THINKING, REASONING &

PROBLEM SOLVING
Thinking
 Example

 For example, while seeing a painting, you are not simply

focusing on the color of the painting or the lines and
strokes, rather you are going beyond the given text in
interpreting its meaning and you are trying to relate the
information to your existing knowledge.

 Understanding of the painting involves creation of new

meaning that is added to your knowledge.
 Concept-Thinking

 Thinking can be defined as mental activity that goes on in the brain when
a person is processing information—organizing it, understanding it, and
communicating it to others.

 Thinking includes memory, but it is much more. When people think, they
are not only aware of the information in the brain but also are making
decisions about it, comparing it to other information, and using it to solve
problems.

 Thinking is the base of all cognitive activities or processes and is unique

to human beings.

 Thinking, therefore, is a higher mental process through which we

manipulate and analyze the acquired or existing information. Such
manipulation and analysis occur by means of abstracting, reasoning,
imagining, problem solving, judging, and decision making.
 Cognitive abilities like thinking, reasoning and problem-solving may be
considered to be some of the chief characteristics which distinguish
human beings from other species including the higher animals.

 The challenges and problems faced by the individual or by society, in

general are solved through series of efforts involving thinking and
reasoning.

 The powers of thinking and reasoning may thus be considered to be the

essential tools for the welfare and meaningful existence of the
individual as well as society.
 Definitions

 Ross: “Thinking is a mental activity in its cognitive aspect or mental

activity with regard to psychological aspects”.

 Garrett: “Thinking is a behaviour which is often implicit and hidden

and in which symbols are ordinarily employed”.

 Gilmer: “Thinking is a problem-solving process in which we use ideas

or symbols in place of overt activity”.
 Characteristic

 Thinking is the activity of human reason as a process of strengthening

the relationship between stimulus and response.

 Thinking is a reasonable working of various views with the knowledge

that has been stored in the mind long before the emergence of new
knowledge.

 Thinking can be interpreted to remember something, and questioned

whether there is a relationship between what is intended.
 Thinking is processing information mentally or cognitively by
rearranging the information from the environment and the symbols are
stored in the memory of his past.

 Thinking is a symbolic representation of some event train of ideas in a

precise and careful that began with the problem.

 Thinking is a mental process mental representations newly formed

through the transformation of information by interaction, attributes
such as the assessment of mental abstraction, logic, imagination and
problem-solving
 Building Blocks of Thought

There are a few important elements involved in the thinking process:

 Mental Images: As mental pictures consist of personal experiences of
objects, persons or situations, heard and felt. These mental pictures
symbolize actual objects, experiences and activities. In thinking, we
usually manipulate the images rather than the actual objects,
experiences or activities.

 Concepts: A concept is a general idea that stands for a general class

and represents the common characteristics of all objects or events of
this general class. Concept, as a tool, economize the efforts in thinking,
for example, when we hear the word „elephant‟ we are at once reminded
not only about the nature and qualities of elephant as a class but also
our own experiences and understanding of them come to the surface in
our consciousness to stimulate our thinking at that time.
 Symbols and signs: Symbols and signs represent and stand for
substitute of the actual objects, experiences and activities. For example,
traffic lights, railway signals, school bells, badges, songs, flags and
slogans all are symbolic expressions, they stimulate and motivate
resultant thinking because they tell us what to do or how to act.

 Language: Is the most efficient and developed vehicle used for

carrying out the process of thinking. When a person reads, writes or
hears words or sentences or observes gesture in any language one is
stimulated to think. Thus reading and writing of documents and
literature also help in stimulating and promoting the thinking process.
 Muscular activities: Thinking in one way or the other shows the
evidence of the involvement of some incipient movements of groups of
our muscles. A high positive relation has been found to exist for the
thinking and muscular activities of an individual. The more we engage
ourselves in thought, the greater is the general muscular tension and
conversely as we moved towards muscular relation, our thought
processes gradually diminish.

 Brain functions: Whatever may be the role of the muscles, thinking

is primarily a function of the brain. Our mind is said to be the chief
instrument of the thinking process. The experiences registered by our
sense organs have no meaning, and thus cannot serve as stimulating
agents, or instruments for thinking unless these impressions are
received by our brain cells and properly interpreted to derive some
meaning.
 Types of thinking

Perceptual or Concrete Thinking:

 This is the simplest form of thinking.

 The basis of this type is perception, i.e. interpretation of sensation

according to one‟s experience.

 It is also called concrete thinking as it is carried out on the perception

of actual or concrete objects and events.

 Examples: You discuss the example…

Conceptual or Abstract Thinking:

 Here one makes use of concepts, the generalized objects

and languages.

 It is regarded as being superior to perceptual thinking as it

minimize efforts in understanding and problem-solving.

 Example….
Reflective Thinking:

 This type of thinking aims in solving complex problems, thus it

requires reorganization of all the relevant experiences to a situation
or removing obstacles instead of relating with that experiences or
ideas.

 This is an insightful cognitive approach in reflective thinking as the

mental activity here does not involve the mechanical trial and error
type of efforts.

 In this type, thinking processes take all the relevant facts arranged in
a logical order into an account in order to arrive at a solution of the
problem.
Creative Thinking:

 This type of thinking is associated with one‟s ability to create or

construct something new, novel or unusual.

 It looks for new relationships and associations to describe and

interpret the nature of things, events and situations.

 Here the individual himself usually formulates the evidences and

tools for its solution. For example; scientists, artists or inventors.

 The creative thinker is one who expresses new ideas and makes new
observations, new predictions and new inferences.
Characteristics of Creative Thinking:

 Creative thinking, in all its shapes and forms is absolutely an internal

mental process and hence should be considered as an important
component of one‟s cognitive behaviour.

 Every one of us is capable of creative thinking and hence it is a

universal phenomenon.

 Creative thinking results in the production of something new or

novel including a new form of arrangement of old elements.

 Creative thinking in all its dimensions involve divergent thinking

instead of the routine and final types of convergent thinking.

 The field of creative thinking and its out part is quite comprehensive
and built wide. It covers all the aspects of human accomplishments
belonging to an individual‟s life.
Critical Thinking:

 It is a type of thinking that helps a person in stepping aside from his

own personal beliefs, prejudices and opinions to sort out the faiths
and discover the truth, even at the expense of his basic belief system.

 Here one resorts to set higher cognitive abilities and skills for the
proper interpretation, analysis, evaluation and inference, as well as
explanation of the gathered or communicated information resulting
in a purposeful unbiased and self-regulatory judgement.
 An ideal thinker is habitually inquisitive (curious), well-informed,
open-minded, flexible, fair-minded in evaluation, free from personal
bias and prejudices, honest in seeking relevant information, skilled
in the proper use of the abilities like interpretation, analysis,
synthesis, evaluation and drawing conclusion and inferences, etc.

 The critical thinking is of a higher order 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 judgment of the
gathered or communicated information or data as a guide to one‟s
belief and action.
 Reasoning

Meaning of Reasoning:

 It is one of the best forms of controlled thinking consciously towards

the solution of a problem.
 It is realistic in the sense that the solution is sought always in reference
to the reality of the situation.
 We can solve many problems in our by reasoning.

 As Sherman defined, “reasoning is a process of thinking during

which the individual is aware of a problem identifies,
evaluates, and decides upon a solution”.
 Reasoning is used not only when we want to solve an immediate
problem but also when we anticipate (expect) future problems.

 Reasoning plays a significant role in one‟s adjustment to the

environment.

 It not only determines one‟s cognitive activities but also influences

the behaviour and personality.

 Thus reasoning is a highly specialized thinking which helps an

individual to explore mentally the cause and effect relationship of
an event or solution of a problem by adopting some well-organized
systematic steps based on previous experience combined with
present observation.
Definitions of Reasoning:

 “Reasoning is a stepwise thinking with a purpose or goal

in mind” —Garrett.

 “Reasoning is the term applied to highly purposeful,

controlled and selective thinking”—Gates.

 “Reasoning is the word used to describe the mental

recognition of cause and effect relationships, it may be
the prediction of an event from an observed cause or the
inference of a cause from an observed event”—Skinner.
 Types of reasoning

Inductive reasoning:

 It is a specialized thinking aimed at the discovery or

construction of a generalized principle by making use of
particular cases, special examples and identifying of
elements or relations.

 For example, Mohan is mortal, Radha is mortal, Karim is

mortal; therefore, all human beings are mortal.
Deductive reasoning:

 It is the ability to draw some logical conclusions from

known statement or evidences.
 Here one starts with already known or established
generalized statement or principle and applies it to specific
cases. For example, all human beings are mortal you are a
human being, therefore, you are mortal.
 Problem solving

Problem solving is the act of

 defining a problem;
 determining the cause of the problem;
 identifying, prioritizing, and selecting alternatives for a
solution;
 implementing a solution.
 Step Characteristics

•Differentiate fact from opinion

1. Define the
problem •Specify underlying causes

•Consult each faction involved for information

•State the problem specifically

•Identify what standard or expectation is

violated

•Determine in which process the problem lies

•Avoid trying to solve the problem without data

2. •Postpone evaluating alternatives
Generate initially
alternative
solutions •Include all involved individuals in the
generating of alternatives

•Specify alternatives consistent with

organizational goals

•Specify short- and long-term

alternatives

•Brainstorm on others' ideas

•Seek alternatives that may solve the

problem
3. Evaluate and select •Evaluate alternatives relative to a
an alternative target standard

•Evaluate all alternatives without

bias

•Evaluate alternatives relative to

established goals

•Evaluate both proven and possible

outcomes

•State the selected alternative

explicitly
4. Implement and •Plan and implement a pilot test of the
follow up on the chosen alternative
solution
•Gather feedback from all affected
parties

•Seek acceptance or consensus by all

those affected

•Establish on-going measures and

monitoring

•Evaluate long-term results based on

final solution