Thinking, Problem Solving & Creativity

THINKING

Charles Wilfred Valentine - “ thinking is an activity which consists essentially of a flow of ideas directed toward some end or purpose”

Henry Edward Garette - “ behaviour which is often hidden and implicit, and in which symbols (images, ideas, concepts) are ordinarily employed.

Elements of Thinking

  1. IMAGE: Mental pictures of different people, animals, objects, ideas or activities which an individual perceives through sensory experiences of the past. It is not just a picture of memory, but it also includes imagination and other creative inputs. Helps to understand new information clearly & vividly by relating experiences.

mental images or impressions may be developed through any source of sensory input.

Visual image - seeing a flower creates an image of a flower in our mind.

Auditory image - hearing fairy tales as a kid and forming images in our minds.

Olfactory - smelling a particular essence and recognising it later,

kinesthetic - receiving a hug from someone creates an image associated with love & affection.

  1. LANGUAGE:

Language includes

i) articulated vocal speech - words, sentences, etc

ii) unarticulated subvocal - sign language, physical gestures, body language, etc

Elements of Language:

i) Sound

ii) Syntax

iii) Semantics

Language & Thought: According to Benjamin Lee Whorf, the content of thought is determined by language. This is the linguistic relativity hypothesis.

Linguistic determinism - the postulate that an individual’s thoughts are entirely dependent on language