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Thinking

Peter McGahey & Peter Pierro

The process Thinking encompasses all of the previous seven concepts plus other connections. When you do a computer search on the concept Thinking, you will be amazed at the amount of, the number of, and the breadth of the types of processes. For this blog, we will be focusing on the psychological types of thinking because they are the kinds that are commonly used in teaching and coaching.

Dictionary definition. Thinking is the process of using one's mind to consider or reason about something.

Psychological Thinking Thinking is a complex process in charge of transforming information to organize it and give it meaning. The modern study of thought began with Aristotelian logic – often exemplified by the Syllogism with this most famous example:

Major Premise: All humans are mortal. Minor Premise: Socrates is a human. Therefore: Socrates is mortal.

Cognitive behavior is the activity in which ideas, images, mental representations, or other hypothetical elements of thought are experienced or manipulated. In this sense, thinking includes imagining, remembering, problem solving, free association, decision-making, concept formation, and many other processes.

We explored and developed several types of psychological thinking and included them in our discussion of the seven previous blogs on perception, attention, learning, motivation, memory, language, and emotion.

In our research on this week’s blog, we were impressed with the work of Tatiana Azman at MindValley.com., so we decided to cite it here. We have replaced her experiential examples with our own Sports Examples.

We humans all have default types of thinking — seven common ones. Here’s where you can find some interesting information on it. So check out these different types of thinking, identify yours, see if you're happy with it, perhaps to improve it, or perhaps to change it.

Types of Psychological Thinking Here are the seven most common types of psychological thinking: 1. Creative thinking 2. Analytical thinking 3. Critical thinking 4. Concrete thinking 5. Abstract thinking 6. Divergent thinking 7. Convergent thinking

1. Creative thinking Creative thinking is synonymous with ‘thinking outside the box.’ It’s the ability to push past established thoughts, theories, rules, and procedures. In turn, it enables a person to conceive new and innovative ideas by looking at them from a different perspective.

Sports Example Dick Fosbury created a high jump action that was named the Fosbury Flop. It replaced the Straddle and Western Roll actions and enabled him to win the gold medal at the 1968 Summer Olympics.

2. Analytical thinking Those who think analytically have a structured and methodical way of approaching tasks. They are left-brain dominant individuals with the ability to take something that’s whole and separate it into basic parts to be examined. This makes them great at problem-solving.

Sports Example Observe a great coach analyzing an opponent’s game and then making the correct adjustments at half time so that her team wins again.


3. Critical thinking When it comes to critical thinking, a person exercises careful evaluation or judgment. This allows them to determine the authenticity, accuracy, worth, validity, or value of something. Rather than strictly breaking down information into parts, critical thinkers explore other elements that could impact the conclusions.

Sports Example It’s the last of the 7th inning, the game is tied 3-3 and the hometown fans are really excited. Coach Cindy Blake, State University softball coach has a runner, Karen, on 3rd base with one out. She calls for a time out. Let’s listen in:

“We’re going to use our suicide squeeze. Jeanie, (her best substitute batter) You’re going to be the bunter. Take the first pitch - act like you were going to hit it. Bunt the second pitch toward their 2nd baseman. Karen, you’re going in on the pitch. Jeanie, remember, if it’s a really bad pitch, foul it off - protect Karen.


4. Concrete thinking For a concrete thinker, it’s about practical thinking only, always literal, and to the point. They mainly focus on what’s in front of them,but not so much on what’s beyond their viewpoint. Idioms, metaphors, and analogies often go over their heads. “It’s raining men” — they’ll take it at face value and expect to literally see men falling from the sky. Sports Example It’s the first practice session for the Green Bay Packers after the Sunday football game that they lost. The offensive team played rather poorly and the defensive team’s performance was even worse. Coach Vince Lombardi stands up before the assembled team, raises a football up over his head, and says, “This is a football.”

5. Abstract thinking An abstract thinker is able to relate seemingly random things with each other and make the connections others find difficult to see. Their forte? Hidden meanings behind things and relate them to other items, events, or experiences. They usually can observe things as theories and/or possibilities. And they’re often curious about how everything relates to the bigger picture.

Sports Example We talk a lot about teaching our kids how to play, how to learn those skills, how to learn those rules. . . The process really is not what you’re teaching them - the process is what they are learning.

You have not taught until they have learned. – John Wooden

6. Divergent thinking Divergent thinkers take the path of exploring an infinite number of solutions that are the most effective. So, instead of starting off with a set number of possibilities and converging on an answer, they go as far and wide as necessary and move outwards in search of the solution.

Sports Example

The Wolves Coach Jenè Smith is sitting down with her team to discuss their upcoming game against the Lions.

“Happy Friday, everyone! How’s everyone feeling?”


“Awesome to hear everyone is feeling great! Love the energy in the room! Let’s chat about our next game against the Lions”

“Let’s GO!” - shouts Sally


“Okay. Okay. As you know our Game Model is important to us. It details how we strive to play during the moments of the game within each area of the field. Think for a moment of 2 or 3 critical tasks for your position …. Always good to reflect on our player actions.”


“Go ahead and write those player actions down in your journal.” says Coach Smith.


“Been doing some analysis and reflection on the Lions. I reviewed and analyzed the Lions last three games along with the other coaches. Uncovering a few trends in their play. As a staff, we put our heads together and came up with a few Game Ideas to capitalize on our strengths within our Game Model.”


“Who's ready to rock the Lions?!”


“Alright … break into your position groups and the coaches will begin sharing our Game Idea. Looking forward to seeing everyone execute against the Lions”.

7. Convergent thinking With convergent thinking, a person will focus on finding one, well-defined outcome. They’ll target these possibilities, or converge them inwards, to come up with a solution to a problem.

Sports Example Golfers are meticulous. Joe Pro’s tee shot is in the center of the 18th fairway, 185 yards from the pin. He needs to get a par 4 or better on this hole to win the tournament. He's going through his pre-shot routine. “Lie is OK. Slight right to left wind. Pin is in the back right side of the green. 185 yards slightly uphill. Green is pretty dry. Seven or eight iron. . . ?” He pulls his seven iron out of the bag, takes his stance, takes a final look at his target, and hits the ball.

A convergent thinker asks, “What’s the right answer?” A creative thinker asks, “What are the possibilities?”



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