Thinking Lecture 10 Chapter 9

2 Mental Concepts 1.Concepts 2.Problem solving 3.Decision making 4.Judgment formation

3 Category Hierarchies Courtesy of Christine Brune

4 Development of Concepts Triangle (definition) Bird (mental image) Daniel J. Cox/ Getty Images J. Messerschmidt/ The Picture Cube

5 Problem Solving Problem solving strategies include: 1.Trial and Error 2.Algorithms 3.Heuristics 4.Insight

Insight i3cI

7 Obstacles in Solving Problems Confirmation Bias Fixation Misusing Heuristics Overconfidence Belief Perseverance

Misusing Heuristics Representative Heuristic Availability Heuristic

Intuition What is good about it? What is bad about it?

Framing

11 Do Animals Think? Common cognitive skills in humans and apes include the following: 1.Concept Formation 2.Insight 3.Problem Solving 4.Culture African grey parrot assorts red blocks from green balls. William Munoz

12 Animal Culture Animals display customs and culture that are learned and transmitted over generations. Dolphins using sponges as forging tools. Chimpanzee mother using and teaching a young how to use a stone hammer. Copyright Amanda K Coakes Michael Nichols/ National Geographic Society

13 Do Animals Exhibit Language? There is no doubt that animals communicate. Vervet monkeys, whales and even honey bees communicate with members of their species and other species. Rico (collie) has a 200-word vocabulary Copyright Baus/ Kreslowski

14 But Can Apes Really Talk? For They can learn more than 100 signs. Chimpanzees who know sign do it spontaneously with each other. Humans don’t learn language without exposure to it either. Washoe, the chimpanzee, taught her adopted son signs. Against Apes acquire their limited vocabularies with a great deal of difficulty, unlike children who develop vocabularies at amazing rates. ee.jpg

But Can Apes Really Talk? For Apes can understand syntax shown by their behavior. Chimpanzees can string together signs to make sentences and combine signs to make up words for things they don’t have a sign for. Against Chimpanzees can make signs to receive a reward, just as a pigeon who pecks at the key receives a reward. However, pigeons have not learned a language. Chimpanzees use signs meaningfully but lack human syntax. Presented with ambiguous information, people tend to see what they want to see (perceptual set). koko.org