Thinking

2.1 Core concepts

NCERT Chapter 7 frames thinking as the base of all cognitive activities — a higher mental process of manipulating and analysing acquired or existing information by means of abstracting, reasoning, imagining, problem solving, judging and decision-making (NCERT §Nature of Thinking, p. 110). Thinking, is mostly organised and goal-directed; it is an internal mental process that cannot be observed directly and can only be inferred from overt behaviour — much as one infers a chess player's strategy from his next move. Two building blocks underpin all thought. A mental image is a mental representation of a sensory experience used to think about things, places and events even when the object itself is absent (NCERT §Building Blocks of Thought, p. 111). A concept is a mental representation of a category — a class of objects, ideas or events that share common properties; concept formation makes thought quick and efficient by organising knowledge into manageable units (NCERT §Building Blocks of Thought, p. 112). Box 7.1 (p. 112) draws a powerful cultural contrast: when shown an aquarium scene, American observers typically focus on the biggest or brightest fish (analytical thinking), while Asian observers (Japanese, Chinese, Korean) attend to the relationship between the fish and the background (holistic thinking).

Problem solving is goal-directed thinking that connects an initial state (the problem) with an end state (the goal) through several mental operations (NCERT §Problem Solving, p. 113). NCERT Table 7.1 (p. 113) lists seven mental operations: (1) identify the problem, (2) represent the problem in one's mind, (3) plan the solution / set sub-goals, (4) evaluate all the solutions thought of, (5) select and execute one solution, (6) evaluate the outcome, and (7) rethink and redefine problems and solutions if needed. Two major obstacles slow problem solving. Mental set is the tendency to solve problems by following already-tried mental operations or steps — creating mental rigidity. Functional fixedness is the failure to solve a problem because one is fixed on a thing's usual function (for example, seeing a book only as something to read and not as a doorstop). Lack of motivation is a third, less specific obstacle (NCERT §Obstacles to Solving Problems, pp. 113-114).

There are two forms of reasoning. Deductive reasoning begins with a general assumption and draws specific conclusions (general → particular); the classical example is the syllogism "All cats have four legs; X has four legs; therefore X is a cat" (Fig. 7.3, p. 115) — an instance of flawed deduction because the middle term is illegitimately distributed. Inductive reasoning draws a general conclusion from particular observations (particular → general); NCERT explicitly states that most cases of scientific reasoning are inductive in nature, with scientists building general rules from a number of instances (NCERT §Reasoning, pp. 114-115). A further form of reasoning is analogy, a four-part structure of the form "A is to B as C is to D" — for example, water is to fish as air is to humans. Analogies help in identifying the salient attributes that connect concepts.

Two further distinctions are central to higher cognition. Judgment is the drawing of conclusions, forming of opinions and evaluating things based on knowledge and evidence. Decision-making is the choice among alternatives by evaluating the cost and benefit of each. The two processes are interrelated — most decisions follow judgments — but distinct in their goals (NCERT §Decision-making, p. 116).

Creative thinking produces novel and original ideas. Bruner characterised creativity by the phrase "effective surprise"; research adds that genuinely creative thinking must be reality-oriented, appropriate, constructive and socially desirable (NCERT §Nature of Creative Thinking, p. 117). J.P. Guilford distinguished two kinds of thinking. Convergent thinking is required to solve problems with only one correct answer (e.g., finding the next number in 3, 6, 9, …); divergent thinking is the open-ended generation of many possible answers and is characterised by four abilities — fluency (number of ideas), flexibility (variety of categories), originality (uncommonness) and elaboration (level of detail). Edward de Bono's lateral thinking corresponds closely to Guilford's divergent thinking; de Bono contrasted vertical thinking (digging the same hole deeper) with lateral thinking (looking for alternative ways) and developed the Six Thinking Hats technique — white (information), red (feelings), black (judgment), yellow (positives), green (creativity), blue (process) (NCERT Box 7.2, p. 118).

The creative process unfolds in four classic stages (NCERT §Process of Creative Thinking, pp. 118-119): (1) Preparation — understanding and analysing the task; (2) Incubation — relaxing from conscious effort, allowing the unconscious to work; (3) Illumination — the sudden "Aha!" moment when the solution appears; and (4) Verification — testing the worth of the new idea via convergent thinking. Two strategies enhance creative output: increasing awareness and generating large numbers of ideas. The most widely used technique is Alex Osborn's Brainstorming, which separates idea production from idea evaluation so that critical judgment does not stifle generation (NCERT §Strategies for Creative Thinking, p. 119).

The last block addresses the relationship between thought and language. Three classical positions are contrasted (NCERT §Thought and Language, pp. 120-121). Benjamin Lee Whorf's linguistic relativity hypothesis (also called linguistic determinism) holds that language determines what and how individuals can think — speakers of different languages think differently because of grammatical and lexical differences. Jean Piaget's position is the reverse — thought precedes and determines language; children develop cognitive structures first and then acquire language to express them. Lev Vygotsky argued that thought and language develop in a child separately until about two years of age, after which they merge and become interdependent. Language has three defining characteristics — symbols, a set of rules, and communication; it is a rule-governed system of symbols used to communicate with others (NCERT p. 121).

Language development proceeds through identifiable stages (NCERT §Development of Language, pp. 121-122): crying (birth onwards) → cooing (vowel-like sounds: aaa, uuu) → babbling (~6 months: da-, ba-) → echolalia (~9 months, repetition of others' sounds) → one-word stage / holophrases (~1 year; single words that stand for whole sentences) → two-word stage / telegraphic speech (18-20 months, mostly nouns and verbs as in "send money") → rule-based speech (~2.5-3 years). On the question of how language is acquired, B.F. Skinner's behaviourist view explains language via association, imitation and reinforcement; Noam Chomsky countered this with the doctrine of innate universal grammar and a critical period for language acquisition, arguing that the rate of acquisition and children's ability to produce novel sentences cannot be explained by learning alone (NCERT pp. 122-123). On the Indian context (Box 7.3, p. 122): bilingualism (proficiency in two languages) and multilingualism (proficiency in more than two languages) facilitate cognitive, linguistic and academic competence.

2.2 Definitions to memorise

2.3 Diagrams / processes to remember

• Fig. 7.1 (p. 111): Girl forming a mental image of a cat on a tree — illustrates how visual mental imagery represents an absent object.
• Fig. 7.2a & 7.2b (pp. 111-112): Map and blank map activity used in NCERT to let students experience using mental images.
• Box 7.1 — Culture and Thinking (p. 112): Fish-aquarium scene used by researchers to show American (analytical, foreground fish) vs Asian (holistic, background) thinking patterns.
• Table 7.1 (p. 113): Seven mental operations of problem solving illustrated with the Teachers' Day play example — useful for memorising the sequence.
• Fig. 7.3 (p. 115): Mouse arguing "All cats have four legs, I have four legs, therefore I am a cat" — flawed deductive reasoning illustrating that deduction guarantees truth only when premises are properly formed.
• Fig. 7.4 (p. 117): "Thinking Divergently" — multiple uses of a single object such as a pencil, illustrating fluency, flexibility, originality and elaboration.
• Fig. 7.5 (p. 119): The Creative Process schematic — Search Effort → Dead End → Think Again → New Direction → Creative Solution — visualising the four-stage process.
• Activity 7.2 (p. 114) and answers (p. 125): Anagrams (NAGMARA = ANAGRAM, etc.) and the three-bottles water problem demonstrate mental set in action.

2.4 Common confusions / NTA trap points

• Deductive vs Inductive direction: Deductive = general → particular; Inductive = particular → general. NTA often flips this.
• Mental Set vs Functional Fixedness: Mental set = stuck on a previously used procedure/strategy; functional fixedness = stuck on a thing's usual function (e.g. seeing a book only as something to read, not as a hammer).
• Convergent vs Divergent / Lateral: Convergent = single right answer (e.g. number series); divergent = many possible answers; de Bono's "lateral" maps to Guilford's "divergent," NOT to convergent.
• Whorf vs Piaget vs Vygotsky: Whorf — language determines thought; Piaget — thought precedes/determines language; Vygotsky — separate origins, merge around age 2.
• Language stages order: Crying → Cooing → Babbling → Echolalia → One-word (Holophrases) → Two-word (Telegraphic). NTA likes to swap babbling and cooing or attach the wrong age.
• Stage labels in creative process: Illumination is the 'Aha!' moment, NOT incubation. Incubation is the unconscious relaxation stage before illumination.
• Skinner vs Chomsky: Skinner = association/imitation/reinforcement explains language; Chomsky = innate universal grammar + critical period.
• Holophrases (one-word) ≠ telegraphic speech (two-word). Holophrases come first (around age 1), telegraphic at 18-20 months.
• Analogy is a form of reasoning, not a kind of memory. NTA sometimes confuses analogy with metaphor.
• Six Thinking Hats belongs to de Bono, not Osborn. Brainstorming = Osborn; Six Hats = de Bono.

2.5 Thinkers and theories at a glance