Thinking and Problem Solving MODULE - 2

Basic Psychological
11 Processes

THINKING AND PROBLEM

SOLVING Notes

Imagine the last thing you do when you are about to sleep, it is remembering what have
you done today and planning what to do tomorrow. Similarly, the first thing you do
when you wake up is thinking what all you would be doing today. Both these situations
portray how there is not even a single minute when you are actually not thinking. When
you go out for shopping, doing laundry, making breakfast, presenting your work to
your boss, taking medicines and the list goes on. Even while sleeping our mind is
restless and we keep on thinking until we go in rem sleep.

Hence, it becomes very important to understand varied concepts under thinking and
cognition.

LEARNING OUTCOMES

After studying this lesson, learner :

 understands the nature of thinking;

 identifies the processes underlying thinking;

 elaborates upon the process of creative thinking;

 analyses the relationship between language and thought; and

 Applies reasoning, problem solving and decision making skills on one self.

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Basic Psychological 11.1 NATURE OF THINKING

Processes
Our life revolves around understanding things, people and situations. Most of our
waking time goes into thinking, reasoning, deciding, solving problems etc.Hence, it
becomes very important to recognize what goes around during these processes.

Cognition is the general term used to connote all the higher order mental processes. It
is the umbrella term, which includes different mental activities associated with thinking,
Notes decision-making, language, memory and other higher order mental processes.

Most of humans waking hours, even sleeping and dreaming involves thinking. It is
nearly impossible not to think. While reading this portion on thinking, your thoughts
and cognitive processes are at work. Even when you stop reading it, your thinking
would shift to something else perhaps to what you would be doing next or tomorrow
but it never stops.

Human Thinking involves processing, organizing and managing information. It involves

all those processes which fall between reception of a stimuli to production of a response.
Hence it requires cognitive rearrangement or manipulation of information from the
surroundings or environment along with the information stored in memory including
symbols, concepts and images. A symbol or an image represents any event or situation
in the environment.

Consider a simple activity of buying a watch. You collect information about various
brands, their prices and quality (stimuli) and you end up buying any one (response).

Thus starting from collecting, comparing and organizing all the information until you
reach a final decision is called thinking.

 Some thinking is highly private and may use symbols having personal meaning.
Such thinking is called as Autistic Thinking. Example, day dreaming.

 There are certain other types of thinking which are only aimed at solving problems
or creating anything novel or new, this comes under Directed thinking. Example,
finding way to reach a particular place.

The symbols that we use in thinking are often in the form of concepts, images, words
or propositions. Hence the major elements of thinking are- concepts, imagery and
proposition. Let's start by understanding each one by one.

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11.1.1 Concepts Basic Psychological

Processes
Concepts are important language symbols used in thinking. A concept is the symbolic
construction that represents some common and general features of different objects
and events.

E.g.: Concept of age, color, love, mother etc.

Most of the nouns in our vocabulary are names of concepts. The main aim of concept Notes
formation is classification of objects into categories. These are mental categories for
varied experiences, ideas, events, situations and objects.

The feature or features we select define the concept and form the basis for making
classifications. When a classification has been made, we tend to behave towards it
and think about members of class in similar ways. Concepts make sense of the world
around us.

E.g.: Knowledge that apple is a fruit and table is not, comes from different categorization
in form of concept.

Figure 11.1: Concept Formation

Categorization in the concept formulation

There are different categorizations of concept. The major one is - Logical/ Artificial
Concept- This is the one that can be easily defined by set of rules or properties. E.g.,
a square is a square when it has 4 equal sides and 4 equal angles (90 degree angle).

Natural concepts- These are not based on clear-cut precise set of attributes. There
boundaries are not clear or readily specified set of defining features. Yet natural concepts
more accurately reflect the aspects of natural world. Nature concepts are often based
on Prototype. Prototypes emerge from our experience with the external world and
new items that might potentially fit within their category are then compared with them,
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Basic Psychological the more attributes new items share with an existing prototype, the more likely they are
Processes to be included within the concept. E.g., when we think of fruit we think of apples never
tomatoes where as both are fruits.

Generally, concepts are represented in terms of their features or attributes but natural
concepts in part could also be represented in form of visual imagery (Mental
representations of objects or events)

Notes
ACTIVITY

Think of two natural concepts from your life and come up with their prototypes.

11.1.2 Images

Thinking often involves manipulation of visual images. Research clearly shows that
mental manipulations performed on images of objects are nearly similar to those that
would be performed on the actual objects.
Example, when asked to form an image of a play school, we will think of different
areas of the school with all the toys books, play equipment in playground, the paintings
on the wall etc.
Images are therefore representations of information from the environment or our
experiences of the environment that someone can use at a later point of time. Generally,
these ae stored in our memory.
Concepts are also closely related to Schemas, cognitive frameworks that represent
our knowledge and assumptions about the world. Generally, schemas are more complex
and include many different distinct concepts. E.g., Schema of God (it includes spirituality,
religiosity, concept of idol worship etc.)
Therefore, concepts may be represented in the mind in several ways and make sense
of the complex external world around us.

11.1.3 Propositions

Propositions are statements that either state one concept or relationship between
concepts. Thinking involves relating one concept to another or one feature of a concept
to the entire concept. As human beings we possess highly developed language skills,
these cognitive actions take the form of propositions- sentences that relate one concept
to another. E.g., "Sita has black hair". Over here, there is description of relationship
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between a concept and its properties. Basic Psychological

Cluster of propositions are represented as Mental Modals (knowledge structure that Processes
guide our interactions with objects and events in the world around us).

11.1.4 Role of Culture in Thinking

Psychology sees mind and culture as inseparable. They are mutually constitutive. People
are not only shaped by their culture but their culture is also shaped by them, so the Notes
influence is two way. Individuals thinking can impact and formulate different cultural
norms and these norms in turn can influence the thinking pattern and behavior of an
individual. The way we reason, what all we reason, memorize and how much importance
we give to different choices while decision-making; all are influenced by our cultural
practices and norms. For E.g., in a cultural setting where females are suppressed and
live in a patriarchal setting, a choice between family and career might lead to family
conflicts.

Thinking involves varied processes for goal attainment. The most important ones are-
Problem Solving, Reasoning and Decision Making.

INTEXT QUESTIONS 11.1

Fill in the Blanks:

1. _____ thinking is highly private and may use symbols having personal meaning.

2. Sentences that relate one concept to another are called __________.

3. ________ concept does not have specified set of defining features.

11.2 PROBLEM SOLVING

Problem solving is goal directed behavior. It is motivated by the need of a person to

reduce the discrepancy between one state of affairs and another.

In simpler terms problem solving could be seen as efforts to develop or choose among
various responses in order to attain desired goals. Problem solving process moves
through various stages to attain the desired goals:

 Framing and understanding of problem- Recognizing that a particular problem

exists and then figuring out what issues need to be solved.

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Basic Psychological  Generation of hypothesis or possible solutions- Hypothesis is tentative

Processes answer to a problem. This process needs higher order thinking, collecting
information, matching existing information and then coming out with the potential
solutions.

 Testing the hypothesis- Now comes, the evaluation of each alternative or

possible solution. The cost associated with each solution is graded and then the
best possible one is used.
Notes
 Evaluation of results and revision of earlier steps wherever needed-
Once the solution is applied, it becomes important to evaluate the results and if
the desired results are not achieved then revision to the earlier steps is to be
done.

11.2.1 Methods of Problem Solving

Simplest problem solving approach is Trial and Error (Here, different responses are
tried till one works).

Second involves the use of Algorithms (these are precise sequences of procedures
that automatically generate solution if followed in a particular manner).

Third, one is Heuristics (these are general rule of thumb, which are based on prior
experiences and are mental shortcuts, which may or may not lead to the desired solution).

Next one is Analogy (the application of techniques that worked in similar situations in
the past- Many a times, we use similar ways to tackle situations which we have somewhat
resolved in past. E.g., like if we are hungry and it is late at night, we know that at
highway there are chances to get food).

Last is Means-end Analysis (problem or goal here is broken into sub goals and path
is laid to solve the problem in a stepwise manner. The problem solver perceives the
end first and then looks for the diverse strategies, which could lead towards that end.
Hence, it is a form of backward thinking, which starts from the goal then leads to the
strategy to reach that goal in the present situation).

ACTIVITY

Identify any recent problem in your life and try to solve it using Algorithm, Analogy or
Heuristic.

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11.2.2 Barriers to Problem Solving Basic Psychological

Processes
Mental set- When you solve a problem in a one particular way, it becomes a set.
These are already tried mental operations or steps. This could lead to success in some
situation but could also create a kind of mental rigidity that acts as a hindrance to think
in new ways, rules and strategies for problem solving.

Functional fixedness- It means seeing the functions of a particular object or thing

Notes
only as it has been used before. Here fixation occurs as we are fixed on a thing's usual
function. It is our strong tendency to think of using objects only in ways they have been
used before.

Mental Set Overcoming Functional Fixedness -

Using hanger for a different purpose
Draw 4 straight lines so that
they pass through all nine dots
without lifting your pencil from
the page. Here mental set
becomes a hindrance.

Figure 11.2: Examples of Barriers in Problem Solving

11.2.3 Overcoming hindrances in problem solving

Mental set and functional fixedness decrease the capacity to solve problems in diverse
manner. It is important that creativity be enhanced at each stage of life to deal with
these barriers. Brainstorming (person look for many ways to deal with a situation
and find large number of solutions to it) could be helpful to overcome functional fixedness.
Breaking down problems into parts rather than perceiving them as whole, could be
another useful way. Cultural training and early parental practices are the best
way, through which an individual can minimize barriers in problem solving.

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Basic Psychological 11.3 REASONING

Processes
Whenever we see a particular behavior, we try to judge about the causes behind that
behavior. Like a woman crying in metro, you could attribute she had a fight with her
husband or is unwell or something bad has happened in her life. All these are part of
reasoning. Reasoning is the cognitive activity in which we transform information in
order to reach specific conclusions.

Notes There is a process of reasoning which make a distinction between formal reasoning
and everyday reasoning.

Formal reasoning involves specific method; it is used in formal setting or

straightforward problems or situations.

Everyday reasoning is involved in our daily lives. This is more complex and less
defined and involves different possible reasons in varied quality and effectiveness. Our
everyday reasoning involves higher use of mood and beliefs. Hence, sometimes it
reduces our ability to reason.

11.3.1 Types of Reasoning

Deductive- It begins with an assumption. Here, we start with general assumption that
we know or believe and move down to drawing specific conclusions. It is reasoning
from general to specific. E.g: You know that women generally cry, when they have a
fight with their husbands hence, you assume that this woman is also crying because of
this reason whereas this may be or may be not true.

Inductive- This kind of reasoning is based on specific facts and observation. Here,
we draw general conclusion based on particular observation. E.g.: Concluding that all
females cry after fight from seeing just one or two incidences. Here we compare and
predict.

Hence, reasoning could be seen as a process of gathering and analyzing information to

arrive at conclusions. Here, judgment is made by evaluating events and coming out
with appropriate decision.

INTEXT QUESTIONS 11.2

1. Match the following

i. Algorthim a. based on specific facts and observation

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ii. Heuristic b. solving a problem in one particular way Basic Psychological

Processes
iii. Inductive Reasoning c. general rule of thumb

iv Mental Set d. precise sequences of procedure that automatically

generate solution if followed in a particular manner

11.4 DECISION MAKING

It is the process of choosing among various alternatives any one, while rejecting some Notes
options. In simpler terms, it is a kind of problem solving in which we are presented
with several alternatives, from which we choose the best one.

It is a process of choosing among various courses of action or alternatives and a

rational decision is made after taking into consideration- Both the Utility and the
Subjective Probability

 The utility or value of the outcomes that each alternative might yield.

 The probability that such results would actually occur.

People generally make decisions that will maximize their subjectively expected utility.
In other words, given a choice among alternatives, we consider utility and subjective
probability, multiply them together, and take the alternative with the highest product.

11.4.1 Stages of Decision Making

Defining and Analysing Problem

Developing Alternative Solutions

Evaluation of the Alternative

Selecting the best and Implementing It

Follow Up

Figure 11.3: Process of Decision Making

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Basic Psychological 11.4.2 Barriers to Decision Making

Processes
There are various factors that influence the decision-making process making it less
effective. These act as barriers to decision making. The common barriers are:

 Lack of Information - Wrong information or partial information always leads

to bad decisions.

Notes  Lack of Context - Not knowing the actual context of the problem leads to
mismatch between the problem and the solution.

 Lack of Feedback - It is important to follow up the solutions applied and

decisions made so that in future similar mistakes are not repeated.

 Information Overload - Too much information about a problem may also lead
to hindrance in decision-making, as the time and effort are limited resources.

 Cultural Barriers- Cultural norms and practices could also act as a barrier in
effective decision-making.

 Overconfidence- Confidence over one's decision is important but

overconfidence without being calculative of the risk factor leads to a bad decision.

 Confirmation Biases - Here, a person looks for, explores, and interprets

information, which confirms their beliefs and ideology. This leads to a hindrance
in both divergent thinking and critical analysis of a problem and eventually leads
to a incorrect decision.

 Escalation of Commitment- Tendency to become increasingly committed to

wrong decisions even as losses associated with them increase.

ACTIVITY

Remember any conflicting situation where you had to choose between options- Now
follow the stages of decision-making and think how you came up with the best option.

11.4.3 Heuristics

Heuristics as discussed earlier are the mental rules that permit us to make decisions
and judgments in a rapid and efficient manner. Heuristics make our decision making
easier. These cognitive shortcuts reduce our efforts but may or may not necessarily

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enhance the quality or accuracy of our decisions. Heuristics are extracted from our Basic Psychological
experience and acts as simple guidelines for making reasonably good choices quickly. Processes
The most frequently used heuristics are:

1. Availability- It is the tendency to make judgments about frequency or likelihood

of event in terms of how readily examples of them can be brought to mind.

E.g., study conducted by Kahneman (1974) wherein the participants were

given list of names and then asked whether the list contained more men or Notes
women names. Although the numbers of male and female names were nearly
equal but 80%, participants reported that women names appeared more
frequently. The reason was that the female names on the list were more famous
ones, so their names were remembered easily.

2. Representativeness- This type of Heuristic suggests that more closely, an

event or object resembles typical examples of some concept or situation; the
more likely it is to belong to that concept, situation or category. Here, it is seen
whether the current situation is a representation that has already been
experienced.

E.g., if we meet someone new who always wears formals and you are asked to
judge the person's occupation. You would first remember your past experiences
and then assume that formals are generally worn by teachers so he must be a
teacher but you eventually learn that he is a Chef. Therefore, the availability or
the similarity among the situation leads to such a decision.

3. Anchoring and Adjustment- Here, we start with a certain subjective probability

and raise or lower it depending on the circumstances. When we make these
adjustments, the outcome depends upon the starting point. If we start with a
high estimate, even if we adjust it downward our probability estimate will be
higher than if we started with a low estimate. It is as 'if' the initial level provided
an 'Anchor' that biased our estimate and therefore this biasing effect is called
anchoring.

E.g. study by Kahneman, one group of people were asked to estimate

8x7x6x5x4x3x2x1 in 5 seconds. The other group in the same time has to estimate
the product of 1x2x3x4x5x6x7x8. As they had different anchor, the first group
gave higher product and the second one a much lower product whereas both
product would be same, the anchoring biases is clearly visible.

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Basic Psychological 4. Attribute Substitution- Another name of this heuristic is Substitution Bias.
Processes Here, person solves a problem by placing incorrect substitution. They
unconsciously substitute a hard problem for an easy one. Whatever is available
to the mind is chosen rather then what is needed.

E.g., Optical Illusions are the best examples of such substitution. In day today
life, we sometime perceive a three-dimensional figure as two-dimensional. Another
example is unconsciously talking about something else, which is similar to what
Notes has been asked about.
Perceptual
Issues
Environmental Personal
factors Issues
Factors affecting
Decision Making

Psychological Cutural and

factors Social Issues

Figure 11.4: Factors affecting Decision Making

INTEXT QUESTIONS 11.3

State which of the following statements are 'true' and which are 'false'?
1. Representativeness and Availability are types of Heuristics.
2. Cultural and social issues do not affect the decision-making ability of a person.
3. Anchoring and Adjustment are one of the stages of decision-making.

11.5 CREATIVE THINKING

Creative thinking involves a considerable amount of unconscious rearrangement of

symbols. It involves the production of new and original ideas, solutions or objects. It's
different from other kind of thinking, ideas over here are new and original both. Generally,
uniqueness of solutions, which have not been used earlier constitute the arena of
creativeness.

The thinker here at first makes a little progress, but then perhaps triggered by a fortuitous
set of circumstances, a new idea seems to "bubble up" into awareness, or consciousness,
in a seemingly spontaneous manner. This sudden appearance of new ideas is called
insight.
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It is important to understand that the new and original idea should also be appropriate Basic Psychological
in a particular context. The workability and functionality decide the importance of the Processes
idea. Hence any thinking which is constructive, appropriate, reality- oriented, novel
and desirable comes under the header of creativity.

J.P. Guilford was a pioneer in the field of creative thinking. He proposed two major
types of thinking-

Convergent: Here mind converges to solve a problem, which has only one possible Notes
solution. The result of convergent thinking is usually a solution that has been previously
arrived at by someone else. Like: 2-1= 1

Divergent: This is involve in open-ended questions, where there is no set answer to

a particular problem. Such thinking where the pattern is not set and number of solutions
could be attained, leads to generally creativity and novelty of ideas. Divergent thinking
includes autistic and convergent thinking to gather information as building materials for
the ultimate creative solution. At times, the person may drift into autistic thinking, or
free association in which the symbols of thought have private meanings.

Divergent thinking abilities generally include - Fluency, Flexibility, Originality and

Elaboration.

Fluency & Ideation Flexlbillity & Adaptability

Idea generators with a Able to see situations from
higher chance of creating multiple perspective
breakthrough ideas

Originality & Novelty Elaboration & Explanation

Able to generate novel Detail-oriented and able to
and breakthrough ideas generate intriguing plans
and solutions

Divergent Thinking (DT) is the ability to generate

creative ideas by exploring many possible solu-
tions in an effort to find one that works. It starts
from a common point and moves outward
in diverging directions to involve a
variety of aspects or
perspectives.

Figure 11.5: Aspects of divergent Thinking

Source: https://medium.com/sparcit-blog/divergent-thinking

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Basic Psychological 11.5.1 Process of Creative Thinking

Processes
There are different stages, which comes before creative thinking. It begins with

 Preparation: The thinker formulates the problem and collects the facts and
materials considered necessary for the new solution.

 Incubation: During this period, some of the ideas that were interfering with the
Notes solution tend to fade. The unconscious thought processes involved in creative
thinking are also at work during this period.

 Illumination: Here comes 'Aha' effect. In this, an idea for the solution suddenly
wells up into consciousness. The person has feeling of excitement and satisfaction.

 Evaluation: The apparent solution is tested to see if it unsatisfactory, and if it is

then the thinker is back at the beginning of the creative process. The solutions
are tested and judged.

 Revision : Frequently, the insight turns out to be unsatisfactory and the thinker
is back at the beginning of the creative process. In other cases, the insight is
generally satisfactory but needs some modification or the solution of minor
problems to be a "good" new idea.

It is important to understand that both heredity and environmental factors plays

a role in development of creative thinking abilities. Practice, training and stimulated
environment makes a person more imaginative, flexible and original in solving
problems.

11.5.2 Barriers to Creative Thinking

Inhibiting factors which reduces our creative expression are -

 Habitual (in a habit of thinking in a particular way).

 Perceptual (perceiving a problem in a manner in which it is always done).

 Motivational and Emotional (Lack of motivation, fear of failure, fear of

rejection, fear of judgment, fear of being different).

 Cultural Barriers (Adherence to traditional expectations, stereotypes,

conformity bias, dependency on others, group pressure). It is important to remove
the above-discussed barriers to become a creative thinker.

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11.5.3 Characteristics of Creative Thinkers Basic Psychological

Processes
 Preference to complex task - Such people like higher degree of complexity
and imbalance in their task.

 Independence in judgments - Self-dependency is important to them hence;

they make judgments independently without being influenced by others.

 Higher awareness and sensitivity - Creative thinkers are vigilant about their Notes
surroundings and people. They always strive to know more.

 Notices contradictions and incompleteness - They analyze situations in both

holistic manner and by breaking it into parts. That is why it becomes easy for
them to pin point incompleteness.

 Pondering over mysteries of situations and objects - Finding new ways

and trying to solve the mystery around is important to them.

 Developing the art of asking questions- Questioning others and oneself is

the skill these people rely on.

 Generating diverse ideas and solutions - Divergent thinking is a forte for

creative thinkers.

 Brainstorming - These people try to find as many as possible solutions to a

problem.

 Getting feedback on the solutions - Once applied they follow up the

consequences of the solution and take feedback so that better performance can
be done in future.

 Resistance to temptation of immediate reward and success coping with

frustration and failure- Creative thinkers are masters in delay of gratification,
they wait for the right time and enjoys success then.

 Visualizing causes and consequences and predicting things - They not

only understand the start and end to a problem and solution but try to know the
mediating factors too.

 Awareness of own defenses- Self-Introspection is what they depend on.

Knowing one's weaknesses and strengths leads them towards better solutions.

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Basic Psychological  Self-positivity and confidence - Positive self-talk is an important characteristic

Processes of creative thinkers.

 Self- assertiveness and dominance - Being assertive about their decisions

and judgments is visible in their personality.

 Rejection of suppression - Suppression of thought people and situation is not

acceptable by creative thinkers.
Notes

ACTIVITY

Examine how many characteristics of a creative thinker, you possess.

INTEXT QUESTIONS 11.4

1. Barriers to creative thinking:

(a) Perceptual

(b) Cultural

(c) Habitual

(d) All of the Above

2. The first stage of creative thinking is:

(a) Incubation

(b) Preparation

(c) Revision

(d) None of the Above

11.6 LANGUAGE AND THOUGHT

Thinking is not only based on concepts and images; our words and language are also
essential in our thinking process. Let us discuss language and its relationship with
thought.

Development of Language

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Language is one's ability to use diverse set of symbols and rules for combining them Basic Psychological
for communicating information. Processes

Table 11.1: Conceptualization of language

Concept of language involves

Sounds or Knowledge Storage of Using speech in

written elements of rules for semantic order to have
of language combining /meanings of intended impact Notes
words various words on others

Development of human language is complex, spontaneous and creative. Acquisition

of language in children generally follow a predictable pattern, which moves from crying
to cooing then babbling, Echolalia (strings of sounds combined into repetitive patterns),
one word, Holophrases (one or more words which combined to form whole sentences
or phrases), then telegraphic speech and then at last language with correct rules and
impact.
STAGES OF FIRST LANGUAGE DEVELOPMENT
Age Accoomplishment Examples
0-2 months Crying (express hunger and discomfort)
2-4 months Cooing (express satisfaction of pleasure) aaa,ooo
4-9 months Babbling, gurgling, changing to echolatic gagaga,
babbling mamamama
9-18 months One-word utterances; refer to people and juice; mama
objects in baby's life
18 months Two-word utterances; the beginning of syntax, more juice
2 ½ years expanding to three-word utterances; allows for juice fall down
more communicative functions (commenting, Daddy go?
negating, requesting & questioning)
2 ½ years Telegraphic Stage (S.V.O): Expanded syntax I eated bread
4 years and vocabulary; omit key grammatical markers
and function words
Figure 11.6: Stages of Language Development

Source: http://thelimitsofmylanguagemeansthelimitsofmyw.weebly.com/first-and-
second-language-development.html

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Basic Psychological 11.6.1 Language as determinant of thought

Processes
When we talk to people living in snow covered areas they have more than 6 types to
connote to snow whereas we only have 2 or 3. Similarly, an Indian has various terms
for kinship relationship in comparison to English speaking who connote these only
with uncle or aunt.

Does it bring us to the conclusion that our thinking process depends on how we
Notes
describe it in our language. Benjamin Lee Whorf was of the view that language determines
the contents of thought. This view is known as Linguistic Relativity Hypothesis. In its
stronger version, this hypothesis states that what and how individual think is only
determined by the linguistic categories they use. This is known as Linguistic Determinism.

This view does have certain experimental evidences showing that some thoughts may
be easier in one language compared to other but there are other evidences portraying
same level or quality of thoughts in all languages.

11.6.2 Thought as determinant of language

Swiss psychologist, Jean Piaget believed that thought not only determines language
but also precedes it. He strongly believed that children form an internal representation
of the world through thinking. Whenever they encounter a particular situation of learning,
thinking is involved irrespective of whether they have access to language or not. Language
for him is only a vehicle of thinking. It can affect children's range of symbolic thinking
but it is not necessary for the origin of thoughts. Piaget propagated that understanding
of language symbols and rules itself require thinking and formulation of concept of
words. Thus, thought is basic and necessary if language is to be understood and learned.

Levels of language

Phonetics,
Phonology Morphology Syntax Semantics Pragmatics

All sounds, forms and clauses and meanings of language

system sounds words sentences various kinds use

Figure 11.7: Levels of Language Development

Source: https://www.hierarchystructure.com/emergence-hierarchical-structure-
human-language/

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The Russian Psychologist, Lev Vyogotsky argued that both language and thought Basic Psychological
develop separately until 2 years of age and later they merge. Before 2 years, thoughts Processes
are experienced more in actions. Around 2 years of age, child expresses thought
verbally and their speech reflects rationality. Now, children manipulate thoughts using
soundless speech. According to Vyogotsky, this is the time when development of
language and thinking become interdependent. Thought works without language when
we are involved in any visual or motor task. Even language can be used without thinking
when there is only expression of feelings. When both work together, verbal thought Notes
and rational speech occurs.

Learning of language is a complex task, which involves both inherited characteristics

and environmental stimulation. Different psychologists attach different reasons for
learning of language.

Noam Chomsky, a known linguist proposed the idea of innate proposition of

development of language. He conceptualized that children have a 'critical period '
where learning must occur if it is to occur successfully. He believed that there is built in
readiness to learn language in children. This explains why children sometimes acquire
language even without direct teaching. Behaviorists on the other hand believed it to be
developed by imitation and reinforcement. It could be concluded that language and
thought are interdependent, depending on the situation and circumstances, one leads
another.

WHAT YOU HAVE LEARNT

Psychology (328) 203

 MODULE - 2 Thinking and Problem Solving

Basic Psychological
Processes TERMINAL QUESTIONS

1. Discuss the nature of Thinking.

2. What do you understand by concept? Discuss propositions.

3. Highlight different stages of problem solving. Discuss barriers in effective problem

Notes solving.

4. What are the different kinds of reasoning?

5. Discuss types of heuristics with examples.

6. What do you understand by creative thinking? Highlight different characteristics

of creative thinker

7. Explain Linguistic Relativity Hypothesis.

8. Examine relation between language and thought.

9. Discuss the stages of development of language.

10. Describe process of creative thinking.

ANSWERS TO INTEXT QUESTIONS

11.1

1. Autistic

2. Propositions

3. Natural

11.2

i. d

ii. c

iii. a

iv. b

204 Senior Secondary

Thinking and Problem Solving MODULE - 2

11.3 Basic Psychological

Processes
1. True

2. False

3. False

11.4
Notes
1. d

2. b

Psychology (328) 205

 MODULE - 2 Thinking and Problem Solving

Basic Psychological
Processes

Notes

MODULE -3

Human Development

The module aims at building an understanding of human development across the lifespan and
deals with key features and challenges across different stages of development. This will help
the learners reflect on their own course of development and related experiences.

12. Life Span Perspective on Development

13. Infancy and Childhood

14. Adolescence and Young Adulthood

15. Adulthood and Old Age

206 Senior Secondary