Approaches to the study of thinking in psychology. Theoretical approaches to the study of thinking. Basic approaches to the study of thinking. Theories of thought
The Problem of Thinking in Different Theoretical Approaches
Introduction
A mechanistic approach to the study of thinking
2 The problem of thinking within behaviorism
3 Information theory of thinking
Teleological Approach: The Würzburg School and its Concept of Thinking
Holistic approach: the theory of thinking from the standpoint of Gestalt psychology
The study of thinking in the theory of psychoanalysis
Genetic approach to the study of thinking
(stages of intelligence development according to J. Piaget)
An activity approach to the study of thinking
Conclusion
Bibliography
Introduction
Thinking is a process of cognition that is associated with the discovery of subjectively new knowledge, problem solving, and creative transformation of reality. Thinking is included in all types of human activity (labor, knowledge, communication, play) and is associated with all personal characteristics of a person (motivation, emotions, will, abilities, etc.). Thinking is considered the highest cognitive process. Thinking as a mental process takes place in mental (mental) actions and operations.
It is known that the problem of thinking is very relevant for psychology. Active psychological research into thinking has been going on since the 17th century. At this time and during the next rather long period in the history of psychology, thinking was actually identified with logic, and conceptual theoretical thinking was considered as the only kind of it to be studied. The very ability to think was considered innate, and thinking, as a rule, was considered outside development. Psychology<#"justify">The real laws of human thinking are currently being studied and modeled by representatives of various sciences: psychology, biology, medicine, genetics, cybernetics, logic, and a number of others, which reflects the importance and diversity of aspects that characterize thinking.
In this case, it is important to highlight what distinguishes thinking as a subject of psychology. Psychology studies the thinking of a particular person in his real life and activities. Based on the general definition of thinking in philosophy and the solution of its main question about the relation of consciousness to being, psychology considers specific types of mental practice that cannot be completely reduced to formal logical norms, the laws of social consciousness, physiological and other bodily mechanisms of thought processes, their reflection in models artificial intelligence.
Thus, the object of the psychology of thinking is a real person, whose intellect is inseparable from his motives, emotions, attitudes, the whole history of his individual development.
There are different views on the nature and mechanisms of the functioning of the thinking process. In this paper, we will consider the main ones.
The purpose of the work: to conduct a comparative analysis of various theoretical approaches to the problem of thinking.
) to select and analyze the scientific literature on the problem of the study of thinking;
) to develop criteria for comparative analysis, to analyze the differences and commonality of views on the problem of thinking.
Research method: theoretical analysis and synthesis of scientific literature on the problem of thinking.
1 Mechanistic approach to the study of thinking
thinking theory school
For the mechanistic approach, the theoretical possibility (and sometimes the necessity) of reducing all studied, albeit rather complex, phenomena to elementary processes, mechanisms is fundamental. With regard to the study of thinking, this approach can be given a more precise definition: it means the transfer of general mechanisms created to describe and explain mental processes in general to higher cognitive processes. It is no coincidence that the psychological theories related to this approach were modeled after traditional natural science disciplines. Researchers needed to identify the initial, primary elements of the reality under study and the connections between them, the patterns of their combination.
The mechanistic approach can be represented by three different theories: a) the theory of associationism (or structural); b) classical psychology of behavior (behaviorism); c) information theory of thinking (in its first versions). In these theories, thinking is defined, respectively, as a combination of sensory representations, learning, the process of processing information.
1 Problems of thinking in aspects of association theory
The first ideas about the universal patterns of human mental life were associated with the principle of associations, i.e. with the formation and updating of links between representations. This principle served as the basis for designating a whole trend in psychology - associationism.
Patterns of associations in the XIX-XX centuries. were studied in the works of W. Wundt, D. Gartley, J. Priestley, G. E. Muller, D. Mill, J.S. Mill, A. Bain, G. Spencer, T. Ziegen and others.
According to structural psychology, the initial elements of mental (conscious) experience are separate sensory, i.e. specifically modal representations, which were revealed on the material of sensory-perceptual, mnemonic processes. Connections or associations are established between individual elements-representations - by similarity, contrast, coincidence in space and time, etc. Thus, thinking acted as an association of sensory representations.
The involuntary following of images-representations was taken as a type of any mental process: thinking is always figurative thinking, process is always an involuntary change of images. The development of thinking is a process of accumulation of associations.
Associative psychology included perception, memory, and imagination in thinking. Over time, perception, memory, imagination began to be considered as special functions of the spirit, and thinking was called a narrower area of cognitive activity - the process of solving problems.
The simple elements that the mind dealt with were sensations. Sensations and their copies - simple ideas - were understood as the only real given; complex formations of consciousness were taken for an association of ideas. The content of thinking was reduced to a description of elementary phenomena - simple ideas and their various relationships. Complex ideas, although they arise through abstraction and generalization, remain for consciousness the sum of simple ideas, only their grouping changes.
According to the theory of associations, all mental processes are reproductive in nature, reproducing the content of sensory data, since the movement of thought depends on what ideas and in what order will be reproduced from memory reserves. These general provisions about mental activity have received different concretization from different representatives of associative psychology.
J.S. Mill (1806-1873) gives thinking the most schematic psychological interpretation, in common with the explanation of the origin and course of mental acts. Further, thinking is considered by him already in the plane of logic (conceptual-theoretical (or logical) thinking).
A. Bain (1818-1903) consistently reduces all manifestations of mental activity to the primary properties of the mind: consciousness of difference, consciousness of similarity and retention or memory.
The law of association by adjacency and the law of association by similarity Bain considered the two basic laws of thinking. Through contiguity association, the mind reunites ideas of action with ideas of sensation and feeling. Similarity associations rely on the process of identification. As soon as the identification of two phenomena of consciousness takes place, an association takes place. Thus, our thought moves from one identification to another.
Unlike other representatives of associative psychology, who considered feelings to be the simplest element of consciousness, G. Spencer (1820-1903) introduced another category of simple elements - the relationship between feelings. The simplest is the relation between two senses, that is, the transition from one state of consciousness to another. Such a transition presupposes an instantaneous push produced by the onset of a new state. Relationships perform the function of combining feelings into more or less complex groups of coexistence and succession. The groups then enter into mutual relations with each other and merge in more complex combinations, thus forming higher mental structures.
Through a long series of different constructions, thinking can be decomposed into its component groups of feelings. And, in the end, all thinking, from the most abstract and complex inferences to elementary intuition, consists in establishing relations of similarity and dissimilarity between two feelings.
The introduction to the psychology of experiment opened a new period in the history of psychological science. The first psychological experimental studies conducted by W. Wundt (1832-1920), and then by his numerous students and followers, developed on the basis of the associative doctrine.
However, associative psychology, embarking on a new path and taking an important step towards rapprochement with natural science, in no way wanted to compromise its theoretical principles: the introspective concept of consciousness, the doctrine of inner experience, and the subjective psychological method. She retained her concept of the structure of consciousness and of the associative laws that determine the course of mental phenomena.
The psychological experiment was based on a combination of objective physiological methods, borrowed primarily from the physiology of the sense organs, with an introspective method. Objective means of investigation were used, as the adherents of experimental psychology claimed, in order to create the best conditions for introspection and for accurate recording of the results obtained in this way. However, for higher mental processes, including thinking, this connection between mental and physiological processes was denied, and they remained outside the scope of experimental research.
Experimental studies of associative psychology not only did not help to overcome the difficulties that she faced, but also exacerbated them. The solution of questions of thinking during this period clearly reveals those internal contradictions that turn out to be fatal for associative psychology. Under the new conditions, there is a separation of sensations from thinking, which strikes at the very theoretical basis of associationism - a single associative principle of building all mental formations from the simplest states of consciousness.
Deepening this gap, Wundt also proposed a special method for studying thinking - studying it using the products of human culture, which actually replaced the study of the psychology of thinking with the history of culture. Leaving the supremacy of the associative principle for the lower forms of mental activity, Wundt asserts a new principle of activity for the higher forms of mental life. He develops the doctrine of apperception as a synthetic process of a higher order than associative ones. In apperception, he sees the final determining factor of mental activity, believing that in the stream of phenomena of consciousness, their associations are directed by apperceptive processes.
Wundt's teaching caused great controversy, since it came into conflict with the entire theoretical program of associative psychology.<#"justify">The name of this approach comes from the word "telos" - goal. Not only purposefulness, but the very expediency, the purpose of thinking with its psychological form and content becomes the subject of scientific research. In modern psychology, the allocation of the specifics of thinking has become the norm, the initial condition for studying the psychological processes of its functioning. The teleological approach was most fully and vividly declared in the theoretical and experimental school that arose in the 10s of our century in the city of Würzburg.
The Würzburg school is a direction of introspective psychology, whose representatives at the beginning of the 20th century. for the first time in the history of psychology, an attempt was made to experimentally investigate the features of thinking.
The group of psychologists that formed the Würzburg group included O. Külpe (1862-1915), K. Marbe (1869-1953), N. Ah (1871-1946), K. Buhler (1879-1963), O. Selz (1881 -1944), etc.
During its existence, the Würzburg School has undergone a significant evolution. Starting with statements about ó figurative nature of thinking (O. Kulpe, H. J. Watt, K. Buhler in his early works), representatives of the Würzburg school (the same K. Buhler in his later works, O. Selz) then identified and even specially emphasized the role of visual components in the process of thinking. The central position of the Würzburg school was that abstract-logical thinking is qualitatively different from sensations and perceptions, and that a person does not have a visual, or without figurative, knowledge.
Representatives of the Würzburg school, in contrast to the sensationalism of associative psychology, considered thinking as "pure", "without ó figurative ", that is, they believed that thinking has its own specific content and does not include in its composition either images or verbal components.
The Würzburg school, relying on the concept of intention (direction of thinking towards an object), put forward a position on the objective orientation of thought and emphasized the role of the object in the thought process. But due to the fact that, in accordance with the idealistic philosophy from which the Würzburg school proceeded, thinking was outwardly opposed to the entire sensory content of reality, the orientation of thinking towards an object turned into a pure act, into activity without any content.
Further, representatives of the Würzburg school emphasized the ordered, directed nature of thinking and revealed the importance of the task in the thought process. Instead of revealing the essential internal features of thinking that make it suitable for solving problems that cannot be solved by a mechanical associative process, the ability to self-realization is attributed to the task.
Within the framework of this direction, the following views on the processes of human thinking were formulated.
Thinking is an act of discerning relationships. Relation was understood as "everything that does not have the character of sensations", the whole variety of categorical syntheses, the whole system of categories. The discretion of the relationship was considered to some extent independent (from a psychological point of view) from the perception of the members of this relationship. It was stated that the process of understanding (i.e. thinking) occurs without significant support of randomly emerging sensory representations, i.e. without ó brazen. The process of development of thoughts was understood as a process of discerning ever new relations between thoughts, and the discernment of these relations was derived to a large extent from "beloved knowledge" of former thoughts.
Thinking is the work of the "I", subordinated to a certain task, from which the determining tendency proceeds. Considering thinking as a process of solving a problem, the researchers took a step towards the separation of proper thinking and mental activity (as an activity in the mind).
Two components were distinguished in the task: the determining tendency and the representation of the goal. Under the influence of the instruction, when the stimulus mentioned in it appears, the subject forms an idea of the goal. From this representation proceed some specific influences, called determining tendencies, they are directed to the representation of the stimulus that should appear - the corresponding representation. It is the determining tendencies that give thinking a purposeful character, streamlining the course of thought.
Representatives of the Würzburg school also used the concept of set to designate the states that arise in the subject who has accepted the task. The attitude was understood as indefinite, difficult to analyze states of consciousness, regulating the selection and dynamics of the content of thinking in accordance with the task.
The ideas of the Würzburg school were developed to a certain extent in the works of O. Seltz, who understood thinking as the functioning of intellectual operations. In the works of Seltz, for the first time in the history of the experimental study of thinking, it was presented as a process. This process is characterized by Zelts as a kind of holistic formation, consistently unfolding in time.
Seltz set himself the task of showing how the formation of one or another result of mental activity occurs, to show the function of each stage of intellectual activity in the implementation of subsequent stages (the so-called genetic and functional analysis), he also tried to overcome various oppositions of reproductive and productive thinking, speaking of reproductive and productive aspects of unified intellectual activity.
Developing his ideas about the very process of solving problems, O. Zelts attaches the greatest importance to the very first phase - the formation of a "general problem" as a result of processing the material given by the experimenter, the main link of which is to identify "objective relations" between elements. Goal setting, according to Selz, leads to the actualization of more or less general intellectual operations that are suitable for the implementation of a specific goal. In the simplest case, the task directly updates the ready-made solutions already available to the person. When solving new problems, intellectual operations are determined by the structure of the general task and anticipation of the results of these operations. The task is not only a trigger, but controls and directs the course of operations, a person periodically returns to the subject content of the task in order to analyze it in more depth.
The main intellectual operations, according to Selz, are the following: addition of the complex, abstraction and reproduction of similarity. Various combinations of these operations form methods for solving problems. Depending on the content of the task, one of the main operations may play a leading role in this combination.
Thus, representatives of the Würzburg school considered thinking as an internal action (an act of discretion of relations), as a process of solving a problem, as the functioning of intellectual operations (O. Seltz). Thinking itself has its own specific content and does not include in its composition either images or verbal components. In the context of thinking as a process of solving problems, thinking and mental activity were distinguished. The concept of set has been used to explain the state of task acceptance. The process of development of thoughts was understood as a process of discerning ever new relations between thoughts. In the thought process, the subject matter (the subject orientation of thought) and the structure of the general task matter. The purposeful nature of thinking depends on the representation of the goal and some specific influences emanating from this representation - determining tendencies.
3 Holistic approach: theory of thinking from the standpoint of Gestalt psychology
The beginnings of a holistic approach were laid in philosophy, biology, cybernetics, systems theory. In psychology, the concept of integrity was first proposed and developed in one of the areas of psychology of consciousness. The term "gestalt" (holistic form, structure) gave this direction its own name - gestalt psychology.
The Gestalt psychological direction in psychology arose in the early 1920s. in Germany. Representatives of this trend explored the integral structures that make up the mental field, developing new experimental methods. (martz)
A new aspect of thinking was identified in the works of such representatives of Gestalt psychology as M. Wertheimer (1880-1943), W. Köhler (1887-1967), K. Koffka (1886-1941), K. Dunker (1903-1940) and others.
The central thesis of the Gestalt understanding of thinking was the thesis about the productive nature of genuine thinking. The representatives of Gestalt psychology see the productive essence of thinking in the emergence in thinking of a new quality that cannot be reduced to the qualities of individual elements. It is referred to as a new gestalt or a new structure. Characteristic of thinking is the moment of seeing this new quality or new structure. This discretion occurs suddenly and is denoted by the German term Einsicht or English Insight (insight). However, as W. Köhler and M. Wertheimer emphasized, it is not the suddenness of the decision itself that is important, but the explanation of why the decision comes suddenly. For representatives of Gestalt psychology, the suddenness of the decision is based on the discretion of the structure in the problem situation.
As a result of an experimental study of the intellectual behavior of anthropoids, W. Köhler receives and analyzes numerous facts indicating that in order to use any object in a certain function, the tool and target (stick and fruit) must be in the same field of view, i.e. close into one structure. A feature of the structure that Köhler analyzes in his experiments is its optical, visual character. What is decisive for the animal is the optical proximity of objects, and not their real connection.
V. Köhler characterized intellectual behavior as sudden, independent of previous activity and completely opposite to "samples" as random acts. The very mechanism of a "reasonable" (as opposed to random) solution of the problem is, according to Köhler, as follows: in the optical field of the organism, the essential elements of the situation form a single whole (gestalt), the elements of the situation, entering this gestalt, acquire a new meaning, depending on the place , which they occupy in gestalt (like sensory structures); the formation of gestalts from the essential elements of the situation occurs under the influence of some tension that arises in the body in a problem situation.
Fundamentally the same provisions were formulated in the study of human mental activity by M. Wertheimer.
The goal of M. Wertheimer in the study of thinking was to study non-formal mechanisms and operations and not external factors that promote or hinder thinking. He set the task of searching for the meaning of a living, demonstrative, creative process of thinking, while clearly understanding that the living process stubbornly resists conceptualization. Wertheimer is primarily interested in dynamics, the course of a living process of thinking. Phenomena such as intuition and insight are only moments of this process.
According to Wertheimer, the unresolved problem contains some inconsistency of elements, in connection with which there is a desire to eliminate this inconsistency, to make the problem clear and complete. The central part of the solution is the elimination of the inconsistency, the transition, which is called "structural reorganization". The content of the transition is that the entity gets the clearest structure. The presence of transformation or transition will be a characteristic of productive thinking, "a good transition from a bad gestalt to a good gestalt."
Thus, it turns out that Wertheimer notes only two points - a problematic situation (an unsolved problem) and a situation where the problem has been removed, the problem has already been solved; analysis of the thought process itself is completely absent.
The most significant experimental study of human thinking is the book by K. Dunker "On the Psychology of Productive Thinking", dedicated to the theoretical and experimental disclosure of the positive content of the Gestalt concept of thinking.
In contrast to Wertheimer, the experimental part of Duncker's work is precisely research, and not a priori application of previously found constructions to some specific material. K. Dunker was the only one who really approached the analysis of the process, posing the question: "how does a solution arise from a problem situation, what are the ways to solve a certain problem."
The process of solving the original problem (i.e., the process of thinking) for Duncker is the process of developing or transforming the problem. "The final form of a particular solution is typically reached in a way that leads through intermediate phases, each of which has, in relation to the previous phases, the character of a solution, and in relation to the subsequent ones, the character of a problem." Each phase in solving the problem is the answer to the previous question and at the same time the formulation of the further problem. This characteristic of the process contains a certain understanding of the nature of thinking, revealing its internal relationships and interconnections.
However, Dunker understands that the general scheme outlined by him does not answer the question of what determines the sequence in the solution phases, in the transformations of the problem, and why these transformations actually occur. The question arises before him: how, from a certain phase of the solution, the next one arises immediately after it. Another fact that Dunker comes across is that a certain statement of the question of the problem (a certain functional meaning) conflicts with the conditions of the problem. Duncker calls this contradiction, which really arises in the course of thinking, "learning from mistakes."
However, in spite of these facts, Duncker cannot renounce the initial position dictated by the general principles of the theory of structure, that conditions, tasks can play only a subordinate role, be only the embodiment of a certain principle. Thus, a contradiction central to his entire concept arises between the thesis about the decisive role of functional significance, the principle, and the position derived by Dunker himself on the basis of an analysis of the experimental data he obtained.
In order to get out of the created contradiction, which Dunker himself is well aware of, he introduces a system of completely new concepts that have not been used by any representative of Gestalt psychology: "heuristic methods of thinking." He refers to heuristic methods: a) conflict analysis, b) material analysis, c) goal analysis.
These methods are not phases of the solution, not "properties of the solution", but "paths" to it. They ask "how do I find a solution?" rather than "how do I achieve my goal?". Analysis of the conflict - analysis of the situation, which manifests itself in a meaningful variation of the relevant properties of the situation from the point of view of the goal. In addition, the situation contains all sorts of material for various decisions, and therefore an analysis of the material is required. The concept of analysis of the goal or required Dunker does not actually reveal in any way.
But even after the introduction of heuristic methods, Dunker is unable to answer the main question: how the analysis of the conflict is connected with the process of deriving consequences from the conditions of the problem and consequences from its requirements, that is, with the process of changing the phases of thinking. Due to the lack of meaningful characteristics, these operations remain static, devoid of real movement.
Since Dunker only states the existence of an analysis of the conflict and does not raise the question of how to overcome it, he cannot say anything about the reasons for the process to move on, that is, about the transition from one phase to another that interested him. The factual material pushes Dunker to admit that, in addition to the mental content itself, which alone was the subject of research by, say, Wertheimer, there are methods, techniques or operations by which the problem is solved, i.e. the presence of mental operations (denoted by heuristic methods).
Thus, representatives of this direction began a new approach to thinking, considering it as an act of restructuring situations. Thinking was considered as sudden, not prepared by analytical activity aimed at highlighting the essential features of a problem situation.
The very process of solving the problem is aimed at discovering a new property of an object that exists in a certain system of relations with other elements of the problem. The solution of the problem comes as a gestalt, as a holistic formation, which is a certain step in this process.
The main setting of Gestalt psychology, which determined the formulation of the problem of thinking by it, was to identify the specifics of thinking, its qualitative originality, which was expressed in emphasizing its productive nature.
4 The study of thinking in the theory of psychoanalysis
Psychoanalysis, a psychological trend founded by the Austrian psychiatrist and psychologist Z. Freud (1856-1939) at the end of the 19th century, is one of the first psychological trends that emerged as a result of the division of psychology into different schools.
The subject of psychology in this school was the deep, unconscious structures of the psyche. Unlike previous areas, especially Gestalt psychology, in psychoanalysis not only the subject of psychology, but also priorities have been radically revised - not intellect, but motivation comes first. And all psychoanalysis has made a certain contribution to the development of the psychology of thinking. Within the framework of this direction, much attention was paid to the problem of unconscious forms of thinking, as well as to the study of the dependence of thinking on human motives and needs. It was thanks to the search for unconscious forms of thinking in psychoanalysis that the concept of "defensive psychological mechanisms" was formed.
Sigmund Freud believed that the reason for the appearance of thinking was the need to satisfy biological needs: when an image of objects appeared in the human brain that could satisfy his need, for example, for food, thinking manifested itself by finding ways to translate the internal image into reality. In other words, thinking acted as a mechanism for managing the actions necessary to achieve the goal.
Freud also owns a special work that can be attributed to the psychology of thinking, it is called "Wit and its relation to the unconscious" (1905). "Wit" is explained as a manifestation of creative thinking, which is based on unconscious primary motives. Wit and its results may arise from the dissatisfaction of primary needs, i.e. creativity is the sublimated satisfaction of these needs.
The concept of autistic thinking by Eigen Bleuler (1857-1939) also adjoins psychoanalysis.
Autism is explained as the dominance of inner life, withdrawal from the outer world. Ordinary dreams, daydreams, mythology, schizophrenic thinking are manifestations of autistic thinking, in which thoughts are subject to affective needs. There is no sharp boundary between autistic and ordinary thinking, since autistic, i.e., affective elements easily penetrate into the latter thinking. In autistic thinking, concepts are used to depict unfulfilled desires as being fulfilled. Realistic thinking is connected with the correct knowledge of the surrounding world, with the knowledge of the truth. Autistic thinking imagines what corresponds to affect. Autism is associated with the exercise of mental abilities.
The concept of E. Bleuler refers to the most complex mechanisms of the need-emotional regulation of thinking, shows its significance. It reflects the well-known differences between the "dreamer type" and the "sober realist type." At the same time, it is not free from the opposition of the reflective (realistic) function of thinking and its conditioning by the need-emotional sphere.
Thus, from the point of view of the theory of psychoanalysis, thinking is a mechanism for managing the actions necessary to achieve the goal. Thinking, which is an attribute of consciousness, is under the scope of multidirectional influences: the unconscious and the actual requirements of the culture in which a person lives. These circumstances dictate a completely definite function to thinking. Thinking in this case should act as a process aimed at finding a way to realize unconscious aspirations, taking into account a specific socio-cultural situation.
5 Genetic approach to the study of thinking
(stages of intelligence development according to J. Piaget)
The central idea of the genetic approach to the study of intelligence is that the content, the essence of thinking can be revealed only by analyzing the patterns of its formation, development, and formation. The most clear and consistent genetic approach is presented in the concept of the stages of development of the intellect according to J. Piaget (1896-1980).
The theory of J. Piaget includes two main components: the doctrine of the functions of the intellect and the doctrine of the stages of development of the intellect.
Piaget uses the concept not "thinking", but "intelligence", which he defines as "progressive reversibility of mobile mental structures", and believes that "intelligence is a state of equilibrium towards which all successively located adaptations of the sensorimotor and cognitive order gravitate, as well as all assimilative and accommodating interactions of the organism with the environment. This formulation is explained by the fact that in traditional ways of identifying the specifics of thinking, the latter is compared with perception, that is, with another form of cognition.
In the theory of J. Piaget, intellect in its most general form is understood as the further development of certain fundamental biological characteristics, fundamental in the sense that they are inseparable from life. Organization and adaptation (adaptation) stand out as such characteristics. Adaptation, in turn, includes two interrelated processes - assimilation and accommodation. The balance between assimilation and accommodation is one of the main concepts of this theory. The two types of functioning of the intellect form the states of a balanced and unbalanced equilibrium state.
Organization and adaptation are the main functions of intelligence. The meaning of the term "assimilation" is reduced to emphasizing the re-creation by the subject in the course of his cognitive activity of certain characteristics of the object being cognised. "Accommodation" is the process of adapting the cognizing subject itself to the various requirements put forward by the objective world. The cognitive experience that a given person has accumulated by a certain period, J. Piaget calls the cognitive structure.
In describing the functioning of the intellect, Piaget uses the concept of action schema as one of the most important concepts. In the narrow sense of the word, a schema is the sensorimotor equivalent of a concept. From the very beginning, the child acquires his experience on the basis of action: he follows with his eyes, turns his head, explores with his hands, drags, feels, grasps, explores with his mouth, moves his legs, and so on. All the experience gained is formalized in action schemes. The action scheme is the most general thing that is preserved in the action when it is repeated many times in different circumstances.
The scheme of action, in the broad sense of the word, is a structure at a certain level of mental development. The structure, according to Piaget, is a mental system or integrity, the principles of activity of which are different from the principles of activity of the parts that make up this structure. Structure is a self-regulating system. New mental structures are formed on the basis of action. One of the features of the functioning of the human intellect is that not every content received from the outside world can be assimilated (assimilated), but only that which at least approximately corresponds to the internal structures of the individual.
The central core of the genesis of intelligence, according to Piaget, forms the formation of logical thinking, the ability for which, according to Piaget, is neither innate nor preformed in the human spirit. Logical thinking is a product of the growing activity of the subject in his relationship with the outside world.
J. Piaget identified four main stages in the development of logical thinking:
Sensorimotor, preverbal intelligence (from 0 to 1.5-2 years).
Sensorimotor, preverbal intelligence has natural origins in perception and motor skills, in particular, going beyond direct contact with an object (perception), establishing and quickly automating links between observing an object and acting with it (skill). In the course of the formation of sensorimotor intelligence, the goals and means of performing practical actions are correlated with each other, their causal relationships and relationships are organized.
The first stage of the development of the intellect is that form of mobile balance, to which the psychological mechanisms of perception and formation of a skill aspire, reaching it by moving into a new sphere of application - the field of purposeful practical actions.
Visual (intuitive), pre-operational thinking (from 1.5-2 to 7-8 years).
Visual (intuitive), pre-operational thinking begins with the mastery of symbolic speech, which creates the possibility of interiorizing practical action. The intuitive representation of an object, an event is the acceptance of some part of it (for example, the height of the level of water poured into a glass) for the whole (general shape) of a glass of water, including its width: and if this is so, then it is intuitively "clear" - there is more water in one of the glasses, where its level is higher". These methods of interaction between the subject and the object are not yet intellectual operations, although they strive precisely for them.
Stage of concrete operations (from 7-8 to 11-12 years).
At the stage of specific operations, the child develops the ability to internally carry out those operations that he had previously performed externally. Such thinking already allows the child to carry out comparison, classification, systematization, but only on specific material.
Stage of formal, or propositional operations (from 11-12 years old).
The stage of formal or propositional operations. At this stage, the genesis of intelligence is completed. During this period, the ability to think hypothetically-deductively appears, theoretically, a system of operations of propositional logic (propositional logic) is formed. With equal success, the subject can now operate both with objects and with statements. Along with the operations of propositional logic, the child during this period forms new groups of operations that are not directly related to the logic of propositions; there are operational schemes related to probability, multiplicative compositions, etc. The appearance of such systems of operations indicates, according to J. Piaget, that the intellect is formed.
Thus, J. Piaget considers thinking as a biological process. The emergence of thinking, in his opinion, is due to the biological processes of adaptation to the environment. Logical thinking is a product of the growing activity of the subject in his relationship with the outside world.
Piaget built the theory of children's thinking on the basis of logic and biology. He proceeded from the idea that the basis of mental development is the development of the intellect; the stages of mental development are the stages of the development of the intellect, through which the child gradually passes in the formation of an increasingly adequate scheme of the situation. The basis of this scheme is logical thinking. In the process of development, the organism adapts to the environment. At the same time, adaptation is not a passive process, but an active interaction of the organism with the environment. The process of adaptation and the formation of an adequate scheme of the situation occurs gradually, while the child uses two mechanisms for its construction - assimilation and accommodation.
6 Activity approach to the study of thinking
In the domestic<#"justify">Considering the motor nature of mental processes, Vygotsky pointed out that "... the side of thinking that enters the system of behavior as a set of motor reactions of the body is completely clear. Any thought associated with movement causes in itself some preliminary tension of the corresponding muscles, expressing a tendency to be realized in motion, and if it remains only a thought, it is because the motion is not carried to the end, is not fully revealed and remains in a hidden, although in a completely tangible and effective form.
The simplest observations show that a strong thought about some forthcoming action or deed is quite casually revealed in a pose or gesture, as if in preparatory and preliminary efforts that we are about to make.
On the other hand, although thought is movement, it also "is to the same extent a delay in movement, i.e., such a form of it when the complication of the central moments of the reaction weakens and tends to nullify any external manifestation of it." For example, if something hits us hard, we will certainly delay the movement. From this follows the conclusion that "thought acts as a preliminary organizer of our behavior." The main purpose of thinking, according to L. S. Vygotsky, is “to determine the way of life and behavior, change our actions, direct them and free them from the power of a particular situation.”
Thinking exists in different forms. S. L. Rubinshtein singled out theoretical and visual thinking, and he did not consider these types of thinking polar, but, on the contrary, considered the possibility of their transition into each other in various ways. Being different levels, or steps, of knowledge, they are, according to S. L. Rubinshtein, at the same time different sides (types) of thinking. He wrote: "We distinguish visual-figurative thinking and abstract-theoretical not only as two levels, but also as two types or two aspects of a single thinking; not only a concept, but also an image appears at any, even the highest, level of thinking" .
S. L. Rubinshtein considered thinking as an internal process. "Thinking is a process because it is a continuous interaction of a person with an object." The disclosure of mental operations (comparison, generalization, analysis, synthesis, abstraction) came to the fore. operational composition of the thinking process. The methodological principle underlying the study is that external causes act through internal conditions. The main (central) mechanism of the thought process is analysis through synthesis.
S. L. Rubinshtein believed that thinking unfolds in time, includes some phases, stages. This is possible only when the subject is active. A mental act is always aimed at solving a problem, i.e., if the problem is relevant for a person and does not have a ready-made solution, the thought process begins to unfold. The decision goes through several phases.
The initial phase is the awareness of the problem situation. Awareness and comprehension of the problem requires the work of thought. From understanding the problem, thought moves to its solution. The solution of the problem is accomplished in various and very diverse ways. The way and methods of solving the problem depend on its nature, whether the subject has sufficient knowledge related to this task. When a solution has already been outlined, then a new stage arises, at which the solution is recognized as a hypothesis.
Awareness of the emerging solution requires its verification, control. This is the next stage of intellectual activity. The need for verification is especially acute when other options for solving the same problem appear. Criticality is an essential sign of a mature mind.
After control, the thought process proceeds to the final phase - to the formation of a judgment on this issue, fixing the solution of the task (problem) in it.
It is important to note that in this theory of the stage-by-stage flow of the mental act in solving problems, thinking is not considered as a sequential chain of stages in the activity of thinking. "... In the process of thinking, - wrote S. L. Rubinshtein, - all its moments are in an internal dialectical relationship, which does not allow them to be mechanically broken and lined up in a linear sequence."
This process of an intellectual act is carried out using a thinking-specific arsenal of operations of comparison, analysis and synthesis, abstraction and generalization. Comparison leads to the classification of phenomena, knowledge. "Analysis without synthesis is flawed."
Analysis and synthesis do not exhaust the mental act. Its essential aspects are abstraction and generalization. Abstraction is a movement of thought that passes from the sensual properties of an object to their abstract properties through relations in which their abstract properties are revealed. And generalization, isolating the general and recurring in objects (phenomena), thereby becomes necessary and essential, general for a whole class of phenomena.
In line with the activity approach, thinking is considered as a process of conscious reflection of reality in its objective properties, connections, relations, which include objects that are inaccessible to direct sensory perception. On this occasion, S. L. Rubinshtein wrote: "Thinking correlates the data of sensations and perceptions - compares, compares, distinguishes, reveals relationships, mediations and reveals new abstract properties that are not directly sensually given." Sensation, perception reflect separate aspects of phenomena, while thinking correlates the data of sensations and perceptions and reveals relationships. However, even a simple perception of an object is a reflection of it not only as having any specific features (shape, color, etc.), but also “... as having a certain objective and stable meaning. The task of thinking is to identify essential, necessary connections that are based on real dependencies, and to separate them from random, non-essential signs or connections, phenomena.
A.N. Leontiev and his supporters studied thinking as a cognitive activity of a person. The main methodological principle is the assertion that the internal process (mental actions) is formed through external activity (behavior).
The main structural components of any activity are: motive - action - operation - goal. In this regard, the subject of study in this school is: the motivation of thinking, goal setting, the formation of mental actions, the transformation of actions, their transformation into operations.
Internal mental activity is not only a derivative of external, practical, but also has a fundamentally the same structure, and individual actions and operations can also be distinguished in it. At the same time, internal and external elements of activity are interchangeable. The structure of mental, theoretical activity may include external, practical actions, and vice versa, the structure of practical activity may include internal, mental operations and actions. Consequently, thinking as the highest mental process is formed in the process of activity.
A.N. Leontiev emphasized the arbitrary nature of the higher forms of human thinking, their derivation from culture and the possibility of development under the influence of social experience. He wrote that "human knowledge is initially accomplished in the process of labor instrumental activity. In the process of it, one thing is tested by other things. A necessary condition for the emergence of thinking is the objective practical activity of people. Thinking is a process of conscious reflection of reality in such its objective properties, connections of relations, which include those inaccessible to direct sensory perception of the object. Cognition in this case is possible in an indirect way, this is the path and there is the path of thinking. The development of human thinking occurs and is possible only in unity with social consciousness. "
P.Ya. Galperin notes that "the only way of analysis is to build the formation of the process of interest to us with given properties" and study this phenomenon in the process of its formation. Any activity (action), according to this approach, consists of two stages: indicative (preparation phase) and executive (implementation phase). The importance of the indicative stage in the process of solving problems was pointed out by almost all representatives of this school, and P.Ya. Halperin directly stated that "psychology should not deal with thinking in general, but with orientation in the process of thinking." Thus, Galperin clarifies and narrows the subject of research, proposing to explore thinking as an orienting activity, highlighting the search zone (where to look) and the search model (what to look for) in the process of orientation.
P.Ya.Galperin developed the theory of the formation of thinking (1953), which was called the concept of the systematic formation of mental actions. It was based on the idea of a genetic dependence between internal intellectual operations and external practical actions.
The process of transferring external action to the inside (internalization), according to P.Ya. Galperin, is carried out in stages, passing through strictly defined stages. At each stage, the given action is transformed according to a number of parameters. The four parameters by which the action is transformed as it moves from outside to inside are the following: the level of performance, the measure of generalization, the completeness of the operations actually performed, and the measure of mastery. According to the first of these parameters, the action can be on three sublevels: action with material objects, action in terms of loud speech and action in the mind. Three other parameters characterize the quality of the action formed at a certain level: generalization, abbreviation and mastery.
The process of formation of mental actions, according to P. Ya. Galperin, is presented as follows:
Familiarization with the composition of the future action in practical terms, as well as with the requirements (samples) that it will eventually have to meet. This familiarization is the orienting basis for future action.
Performing a given action in an external form in a practical way with real objects or their substitutes. Mastering this external action follows all the main parameters with a certain type of orientation in each.
Performing an action without direct reliance on external objects or their substitutes. Transfer of action from the external plan to the plan of loud speech.
The transfer of loud-speech action to the internal plan. Free pronunciation of the action entirely "to oneself."
The performance of an action in terms of inner speech with its corresponding transformations and abbreviations and the transition of the action from the sphere of intellectual control to the level of intellectual skills and abilities.
Galperin's concept of the planned formation of mental actions has become widely known and has found application in teaching mental actions.
Thus, in the activity approach, thinking was interpreted as a special kind of cognitive activity. Through the introduction of the category of activity into the psychology of thinking, the opposition between theoretical and practical intellect, the subject and object of cognition, was overcome. Thinking in the theory of activity began to be understood as a life-forming ability to solve various problems and expediently transform reality, aimed at revealing aspects of it hidden from direct observation.
The active approach allows us to consider mental activity as a condition for the self-development of the individual. This approach made it possible to enrich the psychology of thinking with data on the significance of motivation, emotions, goal-setting in mental activity; about the dependence of mental actions on these components; about the role of control over thinking, evaluative attitude to one's thinking, etc.
The activity theory of thinking contributed to the solution of many practical problems related to the education and mental development of children. On its basis, such theories of learning were built (they can also be considered as theories of the development of thinking), such as the theory of P. Ya. Galperin, the theory of L. V. Zankov, the theory of V. V. Davydov.
This fundamental shift in the psychological study of thinking was made due to the transition to the analysis of the main means of thinking, its dynamic structures, which are revealed when considering thinking as a probabilistic process.
Conclusion
Based on the results of the considered views on the nature and mechanisms of the functioning of the thinking process, which took shape in the context of the main schools and areas of psychological science, the following conclusions can be drawn.
The problems of thinking were studied within the framework of the mechanistic approach (associative theory, behaviorism, informational theory of thinking), the teleological approach (Würzburg school), the holistic approach (Gestalt psychology), in the theory of psychoanalysis, from the standpoint of the genetic and activity approaches.
All the most well-known theories that try to explain the existence of human thinking and its origin can be divided into two large groups. The first group should include theories proclaiming that a person has natural intellectual abilities. According to the provisions of these theories, intellectual abilities are innate and therefore do not change in the process of life, and their formation does not depend on living conditions. This group includes the theories of thinking of associationism, behaviorism, Gestalt psychology, the concept of thinking of psychologists of the Würzburg school, the theory of thinking within the framework of psychoanalysis, and the information theory of thinking. But, despite the fact that the listed approaches consider the process of thinking as biologically determined, the view on the origin and mechanisms of functioning of this process is different in all theories.
In associative psychology (J.S. Mill, A. Baen, W. Wundt, G. Ebbinghaus and others), thinking was reduced in all its manifestations to associations (associations by contiguity, similarity, contrast). The connection between traces of past experience and impressions received in the present experience was considered as the mechanisms of thinking.
Associative sensationalism was opposed by the Würzburg school, which for the first time at the beginning of the 20th century. undertook an experimental study of thinking. Its representatives (O. Külpe, K. Marbe, K. Buhler, O. Selz and others) considered thinking as an internal action (an act of discretion of relations), as the functioning of intellectual operations determined by the structure of a common task and anticipation (foresight) of the results of these operations .
Representatives of Gestalt psychology (M.Werheimer, K.Kofka, W.Köhler, K.Dunker and others) began a new approach to thinking, considering it as an act of restructuring situations. The basis of intelligence is the ability to form and transform structures, to see them in reality. Thinking was considered as sudden, not prepared by analytical activity aimed at highlighting the essential features of a problem situation.
Within the framework of behaviorism, thinking was presented as a process of forming complex connections between stimuli and reactions, the formation of practical skills and abilities associated with solving problems. Representatives of this trend (J. Watson, E. Tolman, B. Skinner, K. Pribram, K. Hull and others) tried to replace the process of thinking as a subjective phenomenon with behavior (open or hidden, mental).
From the point of view of the theory of psychoanalysis (S. Freud, E. Bleiler), thinking is a mechanism for managing the actions necessary to achieve the goal, i.e. motivational process. Mental activity can occur under the influence of an unconscious motive or its substitute - the desired motive.
With the advent of electronic computers, an understanding of thinking as an information processing system arose (A. Newell, G. Simon, J. McCarthy, J.K. Shaw, etc.). The primary task of this approach was to trace the flow of information in the "system" (ie, in the brain). The main concepts of this approach are those related to cognitive activity: information, input, processing, coding and subroutine. But the interpretation of thinking as an information processing system has the following limitations: information-cybernetic and psychological systems proper do not differ, meaning formation, goal formation, emotional and motivational regulation of thinking, the ratio of conscious and unconscious in mental activity, types of generalizations are not analyzed, the development of thinking is not analyzed. That is why some psychologists do not consider this theory to be psychological.
The second group of theories investigating the problem of attention includes the theories based on the idea that the mental abilities of a person are mainly formed and developed during their lifetime. They try to explain thinking either in terms of the external influences of the environment, or in terms of the idea of the subject's internal development, or in terms of both. Those. the determinant that determines the quality of thinking is social. This group includes: the genetic approach to solving the problems of intellect by J. Piaget and the concept of thinking, presented in the framework of the activity approach.
In the works of J. Piaget, thinking is considered as a biological process. The emergence of thinking, in his opinion, is due to the biological processes of adaptation to the environment. Logical thinking is a product of the growing activity of the subject in his relationship with the outside world. Piaget built the theory of children's thinking based on the idea that the basis of mental development is the development of the intellect; the stages of mental development are the stages of the development of the intellect, through which the child gradually passes in the formation of an increasingly adequate scheme of the situation.
Within the framework of the psychological theory of activity (L.S. Vygotsky, A.N. Leontiev, S.L. Rubinshtein, P.Ya. Galperin, etc.), thinking is interpreted as a special kind of cognitive activity. Thinking began to be understood as an in vivo forming ability to solve various problems and expediently transform reality, aimed at revealing aspects of it hidden from direct observation. This approach made it possible to enrich the psychology of thinking with data on the significance of motivation, emotions, goal-setting in mental activity; about the dependence of mental actions on these components; about the role of control over thinking, evaluative attitude to one's thinking, etc. The active approach allows us to consider mental activity as a condition for the self-development of the individual.
In conclusion, it should be noted that from the point of view of real science and practice, the selection of independent approaches to the study of thinking is largely an abstraction. It hardly makes sense to look for a place for a specific modern research in only one of these approaches. But they allow us to understand and realize the theoretical foundations of empirical research, the adequacy of its results, the possibilities and limitations of their interpretation.
Since the emergence of psychology as an independent science, cognitive processes have always been its central theme. Cognitive mental activity of a person is complex and diverse. Thinking is closely connected with all mental processes: it relies on memory, using its products to perform its functions; it cannot be productive without attention and creative without imagination. It is inconceivable outside the language, its symbolic structure, which allows thinking to realize one of its functions of cognition of reality with the help of symbolic means.
The study of this issue in psychology, if not directly, then indirectly, many scientists. With the help of knowledge about the structure of thinking, its functions, the criteria for its development, many psychological tests of questionnaires, theoretical approaches to the diagnosis of practical thinking were developed. The study of thinking opens up great opportunities for the development of human abilities. Consequently, thinking as a mental process comes to the fore of the most pressing issues in the science of psychology.
Currently, the problems of thinking are studied not only within the framework of psychology, but also by representatives of various sciences, which reflects the importance and diversity of aspects that characterize thinking.
An analysis of the literature showed that the problem of intellectual activity, and above all thinking, has a long history of development and many scientific schools that have considered it differently. But, despite numerous theoretical searches and experimental studies, there is no consensus on the structure and nature of thinking today.
The first ideas about the universal patterns of mental life were associated with the formation of connections (associations). The involuntary following of images-representations was taken as a type of any mental process: thinking is always figurative thinking, process is always an involuntary change of images. The development of thinking is a process of accumulation of associations. It was believed that thought processes could not be subjected to experimental study at all: thinking was proposed to be studied only by the products of human culture.
The principle of associations as a universal explanatory principle has raised serious objections, but the association itself as a fact is interpreted as an indisputable psychological reality. For example, L.S. Vygotsky, objecting to the associationistic interpretation of the concept, directly connected simpler forms of generalization (complexes) with the formation of associations (by similarity and by contrast).
Psychologists of the Würzburg School (O. Külpe, K. Marbe and others) criticized associationism at the level of experiment (the method of introspection). The position of the Würzburg School as a whole is extremely contradictory. On the one hand, the most important principle of activity is put forward (as opposed to associations), but this activity is interpreted in the traditionally idealistic terms as a special kind of activity of the soul. Having singled out thinking as an independent activity, the Würzburg school not only opposed, but also tore it away from practical activity, language and sensual images. At the same time, the range of those issues that later became the main ones in the context of the psychology of thinking was largely predetermined: the ratio of external and internal activities, thinking and language, thinking and sensory images, the determination of thinking and its selectivity, the task and means of solving it. The study of thinking as a process of problem solving has become, in fact, generally accepted in modern psychology.
Studies of thinking in behaviorism (J. Watson, E. Tolman, B. Skinner, K. Pribram, K. Hull, etc.) are limited to the study of the actions of an individual performed by him in a problem situation, i.e. problems of learning or acquiring individual experience. Having defined thinking as a form of behavior, the behaviorists pulled it out of the narrow circle of introspectively given phenomena, but immediately identified it with the observed phenomena - the reactions of a living being. Understanding thinking as a process of trial and error breaks thinking into a series of unrelated, disparate actions. Previous actions do not prepare subsequent ones, they are not a condition for their implementation. The movement of thought thereby loses its inner unity and ceases to be a proper process. The denial of cognition as a directly unobservable phenomenon led to the collapse of the behavioral theory of thought. The results obtained did not fit into the rough "stimulus-response" scheme. As a result, behaviorists almost completely stopped the study of thinking.
The works of representatives of Gestalt psychology (M.Werheimer, K.Kofka, W.Köhler, K.Dunker, etc.), who considered thinking as an act of restructuring situations, contributed to the rethinking of the subject matter of the psychology of thinking and methods of its study. A psychologist who studies thinking now turns not only to the thinking of his colleague, but also to the mind of his distant ancestors - anthropoids. The method of self-observation is not applicable to them. Representatives of Gestalt psychology raised a number of fundamental questions of the psychology of thinking. These are, first of all, questions about the specifics of creative (or productive) thinking, about how a new one is created in the process of thinking, about the role of past experience in solving problems, about the relationship between thinking and knowledge, gradual and sudden (discrete and continuous) in the process of solving tasks.
In psychoanalysis, the problem of the motives of human behavior was brought to the fore (3. Freud and his followers). It was believed that human activity and behavior are based on motives. Therefore, representatives of this direction consider thinking as a motivational process. The mental activity can be influenced by both the unconscious and the desired motive. For example, creative thinking (according to Freud) is based on unconscious primary motives. When evaluating the psychoanalytic approach to the study of the motivation of thinking, it is necessary to take into account the limitations of the general theory of motivation proposed by psychoanalysis, as well as the limitations of the analysis of the relationship between motivation and thinking. At the same time, it is important to emphasize the positive that is associated with psychoanalysis: emphasizing the importance of the problem of motives, analyzing the manifestations of motives in thinking, the significance of the unconscious in thinking, an attempt to highlight specific features of the unconscious in comparison with consciousness.
In the late 40s - early 50s of the XX century. In connection with the development of cybernetics, an information theory of thinking appeared, which considers it as a process of processing information through operating with conditional symbols. Within the framework of this approach, mental processes are modeled by analogy with a computer. However, the very process of this modeling turns out to be unrevealed, important relationships between the categories "modeling" and "reflection" are not revealed. As a result, thinking is reduced to elementary information processes. The concept of "thinking" as a psychological category can be adequately used in cybernetics only in the works of that direction, which is occupied with modeling the techniques, operations, methods and functions of human thinking. Of the large number of authors who touch upon the relationship between thinking and cybernetic systems, only a few pay attention to the special development of the most general questions, in particular questions about the approach to thinking. The development of cybernetics requires a more general concept of thinking, so that human thinking can be considered in a new, more general way. The psychology of thinking is also interested in developing such a concept. Work in this direction is the business of the future.
Among the psychological theories of thinking widespread abroad, the concept of the Genevan scientist J. Piaget occupies a special place. It is distinguished not only by the wealth of experimental material and the originality of ideas, but above all by the vastness of the theoretical system and its detailed elaboration. J. Piaget is one of the few contemporary psychologists who make extensive use of not only the theory of knowledge (epistemology), which is very common, but also the data of modern formal logic to construct a psychological theory. In thinking (intellect), he sees, first of all, a system of operations derived from objective actions, interconnected in such a way that they form a certain integrity, structure. Finally, an important feature of Piaget's research lies in the genetic approach to the analysis of intelligence. The genesis of intelligence is expressed in the formation of such intellectual structures, each of which can be considered as a special form of equilibrium between the organism and the environment, and intellectual development leads to the formation of more and more stable forms of equilibrium.
In domestic psychological science, based on the doctrine of the activity nature of the human psyche, thinking has received a new interpretation. Fundamental for domestic science is the approach to human intellectual activity, and in particular to thinking, not as some kind of abstract phenomenon, not only as a biological education, but as a psychological phenomenon (education) that arose on the basis and as a result of socio-historical development , in the process of purposeful activity, including labor. A.N. Leontiev, emphasizing the arbitrary nature of the higher forms of human thinking, their derivativeness from culture and the possibility of development under the influence of social experience, wrote that “human thinking does not exist outside of society, outside of language, outside of the knowledge accumulated by mankind and the ways of mental activity developed by it. An individual person becomes the subject of thinking, only having mastered the language, concepts, logic.
Through the introduction of the category of activity into the psychology of thinking, the opposition between theoretical and practical intellect, the subject and object of cognition, was finally overcome. Thus, a new one was opened for concrete research; a previously invisible connection that exists between activity and thinking, as well as between different types of thinking itself. For the first time, it became possible to raise and solve questions about the genesis of thinking (L.S. Vygotsky), about its formation and development in children as a result of purposeful education (P.Ya. Galperin).
Thus, when analyzing the problem of intellectual activity and, above all, thinking, it was revealed that the most famous theories explaining the process of thinking can be divided into two large groups: the theories related to the first group consider the process of thinking as biologically determined; the theories of the second group proceed from the hypothesis of the social determination of the thought process.
Today, it is customary to study the problems of thinking from the point of view of interactionist theory, because the biological determinant - innate inclinations - sets the biologically determined framework for the plasticity of the thinking process, and the social one "finishes", "polishes" this process to infinity.
In conclusion, it should be said that the relevance of studying the process of thinking today is determined not only by the rapid development of the social situation and the need for orientation in these changes. The significance of the study of thinking in real activity is determined primarily by the very logic of the development of psychological knowledge, which requires a more holistic description of all mental processes in the life of the subject.
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A. Mechanistic approach. Its main characteristics are: 1) the transfer of explanatory mechanisms of the functioning of any mental processes to thinking, 2) the “subjectlessness” of thinking (the internal activity of the subject is not taken into account), 3) reactivity, external conditionality of thinking, 4) replacing the explanation of the process with its modeling, 5) the absence of a special language of thought analysis.
The mechanistic approach is represented by three theories: 1. Associationism (structuralism). The initial elements of experience are sensory representations. Associations are established between them. Main the law of associations - the strength of associations depends on their repetition. Associations are formed: by similarity, contrast, spatial and temporal proximity, by relation (causality, etc.). Thinking is an association of sensory representations. Thus, a concept is formed through an association of representations, a judgment - through an association of concepts, a conclusion - through an association of judgments.
2. Behaviorism. Thinking appears in the following forms: as learning (the first stage of developing the skill of solving a practical problem), as silent behavior (“speech minus sound”). Thinking is identified with "the behavior of a rat first placed in a maze" (chaotic enumeration, trial and error, random finding of a solution that is reinforced). The theory of trial and error. Thinking - learning, obeys the laws of associationism. E. Thorndike: instrumental learning. The activity is not directed, the solution is found randomly by the “+” reinforced sample.
3. Information theory of thinking (first options).
Thinking as a process of processing information through operating with conventional symbols. Problem solving as an implementation of an algorithmic program (including a mental one). Modeling of thought processes by analogy with a computer, through the analysis of information at the "input" and "output", the reduction of thinking to elementary information processes. All the approaches described above have developed in the direction of a greater consideration of the subject, his activity: (1) - the introduction by James of the ideas of a functional orientation and productivity of thinking; (2) - Tolman's introduction of "intermediate variables" as a source of internal activity; (3) - the introduction of heuristics as a way to reduce enumeration, avoiding rigid algorithmization.
B. Teleological approach.
The main characteristic of thinking is its purposefulness, activity. The question is raised about the specifics of thinking. Emphasis on the actualization of past experience as the basis for solving the problem. Experimental studies are based on the material of reproductive tasks. The main features of this approach are: 1) the internal orientation of the subject to achieve the goal (for example, solving a problem), 2) in thinking, a search is made for the essential (relationship) as opposed to the visually perceived, 3) thought. as an act of discretion of the relations of the elements of the task
1. Wurzburg school (Külpe, Buhler, Ah, Marbe, etc.).
Thinking as a solution to problems, as an internal action. The idea of the intentionality of consciousness is expressed by the concept of a "determining tendency" that is not subject to the laws of associations. In experiments, this determining tendency is determined by the task set (a question and a search for an answer). The very concept of “task” and the “representation of the goal” associated with it are introduced. Introduction of the concept of “attitudes” as a characteristic of the state of the subject who accepted the task. Thinking is treated as an independent process, a special activity. It has an unobtrusive, non-figurative character. Thinking is awareness of relationships, independent of figurative representations. The unit of consciousness is action. Unit of analysis: vector. The main concept is the concept of the task. Watt: thinking is problem solving. The results of the experiments: the selection, in addition to sensory representations, thoughts (consciousness, intellectual feelings). Thought is a method of solving a problem. Thinking is awareness of the relationship between sensory representations, which is not reducible to this representation. The main characteristics of thinking: 1) the concept of a task, 2) awareness of relationships, 3) ugliness. “The content of thinking is not visual, but essential.”
2. Theory of Seltz. Thinking as the functioning of intellectual operations. Problem solving process. The first phase is the selection of a problematic complex (characteristics of the known - S, the place of the desired - P, the relationship between S and P, or the means - m). The incompleteness of the complex as the essence of the problem. Goal setting -> actualization of general intellectual operations suitable for achieving the goal. Main operations - addition of a complex, abstraction and reproduction of similarity. The basis for solving the problem is past experience. The main problem and point of criticism: this approach is difficult to apply to solving productive problems. Creative thinking. Let there be S, P in the new task, but there is no M anywhere in the previous experience. The new is a recombination of the old experience. An appeal to the past is the presence of a once completely solved problem. Abstracting a private method. The structure is the same, the following cases are possible: 1) earlier the subject understood that (MP) particular method as a generalized principle for solving such problems (), now he needs to recognize the principle as MN. Generalization of a particular principle () - actualization of experience. 2) no , but the principle is the same. It is necessary to first realize the method of solving particular problems (MP) as and realize it as MN. Randomly conditioned abstraction of means.
B. Holistic approach. The subject of study is creative thinking. The main questions are about the structure and mechanisms for solving creative problems. Represented by the theory of Gestalt psychology. Productive thinking as restructuring and holistic organization of a problem situation. Insight as an instantaneous act of seeing essential relationships between the elements of a situation. Understanding the problem situation is understanding the main conflict of the task (contradiction between conditions and requirements). The main method is reasoning aloud. (Dunker - see ticket 75).
D. Genetic approach. Implements the principle of development in psychology. Represents the development of thinking as a natural process of changing qualitatively different stages and levels. Implemented by Jean Piaget. (see ticket 70).
D. New approaches. 1. Cognitive approach (Neisser).
Scientific metaphor - the process of information processing. It is based on the idea of "a person who knows". General concepts: cognitive schemes, blocks of information selection, storage, processing, heuristics, etc. 2. Personal (motivational) approach. It comes from the tradition of psychoanalysis. Humanistic psychology (Maslow, Rogers) made a special contribution. 3. Historical approach. French sociological school: the study of intercultural differences, primitive thinking. 4. Cultural-historical. Vygotsky's psychology, Luria's research.
The second way of dividing theories of m. - according to the type of approach 1) object approach. Signs: a) the presence of a universal language for describing all mental processes. B) reactivity of the subject. C) reducing the complex to the simple. 2) subjective approach. Signs: a) active subject. B) activity is equipped with means. C) the source of funds is the past experience of the subject (onto- and actual-genesis).
3) interaction of subject and object. Signs: a) thinking and perception are independent processes. B) denial of participation in the cognition of past experience. C) process modeling is not allowed.
Similar information.
Before talking about the most well-known theoretical directions in the field of thinking research, we should pay attention to the fact that for the first time when considering this issue we will meet with such concepts as intelligence and intellectual abilities.
The word "intellect" comes from the Latin intellectus, translated into Russian meaning "understanding", "understanding", "comprehension". It should be noted that there is still no common understanding of this term. Various authors associate the concept of "intelligence" with a system of mental operations, with the style and strategy for solving life problems, with the effectiveness of an individual approach to a situation requiring cognitive activity, with cognitive style, etc. Another very common point of view was the opinion of J. Piaget about that intelligence is what provides human adaptation.
It should be noted that so far there is no single generally accepted interpretation of the concept of "intelligence". There are two main interpretations of intelligence today: a broader one and a narrower one. In a broader sense, intelligence is a global integral biopsychic feature of a person that characterizes his ability to adapt. Another interpretation of intelligence, narrower, combines in this concept a generalized characteristic of a person's mental abilities.
What meaning shall we invest in the concept of "intelligence"? Will it be true if we consider all manifestations of our thinking as intellect? And will it be true if, on the contrary, we do not attribute certain manifestations of thinking to the intellect?
We will proceed from the fact that the intellect in modern psychological science is associated with the process of thinking, and thinking, in turn, is a cognitive mental process that completes the processing of information that we receive from the outside world. Thinking forms concepts about objects and an understanding of their relationships. At the same time, the concepts we have are the initial platform for the formation of our behavior, since, in forming conscious behavior, we actively use a variety of concepts.
Thus, it can be argued that thinking is directly involved in the process of adaptation. Moreover, his participation in adaptation is not limited to the formation of basic concepts. When shaping behavior, a person proceeds from the moral values existing in society, his personal interests and the tasks that he needs to solve. Consequently, the formation of behavior and the choice of ways to achieve the goal occur with repeated weighing of options and analysis of all initial concepts. At the same time, thinking plays the main role in these processes.
Often our choice is contradictory, but it is always either right or wrong. The adequacy of our choice largely depends on the degree of development of the criticality of our thinking. Critical thinking is how successful we are in identifying flaws in our judgments and those of others. But our behavior is not always conscious. Often we act thoughtlessly or use a previously developed behavioral stereotype without having time to bring it into line with the changed conditions of activity. Consequently, behavior and thinking are connected only in certain, problematic cases, when we need to solve a specific mental task, the meaning of which lies in the formation of behavior. When there is no such task, the formation and regulation of behavior can be carried out at other levels and with the help of other mechanisms.
In addition to the formation of motivated behavior, thinking is involved in activities. The performance of any transformative or creative activity cannot do without the process of thinking, because before we create something, we solve a number of mental tasks and only then create in practice what we have created in our minds with the help of thinking. Moreover, each of us has a certain level of development of the so-called creative thinking, i.e., thinking associated with the formation of fundamentally new knowledge, with the generation of our own ideas. However, speaking about how thinking is involved in activity, we must emphasize that, first of all, thinking provides cognitive aspects of activity.
Thus, the adaptation of a person, his behavior, his creative activity, which are of a conscious (reasonable) nature, are closely related to the process of thinking. Therefore, often when we say “mind”, “mind”, we mean the process of thinking and its features.
In addition to the above information, forming the concept of "intelligence", let's proceed from the fact that there are manifestations of our thinking that we can evaluate and study using fairly objective methods. These manifestations are associated with the solution of certain mental tasks based on the processing of perceived information and the creation of original, fundamentally new ideas. Other manifestations of thinking are most often hidden from our consciousness, and if they are realized, then in a relatively vague form. These manifestations are associated with adaptation and the formation of motivated (conscious) behavior. Therefore, these processes cannot be assessed directly with specific tests. We can judge the features of the manifestation of thinking in this area only by indirect information that we receive in the study of personality and in the study of human behavior. Thus, in the process of thinking, we can single out completely independent, from the point of view of experimental research, components associated with the solution of various mental tasks, which allows us to consider thinking as an independent mental process. We can also talk about components of thinking that cannot be considered separately from other mental processes. These components are involved in the regulation of behavior.
At the same time, it should be taken into account that the emergence of the concept of "intelligence" is associated with attempts to evaluate the mental and creative capabilities of a person using special psychological tests. Therefore, it is more correct to correlate the intellect and the ability of a person to perform certain mental activities. Moreover, intelligence cannot be considered only as a set of characteristics that ensure the adaptation of a person to the external environment, because a person lives in society and his adaptation is associated with moral values and goals of activity, and the formation of moral values and goals of activity cannot be explained only by their awareness. Often the formation of motives and values occurs at the level of the unconscious. In addition, the success of adaptation also depends on the physiological and psychophysiological characteristics of a person. Therefore, linking intellect with thinking, it is advisable to correlate it with human cognitive activity, i.e., with the area of manifestation of thinking, which is associated with the processing of information and the solution of certain mental tasks - an area that, to a certain extent, can be isolated from the entire flow of mental processes and studied independently.
Thus, by intelligence we will understand the totality of the most diverse mental abilities that ensure the success of human cognitive activity.
All the most well-known theories that try to explain the existence of human thinking and its origin can be divided into two large groups. The first group should include theories proclaiming that a person has natural intellectual abilities. According to the provisions of these theories, intellectual abilities are innate and therefore do not change in the process of life, and their formation does not depend on living conditions.
One of the most famous theories included in the first group is the theory of thinking, developed within the framework of Gestalt psychology. From the position of this scientific direction, intellectual abilities and intelligence itself are defined as a set of internal structures that ensure the perception and processing of information in order to obtain new knowledge. At the same time, it is believed that the corresponding intellectual structures exist in a person from birth in a potentially ready form, gradually manifesting themselves as a person grows up and when a need for them arises. At the same time, the ability to transform structures, to see them in reality is the basis of intelligence.
Another group of theories considers mental abilities as developing in the course of a person's life. They try to explain thinking either in terms of the external influences of the environment, or in terms of the idea of the subject's internal development, or in terms of both.
Active research into thinking has been carried out since the 17th century. For the initial period of research into thinking, it was characteristic that thinking was actually identified with logic, and conceptual theoretical thinking was considered as its only type to be studied. The very ability to think was considered innate and therefore, as a rule, was considered outside the problem of the development of the human psyche. Among the intellectual abilities at that time were contemplation (as some analogue of abstract thinking), logical reasoning and reflection. Generalization, synthesis, comparison and classification were considered operations of thinking.
Later, with the advent of associative psychology, thinking in all its manifestations was reduced to associations. The connection between traces of past experience and impressions received in the present experience was considered as the mechanisms of thinking. The ability to think was seen as innate. However, representatives of this trend failed to explain the origin of creative thinking from the standpoint of the doctrine of associations. Therefore, the ability to create was considered as an innate ability of the mind independent of associations.
Thinking has been widely studied in the framework of behaviorism. At the same time, thinking was presented as a process of forming complex connections between stimuli and reactions. The indisputable merit of behaviorism was the consideration within the framework of the studied problem of the formation of skills and abilities in the process of solving problems. Thanks to this direction of psychology, the problem of practical thinking entered the sphere of the study of thinking. Psychoanalysis also made a certain contribution to the development of the psychology of thinking, in which much attention was paid to the problem of unconscious forms of thinking, as well as to the study of the dependence of thinking on human motives and needs. It was thanks to the search for unconscious forms of thinking in psychoanalysis that the concept of “defensive psychological mechanisms” was formed.
In domestic psychology, the problem of thinking developed within the framework of the psychological theory of activity. The development of this problem is associated with the names of A. A. Smirnov, A. N. Leontiev, and others. From the standpoint of the psychological theory of activity, thinking is understood as an ability to solve various problems and purposefully transform reality in a lifetime. A. N. Leontiev proposed the concept of thinking, according to which there are analogies between the structures of external (constituting behavior) and internal (constituting thinking) activities. Internal mental activity is not only a derivative of external, practical, but also has a fundamentally the same structure. In it, as in practical activities, individual actions and operations can be distinguished. At the same time, internal and external elements of activity are interchangeable. The structure of mental, theoretical activity may include external, practical actions, and vice versa, the structure of practical activity may include internal, mental operations and actions. Consequently, thinking as the highest mental process is formed in the process of activity.
It should be noted that the activity theory of thinking contributed to the solution of many practical problems related to the education and mental development of children. On its basis, well-known theories of learning and development were built, among which are the theories of P. Ya. Galperin, L. V. Zankov, V. V. Davydov. However, recently, with the development of mathematics and cybernetics, it has become possible to create a new information-cybernetic theory of thinking. It turned out that many of the special operations used in computer information processing programs are very similar to the thinking operations that a person uses. Therefore, it became possible to study the operations of human thinking using cybernetics and machine models of intelligence. At present, even a whole scientific problem has been formulated, called the problem of "artificial intelligence".
In parallel with theoretical research, experimental studies of the process of thinking are constantly being conducted. So, at the beginning of the XX century. French psychologists A. Binet and T. Simon proposed to determine the degree of mental giftedness through special tests. Their work marked the beginning of the widespread introduction of tests in the problem of the study of thinking. Currently, there is a huge number of all kinds of tests designed for people of different ages from 2 to 65 years. Moreover, all tests designed to study thinking can be divided into several groups. First of all, these are achievement tests, indicating that a person has a certain amount of knowledge in a particular scientific and practical field. The other group consists of intellectual tests, designed mainly to assess the correspondence of the intellectual development of the subject to the biological age. Another group is criteria-oriented tests designed to assess a person's ability to solve certain intellectual problems.
Thinking is the highest form of reflection by the brain of the surrounding world in its essential connections and relationships. Thinking makes it possible to understand the laws of the material world, causal relationships, the laws of the human psyche.
In the process of thinking, using the data of sensations, perceptions and ideas, a person at the same time goes beyond the limits of sensory knowledge, i.e. begins to cognize such phenomena of the world, their properties and relations, which are not directly given in perceptions and therefore are not directly observable at all. For example, physicists study the properties of elementary particles that cannot be seen even with the most powerful modern microscope. In other words, they are not directly perceived: they cannot be seen - one can only think about them. Thanks to abstract, abstract, mediated thinking, it was possible to prove that such invisible elementary particles still exist in reality and have certain properties. Thus, thinking begins where sensory cognition is no longer sufficient or even powerless.
For the mental activity of a person, its relationship is essential not only with sensory cognition, but also with language, with speech. Only with the advent of speech does it become possible to abstract one or another of its properties from the cognizable object and fix, fix the idea or concept of it in a special word. Thought acquires in the word the necessary material shell, in which it only becomes a direct reality for other people and for ourselves.
Forms of thinking:
- 1. Judgment (elementary unit of thought) - a form of thinking that reflects the relationship between objects and phenomena and their properties and features.
- 2. The concept is a form of thinking that reflects in the human mind the general and essential properties of objects and phenomena.
- 3. Inference - a form of thinking in which a conclusion is made on the basis of several judgments. For example: all the planets in the solar system revolve around the sun. Earth is a planet in the solar system, which means it revolves around the sun.
Thinking operations:
Analysis is a mental operation of dividing a complex object into parts.
Synthesis is the reverse operation of analysis, which allows one to move from parts to the whole.
Comparison is a comparison of objects and phenomena, their properties and relationships with each other and the identification of commonality and differences between them.
Abstraction is a mental operation based on abstracting from the insignificant features of objects, phenomena and highlighting the main, main thing in them.
Generalization - the union of many objects or phenomena according to some common feature.
Concretization is the movement of thought from the general to the particular.
The most popular classification of types of thinking is their classification by levels. Allocate:
- 1. Visual-effective - based on the direct perception of objects, the real transformation of the situation in the process of action with objects. This kind of thinking is genetically the earliest. When a child discovers that one ball can be set in motion by pushing it with another ball, he uses this kind of thinking. This species characterizes the thinking mainly of higher animals and young children, but it is also present in the activities of adults, along with other species.
- 2. Visual-figurative - characterized by reliance on representations and images. In a child, it dominates up to 6-7 years. If a child is shown a ball of plasticine, and then before his eyes turn the ball into a cake and ask where there is more plasticine, then the child will point to the cake, since it takes up more space. Visual-figurative thinking often remains dominant in adults as well. Often, when asked what is heavier, a kilogram of cotton wool or a kilogram of nails, the subjects answer: a kilogram of nails.
- 3. Verbal-logical (conceptual) - carried out with the help of logical operations with concepts. It operates on the basis of linguistic means. The child is formed from the time of schooling. The basic unit of verbal-logical thinking is the concept.
Qualities of thinking:
Independence of thinking, which means that a person independently puts forward new tasks and finds solutions for them, assimilating and creatively applying the experience of other people.
Breadth, which is expressed in the cognitive activity of a person, covering various areas of activity, in a broad outlook, versatile curiosity.
Depth is expressed in the ability to penetrate into the essence of the most complex issues, the ability to see the problem where other people do not have a question. A deep mind can understand the causes of appearances and events.
Flexibility is expressed in the freedom of thought from the shackling influence of techniques and methods of solving problems fixed in past experience, as well as in the ability to quickly change one's actions when the situation changes.
Quickness is the ability of a person to quickly understand a particular situation, quickly think through it and make the right decision.
Criticality is the ability of a person to objectively evaluate his own and other people's thoughts, carefully and comprehensively check all the propositions and conclusions put forward.
Basic theoretical approaches.
1. Mechanistic.
Structural psychology: sensory representations - associations. Thinking as an association of sensory representations. Formation of a concept: overlaying photographs - when several representations are associated, their common, essential features are accentuated, forming a concept, non-essential ones disappear.
G. Müller (the theory of diffuse reproductions): each representation causes a diffuse stream of associations. When they are superimposed, a feature is singled out that is common to the original representations and essential to the new concept.
1) the thought process is subjectless, there is no internal activity;
2) reactivity of thinking (external situation);
3) non-specific thinking;
4) modeling instead of explanation;
5) a universal language for describing mental processes.
2. Teleological.
Würzburg school: N. Ah, O. Külpe, K. Buhler, O. Selz.
The idea of activity, intentionality of consciousness: a determining tendency. It determines the course of associations, highlights an essential feature.
The phenomenon of consciousness is the presence of beloved knowledge. The process of selecting funds depends on the specific task. After changing the method of introspection, the study is carried out in the search for an answer to the question posed. The experiments use reproductive task patterns as the goal is to define thinking.
Phenomena of inner experience:
1) sensory representations;
2) thoughts (awareness of relationships, regardless of feelings).
The ugliness of thinking: thinking is not visual, not verbal - the disclosure of the actual content of the task. F. Taylor: if the sentences do not have visual content, then the appearance of visual representations can interfere with understanding.
G. Schulze: there are 2 groups of experiences - phenomena:
1) visual - sensations, feelings;
2) thoughts (consciousness).
K. Buyaer singled out the types of thoughts (thinking as the discretion of the relation): 1) consciousness of the rule; 2) attitude consciousness;
3) intentions (the main thing is not the subject, but the content of thought).
1) the specificity of thinking - in the internal orientation of the subject to achieve the goal, solve the problem;
2) the search for the essential, and not visually perceived in solving problems;
3) thinking is the selection of the relationship of sensory elements of the structure of the problem. Thinking as action (O. Seltz). The basis of the decision is the past experience of the subject.
In the process of solution, the task is an incomplete complex structure P, anticipated by the subject through the discretion of the relation ch: finding the principle of solution, anticipation. Deterministic means abstraction. Operations are specific reactions that serve to solve problems. Some of them are solution methods. The operation of replenishing the complex (remembering): finding P (solution method). There are two ways:
1) updating of means - aimed at updating already known methods of solution;
2) abstraction of means - the discovery of new methods: a j reproductive;
b) randomly conditioned;
c) direct. Stages of solving the problem:
1) establishing relationships between the elements of the conditions;
2) anticipation of the desired - goal setting;
3) abstraction - reproduction of means.