Abstract Thinking: is it good or bad?

 

    When we have some knowledge in a certain area, we begin to think accurately.

If knowledge is not enough, abstract thinking, that is, cognitive thinking, which allows us to draw conclusions about a thing, event, task, based on conjecture, reasoning, logic.

Is it necessary to be able to think abstractly?

The concept of abstract thinking

Expressed in scientific language, abstract thinking is a type of cognitive activity in which a person completely departs from the specifics in the details, and reasoning in general.

That is, he tries to abstract from his knowledge about the subject, and look at it from different sides, to discard all the "dogmas" and "axioms", all the rules, and see something new in the situation.

Examples from life

If we talk about abstract thinking from a simple position in life, it manifests itself in many situations.

Here is an example: you are walking down the street and you see a very young girl with a stroller. If your first thought begins with the phrase "oh times, oh mores!", then this thinking is accurate. That is, you have identified the young mother-as a girl who has learned how to date men, but has not learned how to protect herself. The conclusion is sharply negative.

If you include abstract thinking and look at the situation from a different perspective, you can see several different situations: for example, she is just out with her little brother, or nephew, or she is a victim of abuse who had no choice.

In short, by abstracting from our own beliefs, we can see the situation quite differently.

Abstract Thinking: The Benefits

The above is just one of hundreds of thousands of examples of incorporating abstract thinking. What advantages do people who think abstractly well have?

- They are able to think outside the box,

- They have original thoughts and approach to tasks,

- They are able to think fast,

- They can see what others don't see,

- They can reason flexibly.

Thus, both in everyday life and in any activity of a modern person, one cannot do without abstract thinking, so being able to think abstractly is a good thing.