Sherlock's method: how to develop observation, deduction and flexibility of thinking

Another wave of popularity and interest in the image created more than a hundred years ago by Arthur Conan Doyle is due to the success of the BBC series. It is precisely 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 brought the famous detective into modern times, but this is far from the only thing that fans of the detective genius are happy about. Against the backdrop of the commercial triumph of the series and the slightly earlier full-length film, where Sherlock Holmes was played by B. Cumberbatch and R. Downey Jr., interest in the method of deduction used by the consulting detective and the construction of logical reasoning in general increased, respectively.

Sometimes the way a brilliant detective conducts an investigation and solves mysteries is not entirely clear. However, all his guesses and reflections are based on purely facts, from which Sherlock builds a logical chain, and it leads him to a solution. The skill is, without a doubt, important and will be useful in life to people of many professions. In this regard, the question arises: is it possible to learn Holmes’ deductive method? And the answer is affirmative, taking into account the fact that the character is fictional and much of him is exaggerated. But there is an amendment to the amendment - A. Conan Doyle was inspired to create such a hero by a real person. 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.

Puzzles

Everyone probably knows the riddles. There are a great many of them and they perfectly develop logic. If you can't guess the riddle, don't rush to look at the answers. Try to logically come to the answer yourself, even if it takes you a few days.

Examples of riddles for logic and thinking:

Two people approach the river. There is a boat at the shore that can only support one. Both people crossed to the opposite bank. How?
Where does it happen that a horse jumps over a horse?
Sherlock Holmes walked down the street. And suddenly he saw a dead woman lying on the ground. He walked over, opened her bag and took out her phone. He found her husband's number in the phone book. He called. He says: “Come here urgently. Your wife is dead." And after a while the husband arrives. He looks at his wife and says: “Oh, honey, what happened to you???” Then the police arrive. Sherlock points his finger at the woman’s husband and says, “Arrest this man. He killed her." Question: Why did Sherlock think that?
The jar is on the table. It stands so that one half of it is in the air, and the other is on the table. What is in the jar if it falls in half an hour? And why?
A man went to sea and got caught in a storm. He was carried to an island where there were no men, and only girls lived. In the morning he woke up covered in ropes at some ritual and found out that they wanted to kill him. And he asked for the last word. After he voiced it, the girls made him a boat, gave him food and water, and sent him home. What did he say?
A 1st grade student solves this riddle in 5 minutes, a high school student in 15 minutes, a student in 1 hour, but a professor will never solve it. Riddle: decipher ODTCHPSHSVDD.
It is known that among the nine coins there is one counterfeit one, which has less weight than the others. How can you identify a counterfeit coin in two weighings using a cup scale?
Cat – 3, horse – 5, rooster – 8, donkey – 2, cuckoo – 4, frog – 3. Dog – ?
Three criminals met: the bugbear Belov, the burglar Chernov and the pickpocket Ryzhov. “The amazing thing is that one of us has black hair, the second one has white hair, and the third one has red hair, but none of us have the same hair color as the last name,” said the black-haired man. “And, really...” said the bugbear Belov. What color is the pickpocket's hair?
A father and two sons went on a hike. On their way they met a river, near the bank of which there was a raft. It can support either a father or two sons on the water. How can father and sons cross to the other side?

Answers:

They were on different banks.
In chess.
Because Holmes did not tell his husband the address.
Ice.
Let the ugliest one kill me.
One. Two. Three. Four. Five. Six. Seven. Eight. Nine. Ten.
First weighing: 3 and 3 coins. The counterfeit coin is in the pile that weighs less. If the piles are equal, then the fake is in the third pile. Second weighing: from the pile with the least weight, 1 and 1 coin are compared. If they are equal, then the remaining coin is fake.
Cat – “meow” (3), horse – “ee-go-go” (5), rooster – “cuck-ka-re-coo” (8), donkey – “ee-a” (2), cuckoo – “ku-ku” (4), frog – “qua” (3), dog – “woof” (3).
Belov is not white because of his last name and not black, since he answered the black-haired one. That is, Belov is red. Chernov is not black because of his last name and not red, since the red one is the bugbear Belov. Pickpocket Ryzhov was left with black color.
First, both sons cross. One of the sons returns back to his father. The father moves to the opposite bank to join his son. The father remains on the shore, and the son is transported to the original shore after his brother, after which they both are transported to their father.

Journaling

Sometimes you become overconfident and tell yourself that you will not forget such and such detail or information. This is mistake. Turning to your journal for help is a smart strategy. Writing down your thoughts and ideas on paper is a great way to remember information. Not only that, it helps you think, guide ideas, and compare concepts.

And don't forget that Holmes himself, as well as the scientist Andre-Marie de Ampere, always carried pen and paper. Ideas are free, they come and go as they please. Therefore, it is important to be ready to capture them when they come.

Scientific basis

Sherlock Holmes does amazing and exciting things, but they have no scientific basis!
This can be said by a person who is confident that the ability to solve crimes is based on some unique abilities of the hero. And he turns out to be wrong. When an experienced practicing chemist combines various substances, their reactions can resemble a magic trick - they change color and structure, explode, hiss... In general, a chemical experiment is like a real miracle. But this is for us, ordinary people, who are not aware of the formulas. For a scientist who has devoted years to research, read dozens of books and scientific papers, and received more than one burn from reagents, this is not a miracle at all, but the result of long and hard work.

But at the same time, complex long-term scientific developments can look like simple and interesting demonstrations bordering on entertainment.

It's the same with the deductive method - it seems like everything is simple. But in fact, this is just the result of scientific research, long and painstaking research, studying tons of statistical material... In general, boring science in its purest form.

Further in the article you can find out exactly what logical laws and other techniques Sherlock Holmes used in his work. But first you need to understand the concepts.

The name of the deductive method comes from the Latin word deductio, that is, inference. This means that in deduction the solution to a problem is accomplished by deducing the particular from the general using logical laws. The catch is that in reality Sherlock did not use the deductive method in his investigations, but the opposite method - the inductive one. It is based on the fact that the general is derived from the particular; the full picture emerges when studying the details. But this is exactly what the great detective did - he compared the evidence and all available information, completed the unknown details of the crime committed and received a ready-made chain of events.

Nevertheless, Mr. Holmes still, albeit nominally, used the deductive method, instructing his followers: “If you reject what is not comparable with the available facts, only one answer remains. And even if it seems impossible, it is right.”

Sherlock Holmes paid close attention to the clues of his intuition. He argued that sometimes it is easier to understand something than to explain to others how it was done. For example, you will have no doubt that two and two equal four. But explaining why you are so convinced of this will be much more difficult.

Strategist (introverted proactive deductor)

He's two steps ahead of you, which means you have to be three steps ahead of him.

Harvey Specter

People, unfortunately, are rarely able to calculate the consequences of certain actions, look into the future, and simply see beyond their own nose. A strategist is someone who knows how.

He can understand how this or that situation will develop, what factors may influence it, and how it all may ultimately end. He usually has several hypotheses that take into account different possibilities, and, accordingly, several solution scenarios.

In a strategist, the deductive type of thinking manifests itself most clearly. He understands the team's goals better than anyone and always focuses on the main thing, leaving minor details to others. Its role is especially important at the stage of problem formulation. He not only formulates local goals, but also determines the criteria for the correctness of the decision. When the task is set, the strategist participates in developing a solution scenario.

In the future, the strategist primarily performs the function of a critic. He is the first to notice that the team has deviated from the approved script and taken a wrong turn. At the same time, the strategist is not inclined to take any action to change course; his job is to warn.

Games

In order to develop deduction, you must train your memory daily. Not only books, but also various games will help you with this. Remember, there are a sufficient number of games that will help you in your daily training:

Chess is a logic board game for two opponents. Perfectly develops logic, intelligence, and attentiveness.

Playing chess perfectly develops intelligence

Checkers is a logic board game for two players on a multi-cell board similar to a chess board. Teaches you to think one step ahead, develops observation and memory.

Playing checkers improves your memory

Sudoku is a popular logic puzzle. A 9x9 square must be filled in with numbers according to special rules.

The game develops attention, intelligence, a three-dimensional view of the world, as well as divergent thinking.

Sudoku will help you master divergent thinking

Puzzles is a puzzle game that is a mosaic of many fragments of a picture of various shapes, which must be put together into a single image. Develops attentiveness, logic, imagination and trains memory.

Making puzzles develops logic and attention

“Memory” is a board game consisting of several dozen paired cards. The cards are shuffled and placed face down, then two are revealed at a time. When the pictures on them match, the cards remain upside down, but if the pictures are different, the cards are turned face down again. “Memory” remains the leader among games that develop visual and spatial memory to this day.

An exciting game that is truly useful for memory development

Snowball is a game involving a large number of strangers. It is also called a game for first acquaintance. The idea is that everyone present stands in a circle, and someone says their name first. Then, in a clockwise direction, the next participant says the name of the previous one and his own. The third will have to name the names of the previous two and say his own, and so on in a circle. You can also play the game with friends, calling not names, but, for example, the names of cities. Great memory training.

Games like these develop memory and attention

Card games - the well-known card game of “fool”, etc. In the game you not only have to memorize the cards, but also calculate the moves.

Although playing cards is considered gambling, it is educational

You can invent games for yourself. For example, take a picture, memorize the image for 15 seconds, and then on a piece of paper reproduce the list of objects that you were able to remember.

Explorer (extroverted proactive inductor)

With a sufficiently persistent search in the far corners of the University, one could find a specialist in anything. Including a specialist in finding specialists.

Terry Pratchett

The researcher is interested in the people who surround him, their skills and abilities. Like a communicator, he has an excellent understanding of people, not only knows them, but also feels them. But unlike a communicator, he is focused not on personal qualities, but on professional competencies.

The researcher understands better than anyone who is capable of what and how each member can benefit the team. He is always ready to suggest who should be entrusted with this or that task or who to turn to for advice in a difficult situation.

Might be interesting

“But the horoscope doesn’t lie!” The most common thinking mistakes that hinder your life

My Bad Thought Squad: Ten Negative Thinking Scenarios That Make Us Depressed and Procrastinate

The researcher loves to learn and strives to learn as much as possible from everyone with whom he interacts. He sees the hidden potential of people and understands in which direction it is best to develop it.

By nature, the researcher is usually open, friendly, and balanced. He instantly finds a common language with anyone. He has a broad outlook, he easily and quickly delves into any issue, but rarely becomes a deep specialist in a certain field - this is hampered by a variety of interests.

A disadvantage of a researcher can be being too demanding of people. He often understands their potential better than they do themselves, so they get the impression that he is going too far in his persistence. This often leads to conflicts and requires the intervention of the communicator.

A typical example of a researcher is the cat Matroskin. He knows exactly how to get maximum milk yield from Murka’s cow and even how to make Sharik benefit the joint farm. Interestingly, Matroskin is clearly the shadow leader of the team, although the formal leader is, of course, Uncle Fedor.

Master the Sherlock Mindset

We are releasing a new course that will introduce you to all the features of logical thinking, teach you how to apply logic in ordinary life situations and make you extremely insightful - just like Sherlock! The course consists of 10 lessons from which you will learn:

what are logical laws and how to apply them in everyday situations; how to negotiate effectively and deal with objections correctly; what you need to do to develop persuasion skills; how to use methods of deduction and induction so as not to miss any important details; what influences the decision-making process and how not to regret the choice made; how to build a competent argument and make consistent conclusions; what is critical thinking, how not to succumb to manipulation and think only with your own head.

Each lesson will be supported by exciting practical tasks!

Success is impossible without logical thinking. Only as part of the pre-sale, “Sherlock's Mind” can be purchased at a special price - only 1,490 rubles!

Thinking training

The most spontaneous answer to the question of how to become Sherlock might sound like this: “First, buy yourself a black coat.” If we use the terminology of the American psychologist, Nobel laureate Daniel Kahneman, who published the book “Thinking Slowly... Decide Fast” in 2011, this is a reaction of the so-called “fast thinking” - a system that is responsible for momentary knowledge of the world and cataloging instinctive sensations. “Fast thinking” reacts to circumstances instantly and very directly, as a result of which it often makes mistakes, forcing us to make irrational decisions.

But in order to think like Sherlock Holmes, you need to use a different system - “slow”. It is she, according to Kahneman, who is responsible for the deliberate and conscious formation of thoughts, decisions, conclusions and assessments. Like any function of the human brain, the slow thinking system can be strengthened and developed.

As in sports, training should begin with light exercises in small quantities, gradually moving to more complex and longer ones. To begin with, you can borrow several school textbooks from friends in different subjects: mathematics, physics, chemistry and other disciplines that involve solving problems. This will help not only to train the slow thinking system (after all, it is this system that is used in the process of intellectual activity), but also to broaden one’s horizons, restoring knowledge lost since schooling and identifying interesting scientific areas for study.

Corrosiveness is another quality required by a future master of deduction. To cultivate it in yourself, you need to find areas that truly arouse curiosity.

What exactly they will be, by and large, does not matter: an emotional response always pushes a person to a deep study of a subject, forces him to constantly increase the amount of knowledge, and with it the extent of the border of contact with the unknown, the existence of which invariably prompts the mind to new searches

Reviews and comments

You can rate the article and share your thoughts on the subject by posting a comment in the form below.

We also recommend reading:

Storytelling
The Development of Sherlock Holmes' Intuition
10 Commandments of a Profiler
Questions to help you understand more
Scientific knowledge: basics
Abduction: the search for truth through the expansion of consciousness
How and why to develop thinking
Intellectual superpowers
Traceology: when Sherlock follows a trail
How to create a colorful character
The best blog materials in 2021: thinking development, brain training, self-education

Key words:1Cognitive science

Sherlock Holmes Deduction

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

Observation and detail. Inspector Lestrade often made mistakes because he did not pay enough attention to detail or draw conclusions based on a few of the most significant pieces of evidence in his opinion. 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 unimportant options and, as a result, from the many, select several or one of the most significant ones, which the detective checked and ultimately solved the next riddle.

Concentration. A distant face, reluctance to answer questions and ignorance of people and events around him are not the signs of a “bad” guy in Sherlock, as some of his fans would like to think. The fact is that, having taken up the investigation, Holmes begins to completely “live” it. He is always focused on the solution, constantly thinking about options and solutions. Introvert in Sherlock Holmes is just a mode of operation in which he completely devotes himself to the task, discarding everything that interferes with it.

Interest and outlook. Remember how many types of tobacco ash Sherlock Holmes distinguished. And how skillfully he could determine from the particles of soil on his shoes what part of England a person came from. He was interested in literally everything, and many things that pass by the attention of ordinary people. He was gifted and savvy in forensic science, working as a biochemist in one of the London hospitals (at least at the time of his acquaintance with Dr. Watson, as mentioned in A Study in Scarlet). Sherlock played the violin and was well versed in music and opera, was familiar with several European languages and Latin, was an excellent fencer and boxer, and much more. And often this knowledge helped the detective in life and profession.

The palaces of the mind. When dealing with huge amounts of information, you need to be able to remember it and, if necessary, accumulate it. To do this, Sherlock Holmes used the “mind palace” method. This is not his invention, because synonymous terms are known - “memory palace”, “Cicero’s road”. The ancient Greeks knew this method, and in addition to the genius of detective craft, it was used by the villain Hannibal Lecter. The essence of the method is an associative method of memorizing information, in which each image (information, fact, knowledge) is tied to a specific object in the room (room, house, palace). It sounds quite confusing, so we advise you to read a detailed article on the topic at this link. We also recommend taking training on memory development on our website.

Sign language. In addition to his powers of observation and penchant for analysis, Sherlock Holmes was an excellent psychologist. Often he was able to understand whether a person was lying only by observing his behavior

Understanding body language and behavioral patterns is important not only for the purpose of detecting lies, but also for creating a picture of a person's habits and activities. To achieve even minimal success in this practice, you just need to learn to notice details in people: habits, manner of speaking, dressing.

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 not to the developed sixth sense, but to experience, which in some moments tells us how to act correctly. Although the statements are quite contradictory, as exemplified by the long discussion regarding the question of whether intuition exists and its nature, the following conclusion can be drawn - only you yourself can draw a fine line between a premonition of how to act and the action itself.

Practice. Sherlock Holmes himself compared his thinking to a train. He constantly practiced logic in everyday life, for fun, and not just when he was investigating a crime. This allowed him to “accelerate the train”, keep himself constantly in good shape, and when a worthy task turned up, Sherlock “flew at full speed” in the interim thoughts.

Analysis of examples from works about Holmes and other materials for developing thinking are available in the Cognitive Science course. Join us!

Recommendations

Expand your horizons. In order to learn the basics of deduction and begin to apply them successfully, it is very important that you are a well-rounded person. Agree, it will be difficult to make judgments without general information. The secret of great detectives was their curiosity and curiosity. They devoted their free time to learning something new and improving their skills. I don't know about you, but I definitely don't remember a single scene where the detective wastes his time watching pointless TV shows while lounging on the couch. If you read books, you will develop not only your horizons, but also your memory, imagination and thinking. Read more about the benefits in this article.
Solve puzzles, tasks, puzzles. This will help keep your brain in good shape, and, of course, teach you to approach difficulties creatively. Just choose the direction that interests you. Can you solve math problems? Great, then stock up on arithmetic or geometry textbooks. Do you like tasks that require logic and a non-standard approach? There are a lot of tasks for novice detectives with Inspector Warnicke, Louis, Poirot... There are even online games where you can fully get used to the role of a skeptical and observant investigator.
Train your ability to recognize other people's nonverbal expressions of emotion. This will provide more food for understanding them, searching for motives for actions, and will help anticipate their actions. Learn more in the article “What is nonverbal communication and how to recognize a person’s emotional state.”
Trust is very important in our lives, it helps us feel safe. But how can you learn deduction if you take everything on faith? You simply have to be critical of what is happening. After all, if you form your judgments based on false information, they will be incorrect. Therefore, always compare how reliable what you are told is.
Sometimes it’s not always possible to keep a huge amount of information in your head, so be sure to keep a notebook in which you will write down your observations and conclusions. Believe me, someday the moment will come when it will be useful to you.

How to develop deductive thinking

Try to complete the complete picture of the situation and people’s characters down to the smallest detail. Don't miss a single detail, even if it is not very significant at first glance. When reading a book, try to follow the description of the characters, their motives, insertions and reservations of the author, put the main storyline in the background. Thus, you will calculate the outcome of events, the denouement of the novel, before you read it.
Try to become interested in any information, be it fiction, a theory textbook, or just an article in a newspaper. Strive to keep abreast of global and local news so that you can plan your affairs based on what is happening. Learn to remember important facts, numbers, symbols that can be useful in forecasts and disputes. Support your personal hypotheses with reliable information, without relying only on intuition.
Develop flexibility of thinking. Do not hold on to one theory (thought). Try to develop a different operating principle or plan for the situation. Do not reject the advice of friends and strangers. Compare the narrated versions with each other to expand your understanding of this event. Don't be afraid to ask questions to your interlocutor.
Learn to read the nonverbal signs a person uses in a conversation. Try to observe the facial expressions, gestures, posture, mood, and actions of your interlocutor. The direction of the interlocutor's gaze is also a nonverbal paralinguistic sign. Perhaps all these elements of holistic behavior will become a hidden, motivational context for speech elements (words).
Develop logical thinking in general. Train your mind by solving puzzles, crosswords, and solving problems. Buy a book that describes logic problems. Study online.
Try to generalize information and facts more globally: to trace patterns not only within one phenomenon or situation, but to establish connections between two or three phenomena.
One of the human instincts is curiosity. Be curious about everything. Do not reject previously unknown information, even if it does not correspond to your current understanding. Try to understand it. Be interested in everything that surrounds you - the conversations of various people on the street, appearance, characters, specific vocabulary.

Article information

This article was produced by our experienced team of editors and researchers, who reviewed it for accuracy and comprehensiveness.

Categories: Personal Development

In other languages:

English: Develop the 'Sherlock Holmes' Intuition, Italiano: Sviluppare l'Intuito alla Maniera di Sherlock Holmes, Español: desarrollar la intuición de Sherlock Holmes, Português: Desenvolver a Intuição de Sherlock Holmes, Français: développer l'intuition de Sherlock Holmes, Deutsch: Eine Intuition wie Sherlock Holmes entwickeln, 中文: 培养福尔摩斯式的直觉能力, Nederlands: Intuïtie als die van Sherlock Holmes ontwikkelen, Tiếng Việt: Phát triển trực giác “Sherlock Homes ", العربية: التمتع بسرعة بديهة شارلوك هولمز

This page has been viewed 34,765 times.

Was this article helpful?

Not really

Don't forget about memory

You probably remember the episode where Sherlock doesn't remember that the Earth revolves around the Sun. No, it’s not at all a matter of the great detective’s poor memory. He admits that he deliberately cleared his brain of unnecessary information. What conclusions can be drawn from this? Firstly, memory can and should be trained: you will be surprised how much information your brain can accommodate. Secondly, the choice of information should be approached responsibly. Don't clutter your head with numerous advertising posters, stupid literature and low-brow films. Remember: this will all be stored in your memory. Therefore, it is worth considering: do you really need this information?

Genuine Commitment

Anyone who reads Sherlock Holmes understands this important aspect of his personality. The Baker Street resident goes from deep inactivity and lethargy to excitement and movement when something captures his interest. It is then that his brain focuses and stops its lazy and painful wandering.

Holmes will not accept cases that do not stimulate him enough. Nor will he take on clients he doesn’t trust. His mind is selective. He saves his time and energy for things that align with his values and his interests. Thus, he only accepts cases that motivate him and truly challenge his abilities.

Observation and details

To develop deduction, it is very important to notice details everywhere and in everything. For example, if you are riding on a bus, choose one person and, noticing even the little things, try to understand what he is interested in, who he works for, what his marital status is, his lifestyle

Attention to small details will allow you to see a more truthful picture of the situation than it might seem at first glance

Observation itself is the ability to notice essentially important signs and features in things, phenomena and situations, but little noticeable, and therefore escaping the attention of most people.

You can develop your powers of observation using different pictures:

It is necessary to quickly find numbers in the table in the sequence from 1 to 90

To understand the meaning of deduction, you can watch films whose characters are endowed with developed logic:

Sherlock Holmes (any films and any parts).
Mentalist.
Ace Ventura.
Dr. House, etc.

If you use basic methods that develop logic every day, the result will not be long in coming.

You will become observant, you will have attention to detail, and these are the first signs of developed deduction

How to raise a detective in yourself

To learn to notice details, interpret them correctly and not get distracted during observations and analysis, you will need exercises to develop voluntary and involuntary attention, as well as training in flexibility of thinking.

Involuntary attention is a system of reaction to stimuli, a kind of “lateral vision” with regard to the perception of reality. To develop it, you can make it a rule to observe familiar objects and places with a lack of lighting and different sound backgrounds (in natural conditions, with pleasant music and with sharp unpleasant sounds), and also get used to noting details that attract attention when moving from one view to another. activities to others. This allows you to cultivate sensitivity to fluctuations in reality and learn not to miss curious details that may turn out to be the key to a situation or a person’s character.

Voluntary attention, or simply concentration, also plays a huge role in cultivating the ability to think clearly. On average, thanks to volitional effort, a person is able to maintain attention on an object for only 20 minutes. To increase this indicator, training with the so-called “Entertaining Table” and its analogues is suitable. Each such table is a structure with chaotically located and differently depicted numbers from 1 to 35 or from 1 to 90. The task is to find all the numbers in ascending or descending order, spending the least amount of time on this.

You can also train attention to detail by making it a habit to observe strangers: at work, on the street, on social networks. In this case, it is important to evaluate a person from different angles, giving several options for answering questions about what profession he can engage in, what his marital status is, character and habits. This will allow you to develop flexibility of thinking and stop each time being satisfied with a single answer option, which may be more likely to be incorrect.

However, the main secret of devilish observation seems to lie not in the amount of training, but in the presence of strong interest. Indeed, with an increase in the emotional value of the subject of study and the emergence of work experience sufficient to automate actions, a person develops so-called post-voluntary attention, the focus of which can not weaken for hours. It was post-voluntary attention that allowed Sherlock Holmes to solve crimes. It also helps scientists make discoveries, writers find the best formulations, etc. In addition, the presence of post-voluntary attention is also pleasant: it relieves the psyche, since the brain stops wasting energy on maintaining focus and can devote energy to solving the tasks at hand.

What is the deductive method and how does it work?

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

seeing an antique watch with the initials "G." engraved on it. W.”, the detective understands that they are family and, most likely, were acquired by Watson’s father; At that time, watches were considered a precious thing and were passed on by inheritance, according to the rules - to the eldest son. But Watson got the watch recently, although his father died many years ago.

So Watson had an older brother; there are dents on the watch cover, therefore, the brother was sloppy (especially considering the importance of such a gift as a memorial watch from his deceased father), etc.

As you can see, the famous detective simply analyzed general facts and applied them to a specific 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 being a spy. They say he knew 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 produced an equally huge logical conclusion. Therefore, knowing only the initial step of inference (“What can you tell by analyzing such an object as a watch?”) and the final result (which Holmes voiced to Watson), but without seeing each individual, intermediate step (the process of forming the inference: engraved initials - Watson's father, dents - sloppiness, etc.), you can really be amazed at the final conclusion.

To obtain the correct final result, it is necessary to justify each individual step of the conclusion so that upon careful examination it is clear that it was done correctly.

Deduction and induction

When the mind is prepared and saturated with various useful information, you can move on to exercises for the development of logical thinking: deductive and inductive. After all, Conan Doyle’s character used both methods, which, alas, is shown in the BBC series “Sherlock” somewhat weaker than in the books of Arthur Conan Doyle.

Deduction is a method in which the particular is logically deduced from the general: “All metals conduct current. Gold is a metal. This means gold conducts current.” Induction, on the contrary, brings the general out of the particular: “I am a Muscovite and I remember that snow fell every winter. This means that it always snows in Moscow in winter.” Sherlock Holmes, inspecting a crime scene or assessing those around him, often went from the particular to the general and back again, freely moving in both logical directions: “John has a military bearing, tanning on his arms only up to the sleeves, a psychosomatic limp, which means he has been in war. Where have there been military operations recently? In Afghanistan. So, in the war in Afghanistan.”

However, his main conclusions were deductive and arose in the head of the great detective when he was tormenting his violin or thinking while smoking a pipe. At these moments, Sherlock Holmes turned to his phenomenal knowledge of history and criminology and classified the case based on the “family tree of crimes.” He assigned him a place in the group: “Murder over an inheritance,” “Murder out of jealousy,” “Theft of a will,” etc. This provided a motive, and the motive provided suspects. This was the essence of Sherlock Holmes' deductive method. Induction gave him food for thought, while deduction gave him the answer.

There are many exercises to train logical thinking. For example, “Concepts in order”, within which it is necessary to arrange several words from particular meanings to general ones or vice versa. Chess or poker may also be useful. In addition, it is important to learn to avoid logical errors in judgments, having studied them, for example, in the book by Avenir Uemov “Logical errors. How they prevent you from thinking correctly.”

Consequence

In most cases, Holmes is faced with carefully planned and complexly executed crimes. At the same time, the range of crimes is quite wide - Holmes investigates murders, thefts, extortion, and sometimes he comes across situations that at first glance (or ultimately) do not have the elements of a crime at all (the incident with the king of Bohemia, the case of Mary Sutherland, the story of a man with split lip, Lord St. Simon's case).

Sherlock Holmes prefers to act alone, performing all investigative functions in one person. He is assisted by John Hamish Watson and the staff of Scotland Yard, but this is not of a fundamental nature. Holmes finds evidence and, as an expert, evaluates the involvement of those involved in the crime. Questions witnesses. In addition, Holmes often directly acts as a detective agent, searching for evidence and persons involved, and also participates in the arrest. Holmes is no stranger to various tricks - he uses makeup, wigs, and changes his voice. In some cases, he has to resort to complete transformation, which requires the art of an actor.

In some cases, a group of London street boys work for Holmes. Holmes mainly uses them as spies to assist him in solving cases.

Holmes keeps a detailed file of crimes and criminals, and also writes monographs as a criminologist.

Related materials:

Articles

Top 10 famous detectives April 12, 2011, 14:00
Masters of the detective genre October 6, 2012, 00:00
Kitchen in literature: breakfast at Holmes's April 19, 2013, 00:00

Video

Attention, blondes! by Estee Lauder August 11, 2010, 00:00
New Year's makeup from Make Up For Ever December 19, 2009, 00:00
Idylle by Guerlain. History of creation October 25, 2011, 11:03