Concrete Thinking: What You Need to Know (and How it Differs From Abstract)

Want to know why concrete thinking is so difficult to define?

It’s because people use the term in many different ways.

Many will refer to how Jean Piaget used it.

In his work, the term essentially means that children interact with the world in very direct ways with very few concepts. As we grow, we develop and use a variety of abstractions to navigate the adult world.

Although this may be true, it doesn’t make abstract thinking the opposite of concrete thinking.

You can experience some incredible concrete abstractions, after all. Flags, for example, represent entire countries at an abstract level. Yet a flag is also incredibly concrete.

So what gives?

If you’re confused, don’t worry. We’re going to get to the bottom of things on this page.

That way, when people say things to you like “concrete thinking is literal thinking,” you’ll be able to respond...

“Yes, it is that, but also so much more.”

Are you ready?

Let’s dive in!

What Is Concrete Thinking?

The first thing we need to understand is that thinking is always about representing knowledge.

The world is a very complex place, but for the sake of simplicity, we can boil our experience of it down to two kinds information:

• Material
• Conceptual

When people cite Jean Piaget as an expert in concrete thinking, I believe this is a false attribution.

Here’s why:

Piaget was really talking about something called concrete experience.

In the first of his four stages of development, he discusses Sensorimotor development, which takes place between birth and the age of two.

During this stage, the goal of the child is to establish what is called “object permanence.” In other words, the child “remembers” that objects exist even when they are outside of awareness.

Concrete experience with objects is needed for this to take place.

It’s only during stage 2 that symbolic thought, which involves abstract thinking begins to emerge. Later, logical thinking and then scientific reasoning develop at different levels depending on the individual’s context.

The Real Definition Of Concrete Thought

I believe Maxine Anderson puts it best in a book called, Absolute Truth and Unbearable Psychic Pain:

“Simply put, the concrete state of mind relates to reality in terms of sensory perception and sensory experience, defining reality in terms of what the peripheral senses convey. More specifically it is a state of mind in which metaphor and symbolic thought are not available.”

To better understand this, try this exercise:

Place an orange in your hand. Think about how it feels in your hand and how it will taste.

Those are concrete thoughts. Although an abstract thought about how much the orange weighs or what country it comes from might arise, thoughts about feelings and taste are based on your concrete experience of stimuli in your immediate environment.

3 Concrete Thinking Examples

Other lists of examples claim that “concrete thinkers” don’t understand phrases like “it’s raining cats and dogs.”

Frankly, I’m not sure if that’s true. If some people can’t understand or relate to popular idioms, other issues may be involved, such as literacy levels, reading comprehension and sufficient practice with self-expression.

So with the immediacy of your physical senses in mind, let’s look at some more examples. These will help better illuminate the concrete thinking process.

One: Visible Thinking

Although Visible Thinking is a book for mathematics teachers, I believe its key points apply to all kinds of thinking.

The authors basically point out that even the most abstract and conceptual concepts can be made concrete by:

• Speaking them out loud
• Hearing others discuss them
• Drawing them on a chalkboard
• Writing about them in a journal

Memory expert Tony Buzan was a huge proponent of visual thinking. His style of mind mapping has helped thousands...