Psychology of Thinking (Psychology of Emotions, Motivations and Actions)

196 Pages·2010·2.3 MB·English

by  David A. Contreras

PSYCHOLOGY OF EMOTIONS, MOTIVATIONS AND ACTIONS

P T
SYCHOLOGY OF HINKING
No part of this digital document may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or
by any means. The publisher has taken reasonable care in the preparation of this digital document, but makes no
expressed or implied warranty of any kind and assumes no responsibility for any errors or omissions. No
liability is assumed for incidental or consequential damages in connection with or arising out of information
contained herein. This digital document is sold with the clear understanding that the publisher is not engaged in
rendering legal, medical or any other professional services.
P E ,
SYCHOLOGY OF MOTIONS
M A
OTIVATIONS AND CTIONS

Additional books in this series can be found on Nova‘s website at:

https://www.novapublishers.com/catalog/index.php?cPath=23_29&seriesp
=Psychology+of+Emotions,+Motivations+and+Actions

Additional E-books in this series can be found on Nova‘s website at:

https://www.novapublishers.com/catalog/index.php?cPath=23_29&seriespe=
Psychology+ of+Emotions,+Motivations+and+Actions
PSYCHOLOGY OF EMOTIONS, MOTIVATIONS AND ACTIONS

PSYCHOLOGY OF THINKING

DAVID A. CONTRERAS
EDITOR

Nova Science Publishers, Inc.
New York
Copyright © 2010 by Nova Science Publishers, Inc.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval
system or transmitted in any form or by any means: electronic, electrostatic, magnetic,
tape, mechanical photocopying, recording or otherwise without the written permission
of the Publisher.
For permission to use material from this book please contact us:
Telephone [phone]; Fax [phone]
Web Site: http://www.novapublishers.com

NOTICE TO THE READER
The Publisher has taken reasonable care in the preparation of this book, but makes no
expressed or implied warranty of any kind and assumes no responsibility for any errors
or omissions. No liability is assumed for incidental or consequential damages in
connection with or arising out of information contained in this book. The Publisher
shall not be liable for any special, consequential, or exemplary damages resulting, in
whole or in part, from the readers‘ use of, or reliance upon, this material. Any parts of
this book based on government reports are so indicated and copyright is claimed for
those parts to the extent applicable to compilations of such works.
Independent verification should be sought for any data, advice or recommendations
contained in this book. In addition, no responsibility is assumed by the publisher for
any injury and/or damage to persons or property arising from any methods, products,
instructions, ideas or otherwise contained in this publication.
This publication is designed to provide accurate and authoritative information with
regard to the subject matter covered herein. It is sold with the clear understanding that
the Publisher is not engaged in rendering legal or any other professional services. If
legal or any other expert assistance is required, the services of a competent person
should be sought. FROM A DECLARATION OF PARTICIPANTS JOINTLY
ADOPTED BY A COMMITTEE OF THE AMERICAN BAR ASSOCIATION AND
A COMMITTEE OF PUBLISHERS.

LIBRARY OF CONGRESS CATALOGING-IN-PUBLICATION DATA
Contreras, David A.
Psychology of thinking / editor, David A. Contreras.
p. cm.
Includes index.
ISBN 978-1-61728-029-0 (eBook)
1. Thought and thinking. I. Title.
BF441.C66 2010
153.4'2--dc22 2010012270

Published by Nova Science Publishers, Inc.  New York
CONTENTS

Preface vii
Chapter 1 Learning to Teach the Cognitive Skills and
Emotional Dispositions Required in the 21st Century 1
Christy Folsom
Chapter 2 A Rational Expectations Analysis
of Decision-Making 39
Andrea Migone
Chapter 3 Structuring Thought: An Examination of Four
Methods 65
Michael J. Hogan and Zachary Stein
Chapter 4 Obstacles: Their Impact on Thinking and Beyond
Thinking 97
Janina Marguc, Gerben A. van Kleef
and Jens Förster
Chapter 5 New Thinking about Thinking and Ramifications
for Teaching 121
Terence Lovat
Chapter 6 New Thinking for Social Marketing 139
Susana Marques
Chapter 7 Translating Design Thinking for Scientists 155
Cindy Beacham
Index 171

PREFACE

Psychology has long influenced our thinking about teaching and learning.
However, earlier influences of psychology on education were more about not
thinking than what we now consider to be the thinking processes necessary for
life and work in the 21st century. The narrow boundaries of behaviorism have
given way to the complexities of critical thinking, creativity, analysis,
connection making and the self-management skills of decision-making,
planning and self-evaluation. This book focuses on raising the awareness of
scientists and other readers to a form of thinking called design thinking, as
well as major findings regarding the affective, motivational and cognitive
consequences of insurmountable obstacles and their impact on the thinking
process.
Chapter 1- Psychology has long influenced our thinking about teaching
and learning. However, earlier influences of psychology on education
(Thorndike, Watson, Pavlov, and Skinner) were more about not thinking than
what we now consider to be the thinking processes necessary for life and work
in the 21st century. The narrow boundaries of behaviorism have given way to
the complexities of critical thinking, creativity, analysis, connection making
and the self-management skills of decision making, planning, and self-
evaluation. Additionally, our 21st century world requires social-emotional
skills that support collaboration, respectful communication, and an openness to
diversity. These expanded skills are expected to be part of each student‘s
education.
This new landscape of teaching and learning goes beyond traditional
practice and requires different and strenuous intellectual demands. Learning
new ways of thinking and teaching presents a challenge for teachers who have
more traditional classroom expectations. Since few have experienced this kind
viii David A. Contreras
of learning in their own schooling, teachers and teacher educators need
opportunities to gain understanding and mastery of these complex processes.
In addition, and often more difficult, is learning to design and implement daily
lesson plans and long-term units that consistently provide opportunities for
students to develop complex thinking processes.
Teachers and teacher educators need a framework that clarifies the
thinking and emotional components that form the infrastructure of 21st century
learning and teaching. The TIEL Curriculum Design model provides such a
framework making these complex thinking and emotional processes accessible
to teachers and to their students. TIEL, an acronym for teaching for intellectual
and emotional learning, is a synthesis of the thinking operations from
Guilford‘s Structure of Intellect theory and Dewey‘s writings on qualities of
character.
This chapter will address three questions: How has psychology influenced
education during the last century? Why is there so little evidence of the
integration of thinking and social-emotional learning into the curriculum and
instruction in many classrooms? What is the TIEL model and how can it help
pre-service and in-service teachers design learning experiences that integrate
thinking skills and emotional learning into daily classroom curriculum?
Chapter2- I argue that policy-makers rather than using a single decision-
making modle employ, depending on the situation, flexible decision strategies.
The flexibility of Rational Expectations allows for the modeling of 'forward
thinking', informed actors, and gives them the ability (and potential) to act
strategically by modifying their policy according to the changes in the issue at
hand. Incrementalism, synopsis and punctuated equilibrium can be modelled
using rational expectations and policy-makers can employ them according to

their needs and preferences.
Chapter3- A fundamental thinking skill is the ability to see the structure of
thought. Awareness of the structure of thought begins with an intuitive
description of the elements and relations that constitute a decision-making
process and a description of the relationship between the structure and
function of thought. Regardless of how one judges the quality of everyday
decisions in light of the goals being pursued, it is useful, as a first step, to
construct a structural map of everyday decision-making processes. This allows
for objective analysis of everyday decisions and it enhances structural
awareness in those who map the thinking process and in those who read the
maps. The same applies to scientific thinking. Scientists advocate a particular
position in the academic field and explicit mapping of their arguments
enhances structural awareness, critical comparison and evaluation, and
Preface ix
communication in the field. Overall, the mapping of decision making is a
worthwhile goal, a skill that is becoming increasingly prominent and even
necessary as part of expert decision making in many fields of applied science.
This chapter presents a case for the cultivation of graphicacy skills in this
context. We describe four thought mapping techniques that offer considerable
power and potential to elucidate and enhance thinking and decision making
abilities. We suggest that technological advances may allow us to merge
various different though mapping techniques and further enhance an
interdependent set of graphicacy skills that may help to support decision
making and adaptive action in context.
Chapter4- People encounter myriads of obstacles throughout their lives.
Those can be big or small, such as a fallen tree blocking the road to work or
life circumstances that make it hard for an adolescent to obtain a university
degree. What are the effects of such obstacles? Could it be that obstacles have
an impact beyond the very task or goal people with which they interfere? The
present chapter reviews major findings regarding the affective, motivational,
and especially cognitive consequences of insurmountable obstacles on the one
hand and potentially surmountable obstacles on the other hand. It also
introduces new findings that show how obstacles influence the more basic
ways in which people perceive and conceptually process information from
their environment. Finally, it highlights possible directions for future research
and discusses the role of people‘s cognitive responses for dealing with life‘s
obstacles.
Chapter5- Since the early 1990s, there has been a concentration of effort
aimed at maximizing student achievement in school education and rectifying
the debilitating effects of failure. In 1994, a Carnegie Corporation Taskforce
on Student Achievement drew on new research in a variety of fields, including
the emerging 'new neurosciences', to refute the narrow assumptions and
findings of conventional educational research and to assert that effective
learning requires a response that is as much about affect and social dynamics
as about cognition. In so doing, it challenged the erstwhile dominant thinking
about thinking and its ramifications for teaching, re-defining learning to
incorporate into the notion of 'intellectual depth' matters of communicative
competence, empathic character and self-reflection as being at least as
significant to learning as the indisputably important technical skills of recall,
description, analysis and synthesis. The chapter will explore the research
findings of the new neurosciences and the implications of their new thinking
about thinking for effective teaching. It will draw especially on a range of
research insights into effective teaching based on application of these findings,