exam 4 Flashcards
Deductive reasoning
start with premises that are true and then judge whether those premises allow you to draw a conclusion
Conditional reasoning task (propositional reasoning task)
describes the relationship between conditions (ex. If a child is allergic to peanuts, then eating peanuts produces a breathing problem. A child has a breathing problem.
Therefore, this child has eaten peanuts.)
Syllogism
consists of two statements that we msut assume to be true, and a conclusions (ex. Some psychology majors are friendly people.
Some friendly people are concerned about poverty.
Therefore, some psychology majors are concerned about poverty.)
Propositional Calculus
system for categorizing the four kidns of reasoning used in analyzing propositions.
Propostions
statements
Antecedent
the first propostion in the statement
Consequent
The second proposition in a statement
Affirming the antecedent
VALID - This is an apple, therefore this is a fruit.
Affirming the consequent
INVALID - This is a fruit, therefore this is an apple
Denying the antecedent
INVALID - This is not an apple, therefore this is not a fruit.
Denying the consequent
VALID - This is not a fruit, therefore this is not an apple
dual process theory
distinguishes between the 2 types of cognitive processing, type 1 and type 2
type 1 processing
fast and automatic, requires little concious effort - used in depth perception, recognition of facial expression and automatic stereotyping.
type 2 processing
slow and controlled, required focused attention - used when we think of exceptions to rules, we realize a sterotype was wrong, or we acknowledge errors in our type 1 processing.
belief bias effect
occurs when people make a judgement based on a prior belief instead of using the conditions that were layed out (feather-window proposition)
confirmation bias
People tend to confirm a theory rather than actively try to disprove it.
decision making
assess information and choose between two or more alternatives (no correct answers normally)
representative
if a sample is similar in important characteristics to the population from which it was selected.
representativeness heuristic
we jusdge that a sample is more likely if it is more similar to the population from which this sample was selected.
small sample fallacy
when people assume that a small sample will be representatice of hte population from which it is selected.
base rate
how often an item occurs in the population
fbase rate fallacy
paying too little attention to important information about base rate - ex. tells people there are more engineers than lawyer, decribe a guy who seems similar to a lawyer, which is more likelu that he is? still an engineer, because that is the base rate.
bayes theorem
describes the probability of an events base on prior conditions.
likelihood ratio
how likely something would occur compared to the average person
conjunction rule
the probability of two events cannnot be larger than the probability of one event
conjunction fallacy
people think two things together is more likely than one thing - ex. linda the activist is rated more likely to be a bank teller and feminist than she is to be a bank teller -> cant possibly be true statistically
availability heuristic
when you estimate frequency or probability in terms of how easy it is to think of relevant examples of something
illusory correlation
when people believe that two variables are statistically related even though there is no evidence for that relationship
social cognition approach
steroetypes can be traced back to our normal cogntive processes - the illusory correlation can be traced back to the availability heuristic
anchor
the first approximation of something
anchoring and adjustment heuristic (anchoring effect)
when we make adjustments to that first figure based on additional information -> a candle somewhere is 15 dollars, and since this candle is slighlty bigger, you estimate it might be around 20 dollars
framing effect
your decision can be influenced by the background context of the choice and the way the question is worded
prospect theory
refers to people’s tendency to think that possible gains are different from possible losses. when dealing with possible gains - people tend to avoid risks, when dealing iwht possible losses, people tend to seek risks
overconfidence
your confidence judgements are higher than they should be based on your actual preformance on the task
crystal-ball technique
imagine an accurate crystal ball has determined that thier favored hypothesis is actually incorrect, and the decision makers much search for alternatice explanations for the outcome. debiasing technique
planning fallacy
people typically understimate the amoun tof time required to complete a project and they estimate that the task will be relatively easy to complete.
groupthink
hindsight bias
when an event has happened, and we said “we knew it all along”
ecological rationality
describes how people create a wide variety of heuristics to help themselves make useful, adaptive decisions in the real world.
default heuristic
people will usually choose the standard option and not take the effort to opt out
lifespan approach to development
focus of development that occurs throughout ones lifetime not just childhood but also through adulthood and old age.
conjugate reinforcement technique
mobile hangs above a young infant’s crib; a ribbon connects hte infants ankle and hte mobile so that the infants kicks iwll make the mobile above move.
spaced learning
practice distributed over time - efficient for both for college kids and babies
massed learning
learning everything all at once, ineffective for both babies and college kids
source monitoring
the process of trying to identify the origin of a particular memory
memory strategies
intentional goal-oriented activites tht we use to improve our memories - young children are less likely to realize that they are helpful
utilization deficiency
young children may not use the strategies effectively
prospective memory
remebering to do something in the future - in general older adults have problems with these tasks
explicit memory task
remember info that you have previously learned.
implicit memory task
perform a perceptual or cognitive task; previous experience with the material facilitates thier performance on the task
recognition memory
basically the same over time
cognitive slowing
slower rate of responding on cogntive tasks, mostly experienced by elderly people.
metacognition
term that refers to your thoughts about thinking - children have much less knowledge of their cognition than adults
metamemory
your thoughts about your memory - children have worse metamemory than adults, can explain why their memory is so bad
theory of mind
refers to your ideas about how your mind works, as well as how other people’s mind works
metacomprehension
refers to your thoughts about your comprehension, such as your understanding of written material or spoken language
