TERM ASSIGNMENT – 1

INTRODUCTION TO PSYCHOLOGY

ASSIGNMENT TOPIC: THINKING AND REASONING

SUBMITTED BY SUBMITTED TO

JEEVISHA GANGWAR RITIKA PAUL

MSC. CLINICAL PSYCHOLOGY PROF. INCHARGE
SEMESTER -1 INTRODUCTION TO PSYCHOLOGY

Thinking and Reasoning

What is Thinking?
Thinking is the part of Cognition. Thinking is the activity of manipulating mental
representations of different aspects of the world. Thinking involves thought processes and
reasoning. Reasoning is the mental activity of transforming available information to reach
conclusions. Thoughts are the mental process in which an individual forms psychological
associations and mental models of the outside world. To understand the intricate and ever-
evolving thinking pattern of an individual, psychologists adopted the following strategies:
first, they focus on the fundamental elements of thoughts, such as how accurately the external
world ascepts are represented in an individual's thinking.
Basic Elements of Thoughts:
The basic elements of thought are concepts, proposals, and images.
1. Concepts are the mental categories of things that are similar in one way or another.
They enable people to represent large amounts of information about different objects,
events, and ideas in an efficient way. Concepts help to make sense of the vastness of
an individual's experience, which is full of variety and variation. There are two kinds
of concepts: logical and natural. A logical concept is defined by a collection of rules
or characteristics. A natural concept, on the other hand, is undefined; it does not have
a set of defining characteristics. Natural concepts are usually based on prototypes,
which are derived from our experiences with the external world. The more attributes a
new item has that an existing prototype has, the more likely it is to be included in the
concept.
How are concepts presented?
There is no right answer to this question, but psychologist and scientists have suggested some
possibilities. First, the concept can be presented based on their features and characteristics.
When natural concepts are formed, the attributes associated with them can be stored in
memory. Then, when we encounter a new object, we compare its properties with those we
have already learned. The closer the match, the more likely we are to incorporate the concept
of the object. Another possibility is that natural concepts are represented by visual images.
Visual images are mental representations of objects or events in the external world. Finally, it
is important to note that concepts are closely related to schemas. Diagrams are cognitive
frames that represent an individual's knowledge and assumptions about the world. Like
schemas, natural concepts are acquired through experience and also represent knowledge
about the world in an effective summary form. However, diagrams appear to be more
complex than concepts; each schema contains very different information and can contain
many different concepts. In conclusion, concepts can be represented in the mind in many
ways and play an important role in thinking and in our efforts to understand the complex and
ever-changing external world.
2. Proposition: Thinking is not a passive process; it involves the active manipulation of
internal representations of the external world, and concepts are arbitrary opinions.
Therefore, thinking often involves connecting one concept to another, or connecting
one feature of a concept to the entire concept. Because we have highly developed
 language skills, these cognitive operations occur as propositions. Clauses are
sentences that connect one concept to another and can function as separate statements.
Propositional clusters are often presented as mental models, knowledge structures that
guide our interactions with the objects and events around us. It is clear, therefore, that
a large part of our thinking concerns the formulation and consideration of
propositions; and propositions should be regarded as one of the basic elements of
thinking.

3. Imagery: As mentioned earlier, thinking involves the manipulation of visual images,

and research seems to show that mental manipulations performed on images of
objects are very similar to those performed on real objects. Another study also seems
to show that when we form an image, we perceive it and think about it as if it were
actually there. Images serve important purposes in thinking. For example, people
report using images to understand verbal instructions, turning words into mental
images of actions; and lift the mood by visualizing positive events or scenes.

What is Reasoning?
Reasoning is drawing conclusions based on available information. For example, in
formal reasoning, we make cognitive transformations based on relevant information
to arrive at certain conclusions. And to what extent we succeed.

Types of Reasoning:

1. Formal reasoning: In formal reasoning, all the necessary information is given, the
problem to be solved is simple, there is usually only one correct answer, and the
reasoning we use follows a specific method.
2. Everyday reasoning: Everyday reasoning involves the kind of thinking we do in
our everyday lives: planning, making commitments, evaluating arguments.
Everyday reasoning is much more complex and less clear than formal reasoning.
3. Deductive reasoning: Deductive reasoning is a type of reasoning that uses formal
logic and observations to prove a theory or hypothesis. In deductive reasoning,
you start with an assumption and then make observations or rational thoughts to
confirm or disprove the assumption. You can use deductive reasoning to apply a
general law to a specific case or to test induction. The results of deductive
reasoning usually have logical certainty.
4. Inductive reasoning: Inductive reasoning uses theories and assumptions to confirm
observations. In some ways, it is the opposite of deductive reasoning because it
involves reasoning from a particular case or cases to derive a general rule. The
results of inductive reasoning are not always certain because it uses inferences
from observations to make generalizations. Inductive reasoning is useful for
extrapolation, prediction, and partial arguments.
5. Analogical reasoning: Analogical reasoning is a form of thinking that finds
similarities between two or more things and then uses those characteristics to find
other common characteristics. It is based on the brain and the tendency to perceive
patterns and make associations. Once the brain recognizes a pattern, it can
 associate the pattern with specific things and this leads to analogical reasoning.
Analogical thinking can help you expand your understanding by looking for
similarities between different things.
6. Critical thinking: Critical thinking involves extensive rational thinking about a
particular topic to arrive at a final conclusion. It is useful in fields such as
computing, engineering, social sciences and logic. Critical thinking plays a key
role in problem solving, especially when solving technical problems. It is used to
evaluate the authenticity of works of art, literature, films and other artistic
expressions. Critical thinking also plays an important role in mental and emotional
issues, grey areas and other areas dealing with less understood topics.
7. Cause-effect reasoning: Cause-and-effect reasoning is a type of thinking in which
you show a connection between two events. This reasoning is used to explain
what might happen when an action occurs or why things happen when certain
conditions are present. This type of reasoning usually guides everyday decisions
in cases where people rely on personal experience and a desire to improve.
Businesses and professionals also use forecasting and predictive modeling. This
type of reasoning can help people trust your claims, especially if you're mostly
right.
8. Abductive reasoning: Deductive reasoning is a type of reasoning that uses an
observation or a set of observations to draw a logical conclusion. It is similar to
inductive reasoning, but abductive reasoning allows for the simplest conclusions.
Capture has applications in problem solving and decision making, especially when
dealing with uncertainty. Abductive reasoning is particularly useful when
explaining an observation or phenomenon about which the observer has little or
no knowledge. The conclusion of abductive reasoning may not always be certain
and requires further verification

Errors in Reasoning:
There are several factors that combine to reduce an individual's reasoning ability.
These factors are mentioned below:
1. The role of mood: How we feel can interfere with our ability to think effectively.
Most people have experienced situations where we lost our patience - and
unfortunately our ability to think effectively. In one study, Oaksford and
colleagues (1996) used short video clips to induce a positive, negative, or neutral
mood in participants. After the mood induction, all participants attempted to solve
a series of difficult reasoning tasks. Participants with a positive mood were less
effective at solving problems than participants in the other groups. Apparently,
being in a positive mood brings us more and more fragmented memories. This is
useful for tasks that require a creative solution. However, solving the problems
used in this study relies less on long-term memory and more on the ability to
perform several discrete steps. In short, a positive state of mind does not guarantee
that our ability to think effectively will improve.
2. The role of beliefs: Emotionally charged beliefs often influence reasoning. For
example, people remember some things that no celebrity, politician or their loved
 ones said because they passionately believe in any topic or information, they can
also change the real meaning and form another meaning. Information.
3. Confirmation bias: Confirmation bias is the tendency to pay attention primarily to
information that confirms existing views or beliefs. Because of confirmation bias,
people often lock themselves tightly into false conclusions; however, when this
bias is at work, it prevents people from even considering information that might
challenge their assumptions and thus their conclusions. 4. Hindsight: Hindsight is
the tendency to assume that we predicted actual events better than is true. Most
studies of the hindsight effect have looked at observers' opinions about the
outcome of an event or decision, rather than the opinions of participants or
decision makers. A recent study on this topic investigated whether decision
makers themselves indicate hindsight. Some evidence seems to suggest that post
establishment can influence whether outcomes reflect positively or negatively on
the decision maker.

Physical reasoning: Physical reasoning is the way people perceive physical objects
and the cognitive processes that allow people to make predictions about events
related to those objects. Psychologists studying physical reasoning are interested
in how people perceive physical objects and their motion, and the cognitive
processes that enable people to make predictions about events related to those
objects. New evidence shows that the ability to reason effectively about the nature
of physical objects depends on the correspondence between observational
knowledge and our knowledge of the fundamental properties of physical systems.
One of the most important features is orientation - how physical objects are
aligned in three-dimensional space.