Thinking

Thinking is often defined as the ability to solve new, urgently emerging problems in situations where the previous, already known solutions do not work. Creative and constructive, developed thinking is indeed capable of coping with such tasks, but this does not mean that if someone did not find a creative solution in a situation that was new to him, he had no thinking. In its simplest forms, thinking, as a process, is just the processing of information in the flow of thoughts, images and sensations.

In itself, this is not a great advantage: everyone always thinks, including spiders and crows, and the processing of information can be both an empty and a destructive process. Both insight and delirium are all manifestations of the thinking process.

Thinking can take place in a variety of forms, in different styles and with different qualities: it can be of varying degrees of coherence, logicality and expediency, be nonsense and a model of great wisdom, effective and empty.

Thinking is a very personal phenomenon, and there are as many types of it as types of character and other personality traits: lazy and cheerful thinking, impulsive and reasonable, uncritical and critical, positive and negative, straightforward and flexible, process thinking and resultant thinking, wild and civilized, male and female.

When “just thinking” is described, as a rule, male thinking is meant. A man is more often ready to consider what is happening objectively, in a woman everything is saturated with feelings and subjectivity. A man often relies on logic, a woman — on intuition, feelings and sensations.

Thinking is just a flow of thoughts, pictures and meanings. Sluggish thinking simply occupies the head with intellectual junk, competent thinking gives a vision and understanding of how something relates to another, how something belongs to another. If a person in the process of thinking does a special work of analysis — particular and general, cause and effect, process — result — his thinking becomes meaningful. Such thinking is aimed at understanding the essence of the problem and finding a solution that can work in a number of similar situations. Such thinking is welcomed in science, but in everyday life, another type of thinking is often more effective: quick wits. Wit is a type of thinking when, without deep analysis, a person is looking for the simplest, and most importantly, quick solutions that solve this or that problem in any way. A savvy student will memorize rather than bother with actual understanding, write off or talk to the teacher, and spend less time on the exam than his more serious fellow student. A smart person is not always honest, not always far-sighted, but he is situationally effective, and his moves and evasions sometimes help him out better than the deep thinking of an honest and direct person next to him.

Thinking is one of the tools of a thinking person who solves life’s problems. The final or intermediate product of thinking is a mode of action or, in a folded form, a thought. How valuable this or that thought is, whether it is something necessary or is it just junk that clutters up the head — the question is already another. In personal and business life, it turns out that a specific type of thinking — verbal or figurative — is not as important as a person’s ability to think and a person’s habit of using thinking. Developed thinking is productive and adequate thinking, and such thinking is developed only by those people who are accustomed to think. Such a developed thinking is no longer just a mental function, it is the most important quality of a person, which is not properly developed in everyone, and in this sense is not typical for some people.

Thinking takes place at different levels. On the surface — arbitrary thoughts, realized and controlled. Below, within us are automatic thoughts, imposed stereotypes of thinking. And deep down, the basic schemas and cognitive beliefs that live in us, as a rule, unconsciously. See →

Not all thinking is good. Sometimes it can interfere in life, because in some cases actions at the level of reflexes and habits turn out to be more successful than after a long or unsuccessful reflection … The head can interfere if it is crooked, thoughts can distract and confuse if they are empty or negative. And what to do? See how to get rid of intrusive thoughts and more — Managing thinking.

Development of thinking

Thinking can be developed by increasing its speed, meaningfulness, depth and freedom. Thinking can be made more concrete, positive and working. Learning to think is one of the main tasks of learning. Even animals are being taught to think. How much time have you devoted to developing your own thinking? See →

Do animals think? Most of those who have pets are absolutely sure of this.

Analysis and connections of the concept Thinking

Thinking and mind, Thinking and thinking, Thinking and perception, Thinking and emotionality, Thinking and language, Thinking and speaking in inner speech. See →

Thinking may be impaired. See →