Deduction is a logical conclusion in the process of thinking from the general to the particular, by adding a particular premise to the general premise and obtaining a particular conclusion.

First of all, it is important to understand that in order to develop deduction, you need to develop your own: logical thinking, and imagination. And, therefore, all exercises for the development of the brain are also suitable for the development of deduction.

Let's take a look at specific techniques, exercises, and tips to help improve deductive thinking.

1. Deductive thinking is the ability to reason logically, build correct logical chains. To do this, you need to study the laws of logic, logical operations. It is also important to be aware of various logical errors in order to avoid them in the course of your reasoning.

2. Deduction - a method of revealing the truth used in the exact and natural sciences: mathematics, physics and others in the proof of axioms. Studying these sciences and solving problems especially contributes to the development of deduction. Exact sciences also help to structure thinking, to put things in order in thoughts.

3. Deepening knowledge in various fields. This is how you train yourself for deep, detailed analysis. Interest in the material being studied is also important here. At the same time, you need to be able to find intersections and connections in various sciences, apply knowledge from one area to another.

4. Deduction and induction are interrelated. Friedrich Engels wrote: “Induction and deduction are interconnected in the same necessary way as synthesis and analysis. Instead of one-sidedly exalting one of them to heaven at the expense of the other, we must try to apply each in its place, and this can be achieved only if we do not lose sight of their connection with each other, their mutual complementarity. "

Induction is a logical conclusion in the process from the particular to the general. In induction, we go from premises expressing knowledge of a lesser degree of generality to a new judgment of a greater degree of generality, that is, we go from individual concrete phenomena to generalization. In your reasoning, it is imperative to combine both methods.

5. Observation and study. Exercises in a very effective and efficient way to develop deduction. You can observe both casual passers-by and familiar people, making hypotheses about the causes and consequences of their actions.

Specific exercises for training: intellectual exercise "Forecast", "Find a spy." Going out for a walk, observe people, trying to draw conclusions about them - age, place of work, place of residence. You can do this exercise on social media as well. Look at the person's photos / profile on social media and try to get as much information as possible about him.

6. Learn to find typical features in each specific case, generalizing information and deriving patterns.

7. Logic and intellectual games. Chess, poker, logic puzzles, ciphers, educational computer games.

8. Development of divergent and convergent thinking. Divergent thinking is a method of thinking commonly used to solve problems and problems. It consists in finding many solutions to the same problem. Thus, by developing divergent thinking, you develop thinking flexibility.

Advice that will help you develop mental flexibility (quote from the book by Robert Green "33 Strategies of War"): if necessary, they knew how, discarding bias, to concentrate exclusively on what was happening around them here and now. After all, only then creative sparks flare up and creative and original ones appear. Life experience and theoretical knowledge are good for the time being: no matter how much you think in advance, trying to predict the situation, it will not prepare you for a series of endless possibilities, for the chaos of realities of life and will not teach you the art of improvisation. "

There are many exercises for developing the flexibility of thinking, a whole article will be required to describe them, but basically they boil down to changing the usual state of affairs (temporal, spatial connections). When solving problems, you need to try to look at the problem from different angles and look for various solutions. Thus, you can learn to find the best solutions for the tasks at hand.

Convergent thinking is based on a strategy of precise use of previously learned algorithms for solving a specific problem, that is, when instructions are given on the sequence and content of elementary operations to solve this problem.

9. Development of critical thinking. Try to critically approach even familiar situations and learn to find the best way out on your own, without relying on others.

10. Reading books. We all train and develop deduction when we read scientific or fictional literature with curiosity and pleasure. Yes, it is our desire and curiosity, like nothing else, that develops logical thinking in us. For more effective development and training of deduction, take a small interesting cognitive story, read it carefully, and then try to more fully convey the meaning of the story in your own words. Since you will not be able to develop a deduction method, if you read the story once and retell it, be sure to do it systematically, then the result will not be long in coming.

11. Training attention. You need to develop all types of attention: voluntary, involuntary and post-voluntary.

Voluntary attention is active, volitional attention, when we consciously regulate concentration on an object. To train voluntary attention, you can use pictures to test attention (pictures on which you need to find some elements).

Involuntary attention is an orienting reflex caused by changes, "fluctuations" in the environment, that is, the appearance of an irritant that was previously absent and at the moment is first affecting a person.

It is possible to train involuntary attention in conditions unusual for perception and consciously "catch" what attracted attention in the "borderline" spectrum, when fixation is still noted, but it is already clear that it is slipping away:
you can observe familiar objects with a lack of illumination;
you can "listen" to the work of involuntary attention when changing the parameters of acoustic perception (the sound of pleasant music - familiar familiar music - sharp unpleasant sounds);
deliberately fixate on the transitions between objects (pay attention to what attracts attention when moving to another type of activity, when moving the gaze from one object to another);
experiment with the strength of stimuli (pastel colors - bright juicy colors, quiet sound of music - musical sound of medium strength - loud sound).

Post-voluntary (post-voluntary) attention arises on the basis of voluntary attention and consists in focusing on an object due to its value, significance or interest for a person. Its appearance is possible with the development of the operational and technical side of the activity in connection with its automation and with the transition of actions into operations, as well as as a result of changes in motivation. At the same time, mental stress is removed and the conscious focus of attention, the correspondence of the direction of activity to the adopted goals is preserved, but its implementation no longer requires special mental efforts and is limited in time only by fatigue and depletion of the body's resources.

On November 16, 2017, Nikita Artyomov, an expert profiler of the Research Center for Corporate Security, published an article on the pages of the medium.com Internet portal about ways to develop human thinking, perception and increase mental abilities in order to get closer to the currently widely publicized image Sherlock Holmes. You can read his article at this link.

You can learn more about how to develop your brain and pump skills in order to significantly increase the level of your development in comparison with the ordinary average person, you can from the materials.

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Our most beloved heroes are talented detectives or lawyers. We all know authors such as Conan Doyle and Agatha Christie, who in their books created images of genius people using the famous deductive method. Perhaps, among all the grandiose detectives, such as Hercule Poirot, Miss Marple and others, Sherlock Holmes is a certain peak of a person who knows how to reason correctly and accurately, subtly observe and analyze facts.

The deductive way of thinking is widely used not only in popular works of literature and cinema, but also in our daily life.

It is imperative to be able to draw the right conclusions. To learn how to develop deduction, you first need to understand what it is and how it works.

What is deductive method and how does it work?

Deduction is a way of thinking in which the main conclusion is obtained from general reasoning to particular ones. Let us recall the situation that is described in the famous story about Sherlock Holmes "The Sign of the Four". The plot was as follows: a friend of Sherlock Holmes, Dr. Watson, decided to check what conclusions he can draw by observing fairly simple things. Watson gives Sherlock Holmes his watch and says: "What can you say by analyzing such an object as a watch?":

• seeing an antique watch engraved with the initials “G. W. ”, the detective realizes that they are family and, most likely, were acquired by Watson's father;
• at that time, watches were considered a precious thing and were inherited, according to the rules, to the eldest son. But Watson had a watch recently, although his father died many years ago. This means that Watson had an older brother;
• there are dents on the watch lid, therefore, the brother was sloppy (especially considering the importance of such a gift as a commemorative watch from a deceased father), etc.

As you can see, the famous detective was simply analyzing general facts and applying them to a particular situation, to Dr. Watson's watch. Interestingly, after the detective shared his conclusions with a friend, he was so shocked by the exact answer that he accused Sherlock of espionage. They say he found out everything in advance and is now taking advantage of the situation.

The reason for this reaction is quite simple. In his mind, Holmes did a fairly large analysis and made an equally huge logical conclusion. Therefore, knowing only the initial step of the inference (“What can you say when analyzing an object such as a watch?”) And the final result (which Holmes voiced to Watson), but at the same time not seeing each separate, intermediate step (the process of forming the conclusion: engraved initials - Watson's father, dents - sloppiness, etc.), the final conclusion can really be amazed.

To get the correct final result, it is necessary to justify each individual step of the inference so that, upon close examination, it can be seen that it was done correctly.

Ways to help you develop deduction

It is quite easy to develop deductive abilities no worse than that of any professional detective (fictional or real). Deduction is not something out of the ordinary, it is just a logical method. Therefore, for its development, it is necessary to keep the whole brain in good shape, and, therefore, not only logic, but also attention, memory, imagination. Learning to think quickly and compare facts will help you follow some tricks.

• Solve puzzles

Download or borrow any book from the library. It is important that these are not some difficult physical chemistry problems that you do not understand. Normal children's puzzles will do. Remember that being quick-witted requires knowledge in a variety of areas of life. Solving seemingly simple puzzles will teach you to think quickly, think outside the box and solve tasks.

Sherlock Holmes skillfully used not only the deduction method, but was also a very educated and intelligent person. And, therefore, in order to develop deduction as a famous detective, you also need to know and remember a lot. Incidentally, this is one example of inductive inference. To train your memory, learn the poems of your favorite poet, learn the main capitals of the countries of the world, the number pi ... Yes, everything that you have enough imagination for!

• Solve problems

If you are good at math, then start with simple arithmetic or geometry problems. Well-developed analytical skills will greatly facilitate the process of inference. Was biology your favorite subject at school? It doesn't matter either, there are a lot of simple biological tasks. The main thing is that you are interested, not too easy, but not too difficult. In addition, refreshing your school knowledge will never be superfluous, and a broad outlook is a faithful companion of deduction.

• Observe, study, analyze

To comprehend the method of deduction will help attention to detail, to every little thing. Try to always pay attention to things that seem insignificant. When communicating with friends, try to guess their emotions, mood. All people lie: someone just slightly embellishes reality, and someone is abusing trust. To learn to think like a detective, become a detective. Ask friends about the details, but not just like that, but really listen to them carefully. Compare facts you already know with new information. Just don't make everything paranoid!

• Expand your horizons

To use the deduction method correctly, you need to learn to draw conclusions. And this is not an easy task, especially when you know little. Try to read as many books, articles, magazines as possible. But remember, the outlook differs not in the number of books you read, but in the quality. If you thoughtlessly swallow information, it will be of little use. Read slowly and carefully, weighing every sentence, every reasoning or thought expressed by the author. A great way to broaden your horizons is to solve crosswords or scanwords.

• Watch the news

For example, you can choose a well-known politician or other media personality and completely follow her. What do they say about this person on one channel? And on the other? What information does he publish on his official blogs and social pages? Ask yourself what will happen next? What actions will be taken?

• Learn to think critically

Never take everything for granted. To develop the method of deduction, you must question every link in the logical chain. Your trump card is truth. If you draw deliberately false information in your conclusions, then no amount of deduction will help you. In today's world, where deception reigns all around, in order to get to the truth, you will have to put in a lot of effort. This method will keep your brain in constant tone, as well as develop ingenuity.

• Use induction as well as deduction

Induction is the opposite of deduction. Its essence is to come to a general conclusion from private conclusions. In order to master one instrument, one must fully master its opposite. Although calling induction and deduction as opposites would not be entirely correct. Rather, they are different parts that make up a single whole.

• Play PC games and watch TV shows

You heard right. Although, of course, some points are worth clarifying. Watch smart TV shows, documentaries, biographies of famous people. Play computer games that make you think: with a detective component, puzzles, quests. In addition, a lot of new, useful information can be gleaned from video games. By the way, there are a lot of games based on the works in which you are invited to try on the skin of the famous Holmes.

Why develop a deduction method?

Day after day, we have to deal with the proof of the truth of statements in a wide variety of situations. The deduction method is widely used in all spheres of our life and has great importance on the truth of certain judgments. Suppose you or someone you know has gotten into a bad story. An investigation is underway, there is some crime, the accused, detectives, lawyers, prosecutors, judges. One conclusion must be drawn: is the person guilty or innocent? To do this, one must be able to both justify the guilt of a person and prove his innocence.

The outcome, and, most importantly, the correctness of the final conclusion is of great importance for a person who finds himself in such a difficult situation. Therefore, it is extremely important, convincingly, convincingly and correctly from the available facts to build conclusions about his guilt or innocence. And this is just one example. There are many situations in which the truth of certain statements is important. That is why knowing and understanding how to develop deduction is useful to anyone.

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The next wave of popularity and interest in the image, created over a hundred years ago by Arthur Conan Doyle, is due to the success of the BBC series. It is the “next wave”, because since the appearance of such a character as Sherlock Holmes in 1887, his name has become akin to the concepts of “detective”, “logic”, “deduction” and is constantly mentioned. The directors of the series "Sherlock" perfectly transferred the famous detective to the present, but this is far from the only thing that fans of the genius of the search are happy about. Against the background of the commercial triumph of the series and a little earlier released full-length film, where Sherlock Holmes was played by B. Cumberbatch and R. Downey Jr.

Sometimes it is not entirely clear how a brilliant detective conducts an investigation and unravels secrets. Nevertheless, all his guesses and reflections are based on purely facts, from which Sherlock builds a logical chain, and she leads him to a solution. The skill is undoubtedly important, and will be useful in life for people of many professions. This raises the question, Holmes? And the answer is yes, with the amendment that the character is fictional and much in him is exaggerated. But there is also an amendment to the amendment - a real person inspired A. Conan Doyle to create such a hero. His name was Joseph Bell, he was a professor at the University of Edinburgh and was famous for his ability to guess the character and past of a person from small details.

Scientific background

“What Sherlock Holmes does is interesting and exciting, and there is nothing scientific in it,” - so can say anyone who believes in the uniqueness of a detective. And it will be wrong. A well-known detective is comparable to a skilled chemist who shows the class an experiment, as a result of which something extraordinary happens. Unusual for everyone, but not for the chemist himself, who read stacks of books and practiced reagents hundreds of times in the laboratory. This is a clear example of how the complex things that science usually deals with can be quite simple and interesting for everyone. So, at the heart of the skills and abilities that Sherlock himself called the deductive method is the most boring science.

In the future, it will be clear from the article what other requirements for the thinking process were applied by Sherlock Holmes, but for now we will deal with the categorical apparatus. The concept of deduction (lat. Deductio - deduction) means a method of thinking, in which a particular position is logically derived from the general; a chain of inferences (reasoning), the links of which are connected by a logical consequence. Simply put, it is the acquisition of specific knowledge from the general. But those who are familiar with the basics of logic and have read the works of A. Conan Doyle will rightly pay attention to the fact that Sherlock probably did not go deep into terminology, because from the point of view of science he used the inductive method. The fact is that induction is the opposite method of deduction, which is based on obtaining general knowledge based on a number of particulars. It was this that the detective used, first studying the evidence and all known data, and then drawing conclusions on the basis of this. But in order not to upset the admirers of the detective's talent, let us note that Mr. Holmes himself, according to his own statement: "Throw away everything that is impossible, and what remains will be the answer, no matter how incredible it may seem," he nevertheless used the deductive method, so that the logic is formally followed.

Trusted Sherlock Holmes and his intuition. He said: “Sometimes it is much easier to understand something than to explain why I understand it. If you are asked to prove that twice two is four, you may experience some difficulty with it, but at the same time you are absolutely sure of it. "

To learn more about the requirements of logic to the thinking process, we recommend that you familiarize yourself with it on our website.

Sherlock Holmes deduction

In "Study in crimson tones" Sherlock Holmes says: "All life is a huge chain of causes and effects, and we can know its nature by one link." This expression perfectly describes how the detective conducted the investigation. Undoubtedly, in life everything happens chaotically, and not according to a planned scenario (in the case of Sherlock - Conan Doyle), but even so, observation and other exceptional skills of a detective from Baker Street, everyone can try to develop. These skills and abilities are listed below.

1. Observation and details. Inspector Lestrade was often wrong because he didn’t pay enough attention to details or draw conclusions based on some of the most significant pieces of evidence. Sherlock Holmes, on the contrary, collected as much information as possible, analyzed all possible scenarios for the development of events and looked at them from different angles. This made it possible to discard insignificant options and, as a result, from the set, single out several or one of the most significant ones, which the detective checked and ultimately solved the next riddle.
2. . A detached face, unwillingness to answer questions and ignorance of people and events around - not a sign of a "bad" guy in Sherlock, as some of his fans would like to think. The fact is that, taking up the investigation, Holmes begins to "live" completely by him. He is all the time focused on the solution, all the time thinking about options and solutions. An introvert in Sherlock Holmes is just a mode of work in which he is completely devoted to the cause, discarding what gets in the way.
3. Interest and outlook. Remember how many types of tobacco ash Sherlock Holmes distinguished. And how skillfully he was by the particles of soil on the shoes, he could determine from which part of England a person had arrived. He was interested in literally everything, and many of those that pass by the attention of ordinary people. He was gifted and savvy in forensics, worked as a biochemist in a London hospital (at least at the time he met Dr. Watson, as mentioned in The Study in Crimson Tones). Sherlock played the violin and was well versed in music and opera, was familiar with several European languages ​​and Latin, fenced and boxed well, and much more. And often this knowledge helped the detective in his life and profession.
4. The palaces of the mind. When dealing with huge amounts of information, you need to be able to memorize it and, if necessary, accumulate it. For this, Sherlock Holmes used the "palace of the mind" method. This is not his invention, because synonymous terms are known - "palace of memory", "road of Cicero". This method was known even by the ancient Greeks, and in addition to the genius of the detective craft, the villain Hannibal Lecter used it. The essence of the method is in the associative method of memorizing information, in which each image (information, fact, knowledge) is tied to a specific object in a room (room, house, palace). It sounds rather incomprehensible, so we advise you to read the detailed article on the topic at this link. We also recommend that you go to our website.
5. Sign language. In addition to being observant and analytical, Sherlock Holmes was an excellent psychologist. Often he could understand only by observing his behavior. Understanding body language and behavioral patterns is important not only for identifying lies, but also for composing a picture of a person's habits and activities. To achieve at least minimal success in such practice, you just need to learn to notice details in people: habits, manner of speaking, dress.
6. Intuition. It was said above that sometimes relying on intuition, in this or that choice, Sherlock Holmes in the end came to success. Here we must pay tribute rather not to the developed sixth sense, but to experience, which in some moments suggests how to do the right thing. Although the statements are rather contradictory, an example of which is a long discussion about the question of whether intuition and its nature exist, the conclusion can be made as follows - only you yourself can draw a fine line between a presentiment of how to act and the action itself.
7. Practice. Sherlock Holmes himself compared his thinking to a train. He practiced constantly for fun, not just when he was investigating a crime. This made it possible to "accelerate the train", to keep oneself constantly in good shape, and when a worthy task was tucked in, Sherlock's intermediate thoughts "flew at full steam."

Analysis of examples from the works of Holmes and other materials for the development of thinking are available.
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Deduction - the transition from the general to the particular, the creation of a hypothesis and confirmation of the veracity by systematization, collection of information. The method makes it easy to approach the learning process, to perceive the general provisions, which are supplemented by the consequences arising from them. Deduction skills allow you to develop abstract and logical thinking.

Development of deduction

Teaching the method is a painstaking work on oneself, which is not particularly difficult. You can start learning and developing skills at any age. The approaches are used visual, verbal, and practical. Deduction is a scientific approach, learning requires the participation of a cold mind, all emotions must be discarded as an unnecessary component that interferes with the process. There are a number of rules that can be learned to help you understand how to learn the deductive method of thinking.

Observing the little things

Lack of attention to detail makes it possible to miss the main grain. Training comes down to daily training. This is facilitated by society, observing the clothes, gestures, and behavior of people around you will make it a habit to study particulars and develop observation. For ease of getting into the rhythm, you can set aside a period of time for this every day, for example, when traveling to work. It is necessary to enlist the support of an observant person with whom you can spend time on walks, studying the surrounding objects and people.

Memory training

In order to cover the many arguments, they need to be kept in mind. Memory training is like training the muscles, without constant effort the function disappears as unnecessary. This is evidenced by studies conducted on persons who were forced to interrupt their brain activity, for example, on vacation. The development of memory must be carried out by known methods. Memorizing the number of words by ear, verbatim repetition of the phrases read, listing the items proposed by the partner and many other techniques used for development. It is necessary to remember that there are several directions of human perception - auditory, vocal, visual, tactile. It is necessary to develop everything, while focusing on weaknesses. The creation of your own coding system and associations helps to simplify memorization. Memory development can be done at any time. This quality will also contribute to the growth of social status.

Recording information

With all the properties of memory, its possibilities are not unlimited. In parallel with the development of the level of memorization, you need to accustom yourself to take notes. The study of the issue can be facilitated by building graphs, tables, making lists with marks of the degree of importance. These skills allow the formation of the development of reproductive thinking, the essence of which is the formation of independence, flexibility, the basics of search activity. This allows you to find relationships and build logical or illogical chains of events.

Improving skills

A competent approach to many issues is developed on the basis of new knowledge, even in topics not related to social life, interpersonal relations. You can even use fiction. The acquired knowledge will allow you to develop imagery, impressionability and interest, which will be useful in training deduction. Particular attention must be paid to obtaining specialized knowledge. This applies to the study of psychology, physiognomy, sign language. The knowledge that can be gleaned from the development of topics will facilitate the conduct of an evaluative analysis of behavioral situations.

Putting knowledge into practice

In addition to improvement, it is necessary to start applying the skills, which in turn will help to give the right direction to the training. The bottom line is to create a problem situation or find it in real life. A hypothesis is put forward, ways of solving the problem problem with all kinds of approaches are created, the best option is selected. Further, a comparative analysis of the consequences of the situation and the proposed path of development of events is carried out. This method is called problem-search, its task is to develop skills.

Features of the deductive method

An important point is that when solving practical problems, participants in events do not always resort to logical inference. Sometimes people who find themselves in specific situations build their own special mental model in their heads. The basis of this action is the associative nature of subconscious thinking. Confirmation of this is the fact that different groups of people do not make the same decisions on one issue. The goal of a person with a deductive method is to find and evaluate the illogicality of an action using mediated inferences based on two or more judgments.

The difficulty of applying the method of deduction is to find the golden mean of the number of particulars that allow you to support the idea. Together, two problems are solved: to find a significant number of confirmations and to be able to select from the total number of particulars those few that are worth relying on. A large number of options will blur the problem and lead the solution in a different direction, and a small number will reduce the likelihood of making correct conclusions. The skills and experience gained in the trainings play a decisive role here.

Image: José Pineda1 (flickr.com)

Inductive and deductive methods of cognition

Induction is cognition from the particular to the general. For example, by analyzing private knowledge (individual facts), a researcher can come to general knowledge, incl. inference, hypothesis. That. from private knowledge - so-called. generalized knowledge. The more generalized (= more abstract) knowledge, the more useful and powerful it is, in general. Philosophy, for example, is the body of the most generalized knowledge. Science and technology, in relation to philosophy, is knowledge with an average degree of generalization.

It is precisely such (generalized and most generalized) knowledge that gives a person the most power (Force).

Induction, i.e. cognition from the particular to the general (generalized), in fact, is the main content of abstract thinking, i.e. obtaining generalized (= abstract) and more and more generalized knowledge from private ones. In general, this is how they arise and develop: art, science and technology, philosophy. Abstract thinking (induction) - determines the superiority of man over other forms of life on Earth.

Further: If induction is the main content of abstract thought, then what is the opposite method (deduction)? Deduction also refers to abstract thinking, because she, although she does not receive generalized knowledge from private, but operates with generalized (= abstract) knowledge:

Unlike induction, deduction is knowledge from the general to the particular (as well as from the general to the general, and from the particular to the particular). This is the acquisition of new knowledge, with a combination of existing general ones, or the use of general ones (and abstract thinking in general) to obtain new private knowledge from private ones. (Except, perhaps, only the most primitive conclusions from particular to particular, which can be carried out without general knowledge).

Further: Generalized knowledge, by the way, always contains private knowledge, or rather, a lot of private knowledge, combined into one common one. This is the power of general (generalized and most generalized, = abstract) knowledge. For example, the generalized knowledge that all trees are covered with bark contains associated private knowledge about each of the trillions of trees, i.e. trillions of private knowledge! (linked into one laconic and powerful common knowledge of all of them). Having learned that a particular object is a tree, we obtain, using deduction, the knowledge that our particular tree should be covered with bark (i.e., we receive knowledge from the general to the particular). But we already knew that all the trees are covered with bark. In fact, deduction from the general to the particular is the application of existing knowledge, obtaining conclusions (= new knowledge) based on the existing general knowledge ...

By the way, deduction was glorified, at one time, by everyone known, Sherlock Holmes, who had "outstanding deductive abilities."

One of the manifestations of deduction is also the method of cognition - extrapolation. For example, knowing that a new type of grass has been discovered, and knowing that all known types of grass are green, we can conclude that the new type of grass is green. We get thus. - such a new private knowledge: "a new kind of grass is green." Those. we did not check this, and did not see it, but extrapolated (applied) the existing general knowledge - to a new subject that was not included in the generalization. Received so. deductive knowledge taken on faith.