Thinking, Decision Making and Problem Solving: The Study of Thinking,

Its Processes and Applying it to Solve Everyday Problems

by
Urien F. Arancillo


How does one think? How does the mind work? Each of us has his/her own ways of
interpreting things, each of us see things differently, and each of us surely undergo(thinking)
processes which lead us to our goals and solutions. I want to venture on the different approaches
or perspectives of thinking that can aid us. Thinking is important to all of us in our daily lives.
Its the way we think that dictates what well be and what will become of us. And with these,
would like to know how one processes information which then can be used to solve everyday
problems. For me, each one of us has his/her own unique approach and understanding of things
which can be the basis of measurement of our own intellectual ability.


1. How does the mind deal and process problems?
2. How can we evaluate (our own) thinking?
3. How do we think?
4. How does one measure his/her own intellectual ability?
5. What are the different approaches or ways on the study of thinking?
6. What processes do we undergo before coming up with the solution(s) and achieving our
goal(s)?
7. What can we do to improve our thinking and decision making skills both as individuals
and as a society?


The Study of Thinking

I. What is Thinking?
II. History of Thinking
III. Thinking Tasks
IV. Information-Processing Approach
V. Thinking Processes
VI. Decision Making (Decisions & Plans) (219)
stress (215)
regrets & disappointment (266)
VII. Problem Solving (merge with VI or VII ?)
VIII. Applications to Everyday Life (Everyday Thinking?) (490) problem solving in the
real world (in a factory, supermarket, streets), beliefs about thinking 204
IX. Final Three-Level Sentence Outline
Final Three-Level Sentence Outline

Thinking, Decision Making and Problem Solving: The Study of Thinking,
Its Processes and Applying it to Solve Everyday Problems
by
Urien F. Arancillo


Thesis Statement: With all of the processes it undergoes, thinking can be studied and understood
in different perspectives in a way that it can help make decisions that will solve ones problems
and achieve ones personal goals.

I. Psychologists lack agreement if whether thinking should be defined as an external,
behavioural process or an internal, cognitive process.

A. The behavioural argument states that the science of psychology must only
deal with empirical behaviours as its primary data.

B. The internal states or processes cannot be directly observed and therefore
cannot be a part of psychology because it is merely the manifestation or
results of thinking.

C. Psychological definitions must be tied firmly to the mechanisms that underlie
behaviour.

1. Thinking is cognitive, but in inferred from behaviour.
2. Thinking is a process that involved some manipulation of or set of
operations on knowledge in the cognitive system.
3. Thinking is directed and results in behaviour that solves a problem
or is directed towards a solution.

II. Thinking happens when a person reaches a goal state or at least tries to achieve this
change and thus it is defined as problem solving.

A. Rational thinking is what we all want to do if we want to achieve our goals
which are the criteria by which we evaluate everything in our lives.

B. Thinking is essential in our lives in a way that it affects the decisions we
make, the goals we want to achieve, and how we plan them.

III. Associationism was the dominant philosophy of human mental processes.

A. It is believed that mental life can be explained in terms of two basic
components: ideas and associations, and was traced back to the three laws of
learning and memory by the Greek philosopher, Aristotle.

1. Doctrine of association by contiguity is when events or objects that occur
in the same time or space are associated in memory, so that thinking of
one will cause the thinking of the other.
2. Doctrine of association by similarity is when events or objects that are
similar tend to be associated in memory
3. Doctrine of association by contrast is when events or objects that are
opposites tend to be associated in memory.

IV. Thinking is subjected to an empirical study due to the fact that it involves association
of ideas with images.

V. In the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, Hobbes and Locke combined the
reformulated principle of associationism and the three laws of Aristotle to create their
theory of mental life.

A. Atomism is the association between two specific ideas.
B. Mechanization is the process of thinking where in you move from one idea to
another through associations
C. Empiricism explains that all knowledge came from sensory experience where
in the mind began as a blank slate and is filled up with experiences.
D. Imagery states that thinking is the automatic movement from one point to
another along mental paths and since that it involves sensory experience, it
must involve imagery.

VI. Otto Selz developed a theory independent of images and association.

A. Selz argued that the unit of thought is based on directed associations rather
than the simple associations of the associationist theory, wherein he achieved
a fundamental insight to the requirement of memory.
B. Selz argued that in order to understand a problem, you must for structure with
givens and goals.
C. Selz argued that thinking involves testing and carrying out appropriate
operation.
Thinking tasks
VII. Inductive reasoning examines the idea that thinking involves forming and testing
hypotheses.
VIII. Deductive reasoning how people drew conclusion from premises.

Decision making

IX. Decision making is the thinking we do when we choose an action, including both the
decision that could affect the decision maker and the decisions that could affect
others, and planning with the emphasis on choosing ones personal goals.

X. Everyday thinking occurs within the natural context of peoples lives and practical
problem-solving is contextualized where in people invent effective problem-solving
strategies for use within specific practical solutions.

A. Problem-solvers invented new ways of solving problems that differed from
school-taught methods.
B. Problem-solvers invented new ways of representing problems that differed
from school-taught methods.


XI. Conclusion: Thinking is intricately woven with the context of the problem to be
solved and the decisions that determine the course of our future lives are frightening
for each one of us can choose only one of the paths open to us, but we all make these
decisions, with or without thinking.