Unit - III : Thinking
Basic elements of thought – concepts, types of concepts, concept formation,
Reasoning, creative thinking. Intelligence – nature and definition, theories, assessment
intelligence, classification of Intelligence. Language – nature and development of language,
biological foundations of language, language in other species
Basic elements of thoughts
Thinking is the mental representation and manipulation of information. We represent
information in our minds, in the form of images, word and concepts.
We manipulate information is our minds when we solve problems, make decisions,
and engage is creative activities.
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Mental images are mental pictures or representation of an object or event. People form
mental images of many different objects, faces of familiar people, letters of the
alphabet.
A mental image is not an actual or photographic representation of an object, rather it
is a reconstruction of the object, or event from memory.
Images can be formed based on various sensory experiences, including vision,
hearing, taste and touch mental images can be manipulated to help us solve certain
kinds of problems.
People vary remarkably in how much, they use images in their thinking. A few report
that they almost never use mental picture, so they must be doing their thinking with words, or
verbally. Others report that most of their thinking is done in image form.
When individual use images to think, they are not usually complete “pictures in the
head”. They are usually incomplete. Images are abstractions of certain features from previous
experience. The incomplete, abstract images most of us in thinking seen to be constructed
from element stored in long – term memory.
CONCEPTS
Concepts are mental categories for classifying events, objects and ideas on the basis
of common features or properties. A concept is a symbolic construction that represent
some common and general feature or features of many object or event.
Eg. men, red, triangle
The human ability to form concepts enables us to classify things into categories.
Concepts are ways of classifying the diverse elements of the world around us, they are
convenient tools to use in thinking about the world and in solving problems. These
concepts or categories are acquired easily, appear in thinking very early in life and to
some degree, reflect the way the brain processes and sorts information.
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Types of concepts
Concepts can be classified as
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logical concepts
natural concepts
Logical concepts are those that have clearly defined rules for determining
membership. School children learn that the concept of a triangle applies to any three sided
form or figure. If a figure has three sides, it must be a triangle.
But in natural concepts the rules for determining how they are applied are poorly
defined natural concepts include
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various objects such as furniture, mammals and fruits
Activities such as games, work, and sports.
abstractions such as justice, honor and freedom.
For ex, most people have an imprecise idea about what makes a fruit a “ fruit”. They might
readily agree that an apple is a fruit, but not be sure about pumpkin.
Hence the judgments on the probability that objects are members of particular
categories forms the base for forming concepts. Individuals decide whether an object is more
or less likely to belong to a particular category by comparing its characteristic with a mental
representation of a model or example of a category member.
Hierarchies of concepts
People order their concepts within their hierarchies of broad or narrow categories.
Commonly used hierarchy has three levels of concepts.
1. Superordinate concepts – are broad categories such as vehicle, animal and furniture
2. Basic level concepts – are categories within superordinate concepts eg. Car dog &
chair
3. Subordinate concepts - are even more specific such as maruti, rocking chair.
Children are more readily acquire words representing basic level concepts than those
representing superordinate or subordinate concepts. People are faster at recognizing an object
as an example of a basic level concept(apple) than as an example of a superordinate one (like
– fruit). The reason why people learn basic concepts is that these provide the most useful
information about the objects we encounter.
Categorizing an object as a piece of furniture tells us little about it specific features.
The feature associated with a basic level concept like “ chair” gives us more useful
information. Subordinate concepts like “rocking chair”, are more specific and limited in
large, & they may give us more information then we need.
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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 future problems.
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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
Reasoning may be classified into two types.
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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
CREATIVITY
Creativity is thinking in ways that lead to original, practical and meaningful solution
to problems or that generate new ideas or forms of artistic expressions. The creation of a new
product, for example may solve a problem in a novel and useful way.
Sternberg (2006) reports five commonalities in the research of creativity. These
are:
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Creativity involves thinking that aims at producing ideas or products that are
relatively novel and that are, in some respect, compelling.
Creativity has some domain-specific and domain-general elements in the sense that it
needs some specific knowledge, but there are certain elements of creativity that cut
across different domains.
Creativity is measureable, at least to some extent.
Creativity can be developed and promoted.
Creativity is not highly rewarded in practice, as it is supposed to be in theory.
Sternberg and Lubart (1999) define creativity as the ability to produce work that is both novel
(i.e. original, unexpected) and appropriate (i.e. useful concerning tasks constrains).Creativity
is not limited to a few creative geniuses in the arts or science psychologists recognize
everybody has the ability to be creative and to apply creativity to many aspects of our daily
life.
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Creative thinkers become aware of the new idea suddenly, it is said that much of the
thought has already gone on unconsciously. The sudden appearance of new ideas is called
‘insight’. A number of creative report that after conscious thought has failed then, insight
suddenly appears when they are doing something completely unrelated to the problem.
Stages in creative thinking
1. Preparation the thinker formulates the problem and collects the facts and materials
considered necessary for the new solution.
2. Incubation during this period, some of the ideas that were interfering with the solution
tend to fade. The individual thinks, examines analyses and interprets and reinterprets
what he/she observed or prepared. During this process of incubation, a considerable
amount of ‘trial and error’ learning also goes on.
3. Illumination an idea for the solution suddenly comes into consciousness. As the
process of unconscious activity goes on, the individual finds a right answer to his
problems, doubts and questions.
4. Verification / evaluation the apparent solution is tested to see if it satisfactorily solves
the problem.
Creativity and intelligence are regarded as totally independent of each other. Intelligence is
not supposed to influence creativity. Creativity is viewed as a mental operation accessible to
everyone. It is supposedly dependent on domain-specific knowledge (i.e. the amount of
exposure to and expertise in a given field) and deliberate practice. However, a creative
person’s IQ has been demonstrated to be at least a standard deviation above the mean, often
more. The process of verification is continuous and very often we find that to creative
individuals, revise, modify or change their ideas.
Nature of Intelligence
Two Factor Theory
Charles Spearman proposed that individuals possess general intelligence factor (G) in varying
(degree) amount. This determines the individual’s overall ability. In addition to G,
individuals also possess specific abilities (S) ‘G’ is universal inborn ability, it is general
mental energy. The amount of ‘G’ differs from individual to individual.
Higher the ‘G’ in an individual, greater is the success in life. ‘S’ is learned and acquired in
the environment, it varies from activity to activity even in the same individual; the
individuals themselves differ in the amount of ‘S’ ability.
Two individuals in a class may be comparable on their G factor, yet one may be very good
with numbers while the other possesses higher musical ability.
Multifactor Theories (Thurstone and Guilford)
Thurstone (1936) felt that intelligence could be broken down into a number of primary
abilities. He had derived, primary abilities on the basis of factor analyses. These abilities, as
shown in the following table are represented in items in test construction.
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Ability
Description
Verbal comprehension
Understanding of meaning of words
Word fluency
Ability to think rapidly
Number
Perform calculations
Space
Visualise space form relationship
Memory
Recall verbal stimuli
Perceptual speed
Grasp of visual details
Reasoning
Ability to find a general rule, logical thinking
Guilford has broadened the concept of intelligence. According to him there are two types of
thinking:
i) convergent thinking — solving a problem that has a defined correct answer; and
ii) divergent thinking — arriving at many possible solutions to a problem.
This is predominantly creative thinking. He had proposed a three dimensional theory
represented in a cubical model Guilford maintained that intelligence test items should
distinguish in terms of the Operations performed upon the Content and the Product that
results. This model provides for 120 factors of intelligence which is a combination yield of 4
contents, 5 operations and 6 products.
Process Oriented Theories
These theories have focussed on intellectual processes ------ the pattern of thinking that
people use when they reason and solve problems. These theorists prefer to use the term
cognitive processes, in place of intelligence. They are often more interested in how people
solve problems and how many get the right solution. They have focussed on the development
of cognitive abilities. Piaget’s work is a significant contribution in this area. He viewed
intelligence as an adaptive process that involves an interplay of biological maturation and
interaction with the environment.
Information Processing Theories
These theories break intelligence down into various basic skills that people employ to take in
information, process it, and then use it to reason and solve problems. These basic skills may
be simple or complex. Robert Sternberg (1984) distinguishes between information processing
“components” and “metacomponents”. Components are the steps to solve a problem and
metacomponents are the basics of knowledge that one has to know to solve the problem. The
information processing theory has often been compared with computers in which attention
and memory have been designated as the intellectual hardware whereas the action schemes
(Piaget’s notion) are similar to specific, repeatable intellectual sequences, and executive
schemes, similar to plans and strategies.
Other Theories
Cattell (1971) on the basis of factor analysis, has divided general factor of intelligence (G)
into two parts - fluid intelligence (GF) and crystalized intelligence (GC) - The former being
innate, biologically or genetically determined and the latter acquired based on cultural and
education experience.
Eysenek (1973) distinguishes between speed and power components of intelligence. Speed is
measured by the time required to complete the task and power is measured through untimed
test of reasoning.
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Gardner’s Theory of Multiple Intelligences
According to Gardner (1999), intelligence is much more than IQ because a high IQ in the
absence of productivity does not equate to intelligence. In terms of his definition (1983):
“Intelligence is a bio-psychological potential to process information that can be activated in a
cultural setting to solve problems or create products that are of value in a culture”
 Linguistic Intelligence
This intelligence includes the ability to effectively use language to express oneself
rhetorically or poetically; and as a means to remember information. Writers, poets,
lawyers and speakers are among those that Howard Gardner sees as having
high linguistic intelligence.
 Logical-mathematical Intelligence
This intelligence consists of the capacity to analyse problems logically, carry out
mathematical operations, and investigate issues scientifically. In Howard Gardner’s
words, it entails the ability to detect patterns, reason deductively and think logically. This
intelligence is most often associated with scientific and mathematical thinking. Careers
which suit those with this intelligence include scientists, physicists, mathematicians,
logicians, engineers, doctors, economists and philosophers.
 Musical Intelligence
This intelligence involves skill in the performance, composition, and appreciation of
musical patterns. It encompasses the capacity to recognise and compose musical pitches,
tones, and rhythms.. Careers that suit those with this intelligence include instrumentalists,
singers, conductors, disc-jockeys, orators, writers and composers.
 Bodily-kinesthetic Intelligence
It entails the potential of using one’s whole body or parts of the body to solve problems. It
is the ability to use mental abilities to coordinate bodily movements. In theory, people
who have bodily-kinesthetic intelligence should learn better by involving muscular
movement (e.g. getting up and moving around into the learning experience), and are
generally good at physical activities such as sports or dance.
 Spatial Intelligence
Spatial intelligence involves the potential for recognising and manipulating the patterns of
both wide spaces such as those negotiated by pilots or navigators, and confined spaces
such as those encountered by sculptors, architects or championship chess players.
 Interpersonal Intelligence
This intelligence is concerned with the capacity to understand the intentions, motivations
and desires of other people. It allows people to work effectively with others. Educators,
sales people, religious and political leaders and counsellors all need a well-developed
interpersonal intelligence.
 Intrapersonal Intelligence
This entails the capacity to understand oneself, to appreciate one’s feelings, fears and
motivations. Careers which suit those with this intelligence include philosophers,
psychologists, theologians, lawyers, and writers. People with intrapersonal intelligence
also prefer to work alone.
 Naturalistic Intelligence
This intelligence has to do with nature, nurturing and relating information to one’s natural
surroundings. Such a person demonstrates expertise in recognition and classification of
the numerous species - the flora and fauna – of her or his environment. Careers which suit
those with this intelligence include naturalists, farmers and gardeners.
 Existential Intelligence
This is an ability to contemplate phenomena or questions beyond sensory data, such as
the infinite and infinitesimal. Career which suits those with this intelligence include
cosmologists, and philosophers.
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Assessment of Intelligence
It was through psychological test of intelligence, that psychology has come to attention of the
masses. Alfred Binet (1875-1911) was the first psychologist to devise an intelligence that
(1904) aimed at measuring the ability to judge well, to comprehend well, to reason well.
Subsequently it was revised several times. Binet in collaboration with Simon devised the test
by age levels with items of increasing difficulty, with which ‘he could measure a child’s
intellectual level. He tested a large group of children of different ages with tests of varying
difficulty. This helped in finding which items could be completed by majority of the children.
For testing, each child’s based age is derived, i.e. highest level at which all items are passed.
Terminal age specific that lowest level where all the items are failed. Between based age and
terminal age all the items are given additional scores. The sum of this total score is converted
into mental age. The ratio between chronological age and mental age is intelligence quotient
(IQ). The formula of calculating IQ is
IQ
=
Mental Age
Chronological Age
It is multiplied by 100 to eliminate decimals. For example, if the child is 8 years old, his
mental age also falls at 8 year then he will have IQ of 8¸ 8 × 100 = 100. Supposing this 8
years old child scores mental age of 10 years then his IQ would be 10 ¸ 8 × 100 = 125. The
concept of IQ has become very popular, but it has a number of problems. One that it has
nothing to do for adults say a mental age of 2 or 45 is meaningless. Secondly it tends to
suggest that intelligence is fixed in childhood, whereas several studies have shown that
intelligence scores quite unduly.
Classification of Intelligence
Genius
Very superior
Superior
Above average
Average
Dull average
Borderline
Mild Mental Retardation
Moderate Mental Retardation
Severe Mental Retardation
Profound Mental Retardation
Semester II
140 & above
130 – 140
120 – 130
110 – 120
90 – 110
80 – 90
70 – 80
50 – 70
35 – 50
20 – 35
0 – 20
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Language
Language is a system of communication composed of symbols-words or hand signs – that
are arranged according to a grammar, a set of rules governing the proper use of words,
phrases, and sentences, to express meaning.
Language consists of four basic components: phonemes, morphemes, syntax and semantics.
The basic unit of sound in a spoken language are called phonemes. English has about forty
phonemes to sound out the 500,000 or so words found in modern unabridged English
dictionaries. The word dog consists of three phonemes ‘d’, ‘au’ ‘g’. Phonemes are combined
to form morphemes, the smallest units of meaning in a language. Simple words such as care,
ball and time are morphemes.
Language requires more than phonemes and morphemes. It also require syntax, the rules of
grammar that determine how words are ordered within sentences and phrases to form
meaningful expressions and semantics, the set of rules governing the meaning of words.
Linguistics is the study of language as structured system of rules. It also comprises of the
study of the origin of languages, the relationship emerge languages, how language change
over time and the nature of language sounds. Language is a set of rules for generating speech.
A dialect is a variant of a language.
Language determine the thought we are capable of having. Thinking was perceived as a kind
of inner speech, a kind of ‘talking to yourself under your breath”. According to this idea,
people make small movements of the vocal apparatus when they think and carry on their
thinking by talking to themselves. A number of experiments have indicated that movements
of the vocal apparatus may indeed accompany thought, but other experiments have made it
clear that such movements are not necessary for thinking.
Studies on children with hearing important revealed children with
ability, score in normal range on standardized tests, of cognitive
cognitive development of the person with hearing impairment.
impairment can think is sign. Language was viewed by linguists and
more important than it actually is in shaping our perception of reality.
little verbal language
performance and their
People with hearing
anthropologist as being
Development of Language
Children must hear people speak and be able to discriminate between the different speech
sounds and words. He or she must also be able to produce sounds and gradually learn to
combine these sounds to produce words.
Discriminating speech sounds – infants are able to hear at birth and can localize the sound
source. Infants have a remarkable ability to discriminate sounds. By three months of age, the
infant has understood that speech sounds are matched by the speaker’s lip movements and
can also associate a particular voice with a particular face.
The Infant’s ability to learn to discriminate speech sounds in the first year helps to learn to
speak later. It has been found that when parents speak to the child and respond to the sounds that
she produces in the early months, her language development is fostered. Therefore, it is important
to talk to babies right from the time they are born.
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Turn-taking is critical for social interaction. In a dialogue between two or more people, one
partner speaks while the other person listens. Then the first one pauses and waits for the other
person to reply. Thus the partners in conversation take turns to speak and listen.
Let us now read about the stages in language acquisition.
Crying : The earliest form of communication that a child uses is crying. From birth to one
month of age, this is about the only sound the baby produces to communicate her di~tresasn d
discomfort. Most mothers are able to make out what the baby's cry indicates-whether she is
hungry, wet or just irritable.
Cooing : Around one month of age babies begin to make cooing sounds in addition to crying.
This stage lasts till 4-5 months after birth. Cooing is a vowe1:like sound, particularly like
'oooo '. Babies make cooing sounds when they are content and satisfied. They seem to get
pleasure out of it.
As the child grows, she spends more time awake and practises sounds. She delights in
producing new sounds and repeats them. She experiments by varying the pitch and loudness
of sounds. The infant seems to be exploring the possibilities of combining sounds. This
experimentation is a very important stage in acquiring language since it gives the infant an
opportunity to perfect sounds. The child first produces and practises the vowel sounds, (i.e. a,
i, e, o, u) so that you can hear sound like, "aaa ", "iiii ". Then she practises consonant sounds like p, t, b, m, d by combining them
with vowels, so that you hear sounds like "beeee ...", "maaaaa ".
Babbling : Between six and ten months, the infant begins to babble. She repeats syllables like
'ma', 'day, 'ki', and 'ne' over and over again so that we can hear sounds like "dadada ",
bbkikikikiki..."", mamama....". This is referred to as babbling. As in the earlier stage, the
infant continues to produce new sounds and experimenting with them. In the early stages of
babbling, the infant may produce sounds like those in adult speech and it seems as if the baby
has learnt some words. For example, when the baby babbles "mamama ..." or "bababa ", the
parents feel that the child is saying "mama" to mean the mother and "baba" to mean the
father. But these are not really words because the child does not use them to refer only to
parents. She makes these utterances in many different contexts and sometimes when the
parents are not even present! The infant's utterances will become words only when she begins
to use them consistently to refer to a particular object person.
The First Words : Some time between ten,and twelve months, often around the first birthday,
the infant says the first word. This word may not match the words adults use but it is a word
that the child uses consistently to refer to some thing, action or quality. One particular child
used the word "mimi" to refer to the liquids that she was drinking, like milk and water.
Biological basis of language
Children the world over develop language in basically the same stages, which unfold at
basically the same ages. Until about 6 months of age, infants are limited to nonlinguistic
forms of communication-crying and cooing. At around that time, the first sounds resembling
human speech appear in the form of babbling. The child then progresses through stages of
one- and two-word phrases, and between the ages of 2 and 3 begins developing more
complex speech patterns.
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The similar course of language development across cultures and the ease with which children
naturally acquire language suggest that language depends on an innate mechanism that may
be “prewired” in the human brain.
Noam Chomsky called this mechanism the Language Acquisition Device. We acquire the
ability to speak, much as we do the ability to walk and jump, because we have an inborn
propensity to develop it.
Our ability to use language depends not only on a biological capacity for language
production, but also on experience with the sounds, meanings and structures of human
speech. Children may have a natural capacity for language, but they learn grammar by
listening to the speech of others, and they enlarge their vocabularies by imitating the words
others use to refer to particular objects.
Thus, language development depends on both a biological capacity for language production
and experience with the sounds, meanings, and structures of human speech.
Language in other species
Can nonhuman animals, such as apes, communicate through language? Apes lack the vocal
apparatus needed to form human sounds, so researchers have turned to nonverbal means of
expression to try to communicate with them, such as sign language and artificial languages
(manipulation of signs and symbols).
Psychologist David Premack developed an artificial language in which plastic chips of
different sizes, colors, and shapes symbolize different words. Using shaping and
reinforcement techniques, he trained a chimp named Sarah to communicate by placing the
chips on a magnetic board. Sarah learned to form simple sentences. For example, she would
request food by putting together a sequence of chips that signaled, “Mary give apple Sarah”.
Apart from whether apes can learn human language, it is clear that many animal species have
communication systems of their own. They use grunts, squeals, growls, and other soundstheir own “native tongue”-as well as facial expressions to communicate emotional states like
anger and sexual arousal, to gather their young and to warn others of approaching predators.
Scholars continues to debate the question of whether animals other than humans can use
language. The answer may hinge on how we define language. Research with chimps and
gorillas has shown that these primates are capable of learning elementary forms of
communication – for example, manipulation of symbols to request food-but questions remain
about whether these communication skills are equivalent to human language.
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