Portal:Thinking
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Thought or thinking is a mental process which allows beings to model their world, and so to deal with it effectively according to their goals, plans, ends and desires. Words referring to similar concepts and processes in the English language include cognition, sentience, consciousness, idea, and imagination.
Thinking involves manipulation of information, as when we form concepts, engage in problem solving, reason and make decisions. Thinking is a higher cognitive function and the analysis of thinking processes is part of cognitive psychology.
Basic process
The basic mechanics of the human mind reflect a process of pattern matching or rather recognition. In a "moment of reflection", new situations and new experiences are judged against recalled ones and judgements are made. In order to make these judgements, the intellect maintains present experience and sorts relevant past experience. It does this while keeping present and past experience distinct and separate. The intellect can mix, match, merge, sift, and sort concepts, perceptions, and experience. This process is called reasoning. Logic is the science of reasoning. The awareness of this process of reasoning is access consciousness (see philosopher Ned Block).
The imagination performs a different function. It combines the reasoning intellect with your feelings, intuitions and emotions, especially hope. This is magical or irrational thinking, depending on your point of view. Thinking can be modeled by a field (like a mathematical representation of an electro-magnetic field, but with each point in the field a point of consciousness) . Patterns are formed and judgements are made within the field. Some philosophers (panpsychists/panexperientialists - see wikibook on consciousness) believe the entire field is conscious in and of itself, a consciousness field. They say consciousness creates thinking, thinking and other brain processes do not create consciousness. Other scientists (for ex. Bernard Baars) think of it as a workspace. No scientist claims to understand how we are conscious. Other philosophers (ex. Thomas Nagel) have said they do not have a clue as to how we are aware of our thinking.
Aids/pitfalls to thinking
- (See also the List of thought processes, Thinking fallacies and Thinking tools on this page)
- Use of models, symbols, diagrams and pictures.
- Use of abstraction to simplify the effort of thinking.
- Use of metasyntactic variables to simplify the effort of naming.
- Use of iteration and recursion to converge on a concept.
- Limitation of attention to aid concentration and focus on a concept. Use of peace and quiet to aid concentration.
- Goal setting and goal revision. Simply letting the concept percolate in the subconscious, and waiting for the concept to re-surface.
- Talking with like-minded people. Resorting to communication with others, if this is allowed.
- Working backward from the goal.
- Desire for learning.
Attention is the cognitive process of selectively concentrating on one thing while ignoring other things. Examples include listening carefully to what someone is saying while ignoring other conversations in the room (e.g. the cocktail party problem, Cherry, 1953). Attention can also be split, as when a person drives a car and talks on a cell phone at the same time.
Attention is one of the most intensely studied topics within psychology and cognitive neuroscience. Of the many cognitive processes associated with the human mind (decision-making, memory, emotion, etc), attention is considered the most concrete because it is tied so closely to perception. As such, it is a gateway to the rest of cognition.
The most famous definition of attention was provided by one of the first major psychologists, William James:
"Everyone knows what attention is. It is the taking possession by the mind in clear and vivid form, of one out of what seem several simultaneously possible objects or trains of thought...It implies withdrawal from some things in order to deal effectively with others." (Principles of Psychology, 1890)
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A hand-drawn mind map, a thinking tool especially popular and in widespread use in Great Britain. The concept was invented by Tony Buzan.
Nootropics, popularly referred to as "smart drugs," are substances which boost human cognitive abilities (the functions and capacities of the brain). The word nootropic is derived from the Greek words noos or mind and tropos, a bend. Typically, nootropics work by increasing the brain's supply of neurochemicals (neurotransmitters, enzymes, and hormones), by improving the brain's oxygen supply, or by stimulating nerve growth. With a few notable exceptions, nootropics have very low or no toxicity, making overdose unlikely. Most have few or no side effects, and many nootropics potentiate each other.
Most nootropics are nutrients or plant components (herbs, roots, beans, bark, etc.), available over the counter at health food and grocery stores, and are used as nutritional supplements. Some nootropics are drugs, used to treat retardation, neural degradation (Alzheimer's and Parkinson's), and for cases of oxygen deficit to prevent hypoxia. These drugs have a variety of human enhancement applications as well, are marketed heavily on the World Wide Web, and are used by many people in personal cognitive enhancement regimens.
With some nootropics the effects are subtle and gradual, such as with most nerve growth inducers, and may take weeks or even months before any cognitive improvement is noticed. At the other end of the spectrum are nootropics which have effects that are immediate, profound, and obvious.
Self-concept or self-identity is the mental and conceptual awareness and persistent regard that sentient beings hold with respect to their own being.
Components of a being's self-concept include physical, psychological, and social attributes; and can be influenced by its attitudes, habits, beliefs and ideas. These components and attributes can each be condensed to the general concepts of self-image and the self-esteem.
Many of the successes and failures that people experience in many areas of life are closely related to the ways that they have learned to view themselves and their relationships with others. It is also becoming clear that self-concept has at least three major qualities of interest to counselors: (1) it is learned, (2) it is organized, and (3) it is dynamic. Each of these qualities, with corollaries, follow.
Self-concept is learned. As far as we know, no one is born with a self-concept. It gradually emerges in the early months of life and is shaped and reshaped through repeated perceived experiences, particularly with significant others. The fact that self-concept is learned has some important implications: (See main article).
Self-concept is organized. Most researchers agree that self-concept has a generally stable quality that is characterized by orderliness and harmony. Each person maintains countless perceptions regarding one's personal existence, and each perception is orchestrated with all the others. It is this generally stable and organized quality of self-concept that gives consistency to the personality. This organized quality of self-concept has corollaries: (See main article).
Self-Concept is dynamic. To understand the active nature of self-concept, it helps to imagine it as a gyrocompass: a continuously active system that dependably points to the "true north" of a person's perceived existence. This guidance system not only shapes the ways a person views oneself, others, and the world, but it also serves to direct action and enables each person to take a consistent "stance" in life. Rather than viewing self-concept as the cause of behavior, it is better understood as the gyrocompass of human personality, providing consistency in personality and direction for behavior. The dynamic quality of self-concept also carries corollaries: (See main article).
- Portal:Artificial intelligence - (Man-made thinking machines)
- Portal:Mind and Brain – (Interdisciplinary aspects of the physical and mental)
- Portal:Philosophy - (Thinking about life, the universe, and everything)
- Portal:Psychology - (Study of human behavior, including thinking)
- Portal:Science - (Exploratory thinking)
- See the list below? Scour Wikipedia, and see how many articles you can find that belong on that list. Then add them.
Tell me and I forget, teach me and I remember, involve me and I learn.
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- Benjamin Franklin
From Clarissa Explains It All: (Clarissa, to the Audience)...
- The more I think about it, the more I think I should think about it some more.
Adam Robinson, founder of The Princeton Review:
- No one bothered to teach you the most important academic skill: how to learn. Your teachers (and perhaps you) assumed that the ability to learn in a school setting was a natural gift -- either you were born with the knack or you weren't. This belief is entirely wrong. Learning is a natural ability, but learning in school is another matter. If school were structured in a way that better conformed to how you learn naturally, you wouldn't need me or anyone else telling you how to learn.
Albert Einstein (German pronunciation ) (March 14, 1879 – April 18, 1955) was a theoretical physicist widely regarded as the most important scientist of the 20th century. He made major contributions to the special and general theories of relativity and made significant contributions to quantum mechanics, statistical mechanics, and cosmology. He was awarded the 1921 Nobel Prize for Physics for his explanation of the photoelectric effect in 1905 (his "wonderful year") and "for his services to Theoretical Physics".
After British solar eclipse expeditions in 1919 confirmed that light rays from distant stars were deflected by the gravity of the Sun in the amount he had predicted in his theory of relativity, Einstein became world-famous, an unusual achievement for a scientist. In his later years, his fame perhaps exceeded that of any other scientist in history. In popular culture, his name has become synonymous with great intelligence and genius.
He died at 1:15 AM in Princeton hospital in Princeton, New Jersey, on April 18, 1955 at the age of 76 from internal bleeding, which was caused by the rupture of an aortic aneurism, leaving the Generalized Theory of Gravitation unsolved. The only person present at his deathbed, a hospital nurse, said that just before his death he mumbled several words in German that she did not understand. He was cremated without ceremony on the same day he died at Trenton, New Jersey, in accordance with his wishes. His ashes were scattered at an undisclosed location.
An autopsy was performed on Einstein by Dr. Thomas Stoltz Harvey, who removed and preserved his brain. Harvey found nothing unusual with his brain, but in 1999 further analysis by a team at McMaster University revealed that his parietal operculum region was missing and, to compensate, his inferior parietal lobe was 15% wider than normal. The inferior parietal region is responsible for mathematical thought, visuospatial cognition, and imagery of movement. Einstein's brain also contained 73% more glial cells than the average brain.
- List of thinking-related topic lists
- Cognitive biases
- Cognitive scientist
- Creative thought processes
- Decision-making processes
- Emotional intelligence
- Emotions
- Fallacies
- Memory biases
- Mnemonics
- Neurobiology
- Nootropics (smart drugs)
- Organizational thought processes
- Perception
- Philosophical isms
- Psychometrics
- Thought processes
- In addition to the topics below, see the List of thought processes
