What is abstract thinking? Discover through a review of its characteristics, functions, examples and differences in relation to concrete thinking.
I’m sure you’ve heard of abstract thinking, but do you really know what it is?It is a type of thinking that allows us to reflect on things that are not present in space and in the present, it also allows us to reflect on general concepts and principles, both in our daily life and in a more academic or professional environment.
- Does abstract thinking have any advantage? A 2006 study by the University of Amsterdam found that people feel more powerful when allowed to think abstractly.
- Which could be evidence in favor of the advantage of abstract thinking over concrete thinking.
- Which would be more restrictive.
Do you want to know more about this kind of thinking, how is it different from your concrete “opposite” thinking?We’ll tell you everything below!
According to the Dictionary of Psychology, abstract thinking is the ability to understand essential and common properties, which would serve to take into account different aspects of a situation, plan and plan the future, think symbolically and draw conclusions. be the opposite of concrete thinking, which in this case is this literal thought based on the time and space present.
What is the purpose of this type of thinking? Abstract thinking, as we have already seen, allows us to perceive the relationships between different ideas, beliefs or elements of the external and internal environment, in addition, it helps us to innovate, create, imagine, develop new ideas, learn from past experiences and think about it. future.
This type of thinking is also a cognitive ability, specifically it is one of the last cognitive skills that human beings acquire on an evolutionary level, without further ado we will know more about this type of reflection through a synthesis of its characteristics.
“Thought is the main faculty of man, and the art of expressing thoughts is the first of the arts. -Etienne Bonnot de Condillac-
We can list a number of characteristics of abstract thinking that refer to its form, content and functions:
To better understand this kind of thinking, let us think of concrete examples, such as a person who thinks beyond what is right in front of him. Title of the illustration, imagine a person thinking of a specific book. You will use abstract thinking thinking of several books, books that do not need to be in the same room or in front of it.
Can you also think about the books that represent her, the books she’s read, the books that represent the topics?X?? In other words, in abstract thinking, in a way, imagination is also used, another example of abstract thinking would be the one used by an artist when choosing the best colors for his painting, or a musician who chooses the best note to finish his work. Symphony.
Other examples: a composer who uses his ideas to create the lyrics of a song, a mathematician who analyzes numbers to draw a conclusion (just as a physicist or statistician can extract meaningful relationships from his data), etc. It is day by day when we have to analyze certain situations that involve a reflection on the past or the future (in addition to the present). In short: abstract thinking can be found in multiple situations and scenarios.
The Swiss epistemologist and biologist Jean Piaget (1896-1980) was already talking in his day of abstract thought; in particular, he developed the hypothesis that abstract thinking, as well as reasoning, develop in the last stage of development (the stage of formal operations). In fact, Piaget called formal thinking abstract thinking, because it belonged to this evolutionary stage.
The formal operations phase begins between the ages of 11 and 15 and lasts into adulthood. The following are the core of this step:
This type of thinking, according to Piaget, is intimately related to logic and problem-solving ability; in this sense, it would be one of the distinctive characteristics of the human being, which sets us apart from other animal species.
Can we apply this kind of thinking to our daily lives, in what areas?This can be useful for our personal development, in areas as abstract as spirituality.
On the other hand, mastery of abstract thinking (as well as language) can also be useful in areas such as mathematics or science, as analytical reasoning requires the use of abstract thinking. or knowledge, we must be able to link it to real life, to make it much closer and more practical.
At the beginning of the article, we referred to concrete thinking as a type of thinking opposed to the abstract, but how are these two types of thinking different?Abstract thinking allows us to process, describe and manipulate mental information, while concrete thinking itself, but with objects in the physical world.
On the other hand, we said that abstract thinking was hypothetical deductive, that is, it allows us to create hypotheses without having to test them empirically, on the other hand, through concrete thinking, knowledge can only be formulated through the direct experience of the person. phenomenon in question (i. e. it would be a kind of inductive thinking).
This reflection usually goes from the individual (allowing the formulation of laws and theories, for example); on the contrary, the concrete goes from the particular to the general; Finally, abstract thinking allows reflection and debate (it is a flexible thought), and concrete thinking, on the other hand, does not allow variations, because it is based on the tangible and the obvious.
As we’ve seen, is this kind of thinking everywhere?And it has important advantages when it comes to stimulating other types of thinking, such as reflection or reasoning. There are several types of thinking: convergent, divergent, practical, theoretical, literal?Which one’s better? Everything and nothing; it will always be the one that best suits the task we want to develop, so flexibility is very important in our cognition.
“The sage does not say everything he thinks, but he always thinks all that he says. -Aristotle-