Background. This article is devoted to the study of the phenomenon of “clip thinking.” The connection of this topic with modern sociocultural processes is indicated. The methodological foundations of the study are the cultural-historical approach and the "style paradigm" of the study of cognitive processes. The most significant conceptual ideas and experimental data in the study of “clip thinking” in recent years have been highlighted.

It is noted that so far, there has not been an unambiguous scientific understanding of the phenomenon of “clip thinking,” and there are not enough techniques for studying it.

Objective. The main objective was the study of the “clip-integrity” thinking of high school and university students.

Design. The article describes the author’s method of studying the “clip-integrity” of thinking, as well as the results of its testing on a sample of senior schoolchildren (89 people) and university students (76 people).

Results. The study revealed that the proportion of university students with systemic (holistic) thinking is significantly higher than in the sample of schoolchildren. In schoolchildren, expressed “clip” thinking occurs one and a half times more often than among university students. The authors consider the age-typical characteristics of the respondents and the characteristics of the socio-cultural development situation, characterized, inter alia, by a change in the main information medium, as the main factors determining the identified features of thinking.

Conclusion. The possibilities of the methodology they developed allowed the authors to clarify the tasks of studying the cognitive characteristics of high school students and university students as relates to the phenomenon of “clip thinking” and its relationship with “holistic thinking,” and to set new research objectives.