THINKINGCognition
All mental activities associated with thinking, knowing, remembering an communicating.
CONCEPTSThe mental categories used to organize events and objects, are often arranged in hierarchical order from general to more specific Example - organism, animal, vertebrate,
quadruped, dog, collie.
Such categories help people to understand new information and to plan Example - by dividing available time into
periods for study, class attendance, recreation, and so forth.
PROTOTYPE A mental image or best example of a category that all members of the category need to be similar
STRATEGIESAlgorithms
Step by step procedure that guarantee a solution Systematically thinking through every possible solution
Heuristics A simple thinking strategy that allows for judgments “Rule of Thumb” that shortcuts solving complex problems
Insight A sight and often novel realization of the solution to a
problem AHA moment
CREATIVITY The ability to produce ideas that are both
novel and valuable
Great ideas are often the result of hundreds of mistakes that turned out well.
FIVE COMPONENTS OF CREATIVITYExpertise
More knowledge allows for more ideas
Imaginative Thinking Skills Looking at things in new ways
A Venturesome Personality A person that is willing to try something new
Intrinsic Motivation Interest and challenges more important than
outcome
A Creative Environment Being in a space that fosters thought permits
risks
Confirmation BiasSeeking for information that supports our
preconception and to ignore contradictory evidence
FixationThe inability to see a problem from a fresh
perspectiveMental Set
A tendency to approach a problem in one particular way, especially when this approach has been successful in the past
Functional FixednessThe tendency to think of only the familiar functions for an objects, without imagining alternative uses
REPRESENTATIVENESS HEURISTIC People tend to judge the probability of an
event by finding a ‘comparable known’ event and assuming that the probabilities will be similar.
If something does not fit exactly into a known category, we will approximate with the nearest class available.
This is a type of stereotyping. We tend to judge people according to the likelihood that they fit our representation of groups to which we feel they should belong
AVAILABILITY HEURISTIC We make a judgment based on what we can
remember, rather than complete data.
In particular, we use this for judging frequency or likelihood of events.
OVERCONFIDENCE The tendency to overestimate the accuracy
of our knowledge and judgments.
What percentage of accused felons plead insanity? Less than one percent
What percentage are acquitted? Only of a quarter of those are ultimately
acquitted
BELIEF PERSEVERANCE PHENOMENON
Clinging to one’s own conceptions after the basis on which they were formed has been discredited.
This could be why teacher’s expectations can influence how student’s perform in school. Teachers that do not believe their students are not capable may not change their minds if they see evidence to the contrary.