Symbolic thought: what it is, characteristics and types

Most living beings are designed to react to what happens to them in the present, so their survival requires a perceptual process that is oriented towards the immediate.

Learning, the result of direct experience and years of evolution of each of the species (phylogeny), is responsible for forging this capacity, necessary for the continuity of the individual and its cluster.

The human being, however, has the ability to abstract objective reality and give it its own meaning, through the mechanism of symbolization. Through this we create, imagine and communicate with each other; while we explore what is hidden behind the curtain of appearances.

In this article we will talk about symbolic human thought, despite the fact that there has recently been an important controversy regarding the possibility that other species may have it.

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What is symbolic thought

symbolic thinking is the ability of a living being to think beyond the situation in which it is present

, thereby generating abstract mental content on which it projects its capacity for representation. In humans it has been described that, under normative development conditions, this ability begins from 18 months of age (coinciding with Jean Piaget's pre-operational phase).

According to Piaget, in this stage (which includes the period between two and seven years) the child begins to understand the role of others and their own, to create symbols in order to represent tangible objects and to trace the relationships that could exist between them. give yourself

However, the rationale for creating cause-and-effect patterns at a non-level level would still be lacking. immediately, so your brain will have to continue maturing until the next stage to achieve it (operations formal).

Through symbolic thought we can talk about what happened in the past or what we hypothesize will happen in the future., evoking memories and elaborating hypotheses respectively. Thus, we are capable of moving beyond what the senses capture, revealing a universe whose fabric is embroidered with the intangible.

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Symbolic thought in the human being

Next we proceed to detail some of the expressions of symbolic thought, necessary to understand the human being in its entirety. Language, culture, play, drawing (or painting) and mathematics will be taken into account.

1. Written and oral expression: language

The use of words is a basic example of symbolization, since the verbal keys with which we describe reality are not at all what they indicate, but rather their translation into abstract and agreed terms. Thus, when reading a book, one mentally accesses the scenarios that are described in its pages, but even if there is the ability to clearly imagine each of its passages, at no time are we physically present in them.

In addition to reading, symbolic thinking participates in a decisive way in writing. Every universe that is reflected on paper has been, first of all, created in the mind of whoever stops it with his hand.

Through the written word and the use of letters, which symbolically represent the sounds of speech (and these in turn real objects to which they refer), an abstraction process is configured for which this type of thought. The meaning of letters and sounds is arbitrary, and only given by social consensus.

What has been reviewed is applicable to the understanding of objects, but through language it is also possible to symbolize attributes or other intangible aspects, such as justice or goodness (which have an obvious component cultural). In this sense, fables describe stories that contain learning about issues relevant to life. according to the historical moment (moralizing purpose), and are part of traditions that are transmitted in a way intergenerational.

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2. Culture and society

The culture to which an individual belongs is based on the symbolization capacity of the human being. It is estimated that the cognitive revolution, from which we were able to build knowledge that did not depend on the immediate, happened at some point in the past (between 30,000 and 70,000 years ago). The first known representation is an ivory carving with a human body and a lion's head found in Stadel (Germany), which is considered pioneering evidence of our ability to imagine (and create) something non-existent.

When human groups were small, with tribes of just a few dozen subjects, it was easy to have knowledge about those who were part of them and their relationships corresponding. The ability of the human being to think in an abstract way allowed the expansion of social networks, thereby creating large communities that would require innovative methods to survive (such as livestock and agriculture).

It is not known exactly how it could occur, but the hypothesis of a genetic mutation in homo sapiens is postulated, which led to a cortical development (neocortex) of sufficient magnitude for the formation of thoughts and abstract concepts that would allow life in community. In order to unite ties between such a large number of subjects sharing a common space, stories and laws about abstract realities were elaborated that gave a greater sense of belonging. And from this, the big cities of today.

Culture is subject to a series of norms and traditions that are learned without the need for direct experience with them. For this, popular wisdom, the legal framework, myths and stereotypes are used; which are the cause of certain groups having more rights and/or duties (by lineage or other non-objectivable achievements). All of them are the product of symbolic thought, and obvious examples of how this can condition the destiny of the human being.

3. symbolic game

The symbolic game is very important for the development of the first social relationships, and an unavoidable opportunity to practice the uses and customs of the society in which one lives. That is why children frequently resort to such recreational activities, in which they act reproducing the roles of the adults with whom they live on a daily basis. It is one of the mechanisms through which society maintains its symbols, and even toys are designed for this purpose.

In the symbolic game, trades are represented or it is pretended to be all kinds of characters, often requiring the participation of at least two children. Properties are also attributed to inanimate objects (a box can become a mobile phone, for example), which requires cognitive resources such as analogy (equating two different objects through their shared properties, such as their shape or size) and abstraction.

This way of playing supposes a training of symbolic thought, which is located very especially in the frontal lobe, and allows the development of social skills necessary to successfully interact with the environment.

4. Drawing and painting

In Borneo (Indonesia) the oldest rock painting sample known today is located, dating from the year 38,000 BC. c. Although they are generally human handprints printed on the walls, there are also everyday hunting scenes and certain symbols whose meaning is unknown. These findings, beyond their undeniable relevance as pieces of art, help to infer at what point in history we began to think through abstractions.

And it is that drawing is a graphic representation of realities which, very often, are not present at the time of being captured. The drawing or color served for different societies to transmit a seal of identity and could record their characteristics. distinctive features, extending their legacy far beyond their physical survival (which often ended after periods of great famine, extermination, or disease). pandemics). A very recent example is found in flags.

In current times, the drawing continues to be used to represent ideas located solely in the mind of the performer. An architect, for example, makes use of his knowledge of physics and design to transfer to paper the idea he has had about a new building or other type of structure. And since this has never been built before (it is not a mere reproduction), it is a symbolic and abstract exercise that requires higher cognitive processes.

The same can be said of modern works of art, many of which do not reflect reality, but symbolic abstractions of it.

5. Math

Mathematics is a universal language. Although in their elementary forms they refer to a simple question of degree or proportion, the deep knowledge of them requires an enormous level of abstraction (through which to understand the tacit relationships that are observed in the nature). It is because of that mathematics is present in many of the sciences, such as physics or computer science.

Some mathematical operations cannot even be inferred from experience with reality. This is common in theoretical physics, which depends on the integration of knowledge about formulas and theories with the purpose of deducing hypotheses about how the universe works, without having the opportunity to observe them with their own eyes. Through it we deepen, from symbolization, where the naked senses do not reach.