exercise is more interesting to perform in the company of friends and acquaintances.

Development of thinking in children

The mental activity of the child has a special structure of cognition. Being born, the baby begins to study everything around, draw parallels, look for connections between his discoveries. Gradually developing, the child begins to reason, imagine, a fantasy world appears, and speech not only appears, but also becomes more literate over time.

Anagrams

Gorbov-Schulte tables

Color Matrix Game

An excellent simulator for your thinking will be the game "color matrix". A field of cells will open in front of you, each of which will be painted over with one of two colors.

Your goal: determine which color is more. The game, of course, is on time and therefore you have to try. As the game progresses, the field will expand with correct answers or narrow if the answers are wrong.

Game "Quick Score"

The game "quick count" will help you improve your thinking. The essence of the game is that in the picture presented to you, you will need to choose the answer "yes" or "no" to the question "are there 5 identical fruits?". Follow your goal, and this game will help you with this.

Game "Simplify"

The game "Simplify" is a wonderful simulator, not only for mental counting, but also for logic. You will come across examples both simple and complex. But not everything is so difficult in reality, you just need to guess how to simplify or find the answer from the suggested answers. To do this, you will have to reason logically!

Number Reach: Revolution game

An interesting and useful game "Numerical Coverage: Revolution", which will help you improve and develop memory. The essence of the game is that the monitor will display the numbers in order, one at a time, which you should remember and then play. Such chains will consist of 4, 5 and even 6 digits. Time is limited. How many points can you score in this game?

Game "Memory Matrix"

"Memory Matrix" is a great game for training and developing memory. In the presented game, you will need to remember the placement of the shaded cells, and then reproduce them from memory. How many levels can you pass? Remember, time is limited!

Lessons in the development of thinking

A good exercise for creativity, as you complete the field, you will understand how highly developed your thinking is. Below you will see a field made of crosses. Your goal is to draw a picture for each cross. Thinking, creativity and imagination come into play:

When you fill it out, pay attention to this picture (below), maybe you will find some of the drawings you just drew.

Also try the field not with crosses, but with other shapes or, simply, with a different blank. It can be triangles, circles, squares and so on. For example:

And another example:

Exercise - Architect

Imagine that you are an architect. Your goal is to design a house. It doesn't matter if you can draw or not, whether you can draw, it doesn't matter. The essence is completely different and no less interesting. Put a piece of paper in front of you and write ten nouns on it. They can be absolutely anything: orange, water, tomato, cloud, smoke, and so on ... Then the fun begins. These ten words become the terms of the customer. If orange, then you can paint the roof of the house in orange. Water? Make a river behind the house. Tomato? Paint the floor of your house red. Here your imagination and thinking are released into the wild. Try to make it as interesting as possible, come up with words as difficult as possible.

Technologies for the development of thinking

The technology for the development of critical thinking is represented by three stages:

1. Challenge. A gap is sought in previously acquired knowledge or experience, which is now the goal of elimination. That is, the goal is to close this gap in knowledge.

2. Understanding. A person who has a serious goal of developing critical thinking must realize that it is necessary to keep a diary, draw tables in order to determine the level of understanding of a particular topic, information.

3. Reflection. At the stage of reflection, a person forms his attitude to the text, information, book, picture. This relationship is often written down or discussed with someone. This method will help not only in the development of critical thinking, but also in the development of communication skills.

The development of thinking in children 4-5 years old

There are good exercises for children to help them develop and train their thinking. These are the simplest exercises that will surely help them think and apply thinking to answer the question. If the child finds it difficult, then just push him.

Examples of exercises for the development of thinking

Exercise 1. The goal of the child is to find an extra word. Below are rows of 4 words, and one of them is superfluous and your child must determine which one. Ask him the question "why did he choose this word?"

Birch, pine, linden, apple tree.
Bed, table, chest of drawers, spoon.
Oak, chamomile, rose, tulip.
Fork, spoon, chair, knife.
Candy, soup, halva, jam.
Skirt, hat, dress, slippers.
Apple, beetroot, pear, grapes.

Exercise 2. You come up with a word for the child, and he answers what this person needs from things. It may not be a person at all, but an animal or a bird, and the child names their elements. For example:

Sparrow - branches, grains, puddle.
Doctor - gown, mask, syringe.
Janitor - broom, bucket, rake.
Small baby - rattle, diaper, nipple.
Dog - booth, bone, leash.
Seller - cash desk, goods, calculator.
Bee - flowers, nectar, beehive.
Artist - paints, brushes, canvas.
Mother - ...?
And you will learn a lot of interesting things about your status :)

Exercise 3 Name the components of certain objects, objects. The task is very difficult. During the exercise, the child’s vocabulary will be replenished, since not all words are known to him yet, and you will help him with this. So:

Car - wheels, body, headlights, steering wheel (let the kid name as many elements as possible) ship - ...
airplane - ...
train - ...
bike - ...
trolleybus - ...
table - ...
armchair - ...
book - ...
a computer - ...
guitar - ...
piano - ...
drum - ...
house - ...
fence - ...
flower - ...
wood - ...
mushroom - ...
beetle - ...
butterfly - ...
dog - ...
human - ...
Apple - ...
watermelon - ...

The development of thinking in children 6-7 years old

Exercise 1: Which vehicle is the odd one out of the four?

Exercise 2: Logic task. Petya is stronger than Misha, but weaker than Kolya. Who is the weakest guy?

Exercise 3: There are three buckets: green, yellow, blue. Grandfather, grandmother and grandson carried water in different buckets (each has its own color). Grandfather had neither green nor blue. Grandma's is neither green nor yellow. What was the grandson?

It would also be helpful to teach your child how to play chess. This game perfectly develops the sense of thinking, logic, mental counting and many other senses.

For the game "chess" a lot of problems are constantly being composed and invented. For example: mate in 1 move or mate in 2 moves, so it can be in 4. Problems are very interesting, and being able to solve them means having good thinking.

The development of thinking in children 8-9 years old

The older the child gets, the more difficult the tasks should be for him. Below are exercises that will help the child to tense up, think, reflect and argue their answer:

Exercise 1: What can be common and what is the difference between the following pairs of words?

  1. table chair
  2. bird, plane
  3. Heaven, earth
  4. Day Night
  5. Hill, hole
  6. skis, skates
  7. tree, bush

Let them explain their position.

Exercise 2: How can you seat 6 children on 2 sofas? How to seat on 3 sofas? The answer should be given in numbers, and all possible answers should be used.

Exercise 3: The child is called a series of words, and the goal of the child is to combine the words with one concept:

  1. perch, crucian, pike (fish)
  2. elephant, giraffe, ant (animals)
  3. autumn, summer, winter (seasons)
  4. shovel, rake, broom (tools)
  5. cheese, sour cream, butter (dairy products)
  6. arm, ears, legs (parts of the body)

Properties of thinking

There are several properties of thinking, which we have analyzed below:

Thinking speed

Each person has their own speed of thinking, and therefore each person copes with the task in different ways. There are methods to increase the speed of thinking:

  1. Do facial exercises, that is. normal warming up of the facial muscles.
  2. Stop being lethargic, sleepy and expressionless. The more alive you and your facial expressions, the more alive and thinking!
  3. Increase the speed of internal reasoning and thoughts. This will help speed up your thinking.
  4. Try to massage your head regularly. Massage stimulates the vessels of the brain, which improves their work, and at this moment great thoughts may come to your head.
  5. Speed ​​reading training. By perceiving the text faster, you not only improve the speed of reading, but also the speed of thought. Indeed, if you read faster and remember what you read, then your thoughts also speed up.

Meaningful thinking

The most common type of thinking - internal chatter - is negative thinking, it "seems to fill" the spiritual emptiness, is an illusion. Such thinking is a problem, an obstacle to concentration on any business. To keep thinking clear, you need to perform actions fully comprehending them. It is also desirable to write down thoughts, draw, tell stories to friends, acquaintances, relatives.

    Take notes and draw Get into the habit of expressing your thoughts in writing or drawings. Some people, explaining or telling something, not only speak, but also draw, that is, lay a picture for you, clarify the situation.

    Tell your thoughts It will be useful to express your thoughts to others who will be really interested in it. By telling this to someone, you can get feedback. And it will also be a plus that the more you tell your thoughts, the more understandable they will be for you (if there were any points that were not clear).

    Discuss Discussing thoughts is an effective thing. One head it's good, but two better. The main thing is that the discussion does not turn into a quarrel. If you suddenly do not agree with the thesis of the interlocutor, then make up your own, but do not start a heated argument, but have a calm conversation.

    Watch your speechThinking and speech are closely related to each other. Therefore, in order to contribute to the development of thinking, it is worth building your speech correctly. Tip: exclude the words “problems”, “horror”, “difficult”, include “interesting”, “goal”.

Why are speech and thought closely related? Thinking is fleeting, it is difficult to remember, but speech is a different story. Speech is memorable and easier to track. Want to improve your thinking? Pay attention to your speech.

    Pay attention to someone else's speech It is easier to follow someone else's speech than your own. Because someone else's speech is something new and all the flaws and failures in logic are heard in it. Studying the mistakes of someone else's speech will help you in finding mistakes in your own speech.

    Improve your writing skills Text analysis can be compared to listening to someone else's speech. In both cases, you are looking for errors, roughness and take notes. Improving thinking depends on the ability to process texts.

Depth and freedom of thought

People use their thinking in different ways and with varying degrees of freedom. It all depends on the position of perception. The depth and freedom of thinking can be represented as several criteria:

  1. pattern thinking, as a rule, this is the look of an egoist: “I forgot - it means I don’t respect”, “I didn’t kiss - it means I don’t love” and so on.
  2. My interests: Does it concern me and my plans? “I was cooking dinner, but he didn’t distract me - well, okay. If I wanted to kiss, then that’s exactly what I wanted, which means I’ll kiss when he comes”
  3. Interests of relatives: "He was in such a hurry that he even forgot to kiss me. I love him:)"
  4. Objectivity: "The world is a stream of neutral events, nothing serious happened, he was just in a hurry."
  5. Systemic view A: He ran to work, taking care of us! My favorite!
  6. Angel Position: My husband works for people, and this is very important. I'm proud of them!

Efficiency of thinking

To create more effective thinking, you need to master meaningful thinking, and then master the ways to increase the efficiency of thinking:

  1. Move from your experiences to the specifics.
  2. Replace negative thinking with positive.
  3. Find a bridge from right thinking to productive thinking.

Thinking control

The control of thinking, first of all, is connected with the development of thinking and the higher functions of human psychology, the development of will and attention.

It happens that useless and unnecessary thoughts swirl in your head that you want to discard. Don't bother to eradicate them, but try:

  1. Think positively and constructively
  2. To engage in some business so that thoughts are involved in this business.
  3. Start remembering funny moments, positive stories and pleasant things that will create a good atmosphere.

Courses for the development and training of thinking

In addition to games, we have interesting courses that will perfectly pump your brain and improve memory, thinking, concentration:

Money and the mindset of a millionaire

Why are there money problems? In this course, we will answer this question in detail, look deep into the problem, consider our relationship with money from a psychological, economic and emotional point of view. From the course, you will learn what you need to do to solve all your financial problems, start saving money and invest it in the future.

Development of memory and attention in a child 5-10 years old

The course includes 30 lessons with useful tips and exercises for the development of children. Each lesson contains useful advice, some interesting exercises, a task for the lesson and an additional bonus at the end: an educational mini-game from our partner. Course duration: 30 days. The course is useful not only for children, but also for their parents.

The secrets of brain fitness, we train memory, attention, thinking, counting

If you want to overclock your brain, improve its performance, pump up memory, attention, concentration, develop more creativity, perform exciting exercises, train in a playful way and solve interesting puzzles, then sign up! 30 days of powerful brain fitness are guaranteed to you :)

Super memory in 30 days

As soon as you sign up for this course, a powerful 30-day training for the development of super-memory and brain pumping will begin for you.

Within 30 days after subscribing, you will receive interesting exercises and educational games in your mail, which you can apply in your life.

We will learn to memorize everything that may be required in work or personal life: learn to memorize texts, sequences of words, numbers, images, events that occurred during the day, week, month, and even road maps.

Speed ​​reading in 30 days

Would you like to read books, articles, newsletters, etc. that are interesting to you very quickly? If your answer is "yes", then our course will help you develop speed reading and synchronize both hemispheres of the brain.

With synchronized, joint work of both hemispheres, the brain starts to work many times faster, which opens up many more possibilities. Attention, concentration, perception speed amplify many times over! Using the speed reading techniques from our course, you can kill two birds with one stone:

  1. Learn to read very fast
  2. Improve attention and concentration, as they are extremely important when reading quickly
  3. Read a book a day and finish work faster

We speed up mental counting, NOT mental arithmetic

Secret and popular tricks and life hacks, suitable even for a child. From the course, you will not only learn dozens of tricks for simplified and fast multiplication, addition, multiplication, division, calculating percentages, but also work them out in special tasks and educational games! Mental counting also requires a lot of attention and concentration, which are actively trained in solving interesting problems.

Outcome

In this article, we analyzed the features of thinking, learned how to develop thinking, what browser and board games and exercises help develop thinking.

Social and cultural conditioning of thinking.

In the early 1920s, the Soviet psychologist L.S. Vygotsky and his students, primarily A.R. Luria, developed an approach to the study of higher mental processes, emphasizing their socio-historical nature. The main idea is that the nature of man changes as the man models nature. The subject and object - man and his product - are formed in one process of activity. It is worth changing the socio-historical conditions in order to change the features of cognitive processes.

Vygotsky sees the specificity of the human psyche in its mediation by cultural, social in origin knowledge, with the help of which a person "masters" the course of his own mental processes, directs them properly. Such meanings are speech, mnemonics, etc.

From the social sign as a means of directing human behavior and the psyche, the sociality of the latter is most immediately and immediately derived. This appears very clearly in the example of the word, speech in general, considered as one of the signs. Speech is a "social mechanism of behavior". Thanks to this symbolic means, a "social impact" on the personality and, in general, "social determination" of human behavior is carried out.

In the process of development, the child begins to adopt in relation to himself the same forms of behavior that others initially used in relation to him. The child learns social forms of behavior and transfers them, as it were, inwards, onto himself. The sign is always initially a means of external social connection, a means of influencing another, and only then turns out to be an internal means of influencing oneself.

The "higher" functions of thinking (reasoning, proof, etc.) first appear in the collective life of children in the form of a dispute between them and only then are, as it were, "transferred inside the child himself."

In this context, external means social for Vygotsky. Consequently, any higher mental function was initially external, since it was social before it became an internal, proper mental function. Former psychologists believed that the individual had a ready-made or rudimentary form of mental function; in a collective it only unfolded, became more complex, and so on. In fact, the highest functions are first formed in the collective in the form of relations between children, then they become the mental functions of the individual.

Vygotsky pays special and greatest attention to the speech, verbal sign. It is speech that bears the most obvious signs of a sociogenic origin. According to him, from the moment of mastering the language, the entire internal development of the child from the animal phase (biological) passes into the proper human (social) one. Language attaches to the entire spiritual experience of mankind and makes it possible to develop "higher" mental functions (enrichment, judgment, etc. .). In the unity of thinking and speech, the leading one for Vygotsky is not the first, but the second. Such an understanding of speech is inextricably linked with its interpretation of any sign in general.

A person "masters" his behavior, his mental processes and directs them with the help of culture, cultural means of signs. We can say that the higher mental functions are the lower ones plus mastering them with the help of the will, using cultural means.

So conducted studies on people living in conditions of relatively elementary socio-economic practices and illiterates. We studied them using the classification method (four cards with the image of objects are offered, one of the objects is different from all the others). Illiterate people clearly prefer to classify objects according to their belonging to one visual-effective situation, for example, they attribute an ax, a saw, and a log to one group, refusing to attribute a shovel to the same group. But these subjects can relatively easily understand another - categorical - form classification, considering it, however, insignificant. However, when acquiring literacy, moving to more complex socio-organizational forms of production, these subjects easily master the "categorical" form of generalization of objects, which convincingly shows the presence of fundamental shifts in various cognitive operations that are caused by socio-economic and cultural factors.

The problem of general laws of intellectual activity of man and animals. The fundamental difference between human thinking and the rational behavior of animals.

Experimental work devoted to the study of the prehistory of human thinking, its genetic roots in the animal kingdom, played an important role in understanding the origin of thinking.

Already the first systematic studies (by V. Köhler, I. Yerks, in our country - by N.N. Ladigina-Kots) of the intellectual behavior of anthropoid apes showed that higher animals carry out complex activities that are similar in nature to thinking, although they take place in the form of external non-motor operations ("practical intellect" or, according to Pavlov, "manual thinking", animals).

L.S. Vygotsky showed that the “thinking” of animals turns into genuine human thinking under the influence of the crossing of the line of development of objective actions and the line of development of vocal reactions, which necessarily occurs in conditions of collective labor activity. As a result, the vocal signals that carry out the communication of animals are increasingly turning from instinctively expressive into reflecting objective content and become the characteristics of generalizations developed in practical experience, i.e. acquire the function of meaning. On the other hand, practically intellectual behavior is “verbalized”, mediated by language, verbal concepts, and because of this, with further development, it can acquire the form of internal speech processes characteristic of verbal-logical thinking.

Intellectual behavior is the pinnacle of the mental development of animals. However, speaking about the intellect, the "mind" of animals, their thinking, it is necessary to distinguish that it is extremely difficult to specify exactly which animals can be talked about intellect and which ones can not. Obviously, we can only talk about higher vertebrates, but not only about primates.

The prerequisite and basis for the development of animal intelligence is manipulation, primarily with biologically neutral objects. In the course of manipulation, especially when performing complex manipulations, the experience of animal activity is generalized, generalized knowledge about the subject components of the environment is formed, and it is this generalized motor-sensory experience that forms the main basis of the monkeys' intelligence.

According to Pavlov, "the purest disinterested curiosity" makes the monkey study the object of manipulation in the course of active influence on it. Simultaneously and in interaction with each other, different sensory and effector systems are included in cognitive activity.

In monkeys, the combination of skin-muscular sensitivity of the hand with visual sensations is of predominant importance. The sense of smell, taste, tactile sensitivity of the near-oral vibrissae, sometimes hearing, etc. are also involved.

As a result, animals receive complex information about the object as a whole and having properties of different qualities. This is precisely the meaning of manipulation as the basis of intellectual behavior.

An extremely important prerequisite for intellectual behavior is the ability to broadly transfer skills to new situations and to solve complex problems, to fully orientate and respond adequately in a new environment.

On the basis of research, Ladigina-Kots came to the conclusion that the thinking of animals always has a specific sensory-motor character, that it is thinking in action, and these actions are always subject-related. Such thinking in action is a practical analysis and synthesis, which during tool activity is carried out in the course of direct handling of the object, in the course of their examination, processing and application. In this case, generalized visual representations play an important role.

In accordance with this, Ladigina-Kots considers it possible to single out two forms of thinking that are different in complexity and depth (in anthropoid apes). The first form is characterized by the establishment of connections of stimuli directly perceived in the course of his activity. This is analysis and synthesis in a visually observed situation. The second form is characterized by the establishment of links between the directly perceived stimulus and representations (visual traces).

The intellectual behavior of monkeys has a biological limitation. It is entirely determined by the way of life and purely biological laws. Rubinstein also draws the same conclusion, he writes that the forms of behavior associated with the rudiments of intellectual activity in animals come from instinctive motivation associated with organic, biological needs.

The decisive factor in the transformation of an animal ancestor - a fossil ape - into a man was discovered by Engels: the work that created man also created human consciousness. Labor activity, articulate speech, and, on their basis, social life determined the development of the human psyche and, therefore, are a distinctive criterion for human mental activity in comparison with that of animals.

Labor from its very inception was manual, and the original human thinking was the same by necessity. In modern monkeys, it has remained purely "manual thinking." The hand (its qualitative transformations and developments) occupy a central place in anthropogenesis, both physically and mentally. In this case, the main role was played by her exceptional grasping abilities.

A radical change in all behavior is associated with the emergence of labor: from the general activity aimed at the immediate satisfaction of a need, specific actions are distinguished, which are not directed by a direct biological motive and receive their meaning only with the further use of its results. With the further development of social relations and forms of production, such actions, not directly directed by biological motives, occupy an increasing place in human activity and, finally, acquire decisive importance for all his behavior. (Fabry K.E., Leontiev A.N.)

Nemov identifies the following differences in the thinking of animals and humans: both humans and animals have the potential ability to solve elementary practical problems in a visual-effective way. However, already at the next two stages of the development of the intellect in visual-figurative and verbal-logical thinking, striking differences are found between them.

Only higher animals, probably, can operate with images, and this is still controversial in science. In humans, this ability manifests itself from the age of two and three. As for verbal-logical thinking, animals do not have even the slightest signs of this type of intelligence, since neither logic nor the meaning of words are available to them.

The development of thinking in ontognesis.

The ontogenesis of human thinking is best studied in relation to preschool and school age, although it covers the period of a person's entire life.

A special role in the formation of thinking is played by the purposeful influence of adults, in the form of training and education. N.-d, n.-o. and verbal logical thinking of adults are the last stages of ontogenetic development.

Already the first objective "actions" of the child have a number of important features: 1) when a certain practical result is achieved, some signs of this object and its relationship with other objects are revealed, the possibility of their cognition acts as a property of any object manipulation; 2) the child first of all encounters objects created by human hands, so he begins to learn the properties of this particular reality, already entering into practical communication with other people; 3) initially, the adult is the main source and mediator of the child's acquaintance with the object, with the way of using the objects. Socially developed generalizations, ways of using objects, are the first knowledge (generalizations) that a child acquires with the help of adults from social experience. In addition to practical actions with objects, special research actions are also distinguished. People reveal ever new properties of objects, establishes ever new relationships between them. Already in the field of mastered objective actions, the child shows a certain independence, which manifests itself in the repetition of learned methods without additional prompting from an adult, in some modification of the learned method, in the use of an object not only in accordance with its social purpose.

N.-d. the child's thinking is heterogeneous; within it, it is necessary to single out its stages, characterized by the level of generalization of the experience of activity.

N.N. Poddyakov singled out several interrelated lines of development: there is a transformation of practical and executive actions into trial, search

N.-d. thinking is only gradually separated from practical activity and takes the form of specifically trying actions. In the course of the development of practical transformations of objects, such a property of them as a step-by-step character arises. Chaotic trial and error are replaced by a system of trying actions. It becomes more difficult to analyze the results of each test and evaluate them in terms of the conditions of the task, and in terms of preliminary expectations. The results obtained are increasingly taken into account in the construction of the following trial acts.

Among the important conditions for the emergence of N.-o. thinking. N.N. Poddyakov refers to the formation in children of the ability to distinguish between the plan of real objects and the plan of models that reflect these objects and allow the child to imagine the hidden sides of the situation. The development of a figurative reflection of reality in preschoolers goes both along the line of improving and complicating the structure of individual images, providing a generalized reflection of objects and phenomena, and along the line of forming a system of specific ideas about a particular subject. The main line of development of N.-o. thinking consists in the formation of skills to operate with images of objects or their parts. The ability of children to arbitrarily update these images acts as the basis for such an operation. The images are then embodied in design and drawing. The technique of operating images is being formed. There are different types of image manipulation. The most difficult of them are the ability to build new images that differ significantly from the original images that reflect the given conditions.

But. thinking plays an important role in shaping children's understanding of the process of change and development of objects and phenomena. Older preschoolers develop holistic knowledge about the surrounding reality. In activity, there is a subordination of the main and auxiliary goals. There are images that reflect the relationship between the produced and planned actions.

Development of n.-d. and n.-o. thinking is carried out with the formation of logical thinking. "Indistinct knowledge" plays a positive role in the mental development of the strengths of complex thinking. The area of ​​not entirely clear knowledge is important for activating children's thinking, since the child is trying to understand a new phenomenon for him, to comprehend it from the point of view of existing knowledge.

A special direction of research into the ontogenetic development of thinking is formed by works devoted to the analysis of the role of speech in the development of cognitive processes (Luria A.R.). The experiment is described in the lecture on general psychology, see the lecture "Relationship between thinking and speech".

Studies of the development of thinking at school age have shown the important role of theoretical generalizations assimilated by the child. The student gradually begins to realize the relationship between goals, means and conditions of activity. Self-organization of the thought process arises primarily in the conditions of joint educational activity, in the conditions of communication in the system of socially useful activity. A teenager develops the ability to stand on the point of view of other students of joint activities. Cognitive motives are formed.

But. thinking, empirical generalizations play an important role in the life of an adult, they are not just a temporary stage that needs to be passed as quickly as possible in order to "replace it" with verbal-logical, theoretical thinking. (Tikhomirov)

The theory of the development of thinking by J. Piaget and L. S. Vygotsky.

J. Piaget, for the first time, with the help of the clinical method developed by him and introduced into science for the study of children's speech and thinking, subjected to a systematic study of the features of children's logic in a completely new gap. In new studies, the focus was on what the child has, what his thinking has as its distinctive features and properties. Piaget introduced the clinical method. This method betrays a real unity to all Piaget's most diverse factual studies, reduced to coherent, vitally full-fledged clinical pictures of children's thinking.

The central link that makes it possible to reduce to unity all the individual features of children's thinking, from the point of view of Piaget, is the egocentrism of children's thinking. The features of children's logic form a complex that determines the child's logic, and this complex is based on the egocentric nature of children's thinking and children's activity.

Piaget defines egocentric thought as a transitional, intermediate form of thinking, located genetically, functionally, and structurally between autistic thought and directed intelligent thinking.

Autistic thought is subconscious, that is, the goals that it pursues, or the tasks that it sets for itself, are not presented to consciousness. It does not adapt itself to external reality, but creates for itself an imaginary reality, or the reality of a dream. As such, it cannot be expressed directly by speech, it is revealed primarily in images, and in order to be communicated, it must resort to indirect methods, evoking through symbols and myths the feeling that guides it.

There are many variations between intelligent and autistic thought in terms of their degree of communication. Egocentric thought is the most important of these intermediate forms, i. a thought that tries to adapt itself to reality without being communicated as such.

The function of egocentric thinking for Piaget is not so much in adapting to reality, but in satisfying one's own needs. This brings together egocentric thought and autistic thought. But there are also differences. The interests of egocentric thought are no longer directed exclusively to the satisfaction of organic or playful needs, as in pure autism, but are also directed to mental adaptation, like the thought of an adult.

The initial, basic idea of ​​Piaget's entire concept is the proposition that the primary form of thinking conditioned by the very psychological nature of the child is the autistic form; Realistic thinking is a late product, as if imposed on the child from the hut with the help of a long and systematic coercion, which is exerted on the child by the social environment that surrounds him.

Piaget sees the roots of egocentrism in two circumstances. Firstly, in the child's asociality and, secondly, in the peculiar nature of this practical activity.

The sphere of influence of egocentrism, according to Piaget, up to 8 years of age coincides directly with the entire area of ​​children's thinking and perception in general. After the age of 8, the egocentric character of thought is retained only in a separate part of the child's thinking, only in the sphere of abstract reasoning.

According to Vygotsky, autistic thinking is not a primary stage in the mental development of a child and humanity.

To admit the origin of the principle of pleasure in the development of thinking means to make biologically inexplicable the process of the emergence of that new mental function, which we call the intellect or thinking.

Piaget believes that egocentric thought is unconscious. Vygotsky believes that autistic thinking is closely connected with reality and operates almost exclusively with what surrounds the child and what he encounters. Another form of autistic thinking, which finds its manifestation in dreams, can create absolute nonsense due to its isolation from reality.

Piaget sees the actual basis of his concept in elucidating the function of speech in children. He divides all the conversations of children into two large groups, which can be called egocentric and socialized speech. “This speech is egocentric,” says Piaget, “primarily because the child speaks only about himself, and mainly because he does not try to take the point of view of the interlocutor.” The function of socialized speech is completely different. Here the child really exchanges thoughts with others; he forgives, orders, threatens, informs, criticizes, asks questions.

In the fact of egocentric speech, Piaget sees the first, basic and direct proof of the egocentricity of children's thinking. His measurements showed that at an early age the coefficient of egocentric speech is extremely high. More than half of the statements of a child under 6-7 years old are egocentric. The coefficient of egocentric thinking significantly exceeds the coefficient of egocentric speech.

Egocentric speech as an accompaniment accompanies the activity of the child. At the same time, it does not change anything essential either in the child's activity or in his experiences. Egocentric speech in Piaget's descriptions appears as some by-product of children's activity, as a discovery of the egocentric nature of his thinking.

So, according to Piaget, egocentric speech does not perform any objectively useful, necessary function in the child's behavior. Therefore, egocentric speech is a symptom of weakness, immaturity of children's thinking, and in the process of child development this symptom will disappear. Piaget's research shows that the rate of egocentric speech decreases with age.

Vygotsky, after conducting a series of studies, came to the conclusion that egocentric speech very early begins to play an extremely peculiar role in the child's activity. So difficulties or disturbances in smoothly running activities are the main factor that brings egocentric speech to life.

Preschoolers have egocentric speech, i.e. an attempt to comprehend the situation in words, outline a way out, plan the next action, arose in response to difficulties. The older child behaved somewhat differently: he peered, thought, then found a way out. It can be assumed that the operation, which is performed in open speech in preschool children, is also performed in schoolchildren in internal, soundless speech.

Egocentric speech, apart from being a purely expressive function, apart from the fact that it simply accompanies children's activity, very easily becomes a means of thinking in the proper sense of the word, i.e. begins to perform the function of forming a plan for resolving a problem that arises in behavior.

In the process of activity, structural changes and shifts occur in the mutual interweaving of egocentric speech and its activity.

We observed how the child, in the egocentric utterances accompanying his practical activity, reflects and fixes the final result or the main turning points of his practical operation, how this speech, as the child’s activity develops, shifts more and more to the middle, and then to the beginning of the operation itself, acquiring functions of planning and direction of future action.

As for the function and fate of egocentric speech, Vygotsky believes that in egocentric speech one should see a transitional stage in the development of speech from external to internal.

What do egocentric speech and inner speech have in common (according to Vygotsky):

Generality of functions: both are speech for themselves, separated from social speech, performing the task of communication and connection with others;

Structural features: both are clear only for themselves, they are abbreviated.

Vygotsky argues that the intellectual function of egocentric speech, which is apparently in direct connection with the development of inner speech and its functional features, is in no way a direct reflection of the egocentrism of children's thought, but shows that egocentric speech is very early under appropriate conditions. becomes a means of realistic thinking of the child.

The main line in the development of children's thinking, from the point of view of Piaget's theory, runs in general along the main path: from autism to socialized speech, from mirage imagination to the logic of relations.

For Vygotsky, the child's initial speech is purely social (the function of communicating a social connection, influencing others). In the process of growth of the child's social speech, which is multifunctional, develops according to the principle of differentiation of individual functions and at a certain age it is quite sharply differentiated into egocentric and communicative. Thus, egocentric speech arises on the basis of the social by transferring the child's social forms of behavior, forms of collective cooperation into the sphere of personal mental functions. On the basis of egocentric speech, then inner speech arises, which is the basis of his thinking, both autistic and logical.

Piaget himself, without suspecting it, showed how external speech turns into internal speech. He showed that egocentric speech is internal speech in terms of its mental function and external speech in terms of its physiological nature. Speech, therefore, becomes psychically internal before it becomes truly internal.

The whole scheme, therefore, takes the following form: social speech - egocentric speech - inner speech. (According to Vygotsky).

Piaget: extraverbal autistic thinking - egocentric speech and egocentric thinking - socialized speech and logical thinking.

Thus, one and the same point in the development of the child's thinking, designated as the child's egocentric speech, appears from the point of view of these schemes as lying on two completely different tracts of child development. For Piaget, this is a transition from autism to logic, from the intimate-individual to the social; for us, it is a transitional form from external to internal speech, from social to individual speech, including autistic speech.

Piaget's entire book is imbued with the idea that in the history of the child's thinking, the influence of social factors on the structure and functioning of thought comes to the fore. The biological is conceived as primordial, primary, contained in the child himself, forming his psychological substance. Social reality through coercion as an external force alien to the child, displacing the ways of thinking peculiar to the child and corresponding to his inner nature and replacing them with schemes of thought alien to the child, which are imposed on him from the outside. Piaget sees in socialization the only source of development of logical thinking. The process is to overcome children's egocentrism. It lies in the fact that the child begins to think not for himself, but begins to adapt his thinking to the thinking of others.

Vygotsky criticizes Piaget for the fact that Piaget regards thinking as an activity completely divorced from reality. (Vygotsky L.S. vol. 2)

Development of verbal-logical thinking of children

A year or two will pass, and your baby will become a schoolboy. Education in the modern traditional school is based on verbal-logical thinking. The success of your baby will depend on its development. Helps in the development of thinking games and exercise. Start practicing logic today.

Where can you see it?

Ask the child: “Where can you see a pen, a faucet, a dish, an arrow, a cartoon, a picture, a book, a table, a fish, scissors, an elephant, etc?”

Animals and their babies

A cat is a kitten, a dog is a puppy, a cow is a calf, a sheep is a lamb, a horse is a foal, a goat is a goat, a pig is a pig, a mouse is a mouse, a hare is a hare, a lion is a lion, an elephant is a baby elephant, a chicken is a chicken, a bird is chick, etc.

More less

Introduce your child to diminutive suffixes. For example: a cat is a cat, a house is a house, a mouth is a mouth, a gnome is a gnome, a vase is a vase, a chair is a high chair, a wolf is a wolf cub, a bull is a bull, a bed is a bed, mom is mom.

FIND THE EXTRA. To play this game you will need rows of words. Three words in a row are combined according to some feature, and the fourth is superfluous. Ask your child to justify their answer. For example:

Bed, table, chest of drawers, spoon.

Fork, spoon, chair, knife.

Skirt, hat, dress, slippers.

Apple, beetroot, pear, grapes.

Oak, chamomile, rose, tulip.

Birch, pine, linden, apple tree.

Candy, soup, halva, jam.

Ball, doll, car, hat.

Hand, nose, shoes, belly.

Spring, autumn, rainbow, summer.

Pen, pencil, paper, marker.

WHAT WHO WANTS? You name a word (person, bird, animal), and the child must name 3-5 items that the intended hero will need. For example:

Doctor - gown, mask, syringe.

Dog - booth, bone, leash.

Sparrow - branches, grains, puddle.

Bee - flowers, nectar, beehive.

A small child - a rattle, a diaper, a pacifier.

Seller - cash desk, goods, calculator.

Artist - paints, brushes, canvas.

janitor - broom, bucket, rake.

Mother -...?

And you will learn a lot of interesting things about your status.

WHAT IS COMPOSED OF? Name the object, and let the child name its parts. Such tasks are not always easy for a child. Your task is to introduce him to new words and enrich his vocabulary. For example:

Car - wheels, body, headlights, steering wheel (let the baby name as many elements as possible).

ship -...

airplane - …

train - ...

bike - …

trolleybus - ...

table - ...

armchair - ...

book - ...

a computer -

guitar - ...

piano -…

drum - ...

fence - ...

flower - …

wood -…

butterfly - …

dog - …

human - …

Apple - …

watermelon - ...

ANTONYMS. It's time to introduce the child to words that have the opposite meaning. There are many antonyms in our language. Start with pairs of quality adjectives: wet-dry, cold-hot, hard-soft, cheerful-sad, bold-cowardly, lazy-hard-working, light-dark, long-short, quiet-noisy, shallow-deep.

HOW TO FIND OUT,

Is it raining outside? (look out the window)

Is it cold outside? (look at the thermometer outside the window)

Has autumn come? (detect yellow leaves)

Did the kettle boil? (whistles, steam comes out of it)

Is the porridge sweet? (taste it)

Are the potatoes cooked? (pierce with a fork or try)

Is the shirt dry? (touch)

Is the tea sweet? (try)

Is the water cold? (touch)

Does the marker write or not? (try writing)

Is the rope tied tight? (pull)

Is there milk in the bag? (to chat)

Are the boots tight? (measure)

How many days are left until the New Year? (look at the calendar)

Is there an item in the closed box? (shake the box)

Is the vacuum cleaner working? (turn on)

Is the bread soft? (touch)

Does a cat like pineapple? (let try to eat)

What did mom cook for lunch? (ask)

Is the watermelon ripe? (cut and see)

Provocative questions:

The time has come for the active formation of moral qualities and creativity - do not miss the moment. The way a child will solve problems and communicate with people in adulthood is being laid right now.

What children learn from 4 to 5 years

The child already understands complex cause-and-effect relationships, realizes what certain actions lead to, and thinks before doing something. Sometimes emotions take over, so teach your child to calm down: breathe deeply, count to yourself, or just go to your room. The child tries to think, solve logic problems, many children master the first letters and know the numbers. Creativity develops.

By the age of 5, the child must be shown to a speech therapist: if some sounds are not given, it's time to seek the help of a professional. Do not delay: the sooner you start, the easier it is to correct the situation.

What can a 5 year old do?

  • run fast - on uneven ground, run up the stairs;
  • it is good to play catch-up, hide-and-seek, hide and seek, do exercises on the Swedish wall;
  • invent the plot of games;
  • analyze their own and other people's emotions;
  • write stories;
  • draw pictures on a given topic;
  • solve simple addition problems;
  • fully serve yourself: eat, dress, wash, lay out toys.

Physical skills of a child 4-5 years old

The muscles and bones of the child get stronger, he becomes thinner and leaner, stretches. The bones of the skull are developing, because of this, the head seems disproportionately large - when the child is still older, everything will look harmonious. The eruption of milk teeth ends.

By the age of 4.5, a child should have 20 teeth. If there are fewer, be sure to consult a dentist. Perhaps it's a lack of vitamins and minerals.

The importance of physical activity at this age cannot be overestimated. It’s good if sports sections become familiar to the child. After all, sitting at a table for a long time, learning to read, draw and write is not very good for the spine.

If your child does not swim, give him to the section or just take him to the pool. This sport is shown to almost everyone, it is useful for posture, respiratory system, endurance. In addition, swimming has a calming effect.

Psycho-emotional development of a child 4-5 years old

The child develops more and more abstract thinking and fantasy, and this is a good basis for creativity. Write stories together, draw, sculpt, sing. Introduce your child to art: you can take him to a museum, theater, art gallery.

Do not forget about training discipline and perseverance: the child must learn to bring things to the end, behave calmly in line, and not interfere in the conversations of adults. An alarming trend of our time is tablets, which occupy all the free time of the child. All this leads to the fact that children simply do not know how to occupy themselves on their own. Observe moderation!

When planning a cultural trip, consider the age and interests of the child. It makes no sense to visit the gallery for show or try to cram all the information about the Pre-Raphaelites. A couple of paintings or exhibits and an interesting story are enough. Your task is to instill interest and love for art.

When planning a cultural trip, consider the age and interests of the child. It makes no sense to visit the gallery for show or try to cram all the information about the Pre-Raphaelites. A couple of paintings or exhibits and an interesting story are enough. After all, your task is to instill interest and love for art.

The child has become older and more resilient, but his mood and behavior still depend on the physical condition. A sleepy or hungry child will be naughty and will not be interested in anything. Plan all the activities in the morning or after a nap and take a snack with you. The best option is snacks, nuts, pieces of fruit: they can be put in a convenient plastic container from Plastishka, where they won’t wrinkle or stain the bag.

Food container "Plastishka"

Communication of a child 4-5 years old

The child learns to follow the rules of the team, to yield, to help. Friendship becomes selective (“I want with this, I don’t with this”), but the boys and girls still communicate well with each other, without talking about the bride and groom. In the children's team, self-confidence, the ability to come up with interesting games, and an easy character are valued.


Some communication is easy, others have problems. If the child does not fit into the team, try to understand the reason and help him. Common causes are inability to negotiate, resentment, aggression or excessive shyness.

Empathy (the ability to empathize) in all children is developed in different ways. The ability to empathize makes a person a good friend, a sensitive interlocutor. If you notice that the child does not feel other people, do not accuse him of callousness, but simply teach one or another reaction. Analyze different situations, discuss what the hero could feel.

Introduction
Chapter 1
Chapter 2. Development of visual-effective, visual-figurative and logical thinking
2.1. Development of practical action correction
2.2. Presentation Plan Development
2.3. Invariance of conceptual and pre-conceptual generalization
2.4. The role of position in the development of logical thinking
Chapter 3
Conclusion
List of sources used

Introduction

Development, first of all, is characterized by qualitative changes, the emergence of neoplasms, new mechanisms, new processes, new structures. The most important signs of development are differentiation, dismemberment of the previously unified element; the emergence of new aspects, new elements in development itself; restructuring of links between the sides of the object. There are many types of development, so it is important to correctly find the place that the mental development of the child occupies among them, that is, to determine the specifics of mental development among other developmental processes.

Many psychologists have studied the connections between a child's thought and the reality that he cognizes as a subject. They recognized that the object exists independently of the subject. But in order to cognize objects, the subject must perform actions with them and therefore transform them: move, connect, combine, delete and return again. At all stages of development, knowledge is constantly associated with actions or operations, that is, transformations, transformations of an object.

The problem of cognition cannot be considered separately from the problem of the development of the intellect. It comes down to an analysis of how the subject is able to cognize objects more and more adequately, that is, how he becomes capable of objectivity. Objectivity is not given to the child from the very beginning, as the empiricists assert, and for its understanding, according to Piaget, a series of successive constructions is needed that is getting closer and closer to it.

For a number of years, the main efforts of scientists who have studied the cognitive processes of preschool children have been concentrated mainly on the study of two problems. One of them is the problem of the development of perception processes. As a result of the research, fundamental works have appeared that comprehensively and deeply illuminate this problem. The second problem is the problem of the formation of the conceptual thinking of preschoolers. In the works of leading psychologists, the main regularities in the formation of mental actions and concepts in preschool children were revealed. Much less developed is the problem of the development of visual-effective and visual-figurative thinking of preschoolers, as well as the problem of the transition from pre-conceptual forms of thinking to conceptual ones. Important materials on this issue are contained in the works of A. V. Zaporozhets, L. A. Venger, A. A. Lyublinskaya, G. I. Minska, I. S. Yakimanskaya and others. However, the functions of practical actions in visual-active thinking, the main features of the formation and functioning of visual-figurative thinking, have not yet been sufficiently studied.

aim of this work theoretically explore the features of the development of thinking in children 4-6 years old.

Tasks:

1) identify the features of the development of thinking 4-6 years old;

2) to consider the approaches of various theories about the features of the development of thinking in children 4-6 years old.

object This work is a child 4-6 years old.

Subject work - the thinking of a child 4-6 years old.

Chapter 1

A number of psychological and pedagogical studies have revealed broad possibilities for the purposeful formation of generalized knowledge and methods of mental activity in preschool children. As a rule, such formation at all its stages was carried out by adults [P. Ya. Galperin, 1969; N. F. Talyzina, 1969; D. B. Elkonin, 1970; and etc.].

Much less research has been done on the issue of independent "acquisition" by preschoolers of new information, knowledge about the surrounding objects, on the independent improvement of the methods of their practical and cognitive activity.

There is an assumption that the basis of the creative activity of preschoolers is a special structure of knowledge and mental actions of the child, which ensures the multifaceted interaction of newly formed knowledge with the knowledge available in the child's past experience. This leads to significant, progressively more complex restructuring of both one and the other knowledge, to the acquisition of new knowledge. “Thus, our research shows that the assimilation by children of a system of knowledge that reflects a particular object in various, often contradictory aspects, provides flexibility, dynamism of children's thinking, the possibility of obtaining new knowledge and ways of mental activity.”

The process of thinking is most often considered as a movement from ignorance to knowledge, from the incomprehensible to the understandable, from the obscure, indistinct to the clear, distinct. However, this is only one side of the full process of thinking. Its second side consists in the opposite movement - from the understandable, distinct, definite to the incomprehensible, indistinct, indefinite. Obscure, indistinct knowledge should be considered not as a lack of thinking that must be combated, but as an organic continuation of distinct, clear knowledge, as the most important result of the formation and development of clear knowledge.

Any knowledge is certain only in a certain range (area), beyond the boundaries of a given area, certainty disappears, and the relativity of knowledge appears more and more clearly. In other words, the child's mastery of certain knowledge, his rise to a new stage of mental development, allows him to comprehend new, not yet entirely clear horizons of knowledge. He develops vague outlines of new connections and relations in one or another area of ​​reality, i.e., at the same time, vague knowledge, conjectures, and questions arise.

There is reason to believe that the emergence of new knowledge is quite often associated with a period of uncertainty, ambiguity, when some relation is already guessed, but still in a very vague, diffuse form. The results of a number of studies [S. L. Rubinstein, 1973; V. P. Zinchenko, V. M. Gordon, 1976] show that images, knowledge during their formation are extremely fluid, changeable, sometimes they can take the most bizarre forms.

It is important to emphasize that the inner world of a child is not only a world of clear, distinct knowledge and information. This is a world of unexpected conjectures, obscure knowledge, bizarre images, incredible analogies. It should be noted that unclear, indistinct knowledge does not necessarily reflect reality in a distorted way. In a number of cases, indistinct, diffuse knowledge, the image captures certain relations of reality very correctly. Thus, the internal contradiction of the process of thinking, underlying its self-movement, self-development, lies in the fact that each act of thinking, on the one hand, clarifies something (some new connections, relationships), and on the other hand, this new knowledge allows you to see the contours of the little-known sides of a cognizable object, to raise questions in this regard.

A full-fledged thinking process is characterized by the fact that the emergence of unclear knowledge, conjectures, and questions overtakes the process of formation and development of clear knowledge. This is the essence of self-stimulation, self-development of the thinking process.

It should be noted that in our traditional teaching we quite often violate this basic law of the development of thinking, shaping the knowledge of children in such a way that they do not have any ambiguities. And if in the course of learning some children try to comprehend the new knowledge offered to them in their own way and they have unexpected analogies, comparisons, original guesses, then we strive to return these children to those clear and well-established provisions that, in our opinion, should be most contribute to the mental development of the child. With such a learning process, preschoolers are intensively forming clear, distinct knowledge, but their antipode does not develop in the form of contradictory, not entirely distinct knowledge, acting in the form of obscure images, conjectures, assumptions, questions. (Children develop a psychological attitude towards the perception and assimilation of only clear, consistent knowledge and do not develop a special ability to activate various, in some cases unexpected aspects of their own experience in the process of assimilation of new material. But it is precisely the past experience of a preschooler, due to its richness, diversity, and unique combination various aspects largely determines the depth of understanding of new material and often leads to an unexpected rethinking of both newly acquired knowledge and methods of mental actions, and knowledge previously acquired by the child.

At present, the task of developing such a new content of education and its methods, which ensured the formation of a full-fledged thinking process, is particularly acute, when each act of mental activity ensures the growth of certain, clear knowledge and skills and at the same time leads to the emergence of new, unclear images, assumptions etc.

An important and most difficult problem in the mental development of children 4-6 years old is the formation of their activity and independence of mental activity .. One of the effective ways to form these qualities is the organization of problem-based learning, developed by well-known scientists I. Ya. Lerner, A. M. Matyushkin.

“In the process of mental development of a child of 4-6 years old, three main forms of thinking closely interact: visual-effective, visual-figurative and logical. These forms form that single process of cognition of the real world, in which at different moments one or another form of thinking can prevail, and in connection with this, the cognitive process as a whole acquires an appropriate character.

The close relationship between visual-effective, visual-figurative and logical thinking allows us to talk about the general patterns of development of mental activity in preschoolers. At the same time, each form is characterized by its own special means and methods of implementation and performs specific functions in the general process of the mental development of children. Visual-effective and visual-figurative thinking prepare the formation of speech and the elements of logical thinking that are inextricably linked with speech. In turn, the development of the simplest logical operations significantly affects the restructuring of pre-conceptual forms of thinking.

Between the mental and practical activities of children in the period of 4-6 years, there are very complex, contradictory relationships. It is important to emphasize the diversity of ways in which these activities interact. A number of interesting studies have been carried out in this direction [P. Ya. Galperin, 1966; D. B. Elkonin, 1970; L. F. Obukhova, 1972; and etc]. However, the questions of the relationship between mental and practical activity are still not clear enough.

At present, it is generally recognized that external actions with objects in the process of their internalization are transformed into internal, mental actions. This position determined the direction of psychological and pedagogical research - in the process of teaching children, the formation of mental actions and concepts on the basis of expanded materialized forms of cognitive activity with educational material acquired special significance. However, the problem of the relationship between external, material and internal, mental activity requires further development. So, the changes that external actions undergo in the process of their internalization are not entirely clear, the specific features of the functions of each of these forms of activity, etc., are not clearly identified. All these questions await their solution.

Analysis as theoretical [A. N. Leontiev, 1983; S. L. Rubinshtein, 1946], as well as experimental works devoted to the study of human activity, allows us to conclude that external, material activity necessarily includes not only external, but also internal actions: the motive of activity and the goals of its constituent actions can be presented only in the processes of internal activity. A goal is the future result of an action. This anticipated result can exist both in the form of sensory images and in conceptual form. As A. N. Leontiev notes, the unfolding action is subject to the idea of ​​the result that should be achieved.

For the successful implementation of an external action, it is necessary to compare the results obtained with the goal. Such a comparison is carried out largely on the basis of internal, mental processes.

Accounting for directed changes in an object occurring in the course of performing an objective action is possible only in the process of comparing the current state of a given object with its previous states. But the latter have already disappeared, in reality they no longer exist. Therefore, such a comparison is possible only on the basis of images that reflect these former states, i.e., without the participation of certain forms of internal activity, a directed transformation of objects, anticipation of the results of practical actions, is virtually impossible.

The most important component of external activity is the movements made by a person. External activity is necessarily manifested in certain movements of a person. Movement is the main and only form of manifestation of external activity. However, movements exist only at the moment of their implementation, then they disappear, are replaced by other movements. In this regard, we can say that external activity (and its constituent actions) exist only in the present - at a given present moment in time. What happened a moment ago is an already passed stage of external activity, reflected in one form or another; it exists only as an element of internal activity.

The external actions that a person is just about to perform do not really exist yet, but they are presented in the form of images that anticipate future actions and their results. Consequently, the external, material form of activity exists only in the present (at a given present moment). The past and future of external activities (and external actions) are presented in one form or another in the processes of internal activity. In other words, external actions are always carried out in close connection with the broad semantic context of internal activity.

It should be emphasized that the main qualities of the latter, their awareness, generalization, etc., largely depend on how the motive of external activity and the goals of its constituent external actions are represented in internal processes. one of the aspects of the theory of the gradual formation of mental actions, which is of fundamental importance for understanding the mental development of children. The fact is that P. Ya. Galperin, before proceeding with the formation of an external (material) action in preschoolers with appropriate educational material, first introduces children into situations that allow them to understand the basic meaning of a new material action. An important role in these situations is played by the explanations of the teacher. In other words, external, material action was formed from the very beginning in a broader context of mental activity.

“A child's ability to accept this or that practical task, the solution of which requires the performance of certain external actions, is largely determined by the level of development of his cognitive processes (perception, thinking, etc.). The success of constructing an external action depends on the child's understanding of the general semantic context within which this action is formed.

In this regard, it is important to emphasize that an external action, already in the process of its formation, is significantly influenced by internal activity: the general level of development of a preschooler's thinking determines how he understands the task, to what extent he realizes the general meaning of the future action, its individual operations and their subordination and relationship! These circumstances allow us to say that any external action is always formed in the broader context of internal activity. But since the level of development of cognitive processes in children of even the same preschool age is different, the same conditions for the formation of an external action, in fact, lead to significant variations in this action in different children. And the most careful organization of a material action by a teacher with a clear representation in the forms accessible to children of the main means and methods of action with objects does not exclude a different understanding of the action itself, the subordination of the main and auxiliary goals (which is typical for any more or less complex action).

But this is only one side of the matter. The other side is that the process of constructing a new material action in itself, even before its internalization, has an impact on the internal, mental processes of children: in the course of real transformations of objects, the latter appear before the child with their new sides, properties, thereby causing a change in direction and the content of mental activity of a preschooler.

It is important to emphasize that in the formation of any new objective action in a child, past experience - his knowledge, skills, methods of mental activity - is the most important means of its construction. Features of understanding the purpose and conditions of an action, the connections between individual actions are determined by the level of mental activity of the child. It should be noted that the material, practical action, with the help of which the child discovers the hidden essential connections of the object, fulfills its function only if preschoolers have a certain level of mental development. “Thus, in the studies, facts were obtained indicating that an action with an object carried out by children of 5-6 years old allowed them to reveal the hidden connections of this object, but the same action organized by an adult in children of 3-4 years old did not effect. Obviously, these children were not yet able to comprehend the whole mass of impressions from the transformed object, to process these impressions in such a way as to obtain knowledge about the hidden connections of the object as a result.

With the help of the organization of external, material actions of children 4-6 years old, it is possible to control the formation of complex thought processes, the construction of new mental actions. However, these mental actions cannot be considered as the result of the internalization of material actions, since these mental actions are formed in the course of a material action, before its internalization.

Two interconnected ways of influencing objective actions on the development of children's thinking should be singled out. The first way is that the objective action acts as a means of forming and developing the mental activity of children. It is important to emphasize that the action is not internalized in this case.

The second way is the way of transforming material action into mental action. The latter appears in this case as a result of the internalization of external action.

“One of the most important characteristics of the mental activity of children 4-6 years old is its independence, which manifests itself not only in the ability of a preschooler to solve new simple tasks without the help of an adult, but also in the ability to independently set new goals and achieve them in the process of search activity. From the point of view of the degree of independence of children in solving certain problems, two types of thinking can be distinguished.

  1. The first type is characterized by the fact that the adult sets the child the goals of the action and shows the ways to achieve them.
  2. The second type is characterized by the fact that the child acts independently and, in the course of real transformations of objects, reveals their hidden properties and connections. We call this kind of thinking childish experimentation.”

In accordance with the two types of thinking identified above, two types of children's experimentation can also be distinguished - disinterested, aimed at clarifying connections and relationships, regardless of the solution of any practical problem; and utilitarian activity aimed at solving a particular practical problem.

Chapter 2. Development of visual-effective, visual-figurative and logical thinking

2.1. Development of practical action correction

Psychology and pedagogy face the most urgent task - to optimize the process of teaching and raising children as much as possible. At present, one of the effective teaching methods is the method of gradual formation of mental actions and skills, developed by P. Ya. Galperin. The doctrine of the types of orientation is the central link of this method. As you know, any human action is a complex system consisting of an orienting part, an executive part, and a control part. The orienting part is of decisive importance in shaping the action as a whole. The more perfect the orientation, the faster and more firmly the assimilation of knowledge proceeds, the more widely the acquired methods of analysis are transferred to adjacent fields of knowledge.

However, a person very often faces the need to perform an action on an incomplete indicative basis, through trial and error. This path cannot be ignored. It is necessary to study how various forms of implementation of the path of trial and error are formed, how the search activity of a person is formed.

“Domestic scientists studied the process of finding solutions to problems in children 4-6 years old in the formation of practical skills and abilities. S. L. Rubinshtein considers the search for a correct solution to a problem as the initial form of analysis and synthesis. Trial actions, in his opinion, are an external form of thinking, the process of investigating a problem situation. S. L. Rubinshtein notes that an erroneous action leads a person to analyze the situation through synthesis. With an unsuccessful result, the question arises: why is the goal not achieved? And the reason for the failure of the action must be sought in the underestimation of any conditions of the task. If it fails, the sample is matched to the conditions being analyzed. And this analysis leads to highlighting conditions that were not previously taken into account.

"AND. M. Zhukova, under the guidance of S. L. Rubinshtein, carried out experimental work to identify the internal conditions for the transition of preschoolers from solving problems through practical tests, actions to its purely cognitive solution in the mental plane. The technique was as follows: at the bottom of a glass vessel there was a candy with a wire loop, this candy had to be obtained by preschoolers using a small hook, which they had to choose from 4 types of tools.

Three series of experiments were carried out. As a result, it turned out that children, in the search for the right tool, are first guided by the non-essential properties of the tool (color), then the tool is distinguished by non-essential and essential properties (color and shape) and, finally, children are guided by the essential properties of the object (form). During the experiments, children's mistakes were recorded. In the 1st series of experiments, on average, the children made 6-7 erroneous actions, in the 2nd - 3, in the 3rd series - 2 mistakes each.

Unfortunately, this work does not characterize the activities of children by age. It is only indicated that preschool children from 3 to 6 years old took part in the experiment. Age is of great importance, because the search for the correct solution to the problem of a 3-year-old child differs sharply from the activity of a 6-year-old.

In addition, this technique did not allow us to trace the dynamics of the search for the correct solution and the influence of an erroneous action on the structure of activity, since the child's activity consisted only in choosing the right object, and not in identifying any regularity, dependence of phenomena.

Other researchers, studying the process of building strategies by adults and children in solving some problems, also observed the emergence of trial actions and the influence of erroneous actions on the construction of subsequent ones. “For example, in the work of T. K. Gorobets on the formation of effective strategies for solving problems by children 4-6 years old, the influence of positive and negative tests on the number and nature of realizing actions was discovered. The subjects often paid attention only to positive samples, and negative ones were considered as an annoying phenomenon that slowed down the search process. The subjects did not extract all the useful information contained in each negative sample, which greatly complicated and slowed down the search process. Only those subjects who used information from positive and negative samples with equal success could effectively implement the search strategy.”

In learning, we inevitably encounter the problem of trial and error. The idea of ​​unsuccessful actions as not affecting the further course of search activity is not true. A number of works convincingly show that an erroneous result of an action introduces changes in the construction of the subsequent action [A. Wallon, N. N. Poddyakov]. However, in these works, the following questions are not sufficiently covered: what is the dynamics of taking into account errors when constructing an action that is adequate to the situation; what is the process of development of action correction depending on the result of practical action and on its correlation with the conditions of the situation. At this stage of studying the problem, the path of trial and error is not yet an explanatory principle, but remains a descriptive characteristic of the subject's activity.

It is known that thinking is determined by the content of the reality it reflects. In the study of activity proceeding by trial and error, we encounter specific ways of thinking. When a child acts in this way, he not only cognizes the object to which his activity is directed, but a special area of ​​cognition is also revealed to him - his own activity and its results. The child is forced to analyze his actions in order to successfully achieve the goal. He must correlate the result obtained with the given one (or with the goal) and fix their compliance or discrepancy, must correlate the result with the conditions in which the goal is given, identify the cause of the discrepancy, if any, etc. Thus, it is clear that the search problem solving by trial and error actions requires complex mental operations.

2.2. Presentation Plan Development

The complication and development of the earliest form of mental activity - visual-effective thinking - leads to the emergence of a more complex form - visual-figurative thinking. This form is characterized by the fact that the practical transformations of the situation are replaced by the represented transformations.

In a number of studies [G. I. Minskaya, A. A. Lyublinskaya, A. V. Zaporozhets] it is shown that the simplest forms of visual-figurative thinking, in which the child is able to operate with specific images of objects, arise at the age of 4-5 years. The same data were obtained by foreign researchers [A. Wallon, J. Piaget, B. Inelder, J. Bruner].

A number of leading psychologists regard the emergence in children of the ability to act in terms of ideas as a key moment in their mental development. Based on the analysis and generalization of various studies devoted to the study of the thinking of preschoolers, we can conclude that visual-figurative thinking arises and develops in the process of interaction of objective actions, speech, imitation, gaming, productive activity, etc. Moreover, the ability to operate with specific images of objects in the process of improving visual-figurative thinking is replaced by the transformation of generalized images of objects.

A large number of works are devoted to the characteristics of individual forms of thinking. The features of the transition from one form to another are much less studied. But it is precisely the study of transitional periods in the development of thinking that is most important in the study of the mental development of a child 4-6 years old. Transitional periods are the key points in the development of the mental activity of children, and their study can shed light on the features of the emergence and development of a particular form of thinking. So, according to A. A. Lyublinskaya, the transition from actions with real objects to operating with images is much more complicated and deeper than simply “folding” an external action and its transformation into a mental one.

A. Vallon and J. Piaget studied the conditions for the transition from sensorimotor (visual-effective) to pre-conceptual intelligence (figurative thinking). A. Vallon, in particular, argued that in the process of development of a child's sensorimotor intelligence, sensorimotor schemes are formed that provide a reflection of the essential properties of surrounding objects and phenomena. This creates the prerequisites for the transition to visual-figurative thinking. A. Vallon assigns the leading role in the formation of such an opportunity to internal imitating activity, imitation.

“Research by domestic psychologists has shown that the ability to operate with one's ideas (the level of figurative thinking) largely depends on the content and teaching methods [P. Ya. Galperin, Ya. A. Ponomarev, and others]. It has been established that children of 4-5 years old can imagine the movement of various objects in a circle, reproduce in the representation of objects in various spatial positions, etc. [N. N. Poddyakov]. A decisive role in the formation of these skills, as it turned out, was played by peculiar models and schemes, with the help of which children first reproduced the movement of an object in space in terms of external expanded activity, and then they anticipated such movements in terms of representations, i.e. children formed the ability to arbitrarily operate with their ideas in the process of solving the corresponding problems. It is known that visual-figurative thinking is an extremely complex formation, acting as a certain system of interconnected heterogeneous elements. Leading in the system, in our opinion, are various types of children's ideas and the ability to operate with them.

Let us briefly sum up the results of the studied literature on the formation of visual-effective and visual-figurative thinking of children 4-6 years old.

The specificity of visual-effective thinking lies in the close relationship between mental and practical actions, which manifests itself in successive transitions from practical transformations of the object to analysis of the results and construction of the following practical actions based on the information received, their implementation provides new information about the object being known, etc. Thus Thus, the main function of visual-effective thinking is to obtain initial information about the hidden properties of an object that are identified in the course of its practical transformations.

A characteristic way of implementing visual-effective thinking is the way that is usually referred to as the path of trial and error. This path undergoes a number of significant changes during preschool childhood: chaotic trials and errors are replaced by a system of trying actions. It becomes much more difficult to analyze the results of each sample and evaluate them in terms of a given result. The area of ​​special objects and their relations is revealed to the child. Such objects are the child's own actions and their results, connections and relations of these results with given actions. Children's mastery of the area of ​​these relations is an important moment in the development of their search activity.

The main condition for the emergence of visual-figurative thinking is the formation in children of the ability to distinguish between the plan of real objects and the plan of models that reflect these objects. With the help of such models, the child imagines the hidden sides of the situation. In the process of using models, children form special actions that are characterized by their dual orientation - they are carried out by the child on the model, and they relate to the original. This creates the prerequisites for the "separation" of actions from the model and from the original and their implementation in terms of representations.

The formation in children of arbitrary control over the functioning of their ideas is carried out on the basis of knowledge that reflects the general essential properties and connections of the objective world. Thus, the formation in children of 4-6 years of age of ideas that reflect the “part-whole” relationship positively affects the development of skills to represent the change in the spatial position of the hidden parts of an object based on the perception of the visible parts of this object.

2.3. Invariance of conceptual and pre-conceptual generalization

A significant number of works are devoted to the study of visual-effective and visual-figurative thinking of a preschooler. However, the problems of the emergence and development of conceptual thinking in preschool childhood are no less relevant.

It is natural to assume that the genetically early forms of the concept are closely connected with the figurative structure of the child's thinking and arise as a result of generalization and abstraction of the visually represented properties of objects. An integral characteristic of a conceptual generalization is its invariance, which is revealed in the child's ability to recognize various objects belonging to some class as the same. Special experiments show that in a number of cases the task of identifying objects belonging to a given class is not solved by children spontaneously, without special pedagogical work. It is quite difficult for adults too. This is evidenced by the experiments of L. S. Vygotsky with the combination of objects into a group, and experiments with the conservation of the amount of matter, which were carried out under the guidance of Piaget, as well as J. Bruner.

The fact that the difficulties in grouping and in using the law of conservation of quantity are homogeneous, writes J. Bruner: “Learning to recognize the underlying reason why two quantities are similar (although they may seem different) is, in essence, the same task that and learn to establish what is similar between a bell and a horn or a person and an animal ... ".

J. Bruner believes that even a small child has a sense of identity. The ability of a young child to recognize previously shown objects indicates the existence of a sense of identity. "Complicated forms of invariance develop under conditions when this earliest idea of ​​identity is translated into a new language - the language of actions, images and symbols." So, from the most elementary identification of an object with itself (recognizing it as the same), the child proceeds to the identification of similar objects on the basis of the similarity of the general impression of them, and then to the identification of dissimilar objects on the basis of the use of symbols, in particular speech. For example, he learns to refer to the words "car", "animal", "vegetables" and other objects of very different appearance. The formation of a generalized idea of ​​certain objects and the formation of a concept is always a mental or practical association of these objects according to certain characteristics. Therefore, the researchers of the genesis of thinking L. S. Vygotsky, J. Piaget, B. Inelder studied the transition from an additional concept to a concept with the help of groupings. Children were offered different objects that could be grouped in one way or another. In these experiments, it was shown that as a result of such a grouping, in some cases, a concept is formed, in others, a preconceptual generalization. The signs by which the children combined objects were visual in both cases - color, shape, size, etc.

It should be noted that L. S. Vygotsky, and later J. Piaget and B. Inelder, turned to the same criterion to characterize the difference between conceptual (operator) and pre-conceptual (according to L. S. Vygotsky, complex) groupings.

L. S. Vygotsky wrote: “The relation of the general to the particular, i.e., of the complex (pre-conceptual generalization) to each individual specific element included in its composition, and the relation of the elements to each other, as well as the law of construction of the entire generalization, differ significantly from all these moments in the construction of the concept. J. Piaget and B. Inelder say: "Classes (and classifications) imply the coordination of the links of the part to the whole (... the volume of the class) with the relations of similarity or difference that determine the corresponding content." But the relationship of similarity or difference is the relationship between the elements of the totality, and the relation of the part to the whole is the relation of each element of the group to the whole totality.

Thus, L. S. Vygotsky, J. Piaget and B. Inelder are talking about the relationship between each element and the group as a whole during grouping, on the one hand, and elements within the created group, on the other. These relations turn out to be different in pre-conceptual generalizations in comparison with conceptual ones.

“The variety of connections that underlie the complex,” writes L. S. Vygotsky, “is the main feature that distinguishes it from the concept ... This means that each individual object covered by the generalized concept is included in this generalization on an absolutely identical basis with all others items. All elements are connected with the whole, expressed in the concept, and through it among themselves in a single way, a connection of the same type.

J. Piaget and B. Inelder note that for pre-operator (pre-conceptual) groupings, in contrast to conceptual groupings, it is characteristic that “relationships of similarity and difference in compared objects are established only in relation to successive objects or successive pairs of objects, without connection with the relationship of part to the whole” .

In this regard, only at the class level does the totality acquire integrity, where each element is related to the whole as its part in terms of content (similarity), and not as a result of spatial proximity, which is typical for pre-conceptual groupings. These provisions of J. Piaget and B. Inelder are close to what L. S. Vygotsky claimed, saying that the conceptual grouping, in contrast to the pre-conceptual one, is characterized by the unity of connections.

However, it should be borne in mind that when we are talking about the relationship of the elements of the totality in terms of content - relations of similarity or difference - we mean not the similarity of objects as such in all their characteristics, but the similarity in one respect. When objects that are similar in all basic respects are combined, a complex is formed, and not a concept. That is why L. S. Vygotsky, speaking about the principles of the formation of a concept, in contrast to a complex, points to the destruction of living connections in an object in the first case, in contrast to the latter. He writes: “In contrast to the concept, a specific element enters the complex as a real visual unit with all its actual features and connections. In the elements (objects) united by the concept, the living connection of attributes is destroyed. They are not equal in their functional meaning, a hierarchy of features arises, the dominant one stands out.

Thus, the destruction of the integrity of objects and the selection of a dominant feature make it possible to combine elements of a group that are similar in only one respect. As we can see, in revealing the genesis of conceptual thinking, L. S. Vygotsky, J. Piaget, and B. Inelder hardly directly touch upon the problems of visualization and figurativeness in connection with the concept.

Concepts that are closest to representation, constructed by operating with visual features and sensuously represented objects, break away from this visualization, although it still stands behind them in a certain sense. As L. S. Vygotsky notes, the concept that arises in these cases, in contrast to the representation, does not merge with the visual group it represents, but stands above it.

Let us add to this that the emerging concept, while reflecting variant objects, is nevertheless itself invariant. However, the group of visual objects behind the emerging generalization significantly affects its level, since this level changes depending on the variability of generalized objects.

The problem of transition from the variability of images to the invariance of the concept is a real problem. The development of methods for the formation of invariant knowledge is still a topical issue.

As you know, a number of psychologists attached great importance to the method of varying the material in the assimilation of concepts by children in order to highlight the essential [E. N. Kabanova-Meller, N. A. Menchinskaya, and others]. This method was criticized as uneconomical, not exhaustive of all options [V. V. Davydov], as more reasonable, it was proposed to form the knowledge of the child immediately in a generalized form.

In the process of preschool and school education, naturally, a variety of methodological techniques are used, and none of them can be recognized as universal. We must not forget that the child already has certain knowledge and some of the concepts can be formed deductively, with the help of a definition alone. In some cases, a small number of examples is enough for the children to understand the general principle and make a generalization. However, there is no doubt that it is impossible to teach a child to see unity in diversity in one sitting, that this problem will arise before him quite often and on various occasions, and that it is impossible to teach a child to see unity in diversity, depriving him of this diversity.

“The problems of J. Piaget are widely known, in which the figurative solution contradicts the conceptual one. The tendency of the child in such cases to follow a figurative path has been called "Piagetian phenomena". Their presence speaks not of the absence of conceptual thinking in preschoolers, but of its limitations. Based on the materials of J. Piaget and B. Inelder, elements of conceptual thinking, the ability to solve a number of problems at the conceptual level are found in children 4-5 years old.

However, the ability to overcome the provocative influence of a visual situation, which testifies to a developed conceptual thinking, rightly refers by researchers of its genesis not to preschool, but to school age. The thinking of the preschooler remains predominantly figurative. And although by using a number of methodological techniques, by teaching, it is possible to achieve from an older preschooler that he will follow the conceptual path in a given conflict task and in similar cases, this does not mean that it has been possible to change the whole structure of his thinking. This kind of work forms elements of logical thinking in children, but it requires a lot of effort from the teacher and the child. Thus, according to I. S. Freidkin, with the help of a specially developed system of classes, it was possible to achieve a conceptual, rather than figurative solution in only half of the subjects.

It is necessary to form the elements of conceptual thinking in preschoolers without putting excessively difficult tasks before them. Based on figurative thinking, it is possible to bring the child to an understanding of the essential relationships of reality.

2.4. The role of position in the development of logical thinking

“For the first time, the problem of position and its role in the intellectual development of the child was posed in the early works of J. Piaget. The French psychologist showed that the specificity of children's thinking is determined by the position that the child takes in relation to the situations under consideration. The originality of all the reasoning of children from 3 to 7 years old lies, according to J. Piaget, in the fact that each children's perspective is distorted by the fact that the child, not knowing his "I", takes his point of view as absolute and does not establish between things and himself connection that alone would ensure objectivity. For example, when a child is asked to determine the left and right hands of an experimenter sitting opposite, he determines the relationship in a mirror. The child is not aware of his position and therefore is unaware of its relativity. This position was called by J. Piaget egocentric.

In the early period of his work, J. Piaget interprets the position as a child's worldview, a feature of seeing the world, an attitude towards oneself, other people and an attitude towards things. The position for J. Piaget was the integrity of the intellect, globality, indivisibility and its relative immutability for a certain period. It is through the position that the uniqueness of each period in the development of the child's thinking is revealed. Egocentrism acted as a stage characteristic of children's thinking from 3 to 7 years old, so overcoming this phenomenon was an indicator of the child's transition to a higher level of intellectual development. The egocentric position was a subjective vision of the world. The basis for overcoming this position is a change in the nature of communication with other people, taking into account their points of view.

Developing in the 40s. operational theory of intelligence, J. Piaget narrows the scope of the concept of egocentrism, limiting it to the cognitive aspect, introducing the term "centration". Centering is understood as the narrowness of the field of view, the limited vision of the object under consideration only by its one side, by one sign that is obvious at the moment for the child. The situation seems to be shifting towards the perspective visible to the child, which is its center. At the same time, a sign or aspect of the situation that is obvious to the child appears not relatively, not as part of it, but absolutely, as a characteristic of the whole situation.

The process of decentration is associated with the transition from the pre-operational stage of development to the operational one. Thus, the idea of ​​​​J. Piaget about the position in the 40s. undergoes some changes. The main features of the position are purely logical, operational characteristics. And only one side of it is subjected to experimental illumination and analysis - the child's action with things. The centered position is assessed only in relation to the field of the task, while the wider system of relations between the child and other people, the system of social significance of the task he is solving, is not taken into account.

According to J. Piaget, a centered position is primary and initial not only for a child, but also for an adult considering a situation of a new type. Centralization is an important mechanism of cognitive activity in general, both genetically and functionally.

One of the important points of criticism of the theory of J. Piaget was the individualization of the position. L. S. Vygotsky revealed the theoretical groundlessness of the views of J. Piaget on development as a process of gradual transition from the individual to the social. From the point of view of L. S. Vygotsky, the position of the child, his attitude to the world of things and to the world of people is formed from the very beginning under the influence of an adult and, therefore, acts as a product of the appropriation of social experience.

Domestic psychologists [P. Ya. Galperin, A. V. Zaporozhets, D. B. Elkonin] believe that overcoming centralization is associated with the appropriation of social methods for solving problems: standards, measures, i.e. with the transition to an objective social point of view. L. F. Obukhova experimentally showed that the use of a measure makes it possible to remove the phenomenon of centration when estimating the amount of a substance. The measure is considered by L. F. Obukhova as the material embodiment of a new, objective position.

Thus, in domestic psychology, the concept of position received a new interpretation. A position is not only a point of view within a task, as J. Piaget believed in recent years, it is a reflection of the degree of mastery of social means of transforming reality, which is achieved in the course of communication between a child and an adult, in the course of education. In this context, the position acquires a broader meaning and acts as a child's orientation towards the motives and means of social activity. The transition of a child from a direct point of view to a new intellectual position - an objectively social one - is a change in the general picture of the world. In the studies carried out, the social nature of decentration is revealed, it is shown that the child overcomes his direct point of view in the course of mastering the social methods of transforming objects.

The most important condition for the formation of logical thinking in preschool children is to overcome children's egocentrism on the basis of the appropriation of socially developed methods of analyzing objects. The position taken by the child in this or that situation acts as the orientation of the child to the motives and means of social activity. Overcoming the egocentric point of view is associated primarily with the child's reassessment of himself, his actions and the actions of other people. It is this equating in value of one's own position with the position of other people that is an important condition for overcoming the egocentric point of view and the first condition for the emergence of logical thinking.

The identified basic conditions for the formation of logical thinking make it possible to outline some new lines of mental development of preschoolers, which were not sufficiently taken into account in previous studies.

Chapter 3

The psychologist Henri Wallon made an attempt to overcome the traditional, purely descriptive approach to the mental development of the child, and proposed a genetic explanation for the striking phenomena of child development. J. Piaget refused to consider relationships as an element of mental life. In his opinion, such elements should be movement, or rather, action. These ideas formed the basis for the creation of a new direction in the study of the development of the child's psyche. The principal methodological setting of A. Vallon is the need to study conflict, contradictions, antinomies in the course of a child's development, because "knowledge from the very beginning and in its essence must face contradictions and overcome them." Therefore, from the point of view of A. Wallon, when studying the development of the psyche, it is important to focus not so much on the similarity and similarity of processes as on the differences between them. Moreover, in order to resolve contradictions, it is even important to deepen the differences between phenomena in order to better understand the causes and conditions of their interconnection and transitions from one state to another. According to A. Vallon, the psyche cannot be reduced to organic matter. In order to explain how the organic becomes mental, A. Vallon considers 4 concepts: “emotion”, “motor”, “imitation”, “society”.

The concept of A. Vallon "The concept of emotion" is closely related to the concept of "movement". Differentiation of motor functions occurs under the influence of the behavior of an adult who satisfies the needs of the child. The connection of emotions with movement shows that the psyche is born from organic reactions due to social imprints.

The great transition in the ontogeny of the psyche is the transition from action to thought. According to A. Vallon, it is possible through imitation. On the example of imitation, one can see the connection between society and the child's psyche.

A. Vallon never denied the role of maturation in development. According to him, the maturation of the nervous system creates a sequence of types and levels of activity. But maturation requires exercise, and it is already in the nature of emotion, motility and imitation, the nature of the human organism itself.

Jean Piaget and his followers created one of the most fruitful directions in the study of the mental development of the child - the Geneva School of Genetic Psychology. This school studies the origin and development of the intellect in the development of the intellect in the child. For this school, it is important to understand the mechanisms of the child's cognitive activity, which are hidden behind the external picture of his behavior. For this purpose, the well-known technique of J. Piaget is used as the main method, which is focused not on fixing the external features of the child’s behavior and the superficial content of his statements, but on those hidden mental processes that lead to the appearance of externally observable phenomena. The works of J. Piaget and his students showed that the development of the child's intellect consists in the transition from egocentrism (centration) through decentration to the child's objective position in relation to the outside world and to himself.

Psychologists of the Geneva School associate the peculiarity of the development of the child's psyche with those structures of the intellect that are formed during life due to the child's actions with objects. The external material actions of a child (up to 2 years of age) are initially performed extensively and sequentially. Thanks to repetition in different situations, actions are schematized and, with the help of symbolic means (imitation, play, speech, etc.), are transferred to the internal plane already at preschool age. At primary school age, the system of interrelated actions turn into mental operations. The order of formation of the fundamental structures of thinking is constant, but the timing of their achievement may vary depending on external and internal factors and, above all, on the social cultural environment in which the child lives. According to J. Piaget, the laws of cognitive development are universal; they operate both in the process of the development of the child's thinking and in the course of scientific knowledge.

Philosophical reflections led Piaget to the idea that logic is not innate from the beginning, but develops gradually, and that it is psychology that opens up the possibility of studying the ontogenetic development of logic. Already the first facts from the field of psychology, obtained by Piaget in experiments with children on the standardization of the so-called “reasoning tests” by C. Bert, confirmed this idea of ​​his. The facts obtained showed the possibility of studying the mental processes underlying logical operations. Since then, Piaget's central task has been to study the psychological mechanisms of logical operations, to establish the gradual emergence of stable logical integral structures of the intellect. The possibility of directly investigating problems of logic was in line with Piaget's early philosophical interests.

The study of the "embryology of the intellect" also coincided with his biological interests. The period 1921-1925 is the beginning of Piaget's work on a systematic study of the genesis of intelligence. It was precisely on the basis of this general goal that he first singled out and studied a particular problem - he studied the hidden mental tendencies that give a qualitative originality to children's thinking, and outlined the mechanisms for their emergence and change. With the help of the clinical method, Piaget established new facts in the field of child development. The most important of them are the discovery of the egocentric nature of children's speech, the qualitative features of children's logic, and the child's ideas about the world that are unique in their content. However, Piaget's main achievement, which made him a world famous scientist, was the discovery of the child's egocentrism. Egocentrism is the main feature of thinking, the hidden mental position of the child. The originality of children's logic, children's speech, children's ideas about the world are only a consequence of this egocentric mental position.

Piaget was well aware that thought is formed on the basis of action, however, Piaget looked for the source of integral logical structures of the intellect in the socialization of the individual, which he, following the traditions of the French sociological school, then understood as communication between individual minds.

In 1925-1929, Piaget studied the history of science, tracing and comparing the development of basic scientific categories and ideas in science and in the intellectual development of the child. This period of Piaget's scientific work is characterized by the emergence of a new direction in the study of the evolution of intelligence. It begins with a study of the development of the child in the first two years of life, when behavior (the actions of the child, not verbal reasoning) acts as an indicator of mental development. In this regard, the research technique also changed: Piaget gave the child objects with which he could manipulate. The central point of the study was the structure of actions and reasoning about the child's manipulation of these objects. And although the technique of experiments has changed, the method of research has remained the same. The problem has remained, only the aspect of its study has changed. Piaget now set himself the task of freeing himself from the verbal side of action in order to understand the real functioning of the intellect.

The research results of this period were published in three volumes. They reflect the genesis of intellectual behavior, the picture of the world (the child's ideas about the permanent volume, space, causality), the emergence of symbolic behavior (imitation, play). These studies show that intelligence occurs in a child before mastering speech. Higher-level intellectual operations are prepared by sensorimotor action. Piaget saw the task of the psychologist in tracing step by step the transformation of innate inherited reflexes into various forms of complex behavior. Then the following task arose: to trace the path from the emergence of the idea of ​​the constancy of an object to the ideas about the preservation of the physical properties of an object (weight, mass, etc.). These studies, carried out in collaboration with B. Inelder and A. Sheminskaya, confirmed the basic law of child development formulated by Piaget in his early works, the law of transition from general egocentricity to intellectual decentration, a more objective mental position.

Before the child establishes logical operations, he performs groupings - combines actions and objects according to their similarity and difference, which, in turn, generate arithmetic, geometric and elementary physical groups. The true unit of thought, according to Piaget, is not only a concept or an isolated judgment, a class or a separately perceived relationship, but each classification in its entirety, each series of objects arranged according to their relation, each system of genealogical connections, each scale of values, in other words, - every grouping. Therefore, Piaget chose the grouping as a unit of thought and began to study it.

Together with M. Lambersier, a study of perception was begun, which interested Piaget in connection with the development of the intellect. The main problem that occupied Piaget during these years was the relationship between intelligence and perception. This problem concerns the difference and similarity between these two structures of knowledge, the relationship between perception and concept. Piaget raises the question of the significance of perception in cognitive activity in general. One of the tasks was to test the conclusions of Gestalt theory, which did not satisfy Piaget in connection with understanding the problem of intelligence. On the basis of an experimental study of perceptual processes, he showed the probabilistic nature of perception.

Conclusion

At first, at the early stages of development, every conception of the world is true for the child; for him, thought and thing are almost indistinguishable. In a child, signs begin to exist, being originally part of things. Gradually, through the activity of the intellect, they separate from them. Then he begins to consider his idea of ​​things as relative to the given point of view. Children's ideas develop from realism to objectivity, passing through a series of stages of participation (participation), animism (universal animation), artificalism (understanding of natural phenomena by analogy with human activity), in which the egocentric relationship between the "I" and the world is gradually reduced. Step by step in the process of development, the child begins to take a position that allows him to distinguish what comes from the subject, and to see the reflection of external reality in subjective representations.

According to Piaget, the subject who ignores his "I" inevitably puts his prejudices, direct judgments and even perceptions into things. The objective intellect, the mind aware of the subjective Self, allows the subject to distinguish between fact and interpretation. It is only through gradual differentiation that the inner world is singled out and contrasted with the outer. Differentiation depends on how much the child is aware of his own position among things.

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