Types of thinking include unrealistic/autistic thinking and realistic thinking. Unrealistic thinking involves things like daydreaming and fantasizing that lack connection to external reality. Realistic thinking, also called reasoning, helps adjust to the real world through processes like deduction, induction, and evaluation. Problem solving is a goal-directed activity that overcomes barriers through methods like trial and error, insight, and following steps of identifying the problem, assembling data, developing hypotheses, evaluating solutions, and verifying the best solution.

1. Types Of ThinkingTypes Of Thinking
Intro. To Psychology
PSY 201

2. Types of Thinking
• Unrealistic/Autistic thinking
• Realistic Thinking

3. Unrealistic/Autistic thinking
“Preoccupation with inner thoughts, daydreams,
fantasies, subjective thinking lacking
objectivity and connection with external
reality”.
– Dreaming
– Day dreaming

4. Dreaming
• It is an abnormal phenomena of mind that does not
occur in waking life
• According to Freud it is the royal road to
unconscious
• Main features are
– Disjointed/ disorganized/ lacking continuity
– Admit impossibilities/ nonsense having no head and tail
– No critical ability/ no means of testing its correctness

5. Cont……
• Show an accelerated flow of ideas, a
shift in the depiction of scenes
• Wish fulfillment i.e., gratification of
unfulfilled wishes/ disguise our desires
• Symbolic in nature

6. Day Dreaming
• It is an altered state of mind / consciousness that
occurs without effort and involve a brief escape
from reality into fantasy
• Can occur anywhere any time
• It source are fantasies that are construct while one
is awake
• It is more controlled so it is closely related to
immediate event in the environment

7. Cont….
• Normal part of waking consciousness
• But frequent day dreaming could lead
to psychological difficulties as when
one is unable to distinguish between
fantasy and reality

8. Realistic Thinking
• Also know as reasoning
• Help us to adjust to real world
• motivated to reach solutions to problems involving
individual livelihood
• Three processes involve in reasoning
– Deductive
– Inductive
– Evaluative

9. Problem Solving
• “Any goal directed activity that must overcome
some type of barrier to accomplish the task”
• Involves development of some mode of responses
to eliminate these barriers
• Depends on previous learning experience and
higher mental processes
• May also lead to the development of new concepts

10. Methods of P.S
• Trial and error
– It is the process of succeeding in an attempt by
repeating it after learning from failures
– Problem is either so difficult to have any clue or
involves illogical relationships that cannot be
discover by thought
– Overt trial and error; i.e. getting solution by
visualizing it

11. Insight
– It is the sudden awareness of the relationship
among various elements that had no connection
before
– It is period of no apparent progress followed by
sudden solution
– Psychologist do not know how insight operates
but the know it is a useful approach to problem
solving

12. Steps of P.S
• Problem; one should show a concern to the
problem i.e. identification of problem
• Data; assembling the material with which to
work
• Hypothesis; driving a number of possible
solutions. While dealing with the above
mentions steps one may develop different
hypotheses

13. • Evaluation; evaluating the suggested
solutions
• Verification; objectively testing and
revising the solution