Cognition Flashcards
What is cognition?
the study of how our brains process and react to the incredible information overload presented to us by the world
What are the four pillars of information processing model?
(1) Thinking requires sensation, encoding and storage of stimuli
(2) Stimuli must be analysed by the brain to be useful in decision making
(3) Decisions made in one situation can be extrapolated and adjusted to help solve new problems
(4) Problem solving is dependent not only on the person’s cognitive level, but also on the context and complexity of the problem
What is Jean Piaget known for?
Stages of cognitive development - insisted that there are qualitative differences between the way that children and adults think
What is a schema?
can include a concept, a behavior, or a sequence of events
What is assimilation?
process of classifying new information into existing schemata
What is accommodation?
process by which existing schemata are modified to encompass this new information
What is the stages of Piaget’s Cognitive Development?
(1) Sensorimotor
(2) Preoperational
(3) Concrete operation
(4) Formal operational
What is the sensorimotor stage?
Birth - 2 years of age
Child learns to manipulate his or her environment in order to meet physical needs; ends with the development of object permanence
What are primary circular reactions?
the repetition of a body movement that originally occurred by change (ie. sucking thumb)
What are secondary circular reactions?
manipulation is focused on something outside the body (ie repeatly throwing toys from a high chair)
What is object permanence?
the understanding that objects continue to exist even when out of view
What is representational thought?
the child begins to create mental representations of external objects and events
What is the preoperational stages?
2 yrs - 7 yrs
Characterized by symbolic thinking, egocentricism and centration
What is symbolic thinking?
the ability to pretend, play-make believe, and have an imagination
What is egocentrism?
refers to the inability to image what another person may think or feel
What is centration?
the tendency to focus on only one aspect of a phenomenon or inability to understand conservation
What is the concrete operational stage?
7 yrs - 11 yrs
Can understand conservation and consider the perspective of others; engage in logical thought with concrete information
What is the formal operational stage?
11 yrs - end of life
Marked by the ability to think logically about abstract ideas; ability to reason about abstract concept and problems solves
What is Lev Vygotsky known for?
the engine driving cognitive development is the child’s internalization of his or her culture, including interpersonal and societal rules, symbols, and language.
What is fluid intelligence and its peak age?
problem solving; early adulthood
What is crystallized intelligence and its peak age?
knowledge; peaks middle adulthood
What is delirium?
rapid fluctuation is cognitive function that is reversible and caused by medical (nonpsychological) causes
What are the three steps in information processing model?
encoding, storage, and retrieval
What is a mental set?
the tendency to approach similar problems in the same way
What is functional fixedness?
the inability to consider how to use an object in a nontraditional manner
What are four approaches to problem solvign?
trial-and-error
algorithms
deductive reasoning
inductive reasoning
What is trail-and-error?
a less sophisticated type of problem solving in which solutions are tried until one is found that seems to work
What is an algorithm?
a formula or procedure for solving a certain type of problem
What is deductive reasoning?
aka “top down” - starts from a set of general rules and draws conclusions from the information given
What is inductive reasoning?
aka “bottom up” - theory through generalizations; starts with specific instances and then draw conclusions
What are heuristics?
simplified principles used to make decisions; “rule of thumb”
What is the availability heuristic?
used when we try to decide how likely something is
What is a representativeness heuristic?
involves categorizing items on the basis of whether they fit the prototypical, stereotypical, or representative image of the category
What is the base rate fallacy?
using prototypical or stereotypical factors while ignoring actual numerical information
What is the disconfirmation principle?
when a potential solution fails during testing and should be discarded
What is confirmation bias?
the tendency to focus on information that fits an individual’s beliefs, while rejected information that goes against them
What is belief perseverance?
the inability to reject a particular belief despite clear evidence to the contrary
What is intuition?
the ability to act on perceptions that may not be supported by available evidence; aka “recognition-primed decision model”
What is emotion?
the subjective experience of a person in a certain situation
What is Gardner’s Theory of Multiple Intelligence?
Seven defined intelligences:
(1) Linguistic
(2) Logical-mathematical
(3) Musical
(4) Visual-spatial
(5) Bodily-kinesthetic
(6) Interpersonal
(7) Intrapersonal
What is the IQ formula?
mental age/chronological age
