exam 4 Flashcards
problem solving
the process necessary to reach a goal, typically in situations where the solution tends to occur when you are missing important information and or it is not clear how to reach the goal
every problem has three components
- initial state - situation at the beginning of the problem
- goal state - when you solve the problem
- obstacles - describe restrictions that make it difficult to proceed from the initial state to the goal state
*people do not passively absorb information instead we plan our approach to problems and we choose strategies that are likely to provide useful solutions
in problem solving understanding means-
that you have constructed a well-organized mental representation of the problem
problem representation
refers to the way you translate the elements of the problem into a different format
ways to represent a problem
- symbols
- matrix
- hierarchical tree diagram
- make a graph
situation cognition approach
- we often use helpful information in our immediate environment to create spatial representations
- our knowledge depends on the context around us
embodied cognition concept
we often use our own body and our own motor actions in order to express our abstract thoughts and knowledge
ecological validity
if conditions in which the research is conducted are similar to the natural setting in which the results will be applied it has ecological validity
algorithm
a method that will always produce a solution to the problem although the process can be inefficient
heuristic
general rule that is usually correct
analogy approach
in problem-solving you employ a solution to a similar earlier problem to help you solve a new problem
*people often fail to see the analogy between a problem they have solved and a new problem isomorph that has similar structural features (people see the problems as completely different because the surface structure is different)
example of an algorithm - exhaustive search
process in which you try out all possible answers using a specified system
surface features
superficial context of the problem
structural features
the underlying core of the problem that you must understand in order to solve the problem correctly
problem isomorph
to refer to a set of problems that have the same underlying structures and solutions
means-ends heuristic
- divide the problem into a number of subproblems
- try to reduce the difference between the initial state and goal state of each of the subproblems
*requires you to identify the “ends” or final result that you want to figure out then the “means” to do it
hill climber heuristic
you consistently choose the alternative that seems to lead you most directly to your goal
*can be useful when you do not have enough information about your alternatives because you can only see the immediate next steps
experts and memory
expert knowledge is often very specific, can retrieve information from long term memory faster
can more easily and frequently use parallel processing
parallel processing
handles two or more items at the same time
serial processing
handles only one item at a time
mental set
keep trying to use the same solution you used in previous problems even though you could solve the problem by using a different, easier method
*close your mind prematurely
functional fixedness
we tend to assign stable or fixed functions to an object, as a result, we fail to think about the features of the object that might be useful in helping us solve a problem, and impacts how you orient to a problem (2 string problem)
stereotype threat
if you belong to a group that is hampered by a negative stereotype and you think about your membership to that group- your performance may suffer
Thorndike’s position on problem solving
imagined problem solving as learning trial and error
Koehler’s position on problem solving
- challenged Thorndike’s position because he said that problem-solving involves thinking
- did a study with an ape getting bananas-> showed problem solving and reasoning
types of problems
- well defined- know when you’re done/in goal state, info needed is provided
- ill-defined problems- difficult to know when you’re done, the goal state isn’t always obvious, unclear what info is needed
Gestalt approach to problem solving
- thinking occurs in organized wholes
- famous 9 dot problem -> people misperceive the problem, since dots are in a box people perceive it differently/incorrectly
behaviorist approach
when you encounter a problem you have inappropriate prior learning
information processing model
- mental processes are similar to the operations of a computer
- information progresses through the cognitive system in a series of stages, one step at a time
hints
- more likely to solve a problem in Myers string problem with a hint
- can read hints that aren’t intended like leaving a blank sheet at the end of a test= write essay
attributes
anything that varies
relevant attributes
attributes that are relevant to the concept
irrelevant attributes
attributes unrelated to the concept
rules- combine attributes in a particular way
2 ways
conjunction attribute - consists of the joint presence of both sets of attributes example- to vote you must be a citizen and 18+
disjunction rule - consists of the presence of one or the other attributes example- softball strike either in the strike zone or you swing
study on asian american women
3 conditions
- ethnicity emphasis condition 54% correct answers on hard math test
- control group condition - 49% correct responses
- gender emphasis condition- 43% correct responses
when Asian American women are reminded of their ethnicity before a hard math test they perform better
explanations: stereotype threat of gender
insight problem
- problems initially seem impossible to solve but then an alternative approach comes into consciousness and you immediately realize your new solution is correct
- usually, cause you to hold incorrect assumptions when they begin to solve the problem
non-insight problem
- you solve the problem gradually, by using your memory, reasoning skills, and a routine set of strategies
creativity in problem-solving
requires all solutions be both novel and useful
divergent production
the number of different responses made to a test item
intrinsic motivation
motivation to work on tasks for their own sake because you find them interesting, exciting, or personally challenging
extrinsic motivation
motivation to work on a project to earn a promised reward or to win a competition
qualities of creativity
- creativity includes convergent thinking and divergent thinking
- creativity is associated with many regions within both the left and right hemispheres
- creativity can occur when we use focused attention as well as defocused attention
self efficacy
belief that you have the ability to organize a task and carry out a specific ask
semantic memory
refers to our organized knowledge about the world
episodic memory
knowledge about events that happen to us
concept
way to refer to your mental representations of category
the prototype approach
- prototype is is the item that is the best most typical example of a category
- prototypicality or the degree to which an item is representative of its category
- the prototype approach is when you decide whether a particular item belongs to a category by comparing this item to a prototype
graded structure
begins with the most prototypical members and it continues on through the categories of non prototypical members
characteristics of prototypes
- supplied as examples of a category example: if someone asks you for an example of a category you will likely name a prototype
- prototypes are judged more quickly than non prototypes after semantic priming
- prototypes share attributes in a family resemblance category
semantic priming
- ## people respond faster to an item if it was preceded by an item with a similar meaning
family resemblance
means that no single attribute is shared by all examples of a concept
superordinate-level categories
means that they are higher-level or more general categories
example - furniture, animal, color
basic-level categories
moderately specific
example: chair, bird, hat
exemplar approach
argues that we first learn information about some specific examples of a concept, and we then classify each new stimulus by deciding how closely it resembles all of those specific examples
differences in the exemplar approach and prototype approach
prototype approach - proposes that your stored representation is a typical member of the category
exemplar approach - proposes that your stored representation is a collection of numerous specific members of the category
how concepts are learned
- discover relevant attributes- salience = attributes noticed quickly, if relevant makes it easier to learn
- discover the rule that links attributes
- hypothesis testing - “win stay, lose shift”- go with idea then either stay with hypothesis or change tactic based on feedback
artificial concepts
either you are a memeber or you’re not-> all instances are equal
natural concepts
- all instances are not equal
1. prototypicality - natural concepts have prototypes
2. fuzzy boundaries - it is less clear if something is in the category when you get around the edge example a tomato is a fruit but it is hard to mentally categorize it that way
3. attributes of natural concepts are correlated - what makes things prototypical is a lot of commonality/ shared attributes
study on focal colors
*studying color prototypes- the “best” shade of a color, prototypical color
- indigenous tribe only had two colors Milli- dark and Mola- light
- wanted to see if it was easier to teach the tribe focal colors
- asked them to learn new color and word to identify them
- can more easily label the focal color with the given name
probability judgements are:
what we should do and what we actually do
Bayes Theorum (what we should do when making judgements)
calculate probability of all possibilities
the shortcuts we take when making judgements
- rely on frequency
- rely on representativeness - tendency to evaluate things based on the likelihood that they match what we are looking for, matches prototype, causes us to ignore other information
- conjunction fallacy - tendency to judge the likelihood of the presence of two events to be greater than one of the events alone
- ignore base rate
- rely on availability - the tendency to judge the likelihood of an event by recalling the frequency of its occurrence
Draw person study
- drawings were randomly paired with emotions that didn’t match the drawings
- participants stated that they saw the given emotion in the picture even though it didn’t exist there
- participants were reporting an illusionary correlation - seeing. pattern that doesn’t exist because they are using availibility
anchoring and adjustment- multiplication study
- estimation task
- one group given 1 x 2 x3 x4
- one group given 9x 8 x7 x6
both given 30 seconds to do the math them asked to estimate - group with the lower numbers first has a greater estimation error
- the anchor of where the series of number started influenced the participants estimation
anchoring
making an estimate by starting from an initial value that is subsequently adjusted to get a final product, provides a starting point
example - negotiating a car
framing effect
refers to the notion that the way a question is asked or the background information given can change the judgements made
framing study
- people told about a treatment that has 68% chance of living or told 32% chance of dying
- participants were physicians, graduate students, and patients
- these figures are proportionally the same
- all three groups said they would take the 68% chance of living outcome
framing study about tickets
- lost ticket to a play versus lost 10$
- people would still go to the play if they had lost 10 $ because it doesn’t feel like they lost money, a ticket holds more value in the moment even though its monitarily that same
- people havedifferent mental accounts for money- it feels different to take money out of different accounts
sunk cost
the tendency for individuals to increase their commitment to a chosen action in order to justify their previous investment
example fixing a car that is old and the fixing would cost more than the car is worth
sunk cost study - discount to show
three groups - g 1 - paid full price, g 2 2$ discount, g 3 7$ discount
- reason for going to the show should be the same since everyone bought a ticket
- people that paid full price when to more shows because of the money they had invested
Hindsight bias
once people know a particular outcome has occurred they are inclined to believe they would have predicted it
overconfidence
believe we are correct more than we are
calibration
- the degree of agreement in accuracy and confidence
- generally there is a 20% difference
- weather forecasters are the most calibrated
deductive reasoning
you begin with a specific premise that are generally true an you need to judge whether those premises allow you to draw a particular conclusion based on principles of logic
conditional reasonong task
- most common kind of deductive reasoning
- describes the relationship between conditions
syllogism
- a kind of deductive reasoning task
- consists of two statements that we must assume to be true, plus a conclusion
- refers to quantities
- must judge whether a conclusion is valid, invalid, or indeterminant
four conditional reasoning situations
- affirming the ancedent
- affirming the consequent
- deny the antecedent
- deny the consequent
propositional calculus
system for catergorizing the four kinds of reasoning used in analyzing propositions
antecedent
first proposition or statement
- contain in the “if…..” part of a sentence
consequent
refers to the proposition that comes after the antecedent “then…..”
type 1 processing
fast and automatic, requires little conscious thought
type 2 processing
relatively slow and controlled, possibly used when we acknowledge our type 1 response was incorrect
factors that cause difficulty in reasoning
linguistics
- people can handle processing positive information better than negative information, people take longer to evaluate linguistically negative info
factors that cause difficulty in reasoning - belief bias effect
- sometimes back ground information encourages us to make mistakes, make judgements based on past experience and ignore rules of logic
factors that make reasonong difficult : confirmation bias
- people would rather confirm or support a hypothesis than try to disprove it
- shown in the wason standard selection test (selecting cards to flip over)
representative heuristic - when does a sample look representative
when it looks similar in important characteristics to the population from which it was selected
representativeness heuristic
we judge that a sample is likely if it is similar to the population from which this sample was selected
- according to this we believe that random - looking outcomes are more likely than orderly ones
- people often ignore statistically important information because of reliance on representative heuristics
small sample fallacy
assumption that a small sample will be representative of the population from which it is selected
- leads to incorrect decisions
base rate
how often an item occurs in the population
base rate fallacy
paying too much attention to important information about the base rate
conjuction rule
the probability of the conjunction of two events cannot be greater than the probability of either event by itself
conjunction fallacy
judge the probability of the conjunstion of two events to be greater than the probability of either event
availibility heuristic
when you estimate frequency or probability in termsof how easy it is to think of a relevant example
study on recency
participants asked to think of a positive memory, later asked to think of a negative memory
- they reported thinking that the negative event was more likely in their future
recognition heuristic
typically operates when you must compare the relative frequency of two categories, if you recognize one category but not the other you conclude that the recognized category has higher frequency
social cognition approach says
sterotypes can be traced to our normal cognitive processes
default heuristic
choosing to do nothing but from an adaptive standpoint
- example not becoming an organ donor because you have to sign up, default is to not sign up
planning fallacy
- people tend to underestimate the amount of time or money it will take to complete a project
- they also estimate that the task will be relatively easy to complete
- people create an optimistic scenario that can explain their overconfidence
crystal ball technique
- method for reducing over confidence
- asks decison makers to imagine that a completely accurate crystal ball has determined their favored hypothesis is incorrect, the decision makers must make alternative explanations dor the outcome
maximizers
people who have a maximizing decison- making style, they tend to examine as many options as possible
satisficers
people who have satisficing decison- making styles
