Lecture 6: Thinking and Reasoning

Question 1

Cognition

Answer 1

refers to all of the mental activities associated with thinking, knowing, remembering, and communicating

Question 2

Concepts

some concepts are formed by_____
More often we form our concepts by developing _______

Answer 2

Mental groupings of similar objects, events, and people

1. definition
2. prototypes

The more closely something matches our prototype of a concept the more readily we recognize it as an example of the concept

Question 3

Problem Solving (define and list the three types)

Answer 3

active efforts to discover what needs to be done to achieve a goal that is not readily available

1. Problems of inducing structure
2. problems of arrangements
3. problems of transformation

Question 4

Problems of inducing Structure

Answer 4

required to discover the relations among numbers words symbols or ideas

ex: sun is to day as ____ is to night

Question 5

Problems of arrangements

Answer 5

required to arrange parts of a problem in a way that satisfies some criterion

ex: Annograms

Question 6

Problems of Transformation

Answer 6

Required to carry out a sequence of transformations in order to reach a specific goal

ex: milk pitcher problem

Question 7

Barriers: Irrelevant information

Question 8

Barriers: Confirmation Bias

Answer 8

ex: Assuming the first answer to a solved math problem is correct, and trying to get the same answer over and over again

Question 9

Barriers: Fixation
a. __________ ___
b. __________ __________

Answer 9

Inability to see a problem from a fresh perspective

a. mental set: predisposes how we think; its the tendency to approach a problem with a mindset which has worked for us previously

can limit how we think

Question 10

Functional Fixedness

Answer 10

not thinking outside the box?

Question 11

Trial and Error

Answer 11

A common approach to problem solving
- works best when there are few possible solutions to try
—> impractical when there are many possibilities

Question 12

heuristics

Answer 12

Mental rule of thumb used to solve problems in every day life

• forming subgoals (intermediate steps breaking it into smaller problems)
• searching for analogies
• changing how you represent a problem (thinking about a problems differently if we fail to make progress initially)
• Taking a break (new solutions will come to you after you stop thinking about it)

Question 13

Cultural differences _________ our problem solving techniques

Answer 13

shape

ex: fish with background of ocean environment observed

Japanese individuals tended to recognize the environment where as US individuals recognized the fish —> east asians focus on the whole westerners focus on the individual components

Question 14

Decision Making

a. Theory of ________ _______
b. Decision _________ __________ ______

Answer 14

Involves evaluating alternatives and making choices

a. Theory of Bounded Rationality: People tend to use simple strategies that often result in irrational or poor decisions

b. Decision without Attention effect: when face with complex choices, people tend to make better decisions if they do not devote careful, conscious attention to the matter.

–> in other words, people tend to overthink so its better if you do not exert careful conscious attention but instead just act

Question 15

Heuristics and Decision making involves ______ alternatives and making _____.

a. R____________ Heuristic
b. A_____________ Heuristic

Answer 15

1. evaluating
2. choices

a. Representativeness heuristic: Judging the likelihood of things in terms of how they seem to represent or match particular prototypes.

–> influences daily decisions because to judge the likelihood of something we intuitively compare it to the mental representation of that something

b. Availability Heuristic: Estimating the likelihood of events based on their availability in memory

–> if they come to mind more readily we assume they are more common

ex: 9/11 and fear of flying even though airplane safety has improved

Question 16

Common Flaws: Ignoring Base rate

Answer 16

We tend to ignore the overall likelihood that a given case will fall in a given category
(Not thinking about the overall idea of something happening)

Question 17

The Conjugation Fallacy:

Answer 17

We assume that specific conditions are more probable than a single general one

(assume combining conditions make it more probable than a single general one)

Question 18

Common Flaws: The Gamblers Fallacy

Answer 18

We believe that the odds of a chance event increases if the event has not occurred recently

(lottery runners advertise this)

ex: assumption that bc someone hasn’t won the lottery in a while you have a higher chance

Question 19

Common Flaws: Overestimating the Improbable

Answer 19

We tend to think that dramatic vivid acts are more likely to occur than more commonplace ones

ex: plane crashes vs car crashes

Question 20

Common Flaws: Loss Aversion

Answer 20

We assume that losses will have more impact than gains of equal size

actively work to avoid a loss rather than to acquire some sort of gain