Thinking and

problem solving
introduction

 Mental and cognitive activities associated with

processing, understanding , remembering and
communicating 
 Scientific term for the "process of thoughts"
 Cognition term used to denote the thinking and
other aspects of higher mental process 
 Mysterious process that everyone understand but
no one can explain
(Bourne)
 IMAGES AND LANGUAGES
 DEFINITION 
"THINKING IS A MANIPULATION OF
MENTAL REPRESENTATION OF
INFORMATION"
 According to definitions thinking is stimulated
by some ongoing external event
 It can be problem directing or reaching to some
decision making 
 Thinking material can be extracted form
memories  
 Mental entertainment such day dreaming 
 It is mental manipulation of ideas etc
Characteristics of thinking

Higher cognitive
Complex process Mental activity  Symbol activity Mental exploration
process

Internal
Purposeful Goal directed Make use of
Private behavior  representation of
behavior behavior languages 
external events
  Reasoning 
Types of  Autistic

thinking 
 Creative thinking 
 Problem solving 
Reasoning 
Deductive reasoning
 Reasoning flows from general to specific 
 Example: if all organisms are made of cells,
and humans are organisms, then humans are
made of cells
 A type of logic in which one goes from a
general statement to a specific instance
 All men are mortal ( major premise)
 Socrates is a human (minor premise)
 Conclusion: Socrates is mortal 
Inductive reasoning 

 Drives general principles from specific observation

 Based on observation 
 Suggest the truth about a statement but does not directly prove the statement
 All organisms are made of cells—based on years of finding from biologist
 Uses patterns to arrive at a conclusion 
 Premise: The sun has risen in the east every morning up until now
 Conclusion: The sun will also rise in the east tomorrow
Dialectic reasoning 

 Related to dialogue 
 Ability to evaluate opposing point of view
 FORMAL REASONING 
 IINFORMAL REASONING 
 Fallacious reasoning
 Fallacious reasoning is “false thinking.” People use fallacious reasoning when they draw
incorrect or false conclusions
 Fallacious reasoning may be either illogical or based on incomplete information.
 Unrealistic/Autistic thinking “Preoccupation with inner
thoughts, daydreams, fantasies, subjective thinking lacking
objectivity and connection with external reality”.  Autistic
 – Dreaming
thinking 
  – Day dreaming
 Dreaming • It is an abnormal phenomena of mind that does not occur in waking life. According to
Freud it is the royal road to unconscious • Main features are – Disjointed/ disorganized/ lacking
continuity – Admit impossibilities/ nonsense having no head and tail – No critical ability/ no
means of testing its correctness
  Show an accelerated flow of ideas, a shift in the depiction of scenes • Wish fulfillment i.e.,
gratification of unfulfilled wishes/ disguise our desires • Symbolic in nature
   It is an altered state of mind / consciousness that
occurs without effort and involve a brief escape
from reality into fantasy • Can occur anywhere any
time • It source are fantasies that are construct while
one is awake • It is more controlled so it is closely

Day Dreaming • related to immediate event in the environment

 Normal part of waking consciousness • But
frequent day dreaming could lead to psychological
difficulties as when one is unable to distinguish
between fantasy and reality
Types of creative
thinking 

Divergent thinking 
 Go out in different directions as they try to
produce many different solutions to a
problem
Convergent thinking 
 Concerned with a particular end result 
CREARIVE
THINKING 

 Thought process leading to novel

but appropriate solutions to
problems, original ideas and insights
or new and useful products 
FEATURES OF THE
CREATIVE PERSON
 Curious ( wide range of interest, explore unusual
events)
 Analogical thinking ( makes connection)
 Enjoy challenges
 Optimistic and willing to take risks
 Comfortable with imaginations
 See problems are interesting 
 Doesn't give up easily
 Problems are emotionally acceptable 
 Explore more options 
 Is enthusiasm( high commitment and passionate)
 More independent in their judgments
 More self-assertive and dominant 
 Willing to work hard to overcome difficulties 
 Confident (neither fear of failure )
 Prefer to work alone 
Creativity and other aspects 

Carl rogers
 Creativity requires motivation energy and discipline 
 Humanistic approach ( psychological safety and freedom)
Environmental influences 
Problem solving 

 Active effort people make to achieve a goal

Steps of problem solving 

D D E E
ef ev xe va
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y
m y s 
Types of problem
solving 

 Inducing structure 
 Arranging t
 Transformation 
Strategies of problem solving 

 Algorithm ( step by step procedure)

 Trial and error
 Heuristic ( a rule of thumb)
 Deductive reasoning 
 Inductive reasoning 
 Artificial intelligence 
 Dialectical reasoning 
 Mental set
 Using similar problems 
TOOLS OF THINKING  
IMAGINATION

A mental representation that has picture like

qualities; an icon” • A mental image is
significantly resembles the experience of
perceiving some object, event, or scene, but
that occurs when the relevant object, event, or
scene is not actually present to the senses.
 Imagination and perception 
 Imagination vs belief 
 Imagination vs reality 
 Mental images 
LANGUAGES 

 Words or symbols, and rules for combing them, that are used for thinking and
communication”. – can be either written or spoken – Speaking and writing
vocabulary are not exactly the same and our speaking and writing grammar differ
BASICS OF
LANGUAGE 

 PSYCHOLINGUISTIC 
 RECOGNITION OF SPEECH
 PHONEMES 
 SYNTACTICAL RULES
 GRAMMER
 SYNTAX
 UNIVERSAL LANGUAGE 
FEATURES OF
LANGUAGE 
 MANIPULATION 
 DIRECTION 
 PLANS 
 PROBLEMS 
 FOUR ASPECTS OF LANGUAGE
 Sounds 
 Words 
 Methods of combining words
 Communication 
CONCEPTS 
 “A mental grouping of similar objects, events, ideas or
people”. 
  Without concepts we’ll need a different name for every
object and idea.
  It enable us to organize complex phenomena into
simpler and more usable form 
  Animals are also capable of forming concept.
TYPES OF
CONCEPTS 

 Logical concepts 
 Natural concepts
 Prototype 
PAIGET'S THEORY OF
CONCEPT
FORMATION  

 SCHEMA 
 OPERATION 
 ASSIMILATION (old schema to new info)
 ACCOMODATION (modify old schema)
 EQUILIBARATION (balance between
assimilation and accommodation)
Stages of concept
formation 

 Sensorimotor stage 
 Preoperational stage
 Concrete operational stage
 Formal operational stage 
THANK
YOU