Psych 340 Final Flashcards
What is the Dual Code Theory for Knowledge Presentation?
Paivio (1969): Mental representations are coded in two manners
-Analog (analogy) Codes: sensory images (sights, sounds, tastes)
-Symbolic Codes: words (inner voice)
Participants were shown a rapid sequence of images or words and were later asked to recall them; serial recall or free recall
-For visual images, free recall was better
-For words, serial recall was better
VISUAL IMAGERY IS ANALOG CODES
Image-Percept Equivalence
When the construction of visual objects are the same as they are perceived.
What three phenomena were used to observe this equivalence?
Mental Rotation, Scaling (zooming in), and scanning
Mental Rotation: Researched by Shepard and Metzler: participants were presented with pairs of 3-D objects and asked if they were the same (goal was to have them mentally rotate the object to determine if they were the same).
Results: The time it took to answer was linearly related to the amount of rotation needed (same for people who held objects in hands). Response times took longer if object was more complex.
Scaling (Zooming In): Kosslyn (1975-76)participants were asked to imagine the following animals in pairs:
-rabbit-elephant
-rabbit-fly
-rabbit- elephant sized fly
-rabbit- fly sized elephant
Results: Answers about smaller animal of pair took longer (same applies to smaller features)
Image Scanning: Kosslyn (1978): participants had to memorize a ficticious map of an island. When given an object found on the island, participants needed to mentally scan to that object (map was not longer present).
Results: The longer the distance was on the map, the longer the scan took.
PEOPLE ARE USING VISUAL PERCEPTUAL PROCESSES WHEN IMAGINING.
Proposition Code Theory
Imagery is not coded and realized via the visual system, but is stored as generic cognitive “knowledge” or proposition (meaning).
Difference between Dual Code Theory and Proposition Code Theory
Information is coded and realized via visual system with the Dual Code Theory but is not with the Proposition Code Theory
Kerr (1983)
Cognitive Process is not visual. Developed experiments similar to Kosslyn’s (scanning, scaling, rotating) for tactile sensation and tested blind people.
Results: Found the exact same results except their ability to “imagine” could not be based on visual processing since they had never had vision
Intons-Peterson (1992)
Participants were asked questions about sounds:
-is purring of a cat lower pitch than a clocks ticking (both were similar in pitch)
-is purring of a cat lower pitch than a telephone ringing (both were far apart in pitch)
Results: If pitch was similar, it took a shorter amount of time to answer than it did if the pitches were far apart
Reed (1974)
Participants were briefly shown an image and then asked if there was a shape in the image
Results: Participants were terrible at this. Proves that we cannot re-create the image or re-examine it
Chambers and Reisberg (1985)
Participants were briefly shown ambiguous images and then asked if they could re-create the image as something else (duck vs rabbit).
Results: Participants were terrible at it again. This supports that we cannot re-create or re-examine an image.
Where is the focus for the current Dual-Code Theory and the Proposition Code Debate? What is the science telling us about LTM, STM, WM, Imagining, and Perception?
The focus is on neuroscience but newer research counters old research.
Neuroscience is telling us that many of the same brain areas are mediating these processes and there needs to be an effort to reduce these concepts to the necessary few.
Difference between reasoning and logic
Reasoning is the process of finding support for a conclusion, or generating a conclusion based on evidence as well as finding reasons or causes; understanding the relationships between objects or events.
Logic is the process of reasoning that involves explicitly identifying what is given (reasons or statements of fact) and explicitly determining all possible meanings of those “facts”, and then exhaustively all that is (logically) possibly given to the truth of all given facts combined.
What is Inductive Reasoning?
It is generalizing from particular instances
What is deductive reasoning?
It is using general knowledge to make inferences about a specific case
Possibilities and Certainties regarding inductive reasoning and deductive reasoning
Inductive reasoning means that conclusions are only possibilities (might be true)
Deductive reasoning means that conclusions are true (must be true)
Inductive Reasoning (might be true) Examples
- Extrapolations from known information
- Predictions of the future, based on past performance
- Extending features of some members of the group to the rest of the group
Deductive Reasoning (must be true) Examples
- Definitional Truths
- Mathematical Truths
- Logical Inferences (if…then logic)
Main difference between Inductive and Deductive Reasoning
“from small to big” is inductive
“big to small” is deductive
What are the other differences between inductive and deductive reasoning?
- Possibilities and Certainties: might be true, must be true
- Adding more premises or examples: induction makes more possible or falsifies and deduction does NOT change the truth or falsehood
- Creating new information of not: induction generates new knowledge and deduction does not create new knowledge (only makes implied knowledge explicit)
Is the induction-deduction distinction the same as the S1-S2 distinction? What are the good and bad things about induction?
The induction distinction is similar to the S1-S2 distinction because the good part about induction is that it automatically generates new knowledge which can be applied to current situations and allows us to be prepared (S1) while the bad thing about induction is that it can create a bias BUT this can be avoided through slow reasoning (S2).
In regards to deduction, what is the basic structure of a syllogism?
It is a logical argument with 2 premises and a conclusion that must be true is the premises are true
What is the difference between Syntax and Content?
Syntax is the operations: if, or, all, some, and, not
Content is the meaning and truth of the premises (and words used)
What needs to be the case for a conclusion to be Valid, and how is this
related to being “true” (can a conclusion be valid but not true, or true but not valid)?
In order for our conclusion to be valid, we must Explicitly and Exhaustively identify all possible meanings/inferences and all possible conclusions (activate your S2).
1. Make sure to identify all of the possible interpretations and inferences from the premises
(Are there any assumptions or other truths?)
2. Make sure the identify all possible situations (conclusions) where all of the premises are true in combination (Are there any other logical possibilities?)
Yes, a conclusion can be true but not valid.
What does it mean to say that validity of a deduction is all about syntax and not as much about content?
Validity depends on the syntax and logic while the truth depends on the content and it’s relationship with the real world.
What is a Circle Diagram?
Circle inside of circle
How would we graphically illustrate a Linear Syllogism?
if —–> then
If p… then q
Affirming the Antecedent
This is assumed to be sufficient only
What are the Ponens and Tollens and why are they important?
Modus Ponens is Affirming the Antecedent (if p then q)
Modus Tollens is Denying the Consequent (if not p, then not q)
Why does it matter if the conditional relationship is only necessary or only sufficient?
A necessary relationship is when not just on p will contribute to the q, multiple p’s have to contribute to q. A sufficient relationship is when p is enough to only contribute to q.
Why do people appear to “easily prove the rule” when looking for Ponens but tend to forget the Tollens?
People tend to look for proof to support what they believe to be true, once they find their proof, they stop looking. This creates confirmation bias.
What happens when we approach a situation of problem and does S1 or S2 kick in first?
S1 kicks in first and creates an initial judgement based on our existing knowledge. S2 kicks in when solutions presented in S1 do not work. S2’s effort is minimal.
Halo Effect
Assumptions involving unknown features are made in response to known features. An inferred association is made between objects (or concepts) because of shared or similar features
Example: Bob is personable—> personable is good—>generous is good—> Bob is generous
Conjunction Fallacy
The co-occurrence of two (or more) features erroneously gives us the impression that it is more likely, than a single feature. In reality, the co-occurrence of two events is ALWAYS less likely than the likelihood of the least likely of the two events.
Example: “The Linda Problem”
Base-Rate Neglect
The tendency to ignore base-rate information and focus on specific details and other specific information.
Example: Tom is a dull, boring, kind of selfish yet moral person and is in college. Based on this info. what do we think his major is?
If we assumed his major is something like social science or social work, we would be neglecting the basic, factual information we were just given.
Gambler’s Fallacy
Occurs when an individual erroneously believes that a certain random event is less likely or more likely to happen based on the outcome of a previous event or series of events.
Example: A gambler is convinced if they gamble one more time, the odds will be different THIS time.
Hot Hand Fallacy
When people believe an individual is “hot” or “cold” depending on past performance, when that performance has no bearing on future outcomes.
Example: A basketball player makes 3 hoops in a row so we tend to think that there is a higher probability of them making the 4th hoop even though there is no correlation between how good the basketball player is and whether or not he will get 4 hoops in a row.
Clustering Illusion
The tendency to erroneously perceive small samples from random distributions to have significant ‘streaks’ or ‘clusters’.
Example: If we flipped a coin five times and each time it landed on heads and then we flipped it five more times and landed on tails but both of these situations occurred in a bigger sample, we would consider those streaks to be “significant”.
Illusory Correlation
Perceiving a relationship between two variables even though no relationship exists
Example: “luck”
Anchoring Effect
We use other information available to guide our answers.
Example: Is the tallest Redwood more or less than 1200 feet? Is the tallest Redwood more or less than 180 feet?
Anchoring Index
(difference in guesses/difference in anchors)100
Example: Redwood group with 1200 had 844 guess and the Redwood group with 180 had 282 guesses
-(844-282)/(1200-180)100=55%
Availability Heuristic
A mental shortcut that relies on immediate examples that come to a given person’s mind when evaluating a specific topic, concept, method or decision. Tends to be very biased.
Example: When a plane crashes, people are afraid of flying but the chances of getting a car crash are significantly higher
Representative Heuristic
A mental shortcut that we use when estimating probabilities.
Example: Police who are looking for a suspect in a crime might focus disproportionately on Black people in their search.
Sunk Cost Fallacy
Describes our tendency to follow through on an endeavor if we have already invested time, effort, or money into it, whether or not the current costs outweigh the benefits.
Example: Moving across the country for a new job and giving up everything to do it even if the costs are huge.
Law of Small Numbers
A cognitive bias that involves the incorrect expectation of local representativeness, in the sense that people expect small samples to be fully representative of the characteristics of the parent population from which they are drawn, similarly to large samples.
Example: Jar of Marbles: 50% red and 50% blue. Betty pulls out 4 marbles and Bobby pulls
out 7 marbles. Who is more likely to get an extreme (all red or all blue)?
Framing Effect
The bias that occurs in decision making based on how the information is presented
Example: Asking your parents for something but not saying please and not getting what you want but when you ask nicely and say please, you get what you want
Tversky Experiment: Legal Analysis
Subjects were given a legal scenario to consider.
-One group given presentation by a union lawyer only
-One group given presentation by business lawyer only
-One group read both
They then had to predict how many jurors would side with the plaintiff/defendant
Results: The one sided groups were biased and less correct yet over confident in their assessment
OVERCONFIDENCE BIAS
Experiments Related to Priming
Reminders of Wealth
K. Vohs: Groups were given 5 word groups and asked to put together 4 word sentences. For one group, many of the words were related to money and wealth. For the other, not.
The money group was much more likely to:
a. Persevere in a task alone: not ask for help.
b. more selfish
c. Less likely to help others
d. Sits farther away from other people (subtle effect)
Priming Shame
Students were induced to lie to an imaginary person by sending an email or by phone
Results: Students who lied by phone were more likely to buy mouth wash over soap and students who lied over email were more likely to buy soap over mouth wash.
Gilbert Experiment
Students were asked to participate in an experiment to study the process of learning a new language, and were told there would be a memory test.Students were presented with a nonsensical statement
“A Dinca is a Flame”
Which was followed by either TRUE or FALSE. On some trials, there was a buzzer which indicated to the students that they needed to focus on a different task for a few minutes: This interruption activated attention and thus distracts the S2 system.
Results:
On interrupted trials, students made errors, but only on the statements which were followed with FALSE, no errors on remembering which were TRUE.
False ones were less likely to be remembered as false and more likely to be remembered as true. What does this imply?
The interruption (stopping S2) biased the process toward considering (remembering) items as being TRUE.
COMING TO BELIEVE SOMETHING IS A TWO STEP PROCESS. S1 CONSIDERS IF THE STATEMENT IS TRUE AND S2 MAKES THE DETERMINATION.
Schwarz Experiment
Had students list instances in which they “Behaved Assertively”
Group A: recall 6 instances
Group B: recall 12 instances
Then students rated themselves on how Assertive they are….
Results: Group A rated themselves as more Assertive than Group B
Schwarz: Same type of experiment, except had students listen to background
music.
Students were told that music would affect their ability to recall.
Some were told music would help. Some were told music would impair
Results: The availability Heuristic was blocked.
Recalling 12 items lead to the same personal assessment as recalling 6 items when told music would impair.
Epley and Gilovich
Having students hold digits in mind or being mildly drunk (inhibiting S2) causes students to remain closer to the anchor.
S1: considers anchor to be true
S2: pulls you away from the anchor
The Ultimatum Game
Two players:
Proposer: This person is given $10, but must decide how to split it with the other player
Responder: This person decides whether to accept or reject the offer
The Constraints:
1. There is only one offer (no negotiation)
2. If the responder rejects the offer, no one keeps any money
Results
The decision to reject or accept the offer is not utilitarian, but based on fairness!
This effect is much less if the other “proposer” is a computer
What does the Epley and Gilovich experiment tell us about the roles of S1 and S2 in the Anchoring Effect and how is it related to the Gilbert Experiment?
When S2 is inhibited, our beliefs lean toward what S1 tells us because creating a belief completely takes both S1 and S2 so we cannot form them if we are drunk or distracted. Both experiments proved the same point.
What does the Schwarz experiment say about the Availability Heuristic and how is it similar to retrieval fluency?
Our Availability Heuristic is dependent on the ease of recall which includes mental process such as:
-Sampling Bias
-Saliency Effects (how attentive a stimulus is)
-Memory Storage Effect which could be more meaningful, surprising or emotional memories, and events related to our own lives
THIS SHOWS US AVAILABILITY HEURISTIC IS VERY BIASED.
5 things we can do to be more S2 and less S1?
- Recognize S1: If the idea “springs to mind”, it is S1
- Understand ego depletion and the role of emotions as well as other biases
- Work in groups: we avoid confirmation bias this way
- Don’t be afraid to be in doubt: Doubt and wonder engages S2
- Develop cognitive habits: “What am I missing?”, “Should I be this confident?”
Four Features of a Problem
Starting state, Goal state, Problem Space, and Operators and Restrictions
Difference between well-defined and ill-defined problem?
A well-defined problem (to-be solved) is when the situation that you find yourself in is not the situation that you want to be in. There is a clear “problem-space”.
An ill-defined problem is when operations are unclear and the instructions and goals are vague. Hard to find solution.
What is the “problem-sapce” and how is it related to solving a problem?
The set of all possible configurations or states including the initial state and the goal state. Relates to problem-solving because actually solving the problem is the equivalent to walking through the problem space.
What are the six problems with trying to solve problems?
- The problem attributes are poorly defined
- Huge problem space
- Application of prior knowledge
- Assumptions
- Misleading or Irrelevant Information
- Too much information: Overwhelms our cognitive resources
Functional Fixedness and Garden Path Problem?
Functional Fixedness is when we tend to fixate on the learned use for an object which interferes with our ability to grasp a novel use.
Our functional fixedness gets in the way when the Garden Path Problem is presented because what we are interpreting will usually be wrong because a novel answer is needed instead of using previous knowledge.
Five strategies to help with problems in problem-solving?
- We can be systematic about our method/approach
- Be clear about all aspects of the problem (goals, operations, etc.)
- Use external cognitive devices (pencil and paper)
- Find analogies
- Talk it through!
What is the IDEAL procedure for problem-solving?
Identify the problem (or initial state)
Define and represent the problem (the goal state, and constraints)
Explore possible solutions or strategies for obtaining the solution
Act on strategies
Look back and evaluate the success of each strategy
What two attributes are commonly accepted for defining something as creative? Does it have to be pleasing as well?
It is Novel and Useful or appreciated as having value. It DOES NOT have to be pleasing.
What is the difference between ‘P’ or ‘H’ creativity? What about ‘C’ or ‘c’?
Psychological Creativity is ‘P’
Historic Creativity is ‘H’
Everyday creativity is ‘c’
Individual/Special creativity is ‘C’
How has our definition of creativity changed over time?
In Roman Times: Originally believed to be divined from spiritual resources
Medieval Times: Believed to be a special trait for some people but not all; research was focused on studying “creative” people
Today: Creative acts still seem extra-ordinary, but this a bias
-we only look at the final product, not any of the small steps toward the final product
-we only use extreme cases as examples of creativity
What is the difference between production tasks and insight tasks as measures of creativity?
A Production Task would be open ended questions.
For example: What would be the result if everyone suddenly lost the ability to read and write?”
An Insight Task would be visual, mathematical, and linguistic
For example: The Nine Dot Problem, and math problem, and any linguistically challenging problem to be solved.
What are the four stages of creative thought (Wallas)? What stage did Okudo add?
- Recognize that there is a problem (Okudo et al. 1975)
- Preparation: The search through “conceptual space”: idea generation, re-working of the elements, exploration
- Incubation: taking time away from the problem
- Insight: Illumination
- Evaluation and Verification
How are the stages that Wallas and Okudo created comparable to the IDEAL model of problem-solving and the model described by Halpern?
Halpern’s Stages
1. Preparation or familiarization: time spent understanding the problem
2. Production Stage: generates all potential paths through the problem space
3. Incubation Stage: (not a necessary stage; may not be needed)
4. Evaluation Stage
Bransford and Stein (1993) IDEAL:
Identify the problem
Define and represent the problem
Explore possible solutions or strategies for obtaining solution
Act on strategies
Look back and evaluate the success of each strategy
Three Component Model of the cognitive process involved in creativity
Input Phase (perception/understanding)—->Divergent Thinking—->Convergent Thinking
Different pairs of terms that are equivalent to Divergent and Convergent thinking…
Lateral Thinking—>Vertical Thinking
Crystallized Thinking—>Fluid Thinking
Synthetic Thinking—>Analytic Thinking
What does it mean to search for a conceptual space?
It means we have to have prior knowledge
What is the difference between distal and proximal associations?
Proximal associations is facing the problem cues or constrains our way of looking at our understanding of problem…
Distal associations is to break away from the typical way of understanding what we are seeing
How does having broad knowledge help and in what ways can being an expert be a detriment?
More knowledge means more nodes and associations, sometimes it’s better to be broad due to exploration and play.
What are the different ways in which we can enhance our creative solutions?
Have broad knowledge, explore, play in groups, take time off (incubation), mind wander, and reduce attention
How is play helpful?
When we play in groups, it gives us different perspectives from different people which in the end, helps us develop more creative solutions
What are incubation and mind wandering?
Incubation is when we take time off when solving problems. Taking a break. Mind wandering is sort of like day dreaming and dozing off a bit.
What are five possible benefits to incubation?
- Mental Set Block: People get stuck in particular representation of the problem (Mind set)
which does not allow the solution. By stepping away from the problem, you are likely to
address the problem with a different mindset the next time. (Functional Fixedness). - Spreading Associations (Interference): Many different nodes become activated at
different strengths. While the strongly activated nodes become conscious the weaker ones do not. When not thinking about the problem, a accidental cue may trigger a weaker node which may be linked to the solution. - Unconscious Processing: maybe it takes time to create all of those new associations.
- Reaching Distal Associations takes repeated explorations.
- Need Time to Engage in Divergent Thinking(convergent thinking).
What type of tests does an incubation period help most?
RAT (Remote Association Test)
Puzzles (words, visual, and games)
Productive and Generative Tasks
Which process does incubation and mind wandering help?
Problem-solving and creativity but only if we are aware of the mind wandering.
May (et al.)
People tested at their peak circadian rhythm time were NOT distracted by these.
But if tested at their Off-Peak time, these distractors were hurtful.
Wieth and Zacks
At peak time: people were not hurt and not helped
At off-peak time: people were both hurt and helped
Having strong attentional skills can be helpful or hurtful depending on the
situation!
Margue (et al.)
Experiment 1: While solving verbal anagrams, half the students were forced to listen
to a voice repeating unrelated words (obstacle group).
Then students were given tests to assess their Global v Local Thinking.
Results: Students in Obstacle Group were more likely to see the wholistic image and not the individual letters.Students in the other group were more likely to see the individual letters and not the wholistic image. Obstacles makes you focus on the bigger picture, how all of the parts fit together, and not the individual parts.
Experiment 2: Students were given a maze to follow. One group the answer was easy, but for the other group the easy answer was obviously blocked (they had to seek out a more
difficult path).
Results: When given a RAT test (of creativity) later on, the group with the obstacle was
able to find more associations than the easy unblocked group.
What personality attributes may be related to creativity?
Willingness to take risks (social and non-social), tolerate ambiguity, persevere, self-efficacy, intrinsic motivation
Why is creativity hard work?
We have to engage in convergent and diergent thinking, we have to make it a habit, we have to value it, we have to embrace our mistakes, it takes time and effort as well as other skills!
