Developing Your Thinking

Vincent Tyan Ruggiero

Claude is a high school student. His English teacher has just asked the class to identify the theme of the short story they read for homework. When no one answers, she scolds them, "Class, you're just not thinking. Get busy and think."

Claude scratches his head and stares up at the ceiling. "Think, think, I've got to think. What's the theme of that story? The theme, the theme, what could be the theme?" He looks all around, shifts in his chair, then purposefully opens his book and goes through the pages as if looking for something. All the while his mind is repeating, "Think, think! Theme, what's the theme?"

Is Claude thinking? No. He's trying to, hoping to, but not really doing so. His mental motor is racing, but it's in neutral gear. He's ready to go, but not going.

Let's consider another case. Agatha, a college student, is sitting in the campus cafeteria, drinking her morning coffee. To all outward appearances she is not only thinking, but totally lost in thought. Here's what is taking place in her mind:

"So much work to do today ...  I must remember to meet Jim at 6. I'll have to begin my term paper soon. My hair looks so bad—if only I could fix it like Martha's. I wish winter would end—I wouldn't be so depressed. Why is my mood so dominated by weather? This coffee is bitter—you'd think the staff here could at least make a good cup of coffee. I can't wait to get home to have a real meal again. I wonder how much weight I've gained. Maybe I should start jogging

Agatha's mental behavior is closer to thinking than Claude's. Ideas and images are drifting through her mind, and she is obediently watching them float by. But her role is passive: she is just a spectator to the activity of her mind. Thinking is something more than aimless daydreaming.

What, then, is thinking? To begin with, it is purposeful mental activity over which we exercise some control. Control is the key word. Just as sitting in the driver's seat of a car becomes driving only when we take the steering wheel in hand and control the car's movement, so our mind's movements become thinking only when we direct them.

This doesn't mean thinking must always be conscious. The evidence that the unconscious mind is involved in purposeful mental activity is overwhelming. The most dramatic example of this is the fact that insights often come to us when we are no longer working on a problem, but have turned away from it to other activities.

With these important considerations in mind, we can attempt a more formal definition of thinking: Thinking is any mental activity that helps formulate or solve a problem, make a decision, or fulfill a desire to understand.

It is a search for answers, an effort to reach for meaning. Numerous mental activities are included in the thinking process. Observing, remembering, wondering, imagining, inquiring, interpreting and making judgements are among the most important ones. Often several of these activities work in combination, as when we solve a problem or make a decision. We may, for example, identify an idea or problem, then deal with it—for example by questioning, interpreting, and analyzing—and finally reach a conclusion or decision.

It is frequently said that good thinkers are born, not made. Though there is some truth in this, the idea is essentially false. Some people have more talent for thinking than others, and some learn more quickly. As a result, over the years one person may develop his or her thinking ability to a greater extent than another. Nevertheless, effective thinking is mostly a matter of habit.

Research proves that the qualities of mind it takes to think well can be mastered by anyone. It even proves that originality can be learned. Most important, it proves that you don't need a high 10 to be a good thinker. It has been shown that fully 70 percent of all creative people score below 135 on IQ tests.

The difficulty of improving your thinking depends on your habits and attitudes. Chances are you've had no direct training in the art of thinking. So you're bound to have acquired some bad habits and attitudes. Some of the common barriers to good, clear thinking include:

1) Putting yourself down. Thinking you can't think is the biggest barrier to thought that I know. Too many people assume that their own thinking just can't be good or original—as if part of the definition of "good idea" were "someone else's idea."

2) Being a stranger to your own brain. Too few people know how their minds work. You don't have to be trained as a psychologist to observe the circumstances in which your mind works best and to recognize its strengths and weaknesses.

3) Avoiding mental exercise. Lots of people neglect their brains. They see activities like puzzles and riddles as a waste of time just because they serve no obvious practical purpose. But keeping your mind active and flexible is just as basic—and just as practical—as keeping your body in good shape.