Receiving information from the surrounding world, it is with the participation of thinking that we can realize and transform it. In this we are helped by the types of thinking and their characteristics. A table with these data is presented below.
What is thinking
This is the highest process of cognition of the surrounding reality, the subjective perception of objective reality. Its uniqueness lies in the perception of external information and its transformation in consciousness. Thinking helps a person gain new knowledge, experience, creatively transform ideas that have already been formed. It helps to expand the boundaries of knowledge, helping to change the existing conditions for solving the tasks.
This process is the engine of human development. In psychology, there is no separately operating process - thinking. It will necessarily be present in all other cognitive actions of a person. Therefore, in order to somewhat structure such a transformation of reality, the types of thinking and their characteristics were singled out in psychology. A table with these data helps to better understand information aboutactivities of this process in our psyche.
Features of this process
This process has its own characteristics that distinguish it from other human mental functions.
- Mediation. This means that a person can indirectly recognize an object through the properties of another. The types of thinking and their characteristics are also involved here. Briefly describing this property, we can say that knowledge occurs through the properties of another object: we can transfer some acquired knowledge to a similar unknown object.
- Generalization. Combining several properties of an object into a common one. The ability to generalize helps a person to learn new things in the surrounding reality.
These two properties and processes of this cognitive function of a person contain the general characteristic of thinking. Characteristics of the types of thinking is a separate area of general psychology. Since the types of thinking are characteristic of different age categories and are formed according to their own rules.
Types of thinking and their characteristics, table
A person perceives structured information better, so some information about the varieties of the cognitive process of cognition of reality and their description will be presented in a systematic way.
The best way to understand what the types of thinking are and their characteristics is a table.
| Types of thinking | Definition |
| Visual-effective | Based on the direct perception of surrounding objects whenany action with them. |
| Demonstrative | Relies on images and representations. A person imagines a situation and with the help of such thinking transforms it, forming unusual combinations of objects. |
| Verbal-logical | Perform logical operations with concepts. |
| Empirical | Characterized by primary generalizations, conclusions based on experience, that is, already existing theoretical knowledge. |
| Practical | The transition from abstract thinking to practice. Physical transformation of reality. |
Visual Action Thinking Description
In psychology much attention is paid to the study of thinking as the main process of cognition of reality. After all, this process develops differently for each person, it works individually, sometimes the types of thinking and their characteristics do not correspond to age norms.
For preschoolers, visual-effective thinking comes first. It begins its development from infancy. Description by age is presented in the table.
| Age Period | Characteristic of thinking | Examples |
| Infancy | In the second half of the period (from 6 months), perception and action develop, which form the basis for the development of this type of thinking. At the end of infancy, the child can solve elementary problems based onmanipulations with objects by trial and error. | An adult hides a toy in his right hand. The kid first opens the left, after failure reaches for the right. Finding a toy, enjoys the experience. He learns the world in a visual-effective way. |
| Early age | Manipulating things, the child quickly learns important connections between them. This age period is a vivid representation of the formation and development of visual-effective thinking. The kid performs external orientation actions, which actively explores the world. | Picking up a full bucket of water, the child noticed that he comes to the sandbox with an almost empty bucket. Then, while manipulating the bucket, he accidentally closes the hole, and the water remains at the same level. Perplexed, the kid experiments until he realizes that to maintain the water level, it is necessary to close the hole. |
| Preschool | During this period, this type of thinking gradually passes into the next one, and already at the end of the age stage, the child masters verbal thinking. | First, to measure the length, the preschooler takes a paper strip, applying it to anything that is interesting. Then this action is transformed into images and concepts. |
Visual Thinking
Types of thinking in psychology and their characteristics occupy an important place, since the age-related formation of other cognitive processes depends on their development. With each age stage, more and more mental functions are involved in the developmentthe process of knowing reality. In visual-figurative thinking, imagination and perception play an almost key role.
| Characteristic | Combinations | Transformations |
| This kind of thinking is represented by certain operations with images. Even if we do not see something, we can recreate it in the mind through this kind of thinking. The child begins to think this way in the middle of preschool age (4-6 years). An adult also actively uses this species. | We can get a new image through combinations of items in our minds: a woman, choosing her clothes for going out, imagines in her mind how she will look in a certain blouse and skirt or dress and scarf. This is an act of visual-figurative thinking. | Also, a new image is obtained with the help of transformations: looking at a flower bed with one plant, you can imagine how it will look with a decorative stone or many different plants. |
Verbal-logical thinking
Implemented by logical manipulation of concepts. Such operations are designed to find something in common between different objects and phenomena in society and our environment. Here images take a secondary place. In children, the makings of this type of thinking come at the end of the preschool period. But the main development of this kind of thinking begins at primary school age.
| Age | Characteristic |
| Juniorschool age |
A child, entering school, is already learning to operate with elementary concepts. The main base for operating them are:
At this stage, intellectualization of mental processes takes place. |
| Adolescence | During this period, thinking acquires a qualitatively different color - reflection. Theoretical concepts are already being evaluated by a teenager. In addition, such a child can be distracted from visual material, reasoning logically in verbal terms. Hypotheses emerge. |
| Adolescence | Thinking based on abstraction, concepts and logic becomes systemic, creating an internal subjective model of the world. At this age stage, verbal-logical thinking becomes the basis of the worldview of a young person. |
Empirical thinking
The characteristics of the main types of thinking include not only the three types described above. This process is also divided into empirical or theoretical and practical.
Theoretical thinking represents the knowledge of the rules, various signs, the theoretical base of the basic concepts. Here you can build hypotheses, but test them already in the plane of practice.
Practical thinking
Practical thinking involves the transformation of reality, adjusting it to your goals and plans. It is limited in time, there is no opportunity to explore many options for testing various hypotheses. Therefore, for a person, it opens up new opportunities for understanding the world.
Types of thinking and their characteristics depending on the tasks being solved and the properties of this process
They also share the types of thinking depending on the tasks and subjects of the implementation of the tasks. The process of knowing reality happens:
- intuitive;
- analytic;
- realistic;
- autistic;
- egocentric;
- productive and reproductive.
Every person has all these types to a greater or lesser extent.
