ABSTRACT
Sorrentino's studies are devoted primarily to examine the interface between motivation and cognition: "A theory of individual differences in thought and action." Curiosity is essential to maintaining a lively interest that drives an executive to keep herself constantly informed. Reckless curiosity is also a survival instinct of a kind, since it is a means to escape from reality into a make-believe world. Real thinking includes three types of mental processes of a high order, in addition to forming concepts and solving problems: (1) Critical thinking, (2) Reasoning, (3) Decision making. Critical thinking can be defined as "thinking reflectively and productively and evaluating the evidence. Reasoning is the mental activity of transforming information to reach conclusions. Decision making involves evaluating alternatives and making choices among them. Studies to test the degree and type of intelligence of particularly intelligent animals, like chimpanzees, orangutan, crows, and parrots, reveal they possess "flexible thinking" and "innovative thinking," which implies creativity.
