Definition
Representative reactions towards
stimuli from internal
chemical reactions or external environmental factors. The word comes from
Old English . þoht, geþoht, from stem of þencan "to conceive of in the mind, consider"
[2]In common language, the word thinking covers numerous diverse psychological activities. It is sometimes a synonym for “tending to believe,” especially with less than full confidence (“I think that it will rain, but I am not sure”). At other times it denotes the degree of
attentiveness (“I did it without thinking”) or whatever is in
consciousness, especially if it refers to something outside the immediate environment (“It made me think of my grandmother”).
Biology
Main article:
NeuronsA neuron also known as a neurone or nerve cell) is an excitable
cell in the
nervous system that processes and transmits information by electrochemical
signalling. Neurons are the core components of the
brain, the
vertebrate spinal cord, the
invertebrate ventral nerve cord, and the peripheral nerves. A number of specialized types of neurons exist: sensory neurons respond to touch, sound, light and numerous other stimuli affecting cells of the
sensory organs that then send signals to the spinal cord and brain. Motor neurons receive signals from the brain and spinal cord and cause
muscle contractions and affect
glands.
Interneurons connect neurons to other neurons within the brain and spinal cord. Neurons respond to
stimuli, and communicate the presence of stimuli to the central nervous system, which processes that information and sends responses to other parts of the body for action. Neurons do not go through
mitosis, and usually cannot be replaced after being destroyed, although
astrocytes have been observed to turn into neurons as they are sometimes
pluripotent.
Psychology
Main article:
Cognitive psychologyPsychologists have concentrated on thinking as an intellectual exertion aimed at finding an answer to a question or the solution of a practical problem.
Cognitive psychology is a branch of
psychology that investigates internal mental processes such as problem solving, memory, and language.
The school of thought arising from this approach is known as
cognitivism which is interested in how people mentally represent information processing. It had its foundations in the
Gestalt psychology of
Max Wertheimer,
Wolfgang Köhler, and
Kurt Koffka [3] , and in the work of
Jean Piaget, who provided a theory of stages/phases that describe children's cognitive development. Cognitive psychologists use
psychophysical and experimental approaches to understand, diagnose, and solve problems, concerning themselves with the mental processes which mediate between stimulus and response. Cognitive theory contends that solutions to problems take the form of
algorithms—rules that are not necessarily understood but promise a solution, or
heuristics—rules that are understood but that do not always guarantee solutions.
Cognitive science differs from cognitive psychology in that algorithms that are intended to simulate human behavior are implemented or implementable on a computer. In other instances, solutions may be found through insight, a sudden awareness of relationships.
Id, ego, and super-ego are the three parts of the "
psychic apparatus" defined in
Sigmund Freud's structural model of the psyche; they are the three theoretical constructs in terms of whose activity and interaction mental life is described. According to this model, the uncoordinated instinctual trends are the "id"; the organized realistic part of the psyche is the "ego," and the critical and moralizing function the "super-ego."
[4]The unconscious was considered by Freud throughout the evolution of his
psychoanalytic theory a
sentient force of
will influenced by human desire and yet operating well below the perceptual
conscious mind. For Freud, the unconscious is the storehouse of instinctual desires, needs, and psychic drives. While past thoughts and reminiscences may be concealed from immediate consciousness, they direct the thoughts and feelings of the individual from the realm of the unconscious.
[5]For
psychoanalysis, the unconscious does not include all that is not conscious, rather only what is actively repressed from conscious thought or what the person is averse to knowing consciously. In a sense this view places the self in relationship to their unconscious as an adversary, warring with itself to keep what is unconscious hidden. If a person feels pain, all he can think of is alleviating the pain. Any of his desires, to get rid of pain or enjoy something, command the mind what to do. For Freud, the unconscious was a repository for socially unacceptable ideas, wishes or desires, traumatic memories, and painful emotions put out of mind by the mechanism of
psychological repression. However, the contents did not necessarily have to be solely negative. In the psychoanalytic view, the unconscious is a force that can only be recognized by its effects — it expresses itself in the
symptom.
[6]Sociology
Main article:
Social psychologySocial psychology is the study of how people and groups interact. Scholars in this
interdisciplinary area are typically either
psychologists or
sociologists, though all social psychologists employ both the
individual and the
group as their
units of analysis.
[7]Despite their similarity, psychological and sociological researchers tend to differ in their goals, approaches, methods, and terminology. They also favor separate
academic journals and
professional societies. The greatest period of collaboration between sociologists and psychologists was during the years immediately following World War II.
[8] Although there has been increasing isolation and specialization in recent years, some degree of overlap and influence remains between the two disciplines.
[9]The Collective unconscious, sometimes known as collective subconscious, is a term of
analytical psychology,
coined by
Carl Jung. It is a part of the
unconscious mind, shared by a
society, a people, or all
humanity, in a interconnected system that is the product of all common experiences and contains such concepts as
science,
religion, and
morality. While
Freud did not distinguish between an "individual psychology" and a "collective psychology", Jung distinguished the collective unconscious from the
personal subconscious particular to each human being. The collective unconscious is also known as "a reservoir of the experiences of our species."
[10]In the "Definitions" chapter of Jung's
seminal work Psychological Types, under the definition of "collective" Jung references representations collectives, a term coined by
Levy-Bruhl in his 1910 book How Natives Think. Jung says this is what he describes as the collective unconscious. Freud, on the other hand, did not accept the idea of a collective unconscious.
Philosophy
Main article:
Philosophy of mindPhilosophy of mind is a branch of
modern analytic philosophy that studies the nature of the
mind,
mental events,
mental functions,
mental properties,
consciousness and their relationship to the physical body, particularly the brain. The mind-body problem, i.e. the relationship of the mind to the body, is commonly seen as the central issue in philosophy of mind, although there are other issues concerning the nature of the mind that do not involve its relation to the physical body.
[11]The mind-body problem
Main article:
Mind-body dichotomyThe mind-body problem concerns the explanation of the relationship that exists between
minds, or mental processes, and bodily states or processes.
[11] The main aim of philosophers working in this area is to determine the nature of the mind and mental states/processes, and how—or even if—minds are affected by and can affect the body.
Our perceptual experiences depend on
stimuli which arrive at our various
sensory organs from the external world and these stimuli cause changes in our mental states, ultimately causing us to feel a sensation, which may be pleasant or unpleasant. Someone's desire for a slice of pizza, for example, will tend to cause that person to move his or her body in a specific manner and in a specific direction to obtain what he or she wants. The question, then, is how it can be possible for conscious experiences to arise out of a lump of gray matter endowed with nothing but electrochemical properties. A related problem is to explain how someone's
propositional attitudes (e.g. beliefs and desires) can cause that individual's
neurons to fire and his muscles to contract in exactly the correct manner. These comprise some of the puzzles that have confronted
epistemologists and philosophers of mind from at least the time of
René Descartes.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thinking
