Thinking | CBSE Class 11 Psychology Notes

This note covers the nature and building blocks of thinking, culture and thought, problem solving, reasoning, judgement, decision-making, creativity, the relationship between thought and language, language development, language use, bilingualism and multilingualism.

What is thinking, and how can we study it?

Definition: Thinking is a higher mental process through which we manipulate and analyse information that we have acquired or already possess.

Cognition concerns knowing and processing information. Thinking forms the base of cognitive activities. It goes beyond simply receiving information: we interpret what we encounter and connect it with existing knowledge to create meaning.

When looking at a painting, we do more than notice colours, lines and strokes. We interpret its meaning and relate it to what we already know. This creates new meaning that becomes part of our knowledge.

Why is thinking called an internal process?

Internal means occurring within the mind. We cannot directly watch another person's thoughts. We infer them from overt behaviour, meaning observable actions. A chess player's next move can suggest which possibilities the player was considering, but the thinking itself remains unobserved.

Thinking is mostly organised and goal directed. Cooking and solving a mathematical problem involve reaching a goal. For familiar tasks, we may recall steps followed earlier. For new tasks, we may work out strategies for reaching the desired outcome.

In ordinary speech, “think” may mean remembering a name, paying attention or expressing uncertainty. Its psychological meaning involves working with information. The processes discussed below include solving problems, drawing conclusions, evaluating alternatives and producing original ideas.

How do mental images, concepts and culture shape thought?

A mental representation is the form in which knowledge is held in the mind. People usually think through mental images or words and concepts. These building blocks allow us to work with experiences and categories without having the objects immediately before us.

What is a mental image?

A mental image represents a sensory experience. It can be used to think about things, places and events. Remembering a road visited long ago may involve visualising the street and surrounding places.

If asked to imagine standing before the Taj Mahal, we probably try to see it through the mind's eye. Similarly, remembering places on a map involves forming and using images of their arrangement.

The first map contains a winding blue river and clusters of small symbols. The second shows the outline upside down without those internal features. Comparing them illustrates the task of remembering locations through mental imagery.

See Figs. 7.2a and 7.2b in your NCERT textbook

Why do we form concepts?

A concept is a mental representation of a category of objects, ideas or events sharing common properties. An apple belongs to the category fruit, a table to furniture and a dog to animals. Identification involves matching characteristics with an existing category.

Concepts organise knowledge and make it easier to retrieve with less time and effort. This resembles arranging books by subject in a library. Categorisation makes thinking quicker and more efficient because related information is organised together.

How can cultural practices influence attention?

Beliefs, values and social practices influence thinking. In a study using underwater scenes, American students focused on prominent features, such as a large fish. Japanese students focused on the background, including the bottom and the water.

Analytical thinking examines objects separately. Researchers concluded that Americans usually analyse each object separately. Holistic thinking attends to relationships between objects and their backgrounds; Asian people, including Japanese, Chinese and Koreans, think more about these relationships.

The difference concerns what receives attention and how objects are related to their setting. Both objects and backgrounds were present in the scene, but the students' descriptions placed emphasis on different aspects.

What steps are involved in solving a problem?

Problem solving is thinking directed towards a goal. A problem need not be an obstacle or a difficulty. Preparing a quick snack for a visiting friend also involves moving from a starting situation to a desired result.

The initial state is the problem as it stands, while the end state is the goal. Mental operations, meaning the steps used in thinking, connect these states. Some solutions are reached quickly; more complex problems require time and effort.

How can organising a school play illustrate the sequence?

Suppose a week remains before Teachers' Day and a play must be organised. The task involves a theme, performers, money and practical arrangements. Sub-goals are the smaller goals set while planning the overall solution.

1. Identify the problem: recognise that a play must be organised for Teachers' Day within the remaining week.
2. Represent the problem: specify its requirements, including a suitable theme, selection of performers and arrangements for money.
3. Plan the solution and set sub-goals: survey themes and consult knowledgeable teachers and friends, considering cost, duration and suitability.
4. Evaluate all solutions: collect the relevant information and conduct a stage rehearsal to assess the possible plays.
5. Select and execute a solution: compare and verify the options to arrive at the best play.
6. Evaluate the outcome: if the play is appreciated, consider the steps followed for future reference.
7. Rethink and redefine problems and solutions: after the occasion, consider how a better play could be planned in future.

Evaluation therefore concerns both possible solutions and the outcome after action. Reflection can continue even after the immediate goal has been achieved. The experience can help the organiser and friends approach a similar task later.

How do mental set, functional fixedness and motivation affect solutions?

A mental set is the tendency to solve problems using mental operations or steps that have already been tried. Prior success with a strategy sometimes helps solve a new problem, improving the quality and speed of the solution.

The same tendency can create mental rigidity, or difficulty moving beyond an established approach. A method that worked on earlier mathematical problems may continue to dominate thinking even when it no longer works. In everyday activities, however, we often rely on experience with related problems.

What does the water-bottle activity demonstrate?

In this activity, A, B and C name three bottles; their capacities vary between problems. Capacity means how much water a bottle can hold. ml means millilitres, the unit used for all the water quantities below.

The first five problems can be solved by filling B, removing enough to fill A, and then removing enough to fill C twice. For problem 1, the quantities remaining in B are 106 ml, 103 ml and finally 100 ml.

For problem 6, the familiar sequence still works. However, filling A and pouring from it into C gives the required 20 ml more directly. For problem 7, pouring from A into C gives 25 ml; the familiar sequence does not give the target.

Someone who continues with the longer sequence in problem 6 without considering the simpler method shows a mental set. The mental set is so powerful that many would fail to consider another procedure in problem 7.

What other obstacles occur?

Functional fixedness occurs when a person cannot solve a problem because they remain fixed on an object's usual function. Using a hardbound book to hammer a nail illustrates overcoming this restriction.

Motivation, the drive to pursue the solution, matters alongside skill. Some people give up when the first step fails. Persistence in trying to find a solution is necessary; ability alone is of little use if the person is not motivated.

How do deductive reasoning, inductive reasoning and analogy differ?

Reasoning involves gathering and analysing information to reach a conclusion. An inference is a conclusion drawn from information. Reasoning is a form of problem solving because its goal is to determine what follows from the available information.

What can go wrong with a conclusion?

Deductive reasoning begins with an assumption. Suppose someone assumes that people run on a railway platform only when late for a train. Seeing a person running, they conclude that the person is late. The underlying assumption may be false.

The runner might instead be seeing off a friend or retrieving a bag. If the base information is untrue, the conclusion would be invalid or wrong. Believing an assumption is true is different from knowing that it is true.

Cartoon: A mouse's speech bubble reads, “All cats have four legs, I have four legs, therefore I am a cat”. The cartoon invites scrutiny of whether its conclusion is true and valid.

See Fig. 7.3 in your NCERT textbook

Inductive reasoning uses specific observations. Watching the runner enter a compartment and return with a bag would support the conclusion that the bag had been left inside. Jumping to a conclusion without knowing all possible facts remains a possible error.

Most cases of scientific reasoning are inductive. Scientists and other people examine instances and try to identify a general rule covering them.

How does analogy help?

An analogy matches relations between two pairs: water relates to fish as air relates to humans; white relates to snow as black relates to coal. Analogies help reveal important attributes or relationships that might otherwise go unnoticed.

How are judgement and decision-making related?

Judgement involves drawing conclusions, forming opinions and evaluating objects or events using knowledge and available evidence. Decision-making involves choosing from available alternatives after evaluating their associated costs and benefits.

Judgements are influenced by beliefs, attitudes and personal preferences. Evaluating a novel draws on previous knowledge and experience, while judging a painting's beauty involves personal preferences. Sometimes judgements are automatic and habitual, requiring no conscious effort.

Can a judgement change?

New information can alter an evaluation. Students may initially judge a new teacher to be very strict. After interacting with the teacher in later classes, they may instead judge the teacher to be extremely student-friendly.

Judgement and decision-making are interrelated. To choose between Psychology and Economics in Class XI, a student may evaluate interest, future prospects, availability of books and efficiency of teachers. Talking to seniors and faculty or attending classes can help this evaluation.

Why can people make different decisions?

In decision-making, the possible solutions or choices are already known and one must be selected. A good badminton player offered a state-level opportunity while final examinations approach must choose between practising and studying, considering the possible outcomes.

People differ in their priorities, meaning what they give greater importance to, so their decisions can differ. In real-life situations, we take quick decisions. It is not possible always to examine every situation thoroughly and exhaustively before choosing.

What makes thinking creative?

Creative thinking produces novel and original ideas or solutions. Novelty means newness; originality involves uniqueness rather than simply another version of something already available. A new appliance model may not be original unless it adds unique features.

Creativity is not always expressed in extraordinary achievement. Everyone has the potential to be creative. Everyday creativity appears in activities such as cooking, teaching, storytelling, asking questions and resolving conflicts. Special talent creativity appears in outstanding creative achievements.

Is an unusual idea necessarily creative?

Creative thinking is generally characterised by Bruner's effective surprise: an unusual idea or product brings an immediate response of surprise or being startled from most people who experience it. Appropriateness within the particular context is another important criterion.

Researchers tend to agree that creative thinking is reality-oriented, appropriate, constructive and socially desirable. Being different, engaging in purposeless fantasy or offering a bizarre idea is at times mistaken for creativity. Originality must be considered together with appropriateness.

Why are both convergent and divergent thinking important?

J.P. Guilford distinguished convergent thinking, which moves towards the one correct answer to a problem, from divergent thinking, which is open-ended and generates different possible answers. Questions about uses of cloth or improvements to a chair invite divergent thinking.

• Fluency means producing many ideas for a task, such as many possible uses for a paper cup.
• Flexibility means variety in thinking, such as considering a cup as a container or as something used to draw a circle.
• Originality means producing rare or unusual ideas through new relationships, combinations or perspectives.
• Elaboration means developing an idea in detail and working out its implications.

These abilities generally characterise divergent thinking. Fluency and flexibility are necessary conditions for originality: more varied ideas increase the likelihood of original ones. Divergence generates alternatives, while convergence helps identify the most useful or appropriate idea.

Remote association links ideas not ordinarily connected. Linking food production with deserts or protein from weeds illustrates this. Letting the mind explore such connections may generate combinations, one or two of which may turn out to be original.

How do lateral thinking and the creative process work?

Edward de Bono used lateral thinking for what Guilford called divergent thinking. It seeks alternative ways of defining and interpreting a problem. Vertical thinking moves along a line between lower and higher concepts, pursuing the same direction more deeply.

What are the six thinking hats?

De Bono's six thinking hats technique encourages different perspectives on a problem. Each hat stands for a mode of thinking. The technique can be used individually or in groups, changing hats according to the thinking required.

What happens before and after a creative idea appears?

The creative process starts with a need to produce something new. Sensing problems or gaps in information can initiate this search. Not everyone experiences the need; a person may be content with routine work.

1. Preparation: understand and analyse the task, gather background facts and consider different perspectives. Divergent thinking helps extend the search in new directions.
2. Incubation: after feeling stuck, leave the problem for some time and relax from conscious effort. Creative ideas may not occur immediately; they may arise during another activity.
3. Illumination: experience the emergence of the idea, the “Aha!” or “I have found it” moment. There usually is excitement or satisfaction.
4. Verification: test and judge the idea's worth or appropriateness. Convergent thinking helps select a solution that works.

Creative thinking therefore involves more than a sudden insight. Work occurs before the idea appears, and assessment follows it. The excitement of illumination does not replace verification of whether the proposed solution is appropriate.

Which strategies can enhance creative thinking?

Attitudes, dispositions and skills can facilitate creativity. A disposition is a tendency or inclination in how a person approaches situations. Becoming more sensitive to feelings, sights, sounds and textures helps one notice features that could otherwise be overlooked.

How can awareness and flexibility be developed?

Look for problems, missing information, contradictions and incomplete situations. Wider reading, exposure to varied information and the habit of asking questions support this awareness. Pondering situations and objects can reveal gaps that others may not notice.

Generate many ideas, responses or suggestions for a task. Deliberately examine it from several angles. Examples include alternative furniture arrangements to make more space, different ways of talking to people and ways of dealing with an angry friend.

Why should brainstorming postpone judgement?

Brainstorming, associated with Osborn, separates producing ideas from evaluating their worth. Give imagination priority and postpone judgement until ideas are exhausted. This helps increase fluency and accumulate alternatives for later consideration.

Brainstorming games can be practised with family or friends while preserving this separation. Checklists, meaning organised prompts to consider, and questions often give ideas a new direction. Ask what else could change, how many approaches are possible or what other uses an object might have.

The aim is to expand the flow and variety of ideas while noticing possibilities. Evaluation still has a place in the creative process: the verification stage tests the worth of the alternatives generated.

What are the main views of the relationship between thought and language?

Language is a system of symbols organised by rules for communication. A symbol stands for something or someone else. The relationship between thought and language has been explained through different views about which develops first and how they influence one another.

Does language determine thought?

Benjamin Lee Whorf's linguistic relativity hypothesis holds that language determines the contents of thought. Its strong version, linguistic determinism, holds that what and how people can think is determined by their language and linguistic categories.

Languages differ in their categories. Hindi and other Indian languages use different words for several family relationships that English groups under “uncle”. English has dozens of colour words, whereas some tribal languages have only two to four colour terms.

Experimental evidence maintains that the same level or quality of thought is possible in all languages, depending on the availability of linguistic categories and structures. Some thoughts may be easier in one language than another.

Does thought precede language?

Jean Piaget argued that thought determines language and comes before it. A child observing behaviour and later copying it engages in imitation. This involves thinking without requiring language. Language is one vehicle of thought rather than a requirement for its origin.

Understanding words requires knowledge of the underlying concepts. As actions become internalised, language may affect the range of symbolic thinking, or thinking through representations. For Piaget, however, thought remains basic to understanding language.

Can thought and language have different origins?

Lev Vyogotsky argued that thought and language develop separately until about two years of age, when they merge. Earlier thought is preverbal, meaning before words, and is experienced more through action. Early utterances, such as crying when uncomfortable, are more automatic than thought-based.

Around two years, thought is expressed verbally and speech reflects rationality. Inner speech, or soundless speech, allows thoughts to be manipulated. Thinking and language become interdependent: conceptual thinking depends on the quality of inner speech, and vice versa.

Thought can occur without language when it is visual or movement-related. Language can occur without thought in expressing feelings or exchanging pleasantries. When they overlap, the two functions produce verbal thought and rational speech.

What are the basic characteristics of language?

Language has three basic characteristics: symbols, rules and communication. Knowing a language involves more than making sounds. It involves meaningful symbols and accepted ways of combining them to communicate with other people.

How do words become meaningful?

Words such as “home”, “school” and “food” do not carry meaning by themselves. They acquire meaning through association with objects or events. Once these associations are made, particular words allow us to recognise and refer to what they represent.

Syntax concerns the rules for arranging words. We usually follow an accepted order when combining them. “I am going to school” illustrates an ordinary arrangement, whereas “school am going I” does not follow that arrangement.

Does communication require oral speech?

Language communicates thoughts, ideas, intentions and feelings. Non-verbal communication uses body movements, including gestures and postures. People with severe hearing and speech difficulties may communicate through signs. Sign language is also a form of language.

Attempts have been made to teach signs or symbols to animals such as chimpanzees, dolphins and parrots. Human language is more complex, creative and spontaneous than the communication systems other animals can learn.

How does language develop during early childhood?

Children differ a great deal in the rate of language development and in how they proceed. Nevertheless, across the world there is a predictable general pattern in acquiring the language or languages to which they are exposed.

How do early sounds develop into words?

Cooing consists of sounds such as “aaa” and “uuu”, usually expressing happiness. Babbling involves prolonged repetition of consonant and vowel sounds. Echolalia involves repeated patterns of sound combinations, such as “dadadadadada”.

Holophrases are early word expressions that carry the meaning of whole sentences or phrases. The two-word stage illustrates telegraphic speech, containing mostly nouns and verbs, like the short messages “got admission” or “send money”.

Early babbling is random or accidental, while later babbling seems to imitate adult voices. Major development occurs in the first two to three years, but the general sequence must be understood alongside considerable differences between individual children.

How are language acquisition, social use and multilingualism explained?

Language acquisition is the process of learning a language. Nature refers here to inherited characteristics; nurture refers to the effects of learning. Most psychologists accept that both are important in acquiring language.

How do Skinner and Chomsky explain acquisition?

B.F. Skinner's behaviourist account applies learning principles. Association links experiences, such as seeing a bottle and hearing its name. Imitation involves copying adults. Reinforcement encourages a response, as when adults smile or hug a child for saying something correctly.

Shaping reinforces successively closer approximations to the desired response. Regional differences in pronunciation and phrasing illustrate how different speech patterns receive reinforcement. Learning helps explain why infants acquire the language they hear and add words to their vocabulary.

Noam Chomsky emphasised innate readiness, meaning an inborn preparedness to acquire language. Children learn words and grammar rapidly without direct teaching and produce sentences they have never heard. Imitation alone cannot explain these new sentences.

Chomsky proposed universal grammar, an inborn grammatical basis enabling children to learn the grammar of the language they hear. Children seem to have a critical period, a period when learning must occur if it is to occur successfully.

Why must language fit the social situation?

Pragmatic intentions are social purposes such as asking, requesting, thanking or demanding. Correct vocabulary and syntax do not ensure effective communication. Language must also be contextually appropriate, meaning suitable for the situation.

Children often struggle to choose polite expressions, producing a demand instead of a request. They also have difficulty taking turns in speaking and listening. Effective language use therefore involves social understanding as well as grammatical knowledge.

What are bilingualism and multilingualism?

Bilingualism is proficiency in communicating in two languages. Multilingualism refers to learning more than two. The mother tongue is generally understood as the language with which someone identifies emotionally; an individual can have multiple mother tongues.

Most Indians use more than one language in different areas of daily life. Multilingualism is a way of life in India. Studies reveal that bilingualism and multilingualism facilitate children's cognitive, linguistic and academic competence, concerning thinking, language and learning.

Glossary

• Thinking — A higher mental process involving the manipulation and analysis of acquired or existing information.
• Mental image — A mental representation of sensory experience used to think about things, places and events.
• Concept — A mental representation of a category whose objects, ideas or events share common properties.
• Mental set — A tendency to solve problems through mental operations or steps that have previously been tried.
• Functional fixedness — Difficulty solving a problem because thinking remains restricted to an object's usual function.
• Deductive reasoning — Reasoning that starts from a general assumption and moves towards a particular conclusion.
• Inductive reasoning — Reasoning that uses specific facts and observations to reach a general conclusion.
• Divergent thinking — Open-ended thinking that generates different possible answers to a question or problem.
• Convergent thinking — Thinking that moves towards the correct solution to a problem with one correct answer.
• Brainstorming — A technique that separates the generation of ideas from evaluation of their worth.
• Incubation — A stage involving a break from conscious effort after becoming stuck on a creative task.
• Illumination — The emergence of a creative idea, usually accompanied by excitement or satisfaction.
• Inner speech — Soundless speech through which children can manipulate thoughts as language and thinking become interdependent.
• Telegraphic speech — Speech characteristic of the two-word stage that contains mostly nouns and verbs.
• Multilingualism — Learning more than two languages, facilitating children's cognitive, linguistic and academic competence.

Common errors and misconceptions

• Misconception: Thinking can be directly observed in another person. Correct: It is internal; we infer it from overt behaviour, such as a chess player's next move.
• Misconception: Mental set always harms problem solving. Correct: Previously successful steps sometimes improve speed and quality, but rigidity can obstruct new strategies.
• Misconception: A deductive conclusion is reliable merely because its assumption seems familiar. Correct: The assumption may be false, leading to an invalid or wrong conclusion.
• Misconception: Any strange or unusual idea is creative. Correct: Originality matters alongside contextual appropriateness; purposeless fantasy can be mistaken for creativity.
• Misconception: Creative thinking needs divergent thinking alone. Correct: Divergence generates alternatives; convergence helps select an appropriate idea.
• Misconception: Brainstorming requires judging each idea immediately. Correct: It separates idea production from evaluation, postponing judgement while alternatives are generated.
• Misconception: All children reach language stages at exactly the same age. Correct: A general developmental pattern exists, but individual rates differ greatly.
• Misconception: Correct grammar guarantees effective communication. Correct: Language must also serve the social purpose appropriately, including politeness and conversational turn-taking.

Exam-style questions with model answers

Q1. Define a concept and explain how concepts make thinking efficient. [2 marks]

1. A concept is a mental representation of a category of objects, ideas or events sharing common properties.
2. Concepts organise knowledge, allowing relevant information to be accessed with less time and effort and making thinking quicker and more efficient.

Q2. A learner has repeatedly filled bottle B, removed enough water to fill A, and then filled C twice to solve earlier problems. In a new problem, A holds 23 millilitres, B holds 49 millilitres and C holds 3 millilitres. The target is 20 millilitres. The learner repeats the old procedure without considering another method. Identify and define the tendency, explain the familiar solution, and give a simpler solution. [4 marks]

1. The tendency is mental set, shown by continuing to use the familiar procedure without considering an alternative.
2. Mental set means solving problems through mental operations or steps that have already been tried, which can create rigidity.
3. The familiar procedure leaves 20 millilitres: fill B with 49, remove 23 into A, then remove 3 into C twice.
4. The simpler solution is to fill A with 23 millilitres and pour from A to fill C with 3, leaving 20 in A.

Q3. An observer assumes that people run on railway platforms only when late for a train. Seeing a person running, the observer concludes that the person is late. The person could instead be running to see off a friend or retrieve a bag. Identify the reasoning, explain its direction and identify the error. [3 marks]

1. This is deductive reasoning because the observer begins with a general assumption rather than establishing the runner's purpose through further observation.
2. The reasoning moves from the general claim about platform runners to the particular conclusion that this runner is late.
3. The starting assumption may be false: the question provides other possible reasons for running. The observer assumes the claim is true without knowing it, so the conclusion may be wrong.

Q4. Define the four abilities generally included in divergent thinking: fluency, flexibility, originality and elaboration. [4 marks]

1. Fluency is the ability to produce many ideas in response to a task or problem; greater numbers of ideas indicate higher fluency.
2. Flexibility is variety in thinking, including different interpretations, uses of an object or ways to solve a problem.
3. Originality is producing rare or unusual ideas through new relationships, combinations of ideas or changes in perspective.
4. Elaboration is developing an idea in detail and working out its implications, extending what the new idea would involve.

Q5. Explain preparation, incubation, illumination and verification in the creative process, in that order. [4 marks]

1. Preparation involves understanding and analysing the problem, gathering background facts and examining different viewpoints. Divergent thinking helps exploration in new directions.
2. Incubation involves leaving the task for some time after feeling stuck and relaxing from conscious effort. Ideas may arise during another activity.
3. Illumination is the emergence of the creative idea, often recognised as the “Aha!” experience, usually with excitement or satisfaction.
4. Verification tests and judges the idea's worth or appropriateness. Convergent thinking helps select a solution that works.

Q6. Give two points each explaining Whorf's, Piaget's and Vyogotsky's views on the relationship between thought and language. For Piaget, consider a child who observes behaviour and later copies it without using language. [6 marks]

1. Whorf's linguistic relativity hypothesis holds that language determines the contents of thought, linking thinking with the linguistic categories people use.
2. Its strong version, linguistic determinism, holds that language determines what and how people can think. Evidence permits the same level or quality of thought across languages, depending on available categories and structures.
3. Piaget argued that thought precedes and determines language. Observing behaviour and later imitating it illustrates thinking that does not require language.
4. For Piaget, understanding words requires knowledge of underlying concepts. Language is one vehicle of thought and is unnecessary for thought's origin.
5. Vyogotsky proposed separate development of thought and language until about two years, when they merge and thought begins to be expressed verbally.
6. Thereafter they become interdependent. Soundless inner speech supports manipulation of thoughts, and conceptual thinking depends on the quality of inner speech and vice versa.

Q7. A child sees a bottle, hears an adult call it a bottle, copies the word and receives smiles and hugs for saying it correctly. Explain Skinner's learning account through association, imitation, reinforcement and shaping, then state how Chomsky's emphasis differs. [5 marks]

1. Association links an object or experience with a word, such as the sight of a bottle becoming connected with hearing the word “bottle”.
2. Imitation involves copying an adult's language use, such as the child reproducing the word used by the adult for the bottle.
3. Reinforcement encourages appropriate language responses. Smiles and hugs after a child says something correctly illustrate how adults can reinforce speech.
4. Shaping involves successive approximations towards the desired response, through which a child's speech gradually comes closer to adult speech.
5. Chomsky emphasised innate readiness and universal grammar. Children acquire grammar readily and create sentences they have not heard; learning principles alone do not explain this capacity.

Q8. A student must choose between Psychology and Economics. Relevant considerations are personal interest, future prospects, availability of books and efficiency of teachers. The student can talk to seniors and faculty and attend a few classes. Explain the role of judgement, the final decision and why another student might choose differently. [3 marks]

1. Judgement involves evaluating the subjects using the available evidence. Conversations and classes can inform assessments of the listed considerations.
2. Decision-making involves selecting one of the known alternatives after evaluating its costs and benefits in relation to the student's situation.
3. Another student may have different priorities, giving different importance to interest, prospects, books or teachers. Since priorities differ, decisions can differ even when the available subjects are the same.

Key takeaways

• Thinking manipulates and analyses information, is mostly organised and goal directed, and is inferred from observable behaviour.
• Mental images represent sensory experiences, while concepts organise objects, ideas and events into categories with shared properties.
• Problem solving connects an initial state with a goal through operations that include planning, execution, evaluation and reconsideration.
• Mental set can support familiar solutions or obstruct alternatives; functional fixedness restricts thinking to an object's usual function.
• Deduction moves from general assumptions towards particular conclusions; induction draws general conclusions from specific facts and observations.
• Creative thinking combines originality and appropriateness, using divergent thinking to generate ideas and convergent thinking to select them.
• Preparation, incubation, illumination and verification describe the creative process; brainstorming separates the production of ideas from their evaluation.
• Thought and language have several proposed relationships; language acquisition involves both inherited readiness and learning through experience.
• Language development follows a general pattern with individual differences, and effective language use also requires social appropriateness.

Test yourself

How does a mental image differ from a concept?

A mental image represents a sensory experience. A concept represents a category whose members share common properties.

What does using a hardbound book to hammer a nail illustrate?

It illustrates overcoming functional fixedness by using an object beyond its usual function.

What is the difference between fluency and flexibility?

Fluency concerns the number of ideas produced; flexibility concerns their variety or the different approaches they represent.

What do the white and blue thinking hats represent?

White concerns gathering facts and filling information gaps. Blue concerns thinking about the process rather than the ideas themselves.

Why does verification follow illumination?

Illumination brings the idea; verification tests its worth and appropriateness and helps select a solution that works.

What is the principle behind brainstorming?

Generate ideas freely and postpone evaluating their worth until the alternatives have been produced.

What characterises telegraphic speech, and when does the two-word stage begin?

It contains mostly nouns and verbs. Children enter the two-word stage at 18 to 20 months.

How do bilingualism and multilingualism differ?

Bilingualism means proficiency in communicating through two languages; multilingualism refers to learning more than two languages.