Inferential thinking: what is it and how to develop it?

This concept refers to one of the skills necessary for reading comprehension.

When we read a text, as well as when we look around us, our mind performs a series of activities or tasks that allow us to understand the content of the text beyond the explicit information we receive from it.

This process of perception and elaboration of information, which results in the production of a series of conclusions, is known as inferential thinking. is known as inferential thinking. In this article we will talk about the characteristics of this procedure, as well as the different types that exist and how to promote its development.

What is inferential thinking?

By inferential thinking we mean the capacity or ability to interpret, combine ideas and draw a series of conclusions from certain data or perceived information. Thanks to this ability, we can determine or identify certain information that is not explicitly found in the source of the information..

To do so, the person uses his or her own cognitive schemes and previous experiences, as well as a series of scripts and models provided by the culture itself.

This term comes from the field of psycholinguisticswhich attributed it to the second level that a person reaches in a reading comprehension process. It allows the reader to draw conclusions beyond the information obtained directly from the text.

This skill consists of a very complex process in which the reader performs a cognitive elaboration of the information obtained in the text, which is combined with the reader's own mental schemas to result in the representation of the meaning of a piece of writing.

However, this meaning given to the information does not come directly from the written words but from the reader's own cognition. This means that inferential thinking goes beyond the limit of comprehension of the information explicitly expressed in the textIt forces the reader to use his or her own scripts or cognitive schemes in order to reach such comprehension.

The components of this psychological process

In order to be able to carry out the whole process of inferential thinking, the person needs the correct functioning of three essential elements:

1. Sensory system

It allows us to perceive and process the information we receive through sight and hearing.

Working memory

It performs the processing and integration of the information while it is being received

3. Long-term memory

Its main function is to store the mental schemes thanks to which we can carry out inferential thinking.

In conclusion, the achievement of the correct functioning of inferential thinking not only helps us to understand information, but it also helps us to understand the world around us. All this without having to resort to the direct or explicit information it provides us with.

What types are there?

As we mentioned before, inferential thinking allows us to elaborate representations or cognitive images starting from sensory information and using our own mental schemes. using our own mental schemes. The product of this process is known as inference, and there are different types of inference according to their degree of complexity.

1. Global inferences

Also called "coherent inferences", they are the product of a process of inferential thinking in which information is organized in large thematic units that allow us to associate textual information with the information in our memory.

This means that the reader elaborates a series of conclusions or general resolutions as a result of the text as a whole that has just been read.

An example of global inferences can be found in the understanding of the moral of a story or when we think about the intention of the writer of the work.

2. Local inferences

Also known as cohesive inferences, these inferences help us to understand and draw conclusions from help us understand and draw conclusions from a text while we are reading it.. In them, interpretations are made based on specific information of a paragraph or specific sentence,

Thanks to them we can give meaning to the information read, during the same moment of reading.

3. Post-reading inferences

This type of inference occurs once the person has finished reading the text and its main function is to understand the reason for certain events or facts reported in the text.

For example, Inferences refer to the interpretation of some causal consequences that may appear in the narration. that may appear in the narrative. That is, the person can understand the reason for the specific events that occur in the text.

How can we develop it?

Since inferential thinking is a skill, it develops throughout a person's life and, as such, it is susceptible to training and development through a series of techniques or strategies.

This ability can already be observed in children as young as three years old.. Therefore, from this age onwards, we can promote the development of inferential thinking and thus favor both the child's reading comprehension and the understanding of what is going on around him/her.

To do this, we can use some tools or strategies specially designed to develop this skill. However, as it is a gradual progress, we will have to take into account the child's developmental level and adapt these techniques to their capabilities.

Some of the tools that favor inferential thinking are:

1. Choosing appropriate texts

The choice of texts whose level of difficulty is appropriate for the child's abilities is essential as a first step in developing inferential thinking.

Texts should provide a small challenge for the reader. for the reader. That is to say, that they can give rise to a certain level of inference but without being too complicated, since otherwise it can generate feelings of frustration or boredom.

2. Ask questions about the text

Elaborate questions about the text that require a certain degree of inference, i.e., do not ask about things that are found in the text, but do not ask about things that are found in the text, do not ask about things that are explicitly stated in the text, and ask the learner to make inferences from the text.Ask the student to make his or her own observations and draw conclusions about the narrative.

3. Making predictions

Another option is to ask the child to try to predict what will happen next while reading. Ask the child to develop his or her own theories and hypotheses and explain the basis for these conclusions.

4. Learning by modeling

Finally, in younger or less able children, the educator can model differential thinking. To do so, the child should describe the mental process he/she is performing, thus providing the child with an example of a pattern that he/she can imitate.