Last Class in Review• STM LTM

– Encoding• Rehearsal:

– Maintenance: repetition, rote rehearsal– Elaborative: associate with personal experiences or old

memories» Aids in retrieval

• Mnemonic devices: acronyms, rhymes, method of loci

• Theories of why we forget1. Decay = use it or lose it2. Replacement = new memories push out old memories3. Interference:

• Retroactive (affects things in the past), • Proactive (affects things subsequently)

4. Cue-dependent = not encoded well = bad retrieval cues5. Amnesia = brain injury, disease, psychogenic

Learning Objectives• Cognition:

1. What are the distinctions among a concept, prototype, proposition, schema, and mental image?

2. What is the difference between deductive and inductive reasoning?

3. What is the difference between an algorithm and a heuristic?

4. What are the barriers to reasoning rationally?5. What are the availability heuristic, the hindsight

bias, and the confirmation bias?

Elements of cognitionConcept

Proposition

Cognitive Schema

Mental Image

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Elements of cognitionConceptMental category that groups objects, relations, activities, abstractions, or qualities having common properties

General ideas that allow us to categorize stimuli

Prototype:

best or most typical example of a category

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Chair

Adapted from Cognitive Psychology, 2nd ed, Kellogg (2002)

Elements of cognition

Propositions

Represent the relationship of concepts to one another to express a single idea

Cognitive Schemas

• Mental models of the world, that link together propositions and concepts

• An integrated mental network of knowledge, beliefs, and expectations that defines the properties of an object or event

• Organizes information and aids in retrieval

• Scripts – like how to behave in a restaurant

Adapted from Cognitive Psychology, 2nd ed, Kellogg (2002)

Cognitive Schema: Script

• To get a haircut. I make an appointment with the hairdresser. Drive to the salon. Tell the receptionist I am there and wait until I am called. Get my hair washed and conditioned. The hairdresser combs and cuts my hair. The hairdresser puts gel in my hair and dries it. I pay for the haircut. I drive home.

Elements of cognition

Mental Image

A mental representation that resembles what it represents

Occurs when the relevant object, event, or scene is not actually present

• Indirect measurement:

• How long it takes a person to rotate an image

Your turn

“To get a hamburger, go to a fast-food restaurant and wait in line behind the counter. When it is your turn, tell the person by the cash register that you want a hamburger. He/she will tell you how much it costs. Give him/her enough money. In a few minutes someone behind the counter will give you a hamburger.” This kind of mental representation is best described as a:

1. Concept

2. Proposition

3. Schema

4. Image

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ReasoningThe drawing of conclusions or inferences from

observations, facts, or assumptions

Formal ReasoningInformation needed to draw a conclusion is available

There is a right and wrong answer

1. Algorithms

2. Formal Logic

• Deductive reasoning

• Inductive reasoning

Informal ReasoningNo clear cut answer or correct solution

• Heuristics

• Dialectical Reasoning

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Formal ReasoningInformation needed to draw a conclusion is available

You must find the right (or best) answer

Algorithms:A set of instructions for accomplishing a task that produces a solution

Don’t need to understand how/why it works

- recipe for baking bread

- how to solve a math problem

- how to calculate molarity (chemistry)

Formal Logic:

Deductive reasoning: provide complete support for a conclusion

Inductive reasoning: provide some, but not complete support for a conclusion

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Deductive Reasoning

A tool of formal logic in which a conclusion necessarily follows from a set of premises.

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Examples:

• All dogs are mammals. All mammals have kidneys. Therefore all dogs have kidneys.

• Since all squares are rectangles, and all rectangles have four sides, all squares must have four sides.

• All apples are fruit. All fruit grows on trees. Therefore all apples grow on trees.

Inductive ReasoningA tool of formal logic in which a conclusion probably follows from a set of premises.

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Examples:

• All swans we have seen have been white; therefore all swans are white.

• I always hang pictures on nails; therefore all pictures hang on nails

Reasoning

Informal ReasoningNo clear cut answer or correct solution

Heuristics:

A rule of thumb that suggests a course of action or guides problem solving but does not guarantee an optimal solution

Mental shortcut; allows us to solve problems and make decisions more quickly

Dialectical Reasoning:

Comparing, contrasting, weighing and evaluating opposing points of view to determine the best solution

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Heuristics

Well known:Anchoring and adjustment Availability heuristic Representativeness heuristic

Less well known:Affect heuristic Contagion heuristic Effort heuristic Familiarity heuristicFluency heuristic Gaze heuristic Peak-end rule Recognition heuristic Scarcity heuristic Similarity heuristic Simulation heuristic Social proof Take-the-best heuristic

Dialectical ReasoningA process in which opposing facts or ideas are weighed and compared, with a view to determining the best solution or resolving differences

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Trial Jury

Prosecution

Eye Witness

DNA

Murder Weapon with defendants fingerprints

Defense

Alibi

Claim DNA was contaminated

It was his knife so of course it would have his fingerprints

Reflective judgment

Skills Question assumptions Evaluate and integrate evidence Relate evidence to theory or opinion Consider alternative interpretations Reach defensible conclusions Reassess conclusions in face of new evidence

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Stages of reflective judgment

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Middle-Late 20s

Barriers to rational reasoning

Affect Heuristic

Availability Heuristic

Avoiding loss

Fairness bias

The confirmation bias

The hindsight bias

Mental sets

Cognitive dissonance

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Exaggerating the improbable

Affect HeuristicThe tendency to consult emotions instead of estimating probabilities objectively

• Your current feeling or emotion influences your decision

Availability heuristicThe tendency to judge the probability of an event by how easy it is to think of examples.

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Fairness Bias• Motivation for cooperation and fairness

outweigh the need to avoid loss and to win

The hindsight bias:“I knew it all along” effect

The tendency to overestimate one’s ability to have predicted an event once the outcome is known.

• Inclination to see events that have occurred as more predictable than they were before they took place– Politics, games, medicine, relationships– “Hindsight is 20/20”– “We’re all Monday morning quarterbacks”

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The confirmation biasThe tendency to pay attention only to information that confirms one’s own beliefs

– avoid information and interpretations that contradict our beliefs

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5, 7, 9

Goal: To find the rule to which these numbers conform

Mental Set

Tendency to solve problems using procedures that worked before on similar problems

- finding patterns in events

• Why are mental sets good?– Make learning and problem solving more efficient

• Why can mental sets be bad?– Not helpful when problem calls for new approach

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The nine-dot problem

Connect all 9 dots.Use only 4 lines.Do not lift your pencil from the page after you begin drawing.

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Cognitive Dissonance

A state of tension produced when a person holds two contradictory cognitions or when a person’s belief is inconsistent with his/her behavior

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When are you more likely to try and reduce cognitive dissonance?

1. When you need to justify a choice or decision you freely made

• Postdecision dissonance: second guessing a decision after it is made

» “buyers remorse”

2. When you need to justify behavior that conflicts with your view of yourself

3. When you need to justify the effort put into a decision or choice

• Justification of Effort: Hard work makes goal more attractive, even if once we attain the goal we realize it really wasn’t that good to begin with

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Last Class in Review• Elements of Cognition

– Concept: mental category of commonalities• Prototype: most typical example of category/concept

– Propositions: connect concepts together, represent relationships

– Cognitive Schema: mental network of concepts, scripts– Mental Image: experience that resembles a perception from any sense mode, but

the stimuli is not currently present

• Reasoning– Formal reasoning

• Algorithms: set of rules or instructions used to solve a problem• Deductive (must be true) vs. Inductive reasoning (possibly true)

– Informal reasoning• Heuristics: rules of thumb• Dialectical reasoning: trial jury, voting, debates

– Barriers to reasoning• Affect & Availability Heuristic• Loss aversion, Fairness, Hindsight, Confirmation bias• Mental Set• Cognitive Dissonance

Learning Objectives

• Intelligence:1.What are the three components of the Triarchic

theory of intelligence?

2.What evidence is there that intelligence is influenced by both genetics and the environment?

• Group Exercise – Cognitive Dissonance

Defining intelligence

IntelligenceAn inferred characteristic of an individual, usually defined as the ability to profit from experience, acquire knowledge, think abstractly, act purposefully, or adapt to changes in the environment

g factorA general intellectual ability assumed by many theorists to underlie specific mental abilities and talents

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The Invention of IQ tests

• 1904 – French Ministry of Education asked Alfred Binet to find a way to identify children who were slow learners so they could be given remedial work

• Mental age (MA) and Intelligence Quotient (IQ)• MA = level of intellectual development relative to other kids• IQ = MA divided by chronological age times 100

» Now we use norms and tables to compute IQ

• Stanford-Binet Intelligence Scale• Established norms for American children

•Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale (WAIS)• General IQ, plus scores for specific types of abilities

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Sternberg’s Triarchic Theory

The skills and knowledge needed for success in life, according to one’s own definition of success, within one’s own sociocultural context

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Sternberg’s Triarchic Theory

Three aspects of Intelligence:

1. Componential Intelligence (analytic)Comparing, analyzing, and evaluatingThis type of process correlates best with IQMetacognition: Knowledge or awareness of one’s own cognitive processes

2. Experiential Intelligence (creative)Inventing solution to new problemsTransfer skills to new situationsHow you deal with novel (new) situations

3. Contextual Intelligence (practical)Applying the things you know to everyday contextsTacit knowledge: strategies for success that aren’t explicitly taught

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Emotional Intelligence (EQ)

The ability to identify your own and other people’s emotions accurately, express your emotions clearly, and manage emotions in self and others

Appears to be biologically based (Damasio, 1994)

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Intelligence: Nature or Nurture?

• Heritability: A statistical estimate of the proportion of the total variance in a trait that is attributable to genetic differences among individual within a group– Genetic studies

• Children and adolescents = 0.50• Adults = 0.60-0.80

– Adoption and Twin Studies• Score similarity: Identical twins > Fraternal twins• Adopted children’s scores correlate better with biological

parents

Intelligence: Nature or Nurture?

• What environmental influences can reduce mental ability?– Poor prenatal care– Malnutrition– Exposure to toxins– Stressful family circumstances

• What environmental influences can raise mental ability?– Healthy, stimulating environment

• Remember neurogenesis and stem cells?