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General Psychology > Chapter 8 part 1 > Flashcards

Chapter 8 part 1 Flashcards

cognition, problem-solving, and decision-making

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1
Q

what is cognition?

A

mental activity that goes on in the brain when a person is processing information, organizing information, understanding information, and communicating information

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2
Q

what do cognitive psychologists study?

A

concept formation, problem-solving, decision-making, reading, creativity, motivation

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3
Q

what is an easy definition of what cognitive psychologists study?

A

higher level thinking than classical and operant learning

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4
Q

what are concepts?

A

mental groupings of similar objects, ideas, events, or people

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5
Q

when do we start forming concepts?

A

the moment we are born

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6
Q

why are concepts important?

A

they make our lives faster, easier, and more predictable

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7
Q

how do we form concepts?

A

in two ways:
artificial concepts
natural concepts

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8
Q

what is another name for artificial concepts?

A

formal concepts

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9
Q

what are artificial/formal concepts?

A

they come from logical rules or definitions. all of the objects that meet the criteria are included in the concept, and the objects that are missing some criteria are excluded

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10
Q

where are artificial/formal concepts found?

A

in scientific and mathematical disciplines

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11
Q

do you get to decide what objects are in an artificial concept?

A

no, scientists do

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12
Q

what is an example of an artificial/formal concept?

A

a triangle has 3 sides and 3 angles

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13
Q

what are natural concepts?

A

categories that have general rules about what belongs. we create a prototype or best example of the concept in our mind

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14
Q

how are natural concepts formed?

A

your parents point similarities and differences in objects out to you as you grow up

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15
Q

do you get to decide what is in a natural concept?

A

yes, because they are loosely defined

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16
Q

what is a protoype?

A

what the best example of the concept is to you

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17
Q

what is problem solving?

A

moving from a given state (problem) to a goal state (solution)

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18
Q

what are the problem-solving strategies?

A

algorithms
heuristics
insight

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19
Q

what are algorithms?

A

step by step procedure that, if appropriate, will always result in the solution

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20
Q

what is an example of algorithms?

A

you order furniture and follow the instructions to build it. if the instructions are followed step by step and correctly, you will get a piece of furniture

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21
Q

what is the problem with algorithms?

A

you have to do every step correctly and in order to get the correct answer, so it can take a really long time

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22
Q

what are heuristics?

A

an educated guess. your “go to” strategy. applying shortcut solutions based on past knowledge and experience

23
Q

what is an advantage of heuristics?

A

they provide shortcuts to solutions

24
Q

what are disadvantages of heuristics?

A

increased errors
if they don’t work, you just wasted time
don’t always solve the problem

25
Q

what is insight?

A

when puzzling over a problem and we suddenly reach an abrupt, satisfying solution. AHA moment

26
Q

what are barriers to problem-solving?

A

mental sets
functional fixedness
confirmation bias

27
Q

when does a mental set happen?

A

when we can only think of past solutions and those solutions make it difficult to see any other solution

28
Q

when does functional fixedness happen?

A

when you see an object as only serving its intended purpose when it really has multiple uses

29
Q

what is an example of functional fixedness?

A

life-hack videos show how objects can be used for a variety of purposes

30
Q

what is an example of mental sets?

A

a physician sees nine patients in a row with the same illness. the 10th patient came in with similar symptoms, but because of her previous experience with the first nine patients, she diagnoses the 10th one with the same illness the first nine had, dismissing the symptoms that point to a different illness

31
Q

what is confirmation bias?

A

we tend to favor evidence that confirms our preconceived ideas

32
Q

do our own beliefs bias what information we search for?

A

yes, we always look for ways in which we are right

33
Q

why is it hard to fight confirmation bias?

A

because we do it unconsciously

34
Q

what is incubation?

A

some problems require a period where we allow them to “marinate” and let the important facts come into focus and the distracting or irrelevant information fade from our minds

35
Q

when we are decision-making, we can either ______________

A

engage in concerted, problem-solving efforts
OR
use our intuition

36
Q

what is engaging in problem-solving efforts?

A

weighing pros and cons, doing research, and weighing the evidence

37
Q

what is our intuition?

A

our fast, automatic, unreasoned feelings and thoughts

38
Q

when should we use our intuition?

A

when making small or unimportant decisions

39
Q

when should we use problem-solving efforts?

A

when we are making large or important decisions

40
Q

what happens when we use our intuition on an important decision?

A

our gut may lead us to the wrong choice because we are biased and ignore the red flags

41
Q

which decision-making strategy do we use more often and why?

A

intuition, because it is easier, faster, and often successful (when using on small decisions)

42
Q

what are common errors in decision-making?

A

availability heuristic
overconfidence
belief perseverance
framing

43
Q

what is another name for errors in decision-making?

A

faulty thinking

44
Q

faulty think is ____________

A

part of human nature

45
Q

what is the availability heuristic?

A

estimating the likelihood of an event to occur based on its availability in memory; information that is more vivid, recent, or distinctive will more easily come to mind, leading us to believe it happens frequently

46
Q

what is an example of the availability heuristic?

A

which animal is the most deadly in the U.S.? many people think of a shark or snake because we hear on the news when people are bitten by them. in reality, it is the deer, but it happens so often we don’t hear about it

47
Q

what is overconfidence?

A

the tendency to be more confident than correct – overestimating the accuracy of our beliefs and judgments.

48
Q

what is an exception to overconfidence?

A

if you are an expert in the subject

49
Q

what is an example of overconfidence (planning fallacy)?

A

students underestimate the number of days it will take to complete an assignment, project, paper, or test prep

50
Q

what is belief interference?

A

clinging to one’s original beliefs even when faced with legitimate evidence to the contrary

51
Q

what is an example of belief interference?

A

even though the study showing vaccines cause autism was fake and 1000 other studies showed the opposite, some people still believe vaccines cause autism

52
Q

what is framing?

A

how an issue is posed can greatly affect our perceptions and then our decisions and judgments

53
Q

what is an example of framing?

A

saying 10% of people die during this surgery concerns people more than saying 90% of people live during this surgery

General Psychology (21 decks)

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