Psychology and Human Thinking
INTRODUCTION TO PSYCHOLOGY
Any knowledge discipline is hard to define. Firstly, because it evolves continuously. Secondly, because the range of phenomena it studies cannot be captured by any one definition. Psychology is derived from to Greek words ‘psyche’ meaning soul and ‘logos’ meaning science or study of a subject. Thus psychology essentially was a study of the soul or mind. Scientific discipline which deals with processes underlying human experiences and behaviour is one of the parts of psychology. A discipline is defined both in terms of what it studies and how it studies. Psychology is defined formally as a science which studies mental processes, experiences and behaviour in different contexts. It uses methods of biological and Social Sciences to obtain data systematically. It makes sense of these data so that they can be organised as noted in the three terms used in the definition namely mental processes, experience and behaviour. When we say experiences are internal to the experiencing person then we refer to states of consciousness or awareness or mental process. Mind emerges and evolves as our interactions and experiences in this world get dynamically organised in the form of a system which is responsible for the occurrence of various mental processes.
HUMAN NATURE
Thinking is the base of all cognitive activities or processes and is unique to human beings. It involves manipulation and analysis of information received from the environment. Thinking, therefore, is a higher mental process through which we manipulate and analyse the acquired or existing information. Such manipulation and analysis occur by means of abstracting, reasoning, imagining, problem solving, judging and decision-making. Thinking is mostly organised and goal directed. One desire to reach the goal by planning, recalling the steps that one has already followed in the past if the task is familiar or inferring strategies if the task is new. Thinking is an internal mental process which can be inferred from overt behaviour. If you see a chess player engrossed in thinking for several minutes before making a move, you can not observe what he is thinking. You can simply infer what he was thinking or what strategies he was trying to evaluate from his next move.
PROBLEM SOLVING
Problem solving is thinking that is gold directed. Almost all our day-to-day activities are directed towards a goal. Here it is important to know that problems are not always in the form of obstacles or hurdles that one faces. It could be any simple activity that you perform to reach a defined goal. In problem solving there is an initial state (the problem) and there is an end state (the goal). These two anchors are connected by means of several steps on mental operations.
Obstacles To Problem Solving
Two major obstacles to solving a problem are mental set and lack of motivation.
- Mental Set
Mental set is a tendency of a person to solve problems by following already tried mental operations or steps. Prior success with a particular strategy would sometimes help in solving a new problem. However, this tendency also creates a mental rigidity that obstructs the problem solver to think of any new rules or strategies. Thus, while in some situations a mental set can enhance the quality and speed of problem solving, in other situations it hinders problem solving. However in day-to-day activities we often rely on past experiences with similar or related problems.
- Lack Of Motivation
People might be great at solving problems, but all their skills and talents are of no use if they are not motivated. Sometimes people give up easily when they encounter a problem or failure in implementing the first step. Therefore, there is a need to persist in their effort to find a solution.
DECISION MAKING
In judgement we draw conclusions, form opinions, evaluate events, objects, based on knowledge and available evidences. Sometimes judgements are automatic and require no conscious effort by the person and occur as a matter of habit. Many of the problems we solve each day require us to make decisions. In decision-making, we sometimes choose among options based on choices of personal significance. Judgement and decision- making are interrelated processes. In decision-making the problem before us is to choose among alternatives by evaluating the cost and benefits associated with each alternative. We would observe that people differ in their priorities and therefore their decisions will differ. In real life situations we make quick decisions and therefore, it is not possible always to evaluate every situation thoroughly and exhaustively.
CONCLUSION
The discussion about Psychology and Human Thinking may have clarified that psychology is not only a subject that satisfies some of the curiosities in our mind about human nature, but it is also a subject that can offer solutions to a variety of problems. Media has played a vital role in this respect. Some of us think very highly of ourselves and any feedback that contradicts our opinion about ourselves is rejected because we engage in what is called a defensive behaviour. Thus, the knowledge of psychology is quite useful in our everyday life, and is rewarding from personal as well as social point of view.
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