Accepting information from the world around us, it is with the participation of thinking that we can be aware of and transform it. In this we are helped by the types of thinking and their characteristics. A table with these data is presented below.
What is thinking?
This is the highest process of cognition of the surrounding reality, the subjective perception of
objective reality. Its uniqueness lies in the perception of external information and its transformation in consciousness. Thinking helps a person to gain new knowledge, experience, creatively transform ideas that have already been formed. It helps to expand the boundaries of knowledge, contributing to a change in existing conditions for solving assigned tasks.
This process is the engine of human development. In psychology, there is no separately acting process - thinking. It will certainly be present in all other cognitive actions of man. Therefore, in order to somewhat structure such a transformation of reality, the types of thinking and their characteristics were distinguished in psychology. A table with these data helps to better absorb information about the activities of this process in our psyche.
Features of this process
This process has its own characteristics that distinguish it from other mental
functions of man.
- Mediation. This means that a person can indirectly recognize an object through the properties of another. It also involves the types of thinking and their characteristics. Briefly describing this property, we can say that cognition occurs through the properties of another object: we can transfer some acquired knowledge to a similar unknown object.
- Generalization. Combining in common several properties of an item. The ability to generalize helps a person to learn new things in the surrounding reality.
These two properties and processes of this cognitive function of a person contain the general characteristic of thinking. Characterization of types of thinking is a separate area of general psychology. Since the types of thinking are peculiar to different age categories and are formed according to their own rules.
Types of thinking and their characteristics, table
A person better perceives structured information, so some information about the varieties of the cognitive process of cognizing reality and their description will be presented in a systematic way.
It will best help to understand what types of thinking and their characteristics are, a table.
| Types of thinking | Definition |
| Clearly effective | It is based on the direct perception of surrounding objects in any action with them. |
| Clearly shaped | Based on images and views. A person imagines a situation and with the help of such thinking transforms it, forming unusual combinations of objects. |
| Verbal-logical | Logical operations with concepts are carried out. |
| Empirical | It is characterized by primary generalizations, conclusions based on the experience gained, that is, already existing theoretical knowledge. |
| Practical | Transition from abstract thinking to practice. The physical transformation of reality. |
Visual thinking, description
In psychology, much attention is paid to the study of thinking, as the main process of cognition of reality. After all, each person develops this process differently, works individually, sometimes the types of thinking and their characteristics do not meet age standards.
In preschoolers, visual-effective thinking comes first. It begins its development from infancy. Description by age is presented in the table.
| Age period | Characterization of thinking | Examples |
| Infancy | In the second half of the period (from 6 months), perception and action develop, which form the basis for the development of this type of thinking. At the end of infancy, the child can solve elementary problems based on the manipulation of objects by trial and error. | An adult hides a toy in his right hand. The kid first opens the left, after failure reaches for the right. Having found a toy, he enjoys the experience. He perceives the world in a graphically effective way. |
| Early age | By manipulating things, the child quickly learns the important connections between them. This age period is a vivid representation of the formation and development of visual-effective thinking. The kid performs external indicative actions, which actively learns the world. | Picking up a full bucket of water, the child noticed that he was reaching the sandbox with an almost empty bucket. Then, making manipulations with the bucket, he accidentally closes the hole, and the water remains at the same level. Perplexed, the baby is experimenting until he realizes that to maintain the water level it is necessary to close the hole. |
| Preschool age | During this period, this type of thinking gradually passes into the next, and at the end of the age stage, the child masters verbal thinking. | First, to measure the length, the preschooler takes a paper strip, applying it to everything that is interesting. Then this action is transformed into images and concepts. |
Visual thinking
Types of thinking in psychology and their characteristics occupy an important place, since the age formation of other cognitive processes depends on their development. With each age stage, more and more mental functions are involved in the development of the process of cognition of reality. In visual-figurative thinking, imagination and perception play almost a key role.
| Characteristic | Combinations | Transformations |
| This kind of thinking is represented by certain operations with images. Even if we don’t see something, we can recreate it in the mind due to this kind of thinking. The child begins to think this way in the middle of preschool age (4-6 years). An adult also actively uses this species. | We can get a new image through combinations of objects in the mind: a woman, choosing her clothes for a way out, imagines in her mind how she will look in a certain blouse and skirt or dress and scarf. This is the action of visual-figurative thinking. | Also, a new image is obtained with the help of transformations: looking at a flower bed with one plant, you can imagine how it will look with a decorative stone or many different plants. |
Verbal-logical thinking
It is carried out using logical manipulations with concepts. Such operations are designed to find something in common between different objects and phenomena in society and our environment. Here, images occupy a secondary place. In children, the makings of this type of thinking fall at the end of the preschool period. But the main development of this type of thinking begins in primary school age.
| Age | Characteristic |
| Primary school age | A child entering school is already learning to operate with elementary concepts. The main basis for operating them are: - worldly concepts - elementary ideas about objects and phenomena based on their own experience outside the school;
- scientific concepts - the highest conscious and arbitrary conceptual level.
At this stage, the intellectualization of mental processes takes place. |
| Teenage years | During this period, thinking acquires a qualitatively different color - reflection. Theoretical concepts are already being evaluated by a teenager. In addition, such a child can be distracted from visual material, reasoning logically in verbal terms. Hypotheses appear. |
| Youthful age | Thinking on the basis of abstraction, concepts and logic becomes systemic, creating an internal subjective model of the world. At this age stage, verbal-logical thinking becomes the basis of the worldview of a young man. |
Empirical thinking
The characteristic of the main types of thinking includes not only the three types described above. Still this process is divided into empirical or theoretical and practical.
Theoretical thinking is the knowledge of the rules, various signs, the theoretical base of basic concepts. Here you can build hypotheses, but test them already in the plane of practice.
Practical thinking
Practical thinking involves transforming reality, adjusting it to fit your goals and plans. It is limited in time; it is not possible to study many options for testing various hypotheses. Therefore, for man, it opens up new possibilities for knowing the world.
Types of thinking and their characteristics depending on the tasks to be solved and the properties of this process
The types of thinking are also divided depending on the tasks and subjects of the implementation of tasks. The process of cognition of reality happens:
- intuitive;
- analytical;
- realistic
- autistic
- egocentric;
- productive and reproductive.
All these species to a greater or lesser extent are in every person.