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Chapter 7 (Thinking) of the Class 11 NCERT Psychology textbook describes the nature of thinking and reasoning, demonstrates an understanding of cognitive processes involved in problem-solving and decision-making, explains the nature and process of creative thinking along with ways to enhance it, explores the relationship between language and thought, and describes the process of language development and its usage. This blog will provide you with exercises along with their solutions, which will help you understand the concepts more easily.
Contents
Explore Notes of Class 11 Psychology
NCERT Solutions Class 11 Psychology Chapter 7: Thinking
Below, we have provided the exercises from NCERT Class 11 Chapter 7: Thinking, along with their solutions
Exercises
- Explain the nature of thinking.
- What is a concept? Explain the role of concept in the thinking process.
- Identify obstacles that one may encounter in problem-solving.
- How does reasoning help in solving problems?
- Are judgment and decision-making interrelated processes? Explain.
- Why is divergent thinking important in the creative thinking process?
- How can creative thinking be enhanced?
- Does thinking take place without language? Discuss.
- How is language acquired in human beings?
Also Read: Theories of Learning in Psychology: Definition, Types, and Concepts Involved
Solutions
- Thinking is the base of all cognitive activities and is unique to human beings. It is an internal mental process through which information received from the environment is manipulated and analysed. For example, interpreting a painting involves not just observing its colours and strokes but creating new meanings and relating them to prior knowledge. Thinking includes abstracting, reasoning, imagining, problem solving, judging, and decision-making. It is mostly organised, goal-directed, and can be inferred through overt behaviour, such as watching a chess player plan a move.
- A concept is a mental representation of a category. It refers to a class of objects, ideas, or events that share common properties. Concepts help us categorise and organise knowledge for easier access. For instance, identifying a small, unfamiliar barking animal as a dog reflects how we apply existing concepts to new situations. Forming concepts aids in quick and efficient thinking by helping us sort and retrieve information with less time and effort, similar to arranging items neatly for easy access.
- Two major obstacles in problem-solving are mental set and lack of motivation. Mental set is the tendency to approach problems using familiar strategies that have worked in the past. While it can be useful, it often causes mental rigidity, making it hard to think of new solutions. Functional fixedness, a related problem, occurs when individuals can’t think beyond an object’s typical use. Lack of motivation also hinders problem-solving, as people may give up easily without putting in the necessary effort or persistence.
- Reasoning helps in drawing conclusions and making inferences from given information. It involves analysing and organising data to arrive at logical conclusions. Deductive reasoning starts from a general assumption and moves toward a specific conclusion, while inductive reasoning involves drawing generalisations from specific observations. Analogies are another form of reasoning that helps identify relationships between pairs of ideas, aiding problem-solving. Therefore, reasoning allows us to make sense of situations and arrive at decisions systematically.
- Yes, judgment and decision-making are interrelated processes. In judgment, we draw conclusions and evaluate events or individuals based on knowledge and evidence. In decision-making, we choose among alternatives after evaluating their costs and benefits. Both involve reasoning, knowledge, and experience. For example, choosing between psychology and economics as subjects involves judging interest, faculty efficiency, and future prospects. Although distinct, these processes influence each other and are often used together in daily life.
- Divergent thinking is essential to creative thinking because it involves generating multiple and varied ideas for open-ended problems. It fosters originality by allowing individuals to explore different perspectives, associations, and possibilities. Divergent thinking includes fluency (generating many ideas), flexibility (variety of ideas), originality (novelty), and elaboration (detail development). It enables individuals to think beyond conventional solutions and find unique, contextually appropriate responses to problems.
- Creative thinking can be enhanced by adopting certain strategies and attitudes:
- Being more observant and sensitive to surroundings and anomalies.
- Generate many ideas for a given problem to increase fluency and flexibility.
- Deliberately seeking multiple perspectives or interpretations.
- Practising brainstorming, where ideas are generated freely without immediate judgment.
These strategies foster imagination, openness, and exploration, which are necessary for developing creative thinking skills.
- Yes, thinking can take place without language. Psychologist Piaget believed that thought precedes language, as children imitate actions and solve problems before acquiring language. Vygotsky suggested that thought and language develop separately until they merge around age two, becoming interdependent. Language may influence, but is not essential for all thinking processes, especially non-verbal thinking such as visual imagery or movement-based thoughts. Thus, while language and thought are related, they can exist independently.
- Language acquisition in humans follows a predictable developmental sequence. Babies first cry, then coo, babble, and eventually speak words. At around one year, they use one-word phrases, moving on to two-word sentences by 18–20 months, and more complex sentences by three years. Theories differ on how language is acquired:
- Behaviourists like B.F. Skinner believed language is learned through association, imitation, and reinforcement.
- Chomsky proposed that humans are biologically equipped with a “universal grammar” and that language acquisition is innate.
Most psychologists agree that both nature (biological readiness) and nurture (environmental input) play important roles in language development.
Also Read: NCERT Notes Class 11 English Snapshots Chapter 4: Birth (Free PDF)
Download NCERT Solutions Class 11 Psychology Chapter 7: Thinking
Download the Solutions of Other Chapters of Class 11 Psychology
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