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Notebook Page 82:Thinking, Cognition, and

Creativity

Fact vs. Falsehood1.  We notice evidence that contradicts our beliefs more readily than evidence that is consistent with them.2.  In general, people underestimate how much they really know.3.  It takes less compelling evidence to change our beliefs than it did to create them in the first place.4.  Some computers are able to learn from experience.5.  The babbling of an infant at 3 months of age makes it clear whether the infant is French, Korean, or Ethiopian.6.  If not exposed to a language, a group of children will make up their own.7.  People who lack our words for shapes and colors also seem to perceive these features very differently.8.  Only human beings seem capable of insight (the sudden realization of a problem’s solution).9.  Bees use an intricate dance to communicate the direction and distance of a new food source to other bees.10.  Apes are capable of communicating meaning by using symbols.

Cognition (thinking)mental activities associated with thinking,

knowing, remembering, and communicating

• Concepts– Mental grouping of similar objects, events, or

people

• Prototypes– Mental image or best example of a category

(concept) --- basically an example of the concept

• EX: concept = vehicles; prototypes = ??

How did you solve it?

Do the drawings in each pair

represent the same object, or

are they different objects?

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Convergent Thinking

• Systematic and logical attempt to reach a specific goal or answer

• may include a dependence of symbols, concepts or rules

Divergent Thinking

• Free‐flowing of thoughts with no particular plan

• Includes reliance on imagery and feelings (daydreams and fantasies)

Metacognition

• “thinking about thinking” (processes)

• The awareness of an individual’s own thinking strategies

How did I figure that

out???

Creativity

Sternberg’s five components of creativity

• Expertise

• Imaginative thinking skills

• A venturesome personality

• Intrinsic motivation

• A creative environment

Ways to boost your creativity

• Develop your expertise

• Allow time for incubation

• Set aside time for the mind to roam freely

• Experience other cultures and ways of thinking

Problem SolvingStrategies and Obstacles

• Algorithms– Step-by-step; slow but accurate

– Methodical, logical rule or procedure

– Guarantees solving the problem

• Heuristic– Simple thinking strategy

– Fast but less accurate

– “short-cuts”, experimental strategy, rules of thumb

Problem SolvingStrategies and Obstacles

• Insight– “ah ha!” moment

• Mental set– Habitual strategy or pattern

– Especially if it was successful in the past

• Confirmation bias– Tendency to search for information that

confirms your preconceptions

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The Candle‐Mounting Problem

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

The Candle‐Mounting Problem

• You must recognize that a box doesn’t always have to be a container…

Forming Good and Bad Decisions and Judgments

• The Representative Heuristic– Prototype

– Likelihood of something

• Availability Heuristic

– Memory

– Likelihood of something

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Forming Good and Bad Decisions and Judgments

• Overconfidence

Forming Good and Bad Decisions and Judgments

• Belief perseverance– Believing in what you

believe in even when given proof that you’re wrong…

• Intuition– Intuition is huge

– Intuition is usually adaptive

– Intuition is recognition born of experience

Artificial Intelligence (A.I.)

• Designing and programming computers to

– Do intelligent things

– Simulate human thought processes

Computer Neural Networks

• Computer circuits that mimic the brains interconnected neurons– Performing tasks

What they can’t do as well as a human…

• True multi‐tasking

• Recognition

• Inference

• Common sense

• emotions