7 - Thinking Processes – Reasoning

Reasoning is the cornerstone of good decision-making. Reasoning is the process of forming conclusions, judgments, or inferences from facts or premises (the specific examples that are used as a starting point). Before reasoning is used, we must have cognition. Cognition is the act or process of knowing, understanding data; it is to become conscious of something. The reasoning process may point to a previous answer, a modification of earlier solutions, or a unique idea.

There are two types of reasoning: inductive and deductive. In each case the individuals sort the information they have at hand in two different ways to reach a solution. With inductive reasoning, the individual processes information by moving from specific individual cases to general principles. The thinker is moving from the known to the unknown. From the specific examples that are known, the thinker formulates a new hypothesis about what future observations may reveal. Inductive reasoning uses repeated experience with a particular situation to draw a conclusion about all similar situations.

The other type of reasoning is deductive reasoning. With deductive reasoning, the individual processes information by moving from general principles to specific cases or consequences. Deductive reasoning is essentially a matter of putting two and two together. The general rule is tested on separate occasions and its application to separate cases is judged. To make sense of our world, we notice patterns in the way things happen. 

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