Stating that humans are in a learning process from the moment they are born, Prof. Dr. Nevzat Tarhan, “Learning is the ability to adapt to new situations. Learning is being able to create a new possibility among the answer possibilities in life. If a person tries to content themselves only with what they have, they cannot learn.” said. Stating that people learn through reasoning, Prof. Dr. Nevzat Tarhan, “People learn by taking lessons from the mistakes of others. We need to incorporate this learning method into our lives. The most beautiful and intelligent method is to benefit from the experiences of others.” he said.
Üsküdar Üniversitesi Founding Rector, Psychiatrist Prof. Dr. Nevzat Tarhan, made evaluations regarding thinking skills.
Developing theory of mind exists only in humans
Prof. Dr. Nevzat Tarhan stated that humans are always thinking beings, “As a being that always thinks and speaks, accounting for oneself is a fundamental element of humans. Indeed, for a person to think, they need their own mental theories in addition to the information received through the 5 senses. For example, two new concepts, theory of mind and theory-theory, have been added to these by neuroscience.”
In theory of mind, there is this: For example, individuals with advanced autism or some diseased individuals who cannot empathize cannot form a theory of mind. If you gather 1-year-old children in a room and one sits down and cries, they all start crying at the same time. Why? They cannot understand the difference between someone else's pain and their own pain, they cannot empathize. They cannot develop a theory of mind and make that distinction by saying, ‘That's their pain. My body doesn’t hurt, but theirs does.’ This is developing a theory of mind. This exists only in humans, not in other living beings. It does not develop in cases of advanced autism.” he said.
Those who cannot develop thinking skills miss the era
Noting that thinking skills are very important for a person to know themselves in life and make healthy decisions, Prof. Dr. Nevzat Tarhan said, “The weakest aspect of Eastern culture, which we are also a part of, is that we are not a thought-based society, but an emotion-based society. We get carried away by the people we care about, to whom we attach our hearts, and whom we love, but this era is the information age. In the 21st-century information age, the greatest skill is thinking skill. When you cannot develop this skill, you miss the era. When you miss the era, people become able to manage you with information and data. That's why we must value critical thinking. As a university, after 2016, we made critical thinking a compulsory course in some departments. Those who do not use critical thinking believe what they hear. They believe the first thing that comes to their mind and make mistakes. Therefore, after learning general thinking, it is necessary to know special thinking techniques.” he said.
Associative thinking involves processing into memory
Noting that a concept called metacognitive thinking, also known as meta-cognitive thinking, is emphasized today, Prof. Dr. Nevzat Tarhan said, “Beyond critical thinking is deep thinking. Deep thinking has a characteristic: a person experiences something, thinks something, and makes a decision, but deep thinking is also associative thinking. It establishes connections between events, records the connection, and accepts the thought in that way. In such situations, it processes that thought into memory, saving it to memory.” he said.
Memory's 6 loyal guardians: 5 W 1 H
Noting that there are some methods for acquiring deep thinking skills, Prof. Dr. Nevzat Tarhan said, “Whoever uses the deep thinking method applies the 5 W 1 H rule. Communicators actually discovered this, and a brain surgeon confirmed it with scientific evidence. Deep thinking has a rule that is well-known but not often applied. A thought comes to your mind, or you hear something from someone. Communicators have a double-check method. They verify it from a second source before reporting the news. When you ask the questions of who said it, what they said, where they said it, when they said it, how they said it, six networks in the brain are used. When information is recorded in the brain with these six networks, it becomes permanent. Thanks to the questions of who said that information, where it was said, and how it was said, that memory can recall the information. It receives permanent information; the 5W1K’s have been called the six loyal guardians of memory. This is a very important method in deep thinking, or rather, in metacognitive thinking, like six loyal guardians recording information into memory.” he said.
Metaverse: A new universe is being created
Prof. Dr. Nevzat Tarhan stated that one of the prominent concepts today is the metaverse, “Where did Metaverse come from? Meta means beyond, verse means universe. Metaverse means thinking beyond the universe. Currently, a new virtual universe called metaverse is being created by using thinking beyond the universe, that is, metacognitive thinking, thinking beyond the mind. This is entirely a product of the human brain's imagination. It is an extremely important and interesting concept. In the near future, in the coming years, just as the mobile phone is a part of our lives now, the metaverse will also be a part of our lives. Let’s not be objects in such universes, let’s be subjects. Therefore, we also need to contribute to metacognitive thinking, universal thinking, and science.” he said.
We are trying to address the psychology of wisdom
Prof. Dr. Nevzat Tarhan stated that as the Turkish nation, we have values such as Anatolian wisdom, “Our essence lies above the values that developed civilizations are currently trying to find, examine, seek, and question. As a university, we have embarked on an effort to discover and present these values to them as a scientific methodology. Hopefully, we will succeed. Here, we are trying to address the psychology of wisdom.” he said.
Einstein thought metacognitively
Stating that “the 20th century was the age of information, the 21st century must be the age of wisdom,” Prof. Dr. Nevzat Tarhan said, “If it is not, there will be no global peace, no global tranquility. This can only happen by discovering metacognitive thinking, thinking beyond the mind. One needs to think existentially. A person who thinks metacognitively, for example, Einstein, thought metacognitively. When asked how he made these discoveries, he said, ‘I found them by thinking, "If I were in God’s place, how would I create this universe?"’ This is thinking about thinking, it is metacognitive, a super-mental thought.” he said.
Future investment should be made by focusing on today
Prof. Dr. Nevzat Tarhan stated that strategic thinking develops with experience over the years, “Young people haven't learned strategic thinking yet. The younger generation lives with a philosophy of life like ‘live in the moment’. However, you also know that the truth is not 'live the moment', but 'live in the now'. It means think about the past, complete the future, but live today. It does not mean live ignoring the past and the future. Some philosophers, to avoid getting stuck in the past or to protect themselves from ‘what ifs’ and ‘I wish’ in the future, write ‘today’ on a marble slab and place it on their desks. When they get lost in the past, they immediately look at the ‘today’ inscription and do their current work. By focusing on today, you are making an investment in the future.” he said.
Thinking is a skill, it is learned and developed later
Noting that strategic thinking involves a strategic goal, a purpose, and an abstract goal, Prof. Dr. Nevzat Tarhan said, “How do you want to be remembered when you come to the end of your life, what kind of life do you want to leave your mark on, and what kind of person do you want to be? What do you want to be written on your tombstone? This is a person's abstract goal. After that, concrete goals come. Intermediate goals like 'I want to have a house, I want to have a car, I want to be famous, I want to be rich' come. All of these should be in the second place in the goal pyramid after the abstract goal. There is also a saying in Kutadgu Bilig: ‘Happiness is like a colorful shadow; if you try to catch it, it flees, and you cannot catch it.’ It is the same in life. You will not aim for happiness in life. You will set your goal, do your work, and happiness will come by itself. Happiness, like a colorful shadow, follows you from behind. If a person wants to be both successful and happy, they need to determine their importance and priorities well. This is possible with thought management and thinking skills. Thinking is a skill; it is not a talent. It is learned and developed later.” he said.
Learning is the ability to adapt to new situations
Prof. Dr. Nevzat Tarhan stated that humans are in a learning process from the moment they are born, “Living beings other than humans are born having already learned. Only humans are born prematurely into the world, born mentally and spiritually early. We can only walk at 1 year old, and become capable of managing ourselves at 15. But a duck can walk as soon as it hatches from the egg, a foal can stand on 4 legs as soon as it is born. Humankind is born to learn. We will come into this world, pass a certain test, and when we reach the end of our lives, we will have reached the end of the bracket according to our accumulated knowledge from this test. Therefore, learning is development. Learning is the ability to adapt to new situations. Learning is being able to create a new possibility among the answer possibilities in my life. If a person tries to content themselves only with what they have, if they are limited, they cannot learn. They will be at the same point after 30 years. Animals learn through trial and error, whereas humans learn through reasoning. Humans learn by taking lessons from the mistakes of others. We need to incorporate this learning method into our lives. The most beautiful and intelligent method is to benefit from the experiences of others. We advise young people to read the lives of important masters, people who have left a mark in history. We will be open to new experiences, and we will never fall into despair and pessimism. If we achieve this, discovery learning will emerge.” he said.