Chapter 8 part 1 Flashcards
cognition, problem-solving, and decision-making
what is cognition?
mental activity that goes on in the brain when a person is processing information, organizing information, understanding information, and communicating information
what do cognitive psychologists study?
concept formation, problem-solving, decision-making, reading, creativity, motivation
what is an easy definition of what cognitive psychologists study?
higher level thinking than classical and operant learning
what are concepts?
mental groupings of similar objects, ideas, events, or people
when do we start forming concepts?
the moment we are born
why are concepts important?
they make our lives faster, easier, and more predictable
how do we form concepts?
in two ways:
artificial concepts
natural concepts
what is another name for artificial concepts?
formal concepts
what are artificial/formal concepts?
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
where are artificial/formal concepts found?
in scientific and mathematical disciplines
do you get to decide what objects are in an artificial concept?
no, scientists do
what is an example of an artificial/formal concept?
a triangle has 3 sides and 3 angles
what are natural concepts?
categories that have general rules about what belongs. we create a prototype or best example of the concept in our mind
how are natural concepts formed?
your parents point similarities and differences in objects out to you as you grow up
do you get to decide what is in a natural concept?
yes, because they are loosely defined
what is a protoype?
what the best example of the concept is to you
what is problem solving?
moving from a given state (problem) to a goal state (solution)
what are the problem-solving strategies?
algorithms
heuristics
insight
what are algorithms?
step by step procedure that, if appropriate, will always result in the solution
what is an example of algorithms?
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
what is the problem with algorithms?
you have to do every step correctly and in order to get the correct answer, so it can take a really long time
what are heuristics?
an educated guess. your “go to” strategy. applying shortcut solutions based on past knowledge and experience
what is an advantage of heuristics?
they provide shortcuts to solutions
what are disadvantages of heuristics?
increased errors
if they don’t work, you just wasted time
don’t always solve the problem
what is insight?
when puzzling over a problem and we suddenly reach an abrupt, satisfying solution. AHA moment
what are barriers to problem-solving?
mental sets
functional fixedness
confirmation bias
when does a mental set happen?
when we can only think of past solutions and those solutions make it difficult to see any other solution
when does functional fixedness happen?
when you see an object as only serving its intended purpose when it really has multiple uses
what is an example of functional fixedness?
life-hack videos show how objects can be used for a variety of purposes
what is an example of mental sets?
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
what is confirmation bias?
we tend to favor evidence that confirms our preconceived ideas
do our own beliefs bias what information we search for?
yes, we always look for ways in which we are right
why is it hard to fight confirmation bias?
because we do it unconsciously
what is incubation?
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
when we are decision-making, we can either ______________
engage in concerted, problem-solving efforts
OR
use our intuition
what is engaging in problem-solving efforts?
weighing pros and cons, doing research, and weighing the evidence
what is our intuition?
our fast, automatic, unreasoned feelings and thoughts
when should we use our intuition?
when making small or unimportant decisions
when should we use problem-solving efforts?
when we are making large or important decisions
what happens when we use our intuition on an important decision?
our gut may lead us to the wrong choice because we are biased and ignore the red flags
which decision-making strategy do we use more often and why?
intuition, because it is easier, faster, and often successful (when using on small decisions)
what are common errors in decision-making?
availability heuristic
overconfidence
belief perseverance
framing
what is another name for errors in decision-making?
faulty thinking
faulty think is ____________
part of human nature
what is the availability heuristic?
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
what is an example of the availability heuristic?
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
what is overconfidence?
the tendency to be more confident than correct – overestimating the accuracy of our beliefs and judgments.
what is an exception to overconfidence?
if you are an expert in the subject
what is an example of overconfidence (planning fallacy)?
students underestimate the number of days it will take to complete an assignment, project, paper, or test prep
what is belief interference?
clinging to one’s original beliefs even when faced with legitimate evidence to the contrary
what is an example of belief interference?
even though the study showing vaccines cause autism was fake and 1000 other studies showed the opposite, some people still believe vaccines cause autism
what is framing?
how an issue is posed can greatly affect our perceptions and then our decisions and judgments
what is an example of framing?
saying 10% of people die during this surgery concerns people more than saying 90% of people live during this surgery
