THINKING

Mrs.AKILA.A; M.sc (N)

Associate Professor
INTRODUCTION
Humans are rational beings and our
rationality consists in our ability to think
and reason. Thinking is involved in all
conscious mental activity, whether it is
acquiring new knowledge, remembering,
planning or day dreaming.
DEFINITION
 Thinkingis a mental activity in its cognitive
aspect or mental activity with regard to
psychological aspects-ROSS.

 Thinking is a behaviour which is often

implicit and hidden and in which symbols
are ordinarily employed- GARRETT- 1968
NATURE OF THINKING
 THINKING IS A
1.Mental process in which we deal with
thoughts and ideas actively.
2.It is an activity which involves many parts
0f our body-receptors(sense organs),
connectors (nerves) and
effectors(muscles).
3.It is an cognitive process
4.It is a motivated activity(purposive mental
process)
 ELEMENTS OF THINKING
1.Concepts : Generalised meaning that is
attached to an object, such as house, honesty,
man etc.
2.Language : Concepts are formed with the
help of language. It can be developed through
oral questions, arguments, discussions.
3.Images: These are abstractions of certain
features of our previous experience.
4.Inner speech: It is a type of symbolic
mediation in thinking. These are motor side of
thinking.
TYPES OF THINKING
 Perceptual or Concrete thinking
 Conceptual or Abstract thinking
 Convergent thinking
 Divergent thinking
 Reflective Thinking
 Creative thinking
 Critical thinking
 Non directed or associated thinking
 PERCEPTUAL OR CONCRETE THINKING:
This is the simplest form of thinking, that
is interpretation of sensation according to
one’s experience. It is also called as
concrete thinking as it is carried out on the
perception of actual or concrete objects and
events.
 CONCEPTUAL OR ABSTRACT THINKING:

it is an abstract thinking where one makes

use of concepts, the generalised ideas and
language. It economizes efforts in
understanding and problem solving. so it is
considered as superior than perceptual
thinking.
 CONVERGENT THINKING:
It is a closed or single point thinking,
based on the principles of convergence.
Quick and narrowing process of thinking
leads with pinpoint with solutions.
Example: MCQ.
 DIVERGENT THINKING:

It is contradictory to convergent thinking.

here, there will be number of solutions to
single problem, encourages a open thinking
and broad scanning operation.
Example: Open ended questions
 REFLECTIVE THINKING:
It aims at complex problems, it requires re
organisations of all the relevant experiences and
finding new ways of reacting to a solution or
removing an obstacle instead of simple
association of experience or ideas. It takes logic in
to account.
 CREATIVE THINKING:
This chiefly aimed to create something new.It
is in search of new relationship and associations
to describe and interpret the nature of things,
events and situations.
Example: scientists usually formulates the problem,
gather evidence and to invent tools for its solution.
Charecteristics of creative thinking:
1. Creative thinking is an internal mental process,
hence it is an important component of cognitive
behaviour.
2. Universal phenomenon, since everyone is
capable of creative thinking.
3. It results in the production of something new.
4. It involve all dimensions of divergent thinking
5. it is comprehensive and built wide.
 Factors influencing creativity:
1. Ideational fluency
2. 2.Originality
3. 3.Flexibility
4. 4.Divergent thinking
5. Self confidence
6. Persistence
7. Ability to see and build new
relationship
STEPS / STAGES IN CREATIVE
THINKING:
1.Preparation:
Problem will be investigated ,
informations and experiences are
gathered.

2.Incubation
This is a period of rest, when tthere is no
obvious activity and Problem is thought
about uncosciously.
3.Illumination(Insight):
Individual perceives a new relationship
among the various aspects of the problem
and its result in a solution.

4.verification:
It is the stage where result is evaluated. It
involves satisfactorily resolving or not
resolving the problem.

5.Revision: if the solution is satisfactory , then

there will be fifth stage. Any modifications
needed are made.
 CRITICAL THINKING:
1.This type of thinking that helps a person
to step from his own personal beliefs,
prejudices and opinions to sort out the facts
and discover the truth, even at the expense
of his basic belief system.

2.Here one resorts to set higher cognitive

abilities and skills for the proper
interpretation, analysis, evaluation and
inference.
 Criticalthinking
It is higher ordered , well
disciplined thought process which
involves the use of cognitive skills like
conceptualization, interpretation,
analysis, synthesis and evaluation for
arriving at an unbiased, valid and
reliable judgement of the gathered or
communicated information.
NON DIRECTED OR ASSOCIATE THINKING:
It is unique type of thinking which is non
directed and without goal. It is reflected through
dreaming and other free flowing activities.
Example:
1. Daydreaming (fantasy)
2. Delusions (false unshakable belief- which is
abnormal)
- may think or believe that person is
multimillionaire or ruler of the universe, even the
guilt feelings exists in delusions.
LEVELS OF THINKING
 Thinking Triangle :Blooms taxonomy(1956)

EVALUATION

ANALYSIS
SYNTHESIS
APPLICATION
UNDERSTANDING
knowledge
1.Knowledge:
 Lowest level in cognitive domain
 Knowledge is defined as the remembering of

previously learned material from specific

facts to complex theories.
2.Comprehension:
 Understanding the meaning of materials,

translation, interpolation and interpretation of

instructions and problems.
3. Application:
 Previously learned information is applied to

new and unfamiliar situations.

4.Analysis:
when we analyse, we break down
information into parts and try to understand
the relationship between parts.
5.Synthesis:
We build a structure or pattern from diverse
elements or put parts together to form a
whole, creating a new meaning or structure.
6. Evaluation:
 Higher order thinking, one is able to make

judgements about the value of ideas for a

given purpose according to some set of
criteria.
Development of memory
There are few methods which help to develop
thinking through training.
1.Adequacy of the knowledge and experience
2. Adequate motivation and definiteness of
aims
3.Adequate freedom and flexibility
4.Incubation
5.Intelligence and wisdom
6.Proper development of concepts and
language
7.Adequacy of reasoning skills
 According to Jean piaget, stages of
development of memory:
Pre
1.Sensory motor conceptual
(Birth – 2 years) (2-4years)

2.Pre operational
(2-7 years )
Intuitive
(4-7 years)
3.Concrete operational
(7-11 years)

4.Formal operational
(11 -15 years)
1.Sensory motor stage (Birth- 2 years):
 The child learns about himself and

environment through motor and reflex

actions.
 Parents or favourite toy continue to exist

even though they may be outside the reach

of child’s senses.
2.Preoperational stage (2-7 years)
 Preconceptual Phase (2-4 years)
 Concept formation is rudimentary, Early part,

children seems to identify the objects and put

them into certain classes.
Example: All men are daddy
 Mode of thinking and reasoning is quite logical at
this stage.
 Thinking is transductive in nature.
 Thinking will be too imaginative and far removed

from reality.
 Thought process is ego centric in nature.
 Intuitive phase (4-7 years)
 Progress towards the formation of various

concepts at a more advanced level

Example: Child will agree that apples, oranges
and bananas are all fruits despite the differences
in shape, colour.
 Child’s thinking is not logical and is full of
contradictions.
 Cognitive abilities like reversibility and

conservation will be absent at this stage.

3.Concrete operational stage:
 Marked development in thought process
 Child learns to deal with concepts and ideass
 Ability to think in terms of set of inter related.
 Thinking will be logical and systematic.
 No longer ego centric
 Ability to carry out complex operations.
 Reversibility cognitive skill will be present.
4.Formal operational stage:
 Intellectual development will be more

sophisticated.
 Ability to deal with abstraction by logical

thinking.
 Child utilizes the symbolism in problem

solving
 Child can able to appreciate the hypothetical

problems by mentally.
 Develops an abstract view of world and test

hypothesis.
RELATIONSHIP WITH LANGUAGE
AND COMMUNICATION:
 Language is the means we use to
communicate meaning to ourselves and
others.
 Language is a tool for representing ideas since

we use language to form concepts, both

concrete and abstract.
 Language helps to create new ideas and

assign names to these ideas.

 Language building is given important in any

school curriculum.
 We can think everything we want, even though it
may not be expressible in language.
 Some times, we may be clear with the content,

but we find difficulty to express it, due to lack of

accessibility to right words.
 Sometimes, we may think in images rather than

words.
 Language facilitates the sharing of our thoughts

and ideas.
 A healthy discussion, strengthen our thoughts

and ideas.
It is best to say that thinking and language
influence one another.
 Communication is the exchange and flow of
information and ideas from one person to
another.
 It involves

Sender encoding message

Decoding
Feedback

response Receiver
 Thinking is an internalised form of interpersonal
communication.

 The essence of relationship is communication.

 At times, when the relationship becomes strained,

communication gets blocked because of faulty
assumptions and thinking.

 Communication and critical thinking are connected in any

important ways.

 People who can think from different perspectives are likely

to be less impulsive.

 There is an connection between communication and critical

thinking in all interpersonal relationships.
Problem solving
It is an mental process that involves
discovering, analysing and solving problems.
Goal of Problem solving:
To overcome obstacles and to find a solution
that best resolves the isssue.
Ways of Problem Solving /Solutions:
1.Mechanical solution (using certain algorithms
or rules)
2. Heuristics (experienced based short cuts in
problem solving)
3.Logical Principles (using reasoning, a
controlled form of thinking)

4.Insightful solutions (suddenly find a novel

solutions, that is experience)
Process of Problem solving
Awareness of the problem

Comprehension of the Problem

Formulation of plans of action

Evaluation and choice of final plan

Putting in to action and verification

Yes No

Exit
OBSTACLES TO PROBLEM SOLVING:
1.Insufficient knowledge
2. Lack of understanding of a problem
3.Mind set
4.Functional Fixedness
Importance of thinking in nursing
 In order to think clearly and correctly, the
nurse should learn to observe accurately, so
she can collect factual data.
 Nurses should hold fast to what is rational,

logical and correct.

 Nurses should remember that some patients

may have difficulty in communicating their

thoughts.
 Nurses should use critical thinking skills

everyday to assess, plan for and provide

quality patient care
Errors in thinking
 Partialism
 Adversary thinking
 Time scale error
 Initial judgement
 Arrogance and Conceit
Conclusion
Thinking is a complex mental activity, It is
symbolic in character, initiated by a problem,
which the individual is facing, involves the
response of the individual to this problem.
Nurses has to think critically, should solve the
patients problem.
THANK YOU