Cognition
Mental activity involved in understanding, processing, and communicating information
thinking
Paying attention to info, mentally representing it, reasoning about it, and making decisions about it
Generally refers to the conscious, planned attempts to make sense of and change our world
Concept
A mental category that is used to class together objects, relations, events, abstractions, or qualities that have common properties
Crucial to cognition
We tend to organize them into hierarchies
Prototypes
A concept of category of objects or events that serves as a good example of the category
When new stimuli closely match people's ________ of concepts, they are readily recognized as examples
Exemplars
A specific example
Overextension
In language development
Over-inclusion of instances in a category
Calling all 4 legged animals dogs
Understanding the Problem
These are 3 steps to what understanding?
The parts or elements of our mental representation of the problem relate to one another in a meaningful way
The elements of our mental representation of the problem correspond to the elements of the problem in the outer world
We have a storehouse of background knowledge that we can apply to the problem
Algorithms
A systematic procedure for solving a problem that works invariably when it is correctly applied
They yield correct answers to problems as long as the right formula is used
Systematic Random Search
An algorithm for solving problems in which each possible solution is tested according to a particular set of rules
Heuristics
Rules of thumb that help us simplify and solve problems
Shortcuts
Often based on problem-solving strategies that work in the past
Do not guarantee a correct solution
Means-end analysis
A heuristic device in which we try to solve a problem by evaluating the difference between the current situation and the goal
Analogy
A partial similarity among things that are different in other ways
Analogy Heuristic
Applies the solution of an earlier problem to the solution of a new one
We use it whenever we try to solve a new problem by referring to a previous problem
Expertise
People who have had experience with the problem are better than new people
Parallel Processing
They dealt simultaneously with 2 or more elements of the problems
serial processing
To handle one element of the problem at a time
Mental Sets
The tendency to respond to a new problem with an approach that was successfully used with the similar problems
Usually make our work easier but they can mislead us when the similarity between problems is illusory
Insight
In gestalt psychology a sudden perception of relationships among elements of the perceptual field permitting the solution of a problem
Incubation
A hypothetical process that sometimes occurs when we stand back from a frustrating problem for a while and the solution suddenly appears
Functional Fixedness
The tendency to view an object in terms of its name or familiar usage
Representativeness heuristic
A decision making heuristic in which people make judgments about samples according to the populations they appear to represent
Availability Heuristic
A decision-making heuristic in which our estimates of frequency or probability of events are based on how easy it is to examples
Anchoring and Adjustment Heuristic
A decision-making heuristic in which a presumption or first estimate serves as a cognitive anchor
As we receive additional information we make adjustments but tend to remain in the proximity of the anchor
Snap Judgements
Framing Effect
The influence of working or the context in which information is presented on decision making
Overconfidence
These Tendencies are associated with what?
We tend to be unaware to how flimsy our assumptions may be
We tend to focus on examples that confirm our judgements and ignore those that do not
Because our working memories have limited space we tend to forget information that runs counter to our judgments
We work to bring about the events we believe in, so they sometimes become self-fulfilling prophecies
Even when people are told that they tend to be overconfident in their decisions they usually ignore this info