Thinking
Learn how humans think.
We'll cover the following
Introduction
We learned in the previous lessons that the brain acquires information, stores it in memory, processes it, and outputs a specific muscle movement. But how exactly does the brain process this information? How does it know how to respond to unfamiliar situations? Want to know about this amazing capability of our brain? Let’s dive in and figure it out.
Thinking
Thinking is the ability to make decisions by using reasoning and problem-solving techniques on any concepts we have.
There are two subdomains of thinking, reasoning and problem-solving.
Reasoning
Reasoning is the ability to use the information we already have to draw conclusions about a specific situation. Reasoning can be divided into three subdomains, deductive, inductive, and abductive reasoning. Let’s get into the details of each subdomain one by one.
Deductive reasoning
Deductive reasoning is the process of deriving logical conclusions from given premises. For example:
All humans are mortal. Robert is a human.
Robert is mortal.
The first statement is a rule. Second statement is a given case. From these two premises we can conclude the result that Robert is mortal.
Important note: The conclusions we derive must be true depending upon the logic of the given premises. It may or may not correspond to what we believe is true in this world.
Consider another example:
All dogs can fly. Dobermanns are dogs. Dobermanns can fly.
This a valid deduction based on the given rule and case but the rule is not the truth. Therefore, wrong rules or wrong cases can lead us to wrong conclusions.
Inductive reasoning
Inductive reasoning is the process of deriving the most probable generic conclusion from the given specific observations. It is used to infer information about unfamiliar cases by using familiar cases. For example:
Every time you consume gluten, you bloat. You have gluten intolerance.
The first statement is an observation. The first clause, “Every time you consume gluten,” is the case, and the second clause, “You bloat,” is the result. From this observation we have concluded the rule, “You have gluten intolerance”.
Important Note: We cannot prove the conclusion we derive to be true. We can only prove it to be wrong simply by providing an example that contradicts the conclusion.
🤔 Point to ponder
Why can we not prove our conclusion to be true?
Abductive reasoning
Abductive reasoning is the process of deriving the most likely conclusion from the given set of observations. It is used to infer a reason for an action or state by using given facts about the action. Let’s consider the same example we used in inductive reasoning.
You have gluten intolerance. You are bloated. You might have consumed gluten.
The first two statements are premises. From the given rule, “You have gluten intolerance,” and the state, “You are bloated,” we conclude the best possible reason is that you might have consumed gluten.
Important Note: The predictions we derive are unreliable. They are considered true until we have evidence to support another explanation.
In the above example, in order to prove that the prediction is wrong, we just have to give another reason, for instance, you consumed another food that made you bloated.
Comparison
We clear up our understanding of all three reasoning types by comparing them using a simple example. Look at the table below. The first two statements in each column are the premises and the third statement is the conclusion.
| Deductive (general ideas to specific conclusions) |
Inductive (specific observations to general ideas) |
Abductive (incomplete observations to most likely conclusion) |
|---|---|---|
| Rule: All mammals are warm-blooded. | Case: Cats are mammals. | Rule: All mammals are warm-blooded. |
| Case: Cats are mammals. | Result: Cats are warm-blooded. | Result: Cats are warm-blooded. |
| Result: Cats are warm-blooded. | Rule: All mammals are warm-blooded. | Case: Cats are mammals. |