thinking and decision making Flashcards
what is an analogical representation
an idea that shares some of the actual characteristics of the object it represents
what is symbolic representation
a mental representation that stands for some content without sharing any characteristics with the thing it represents
what are mental representations
contents of the mind that stand for some objects, events or state of affair
its the idea that matters, not the physical object
explain the study showing mental images accurately represent the spatial relationships inside a scene
participants shown map of fictional island containing various landmarks
after memorising map, asked to form mental image of the island
PPs timed while they imagined a black speck zipping from one landmark to another. When speck reached target, PP pressed button
result: found time needed for speck to travel between two points on mental image was proportional to distance between those points on map
what are propositions
statement relating a subject and a claim about that subject
network structures - what are nodes and associative links
nodes = connecting individual symbols
associative links = connection between nodes
what are semantic association networks useful for
problem solving
what is direct thinking?
thinking aimed at a particular goal
process of our thoughts depend on what we are trying to achieve
reasoning, judgement, decision making, problem solving
what is deductive reasoning
deriving new assertions from assertions already in place
this provides a means of testing beliefs
deductive reasoning - what is syllogism
conclusion follows two premises
conclusion is valid if it logically follows the premises
example:
1) all artwork is made of wood
2) all wooden things can be turned into a clock
conclusion: therefore, all artwork can be turned into a clock
false premises, but valid syllogism
what is confirmation bias
tendency to take evidence that is consistent with our beliefs more seriously than evidence that is inconsistent
confirmation bias - what is Gambler’s Fallacy
winning strategy
focus on past wins, and past losses are reinterpreted
e.g., blaming a near win on a ref’s decision, or blaming on bad luck
what do permission schemas do
permission schemas help us to reason about the situation
judgement - what is induction
going from one or more specific cases to a more general conclusion
example:
fact - Jane has enjoyed many trips to the beach
conclusion - Jane will always enjoy trips to the beach
how do we determine the strength of inductions?
number of observations (the more the better)
representativeness (is the current situation similar to past situations encountered? is there any difference from past experiences)
what are heuristics
strategy for making judgements quickly, at the price of making occasional risks
not guaranteed to be correct, but usually correct and quick
what is the availability heuristic
conclusions based on patterns of observations, not a single observation
to get an estimate of frequency, people think about specific cases
availability as the basis for assessing frequency
what is the representativeness heuristic
strategy to judge whether an individual, object or event belongs to a certain category based on how typical of the category it seems
uniformity allows us to extrapolate from our experiences, so we know what to expect next time
what is the dual process theory
the use of heuristics is not inevitable, sometimes we reject the conclusion drawn from the heuristic
system 1: fast, automatic thinking
system 2: slower, more effortful type of thinking
some form of education makes system 2 thinking more likely
decision making - what is utility theory
each decision has costs and benefits based on our own personal goals
costs move us father from our now goals, benefits move us closer to our goals
we estimate a subjective utility for each item
what is the framing effect
decisions are influenced by the way questions are phrased and options are described
what is affective forecasting
we are not very good at forecasting our feelings
we tend to ignore important but less salient factors
for the utility approach to work, all of these factors must be considered in estimating utility
decision making: other effects
more likely to make a choice when we have less options
choice evaluation
we can’t always pick the best possible outcome, so we pick the outcome that is good enough for us
what is the difference between a well-defined problem and ill defined problem
well-defined: clear goal, knowledge of available options
ill-defined problem: hazy sense of goal, many things are unknown
what is automaticity
ability to do a task without paying attention to it
useful, but may be problematic
what is a mental set
specific perspective taken in approaching the problem
creates a box, making It difficult to think outside of a mental set
what is analogy
recall previous, similar experience
what is restructuring
when solving a problem fails, try to change our understanding of the problem
what is creative thinking
new and valuable way to solve problems
