Table of contents:
- What are thoughts ?: types of thinking and examples
- Types of thinking according to psychology: reflective, critical and analytical
- Reflective thinking
- Critical thinking
- Analytical thinking
- Analog thinking
- Creative thinking
- Deliverative and practical thinking
- Pensamiento deliverativo
- Pensamiento práctico
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According to psychology, there are different types of thinking, which we tend to use on certain occasions depending on the task we are doing. For example, the type of thinking that we are going to use when we are going to reflect on a topic such as religion is going to be different from the type of thinking that we are going to use to perform a mathematical calculation in the mind. There are 9 types of thoughts, among them are logical, critical, reflective, practical, systemic thinking, among others that we will see later.
In this Psychology-Online article, we are going to let you know in detail what are the 9 types of thinking according to psychology.
You may also be interested: Thought according to Dewey Index- What are thoughts ?: types of thinking and examples
- Types of thinking according to psychology: reflective, critical and analytical
- Types of thinking and their definition: logical, systemic, analogical and creative thinking
- Deliverative and practical thinking
What are thoughts ?: types of thinking and examples
When we talk about thinking, we refer to a psychological mental process through which people can create, regulate and develop ideas about ourselves, the environment that surrounds us or others. The thoughts that people adopt have different individual characteristics and they develop over time. A thought will always be accompanied by other types of mental processes that have a close relationship with the emotions which are regulated by the limbic system. Although, as we well know, each person thinks for himself, it is also true that we adopt different ways of thinking.
When we talk about ways of thinking, we refer to the different social interventions that we have been incorporating into our mentality over time, that is, they have to do with our own history and with social constructions.
So it can be said that all our modes of thought have been created and have evolved over time where human beings have been facing different challenges and situations, which we have been overcoming. This is what makes our ways of thinking extremely important as more than anything it is about our own cultural heritage.
The nine types of thinking according to psychology are the following:
- Reflective thinking
- Critical thinking
- Analytical thinking
- Logical thinking
- Systemic thinking
- Analog thinking
- Creative thinking
- Deliverative thinking
- Practical thinking
Types of thinking according to psychology: reflective, critical and analytical
But, what is the use of knowing these 9 types of thoughts ? Because thoughts influence our emotions and therefore our actions and the way we live, it helps us to know and understand ourselves better.
Reflective thinking
This type of thinking was exposed by one of the greatest American scholars, John Dewey, in his book: "How We Think." In this book he recognizes the following values in reflective thinking: it facilitates systematic action, orients our actions towards a goal in a conscious way, facilitates control between thought and action and encourages us to seek the meaning of our actions or situations.
Reflective thinking according to Dewey refers to the different ways in which ideas or situations can be represented and expressed, which helps us to increase our awareness of our own actions. In summary, we can say that this type of thinking helps us to plan in an orderly way and in the most conscious way our actions according to our expectations.
Critical thinking
Critical thinking refers to the inquiry, analysis and evaluation of knowledge, highlighting the different realities that may be hiding behind reality, doing so logically. It can be said that what critical thinking does is face reality in all its dimensions (reality as we want it to be, the reality that we all see, reality today and in the past). So this type of thinking, although it cannot allow us to affirm what reality is, it allows us to affirm that it is at some point between which all realities are intertwined.
Analytical thinking
These types of thoughts help us to better understand a situation, pigeonholeing and / or organizing reality so that we can process it in a better way. People who adopt this type of thinking tend to have their ideas very clear and defined as they make an exhaustive and thoughtful analysis about a problem or situation. They do this by dividing the problem into parts or categories, which are analyzed to arrive at a good solution.
This type of thinking refers to the ability of people to understand the relationship between the different elements that make up a system. This type of thinking is applicable to the resolution of interpersonal problems, social relationships, organizational, etc. since it studies all the elements of the system and the interaction that exists between them.
Analog thinking
This type of thinking is indispensable for almost all human activities. Although at first glance it may seem complex, people tend to constantly use analogies in our daily lives. When we think analogically, we are organizing our ideas in order to be able to make comparisons between them. An example of this would be the following: "Teachers who teach in the afternoon are similar to those who teach in the morning, therefore, both teachers are equally dedicated."
Creative thinking
This type of thinking refers to the production of new ideas, new experiences, new realities, since people who normally adopt this type of thinking have the belief that everything is possible so they do not limit themselves when creating. People with this type of thinking are flexible and original people.
Deliverative and practical thinking
Each person usually adopts certain types of thoughts on a regular basis with which they are more familiar and have to do with their personality, however all people are capable of applying all types of thinking that exist to achieve the results we want. Next, we are going to define the last two types of thinking according to psychology:
Pensamiento deliverativo
Este tipo de pensamiento se refiere al modo que tienen las personas de tomar sus decisiones. Las decisiones que puede llegar a tomar la persona no se hacen a partir de la lógica, el cálculo o el razonamiento únicamente, sino que se hacen fundamentalmente a partir de ciertos criterios, valores personales, principios éticos, normas ya establecidas, etc.
Pensamiento práctico
El pensamiento práctico es un tipo de razonamiento que se encarga de aplicar los conocimientos adquiridos de manera más simplificada y práctica para que conforme se van estableciendo y cumpliendo cada uno de los procesos a seguir, se vayan obteniendo los resultados deseados. El desarrollar este tipo de pensamiento es muy importante para desarrollar con una mayor eficacia nuestras actividades de la vida cotidiana y en el ámbito laboral.
This article is merely informative, in Psychology-Online we do not have the power to make a diagnosis or recommend a treatment. We invite you to go to a psychologist to treat your particular case.
If you want to read more articles similar to Types of thinking according to psychology, we recommend that you enter our category of Cognitive Psychology.
References- Moya, JMO (nd). Cognitive processes and types of thinking. Retrieved November 26, 2018, from