Premises toward the development of a psychological theory of thought

Psychology in Russia: State of the Art. 2016.

Shadrikov V., Kurginyan S.

Thought is considered as a psychological concept that is associated with the mental being of an individual. It is apparent that a great deal of research has been focused on thought as an area of study. However, there is no psychological theory of thought providing an explanation for its nature and structural organization. The present study has emphasized that researchers have mainly looked at the ways this concept is expressed, rather than investigating what it actually is. Based on the studies of the functions of the psyche, mental processes and neurophysiological bases of mental activity, thought is identified as a need-emotion-intentional substance existing in the human inner world. In keeping with this understanding of thought the hypothesis that thought generation is caused by desire and experience (feeling and emotion) is put forward. An individual’s thought is linked to his behavior or activity motivation and is followed by emotional experience. The process of thought generation is regarded through the mechanism of behavior motivation. The primary purpose of this mechanism is to define the qualities of the external objects that serve for need satisfaction and functionality in individuals. Generativity is a feature of thinking related to an individual’s mental ability or frame of mind. From this the mentality is considered as the capacity of the individual to generate thoughts and work through thoughts. It is shown that the ability to generate thoughts and establish relationships within a stream of consciousness is characteristic of human intelligence. Some basic premises toward a development of psychological theory of thought are introduced.

Keywords: thought, mental processes, substantial thought, thinking ontology, function of the psyche

Publication based on the results of: Personality determination of thought generating (2015)