Types Of Thinking

Concrete thinking represents a level of thought that is most often focused upon gathering pieces of information and reciting it back to others. Maria’s ability to demonstrate skills such as a recall of facts about a story is an example of a child who is engaged in concrete thinking. Another example that applies to two or three year olds is the following. One of the favorite Dr. Seuss books is Green Eggs and Ham, which ends with the narrator changing his mind from rejecting green eggs and ham under any circumstances to trying them and actually liking them.

A child realizes that the plastic teapot may be recognized as a coffee pot and that tipping the pot allows a stream of imaginary coffee to be poured. For the first time, objects that are not present in their life are represented and “thought about.” This is typically considered to be the original step toward moving into abstract thinking. Typically creative play is a challenge for children with significant visual impairment. It does not seem to occur spontaneously for most children and must be actively taught. The young child moves from concrete thinking to abstract thinking as they begin to experience their world. As they acquire more concepts, they are able to mentally sort through these concepts and identify similarities and differences.

Conceptually, 'the current concept of the state is an abstraction from the much more concrete early-modern use as the standing or status of the prince, his visible estates'. At the same time, materially, the 'practice of statehood is now constitutively and materially more abstract than at the time when princes ruled as the embodiment of extended power'. Thinking in abstractions is considered by anthropologists, archaeologists, and sociologists to be one of the key traits in modern human behaviour, which is believed to have developed between 50,000 and 100,000 years ago.

The information on this page is not intended to be a substitution for diagnosis, treatment, or informed professional advice. You should not take any action or avoid taking any action without consulting with a qualified mental health professional. If you want to improve your thinking, why not speak to a counselor?

Abstract reasoning is usually assessed as part of intelligence testing. Abstract thinking skills are important in the study of subjects such as applied math, sciences, andsocial studies. Most people will find themselves using a combination of concrete and abstract thinking in their everyday life. For example, if you said that you wanted to extend an olive branch to someone after a disagreement, a concrete thinker would focus on the olive branch as part of an olive tree. A more abstract thinker would understand that the olive branch represents a peace offering.

Abstract reasoning requires thinking about ideas, principles, and objects in novel ways. Abstract reasoning is considered a type of higher-order thinking. This type of thinking is more complex than the type of thinking that is centered on memorizing and recalling information and facts.

Apart from any fair dealing for the purpose of private study or research, no part may be reproduced without the written permission. A National Science Foundation-funded team will use artificial intelligence to speed up discoveries in physics, astronomy, and neuroscience. MIT researchers reported in the June 21 issue of Nature that they have pinpointed how and where abstract thoughts are represented in the brain. One of the simplest ways to use abstract thinking to solve a problem is to reframe the question you’re trying to answer. You might already be thinking in an abstract way without even knowing it.

The containers thus served as something of a bill of lading or an accounts book. In order to avoid breaking open the containers for the count, marks were placed on the outside of the containers. These physical marks, in other words, acted as material abstractions of a materially abstract process of accounting, using conceptual abstractions to communicate its meaning. This lockdown period of cognitive development when abstract reasoning becomes more apparent typically begins around age 12. It is at this age that children become more skilled at thinking about things from the perspective of another person.