Thinking is a mental-cognitive process that allows one to reflect inaccessible direct perception in the human mind. Thinking is a process associated with consciousness and speech. Properties of thinking: 1. Mediocrity of thinking– a way of transferring knowledge from generation to generation. 2. Thinking is socially conditioned– develops in society (society). 3. Generalization of thinking– generalization of the essential properties of the surrounding world. 4. Purposefulness and randomness– thinking is always associated with solving a problem and is accompanied by volitional efforts. 5. Thinking is characterized by a connection with consciousness and unconsciousness.

Thinking operations: (Functions)

1. Concept is one of the logical forms of thinking, reflecting the essential properties, connections and relationships of objects and phenomena, expressed in a word or group of words.

2. Judgment is one of the logical forms of thinking in which the connection between two concepts is expressed.

3. Inference is a form of thinking in which a certain conclusion is drawn based on several judgments.

4. Analogy is an inference in which a conclusion is drawn on the basis of partial similarities between phenomena, without sufficient examination of all conditions.

5. Analysis is a mental operation in which a complex object is divided into its component parts.

6. Synthesis is a mental operation consisting of combining various parts, elements, sides of an object into a single whole.

7. Generalization is the process of highlighting similarities between objects, highlighting what is common in these objects. For example, you can find something similar between the most dissimilar objects and combine them into one class of color commonality: cherry, peony, blood, raw meat, boiled crayfish

8. comparison(establishing similarities and differences between objects),

9. abstraction(highlighting the properties of an object that are important at the moment and ignoring those qualities of the object that seem unimportant to us at the moment)

10. generalization(identification of common features of a class of objects).

The physiological basis of thinking is temporary nerve connections (conditioned reflexes), which are formed in the cerebral cortex. These conditioned reflexes arise under the influence of second signals (words, thoughts), reflecting reality, but they necessarily arise on the basis of the first signal system (sensations, perceptions, ideas).

In psychology, a common classification of types of thinking is: 1) visual-effective, 2) visual-figurative and 3) abstract (theoretical) thinking.

36 Approaches to the study of thinking. Associative psychology of thinking. Psychology of thinking within the framework of the Würzburg school and Gestalt psychology.

Thinking as an association of ideas

The psychology of thinking began to be specifically developed only in the 20th century. Until this time, associative psychology was the main one - everything mental processes proceed according to the laws of association and all formations of consciousness consist of elementary sensory representations, united through associations into more or less complex complexes. (Gartley, Ebbinghaus, W. Wundt). Understanding of knowledge as contemplation, the principle of sensationalism: “There is nothing in the mind that was not previously in sensation.” The final subject of thinking is subjective sensations, images of perception and ideas. Therefore, representatives of associative psychology did not consider it necessary to specifically study thinking. The concept was identified with the idea and was interpreted as an associatively connected set of features: judgment - as an association of ideas; inference - as an association of two judgments, serving as its premises, with a third, which is deduced from it.

The associative theory reduces the content of thought to the sensory elements of sensations, and the patterns of its flow to associative laws. Thinking comes down to the process of associating connections between traces of past and present sensory experience.

Criticism: Thinking has its own qualitatively specific content and its own qualitatively specific patterns of flow. The specific content of thinking is expressed in concepts; the concept cannot in any way be reduced to a simple set of associatively related sensations or ideas. Representatives of the associative theory were unable to solve the problem of thinking activity; creative abilities, in their opinion, existed a priori.

Würzburg school on thinking

Representatives: A. Binet, Külpe, Marbe The Würzburg school made the development of the psychology of thinking its main task; laid the foundation for the systematic study of thinking.

The main point: thinking has its own specific content, which cannot be reduced to the content of sensations and perceptions. But thinking has been too divorced from perception; they are not connected at all. As a result, the Würzburg school came to an incorrect understanding of the relationship between thinking and sensory contemplation. Statement on the subject orientation of thought (intention). Since (from idealism) thinking was externally opposed to the entire sensory content of reality, the focus of thinking on an object (intention) turned into a pure act (into mystical activity without any content).

Representatives of the Würzburg school emphasized the ordered, directed nature of thinking and identified the importance of the task in the thinking process. During its existence, the Würzburg school has undergone significant evolution. At the beginning there were statements about the ugly nature of thinking (O. Külpe, H. J. Watt, K. Bühler in their early works), then representatives of the Würzburg school identified and emphasized the role of visual components in the thinking process. Views on the relationship between thinking and speech have also changed. At first (in O. Külpe, for example), thinking was considered externally, being already ready-made, independent of speech. Then thinking and the formation of concepts (N. Akh) were transformed as a result of the introduction of a formally understood speech sign into the solution of a problem. This last position, where a meaningless sign is the ruler of thinking, was essentially just the reverse side of the same original position, separating thinking and speech.

Thinking from the perspective of Gestalt psychology

Representatives: Werheimert, Koehler, Koffka. Criticism of the Würzburg school.

The basis of thinking is the ability to form and transform structures in reality. Thinking takes place in vicious circle(sphere of consciousness). As a result, thinking comes down to the movement of thoughts in a closed structure of consciousness.

The initial situation in which the problem arises is, in its visual content, an unbalanced phenomenal field in which there are, as it were, unfilled spaces. As a result, tension is created in the problem situation, which causes the transition of this unstable visual situation to another. Through a successive series of such transitions, a transformation occurs, i.e., a change in the structure of the original visual content, which leads to the solution of the problem. The problem turns out to be solved simply as a result of the fact that in the end we directly see the content of the initial situation differently than at the beginning.

In contrast to the psychology of thinking of the Würzburg school, which separated thinking from sensory contemplation, Koffka thus tried to implement, on the basis of the principle of structure, the same reduction of thinking to visual content that associative psychology defended on the basis of the doctrine of associations. This attempt ignores the specifics of thinking.

37 Development of the problem of thinking within the framework of behaviorism and psychoanalysis. Information theory of thinking.

Behaviorism about thinking as behavior

Behaviorism originated in America at the beginning of the 20th century. They discarded the concept of the psyche and consciousness, the subject is behavior. Against introspection, for observation. Sensation, perception, thinking and other concepts of mental processes or functions were considered from the point of view of behavioral experience, the main function being adaptation to the environment.

The problem of thinking in early behaviorism.

Watson: I identified thinking with behavior; this is not a cognitive process. He divided behavior into external (directly observable from the outside) and internal (thinking in the broad sense of the word, or mental D). Mental D is caused by external stimuli and mediates visible behavior. Mental D is not connected to the brain. Compared to directly observed behavior, mental activity, according to Watson, is distinguished only by its very great condensation and abbreviation. Thinking is not socially conditioned; the main function is to ensure the organism’s adaptation to the environment (thinking = a set of reactions caused by the environment).

Watson reduces the laws of thinking to the laws of skills formation. The body acquires a skill through trial and error, just like any other activity.

The problem of thinking in modern behaviorism.

Fundamentals of the theory of thinking - Clark Hull. He was the first (1930) to apply the general neo-behavioristic theory of behavior to the analysis of knowledge, the process of problem solving, and the formation of concepts. The problem of thinking is dealt with by Skinner, Tolman and other neo-behaviourists.

Thinking is a form of adaptation of the body to new conditions. These new conditions present to the body problematic situation, or a task situation, therefore the process of adaptation to a problem situation is described by behaviorists as solving a problem.

Criticism: they do not consider thinking as a mental process of cognition of natural relationships between things, a process of reflecting those complex (cause-and-effect, functional, etc.) relationships between objects in which the essence of objects is revealed. Both early and late behaviorists: the thinking of humans and animals is no different. Only very recently have behaviorists sometimes begun to talk about certain qualitative features of human thinking. But they continue to reduce problem solving to a process of trial and error or selection of adaptive responses.

Psychoanalysis

Thinking is considered in psychoanalysis as a motivational process 3 Freud owns a work on the psychology of thinking "Wit and its relation to the unconscious." In it, "wit" is explained as a manifestation of creative thinking. It is based on unconscious primary motives. Wit arises and its results in bypassing the dissatisfaction of primary needs, i.e. creativity is the sublimated pleasure of these needs. Mental action can occur under the influence of an unconscious motive or its substitute - the desired motive - the desired motive.

Psychoanalysis partially touched upon the problem of the connection between thinking and motives. Questions about how motivation influences the organization and structure of mental activity have not been studied

Associated with psychoanalysis theory of autistic thinking (E Bleuler) Autism is explained as the dominance of inner life, withdrawal from the outside world; manifestations of autistic thinking are dreams, mythology, folk beliefs, schizophrenic thinking, etc. E Bleyleer in his concept shows the regulating influence of the motivational-emotional sphere on thinking.

Information theory of thinking. According to research, creative thinking reveals itself already during the formulation of a problem and has a unique course (G. Wertheimer, G. Woodworth, K. Duncker, O. Seltz, S. Kalmykova, G. Lindsay, A. Luk, Ya. Ponomarev) . Like the process of thinking in general, it goes through the following stages: creating an image that corresponds to the conditions of the task; operations of analysis, synthesis and, above all, generalization; finding the solution principle; getting the result. However, in this case, the content of each stage is particularly complex. In addition, this type of thinking is based on high intellectual activity And respect To creativity how to values.

Thinking- process cognitive activity, a generalized and indirect reflection of reality (the external world and internal experiences).

Human mental activity is inextricably linked with the II signaling system. At the heart of thinking, two processes are distinguished: the transformation of thought into speech (written or oral) and the extraction of thought and content from a certain verbal form of communication. Thought is a form of the most complex generalized abstract reflection of reality, conditioned by certain motives, a specific process of integration of certain ideas, concepts in specific conditions social development. Therefore, thought as an element of higher nervous activity is the result of social historical development individual with the foregrounding of the linguistic form of information processing.

Human creative thinking is associated with the formation of ever new concepts. A word as a signal of signals denotes a dynamic complex of specific stimuli, generalized in a concept expressed by a given word and having a broad context with other words, other concepts. Throughout life, a person continuously replenishes the content of the concepts he develops by expanding the contextual connections of the words and phrases he uses. Any learning process, as a rule, is associated with expanding the meaning of old and the formation of new concepts.

Basic forms of thinking :

• concrete-figurative(sensations, perceptions, ideas) - the first stage of development of thinking in a child;
• abstract(verbal-logical) - manifests itself in the form of concepts, judgments, conclusions and is a later stage of development. There are two forms of using concepts in judgments and inferences: induction(from specific to general - left hemisphere first analyzes the information, and then the right synthesizes); deduction(from general to specific - carried out in the right hemisphere).

The role of different brain structures Vproviding thinking :

• the generation of stimulus-independent (spontaneous) thoughts is associated with activation of the anterior zones of the frontal cortex; this department is also involved in volitional control when performing a task;
• the frontal and temporal cortex are involved in recognition and decision making;
• the search for a strategy for solving a problem is performed by the parieto-occipital regions of the cortex;
• establishing compliance decision taken The chosen strategy is carried out by the frontal, temporal and limbic parts of the brain, with the leading role of the frontal cortex.

Functional asymmetry of the hemispheres in the process of thinking :

• right hemisphere (especially the parietal-temporal cortex) provides concrete-figurative thinking (signal system I), better solution of visual-spatial problems, instantaneous holistic processing of information, intuitive thinking;
• left hemisphere(especially the frontal cortex) provides abstract thinking (signal system II), better ability to estimate time, analytical, step-by-step processing of information, awareness of information (“cognitive” mediators - dopamine, acetylcholine, GABA - predominate in the left hemisphere).

The interaction of the hemispheres when solving different problems can be carried out in the form of antagonism, synergy, and sequential processing of information.

Forms of thinking disorders. There are three main types of thinking disorders:

• disturbances in thinking operations. These violations can be reduced to two extreme options, taking as a basis a person’s ability to generalize: a decrease in the level of generalization and a distortion of generalization processes. A decrease in the level of generalization in various diseases accompanied by a decrease in intellectual activity (mental retardation, encephalitis, atherosclerosis, etc.) is characterized by the fact that patients find it difficult to determine the essential features of objects and phenomena, their abstraction processes are disrupted. Distortion of the generalization process is most characteristic of schizophrenia. At the same time, patients are often guided by signs and associations that are inadequate to the real relationships between objects and phenomena. The purposefulness of thinking may be grossly disrupted;
• disturbances in the dynamics of thinking. In the very general view they can be divided into two types: changes in the speed of thinking and inertia of thinking. The speed of thinking in pathology can accelerate or slow down. In psychiatric practice there are:
• - spasmodic thinking, characterized, along with the acceleration of the pace of thought processes, by the instability of goals. It is observed during the manic phase of manic-depressive psychosis (“jumping ideas”) and in some organic diseases of the brain;
• - accelerated thinking is characterized by a fast, accelerated flow of associations, superficiality of judgment, and increased distractibility to random environmental stimuli. Occurs in manic-depressive psychosis, schizophrenia, organic diseases of the brain;
• - slow thinking, which, along with a slower pace, is characterized by a decrease in the number of ideas and ideas. It is often difficult for the patient to complete his reasoning. Slowness of thinking is usually combined with slowness of speech, motor skills, and affective reactions. Characteristic of depressive states of any origin. Can be observed in schizophrenia, parkinsonism.

Inertia of thinking is characterized by insufficient mobility of mental processes. Inert thinking includes:

• - viscous thinking - a tendency to excessive detail, inability to highlight the main thing, stiffness, torpidity. Viscous thinking is most typical of epileptic dementia;
• - perseverative thinking - a tendency to “get stuck” in the patient’s mind of thoughts, images, phrases, words, etc. regardless of the changing situation. The goals of mental activity are also weakened. Observed in severe organic pathology of the brain (atherosclerosis, Alzheimer's disease, Pick's disease, etc.);
• - thinking with stereotypes - repetition of the same acts of mental activity that are not related to the solution of any problem (the “gramophone record” symptom). Occurs in schizophrenia, organic brain damage;
• violations of forms of thinking. These types of pathology of thinking are the most diverse. These include:
• - ambivalent thinking - simultaneous coexistence in the mind of contradictory, mutually exclusive thoughts;
• - paralogical thinking - the unification of contradictory ideas and images, the substitution of some concepts for others. The speech of patients may be inaccessible to the understanding of others, since, with outwardly correct construction, it is devoid of semantic meaning;
• - autistic thinking - the patient’s judgments are determined by the world of his internal experiences and are divorced from reality;
• - broken thinking - an incorrect, unusual, paradoxical combination of ideas. The patient’s thoughts flow as if at random (“verbal okroshka”);
• - resonant thinking - empty, sterile, verbose and banal judgments.

The listed pathologies of thinking are characteristic of schizophrenia, although they can also be observed in other mental illnesses and organic diseases of the brain.

Forms of thinking disorders can be identified using various, quite informative methods.

ANNOTATION

Ivan Petrovich Pavlov, studying the physiological process, which he called the conditioned reflex, made the assumption that this process is the basis for the formation of mental reactions of all living organisms, including the human thinking process modern look. But as it now turns out, the thinking process of modern humans is based not on one, but on four types of conditioned reflexes. The first type of conditioned reflexes are reflexes on the correlation of images of perception of objects of reality. This type of reflex determines the organization of life activity of the bulk of living organisms on Earth. The second type of conditioned reflexes are reflexes to the relationship between representational images and objects of reality previously perceived by the individual. Corresponds to the level of brain development of higher primates. The third type of conditioned reflexes is reflexes to the relationship of generalized images, reflexes that form a not yet reflected modern psychology thinking and corresponding to the level of development of the Neanderthal brain, a generalized figurative type of thinking. The fourth type is reflexes to the relationship of all of the above images, conditionally reflexively associated with symbol the corresponding image - in a word. That is, it is a conditioned reflex to the relationship of concepts corresponding to the level of development of the modern human brain, or, what is the same, a conceptual type of thinking.

PHYSIOLOGY OF THINKING

There is nothing in the world except matter.

The mode of existence of matter is movement. The source of movement is the “struggle” of opposites, forming in their unity dialectical systems. There is nothing in the world except dialectical systems of the unity of opposites. The essence of any natural process is the development of dialectical systems that form this process. Process individual development of a living organism is the activity of this organism aimed at satisfying its needs. In the process of the body’s activity, new needs are born, which again encourage the body to engage in activities aimed at satisfying them. The dialectical system "need - activity", the struggle of opposites of which maintains the homeostasis of the body, is one of the main systems whose development determines the ontogenesis of a living organism.

The reflex activity of the nervous system, ensuring that the body acquires information about reality in the process of its activity (both about the needs of the body and about ways to satisfy them), - on the basis of this information, organizes all further activity of the body, thus being a dialectical form of development of the system “need - activity”, with which this form (simply it can be called a form of activity of the organism) forms another dialectical system - “need - activity - form of activity”.

At the unconditional reflex level of development of the nervous system, the acquisition of information about reality is carried out in the process of historical development of the species of organisms, through indefinite variability and natural selection. That is, at the unconditioned reflex level of development of the nervous system, information is ultimately acquired by the gene pool of a species of organisms, and therefore here the form of activity of an individual organism is essentially the form of activity of a species of organisms. With the birth of the ability of the nervous system to acquire, through conditioned reflexes, useful information In the process of individual development of the organism, the individual form of activity of the organism begins to develop in the form of conditioned reflex activity of its nervous system, which in the phylogenesis of the nervous system undergoes several qualitative levels of its development.

Apart from the unconditioned reflex - species - qualitative level of development of the form of activity of the organism, the first qualitative level of the individual form of activity of the organism is the organization of activity, which is carried out through conditioned reflexes to the relationships of objects of reality, i.e. on qualitative, quantitative, temporal and spatial relationships of conditioned stimuli. The basis for the flow of these reflexes are temporary connections formed in the process of the nervous system reflecting the interaction of the body with the objects of reality. Any object or process of reality perceived by an individual, i.e. Every object of perception is a set of certain ratios of elementary conditioned stimuli, the perception of which is carried out through analyzers specialized for these stimuli. Temporary connections formed between the foci of excitation, generated in the brain by the signals of these analyzers, fix the ratios of these foci of excitation, and these ratios of the foci of excitation, reflecting the ratios of elementary conditioned stimuli of the perceived object (situation), form an image of this object in the brain - the image of perception.

At the first qualitative level of development of the form of activity of the organism, the acquisition of information about reality occurs partly through the imitative reflex, which is very active in the initial period of ontogenesis, and partly by trial and error in the process of interaction with objects of reality in order to satisfy one’s needs. In the process of this interaction, temporary connections are formed between foci of excitation that arise in the brain during the perception of objects of reality corresponding to these foci, as a result of which both the relationships of the organism with the objects and the relationships of the objects of reality themselves are recorded in the brain.

In the phylogenesis of the nervous system, the number of specialized analyzers is growing. The number of associative neurons is growing, providing a temporary nervous connection between foci of excitation, the ratios of which reflect the characteristics of objects, the relationships of attributes, objects as a whole and their relationships. The mechanisms of figurative memory are improved. The ability to operate with trace conditioned stimuli - images of previously perceived objects (images of representation) is born and improved. All this, ultimately, determines the transition of the form of activity of the organism to a new - second - qualitative level of development. “Research from our laboratory has shown that chimpanzees aged 2-15 years have such well-developed conditioned reflex and figurative memory that this indicator, even in comparison with lower apes, can speak of a qualitatively new stage in the evolution of the mammalian brain.”(2)

A qualitatively new level of organization of anthropoids’ activities was noticed by I.P. Pavlov, which was the reason for the amendment he made to the reflex theory: “this cannot be called a “conditioned reflex”. This is a case of the formation of knowledge, the capture of the normal connection of things.”(3 )

A new quality in the organization of anthropoids’ activities is the ability to form temporary connections not only in the process of directly reflecting objects of reality, but also in the process of reflecting images of representation. This is the organization of activity not only through conditioned reflexes to the relationships between objects of reality (images of perception), but through conditioned reflexes to the relationships between images of representation. That is, an anthropoid, looking at the bait lying near the cage, is able to correlate and compare the image of the length that his limb is missing to reach the bait with the images of previously seen sticks lying in the cage. As a result of sorting through the options for correlations of representational images, using the same trial and error method, the inhibition of temporary connections occurs, reflecting those relationships of images that do not lead to achieving the goal, and the excitation of temporary connections, reflecting the relationships of images leading to achieving the goal. As a result, the anthropoid is able to select a stick of the required length on the first try. The birth of the brain’s ability to organize activity through conditioned reflexes to the relationships between representational images is nothing more than the birth of visual-figurative thinking, which is a defining feature of the second qualitative level of development of the individual form of activity of the organism. Thinking is not the excitation of ready-made temporary connections, it is not the reproduction of memorized formulas and actions. Thinking is the process of operating with mental images, where new temporary connections are formed, the excitation of which determines the course of conditioned reflexes, which in their totality organize the activity of the body aimed at satisfying its needs. In the phylogenesis of the nervous system, the development of the thinking process undergoes several qualitative transitions, giving rise to several types of thinking, which determine the qualitative levels of development of the individual form of activity of the organism.

Each type of thinking gives birth to its own method. For the formation of new temporary connections, visually effective thinking has no other method than the trial and error method, where an error that does not lead to the satisfaction of a need forms temporary connections that reflect the relationships of objects corresponding to this error, and the satisfaction of needs forms temporary connections that reflect the relationships of objects , as relationships leading to the satisfaction of a given need. This method of thinking is capable of forming temporary connections that form conditioned reflex chains, the excitation of which organizes the body’s activity aimed at satisfying those needs in the process of satisfying which these temporary connections were formed. Moreover, the excitation of these chains occurs sequentially from one link to another, therefore the process of excitation of these temporary connections is called associations by contiguity. The visual-figurative type of thinking also uses the trial and error method, but this no longer occurs in the process of operating with specific objects (images of perception), but in the process of operating with images of representing specific objects, where the possibility of quickly enumerating options for a wide variety of relationships between images is born. different time and in various places of perceived objects.

Using the trial and error method generated by the visually effective type of thinking, the visually figurative type of thinking at a certain level of its development gives rise to new method- a method of thinking through associations by similarity. The essence of this method is that previously formed temporary connections, reflecting and organizing any relationship of the organism with objects, are capable of being excited when perceiving a similar situation, being excited when perceiving objects (situations) that coincide in certain characteristics with previously perceived objects. As a result, a comparison of similar objects and situations occurs. Similarity associations are based on the ability of the brain to excite a certain set of temporary connections, reflecting a set of certain ratios of elementary conditioned stimuli (reflecting a specific object), when not perceiving this entire set of conditioned stimuli, but only part of it, which is a common part of all similar objects, part , forming characteristics common to all these objects, in relation to which these objects are combined as similar. For example, an anthropoid who once reached with a stick to objects lying in such a way that he could not reach them with an unarmed limb, is subsequently able to use the mental image of this activity, as, firstly, in a similar situation, for example, in order to get bait because of the cage, so, secondly, with similar objects that are also capable of lengthening the limb - wire, rope, etc.

Thus, in matters of acquiring information about reality, in matters of organizing their activities, anthropoids are at the second qualitative level of development of the individual form of activity of the organism. The organization of their activity is carried out not only through unconditioned reflexes (specific form of activity), and conditioned reflexes to the relationships between objects of reality or images of perception (the first qualitative level of the individual form of activity of the organism), but also through conditioned reflexes to the relationships between images of representations of objects of reality. The physiological basis for the occurrence of these reflexes are temporary connections between foci of excitation, each of which represents a set of temporary connections, the excitation of which forms a mental image of a previously perceived object - an image of representation.

Yes, this cannot be called an ordinary conditioned reflex, it is a conditioned reflex of a new qualitative level of phylogenesis of the nervous system, it is a reflex that creates the possibility of “forming knowledge, grasping the normal connection of things” (3). The development of a method of thinking through associations by similarity gives rise to the process psychological analysis and synthesis, where in the process of comparing a number of mental images with each other, reflecting similar relationships of an individual with similar objects in order to satisfy the needs of the individual through a certain property inherent in all these objects, a generalized image of this class of relationships is formed. And this generalized image reflects the common part of all these relationships, namely, the relationship of the individual with the property inherent in all these objects. That is, here there is a mental separation of a given property inherent in a number of objects from these specific objects and the unification of these objects, relative to the property identified in the process of analysis, into a certain class of objects. In the initial period of development of this process, the property, separated from a number of specific objects, still remains not separated from the individual interacting with it. That is, here the generalized image is not an image of a class of objects with which an individual interacts, but an image of a class of relationships between an individual and similar objects.

The physiological essence of this psychological process is the process of formation of temporary connections, reflecting a certain ratio of certain elementary conditioned stimuli, which form a common part of all relationships of the individual with similar objects.

The process of psychological analysis and synthesis, which has only just begun to emerge at the level of brain development of anthropoids, sharply distinguishes them from all lower animals in the phylogenetic series, first of all, by their highly developed objective activity. Anthropoids are already capable, in order to satisfy their needs, of using, for example, such properties of various objects as the ability to lengthen a limb, thereby uniting into one class with respect to this property such objects as a stick, rope, wire. The birth of this process also distinguishes anthropoids by the emergence of their tool activity, i.e. the emergence of the ability to give an object the property necessary to satisfy a certain need. For example, breaking out a stick from a bush, breaking off its side branches, sharpening a stick for stabbing bait, etc. All this is evidence that the brain of anthropoids is already capable of forming a mental image, in accordance with which the anthropoid processes the object; and this image is nothing more than a generalized image of the relationship between the anthropoid and a property inherent in a certain number of objects, a property using which the anthropoid satisfies his needs. However, at the level of brain development of anthropoids, the ability to form generalized images is only just beginning. This ability reaches its full development at the level of brain development of one of the species of fossil humans. In the phylogenesis of the nervous system of fossil humans, the ability of the brain to form concepts ultimately arises, an ability that reaches its full development at the level of brain development of modern humans.

A concept is a thought that reflects a set of properties inherent in a number of objects, a set in relation to which a given series of objects forms a certain class of objects (abstract concept); or a thought reflecting a set of properties of a specific object, properties in relation to which this object is included in a certain class of objects (a specific concept). The concept is also formed through associations of similarity in the process of an individual comparing images of representing his own relationships with objects of a certain series in order to satisfy his needs with images of representing relationships of his own kind with objects of the same series for the same purposes. In this comparison, temporary connections are formed that reflect the common part of all these relationships and form the final abstract reflection by the brain of the property that is inherent in the objects of a given series and through which all individuals interacting with the objects of a given series, including themselves, satisfy their needs. That is, here this property is separated not only from a number of specific objects that possess it, but also from a number of specific consumers of this property, including oneself.

A concept is a set of temporary connections that form an abstract image of a property inherent in a certain number of objects (abstract concept), or a set of temporary connections that form abstract images of the properties of a specific object (concrete concept).

An integral component of a concept is its conventional sign - the word - with the nervous mechanisms of reproduction and perception of which the corresponding image is connected by temporary connections. The qualitative transition of the phylogenesis of the nervous system, which determines the transition from the brain’s ability to form images of representation to the ability to form generalized images (separation of a certain property from objects) and the qualitative transition from the ability to form generalized images to the ability to form concepts (separation of a certain property from its consumers) are equivalent qualitative transitions . Therefore, both transitions give rise to new qualitative levels of development of the thinking process, i.e. each transition determines the birth of a new type of thinking. Therefore, in addition to visual-effective, visual-figurative and conceptual types of thinking, there is, as an independent type, a generalized-figurative type of thinking, which reaches its full development at the level of the morphophysiological organization of the Neanderthal brain.

The fact that the life activity of Neanderthals differs sharply from both the life activity of all animals, including anthropoids, and from the life activity of modern humans, is confirmation that the organization of their life activity was determined by the type of thinking, which in the phylogenesis of the brain is higher than the visual-figurative type, but lower conceptual. Indirect confirmation of the existence of four types of thinking is J. Piaget’s concept of four levels (stages) of development of the thinking process in the ontogenesis of a modern child (4).

The generalized figurative type of thinking corresponds to the third qualitative level of development of the individual form of activity of the organism and is carried out through conditioned reflexes to the relationships of generalized images. The basis for the flow of these reflexes are temporary connections between foci of excitation, each of which is a set of temporary connections, reflecting the general part of the body’s relationships with objects of a certain series. A generalized figurative type of thinking, using methods: trial and error, associations by similarity, at a certain level of its development gives birth to a new method - the method of thinking through associations by contrast. The essence of this method is the stimulation of temporary connections that form an abstract image of a class of objects when the brain perceives objects of the opposite class, resulting in a comparison of opposites.

Essentially, the evolution of fossil people was the evolution of their brain in the direction of the birth of the ability to reflect and compare opposites, which determined the transition of the individual’s form of activity to the fourth qualitative level of development, determined by the birth of the brain’s ability to form concepts. Happy birthday public consciousness- (which is the information base for the development of individual consciousness of all subsequent generations of individuals) - in the process of its development, the needs of individuals develop from biological needs to the needs of creativity, cognition, which are also the basis for the formation of concepts. But the first concepts of the human consciousness that was born along with them could only be the concepts of those objects through which individuals satisfied their most necessary biological needs.

To form the first concepts in the human brain, it is necessary for the individual to compare himself (images of representing his own relationships with objects of a certain class) with his own kind (with images of representing the relationships of his own kind with objects of the same class). But in order for this comparison to become possible, each individual needs to separate himself from his own kind, i.e. to form abstract images of those parts of reality that in modern humans are defined by the concept “mine”. That is, the first concepts of the emerging human consciousness could only be the concepts of “mine” and “not mine”, with their unity and “struggle” - (which has the nature of comparison of everything that is reflected by these concepts) - giving birth to the concept of “I”. Everything is relative. And knowing yourself is no exception. With the beginning of the production of reusable tools by fossil people - (which were not thrown away after use, but were stored for further use) - the question arises in their relationships about the ownership of certain tools by certain individuals, because the manufacturer of the tool had a demand to recognize only his right to use the tool of his own making.

In conflicts arising over the ownership of tools, the same class of relationships between individuals with the same series of objects (tools) is divided into two opposite ones: those that satisfy needs (the class of relationships with tools of their own making) and those that do not satisfy needs due to the emergence of conflicts (class of relationships with other people's tools). In the process of comparing these classes of relationships, an abstract image of a number of tools is formed, which are also divided into two opposite classes: a class of tools capable of satisfying the needs of the individual (my tool) and not capable of satisfying his needs (not my tool). The dialectics of the objective world begins to be reflected in the emerging individual consciousness in the form of dialectical systems of concepts “mine - not mine”, “mine - not mine - I”. With the separation of oneself from one’s own kind, the highest qualitative level of development of the individual form of activity of the organism begins its development - human consciousness, which organizes human activity using all four types of thinking, but the main type used, of course, is the conceptual type of thinking.

The conceptual type of thinking, using all of the above methods of thinking, at a certain level of its development gives rise to a new method - the dialectical method of thinking, the essence of which is through associations by contrast, the unification of opposites into dialectical systems, the deviation from the state of equilibrium of which (violation of their homeostasis), giving rise to "struggle "opposites is the driving force behind the development of all processes in the world. Thus, the four qualitative levels of development of the individual form of activity of the organism are determined by four types of thinking, which are formed by four types of conditioned reflexes. The basis for the flow of these reflexes are temporary connections that form relationships: images of perception, images of representation, generalized images and concepts.

“So, a temporary nervous connection is a universal phenomenon in the animal world and in ourselves. And at the same time, it is also a mental phenomenon” (5) a phenomenon that, forming certain aggregates and having various forms of their excitation, organizes all types of thinking, all methods thinking and, ultimately, all mental processes in the animal world, including ourselves. Consciousness is the totality of objective physiological processes occurring in the human brain, providing a subjective reflection of reality and organizing human-conscious activities aimed at satisfying his needs.

Literature

1. K. Marx, F. Engels Works, 2nd ed., vol. 3, p. 245.

2. Firsov L.A. I.P. Pavlov and experimental primatology. L.: Nauka, 1982, p43.

3. Pavlovsk environments. Protocols and transcripts of physiological conversations. M.-L.: USSR Academy of Sciences, 1949, vol. 3, p. 262.

4. Piaget J. Selected psychological works. M. International Pedagogical Academy. 1994, p. 179.

5. Pavlov I.P. Selected works. M.: Academy of Pedagogical Sciences of the RSFSR, 1951, p. 365.

6. Tverdokhlebov G.A. Driving forces of social progress. “Federation” No. 9, 2006, “Legal Research Foundation”; http://www.tverd4.narod.ru/st06.htm

7. Tverdokhlebov G.A. Dialectics of the evolution of the animal world. The essence of dialectical contradiction; http://www.tverd4.narod.ru/st04.htm

8. Tverdokhlebov G.A. The birth of legal relations and state power. “United Scientific Journal” No. 13, 2006, “Legal Research Foundation”; http://www.tverd4.narod.ru/st01.html

9. Tverdokhlebov G.A. Physiology of thinking. “United Scientific Journal” No. 21, 2006, “Legal Research Foundation”; http://www.tverd4.narod.ru/st02.htm

Thinking- this is a socially conditioned, inextricably linked with speech, mental process of searching and discovering something essentially new, a process of mediated and generalized reflection of reality in the course of its analysis and synthesis. Thinking arises on the basis of practical activity from sensory knowledge and goes far beyond its limits.

Physiological basis of thinking are temporary nerve connections (conditioned reflexes) that are formed in the cerebral cortex. These conditioned reflexes arise under the influence of second signals (words, thoughts), reflecting reality, but they necessarily arise on the basis of the first signal system (sensations, perceptions, ideas).

In psychology, a common classification of types of thinking is: 1) visual-effective, 2) visual-figurative and 3) abstract (theoretical) thinking.

Visual-effective thinking . In the course of historical development, people solved the problems facing them first in terms of practical activity, only then did theoretical activity emerge from it. For example, at first our distant ancestor learned to measure plots of land practically (in steps, etc.), and only then, based on the knowledge accumulated in the course of this practical activity, geometry gradually emerged and developed as a special theoretical science.

Visual-figurative thinking. IN simplest form Visual-figurative thinking occurs mainly in preschoolers, i.e. aged four to seven years. Although the connection between thinking and practical actions is preserved, it is not as close, direct and immediate as before. During the analysis and synthesis of a cognizable object, a child does not necessarily and does not always have to touch the object that interests him with his hands. In many cases, systematic practical manipulation (action) with an object is not required, but in all cases it is necessary to clearly perceive and visually represent this object.

Abstract thinking. On the basis of practical and visual-sensory experience, children of school age develop - first in the simplest forms - abstract thinking, i.e. thinking in the form of abstract concepts.

Verbal-logical thinking - one of the types of thinking, characterized by the use of concepts and logical structures. Verbal-logical thinking functions on the basis of linguistic means and represents the latest stage in the historical and ontogenetic development of thinking. In the structure of verbal-logical thinking, the different kinds generalizations.

33. Basic mental operations.

Thinking approaches the solution of a problem using a variety of operations, such as comparison, analysis, synthesis, abstraction and generalization.

Comparison - thinking compares things, phenomena and their properties, identifying similarities and differences, which leads to classification.

Analysis - mental dissection of an object, phenomenon or situation to highlight its constituent elements. Thus, we separate the non-essential connections that are given in perception.

Synthesis - a process inverse to analysis that restores the whole by finding significant connections and relationships.

Analysis and synthesis in thinking are interconnected. Analysis without synthesis leads to a mechanical reduction of the whole to the sum of its parts; synthesis without analysis is also impossible, since it must restore the whole from the parts isolated by analysis. In the way of thinking of some people, there is a tendency - some towards analysis, others towards synthesis.

There are analytical minds, whose main strength is the breadth of synthesis.

Abstraction - highlighting one side, properties and distracting from the rest. So, when looking at an object, you can highlight its color without noticing its shape, or vice versa, highlight only the shape. Beginning with the isolation of individual sensory properties, abstraction then proceeds to the isolation of non-sensory properties expressed in abstract concepts.

Generalization (or generalization) - discarding individual characteristics while maintaining common ones, revealing significant connections. Generalization can be accomplished through comparison, in which common qualities are highlighted. Thus, generalization occurs in elementary forms of thinking. In higher forms, generalization is accomplished through the disclosure of relationships, connections and patterns.

Abstraction and generalization are two interconnected sides of a single thought process, with the help of which thought goes to knowledge. Cognition occurs in concepts, judgments and inferences.

Thinking- Higher cognitive and regulatory process. It is a form of a person’s creative reflection of reality, generating a result that does not exist in reality itself or the subject at a given moment in time. Human thinking (in its lower forms it is found in animals) can also be understood as a creative transformation of ideas and images existing in memory.

From the physiological side the thinking process is a complex analytical and synthetic activity of the cerebral cortex. The entire cortex takes part in the implementation of thinking processes. For the thinking process, those that matter most are complex temporary connections that form between the brain ends of the analyzers. The previously existing idea about the exact boundaries of the central sections of the analyzers in the cerebral cortex is refuted by the latest achievements of physiological science: “The limits of the analyzers are much greater, and they are not so sharply demarcated from each other, but overlap each other, interlock with each other” (I.P. Pavlov).This “special design” of the cortex facilitates the establishment of connections in the activities of a wide variety of analyzers. “The cerebral cortex must be considered as a grandiose mosaic of countless nerve points with a specific physiological role for each of them. At the same time, the cortex is a highly complex dynamic system, constantly striving for unification, to establish a single, common connection” (I.P. Pavlov). Since the activity of individual areas of the cortex is always determined by external stimuli, the nerve connections formed during the simultaneous stimulation of these areas of the cortex reflect the actual connections in things. These connections, naturally caused by external stimuli, constitute the physiological basis of the thinking process. “Thinking,” said I.P. Pavlov, “...represents nothing else but associations, first elementary, standing in connection with external objects, and then chains of associations. This means that every small, first association is the moment of the birth of a thought.” At first, these associations are of a generalized nature, reflecting real connections in their most general and undifferentiated form, and sometimes even incorrectly, based on random, insignificant characteristics. Only in the process of repeated stimulation does differentiation of temporary connections occur, they are clarified, consolidated and become the physiological basis of more or less accurate and correct knowledge about outside world. These associations arise primarily under the influence of primary signal stimuli, causing corresponding sensations, perceptions and ideas about the surrounding external environment. Real interactions and interconnections of these stimuli determine the emergence of corresponding temporary neural connections of the first signaling system. Participate in the implementation of the thinking process neural processes in the speech centers of the cortex . Thinking is based not only on primary signal connections. It necessarily presupposes the activity of the second signaling system in its inextricable connection with the first signaling system. The irritants here are no longer specific items the surrounding world and their properties, and words. Speech, being directly related to thinking, makes it possible to reflect in words the interrelation and interdependence of phenomena, because words are not just substitutes, signals of objects, but generalized stimuli. The second signaling system is specifically human. It arises in a person in connection with his labor activity and the need to communicate with other people caused by it, but nevertheless arises on the basis of the first signaling system and is in organic connection with it. In this interaction the main role belongs to the second signaling system. Due to the generalized nature of secondary signal stimuli - words that make it possible to reflect objective connections in their general form, the second signal system acquires leading value in complex nervous processes, subordinating the activity of the first signaling system. The interaction of the first and second signaling systems in the processes of thinking consists in the fact that the second signaling system in this unity occupies a dominant position and directs the processes of the first signaling system. The word transforms the first-signal nerve connections into generalized images of reality, which allows a person, in the processes of thinking, to break away from the specific features of perceived phenomena and think of existing connections in their generalized form, in the form of concepts, and not in the form of perceptions and ideas.

Types and forms of thinking. Our knowledge of the surrounding reality begins with sensations and perception and moves on to thinking. The function of thinking is to expand the boundaries of knowledge by going beyond the limits of sensory perception. The task of thinking is to reveal relationships between objects, identify connections and separate them from random coincidences. Thinking operates with concepts and assumes the functions of generalization and planning. Thinking is the most generalized and indirect form of mental reflection, establishing connections and relationships between cognizable objects. These different levels of thinking are visual thinking in its elementary forms and abstract, theoretical thinking. With visual-figurative thinking, the transformation of the visual conditions of mental actions consists primarily in the translation of their perceptual content into the “language” of semantic features, into the language of meaning. Imaginative thinking is a form of a person’s creative reflection of reality, generating a result that does not exist in reality itself or in the subject at a given moment in time. Theoretical conceptual thinking is such thinking, using which a person, in the process of solving a problem, does not directly turn to the experimental study of reality, does not obtain the empirical facts necessary for thinking, and does not take practical actions aimed at actually transforming reality. Mental operations. Analysis is a mental operation of dividing a complex object into its constituent parts. Analysis - This is the selection of certain aspects, elements, properties, connections, relationships, etc. in an object. Synthesis is a mental operation that allows one to move from parts to the whole in a single analytical-synthetic process of thinking. Generalization is a mental operation consisting of combining many objects or phenomena according to some common feature. Abstraction- a mental operation based on abstracting from unimportant signs of objects, phenomena and highlighting the main, main thing in them. Abstraction- an abstract concept formed as a result of mental abstraction from unimportant aspects, properties of objects and relationships between them in order to identify essential features. Selection (abstraction) general properties different levels allows a person to establish genus-specific relationships in a certain variety of objects and phenomena, systematize them and thereby build a certain classification Categorization– the operation of assigning a single object, event, experience to a certain class, which can be verbal and non-verbal meanings, symbols, etc. – systematization of subordinate concepts of any field of knowledge or human activity, used to establish connections between these concepts or classes of objects. Specification- this is the movement of thought from the general to the specific. One of the tasks of theoretical thinking is to determine a way to derive particular manifestations of a system object from its general (essential) basis, from a certain initial relationship in the system.

Correlation of thinking and speech. Many modern scientists adhere to a compromise point of view, believing that although thinking and speech are inextricably linked, they represent relatively independent realities both in genesis and functioning. Main question, which is now being discussed in connection with this problem, is the question of the nature of the real connection between thinking and speech, about their genetic roots and the transformations that they undergo in the process of their separate and joint development. L.S. Vygotsky made a significant contribution to solving this problem. The word, he wrote, relates to speech as well as to thinking. It is a living cell containing in simple form basic properties inherent in speech thinking in general. A word is not a label stuck as an individual name on separate item. It always characterizes the object or phenomenon it denotes in a generalized way and, therefore, acts as an act of thinking. But the word is also a means of communication, therefore it is part of speech. Being devoid of meaning, the word no longer refers to either thought or speech; Having acquired its meaning, it immediately becomes an organic part of both. It is in the meaning of the word, says L.S. Vygotsky, that the knot of that unity, which is called speech thinking, is tied. However, thinking and speech have different genetic roots. Initially they performed different functions and developed separately. The original function of speech was communicative function. Speech itself as a means of communication arose due to the need to separate and coordinate the actions of people in the process of joint work. At the same time, in verbal communication, the content conveyed by speech belongs to a certain class of phenomena and, therefore, already presupposes their generalized reflection, i.e. fact of thinking. At the same time, such, for example, a method of communication as a pointing gesture does not carry any generalization in itself and therefore does not relate to thought. In turn, there are types of thinking that are not associated with speech, for example, visual-effective, or practical, thinking in animals. In small children and in higher animals, unique means of communication are found that are not associated with thinking. These are expressive movements, gestures, facial expressions that reflect internal states a living being, but not a sign or a generalization. In the phylogenesis of thinking and speech, a pre-speech phase in the development of intelligence and a pre-intellectual phase in the development of speech clearly emerges. L.S. Vygotsky believed that at the age of approximately 2 years, i.e. in the one that J. Piaget designated as the beginning of the stage of pre-operational thinking following sensorimotor intelligence, a critical turning point occurs in the relationship between thinking and speech: speech begins to become intellectualized, and thinking - speech. Signs of the onset of this turning point in the development of both functions are rapid and active expansion by the child of his vocabulary(he begins to often ask adults the question: what is this called?) and an equally rapid, spasmodic increase in communicative vocabulary. The child, as it were, discovers for the first time the symbolic function of speech and discovers an understanding that behind the word as a means of communication there actually lies a generalization, and uses it both for communication and for solving problems. He begins to call different objects with the same word, and this is direct evidence that the child is mastering concepts. When solving any intellectual problems, he begins to reason out loud, and this, in turn, is a sign that he is using speech as a means of thinking, and not just communication. The meaning of the word as such becomes practically accessible to the child.