Scribd
Upload
8 views4 pages

3 Modes of Thinking

Thinking is a complex cognitive process that involves recognizing, remembering, reasoning, imagining, and deciding, all of which are influenced by emotions. It develops through social interactions and is essential for making sense of the world and responding appropriately. The document also discusses three modes of thinking: convergent, divergent, and lateral thinking, each serving different purposes in problem-solving and creativity.

Uploaded by

Fatima Ali
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
8 views4 pages

3 Modes of Thinking

Thinking is a complex cognitive process that involves recognizing, remembering, reasoning, imagining, and deciding, all of which are influenced by emotions. It develops through social interactions and is essential for making sense of the world and responding appropriately. The document also discusses three modes of thinking: convergent, divergent, and lateral thinking, each serving different purposes in problem-solving and creativity.

Uploaded by

Fatima Ali
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
You are on page 1/ 4

What is Thinking?

Thinking is the ultimate cognitive activity, consciously using our brains to make sense of the
world around us and decide how to respond to it. Unconsciously our brains are still 'thinking'
and this is a part of the cognitive process, but is not what we normally call 'thinking'. thinking
is simply about chains of synaptic connections. Thinking as experienced is of 'thoughts' and
'reasoning' as we seek to connect what we sense with our inner world of understanding, and
hence do and say things that will change the outer world.
Our ability to think develops naturally in early life. When we interact with others, it becomes
directed, for example when we learn values from our parents and knowledge from our
teachers. We learn that it is good to think in certain ways and bad to think in other ways.
Indeed, to be accepted into a social group, we are expected to think and act in ways that are
harmonious with the group culture.
Recognizing
At its most basic level, thinking answers the question 'What's that?' As the real-time stream
of information from the outer world hits your senses, you have to very quickly identity what
it is and what you need to do about it, particularly if it could be a threat.
This engages your remarkably powerful pattern recognition system that can recognize a
friend standing behind a post. Pattern recognition can fail, which can be embarrassing when
we greet strangers as friends, yet a few errors is a small price to pay for the ability to
recognize obscured things with a mere glance.
Remembering
Memory is an annoying thing and we sometimes have to put in extra effort to bring to mind
even trivial knowledge. Curiously, we have a lot less problem in naming the things we see as
compared to bringing to mind something we already have stored away. The 'tip of the
tongue' effect happens where we feel we can almost recall something, but it is just out of
cognitive reach.
Skill in recall can be enhanced significantly by using memory methods that deliberately put
more effort into encoding.
Reasoning
Reasoning uses principles of argument to assess facts and causality to determine what
actions may lead to what outcomes, and how probable success or failure might be for various
strategies and tactics. It typically employs a great deal of 'if-then' thinking and hopefully leads
to reliable plans, though the future is far from certain, no matter how confident we are.
Indeed, we many biases which invade our reasoning and lead us to confidence when perhaps
we should not be so certain.
A critical element of reasoning is relating, where two elements of knowledge are related in
some way. It is often in this connection between things that new understanding is created.
This includes relationships such as 'A is caused by B', 'A and B are similar in some way and
different in others', or 'If A does X then B does Y'.
Imagining
Another factor that distinguishes humanity is our ability to be creative and imagine possible
futures. As an extension of reasoning, this becomes less certain but still lets us think about
what may happen and how we can influence this. This includes achieving outlandish goals
and avoiding potential disasters. Imagining is also a part of art and play where outcomes are
not serious but may yet be life-changing.
Emotions
The thought process is tied up with emotions, though not always as we wish, especially when
the more primitive emotional process overrides the more reasoned thinking, leading us to
rash actions that we may later regret. It can be very helpful to pay attention to emotions,
both in ourselves and in those we wish to influence. If we can cognitively understand what is
going on, then we have a far better chance of avoiding pure emotional reactions and choices.
Deciding
Deciding is the last step before acting, where we consider various options and choose those
that seem to be most advantageous. Even though we may be confident at the moment of
decision, there are many well-understood decision errors and traps into which we regularly
fall.
Decisions are based on an assumption of correct basic data. With false facts or theories, even
'reasonable choice' will come to the wrong conclusions. As computer people say, 'Garbage In,
Garbage Out' (GIGO). This can be a trap when the truth of 'facts' cannot be tested. This is one
reason why we pay close attention to the trustworthiness of sources. Academic journals, for
example, are often trusted because they refuse to publish papers where methods or data
seem weak.
Thinking makes what we are, yet it is a complex and deeply flawed process, even as we
may be quite confident that we are correct in our thoughts, conclusions and consequent
actions. Changing minds activity often needs to have a significant effect on how people think,
yet it can be harder to change thoughts than we may hope. If we can understand how the other
person is thinking, including when their reasoning is strong or weak, then we will have a far
greater chance of persuading them.

3 Modes of Thinking: Lateral,


Divergent & Convergent Thought

.1. Convergent Thinking

Summary: Using logic

Also called: Critical Thinking, Vertical Thinking, Analytical Thinking, Linear


Thinking

‘Convergent thinking is a term coined by Joy Paul Guilford’ (who also coined
the term for the ‘opposite’ way of thinking, ‘Divergent Thinking’).

‘It generally means the ability to give the “correct” answer to standard
questions that do not require significant creativity, for instance in most tasks in
school and on standardized multiple-choice tests for intelligence.

Convergent thinking is often used in conjunction with divergent


thinking. Convergent thinking is the type of thinking that focuses on coming up
with the single, well-established answer to a problem. [1] Convergent thinking is
used as a tool in creative problem-solving. When an individual is using critical
thinking to solve a problem they consciously use standards or probabilities to
make judgments.[2] This contrasts with divergent thinking where judgment is
deferred while looking for and accepting many possible solutions.’

2. Divergent Thinking

Summary: Using imagination


Also called: Creative Thinking or Horizontal Thinking

‘Divergent thinking is a thought process or method used to generate creative


ideas by exploring many possible solutions. It is often used in conjunction with
its cognitive colleague, convergent thinking, which follows a particular set of
logical steps to arrive at one solution, which in some cases is a ‘correct’
solution. By contrast, divergent thinking typically occurs in a spontaneous, free-
flowing, ‘

By contrast, divergent thinking typically occurs in a spontaneous, free-flowing,


‘non-linear’ manner, such that many ideas are generated in an emergent
cognitive fashion. Many possible solutions are explored in a short amount of
time, and unexpected connections are drawn. After the process of divergent
thinking has been completed, ideas and information are organized and
structured using convergent thinking.’

3. Lateral Thinking

Summary: Using both Convergent and Divergent Thinking

Also called: ‘Thinking Outside the Box’

‘Lateral thinking is solving problems through an indirect


and creative approach, using reasoning that is not immediately obvious and
involving ideas that may not be obtainable by using only traditional step-by-
step logic.[1]

To understand lateral thinking, it is necessary to compare lateral thinking and


critical thinking. Critical thinking is primarily concerned with judging the truth
value of statements and seeking errors. Lateral thinking is more concerned with
the “movement value” of statements and ideas. A person uses lateral thinking
to move from one known idea to creating new ideas.’

You might also like

pFad - Phonifier reborn

Pfad - The Proxy pFad of © 2024 Garber Painting. All rights reserved.

Note: This service is not intended for secure transactions such as banking, social media, email, or purchasing. Use at your own risk. We assume no liability whatsoever for broken pages.


Alternative Proxies:

Alternative Proxy

pFad Proxy

pFad v3 Proxy

pFad v4 Proxy