Summary
Thinking and reasoning
Being able to analyze, recollect or plan our life are abilities that humans can be proud of. Neither of other species can do this, because they are just using their instincts. Psychologists have defined this ability, thinking, as the manipulation of mental representation of information. And what could we do in the world of information, where everything depends on how fast we are in thinking, if we were not able to recognize and understand sounds, words, visual images or other modalities. Visual images are used when we communicate and it is the major part of thinking. It is representation in the mind that resembles the objects or event being represented. Visual images help us when we want to remember our friends, the game we will be playing and it is a good way to improve various skills. Of course, it is valueless without reasoning, which helps us to make up our mind and to make a good choice or decision. For example, we won’t be able to decide what game we want to play, that our body look better… So in this case we count on reasoning. There are several ways, which we can use for making a decision. Using the first way, which is called syllogistic reasoning, we will have to draw a conclusion form a set of assumptions. The second way is called algorithm, and it’s a rule that, if applied appropriately, guarantees a solution to a problem, but it is quite long, so we can use the third one. It is called heuristics, but unlike algorithms, they can not ensure solution.
Problem solving
The process in which we solve a problem typically involves three major steps: preparing to create a solution, producing solutions, and evaluating the solutions that have been generated. Everything goes so fast, that sometimes we do not even notice, what does it take to solve our daily life problem, especially we spend less time in preparation stage. But if the problem is an ill- defined, it will take more time, because not only the specific nature of the problem is unclear, the information required to solve the problem may be even less obvious. There are three kinds of problems that we are all familiar to: arrangement, inducing structure, and transformation. Solving the first type of problems we need to rearranged elements in ways that will satisfy a certain criterion. In other type of problems a person must identify the relationships among the elements and to create the now ones. And in the last one the initial state must be changed in the goal state using a right method for changing. It is important to notice, that we can solve these kinds of problems just having a crucial view to the problem, and if we can to present and organize the information correctly.
Language
How life would change, if we were not able to use language anymore? We can not imagine the situation, when we are like dropped from the moon... There would be no ability to exchange information or to communicate. Moreover, we would not be able to understand the world. As far as everything is normal, we can develop our skills by learning other languages. Noam Chomsky’s theory says that all the world’s languages share a common underlying structure, so it is not as difficult as might seems. But every particular culture has the different view and understanding of the world, so we must be attentive to the details. Language helps us to reach our goals, to do the best we can, so everyone must be proud of having it for such a long time.
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