Module 27 Flashcards
What do cognitive psychologists study
How use images create, concepts, solve problems and make decisions and form concepts
Cognition
The mental activities associated with acquiring retaining and using knowledge often directed toward a goal purpose or conclusion
Mental images
Picture like representations of objects or events that are not physically present
What can mental images facilitate
Learning
Visualization
A process by which you imagine yourself going through a physical procedure in great detail over and over
Concepts
Mental categories in which we place objects activities abstractions and events that have essential features in common
Prototypes
Mental images of the best concept
What can Prototypes help us do
They can help us make better and faster decisions in new situations
Schema
A concept that organizes categories of information on the relationships among them. Example: when where or with who and for how long vacation occurs in what you do on vacation
Stereotypes
Schemas that apply to a social group
Insight
When the solution seems to pop to mind all of a sudden. Riddles are example of insight problem-solving
Incubation effect
Insight often occurs after taking a break from a problem
Algorithm
A systematic step by step problem-solving strategy that is guaranteed to produce a solution
Heuristics
A mental shortcut or general problem-solving strategy that we apply to a certain class of situations. Fast but not always accurate
Confirmation bias
Tendency to notice and use information that confirms our believes in to ignore or distort contradictory evidence
Availability heuristic
Judging the likelihood of events based on their availability in memory
Functional fixedness
A block to problem-solving that comes from thinking about objects in terms of only their typical functions
Mental set
The tendency for people to persist and using problem-solving patterns that have worked for them in the past
Framing effect
Different ways of presenting the same information evoke different responses.
Overconfidence error
We have a tendency to be more confident than correct we overestimate the accuracy of our estimates predictions and knowledge.
Belief perseverance
Clinging to one’s initial beliefs after the basis on which they were formed has been discredited
