General characteristics of the concept of “visual-figurative thinking”

Thought processes proceed according to their own patterns, which can change depending on the prevailing type of thinking.

Thinking is a process of cognition of the surrounding world , which is reflected in the human psyche and is characterized by mediation, that is, the use of additional means of communication with the surrounding world (verbal, non-verbal contacts, elements of perception, and so on) and generalization, that is, the grouping of individual properties and phenomena according to characteristics that unite them.

What refers to individual characteristics of thinking? Find out about this from our article.

Why is it important to develop creative thinking?

The very concept of “image” means the imprinting of objects and phenomena of the real world in human consciousness, the formation of an imaginary appearance.
A preschooler, especially an older one, is already able to accumulate a sufficient number of such reflections. Moreover, sometimes they are not visual, but tactile or audio in nature.

The skill of imaginative thinking greatly simplifies a child’s interaction with the outside world. To solve a given problem, he just needs to imagine all its components and find the answer.

In the future, properly developed imaginative thinking will make it easier to master spatial thinking and imagine the world in three-dimensional display.

It is especially important to pay attention to the child at the stage of development of imaginative thinking for the following reasons:

• The ability to operate with images significantly speeds up the solution of first everyday, and later logical and mathematical problems;
• The ability to think in images forms the aesthetic component of the personality and the craving for beauty, which intensifies as one grows older;
• Operating with images contributes to the development of creative thinking.

Notes[ | ]

1. ↑ 1 2 Tikhomirov O.K.
   Psychology of thinking: Textbook. - M.: Publishing house Moscow. University, 1984.
2. Krylov A. A.
   Psychology: textbook (2nd edition). — Prospect, 2005.
3. Silverman L. Giftedness upside down: the visual-figurative student. - 2005. (inaccessible link from 05/26/2013 [2609 days] - history
   ,
   copy
   ) (English)

Games and exercises

Before the child is one year old, you can teach him how to manipulate ropes to get a toy. You need to tie a ribbon to an object that interests the baby, which is placed so that the baby can pull the string in order to pull him towards him. The child's interest is maintained by periodically replacing toys. When the baby can already deliberately throw out rattles to watch them fall, you need to tie objects to the wall of the crib so that the child can get the rattle by pulling the ribbon.

Experts advise teaching children how to assemble pyramids in direct and reverse order, and how to build large and small towers from cubes. You should perform exercises related to collecting cut pictures into a single panel. The child’s task is made easier by the depicted outline of the object, which should be filled in with separate fragments.

Psychologists recommend the use of practical games. For example, when feeding a baby, you need to give him the opportunity to spoon-feed those around him, including dolls. Let him have tea parties for the teddy bears and bunnies and then put them to bed. The ability to think visually and effectively develops well when riding dolls and soft animals in a toy stroller or in children's cars.

Experts advise caring for flowers together with your child so that he can see the restoration of the plant from a dried-out state. Together with the children, you need to make dumplings, fasten and unfasten buttons, tie shoelaces, connect and separate parts, glue, screw and unscrew lids. After teaching the baby these actions, he should be given the opportunity to reproduce them on his own.

To develop this type of thinking, adults are recommended to collect puzzles, solve puzzles with matches, sculpt, burn, knit, embroider, draw, watch various TV shows on home improvement with accompanying learning to create all kinds of crafts.

Development of visual and effective thinking in children

Everything that is perceived by the senses is real—little children live by this law. If something cannot be touched, felt, heard, seen, then it does not exist. Remember how little children play hide and seek? I covered my eyes with my palms, I don’t see anything myself, which means the others don’t see, which means I, baby, am hiding from everyone. Or another situation: in order to learn to count in their heads, children first add and subtract real sticks.

These and other examples of visually effective thinking are probably close to every adult. They seem simple and natural. Meanwhile, thinking needs to be developed at any stage, even the most basic, even in the smallest people.

Here are a few exercises that psychologists and pediatricians advise parents of toddlers and preschoolers to adopt:

• not only feed the child yourself, but also allow the child to spoon-feed you;
• Take care of the flower together, ideally let it recover from its dried-out state before the child’s eyes;
• Ideal for babies: pyramids that need to be assembled in direct and reverse order, cubes from which you can build large and small towers, rattles on ribbons that you can pull to yourself if they suddenly fall out of the crib.
• roll dolls in a toy stroller, plush toys in a children's car, have doll tea parties, put hares to bed;
• lay out and group toys by shape, size, color or other characteristics;
• study body parts on yourself, turn the clock hands together, make dumplings;
• actively use developmental rugs that require something to be fastened, tied, glued, connected and separated.

In general, the development of visual and effective thinking in children is the implementation of the trial and error method in practice. Moreover, the child is able to complete most of them himself, without the help of an adult. The presence of elders is only needed at the beginning of a task to show how it should be done. And then let the child cope on his own - this way the development of thinking will occur more actively.

Peculiarities

In psychology, this type of thinking is classified as a symbolic mental act, in which a problem is modeled and solved with the help of ideas. This involves mental work with handling objects and visual images. This type of thought process helps the subject to recreate the variety of different characteristics of a particular phenomenon or object, to establish their unusual combination.

Visual-figurative thinking is inextricably linked with real actions and objects. This differs from imagination, in which the image is recreated from memory. This type of thought process is subject to perception or representation.

Let's give an example. The child is shown two completely identical balls made from dough. He visually examines them and estimates their volume. Then a flat cake is made from one ball. The volume did not increase, but the shape changed. However, now the flatbread requires a lot of space on the table, which means, according to the baby, there is more dough in it than in the ball. In children, this type of mental activity is subordinate to perception, so it is difficult for them to abstract from what immediately catches their eye.

Older preschoolers and children of primary school age are also characterized by a visual-figurative thought process. When a teacher, when explaining new material, reinforces information by demonstrating an object or its image, he uses the visual-figurative thinking of schoolchildren.

Mastering manual skills is achieved using this type of thinking. In developed forms, such thinking is characteristic of people in creative professions. Writers, poets, designers, fashion designers, artists, sculptors, musicians, actors are able to vividly and vividly imagine certain objects, phenomena or events.

Combination

This exercise allows the child to create a new object based on a set of specific images. The source material can be digital and alphabetic symbols, mathematical symbols, and geometric figures. For example, a child is asked to draw a cat or a dog using digital signs. Often the child is given complete freedom of action and is watched in which direction he directs his imagination.

Finding and restoring the missing part also belongs to the combination group of exercises. The game “Chessboard” is also used. The essence of the game comes down to creating a field from various elements, and you need to alternate particles.

Transformational

To perform this type of exercise, they take a ready-made, complete image and invite the child to change it, to create something completely new. Usually matches or sticks are used, from which they form a certain shape. The kid must rearrange several matches to make a new object. Sometimes they suggest removing a few sticks to change the image.

An excellent task for speed is finishing the drawing. For example, all participants in the game are given pieces of paper with twenty letters “M” depicted. Each graphic sign must be turned into a new object, but in such a way that others can recognize all 20 created images. The originality and recognition of the objects depicted are then discussed.

Classification and examples

The classification of thinking reflects its development in a person as his nervous system and psyche develop.

There are several types of thinking:

Visually effective

This form develops in humans earlier than others and is typical for children in the first years of life.

The essence of this thinking comes down to specific actions through which the environment is cognized.

At the same time, the individual develops “yes-no” attitudes , that is, which actions carry something useful and important, why it is worth repeating them and telling them “yes”, and which ones, on the contrary, can cause harm, so they should be avoided .

In this way, the first experience based on actual knowledge is formed.

The development of this type of thinking is no coincidence in early childhood, when the child learns about the world through the senses and his own manipulations: crawling, touching, tasting and touching.

In this case, sensations arise from all senses, which creates the information base for this type of thinking.

However, it is also relevant in adulthood, but as an element of thinking: observing the actions of an object forms a visual image, and one’s own active experience also works.

We can say that this type is more primitive and simple, but is quite effective in certain situations : learning motor skills, mastering work that requires fine motor skills, imitative learning and behavior.

Example : recognition of moving objects by a child by a characteristic sound (mother’s voice), in adulthood avoiding contact with aggressive people or an angry dog ​​in order to avoid conflict (undesirable consequences have been established experimentally, by action, or such have been observed).

Visual-figurative

It is formed next , at the age of three years. With this type of thinking, there is no longer a need to touch an object and perform some action with it; instead, a person begins to imagine how he would do it and feel it.

That is, the individual forms images. And this is no coincidence. In early childhood, there is a rich accumulation of information obtained strictly experimentally by “examining” and “feeling” the surrounding world.

Upon reaching a certain amount of such knowledge, the child begins to think through and imagine both a phenomenon or object, and an entire situation. Closely related to this is the rapid development of imagination in childhood, which can also be represented as visual-figurative thinking.

At the same time, there is still no ability to abstract from the situation and add a conceptual perception of reality.

Visual-figurative thinking in adulthood is actively used by people in creative professions , as well as in everyday life, which includes direct observation of the world with the help of ideas and images in conditions of lack of information.

Example : presentation of the result of a simple mosaic when playing for children; for adults, planning the interior of an apartment in accordance with the images.

Subject-specific

It occupies the next step in the evolution of thinking and is actively formed at the age of 5-7 years.

It is also called concrete-actional because the implementation of this thinking is carried out in some professional working or training conditions, when a person models an action based on ideas and images.

In this way, skills are developed in childhood and the work and educational process in older age is structured.

This type is, as it were, a synthesis of the two previous ones: knowledge of the world occurs through action, and this is also the final result, but this is realized with the help of visual, concrete images.

Example : learning to ride a bicycle or swimming for a child, for adults, completing a plan, task at work or school.

Abstract-logical

It is the crown of development and is formed at an older age, when skills such as the ability to formulate concepts and abstractions develop.

In this case, a person does not need to see or imagine anything based on experience; he is able to synthesize information himself by comparing the available data.

Abstraction is a complex process of representing concepts and phenomena that cannot be seen in the surrounding natural world. Logic is an abstract example.

In this case, logical connections, identification and construction of patterns are actively used. This type of thinking is based on the developed mental abilities of the individual and his emotional maturity.

In adults, abstract logical thinking is a leading component of working professional life, but its formation begins in adolescence.

Example : solving mathematical and logical problems, scientific activities.

In an adult, all of these types of thinking can be used in certain situations when they are appropriate.

Operations of thinking

• Operations are unique units of measurement for thinking. At their expense, mental activity is carried out. They are present at any stage of development of intellectual abilities, but manifest themselves in different forms.
• Comparison is the search for differences and similarities between objects. Based on comparison, objects can be grouped based on similarity.
• Analysis is the division of an object into its components. At the simplest stage, it is accompanied by physical separation of the object (the child breaks toys).
• Synthesis is an operation opposite to analysis - recreating the appearance of a whole object from its parts.
• Abstraction is the selection of essential features of an object, ignoring non-essential ones.
• Concretization is an operation opposite to abstraction - identifying the specific characteristics of an object, perceiving its diversity.
• Induction is the derivation of conclusions from the particular to the general, the distribution of knowledge about a specific object to the entire group of similar objects.
• Deduction is an operation opposite to induction - drawing conclusions from the general to the particular, distributing knowledge about a group of objects to each object of this group.

Read more in the article Deductive Reasoning

• Classification is the division of objects according to their differences. Performed on a comparison basis.
• Generalization - identifying common features for different objects. This operation is performed on a comparison basis.

Visual-figurative thinking

Visual-figurative thinking

– a type of
thinking
that is carried out on the basis of transformations
of images
of perception into images-
representations
, further changes, transformations and
generalization
of the subject content of ideas that form a reflection of reality in an image-conceptual form. Psychological and genetic studies have shown that the transition from visual-effective to M. n.-o. is formed when trying to determine the essential connections and relationships of objects and present them in a holistic, organized form. This also requires the ability to form representations in the form of operator standards, unique means of operating with an image, and the ability to imagine hidden possible changes and transformations of the properties and connections of objects.

Representations can absorb a lot from accumulated experience in addition to what is perceived from real conditions and thereby create a “picture” of the world of objects and phenomena that is completely unique in scale and content for analysis

and
generalizations
.
Analytical actions with the content of ideas are not, as a rule, limited to highlighting situationally arising connections, but are aimed more at discovering deeper, hidden essential properties of the generalized and stable relationships that are not directly represented in a visual situation. In the general formation of the figurative-conceptual model of reflection, primary representations play a significant role. According to the method of formation and content, they act as single concepts
, or conceptual units, from which
the elements of
the model are formed.
Such concepts are formed even during visual-effective thinking as a result of the analysis and synthesis of relationships between features and their subsequent abstraction and translation into a subject-conceptual form. This happens g.o. in the process of storing, updating
and processing representations.

With M. n.-o. the transformation of visual conditions of mental actions consists primarily of translating their perceptual content into language

semantic features into the language
of meaning
.
The meanings of objects (parts, phenomena) at this level of reflection not only appear in the form of individual transformed units of subject content (primary representations), but are also used for the further process of generalization and establishment of functional connections (content of secondary representations). The structure of such connections acquires a modeling character. The figurative-conceptual model serves as the basis for the formation of models of problem situations and for the generation of structures of new knowledge
.
Identification of stable relationships and structures of relationships in the form of a law allows us to move to a higher level of generalized reflection by means of visual thinking
. (V. M. Gordon)

Development of imaginative thinking

How to develop imaginative thinking?

Here are some exercises that can help with this:

- Look at any selected item. Consider it for some time. With your eyes closed, visualize it in detail. Open your eyes, check how completely and accurately you presented everything and what you “overlooked.”

- Remember what the thing you put on (shoes) looks like yesterday. Describe it in detail, try not to miss a single detail.

- Imagine some animal (fish, bird, insect) and think about what benefit or harm it can bring. All work must be done mentally. You need to “see” the animal and clearly imagine everything that is associated with it. For example, a dog. See how she greets you, how happily she waves her tail, licks her hands, looks into her eyes, plays with her child, protects you in the yard from offenders... All events should happen as in a movie. Give free rein to your imagination. This exercise can be done in different ways: using unrelated associations or like a movie with a sequential plot with a logical continuation.

Development of visual and effective thinking in adults

Adults, just like children, need to develop all forms of thinking, especially those that have practical application. In adult life, there are many professions where visual and effective thinking is fundamental to work. It must be perfectly mastered by surgeons, mechanics, workers who create parts, tailors, artisans - everyone whose work involves manual labor. But even if your calling is exclusively mental work, the skills of practical perception of the world will not be superfluous.

Find out what visual memory is and how to retain visible images in your mind for a long time.

Note to parents: logic and thinking games for children of different ages.

Read on to learn how to tap into your intuition and use it to your advantage.

Adults are advised to develop them as follows:

• solve puzzles with matches - the same ones where you need to make triangles out of rhombuses, and some other geometric shapes out of squares, connecting and separating edges (see Analytical skills);
• collect puzzles, construction sets;
• train your brain to determine the length, volume, weight, and other parameters of any thing without special instruments (see How to train your brain);
• watch cooking channels or home improvement programs, where they teach you how to do all sorts of wonderful things - learn along with the presenters, repeating after them;
• Start a hobby that requires you to work with your hands - drawing, sculpting, burning, embroidering.

In the end, everything in a person should not only be beautiful, but also harmoniously developed, including each type of thinking.

Why is it important to develop out-of-the-box thinking?

The development of imaginative thinking is necessary primarily for those people whose professional activities are related to creativity. This does not mean that representatives of other spheres of work do not need to develop this type of thinking. The ability to creatively solve problems allows you to:

Quickly navigate an unfamiliar situation and successfully adapt to changing conditions;

The individual sees different options for solving the problem

• Be a leader in the work team;
• See several solution options at once, mentally compare them, choose the most optimal course of action;
• Develop new abilities, master new types of activities.

Imaginative thinking in children

In children, imaginative thinking is actively involved in work during games and creative activities. In children aged 1-3 years, the quality of imaginative thinking is significantly influenced by the organization of the spatial environment. The more diverse a child’s toys are, the more fairy tales adults read to him, the more developed his imaginative thinking will be.

During preschool childhood, the child’s imaginative thinking is in close relationship with the sense of touch and the kinesthetic channel for receiving information. This age period is extremely important for the formation of a realistic idea of ​​the world. Parents should not overload their child’s room with wallpaper depicting many fairy-tale characters, fill all the free space with toys, buy a bed in the shape of a car or a wardrobe with a picture of a popular cartoon character covering the entire door.

It is important to remember that during childhood a child’s aesthetic taste needs to be formed.

When interacting with real objects in the surrounding world, the child’s eye makes many micromovements. In addition to vision, other analytical systems take part in the formation of ideas about a particular object.

It is very important for children to touch a new object, hold it in their hands in order to feel its texture and weight. As a result of the combined work of the child’s senses, a multifaceted collective image of the object is formed

When watching TV, the child's gaze is focused on the screen, and the eye muscles make much less movements. In this case, only 2 analyzers are involved in the formation of the image: vision and hearing. Other channels for obtaining information do not work, which means they are not developing.

Sensory cognition

If parents allow their child to uncontrollably watch cartoons or spend time at the computer, then it will be difficult to develop his imaginative thinking - modern technology dulls the development of imagination and fantasy. The ability to generate your own ideas decreases.

Attention! The basis of a child’s development is sensory knowledge of the world, therefore an excellent example of the development of imaginative thinking in psychology is the involvement of a child in board, story-based and outdoor games. Children who spend a lot of time watching cartoons cannot take part in role-playing games on an equal basis with their peers.

In addition, they experience difficulties in other types of children's activities: they do not know how to draw on a free topic, in modeling they prefer to strictly follow instructions, and they are afraid to show initiative.

Imaginative thinking in adults

An adult’s imaginative thinking is manifested in his perception of the surrounding reality.

This process is inextricably linked with attention, memory and imagination

Developed imaginative thinking is a necessary condition for the successful work of designers, directors, choreographers, and photographers. For people whose professional work is associated with the creation of a new original product (model, performance, dance, artistic composition), the generation of many images by thinking is a source of inspiration. They know how to see the unusual in the ordinary, they are able to discern the genius inclinations of a child. They achieve professional excellence due to a high level of development of imaginative thinking.

People can be roughly divided into 3 types: kinesthetic, visual and auditory. For a kinesthetic learner, sensory images are extremely important in the process of perceiving reality. To understand the essence of the operation of a mechanism, he needs to touch it, press buttons. Auditory learning in everyday life often relies on sounds. A visual student orients himself in a situation based on visual images and clarity.

What is visual-effective thinking

Visual-effective thinking is a type of thinking that is formed before other types (visual-figurative or abstract-logical), and therefore is considered the first step on the path to becoming a rational, thinking person. Its distinctive features:

1. Knowledge of the world occurs not through abstract concepts, but through concrete things that can be seen, heard, touched (the water is wet, the iron is hot, the object is light because you can take it in your hand).
2. All the tasks that need to be solved are purely practical in nature (stand on a chair so that it is easier to climb onto the table, dress warmly so as not to freeze, fix the roof so that the house is dry).
3. A problematic situation is resolved through a person’s personal participation in it. To find out what a butterfly is, the child must see the butterfly himself. To understand what kind of thing will be heavy, you need to try to lift it yourself.
4. New skills are acquired through actions “following a model” (in humans) or through a reward system (animal training).

Did you know that each of us has our own way of perceiving information: characteristics of visual, auditory, and kinesthetic learners.

Learn how to learn to pay attention: the Attention Assessment Test.

This type of brain activity was characteristic of primitive man (see Human Limbic System), and it is also inherent in animals in its infancy. True, the thinking of animals (if such a phrase is correct) is limited to only this initial step, and primitive people in this sense were not far from their wild brothers in the world around them.

As for a modern person, visual and effective thinking is formed in him by about two or three years. Later, other types of thinking come to his aid, which are based not so much on specific objects, concepts, phenomena, personal experience, but on abstract ideas about them and the experience of others.

But this does not mean that the initial thinking skills go away. And in adult life, visual and effective thinking can be very useful. The main thing is not to forget about this skill, and if necessary, be ready to develop it.

Development of visual-figurative thinking in preschool age

The development of thinking in preschoolers is closely related to the development of their visual system.

It has been proven that children with vision problems coped more slowly with the tasks of representing and using images.

Whereas children with good vision coped better and faster. This has a completely logical explanation: clearly distinguishing objects provides more detail and, accordingly, more information.

Also, parents and their participation in the child’s life play a big role in the development of visual-figurative thinking. Walking together, getting new visual impressions, and educational games make a huge contribution to the development of this type of thinking.

By the age of 3-4, the child is already actively imagining previously seen objects, and at an older age he is capable of fantasizing and imagining.

This stage actively develops during the socialization of the individual in preschool groups, where educational elements are also included and there is active communication and exchange of experience with peers.

Diagnostics

To assess the degree of development of visual-figurative thinking, there are several simple methods:

1. The method of absurd images: the child is asked to use a picture to reproduce the absurdity of the situation in which the hero in the picture finds himself.
   These pictures depict various animals performing actions that are unusual for them (a mouse running away from a cat, for example). The child must answer the questions why he decided that the picture does not correspond to real life and how it should be in nature, that is, imagine another version of the development of events and establish structural and logical connections. If he copes with seven or more tasks, then thinking is assessed as highly developed.
2. Contouring: the task is given to complete the image. The pictures chosen are simple and familiar to the child: toys, geometric shapes, animals. At the same time, the speed and accuracy of the reaction is assessed. If he can do it in one and a half minutes, this indicates a developed visual-figurative perception of the surrounding world.

“Assemble a picture” - the child is asked to choose the completion of the image from the proposed options. Here, simple and familiar fragments are also selected; to successfully restore the whole picture, you need to use your imagination and memory, as well as apply the elimination method. This test is considered successful if the child correctly selects the fragments within a few minutes.

“Extra” - this technique is based on finding what is common and different and choosing an extra image. Pictures that are similar for certain groups of characteristics may be given, in which you need to choose an option that is not suitable for the entire group.

Meaning

Visual-figurative thinking is a platform for the development of more complex mental operations.

At the stage of preschool preparation, this type of thinking will be the main one when solving various preparatory tasks.

At the same time, the child develops:

• imagination;
• spatial perception;
• logic and construction of structural connections;
• various methods of assessing the situation (exclusion, selection, etc.);
• the ability to imagine without the presence of an object in the field of view.

This type acquires special significance in creative implementation, which also helps to develop it.

Therefore, if a child exhibits such inclinations, the development of visual-figurative thinking proceeds much faster, but it is also worth supporting this process.

Visual-figurative thinking begins to form in childhood and is a necessary stage in a child’s development. It is based on the representation of images of the surrounding world and forms more complex types of thinking.

Also, this version of thought processes continues to be used in adults, fulfilling the important role of the psyche’s “idea” about the world, which is why it is necessary to devote time to the development of thinking in childhood.

Testing a child’s visual-figurative thinking:

Our interesting VKontakte group:

Visual-figurative thinking

What is imaginative thinking?

Imaginative thinking is a person’s cognitive activity, which is based on images. If a person has previously encountered one image or another, then when studying it, the necessary material is retrieved from memory. If the sensations received from the senses are new and unfamiliar, then a person uses the imagination to form an image in the process of cognition.

Over time, the images stored in memory fade. If a person has not addressed a particular image for a long time, he finds it difficult to determine its exact characteristics. For example, when telling her grandchildren about her first teacher, the grandmother describes the main qualities that are significant for her profession in teaching: demanding, smart, strict. At the same time, if her grandchildren ask what color her eyes were, she may think about it, and then give a short answer: “Brown.” It seems to my grandmother that people with brown eyes are more strict than those with any other eye color. Therefore, she is sure that this was exactly the color of her first teacher’s eyes. Although the image of the teacher stored in her memory may differ in some characteristics from the real appearance of the woman.

Attention! As a result of the work of figurative thinking, a person formulates a subjective conclusion about objects or phenomena of reality. This is explained by the individual characteristics of the sensory organs, the different susceptibility of people

Chapter II. FORMATION OF VISUAL-FIGURATORY THINKING

Section 1. Formation of a holistic perception of the situations depicted in the pictures

Section 2. Formation of generalized ideas about the properties and qualities of objects, mastery of the actions of substitution and modeling

Section 3. Formation of the relationship between the elephant and the image

Chapter III. FORMATION OF ELEMENTS OF LOGICAL THINKING

Section 1. Tasks to develop classification skills

Section 2. Tasks to develop the skills to perform systematization

Section 3. Tasks for the formation of quantitative ideas

Section 4. Tasks to develop the ability to establish cause-and-effect relationships and dependencies

Section 5. Tasks to develop an understanding of hidden meaning, understanding of humor, development of adequate reactions to humor

Applications

Conclusion

Recommended reading

Preface

The basis of correctional pedagogical work with children with developmental disabilities is based on the fundamental position of Russian psychology about the genetic connection of different forms of thinking. In preschool age, three main forms closely interact: visual-effective, visual-figurative and verbal-logical thinking. These forms of thinking form that unified process of cognition of the real world, in which one or another form of thinking can predominate, and in connection with this, the cognitive process of the real world acquires a specific character. At the same time, we must remember that thinking develops in meaningful, purposeful objective actions.

By performing actions with real objects, moving them in space, changing their functional dependencies, the child gets the opportunity to overcome the static nature of perception. He realizes the dynamism of the environment, and most importantly, he learns the opportunity to influence the dynamics of an object according to his own plan or in accordance with the tasks that an adult sets for him. This situation of the child’s direct influence on surrounding objects creates favorable conditions for the relationship between visual and verbal-logical forms of thinking.

The most important stage in the development of thinking is associated with the child’s mastery of speech. In the process of acting with objects, the child has an incentive to make his own statements: recording the action performed, reasoning, and conclusions. Verbal generalization of one’s own actions leads to the emergence and improvement of full-fledged images and the manipulation of them in the mental plane. It is on this basis that images and representations are formed, which become more flexible and dynamic.

The use of the developed system of classes for the development of the mental activity of children with developmental disabilities allows them to form a relationship between the main components of cognition: action, word and image. A long-term study has shown the great role of targeted activities in the formation of thinking, their enormous contribution to the mental education of a child with developmental disabilities. Systematic correctional work arouses children's interest in their surroundings, leads to independence in their thinking, and children stop waiting for solutions to all issues from an adult.

Purposeful classes on the formation of thinking significantly change the child’s ways of orienting himself in the world around him, teach him to highlight significant connections and relationships between objects, which leads to an increase in his intellectual capabilities. Children begin to focus not only on the goal, but also on the ways to achieve it. And this changes their attitude to the task, leads to an assessment of their own actions and the distinction between right and wrong. Children develop a more generalized perception of the surrounding reality, they begin to comprehend their own actions, predict the course of the simplest phenomena, and understand the simplest temporal and causal dependencies.

Education aimed at developing thinking also has a great impact on the child’s speech development: it promotes memorization of words and the formation of the basic functions of speech (fixing, cognitive, planning). What is important is what is produced in

In the process of classes, the desire to record identified and conscious patterns in a word leads to an active search by children for ways of verbal expression, to the use of all their available speech capabilities.

The first chapter contains didactic games and exercises that develop visual and effective thinking. The second chapter is devoted to work on the formation of visual-figurative thinking. The third chapter provides lessons on the development of elements of logical thinking. Visual material is provided for each chapter.

The educational and methodological manual is addressed to teachers-defectologists, psychologists, college and university teachers, students of seminars and advanced training courses, students of pedagogical universities, parents raising preschool children with developmental disabilities.

Chapter I FORMATION OF VISUAL-ACTIVE THINKING

Thinking develops in two ways: first - from perception to visual-effective thinking, and then to visual-figurative and logical; the second - from perception to visual-figurative and logical thinking. Both paths of development exist simultaneously and, although at a certain stage they merge together, they have their own specificity and play their own special role in human cognitive activity.

It is important to remember that the achievements of each period of development do not disappear, are not replaced by later stages of thinking development, but play their role throughout the subsequent life of a person. Therefore, the immaturity of thinking processes, going both from perception to visual-effective thinking and from perception to visual-figurative thinking, may turn out to be irreparable at a later age.

Development of thinking in early and preschool age. The first thought processes arise in a child as a result of knowledge of the properties and relationships of objects around him in the process of their perception and in the course of experience of his own actions with objects, as a result of acquaintance with a number of phenomena occurring in the surrounding reality. Consequently, the development of perception and thinking are closely related, and the first glimpses of children's thinking are of a practical (effective) nature, i.e. they are inseparable from the child’s objective activity. This form of thinking is called “visual-effective” and is the earliest.

Visual and effective thinking arises where a person encounters new conditions and a new way of solving a problematic practical problem. The child encounters problems of this type throughout childhood—in everyday and play situations.

An important feature of visual-effective thinking is that practical action, which is carried out by trial, serves as a means of transforming a situation. When identifying the hidden properties and connections of an object, children use the trial and error method, which in certain life circumstances is necessary and the only one. This method is based on discarding incorrect options for action and fixing correct, effective ones and, thus, plays the role of a mental operation.

When solving problematic practical problems, the properties and relationships of objects or phenomena are identified, “discovered,” and hidden, internal properties of objects are discovered. The ability to obtain new information in the process of practical transformations is directly related to the development of visual and effective thinking.

How does a child’s thinking develop? The first manifestations of visual-effective thinking can be observed at the end of the first - beginning of the second year of life. As the child masters walking, his encounters with new objects expand significantly. Moving around the room, touching objects, moving them and manipulating them, the child constantly encounters obstacles, difficulties, looks for a way out, making extensive use of trials, attempts, etc. in these cases. In actions with objects, the child moves away from simple manipulation and moves on to object-play actions that correspond to the properties of the objects with which they are acting: for example, he does not knock a stroller, but rolls it; puts the doll on the crib; puts the cup on the table; stirs in a saucepan with a spoon, etc. By performing various actions with objects (feeling, stroking, throwing, examining, etc.), he practically learns both the external and hidden properties of objects, discovers some connections that exist between objects. So, when one object hits another, noise arises, one object can be inserted into another, two objects, having collided, can move away in different directions, etc. As a result, the object becomes, as it were, a conductor of the child’s influence on another object, i.e. Effective actions can be performed not only by directly influencing an object with the hand, but also with the help of another object - indirectly. As a result of the accumulation of some experience in its use, an object is assigned the role of a means by which the desired result can be obtained. A qualitatively new form of activity is being formed - instrumental, when the child uses auxiliary means to achieve a goal.

Children become familiar with auxiliary objects primarily in everyday life. Children are fed, and then they themselves eat with a spoon, drink from a cup, etc., and begin to use auxiliary aids when they need to get something, secure it, move it, etc. The child’s experience gained in solving practical problems is consolidated in methods of action. Gradually, the child generalizes his experience and begins to use it in various conditions. For example, if a child has learned to use a stick to bring a toy closer to him, then he gets out the toy that has rolled under the closet with the help of another one that is suitable in shape and length: a toy-shovel, a net, a stick, etc. Generalization of the experience of activity with objects prepares the generalization of experience in words, i.e. prepares the child for the formation of visual and effective thinking.

The development of objective activity and its “verbalization” in a child occurs with the active participation of the people around him. Adults set certain tasks for the child, show ways to solve them, and name actions. The inclusion of a word denoting the action being performed qualitatively changes the thought process of a child, even if he does not yet speak spoken language. The action designated by the word acquires the character of a generalized method of solving a group of homogeneous practical problems and is easily transferred to other similar situations. By being involved in the child’s practical activities, speech, even if only audible at first, as if from the inside, rebuilds the process of his thinking. Changing the content of thinking requires its more advanced forms, and already in the process of visual-effective thinking, the prerequisites for visual-figurative thinking are formed.

In early preschool age, profound changes occur both in the content and in the forms of visual and effective thinking. Changing the content of children's visual-effective thinking leads to a change in its structure. Using his generalized experience, the child can mentally prepare and foresee the nature of subsequent events.

Visual-effective thinking contains all the main components of mental activity: defining a goal, analyzing conditions, choosing means to achieve it. When solving a practical problem problem, indicative actions are manifested not only on the external properties and qualities of objects, but also on the internal relationships of objects in a certain situation. At preschool age, a child can already freely navigate the practical tasks that arise before him and can independently find a way out of a problematic situation. A problematic situation understood as a situation in which you cannot act in the usual ways, but you need to transform your past experience and find new ways to use it.

Following visual-effective thinking, visual-figurative thinking arises, which becomes the main type of thinking of a child in early preschool age. He solves “in his head” only those problems that he previously solved practically.

The simplest visual-figurative thinking (internal plan of action) is considered as the ability to operate with specific images of objects when solving certain problems. For example, a child can imagine how the boy shown in the picture, whose car has rolled under the closet, should act. The ability to operate with images “in the mind” is not a direct result of the child’s acquisition of knowledge and skills. It arises and develops in the process of interaction of certain lines of mental development: the development of objective actions, substitution actions, speech, imitation, play activities, etc. In turn, images can differ in the degree of generalization, in the methods of formation and functioning. Mental activity itself acts as the operation of images.

Subsequently, children begin to operate “in their minds” with complex ideas about objects, their properties, connections and relationships. So, they can imagine in advance a whole that can be made up of existing parts (in the imagination, these parts are combined into a whole): what kind of structure can be built from a given construction set, what image can be put together from a cut picture, the parts of which are pasted on different cubes; they can imagine the movement of objects or their parts in space, etc. By older preschool age, visual-figurative thinking becomes more and more generalized. Children understand complex schematic images, imagine a real situation based on them, and even create such images on their own.

The development of visual-figurative thinking is closely related to speech, which captures (fixes) images - ideas.

On the basis of figurative thinking in preschool age, verbal-logical thinking begins to form, which makes it possible to solve a wider range of problems and master scientific knowledge.

But the development of verbal-logical thinking depends on the level of development of visual forms of thinking, otherwise it is formed slowly and with great difficulty, and as a result it turns out to be inferior. It is necessary to remember that visual forms of thinking in preschool age are basic.

There is a deep two-way connection between visual-effective, visual-figurative and verbal-logical thinking. On the one hand, experience with objects when solving practical problems prepares the necessary ground for the emergence of verbal-logical thinking. On the other hand, the development of verbal-logical thinking changes the nature of objective actions and creates the possibility of moving from solving elementary to solving complex practical problems.

The transition from visual-effective to visual-figurative and verbal-logical thinking depends on the degree of formation of higher types of orientation-research activity. This transition occurs when the nature of the orientation-research activity changes, on the basis of a higher type of orientation in the conditions of the task and the activation of speech tasks in the verbal plane.

Thus, in preschool age three main forms of thinking closely interact: visual-effective, visual-figurative and verbal-logical. These forms of thinking form that unified process of cognition of the real world, in which, under different conditions, one or another form of thinking may predominate, and, in connection with this, the cognitive process as a whole acquires a specific character. At the same time, speech is included early in cognitive activity, acting as a carrier of the method of action in it. This mode of action is reinforced and transmitted through speech. At different stages of thinking development, the functions of speech change significantly.

Features of the development of thinking in children with developmental disabilities. In such children, visual-effective thinking is characterized by a lag in the pace of development. Children do not independently generalize their experience of everyday actions with objects-tools that have a fixed purpose. Therefore, they do not have the stage of comprehending a situation that requires the use of a fixed (generally accepted) weapon. In cases where children, with the help of an adult, use auxiliary means, they do not sufficiently generalize their own experience of actions and cannot use it when solving new problems, i.e. they lack transfer of mode of action.

Children with developmental disabilities, unlike their normally developing peers, do not know how to navigate the conditions of a problematic practical task; they do not analyze these conditions. Therefore, when trying to achieve a goal, they do not discard erroneous options, but repeat the same unproductive actions. In fact, they do not have genuine samples.

In addition, problem children are distinguished by the inclusion of speech in the process of solving mental problems. Normally developing children have a constant need to help themselves comprehend the situation by analyzing their actions in external speech. This gives them the opportunity to become aware of their actions, in which speech begins to perform organizing and regulatory functions, i.e. allows the child to plan his actions.

In children with developmental disabilities, such a need almost never arises. Therefore, their attention is drawn to the insufficient connection between practical actions and their verbal designation; there is a clear gap between action and word. Consequently, their actions are not sufficiently conscious, the experience of action is not recorded in words and therefore not generalized, and images and ideas are formed slowly and fragmentarily.

Until the end of preschool age, problem children actually do not have the ability to solve visual-figurative problems. When trying to solve such problems, they reveal a lack of connection between word and image. In children with developmental disabilities, there is a weak relationship between the main components of mental activity: action, word and image.

In addition, their formation of elements of logical thinking also suffers; it develops slowly, and their relationship between visual and verbal-logical thinking is different than normal.

The timely formation of visual forms of thinking qualitatively changes the development of cognitive activity of problem children and constitutes an essential link in preparing them for school education and socialization.

Ways to form visual and effective thinking in children with developmental disabilities. When choosing ways and methods for forming the thinking of problem preschoolers, we proceeded from the fact that the child’s thinking is formed in the process of various types of activities (subject, play), communication, in unity with the process of mastering speech.

The basis for the formation of visual and effective thinking of preschoolers is the development of independent orientation and research activities in solving problematic and practical problems, as well as the formation of the basic functions of speech. In turn, this allows us to strengthen the weak relationship between the main components of cognition: action, word and image.

In the process of acting with objects, the preschooler acquires a motive for his own statements: reasoning, conclusions. On this basis, images-representations are formed that become more flexible and dynamic. When performing actions with objects and changing the real situation, the child creates a fundamental basis for the formation of images and representations. Thus, the visual-practical situation is a unique stage in establishing a strong connection between action and word in a preschooler. Based on this connection, full-fledged images and representations can be built.

A system of games and exercises has been developed aimed at developing the orientation and research activities of children with developmental disabilities.

The exercise games are grouped into four sections.

The first section recommends preparatory games-exercises, during which children form generalized ideas about auxiliary means and fixed-purpose tools that a person uses in everyday life.

The second section includes exercise games, during which children are introduced to problematic practical situations, taught to analyze these situations and use substitute objects.

The third section consists of games-exercises, during which preschoolers develop methods of orientation in the conditions of a problematic practical task, as well as the trial method as the main way to solve visual and effective problems.

The fourth section contains games-exercises to determine the reason that disrupted the usual course of an action or phenomenon.

The system of exercise games is presented taking into account the following principles: game motivation of actions; availability of tasks; gradual complication of practical problems; repeatability, the ability for each child to independently search for a solution to a problem; children’s observation of the actions of their peers in order to reinforce their own experience with observational experience, which provides material for generalization; inclusion of speech in the process of solving problematic and practical problems.

At each of these stages, the role of the teacher changes. At the initial stage, when children are developing purposeful actions, the teacher makes extensive use of joint actions with the child and the ability to imitate. At the same time, the adult summarizes all actions in his speech statements. Then the child’s independent search methods of orientation and practical actions in a problem-practical situation are activated, which the child records in active speech. Subsequently, he develops the ability to plan his practical actions when solving problematic and practical problems.

How visually effective thinking develops in preschoolers

Supporting the development of visually effective and imaginative thinking in preschoolers is simple: the key goal of parents is not to interfere with the dismantling or “modernization” of objects. The only limitation is security measures. Materials should be as harmless as possible for younger preschoolers.

For example, if a preschooler made his first attempts to draw with a pencil, then when he sees colored crayons he will not imagine their purpose without preliminary tests.

It is especially effective to form the memory of images with the help of flowing and bulk materials. The child pours sand from hand to hand, makes slides from cereals, and pours water. Constant touching allows him to first determine and then remember that if the sand is properly crushed, it will turn out to be a Easter cake.

To summarize what has been said, the basic principle of the development of this form of thought process is expressed in repeated actions leading to the same result: a picture, an assembled toy, a sculpted figurine.

This is how the first ideas about specific objects and life experience arise, which lay the foundation for the development of mental forms.

Disturbances of certain types of thinking. Visual-effective thinking

Violations of visual-effective thinking. Manual thinking is manifested by elementary actions with objects: touching, grasping, pushing away, licking, biting, destroying, etc. The appearance of such actions at a later age means that in clinical terms we can talk about a return of thinking to the earliest level of its functioning.

Regression of thinking is observed in dementia and psychotic disorders, among the latter - especially pronounced in patients with symptoms of catatonic agitation. In the latter case, we are talking about unmotivated, senseless and inadequate actions of patients that they automatically perform with objects that appear in their field of vision. It is possible to distinguish several types of such actions.

Oral actions are involuntary actions when patients put objects into their mouths, bite, chew, lick, suck, try to swallow, or swallow them.

Self-destructive actions are involuntary auto-aggressive actions when patients pull out their hair, eyelashes, bite their lips, skin, comb, scratch the skin, damage their eyes, ears, and genitals. Many authors classify such actions as obsessive, as well as tics. Other patients just as involuntarily commit actions that are dangerous to themselves as soon as they find themselves in an environment favorable for this. They suddenly throw themselves under moving traffic, jump from a bridge, from a cliff, from a mountain, from windows, from a train. Actions of the latter kind are usually classified as impulsive.

Prosectic actions (from the Greek a - particle of negation, prosexis - attention) - involuntary actions in the form of manifestations of childish curiosity: touching objects, stroking them, feeling, patting, rubbing, tapping, etc., that is, actions that characterize tactile thinking.

Grasping actions are involuntary actions when patients grab objects, squeeze them tightly in their hands and do not allow them to be taken away from them, or pull objects out of the hands of others. They can also rip off glasses, hairpins, brooches, hats, cufflinks, etc. from those around them and try to hide them on their own. So, the patient rips the cap off the student’s head and hides it under her skirt.

Repulsion actions are involuntary actions when patients throw some objects aside, tear off and throw away clothes, spit out food, spit, throw things out of windows onto the street, as if they posed a danger to them.

Destructive actions are involuntary and often sudden actions, when patients break glass, mirrors, tear books, newspapers, paintings, linen, clothes, break furniture, etc. So, the patient suddenly jumps out of bed and begins to break window panes, throws them to the floor mirror and tramples it underfoot, tears wallpaper off the walls and tears it into small pieces. Then he just as suddenly calms down, returns to his usual place and again falls into a state of stupor.

Imitative actions are meaningless repetition of the elementary actions of others. Thus, patients copy the gait and postures of others - echopraxia, their expressive acts - echomimia, imitate the sounds of speech - echolalia. The triad of these symptoms is referred to as Wernicke's echo syndrome.

Carphology (from the Greek karphologia - collecting scraps) - grasping movements, through which patients seem to catch something in the air or collect it from a surface. Prognostically important preagonal symptom.

Another sign of the pathology of visual-effective thinking is, we believe, motor underdevelopment - motor retardation (Dupre, 1910). The disorder is manifested by clumsy, clumsy, insufficiently coordinated movements, devoid of plasticity, grace, and ease. It often accompanies mental retardation and is also observed in patients with early childhood autism and schizoid psychopaths. Often motor underdevelopment is combined with impoverishment of expressive acts.

Motor impairment should not be identified with neurological pathology or with Payne's syndrome of minor chronic brain damage. The latter disorder is characterized by the following symptoms:

• paratonia - difficulty in voluntary muscle relaxation;
• synkinesia - excessive accompanying movements;
• coordination problems.

It is assumed that the basis of the disorder is congenital or acquired pathology of the pyramidal tracts, accompanied by insufficiency of voluntary inhibition of motor functions (Bleicher, Kruk, 1995).

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Visual-effective thinking

This is the most ancient type of mental activity, which arose among the primitive ancestors of man and is the first to form in a small child. And, according to scientists, it is precisely this type of mental activity that higher animals have.

Thinking is called indirect mental activity because, unlike direct sensory perception, it uses “intermediaries” - images or words. But visual-effective thinking is distinguished by the fact that material objects act as such “intermediaries” in it. This type of thinking arises only in the process of objective activity, when a person manipulates objects.

Children's manual thinking

I think everyone has seen how a small child of 2-3 years old plays: he makes a tower of cubes, assembles a pyramid, folding the wheels to fit, or even unscrews the wheels of a new car. This is not just a game. This is how the baby thinks and develops mentally. While only visual-effective thinking is available to him, his mental operations take on the form of objective, manipulative activity:

• Comparison - choosing a suitable size circle or cube.
• Synthesis is the composition of individual cube elements into a single whole - a tower.
• Well, and analysis, when a child disassembles a whole thing (a car or a doll) into individual components.

Scientists call visual-effective thinking pre-thinking, emphasizing that there is more direct-sensory thinking in it than indirect thinking. But this is a very important stage in the development of mental activity, including the mental development of the child.

Visual-effective thinking in adults

This type of thinking cannot be considered primitive or inferior. In adults, it is also present and actively participates in objective activities. For example, we use it when making soup, digging beds in the garden, knitting socks or fixing the faucet in the bathroom. And for some, this type of thinking even at times prevails over the abstract-logical and figurative. Such people are called masters “from God”; they say that they have “golden hands”.

By the way, it’s the hands, not the head. Because such people can repair a complex mechanism without completely understanding the principle of its operation. To do this, they just need to disassemble it and then reassemble it. By disassembling, they will understand what caused the breakdown, and by reassembling, they will fix it, and even improve the unit.

Stages of development of a child's thinking

Modern psychologists identify three main stages in the development of a child’s thinking:

• visually effective;
• visual-figurative;
• conceptual (logical) thinking.

Visual and effective thinking is characteristic mainly of children of primary preschool age. However, already in the fourth year, visual-figurative thinking begins to form , and then logical thinking develops.

At the beginning of the preschool period, babies need physical contact with objects. Over time, the need to touch everything with your hands disappears, and children focus on imagining the image in their mind. The visual-figurative way of thinking becomes active and basic by the age of 5-6 years.

But, unfortunately, not all children develop visual-figurative thinking properly. If you see that it is quite difficult for your child to imagine something in his mind, then do not delay, start actively developing this type of thinking. Otherwise, the child will experience difficulties in school. In particular, it will be difficult for him to solve problems, as well as any tasks of a creative nature.

Why is it important?

This type of thinking clearly manifests itself in preschool age. At this stage, various visual, tactile, and sound reflections accumulate, with the help of which it is easier for the baby to interact with the outside world. During the thought process carried out with the help of images, imagination, spatial perception, logical construction of structural chains, and assessment of the situation are actively used. The child develops the ability to imagine an object without it being in the field of view.

Psychologists recommend paying great attention to the development of visual-figurative thinking, because this process helps the child master three-dimensional display and spatial thinking

Concept as a form of knowledge

Starting with visual-figurative thinking, the formation of such a form of cognition as a concept .

The concept means the unification of any properties that characterize something whole, a phenomenon or an object.

This object or phenomenon is determined by individual features and their relationships, that is, they are the defining characteristics. Conceptuality deciphers meaning and helps in identification.

To form such a perception tool, it is necessary to accumulate visual and practical data about the world, which allows them to be synthesized into something collective and new.

The concept is actively used in abstract-logical and objective-effective thinking.

How people use imaginative thinking

Imaginative thinking helps a person. With it he can:

• Navigate in extreme and unforeseen situations. By presenting a problem in the form of a visual image, a person sees a solution.
• Protect yourself from stress through relaxation. To cope with a bad mood, you can use the simplest way: close your eyes, relax, recall pleasant events, and dream.

Relaxation

• Life in society cannot proceed without communicating with unpleasant people. In order not to fall into depression after unfounded accusations, not to get upset because of overly picky bosses, there is such a way: after communicating with an unpleasant person, you need to imagine him in an absurd pose or in the image of some kind of animal. The art of mental transformation of a formidable offender turns him into a funny character, so negative emotions are replaced by a condescending smile.
• Visualized dreams tend to come true. If an individual has a clear idea of ​​the desired object, he will try hard to get it. A visualized goal gives rise to a specific plan to achieve it.

Important! Imaginative thinking fills a person’s life with meaning and bright colors. It becomes the engine of self-realization and self-development

Meaning in adulthood

It would be wrong to assume that the visual-effective type of thinking, subsequently transformed into figurative and verbal-logical, loses its relevance for a mature person. In fact, we regularly use this form of brain activity, but we do not notice it. Examples of the use of an effective type of human brain activity in everyday life have a wide range: this is the need to understand the principles of operation of new technology, rearrange furniture, as well as all those actions in which we are not able to predict the result. Also, visual-effective thinking is especially characteristic of people whose activities have several forms: repair work, mechanical engineering activities and other types of work related to activities of a practical nature.

In conclusion

In psychology, the thinking process is a type of mental activity that results in the formation of new knowledge or a product through creativity and practical changes in the surrounding world.

In psychology, there are three stages in the formation of mental activity, through which the main age-related tasks are solved, such as: performing practical actions, creating in the imagination a plan to achieve a result and the formation of a conceptual apparatus - these are effective, figurative and conceptual types of thinking.

In the initial period of education (primary and middle school age), the degree of formation of the imaginative thought process is of great importance - after all, it is he who is responsible for creating in the head ways to solve problems and a plan of action. However, this type of thinking is not formed independently - its basis is active objective activity, which is realized in designing, drawing, assembling and disassembling various objects, etc. in infancy and early preschool age. In this regard, the task of parents is to conduct various games with their children aimed at developing visual, effective and subsequently figurative.

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General characteristics of the concept of “visual-figurative thinking”

Objects and phenomena of reality have such properties and relationships that can be known directly, with the help of sensations and perceptions (colors, sounds, shapes, placement and movement of bodies in visible space), and such properties and relationships that can be known only indirectly and through generalization , i.e. through thinking.

Thinking is an indirect and generalized reflection of reality, a type of mental activity that consists in knowing the essence of things and phenomena, natural connections and relationships between them.

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.

The first feature of thinking is its indirect nature. What a person cannot know directly, he knows indirectly, indirectly: some properties through others, the unknown through the known.

Thinking is always based on the data of sensory experience - sensations, perceptions, ideas, and previously acquired theoretical knowledge. indirect knowledge is mediated knowledge.

The second feature of thinking is its generality. Generalization as knowledge of the general and essential in the objects of reality is possible because all the properties of these objects are connected with each other. The general exists and manifests itself only in the individual, the concrete.

People express generalizations through speech and language. A verbal designation refers not only to a single object, but also to a whole group of similar objects. Generalization is also inherent in images (ideas and even perceptions). But there it is always limited by clarity. The word allows one to generalize limitlessly.

Individual thinking styles can be identified.

The synthetic style of thinking manifests itself in creating something new, original, combining dissimilar, often opposing ideas, views, and carrying out thought experiments. The motto of the synthesizer is “What if...”.

The idealistic style of thinking is manifested in a tendency to intuitive, global assessments without carrying out a detailed analysis of problems. The peculiarity of idealists is an increased interest in goals, needs, human values, moral problems; they take into account subjective and social factors in their decisions, strive to smooth out contradictions and emphasize similarities in different positions. “Where are we going and why?” - a classic idealist question.

The pragmatic style of thinking is based on direct personal experience, on the use of those materials and information that are easily available, trying to obtain a specific result (albeit limited), a practical gain, as quickly as possible. The motto of pragmatists is: “Anything will work”, “Anything that works” will do.

The analytical style of thinking is focused on a systematic and comprehensive consideration of an issue or problem in those aspects that are determined by objective criteria, and is prone to a logical, methodical, thorough (with an emphasis on detail) manner of solving problems.

The realistic style of thinking is focused only on the recognition of facts and “real” is only what can be directly felt, personally seen or heard, touched, etc. Realistic thinking is characterized by specificity and an attitude towards correction, correction of situations in order to achieve a certain result.

An individual style of thinking influences the way of solving a problem, the line of behavior, and the personal characteristics of a person.

Our knowledge of the surrounding reality begins with sensations and perception and moves on to thinking. Comparison, comparing things, phenomena, their properties, reveals identity and differences. Revealing the identity of some and the differences of other things, comparison leads to their classification. Comparison is often the primary form of knowledge: things are first known through comparison. At the same time, this is an elementary form of knowledge. Identity and difference, the main categories of rational knowledge, appear first as external relations. Deeper knowledge requires the disclosure of internal connections, patterns and essential properties. This is carried out by other aspects of the thought process or types of mental operations - primarily analysis and synthesis.

Analysis is the mental dissection of an object, phenomenon, situation and the identification of its constituent elements, parts, moments, sides; By analysis we isolate phenomena from those random, insignificant connections in which they are often given to us in perception.

Synthesis restores the whole dissected by analysis, revealing more or less significant connections and relationships between the elements identified by analysis.

Analysis breaks down the problem; synthesis combines data in new ways to resolve it. By analyzing and synthesizing, thought moves from a more or less vague idea of ​​the subject to a concept in which the analysis reveals the main elements and the synthesis reveals the essential connections of the whole.

Visual-figurative thinking is a type of thinking characterized by reliance on ideas and images; the functions of figurative thinking are associated with the representation of situations and changes in them that a person wants to obtain as a result of his activities that transform the situation. A very important feature of imaginative thinking is the establishment of unusual, incredible combinations of objects and their properties. In contrast to visual-effective thinking, with visual-figurative thinking the situation is transformed only in terms of the image.

With the help of visual-figurative thinking, the whole variety of various factual characteristics of an object is most fully recreated. The image can simultaneously capture the vision of an object from several points of view. An important feature of visual-figurative thinking is the establishment of unusual, “incredible” combinations of objects and their properties.

Thinking in images is included as an essential component in all types of human activity without exception, no matter how developed and abstract they may be.

In the real process of thinking (knowledge acquisition), both “imaginative” and “conceptual” logic are simultaneously present, and these are not two independent logics, but a single logic of the thought process. The mental image itself, with which thinking operates, is by its nature flexible, mobile, and reflects a piece of reality in the form of a spatial picture.

There are different ways to create object images from drawings and diagrams. Some students rely on visuals and look for a kind of sensory support in it. Others act easily and freely in their minds. Some students quickly create images based on clarity, retain them in memory for a long time, but get lost when it is necessary to modify the image, since under these conditions the image seems to expand and disappear. Others are good at using images.

The following pattern has been discovered: where the initially created images are less visual, bright and stable, their transformation and manipulation with them is more successful; in those cases when the image is objectified, burdened with various details, manipulating it is difficult.

The main function of imaginative thinking is creating images and using them in the process of solving problems. The implementation of this function is ensured by a special presentation mechanism aimed at modifying, transforming existing images and creating new images different from the original ones. The creation of an image from an idea is carried out in the absence of an object of perception and is ensured by its mental modification. As a result, an image is created that is different from the visual material on which it originally appeared. Thus, the activity of representation, no matter at what level it is carried out, ensures the creation of something new in relation to the original, i.e. it is productive. Therefore, dividing images into reproductive and creative (productive) is not correct.

Imaginative thinking operates not with words, but with images. This does not mean that verbal knowledge in the form of definitions, judgments and inferences is not used here. But unlike verbal-discursive thinking, where verbal knowledge is its main content, in figurative thinking words are used only as a means of expression and interpretation of already completed transformations of images.

Concepts and images with which thinking operates constitute two sides of a single process. Being more closely related to the reflection of real reality, the image provides knowledge not about individual isolated aspects (properties) of this reality, but represents a holistic mental picture of a separate area of ​​reality.

Conclusion: Visual-figurative thinking is characterized by reliance on ideas and images. The functions of figurative thinking are associated with the representation of situations and changes in them that a person wants to obtain as a result of his activities that transform the situation. A very important feature of imaginative thinking is the establishment of unusual, incredible combinations of objects and their properties.

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Formation

The main type of brain activity of a child is the exploration of objects through touching them. The baby pulls the toy towards him, twirls it in his hands, tries to open it, and tears off individual parts. As children, people believe that there are no concepts that cannot be felt, touched, heard or seen. Covering his eyes with his palms, the baby thinks that he has become invisible to others.

When learning to count in your head, a child needs to use real sticks. Cognition of the environment is carried out through the use of fine motor skills. The formation of the ability to think visually and effectively in children begins with practical actions that are not yet subject to planning.

There are many interesting methods for diagnosing such thinking. For example, the Seguin Board technique is suitable for young children. Two-year-old children are offered boards with 4 tabs. The 10-tab boards are designed for older children.

First, the child is asked to consider the assembled version. Then the tabs are removed, and the child must return them to their place. Difficulties in performing the exercise indicate a low level of development of this type of mental activity.

A special achievement of the baby is the development of the ability to move. Children master walking and begin to navigate in space. The baby’s horizons immediately expand due to exposure to new objects. The impressions accumulated in this process are the basis for the development of the baby’s speech. The child begins to understand that every thing has its own name.

Visual-effective thinking has some age differences.

In infancy

The baby’s brain activity is directly related to real-tangible objects and interaction with them. Up to three years of age, the mental visual-effective act is the main type of children's thinking. The formation of the ability to think occurs through the desire to touch a thing, lick it, take it apart, and connect parts. During the act of exploration, the baby breaks toys and other objects. He wants to understand the structure of the world around him and its objects.

In young years

A three-year-old child, if it is impossible to reach an object with his hands, is able to climb onto a nearby chair. Undesirable consequences are established empirically. The formation of the ability to mentally solve problems occurs from 3 to 5 years. Thus, the baby begins to master visual-figurative thinking.

Description[ | ]

A type of thinking that develops in a child at the age of 2-3 years and forms the dominant part of his behavior until the age of 6-7 years, where the main unit is the image. Like action, a child’s image is characterized by syncretism, an abundance of private connections, randomness in the choice of features, and a large amount of subjectivity with a predominance of emotional components. In the Vygotsky-Sakharov test, when a child is offered a collection of figurines of various colors, sizes and shapes and is asked to divide it into several more homogeneous groups, the child is led by the most striking superficial signs, for example, collecting figurines of the same color or the same shape, which is a mistake classifications. Jean Piaget, who studied children's thinking for many years, discovered one specific feature in children, which was later called the Piaget effect.

. If you show a child a ball made of plasticine, then in front of his eyes turn this ball into a cake and ask where there is more plasticine, then the child will point to the cake, since it takes up more space. This is precisely a demonstration that the child still lacks the ability to abstract from primary signs and transition to a higher generalization.

Visual-effective and visual-figurative types of thinking are combined into the group of pre-conceptual thinking

, since the operation of concepts here is of a random, unconscious nature, and the basis is a direct and concrete reflection of reality. This is a kind of connecting link between perceptual processes and abstract mental, mediated signs and symbols.

Visual-figurative thinking is available for psychological research using various methods, where the leading role is played by perceptual elements: color, shape, adequacy of the image of any object or phenomenon. The most common methods: using Kos cubes, Raven's progressive matrices, eliminating unnecessary things in pictures, classifying pictures, pictograms.

Development of thinking[ | ]

The criteria for the development of visual-figurative thinking can be different - from the correctness of the task and speed to the degree of originality and abstraction. Visual-effective, visual-figurative, verbal-logical thinking form the stages of development of thinking in ontogenesis, in phylogenesis. Currently, psychology has convincingly shown that these three types of thinking coexist in adults and function when solving various problems [1]. This depends on the type of professional activity, personal and individual psychological characteristics [2].

About 30% of students from 4th to 6th grade use predominantly imaginative thinking to remember rules and solve problems, about 25% use predominantly sequential-logical thinking, and 45% use both hemispheres[3].