Discursive and intuitive thinking: what is it and how do they differ from each other?

"It's elementary, Watson!" The phrase of one of the most famous literary detectives Sherlock Holmes sounded after he applied his method of deduction, however, some believe that the detective used induction. Both are forms of discursive thinking. It is possible that the English master of crime detection was proficient in both methods.

The concept of "discursive" comes from the Latin "discursus", which translates as "reasoning." That is, in the process of such thinking, a person finds an answer to a question of interest as a result of a dialogue with himself. He chooses the right key to the solution in the same way as a child acts when assembling a puzzle. Alternately "substituting" one or the other of his assumption, based on logical conclusions, the person makes his conclusion. And at the same time, both deduction and induction can be used:

• deduction involves the transition from general concepts to a particular case;
• induction involves moving from a particular judgment to a general conclusion.

For example, it is easy to guess that if a child has been quarantined at school, most of his colleagues sneeze at work, and there are queues in pharmacies, then an epidemic of flu or SARS has come to the city. However, such conclusions are not always so straightforward. Statements like “all men are goats”, “all women are fools”, “all children are capricious”, “all salesmen are thieves” and so on are also made on the principles of induction.

To avoid them, you need to act according to the following instructions.

• Collect information with a cold head... Don't attach your own feelings and prejudices to her.
• Analyze the information received. Perhaps it will be possible to deduce some patterns. Compare - find similarities and differences.
• Now we can conclude about the event, phenomenon or person of interest.
• Check the received data. Find support for your findings to arrive at a final verdict. To do this, re-examine the facts and circumstances, or simply observe what is happening.

Such techniques help not only to correctly assess the situation, but also to influence it. Discursive thinking can be useful both in everyday matters and in business.

Let's consider several situations. Your son doesn't want to clean up his room. You have told him more than once that he is unclean and demanded to clean up his six square meters. However, the cart with his socks, disks, books, notebooks, pants and T-shirts is still there.

Let's try to go from the other side: “Dear child, look how nice it is to be in your sisters' room. There everything is laid out on the shelves, they quickly find their things and do not stumble over various obstacles, isn't it time for you to create comfort? " Most likely, such a proposal will have much more success than comparison with a pig and orders given in the form of an ultimatum.

My daughter cried all day when you canceled your trip to the zoo because of the rain. Remember what you told her. Most likely, it sounded something like this: "We don't go to the menagerie - it's damp in the yard." If next time the "heavenly office" again gets in your way, the following wording is recommended: "Today strong wind and rain are expected, in such conditions it is terribly uncomfortable to walk, let's postpone the walk to the next weekend." You will see, my daughter will thank you for taking such good care of her.

There is no way you can sell a batch of soap, which was developed by the best specialists of your company. What do sellers say to buyers? “This is our most successful product. It contains only natural ingredients. It gives a wonderful aroma to the body and freshness to the skin. "

Flip the presentation. This soap will make the skin smooth, give an unforgettable aroma, will not cause allergic reactions, as it is made from natural ingredients, and, by the way, this is one of our most successful finds. Is there already a line at the counter?

For this, memory, observation, the ability to concentrate and analytical data must be well developed. In psychology, this type of thinking is called slow, while another type is considered fast - intuitive.

This type of thinking is mostly based on intuition. Connections are born almost instantly. A person, without hesitation, answers the question, relying mainly on his feelings. Intuitive thinking is considered to be a type of creative thinking. Sometimes it seems that this process occurs without the participation of logic, however, this is a bit different. A person also builds some analytical chains in his head, but this happens with lightning speed. Since in this case he is driven by something conceptual and intuitive. But this is also a certain form of rational thinking.

The solution appears to appear from above. Someone calls it a gift of God, someone believes that such an ability can be developed. One thing is indisputable - a person who has the ability to think intuitively must have a lot of life experience and have a solid store of knowledge in completely different areas. That's why even if this "gift" is not there, it can be developed.

It's never too late to learn, and even more so to develop intuition.In order to become a great fortuneteller, it is not at all necessary to study the tarot cards and the meaning of the patterns of the coffee grounds. You need to be able to compare facts and stop passing off wishful thinking, in other words - dexterity of the mind and no fraud. Here is a small list of tasks, after the completion of which it is quite possible to be considered a magician.

• Be the best in your profession... Try to understand all its intricacies. And then your predictions will not be based on a picture of the starry sky, but on personal experience. It will not be difficult for you to predict which product will enjoy the highest purchasing power, which services will be most in demand.
• Try to try on "someone else's skin" more often. What would Ivan Ivanovich say in this situation, what would he say about this? And now you can easily guess the next thought of the boss.
• Learn body and body language. Sometimes one movement of a person can say much more than what he says aloud.
• Be relaxed in your thoughts and actions. Don't drive yourself into a corner of fatigue. From there, not only the future, the present cannot be discerned.