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Thinking

Thinking, or cognition, refers to…

Activities of Cognition include:

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Cognitive Psychologists

Thinking involves a number of mental activities, which are listed below.

___________________study these in great detail.

1. Concepts2. Problem solving3. Decision making4. Judgment

formation

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Concepts

The mental grouping of similar objects, events, ideas, or people.

Concepts are the building blocks of thinking.

There are two types of concepts:

Natural (fuzzy) concepts =

Artificial (formal) concepts =

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Category Hierarchies

We organize concepts into category hierarchies.

Courtesy of Christine Brune

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Development of Concepts

We form some concepts with definitions. For example, a triangle has three sides. Mostly, we form concepts with mental

images or typical examples (prototypes). For example, a robin is a prototype of a

bird, but a penguin is not.

Triangle (definition) Bird (mental image)

Daniel J. Cox/ G

etty Im

ages

J. Messerschm

idt/ The Picture Cube

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Problem Solving Strategies

1. Trial and Error –

2. Algorithms –

3. Heuristics --

4. Insight –

5. Compensatory –

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AlgorithmsAlgorithms:•Methodical, logical rule or procedure that guarantees solving a particular problem.

S P L O Y O C H Y GIf we were to unscramble these letters to form a word

using an algorithmic approach, we would face 907,200 possibilities.

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Heuristics

Heuristics are simple, thinking strategies that

allow us to make judgments and solve problems

efficiently.

B2M Productions/D

igital Version/Gett

y Images

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Heuristics

Heuristics make it easier for us to use simple principles to arrive at solutions to problems.

S P L O Y O C H Y GS P L O Y O C H G YP S L O Y O C H G YP S Y C H O L O G Y

Put a Y at the end, and see if the wordbegins to make sense.

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InsightInsight involves a

sudden novel realization of a

solution to a problem.

Grande using boxes toobtain food

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Insight

Brain imaging and EEG studies suggest that when an insight

strikes (the “Aha” experience), it

activates the right temporal cortex (Jung-

Beeman & others, 2004). The time

between not knowing the solution and

realizing it is about 0.3 seconds.

From M

ark Jung-Beekman, N

orthwestern

University and John Kounios, D

rexel University

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Obstacles in Solving Problems

1. Confirmation Bias:

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Fixation

2. Fixation:

The Matchstick Problem: How

would you arrange six matches to form

four equilateral triangles?

From “Problem

Solving” by M. Scheerer. Copyright ©

1963 by Scientific Am

erican, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

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Using these materials, how would you mount the candle on a bulletin board?

Candle-Mounting Problem

From “Problem

Solving” by M. Scheerer. Copyright ©

1963 by Scientific Am

erican, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

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3. Overconfidence

Overconfidence =

In the stock market, both the seller and the buyer may be

confident about their decisions on a stock.

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Exaggerated Fear

The opposite of having

overconfidence is having an

exaggerated fear about what may

happen. Such fears may be unfounded.

AP/ Wide W

orld Photos

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4. The Effects of Framing

Decisions and judgments may be significantly affected depending upon how an issue is framed.Framing =

Example: What is the best way to market ground beef — as 25% fat or 75% lean?

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5. The Belief Perseverance Phenomenon

Belief perseverance =

If you see that a country is hostile, you are likely to interpret their ambiguous

actions as a sign of hostility (Jervis, 1985).

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Using and Misusing Heuristics

Two kinds of heuristics, representative heuristics and availability heuristics, have been identified by cognitive psychologists.

Amos Tversky Daniel Kahneman

Courtesy of Greym

eyer Award, U

niversity of Louisville and the Tversky fam

ily

Courtesy of Greym

eyer Award, U

niversity of Louisville and D

aniel Kahneman

Heuristics

Representativeness Heuristic =

may lead one to ignore other relevant information

Heuristics

Availability Heuristic =

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Availability Heuristic

Why does our availability heuristic lead us astray?

.

How is retrieval facilitated?

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Making Decision & Forming Judgments

Each day we make hundreds of judgments and decisions based on our intuition, seldom using systematic reasoning.

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Perils & Powers of Intuition

Intuition may be perilous if unchecked, but may also be extremely efficient and

adaptive.