Chapter 10: Thinking, Problem Solving, & Reasoning Flashcards
Thinking
Going beyond the info give, a complex/high level skill that fills gaps in evidence
Refers to more than one specific activity
Focused Thinking
Clear starting point and has a specific goal
Unfocused Thinking
Character of daydreaming, or unintentionally calling to mind a number of loosely related ideas
Not sure if creative thinking falls under focused or unfocused thinking (mixed research, might be a combination)
Reasoning
Cognitive processes we use when we draw inferences from info
Introspection
Detailed, concurrent, non judgemental observation of contents of consciousness
Well-Defined Problems
Clear goal, present a small set of info to start from, often present set of rules to abide by while working to solution
Ill-Defined Problems
Don’t have goals, starting info, or steps clearly spelled out
Generate & Test Technique
Generating numerous possible solutions and testing them
Useful when there aren’t a lot of possibilities
Classic Problems/Methods of Solution
Generate and test
Means-ends analysis
Working backward
Reasoning by analogy
Problems With Generate & Test Technique
Doesn’t work well when;
Too many possibilities
No guidance over generation
Can’t keep track of possibilities tested
Means-Ends Analysis Steps
Initial state: conditions at beginning of problem
Goals state: condition at the end of problem
Intermediate states: various conditions that exist along pathways between the initial and goal state
Operators: permissible moves that can be made towards the problem’s solution
Means-Ends Analysis Downfalls
However, sometimes the optimal way to reach solution is to take a temporary step backward from the goal
Can make it more difficult to see that most efficient path to a goal isn’t always the most direct one
Means-Ends Analysis
Reduce the difference between initial state and goal state
Involves generating a goal and sub goals
Any sequence of moves beginning at initial state and ending at final goal constitutes a solution path
Working Backward
Analyze goal to determine the last step needed to achieve it, then next to last step, etc
Involves creating sub goals and reducing differences between the current state and the goal state
Sub goals are created working backwards from the goal state
Backtracking
Problem solving involves making working assumptions
To correct mistakes in problem solving, we need to;
Remember assumptions
Assess which assumptions failed
Correct the assumption
Reasoning By Analogy
Find comparisons between two situations and apply the solution from one situation to another
Involves a deep understanding of elements of problem and their relationships
Map a solution from one problem to a different problem
Risk of Reasoning by Analogy
Can be taken too far if one assumes that the links map on too directly between the two domains
Blocks To Problem Solving
Mental sets
Lack of problem specific knowledge/expertise
Finding creative solutions
Unconscious processing/incubation
Everyday mechanisms
Mental Set
Tendency to adopt a certain framework, strategy, or procedure based on your initial assumption instead of other equally plausible ways
Induced by short amounts of practice
Often cause people to make unwarranted assumptions without awareness
Perceptual Set
Tendency to perceive an object or pattern in a certain way on the basis of your immediate perceptual experience
Functional Fixedness
Adopting a rigid mental set toward an object
E.g. using screwdriver as a weighted pendulum on a string to reach two far apart strings at once
Expertise
Expertise alone is not always enough for problem solving
Brain damage can disrupt the role of expertise
Chess Players & Expertise
Examined chess masters and novices
Both considered the same number of possible moves
But masters somehow chose the best move more easily
Experts can recall more items from a 5 second exposure of a chessboard
But only when the pieces are configured to depict a possible chess game
Why Are Experts Better
More domain specific categorization skills (draw form more exemplars)
Represent problems at a deeper more conceptual level
Better chunking
Insight
Change in frame of reference or in way elements of problem are interpreted/organized
Creativity
Appropriate novelty
Originality that suits a purpose
Unconscious Processing/Incubation
While mind is actively running other cognitive process, some other sort of processing was happening in background
Unconscious processes can help us find answers to problems
Rebus Puzzles
Participants solve 15 word puzzles, 16th has a misleading cue inducing a fixation on incorrect interpretation
Participants given filled interval breaks (e.g. playing music during break between tasks) were more likely to forget misleading cue and solve the rebus later
Creative Processes
Directed remembering
Noticing
Contrary recognition
Directed Remembering
Ability to channel your memory to make conscious some past experience or knowledge that meets various constraints
Noticing
Noticing where problems are
Plays a role in noticing similarities between one problem and another
Contrary Recognition
Ability to recognize objects not for what they are but as something else
E.g. see a cloud as a castle
Reasoning
Typically have one or more particular goals in mind
Focused thinking
Involves inferences or conclusions drawn from other info
Deductive Reasoning
From general to specific/particular
No new information added
Drawn conclusions represent info that was already implicit in the premises
E.g. all uni students like pizza, terry is uni student, therefore he likes pizza
Inductive Reasoning
From specific to general
Can result in conclusions that contain new info
Deals with probable truth, not guaranteed truth
E.g. Brian is a uni student, he lives in a dorm, therefore all uni students live in dorms
Deductive Validity
Arguments are deductively valid if and only if it is impossible for the premises to be true and the conclusion to be false
Provides reasoner with guarantee that if start with true premises and reason according to logic, conclusion must be true
Only holds for deductive reasoning
Inductive Strength
Arguments have inductive strength if it is improbable (not impossible) for the premises to be true and the conclusion false
If has begun with true premises and followed acceptable principles
Type 1 Process
Intuitive
Autonomous, intuitive, do not require working memory
Type 2 Process
Analytic
Deliberative, analytic, require working memory, different thinking styles
Biases observed in reasoning tasks thought to be due to failure to engage analytic thinking
Willingness To Engage in Type 2 Process
When reasoning depends on efficiency of metacognitive monitoring of type 1 outputs
Confidence in type 1 response determines chance of engaging in type 2 processes (lower confidence = more type 2)
Explicit instructions to use logic increases type 2 thinking
Thinking/Problem Solving & Prefrontal Damage
Catastrophically hampered in ability to reason with problems requiring integration of multiple propositions when premises were not in order permitting easy integration
Did not show deficits in IQs or semantic memory
