Thinking

Question 1

Cognitive Psychology

Answer 1

The study of thinking, processing, and reasoning

Question 2

What are Concepts?

Answer 2

how one represents the relationship between two things. We organize our world through concepts
ex: A bird is an animal that has wings and flies

Question 3

Hypotheses

Answer 3

Ideas used to test relationships and then to form concepts

ex: Animals with wings are the ones that fly

Question 4

What is a Mental Set?

Answer 4

aka Set

is the preconceived notion of how to look at a problem and may help future problem solving

Question 5

Schema

Answer 5

is an organized bunch of knowledge gathered from prior experiences that includes ideas about specific events or objects and the attributes that accompany them. New events and objects are categorized based on how well they match the existing attributes of schemas
ex: A schema about birds might include wings, feathers, flying, and worms, but when someone learns that penguins are birds that swim instead of fly and eat fish instead of worms, that person may have to adjust his or her schema of birds

Question 6

Scripts

Answer 6

Ideas about the way events typically unfold

Question 7

Prototypes

Answer 7

are the representative or “usual” type of an event or object.
ex: a scientist is someone who is good at math and does not write poetry

Question 8

Insight

Answer 8

is having a new perspective on an old problem

Question 9

Convergent Thinking

Answer 9

• Defined by J.P. Guilford

- The type of thinking used to find a single well established solution to a problem

Question 10

Divergent Thinking

Answer 10

Used when more than one possibility exists in a situation.

ex: type of thinking used when playing chess

Question 11

Functional Fixedness

Answer 11

The idea that people developed closed minds about the function of certain objects. From this they cannot think of creative uses or think divergently.
ex: a bird cage is only good for housing birds

Question 12

Problem Space

Answer 12

The sum total of possible moves that one might make in order to solve a problem

Question 13

Algorithms

Answer 13

Problem-solving strategies that consider every possible solution and eventually hit on the correct solution.
-this may take a great deal of time

Question 14

Heuristics

Answer 14

Problem solving strategies that use rule of thumb or short cuts based on what has worked in the past!
-Cannot guarantee a solution but is faster than an algorithm

Question 15

Metacognition

Answer 15

The process of thinking about your own thinking. It might involve knowing what solving strategies to apply and when to apply them or knowing how to adapt your thinking to new situations

Question 16

Mediation

Answer 16

The intervening mental process that occurs between stimulus and response
-it reminds us what to do or how to respond based on ideas or past learning

Question 17

What did Allen Newell and Herbert Simon introduce?

Answer 17

Computer simulation models that are designed to solve problems as human do!
-The first of these was called the Logic Theorist and then was revamped and called the General Problem Solver

Question 18

Deductive Reasoning

Answer 18

Leads to a specific conclusion that must follow from the information given
-ex: All coats are blue. She wears a coat. Therefore, her coat must be blue.

Question 19

Inductive Reasoning

Answer 19

Leads to general rules that are inferred from specifics.
ex: Most of the Ph.D. students I know studied hard for their GRE. Therefore, studying hard probably helps one do well on the test and then get into school.

Question 20

What are the 3 Logical Reasoning Errors

Answer 20

1) Atmosphere Effect: When a conclusion is influenced by the way the information is phrased
2) Semantic Effect: Believing in conclusions because of what you know or think to be correct rather than what logically follows from the info given
3) Confirmation Bias: Remembering and using information that confirms what you already think

Question 21

Decision Making

Answer 21

Working on solving a problem until an acceptable solution is found. Research indicates that the process of reaching a solution is usually based on some sort of assumption, which could either be rational or irrational, and the solution is usually found by relying on reasoning and/or emotion.
-Common decision making techniques include: making a list of pros and cons, flipping a coin, divination, and consulting an expert

Question 22

Intelligence

Answer 22

Intelligence has a definition that is frequently debated; however most people tend to agree that intelligence is the capacity to use knowledge to improve achievement in an environment.
-Many different types of intelligence have been proposed including linguistic, logical, spatial, musical, body movement, and emotional.

Question 23

Reaction Time

Answer 23

• AKA Latency
• Most frequently used to measure cognitive processing, response speed for all types of tasks declines significantly with age

Question 24

What did Elizabeth Loftus and Allan Collins suggest?

Answer 24

They suggested that people have hierarchical Semantic Networks in their memory that group together related items. The more closely related two items are the more closely they are located in the hierarchy and the more quickly a subject can link them.

Question 25

What did Allan Collins and Ross Quillian assert?

Answer 25

They asserted that people make decisions about the relationship between items by searching their cognitive semantic hierarchies. the farther apart in the hierarchy, the longer it will take to see a connection.
-The searching and cognitive semantic hierarchies has been termed parallel distributive processing (or connectionism)

Question 26

Semantic Priming

Answer 26

• In a word recognition task is the presentation of related items (such as test) before the next item (such as GRE).
• Semantic priming decreases reaction time because it activates the node of the second item in the semantic hierarchy.
• In contrast, it would take longer for subjects to recognize the acronym GRE if it were proceeded by the word “lobster” instead of “test”

Question 27

Stroop Effect

Answer 27

Explains the decreased speed of naming the color of ink used to print words when the color of the ink and the word itself are different colors.
ex: when the word Yellow is printed in blue ink.

Question 28

Bottom-up processing

Answer 28

Recognizing an item or pattern from data or details (data driven)

Question 29

Top-Down Processing

Answer 29

is a cognitive process that initiates with our thoughts, which flow down to lower-level functions, such as the senses.