Thinking and Decision Making Flashcards
What are analogical representations?
an idea that shares some of the actual characteristics of the object it represents
e.g. the image of a cat
What are symbolic representations?
a mental representation that stands for some content without sharing any characteristics with the thing it represents
e.g. the word cat
What study shows that mental images accurately represent spatial relationships?
Ps were shown a fiction image of an island, it contained various landmarks
After memorising the island, the ps were asked to form a mental image of the island
Ps imaged a black speck going from one landmark to the other, ps had to press the button when the speck reached the target. This was timed.
The time needed to travel between the 2 points on the mental image was proportional to the distance between the 2 points on the map
What study shows that mental images aren’t pictures?
Duck/rabbit image
Ps were shown this image, then were asked to describe the image once it was removed. Some ps recalled seeing a duck, while others recalled a rabbit.
When the ps were asked to interpret the image differently, they couldn’t even with hints and coaxing.
But when the ps were given a piece of paper and drew the image they were imagining, they could interpret the image differently
Do analogical and symbolic representations have resemblance?
Symbolic representations don’t resemble the items they stand for
Symbols are more flexible, we can link ideas to them
Analogical representations have resemblance. They capture the characteristics of what they represent
What are semantic association networks?
Useful for problem solving
nodes: connecting individual symbols
associative links: connection between nodes
What is the spread of activation?
Ps were asked if the words were real
narde > doctor
garden > doctor
nurse > doctor
Faster decision when words were semantically related
A spread of activation was triggered when the ps located the word nurse in their mental dictionary, nearby nodes will include the node doctor. Quicker responses to the pair nurse and doctor
What is deductive reasoning?
Derives new assertions from assertions already in place
Tests beliefs
What is syllogism?
When the conclusion follows the premise
Conclusion is valid if it logically follows the premise
We can have a false premise and valid syllogism
What is the confirmation bias?
Tendency to take evidence that is consist with our beliefs more seriously than evidence that is inconsistent
What was the procedure of Wason’s selection task?
If a card has a vowel on one side, it must have an even number on the other side
A K 4 7
What were the results of Wason’s selection task?
46% of people chose card 4
This doesn’t test if it’s a vowel then it’s even.
More of a test to see if it’s even then it’s a vowel
This isn’t a valid test
Should pick card 7, to test if vowel, then even. This is a valid test. Only 4% of people chose this
Does context matters in confirmation bias?
If a person is drinking beer, then the person must be 19 years of age
Ps were asked which card to clip
- drinking beer
- drinking coke
- 22 years
- 16 years
Context matters, so people performed better at this
Why does context matter for our confirmation bias?
Permission schemas: help us reason about the situation
Daily life if/then situations related to permission
These reasoning skills and strategies have been well practised
What is induction?
Going from one or more specific cases to a more general conclusion
The number of observations matter. The more, the better
Is the current situation similar to the ones previously encountered?
Infer theories from experimental results
What are heuristics?
A strategy of making judgements quickly
These can make some mistakes
What is the availability heuristic?
Conclusions based on patterns of observations, not based on one single observation
To get an estimate of the frequency, people think about specific cases
Often works, not always
What is the representativeness heuristic?
Judge whether an individual, object or event belongs to a category based on how typical of the category it seems
We extrapolate from our experiences, so we know what to expect next time
Uniformity is important e.g. birds have wings and beaks
What happened with the prison guard in the study to test the representativeness heuristic?
Ps watched an interview with a prison guard who had extreme views
They drew conclusions about this entire prison system made on this one interview
Even if they were told beforehand that these views were extreme and unusual
The prison guard was believed to be representative of all guards so the prior information about these views being rare was disregarded
What is the dual process theory?
Conclusions from heuristics can be rejected
system 1: fast, automatic type of thinking
system 2: slower, more effortful thinking
What is the utility theory?
Each decision has costs and benefits based on personal goals
Costs: move us farther away from goals
Benefits: move us towards our goal
We decide by finding the course of action with a balance of costs and benefits
Sometimes there can be risks in making a decision
Overall, people seek options with the greatest expected utility
What are the problems with the utility theory?
People don’t do utility calculations often
Our decisions are influenced by things which seem irrelevant and potentially should not affect the outcome, if the outcome is maximisation
What is the framing effect?
Decisions are influenced by the way questions are phrased and options are described
What did Tversky and Kahneman find in their study on using the framing effect for medical decisions?
Survival fame and Mortality frame.
100 people having either surgery or radiation in both frames
The survival frame focused on people surviving both the radiation and surgery
The mortality frame focused on the number of people that died in both the surgery and radiation
Survival frame: 18% chose radiation
Mortality frame: 44% chose radiation
What is affective forecasting?
Not very good at predicting our future feelings
We ignore important but less salient factors
For the utility approach to work, we must consider all these factors to estimate utility
Is there such a thing as too many choices?
We prefer to have many choices but we are more likely to make a decision if we have less options
What did the grocery store experiment find?
People showed more satisfaction when they were given 6 options VS 24 or 30 options
What is choice evaluation?
What makes us happy is the way we made our choice
Not the actual outcome
If the choice is easy to justify we are happy
What are well and ill- defined problems?
well defined: clear goal, knowledge of the available options
ill defined: hazy sense of the goal, many things are unknown
What is automaticity?
Ability to do a task without paying attention to it
Useful but 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 an analogy?
recall previous, similar experience
What is restructuring?
When a problem fails
We try to change our understanding of the problem
What does brain imagery show for the link between mental imagery and the visual cortex?
Used TMS
Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation
Temporary disruption to visual cortex
Parallel problems in visual imagery
This region of the brain is important for both visual inputs but also the inspection and creation of images
What is loss aversion?
People make choices that minimise or avoid losses
People are more likely to take risks when considering a potential loss
Avoid risk when considering a potential gain
What is satisfice?
When making a decision, people can seek a satisfactory option rather than spending their time and effort to locate and select the ideal option
What is the means end analysis?
Evaluate the difference between your current situation and your goal
Replaces the initial problem with many subproblems
when this process is repeated, it creates a hierarchal structure
Subproblems are less complex and easier to solve
This can create subroutines: simpler, more familiar solutions for subproblems are defined
