Cognition Flashcards
This perspective views the mind as being like a computer that receives, data, processes it, stores some of it, and makes decisions based on how it’s processed.
Information processing model
The information processing model is in stark contrast to behaviorism which states that only _______ could be studied scientifically and avoided any speculation about internal states.
Behavior
First stage proposed by Piaget
Sensorimotor stage (birth until 2 yrs old)
- the child really starts to acquire language
- infants primarily interact with the world through processing sensory input and by engaging in motor activities
- acquisition of object permanence
- circular reactions
- stranger anxiety
Understanding that objects exist outside of one’s perception
Object permanence
Refers to the intentional repetition of something that either happened accidentally, like dropping a toy, or had an interesting effect, like flipping a light switch
Circular reactions
Stranger anxiety transition
Transition that occurs at around 8 or 9 months, from a previous pattern in which infants are generally open to strangers to an new one in which strangers provoke intense worry
Second stage of cognitive development by pIaget
Preoperational stage (age 2-7)
- children represent objects symbolically, using words and images (symbolic thought)
- take part in vivid imaginative play
- can only engage in minimal logic thinking
- egocentrism, lack of conservation, and centration
Difficulty imagining the world from the perspective of others, have not yet developed an understanding of conservation
Egocentrism
Tendency to focus on a single property or parameter of an object to the exclusion of others
Centration
Third stage of cognitive development by Piaget
Concrete Operational Stage (about 7 to 11)
- more abstract reasoning but only as applied to concrete objects
- develop understanding of conservation
- lose egocentrism and become more skilled at problem solving that involves taking others’ perspectives into account.
- develop logical reasoning skills
- perform better at inductive tasks
Generalizing logical conclusions based on empirically observed phenomena
Inductive tasks
Involve applying logical principles to make predictions in a top-down way
Deductive tasks
Stage 4 of cognitive development by Piaget
Formal operation stage (11 to 16 and then persists into adulthood)
- the ability to fully engage in abstract logic kicks in
- adolescents become able to handle hypotheticals, reasons abstractly, and make nuanced moral judgements
Refers to a cognitive framework that organizes information about things that one perceives in the outside world, with implications for the actions that can be taken in response
Schema
When you preserve your schema by concluding that animal must not be a cow
Assimilation
When you expand your schema by acknowledging that cows can have additional colors
Accommodation
Refers to problem-solving skills that can be applied to new situations, without any reliance on previously existing knowledge
Fluid intelligence
Reflects the ability to deploy one’s knowledge and skills to solve problems
Crystallized intelligence
When cognitive decline and memory impediments interfere with a person’s ability to function in the world
Dementia
Disease which involves the formation of beta-amyloid plaques un the brain
Alzheimer’s disease
This can be useful when we understand the problem, we’re trying to solve enough to come up with a workable space of possible solutions, but not enough to predict the exact solutions
Trial and error problem-solving technique
A problem-solving technique that involves applying a fixed set of steps. Unlike trial and error, a lot of thought and insight can go into designing it but similar to trial and error, it doesn’t require a conceptual understanding of the problem
Algorithm
Top-down; it involves applying general principles to a specific situation.
Deductive reasoning
Bottom-up; where successive observations are extrapolated to identify general principles
Inductive reasoning
Disadvantages of inductive and deductive reasoning
Inductive: vulnerable to overgeneralizations
Deductive: profoundly dependent on the validity of the general principles
Recognizing that anew problem is similar to a problem that we’ve seen before, and then solving a new problem in the same way that we solved the old one
Analogies
Happens when we have a gut sense of how to solve a problem. Corresponds to analogies that we aren’t consciously aware of
Intuition
A framework that we use for conceptualizing a problem and trying to solve it.
Mental set
Refers to getting stuck in our old ways of thinking about things
Fixation
Describes a tendency to see objects as only having a certain function-usually the functions they are designed for- and having difficulties applying objects in novel or untraditional ways
Functional fixedness- classic illustration is Duncker’s candle problem
Refers to people’s tendency to maintain their beliefs-or sometimes even strengthen them- in teh face f contradictory evidence
Belief perseverance
Systematic, generally subconscious patterns of thought that skew our reasoning
Cognitive biases
Occurs when we reason in a way that favors information that supports conclusions that have already madam or beliefs that we already have
Confirmation bias
Refers to our tendency to retrospectively view events as having been highly predictable even if it wasn’t so simple in the moment. When reviewing a case with a negative final outcome, every error may seem like a logical foreshadowing of teh end point
Hindsight bias
Refers to our tendency to infer cause-and-effect relationships incorrectly, either because one event follows another (technically known as “post hoc ergo proper hoc” fallacy). Tendency to mistake correlation for causation.
Causation bias
Commonly defined as mental shortcuts: that is, more or less fixed cognitive processes that we use to solve problems rapidly and/ or in situations where we have incomplete information.
Heuristics
Difference between biases and heuristics
Heuristics are problem-solving methods themselves that may be somewhat fussy or flawed but they’re ways of solving problems that often work at least ell enough for practical purposes.
Biases are more general cognitive patterns that affect our decision-making processes.
Used when we make decisions based on what we consider to be prototypical example of a category. Occurs in contexts where we need to make judgments about how probable something is.
Representativeness heuristic
Involves reasoning about the probability or likelihood of a certain event and it involves being influenced by examples of a certain phenomena that come to mind quickly
Availability heuristic - ex. Medical students’ disease
Refers to how medical students who are learning about a wide range of unusual , diverse, and often gruesome illness begin to interpret every slight symptom or physical oddity they experience as signs of rare and serious illness
Medical students’ disease or second-year syndrome
Representativeness vs availability heuristic
Representativeness- must refer to some assessment of what’s typical, or a certain stereotype
Availability- must refer to something in recent memory or that immediately comes to mind
The ability to detect patterns, process and store information, understand ideas, and problem-solve
Intelligence
The underlying capacity that drives performance across multiple, seemingly-unrelated subjects
General intelligence (g factor)- by Charles Spearman *heritability of roughly 50%
Refers to one’s ability to reason on the fly, or to solve novel problems
Fluid intelligence
Describes one’s ability to bring knowledge and skills to bear on problem-solving. Does not just reflect memorization but it has to do with how one can apply what one knows
Crystallized intelligence
A paradigm that espoused selective breeding programs for humans, endorsed extremely racist ideas about differences between populations, and provided a framework for horrifically unethical practices like the forced sterilization of poor people
Eugenics- by Francis Galton
*despite this, know about Galton’s hereditary genius
Alfred Binet is known for?
IQ!
Defined as a child’s mental age of divided by chronological age, multiplied by 100
Intelligence quotient (IQ)
Describes how IQ scores steadily increased in many developed countries throughout the 20th century, before possibly peaking the 1990s.
Flynn effect- powerful example fo environmentalstimulation
Possible explanations: general improvements in nutrition, general education overall health, and environmental stimulation
Howard Gardner’s theory of multiple intelligences
Proposed seven intelligences: musical, visual-spatial, verbal-linguistic, logical-mathematical, bodily-kinesthetic, interpersonal, and intrapersonal
3 of Gardner’s categories correspond to sub components of the g factor
Visual-spatial, Verbal-linguistic, and Logical-mathematical
Interpersonal vs intrapersonal
Inter- social intelligence: how we relate to others
Intra- how we relate to ourselves and our emotions
Gardner suggested adding an 8th form of intelligence
Naturalistic intelligence- the ability to relate to and pick up important patterns in the natural world
The term emotional intelligence was popularized by
Daniel Goleman
Involves recognition of both one’s own emotions and those of others, as well as emotional-self regulation
Emotional intelligence
