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Thought
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Thought refers to ideas or arrangements of ideas that are the

result of the process of thinking. Though thinking is an activity
considered essential to humanity, there is no general consensus
as to how we define or understand it.

Because thought underlies many human actions and

interactions, understanding its physical and metaphysical
origins, processes, and effects has been a longstanding goal of
many academic disciplines including linguistics, psychology,
neuroscience, philosophy, artificial intelligence, biology, Girl with a Book by Jos Ferraz
sociology and cognitive science. de Almeida Jnior

Thinking allows humans to make sense of, interpret, represent

or model the world they experience, and to make predictions about that world. It is therefore
helpful to an organism with needs, objectives, and desires as it makes plans or otherwise attempts
to accomplish those goals.

Contents
1 Etymology and usage
2 Theories
3 Philosophy
3.1 The mind-body problem
3.2 Functionalism vs. embodiment
4 Biology
5 Psychology
6 Psychoanalysis
7 Sociology
8 See also
9 References
10 Further reading
11 External links

Etymology and usage

The word thought comes from Old English oht, or geoht, from stem of encan "to conceive of in

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the mind, consider".[1]

The word "thought" may mean[2],:[3]

a single product of thinking or a single idea ("My first

thought was no.")
the product of mental activity ("Mathematics is a large
body of thought.")
the act or system of thinking ("I was frazzled from too
much thought.")
the capacity to think, reason, imagine, and so on ("All her
thought was applied to her work.")
the consideration of or reflection on an idea ("The
thought of death terrifies me.")
recollection or contemplation ("I thought about my
childhood.")
half-formed or imperfect intention ("I had some thought
of going.")
anticipation or expectation ("She had no thought of
A Pensive Moment (1904), by
seeing him again.")
Eugene de Blaas
consideration, attention, care, or regard ("He took no
thought of his appearance" and "I did it without
thinking.")
judgment, opinion, or belief ("According to his thought, honesty is the best policy.")
the ideas characteristic of a particular place, class, or time ("Greek thought")
the state of being conscious of something ("It made me think of my grandmother.")
tending to believe in something, especially with less than full confidence ("I think that it will
rain, but I am not sure.")

Definitions may or may not require that thought

take place within a human brain (see

anthropomorphism),
take place as part of a living biological system (see
Alan Turing and Computing Machinery and
Intelligence),
take place only at a conscious level of awareness (see Huike Thinking, a portrait of the
Unconscious Thought Theory), Chn patriarch Dazu Huike
require language, attributed to the 10th-century painter
is principally or even only conceptual, abstract Shi Ke
("formal"),
involve other concepts such as drawing analogies,
interpreting, evaluating, imagining, planning, and remembering.

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Definitions of thought may also be derived directly or indirectly from theories of thought.

Theories
"Outline of a theory of thought-processes and thinking machines" (Caianiello)[4]
thought processes and mental phenomena modeled by sets of mathematical equations
Surfaces and Essences: Analogy as the Fuel and Fire of Thinking (Hofstadter and
Sander)[5] a theory built on analogies
The Neural Theory of Language and Thought (Feldman and Lakoff)[6] neural
modeling of language and spatial relations
ThoughtFormsThe Structure, Power, and Limitations of Thought (Baum)[7] a theory
built on mental models
Unconscious Thought Theory[8],[9] thought that is not conscious
Linguistics theories - The Stuff of Thought (Steven Pinker, Noam Chomsky)[10] The
linguistic and cognitive theory that thought is based on syntactic and linguistic recursion
processes

Philosophy

What is most thought-provoking in these thought-provoking times, is that we are still

not thinking.

Martin Heidegger[11]

The phenomenology movement in philosophy saw a radical change in

the way in which we understand thought. Martin Heidegger's
phenomenological analyses of the existential structure of man in Being
and Time cast new light on the issue of thinking, unsettling traditional
cognitive or rational interpretations of man which affect the way we
understand thought. The notion of the fundamental role of
non-cognitive understanding in rendering possible thematic
consciousness informed the discussion surrounding Artificial
Intelligence during the 1970s and 1980s.[12]

Phenomenology, however, is not the only approach to thinking in

The Thinker by Rodin
modern Western philosophy. Philosophy of mind is a branch of
philosophy that studies the nature of the mind, mental events, mental
(18401917), in the
functions, mental properties, consciousness and their relationship to
garden of the Muse
the physical body, particularly the brain. The mind-body problem, i.e.
Rodin
the relationship of the mind to the body, is commonly seen as the
central issue in philosophy of mind, although there are other issues

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concerning the nature of the mind that do not involve its relation to the physical body.[13]

The mind-body problem

The mind-body problem concerns the explanation of the relationship that exists between minds, or
mental processes, and bodily states or processes.[13] The main aim of philosophers working in this
area is to determine the nature of the mind and mental states/processes, and howor even
ifminds are affected by and can affect the body.

Human perceptual experiences depend on stimuli which arrive at one's various sensory organs from
the external world and these stimuli cause changes in one's mental state, ultimately causing one 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 Ren Descartes.[14]

Functionalism vs. embodiment

The above reflects a classical, functional description of how we work as cognitive, thinking
systems. However the apparently irresolvable mind-body problem is said to be overcome, and
bypassed, by the embodied cognition approach, with its roots in the work of Heidegger, Piaget,
Vygotsky, Merleau-Ponty and the pragmatist John Dewey.[15][16]

This approach states that the classical approach of separating the mind and analysing its processes
is misguided: instead, we should see that the mind, actions of an embodied agent, and the
environment it perceives and envisions, are all parts of a whole which determine each other.
Therefore, functional analysis of the mind alone will always leave us with the mind-body problem
which cannot be solved.[17]

Biology
A neuron (also known as a neurone or nerve cell) is an excitable cell in the nervous system that
processes and transmits information by electrochemical signaling. 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

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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
Psychologists 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
Man thinking on a train journey.
Max Wertheimer, Wolfgang Khler, and Kurt Koffka,[18] 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. They study various
aspects of thinking, including the psychology of reasoning, and
how people make decisions and choices, solve problems, as
well as engage in creative discovery and imaginative thought.
Cognitive theory contends that solutions to problems take the
form of algorithmsrules that are not necessarily understood
but promise a solution, or heuristicsrules 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 Graffiti on the wall: "'to think for
be found through insight, a sudden awareness of relationships. myself' became less favorable".

In developmental psychology, Jean Piaget was a pioneer in the

study of the development of thought from birth to maturity. In his theory of cognitive development,
thought is based on actions on the environment. That is, Piaget suggests that the environment is
understood through assimilations of objects in the available schemes of action and these
accommodate to the objects to the extent that the available schemes fall short of the demands. As a
result of this interplay between assimilation and accommodation, thought develops through a
sequence of stages that differ qualitatively from each other in mode of representation and
complexity of inference and understanding. That is, thought evolves from being based on
perceptions and actions at the sensorimotor stage in the first two years of life to internal

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representations in early childhood. Subsequently, representations are gradually organized into

logical structures which first operate on the concrete properties of the reality, in the stage of
concrete operations, and then operate on abstract principles that organize concrete properties, in the
stage of formal operations.[19] In recent years, the Piagetian conception of thought was integrated
with information processing conceptions. Thus, thought is considered as the result of mechanisms
that are responsible for the representation and processing of information. In this conception, speed
of processing, cognitive control, and working memory are the main functions underlying thought.
In the neo-Piagetian theories of cognitive development, the development of thought is considered to
come from increasing speed of processing, enhanced cognitive control, and increasing working
memory.[20]

Positive psychology emphasizes the positive aspects of human psychology as equally important as
the focus on mood disorders and other negative symptoms. In Character Strengths and Virtues,
Peterson and Seligman list a series of positive characteristics. One person is not expected to have
every strength, nor are they meant to fully capsulate that characteristic entirely. The list encourages
positive thought that builds on a person's strengths, rather than how to "fix" their "symptoms".[21]

Psychoanalysis
"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."[22]

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.[23]

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 effectsit
expresses itself in the symptom.[24]

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Sociology
Social 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.[25]

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.[26] Although there has
been increasing isolation and specialization in recent years, A "thought bubble" is an
some degree of overlap and influence remains between the two illustration depicting thought.
disciplines.[27]

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 an 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."[28]

In the "Definitions" chapter of Jung's seminal work Psychological Types, under the definition of
"collective" Jung references representations collectives, a term coined by Lucien Lvy-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.

See also
Outline of thought - topic tree that identifies many types of thoughts, types of thinking,
aspects of thought, related fields, and more.
Outline of human intelligence - topic tree presenting the traits, capacities, models, and
research fields of human intelligence, and more.

References
1. Harper, Douglas. "Etymology of Thought". Online Etymology Dictionary. Retrieved 2009-05-22.

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2. Random House Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, Second Edition, 2001, Published by Random House,
Inc., ISBN 978-0375425998, page 1975
3. Webster's II New College Dictionary, Webster Staff, Webster, Houghton Mifflin Company, Edition: 2,
illustrated, revised Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 1999, ISBN 978-0-395-96214-5, page 1147
4. Caianiello, E. R (1961). "Outline of a theory of thought-processes and thinking machines". Journal of
Theoretical Biology. pp. 204235. Retrieved June 27, 2013.
5. "Surfaces and Essences: Analogy as the Fuel and Fire of Thinking" by Douglas Hofstadter and
Emmanuel Sander, April 23, 2013, published by Basic Books, ISBN 978-0465018475
6. http://icbs.berkeley.edu/natural_theory_lt.php
7. "ThoughtForms - The Structure, Power, and Limitations of Thought: Volume 1 - Introduction to the
Theory" by Peter Baum, published April 17, 2013 by Aesir Publishing, ISBN 9780988489301
8. http://changingminds.org/explanations/theories/unconscious_thought.htm
9. Ap Dijksterhuis; Ap and Nordgren; Loran F. (2006). "A Theory of Unconscious Thought". Perspectives
On Psychological Science (PDF chapter). 1 - Number 2. pp. 95109. Retrieved June 27, 2013.
10. "The Stuff of Thought: Language as a Window into Human Nature" by Steven Pinker, August 26, 2008,
published by Penguin Books, ISBN 978-0143114246
11. Martin Heidegger, What is Called Thinking?
12. Dreyfus, Hubert. Dreyfus, Stuart. Mind Over Machine. Macmillan, 1987
13. Kim, J. (1995). Honderich, Ted, ed. Problems in the Philosophy of Mind. Oxford Companion to
Philosophy. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
14. Companion to Metaphysics, By Jaegwon Kim, Gary S. Rosenkrantz, Ernest Sosa, Contributor Jaegwon
Kim, Edition: 2, Published by Wiley-Blackwell, 2009, ISBN 978-1-4051-5298-3
15. Varela, Francisco J., Thompson, Evan T., and Rosch, Eleanor. (1992). The Embodied Mind: Cognitive
Science and Human Experience. Cambridge, MA: The MIT Press. ISBN 0-262-72021-3
16. Cowart, Monica (2004). Embodied Cognition. The Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy.
ISSN 2161-0002. Retrieved 27 February 2012.
17. "Di Paolo, Ezequiel Shallow and Deep Embodiment - University of Sussex, 29.10.2009 12:43 Duration:
1:11:38" (Video). Retrieved 27 February 2012.
18. Gestalt Theory, By Max Wertheimer, Published by Hayes Barton Press, 1944, ISBN 978-1-59377-695-4
19. Piaget, J. (1951). Psychology of Intelligence. London: Routledge and Kegan Paul
20. Demetriou, A. (1998). Cognitive development. In A. Demetriou, W. Doise, K. F. M. van Lieshout (Eds.),
Life-span developmental psychology (pp. 179-269). London: Wiley.
21. Schacter, Daniel L. (2011). Psychology Second Edition, "Positive Psychology" (pp. 584). New York:
New York.
22. Snowden, Ruth (2006). Teach Yourself Freud (illustrated ed.). McGraw-Hill. p. 107.
ISBN 978-0-07-147274-6.
23. Geraskov, Emil Asenov (November 1, 1994). "The internal contradiction and the unconscious sources of
activity". The Journal of Psychology. Retrieved April 17, 2007.
24. The Cambridge companion to Freud, By Jerome Neu, Published by Cambridge University Press, 1991,
pg, 29, ISBN 9780521377799
25. Social Psychology (https://books.google.com/books?id=hrydA45eCk0C&q=social+psychology&
dq=social+psychology&pgis=1), David G. Myers, McGraw Hill, 1993. ISBN 0-07-044292-4.
26. Sewell, W.H. (1989). Some reflections on the golden age of interdisciplinary social psychology. Annual
Review of Sociology, Vol. 15.
27. The Psychology of the Social (https://books.google.com/books?id=Nvz5Y8e1N84C), Uwe Flick,
Cambridge University Press, 1998. ISBN 0-521-58851-0.

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28. Jensen, Peter S., Mrazek, David, Knapp, Penelope K., Steinberg, Laurence, Pfeffer, Cynthia, Schowalter,
John, & Shapiro, Theodore. (Dec 1997) Evolution and revolution in child psychiatry: ADHD as a
disorder of adaptation. (attention-deficit hyperactivity syndrome). Journal of the American Academy of
Child and Adolescent Psychiatry. 36. p. 1672. (10). July 14, 2007.

Further reading
Bayne, Tim - Thought, New Scientist, 21 September 2013 - 7-page feature article on the topic
Anil K. Rajvanshi - "Nature of Human Thought", Google Books [1]
(https://books.google.com/books?id=__YlBAAAQBAJ&pg=PA40&lpg=PA40&
dq=nature+of+human+thought&source=bl&ots=34o0YW4Oup&
sig=3gSShSbo5D9w8f3Zw3sOj27v9Zc&hl=en&sa=X&ei=P3XrU7-
QINXf8AXKoYGwBQ&redir_esc=y#v=onepage&q=nature%20of%20human%20thought&
f=false), 2010. ISBN 978-81-905781-2-7

External links
The dictionary definition of think at Wiktionary
Media related to Thinking at Wikimedia Commons

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