Module 32-35 Flashcards
Algorithm
A methodical, logical rule or procedure that guarantees solving a particular problem.
Heuristic
A simple thinking strategy that often allows us to make judgments and solve problems efficiently
Insight
A sudden realization of a problem’s solution
Confirmation bias
A tendency to search for information that supports our preconceptions and to ignore or distort contradictory evidence.
Mental Set
A tendency to approach a problem in one particular way, often a way that has been successful in the past.
Intuition
An effortless, immediate, automatic feeling or thought, as contrasted with explicit, conscious reasoning.
Fixation
An inability to see a problem from as fresh perspective
Representative Heuristic
Judging the likelihood of things in terms of how well they seem to represent, or match, particular prototypes; may lead us to ignore other relevant information.
Availability Heuristic
Estimating the likelihood of events based on their availability in memory; if instances come readily to mind we presume such events are common
Overconfidence
The tendency to be more confident than correct-to overestimate the accuracy of our beliefs and judgments
Belief Perseverance
Clinging to one’s initial conceptions after the basis on which they were formed has been discredited
Framing
The way an issue is posed; how an issue is framed can significantly affect decisions and judgments
Creativity
The ability to produce novel and valuable ideas
Convergent Thinking
Narrows the available problem solutions to determine the single best solution.
Divergent Thinking
Expands the number of possible problem solutions (creative thinking that diverges in different directions)
Cognition
All mental activities associated with thinking, knowing, remembering, and communicating
Concept
A mental grouping of similar objects, events, ideas, or people
Prototype
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
Source Amnesia
Attributing to the wrong source of an event we have experienced, heard about, read about, or imaged
- heart of false memories (w/ misinformation effect)
- aka. Misattribution
Déjà vu
An eerie sense that “I’ve experienced this before”. Cues from the current situation may unconsciously trigger retrieval of an earlier experience.
Misinformation Effect
Incorporating misleading information into one’s memory of an event.
- can later influence attitudes and behaviors
Repression
In psychoanalytic theory, the basic defense mechanism that banishes from consciousness anxiety-arousing thoughts, feelings, and memories.
Proactive Interference
The disruptive effect of prior learning on the recall of new information.
Retroactive interference
The disruptive effect of the new learning of old information
Anterograde Amnesia
An inability to form new memories
- temporal lobe
Retrograde Amnesia
An inability to retrieve information from one’s past
Mood-Congruent Memory
The tendency to recall experiences that are consistent with one’s current good or bad mood.
Serial Position Effect
Our tendency to recall best the last (a recency effect) and first items (a primacy effect) in a list.
Priming
The activation, often unconsciously, of particular associations in memory
Recall
A measure of memory in which the person must retrieve information learned earlier as on a fill-in-the-blank test
Recognition
A measure of memory in which the person need only identify items previously learned, as on multiple-choice test.
Relearning
A measure of memory that assesses the amount of time saved when learning material again.
Long-term potentiation (LTP)
An increase in a cell’s firing potential after brief, rapid stimulation. Believed to be a neural basis for learning and memory.
Hippocampus
A neural center located in the limbic system; helps process explicit memories for storage
Encoding Failure
The brain’s inability to create a link - can’t store & recall
Forgetting Curve
Decline or memory and retention over time
Retrieval Failure
When information in long term memory can not be called forth/ accessed
