The human brain is a complex structure, still not fully understood. We use its very small potential, slowly improving and sometimes not trying to discover new opportunities for ourselves. But even this small part of the work of the main organ of the central nervous system is striking in its intricate mechanism: the operations of thinking, its types and manifestations are so different for all people, while at the same time obeying the same laws of formation.
Comparison
We do this simple operation every day, without noticing it ourselves. After all, in order to have an idea about a particular subject, we mentally isolate its main characteristics, highlighting and emphasizing them. For example, in order to understand the reason for an unsuccessful interview, a journalist focuses on what it was like, under what conditions it was recorded, and its features. The selection of these moments is always associated with the awareness of the task, by comparingher with other more successful works.
We begin to apply logical operations of thinking from the cradle. The same comparison is used by a baby who has just been born. By certain signs - voice, smell, touch - he distinguishes his mother from other people.
Comparing objects and phenomena, we draw conclusions about their differences and similarities, opposition and identity. As a result, we get to know the world around us better. The operations of thinking teach us, develop us. For example, comparing an interview with a reportage, a student journalist determines the essence and form of each of these genres, which allows him to separate, distinguish and reproduce them in the future.
Abstraction
The basic operations of thinking also include this function of the brain, thanks to which a person is able not only to single out individual characteristics, as well as the properties of phenomena and objects, but also to be able to realize them abstractly. Concept is formed on the basis of abstraction. For example, we all know that food gives us strength and he alth. Thanks to the daily use of meat, milk and cereals, we live, move, work. The main property of food is saturation and enrichment of the body with essential substances. Abstracting from the concept of "food", when we talk about the need to satisfy hunger, we already mean food products, without even saying their name.
Abstraction helps a person to establish logical connections between objects. Penetrating deep into this or that phenomenon, we see its essence, purpose, direction and task. Abstraction Helpsa person to think generally, holistically, drawing conclusions and conclusions. Operations and forms of thinking, such as comparison and abstraction, contribute to the knowledge of truth.
Summary
This function of our brain is closely related to the previous one, together they shape our thinking. Mental operations, abstraction and generalization allow a person to recognize and study the world around them based on characteristics. The first type of brain activity singles out one property of an object that is characteristic only of it. Based on it, we conclude what is at stake. Instead, generalization is also a property, but characteristic not only for this phenomenon, but also for others. For example, a boxer's punch is characterized by sharpness. We give knockout such a definition already on the basis of our knowledge of sharpness, which we have formed during other life situations: when watching football, programs about snakes, feeling gusts of wind on the street.
That is, we learned what sharpness is by analyzing all the characteristics of these phenomena. We were able to determine that this is a process that occurs with a quick and strong impact. Only this one operation reflects in our minds the whole essence of the phenomenon: the defeat of a boxer during a knockout occurs precisely due to the sharpness of his opponent.
Specification
Another property of the brain associated with abstraction. Concretization is its exact opposite. If we have abstraction and generalization at one end of the stick, then concretization is at the other. The first can be individual, the second is common to all. In the educational process, specification means a certainexample for set position.
To correctly understand reality, you need to be able to master all these processes. After all, concretization does not allow mental activity to go far from the object or activity. Contemplating phenomena or events, we clearly understand their essence. Without concretization, all the knowledge gained remains bare, abstract, and therefore useless. For example, having studied the theory of water extraction from alcohol, we will never fully understand the essence of the process until we see with our own eyes what actually happens during this action. The brain concretizes all received knowledge with the help of sight, touch and smell. A person also often brings facts in order to concretize this or that event.
Analysis
Used by a person every day in the same way as other operations of thinking. This is a separate property of the brain when it decomposes a phenomenon or object into components. This is actually dismemberment, disassembly into parts. For example, running an athlete. Mentally, we can highlight such elements as the start, the run itself and the finish. This will be the analysis of this process of activity.
Analyzing more deeply and in detail, we can also highlight the sharpness at the start, the speed of the athlete, the rhythm of breathing. These components are also included in the overall picture called "running". Analyzing, we learn more deeply the world that surrounds us. Indeed, during this process of thinking, we do not single out any parts, but only those that are characteristic ofa certain phenomenon. During the same run, a person waves his arms in different ways, he has a different facial expression. But this will be the concretization of the athlete, and not the run itself. It is necessary to single out only essential elements for each object or phenomenon.
Synthesis
This is a mental activity, just the opposite of analysis. With the help of synthesis, on the contrary, we make up a general picture of what is happening from specific details. It enables us to recreate events based on individual facts. A person receives a whole concept of what is happening from versatile details. It's like putting together puzzles: you substitute this or that part, discard the excess, attach the necessary one.
The basic operations of thinking, such as analysis and synthesis, always go hand in hand. Only in this case it is necessary to understand that none of these concepts dominates, since both of them are important. Any analysis involves synthesis and vice versa. A very striking example of synthesis is the investigation of a crime. The investigator collects facts, studies evidence, interviews people, displays in his mind a chain of events and actions in order to come to the correct conclusion: who, when and why violated the law. The whole picture of the crime he created consists of a mass of small, at first glance, insignificant elements. Alone, they are of no value, but put together they can change the course of certain events.
Types of thinking
Mental activity of a person has other manifestations. For example, it can be of three types, each of which helps to generalize and at the same time specify the surroundingworld:
- Effective thinking based on direct perception of objects. Occurs during practice. It is the basis for all other kinds of thinking.
- Figurative. At the same time, a person relies on images, fantasy and perception.
- Abstract-logical. Occurs during the selection of connections and properties of individual objects and takes the form of reasoning and abstract concepts.
All types and operations of thinking are closely interconnected, one might say, woven into a single knot. For example, when describing the same historical events, words are based on images, and the mental reconstruction of images is inherently based on read or heard phrases. At the same time, the operations of thinking also take part in the process, making it individual for each person. Thanks to different types of mental activity, we open up new horizons of knowledge.
Forms of mental activity
Each of our thoughts has not only content, but also an outer shell. That is, the basic operations of thinking are always expressed in a certain form:
- Concept. Reflects the characteristics, properties of objects and phenomena, their relationship. At the same time, concepts are concrete and abstract, general and singular.
- Judgment. Expresses the denial or affirmation of something. Reflects the relationship between events and phenomena. Judgments are false or true.
- Conclusion. This is the same conclusion drawn from a series of judgments. Inferences can be inductive (a logical conclusion from a particularto the general) and deductive (from the general to the particular).
Operations and forms of thinking are the main way of perceiving and knowing the world. Without the intense work of the brain, a person would remain a "vegetable", unable to think, imagine, feel, move. Of course, this is not the limit to the possibilities of "gray matter". With the development and improvement of it in the future, it is possible to discover new types, forms and operations of thinking.
