Chapter Ten : Thinking Flashcards
the mental activities associated with thinking, knowing, remembering, and communicating
cognition
a mental grouping of similar objects, events, ideas, or people
concepts
a mental image or best example of a category; matching new items to the prototype provides a quick and easy method for including items in a category
prototypes
a methodical, logical rule or procedure that guarantees solving a particular problem; contrasts with the usually speedier use of heuristics
algorithm
a simple thinking strategy that often allows us to make judgments and solve problems efficiently; usually speedier but also more error-prone than algorithms
heuristic
a sudden and often novel realization of the solution to a problem; it contrasts with strategy based solutions
insight
a tendency to search form information that confirms one’s preconceptions
confirmation bias
the inability to see a problem from a new perspective; an impediment to problem solving
fixation
a tendency to approach a problem in a particular way, often a way that has been successful in the past
mental set
the tendency to think of things only in term of their usual functions; an impediment to problem solving
functional fixedness
judging the likelihood of things in terms of how well they seem to represent, or match, particular prototypes; may lead on to ignore other relevant information
representativeness heuristic
estimating the likelihood of events based on their availability in memory; if instances come readily to mind we presume such events are common
availability heuristic
the tendency to be more confident that correct; to overestimate the accuracy of one’s beliefs and judgements
overconfidence
the way an issue is posed; how an issue is framed can significantly affect decisions and judgements
framing
the tendency for one’s preexisting beliefs to distort logical reasoning, sometimes by making invalid conclusions seem valid, or valid conclusions seem invalid
belief bias
