In the practice of psychodiagnostics, one of the main roles is given to the study of thinking. Diagnosis of this mental process is applicable in a variety of cases - in the work of a school psychologist, in professional selection, in medical, judicial practice and many others. Research methods are divided according to their focus (what characteristics of thinking are being studied) and the age of the subjects for whom they are suitable. The Complicated Analogies methodology is one of the most widely used practical psychologists in the arsenal, since not only the test results are informative, but also the research process itself.
What is the technique used for?
The methodology "Complex analogies" is intended for the diagnosis of thinking, its verbal and logical component. It reveals how much a person has the ability to understand complex logical relationships, to highlight abstract connections. This verbal test is designed to work with adolescents, youths and adults, i.e. persons over 14 years old.
The “Complicated Analogies” methodology is capable of detecting such disturbances in thinking as diffusion, slipping of conclusions, illogicality, and spreadability. It is also effective for working not only with healthy people, but also suffering from resonance - a violation of thinking, which is manifested in a tendency to empty, superficial reasoning, verbosity, lack of holistic thought in the statement.
Description of stimulus material
The Complicated Analogies methodology has in its arsenal stimulus material consisting of twenty pairs of words united by a certain logical connection. The test subject will determine it and solve the problem. There are six types in total, they are presented in a cipher table with samples of logical connections. A person’s job is to determine the encrypted connection in the samples and correlate the proposed 20 pairs of words with them. For example, in the pair “Peppy-languid” there is a contrast, these words are antonyms. In the cipher table, you need to find the same pair with the contrast of concepts and mark the corresponding cipher letter in the answer form. In this case, the pair corresponds to the code "Light-Darkness".
"Complex analogies", methodology: its form consists of two columns: on the left are all 20 pairs of words, on the right are the letters A, B, C, D, D, E, corresponding to one of the ciphers. To show the relationship between the words in the first column, you need to circle the letter of the cipher.
- Code A denotes the logical connection "one-set" or "one - a set of units", for example, "chapter-novel."
- In code B, the second word indicates to which class of phenomena or objects the first belongs. For example, "singing is art."
- Cipher B indicates 2 words that belong to the same class, but the second is larger in scale than the first. For example, "Sea-ocean".
- Cipher G is represented by opposite concepts, for example, "praise-abuse."
- In code D, the second word is a consequence of the first, for example, “fear-flight”.
- Code E - synonyms, for example, "cry-howl".
Study Procedure
The “Complicated Analogies” methodology instructs the test subject before starting the test: “Here is a table with 20 pairs of words that are logically connected. They are in the left column. In the right column there are 6 letters that correspond to the type of logical connection. You need to determine which the connection is established between the pair, and in the “Cipher" table find the most suitable for it. After that, circle the letter from the right column, which corresponds to the type of communication you selected from the “Cipher" table. You have 3 minutes for all the work.
During the testing process, it is important to pay attention to how the subject responds to the task, what reasoning he says out loud. If necessary, you can tell the completion of 1 task in order to track whether the instruction was correctly understood and in what direction the person thinks. Then he performs everything on his own.
Complicated Analogy Technique: Interpretation of Results
After the subject has completed testing, you must first calculate the number of correct answers and give a mark. If less than 6 correct answers were given - 0, 5 correct answers - 12-14, 9 hits - 19-20 points.
If a person has given most of the correct answers, we can conclude that he has an understanding of logical connections, he can operate with abstract concepts.
If the subject experiences difficulties at the instruction stage, hardly discusses out loud how pairs of words are related, performs most tasks only with the help of a specialist, one can draw conclusions about the low level of development of logical thinking, about the difficulty in understanding analogies between abstract concepts, about inconsistency of reasoning.
It is worth noting that even adults find it difficult to cope with some pairs of words. The Complicated Analogies methodology is not entirely simple. Therefore, it is especially necessary to carefully explain the instructions, make sure that the person correctly understands the task, and only then proceed with its implementation.