Unit 7B: Thinking, Problem Solving, Creativity, Language Flashcards
Mental activities associated with thinking, knowing, remembering and communicating
Cognition
Mental groupings of similar objects, events, ideas, and people (e.g. “car” includes many types of cars)
Concepts
A mental image of the best approximation of all the traits of a category (e.g. When we think of “bird”, we might picture a pigeon instead of a flamingo, penguin or hummingbird)
Prototype
Step-by-step process of solving a problem - Slower, but more guaranteed
Algorithm
Shortcuts in thinking (automatic process of solving problems) - This process is prone to error
Heuristic
Judging the likelihood of events based on how well they seem to represent particular prototypes
Representativeness Heuristic
Estimating the likelihood of events based on how easily they come to mind
Availability Heuristic
The way a sentence of structured can affect how a person reacts to it (e.g. “95% success rate” sounds better than “5% failure rate”)
Framing
A sudden solution to a problem
Insight
The ability to produce novel and valuable ideas
Creativity
A well-developed base of knowledge
Expertise
The inability to see the solution to a problem from a unique “outside of the box” perspective
Functional fixation
The approach to a problem in the way that your brain thinks it “ought” to be done
Mental set
The tendency to seek out only information that agrees with our preexisting ideas, and ignore contradictory information
Confirmation Bias
Once a person forms an idea, it becomes difficult to persuade them otherwise
Belief Perseverance
