module 26 thinking

Question 1

cognition

Answer 1

all the mental activities associated with thinking, knowing, remembering, and communicating.

Question 2

metacognition

Answer 2

cognition about our cognition; keeping track of and evaluating our mental processes

Question 3

concept

Answer 3

a mental grouping of similar objects, events, ideas, or people

Question 4

prototype

Answer 4

a mental image or best example of a category. Matching new items to a prototype provides a quick and easy method for sorting items into categories (as when comparing feathered creatures to a prototypical bird, such as a crow).

Question 5

algorithm

Answer 5

a methodical, logical rule or procedure that guarantees solving a particular problem. Contrasts with the usually speedier—but also more error-prone—use of heuristics.

Question 6

heuristic

Answer 6

a simple thinking strategy—a mental shortcut—that often allows us to make judgments and solve problems efficiently; usually speedier but also more error-prone than an algorithm

Question 7

insight

Answer 7

a sudden realization of a problem’s solution; contrasts with strategy-based solutions.

Question 8

conformation bias

Answer 8

a tendency to search for information that supports our preconceptions and to ignore or distort contradictory evidence.

Question 9

fixation

Answer 9

(1) in cognition, the inability to see a problem from a new perspective; an obstacle to problem solving. (2) in psychoanalytic theory, a lingering focus of pleasure-seeking energies at an earlier psychosexual stage, in which conflicts were unresolved.

Question 10

intuition

Answer 10

an effortless, immediate, automatic feeling or thought, as contrasted with explicit, conscious reasoning

Question 11

representativeness heuristic

Answer 11

judging the likelihood of events in terms of how well they seem to represent, or match, particular prototypes; may lead us to ignore other relevant information.

Question 12

availability heuristic

Answer 12

judging the likelihood of events based on their availability in memory; if instances come readily to mind (perhaps because of their vividness), we presume such events are common.

Question 13

overconfidence

Answer 13

the tendency to be more confident than correct—to overestimate the accuracy of our beliefs and judgments

Question 14

belief perseverance

Answer 14

the persistence of one’s initial conceptions even after the basis on which they were formed has been discredited.

Question 15

framing

Answer 15

the way an issue is posed; how an issue is framed can significantly affect decisions and judgments.

Question 16

nudge

Answer 16

framing choices in a way that encourages people to make beneficial decisions.

Question 17

creativity

Answer 17

he ability to produce new and valuable ideas.

Question 18

convergent thinking

Answer 18

narrowing the available problem solutions to determine the single best solution.

Question 19

divergent thinking

Answer 19

expanding the number of possible problem solutions; creative thinking that diverges in different directions.