Crash Course Review on Forgetting…

Chapter 11 – The Process of Thinking This Chapter Presents: A definition of thinking and the components of thinking A discussion of creative thinking A discussion of imagining A description of problem solving What is thinking? Thinking – is an unobservable activity by which a person or animal reorganizes past experiences through the use of symbols and concepts…

What are Symbols? Symbol – is an object, act, or sound that stands for something else. Flags, pins, colours, and badges often serves as symbols for organizations Gestures, diagrams, pictures, and numbers may serve as symbols in our thinking Think of the words on the screen, white shapes formed into something you recognize, arranged they have become symbol… Think of something like this… what do you see? Symbol of mountain, with the recognition that knowing what a symbol is depends on past experiences with it…

So What’s a Concept? When we think, we also tend to classify objects and group them in some way… this is where the notion of concepts comes into play Concept – is the meaning we attach to the qualities or characteristics that different objects, situations, or events have in common. In forming a concept we think of similarities and groupings i.e. using a word or symbol that can be used to describe other similar objects, situations, or events, example: a house

Beyond “Black and White” Thinking… Beyond what comes to us naturally (symbols & objective thinking ) our ability to think outside of the box, or in “colour” is something that may not come to each of us easily… We all cannot achieve great artistic or scientific creativity, but most of us are capable of some creative thinking Creative thinking – when people strive to discover new solutions to problems or to find new ways of artistic expression They try to discover new and better means of achieving goals Includes work on anything from written papers to lab work, to developing new apparatus or tools…

Creative thinking involves 4 steps… 1.Preparation – this may take a long time, anywhere from week, to months, to years. During this time individuals read widely, talk to others interested in their problem – they strive to find the most useful and productive way to define the problem 2.“Sitting on” the problem – following the preparation phase sometimes the problems solvers set their work aside and wait to start it. This could lead to procrastination; all the preparation may be lost 3.Inspiration – this is the rush sometimes felt by people in an effort to get their problem solved Involves the dropping of all unrelated material and getting on with things. OF NOTE: true creative people believe that for true creative thinking to occur, this prepare & sit back = inspiration step has to occur… 4.Verification & Reasoning – following the actual work (your are all done) and an extremely important process is to “proof read” your work i.e. Scientists that undertake experiments to prove their hypothesis…

Thinking Images… Much like in the case of symbols, often thnking involves the use of images to generate memories and means to solve problems One of the most detailed and lifelike images that we develop are known as eidetic images An eidetic image is so vivid that it almost seems like a sensory experience, i.e. think of a spring rainfall, you can almost smell it can’t you? Someone who has a “photographic memory” may really have an eidetic memory… see video for clarity Why eidetic images? Useful in examinations – but does not guarantee superior intellectual ability

Sheldon clears it up…