Thinking

Cognition Another term for thinking, knowing and remembering Does the way we think really matter? Maybe by studying the way we think, we can eventually think better.

Concepts In order to think about the world, we form…….. A mental grouping of similar objects, events, ideas or people. Concepts are similar to Piaget’s idea of…. Schemas These animals all look different, but they fall under our concept of “dogs”.

Prototypes We base our concepts on …. A mental image or best example of a category. If a new object is similar to our prototype, we are better able to recognize it. If this was my prototype of a man; then what are you?

How do we solve problems?

Trial and Error

Algorithms A methodical, logical rule or procedure that guarantees solving a particular problem. What are the benefits and detriments of algorithms?

Heuristics A rule-of-thumb strategy that often allows us to make judgments and solve problems efficiently. Who would you trust to baby-sit your child? A short cut (that can be prone to errors). Your answer is based on your heuristic of their appearances.

Insight A sudden and often novel realization of the solution to a problem. AHA! moment No real strategy involved

Obstacles to problem solving

Confirmation Bias A tendency to search for information that confirms one’s preconceptions. For example, if you believe that during a full moon there is an increase in admissions to the emergency room where you work, you will take notice of admissions during a full moon, but be inattentive to the moon when admissions occur during other nights of the month.

Match Problem Can you arrange these six matches into four equilateral triangles?

Match Problem Fixation The inability to see a problem from a new perspective.

Mental Set A tendency to approach a problem in a particular way, especially if it has worked in the past. May or may not be a good thing.

Functional Fixedness The tendency to think of things only in terms of their usual functions. What are some things I can do with this quarter (other than spend it)?

Types of Heuristics (That often lead to errors)

Representativeness Heuristic Below is Linda. She loves books and hates loud noises. Is Linda a librarian or a beautician? A rule of thumb for judging the likelihood of things in terms of how well they match our prototype. Can cause us to ignore important information. Chances are, she is a beautician!!!

Availability Heuristic Estimating the likelihood of events based on their availability in our memory. Although diseases kill many more people than accidents, it has been shown that people will judge accidents and diseases to be equally fatal. This is because accidents are more dramatic and are often written up in the paper or seen on the news on t.v., and are more available in memory than diseases. If it comes to mind easily (maybe a vivid event) we presume it is common.

Overconfidence The tendency to be more confident than correct. To overestimate the accuracy of your beliefs and judgments. Considering “overconfidence” who you want to risk 1 million dollars on an audience poll?

Framing The way an issued is posed. It can have drastic effects on your decisions and judgments. How do you think framing will play a part in this years election?

Belief Bias Democrats support free speech The tendency for one’s preexisting beliefs to distort logical reasoning. Sometimes making invalid conclusions valid or vice versa. 2. Dictators are not Democrats. Conclusion: Dictators do not support free speech.

Belief Perseverance Clinging to your initial conceptions after the basis on which they were formed has been discredited. “the reason people fight on campus”

Its all about communication!!! Language and Thought Its all about communication!!!

Language Our spoken written or gestured words and the way we combine them to communicate meaning. Believe it or not, this communication is a form of language!!!

Phonemes In a spoken language, the smallest distinctive sound unit. Chug has three phonemes, ch, u, g. How many phonemes does platypus have?

Morphemes In a language, the smallest unit that carries meaning. Can be a word or part of a word (prefix or suffix).

Grammar A system of rules in a language that enables us to communicate and understand others.

Semantics The set of rules by which we derive meaning in a language. Adding ed at the end of words means past tense. The Chinese languages do not have expansive semantic rules. They usually have totally different symbols for different tenses.

Syntax The rules for combining words into grammatically sensible sentences. In English, adjectives come before nouns, but not in Spanish!! Is this the White House or the House White?

Language development How many words do you think you know now? Probably around 80,000. After age 1 you average about 13 words a day.

Language Development Babbling Stage: starting at 3-4 months, the infant makes spontaneous sounds. Not limited to the phonemes of the infant’s household language. One-word stage: 1-2 years old, uses one word to communicate big meanings. Two word stage: at age 2, uses two words to communicate meanings- called telegraphic speech.

Language Development Holophrase: A single word used to express complex meanings Ex: “Mama” can mean “Come here, mama.” “There goes mama.” “You are my mama.”

Language Development Ages 2 and 3: Sentences include missing words. Combine phrases and clauses into complex sentences Overregularization: grammatical rules (past tense and plurals) I goed, sitted, seed

Language Development Third year: Who, what, when, where, how questions emerge Age 4: Asking questions, take turns talking, lengthy conversations Age 6: 10, 000 words Age 7-9: Words have more than one meaning

Genie Brain damaged: from abuse or birth? Rapidly learning language–then hit a wall. Could not determine if language can be learned after puberty because of brain damage.

Andrei Learned social norms. As of a few months ago: still cannot speak.

How do we explain language development?

Skinner Skinner thought that we can explain language development through social learning theory (which is?). The young boy imitates his dad, then gets a reward.

Chomsky Inborn Universal Grammar We acquire language too quickly for it to be learned. We have this “learning box” inside our heads that enable us to learn any human language.

Does language influence our thinking?

Whorf’s Linguistic Relativity The idea that language determines the way we think (not vice versa). The Hopi tribe has no past tense in their language, so Whorf says they rarely think of the past.

Do people that speak more than one language think differently depending on their language at that time?

Thinking without Language We can think in words. But more often we think in mental pictures. In 1977, Reggie Jackson hit 3 HR’s against the Dodgers. He has stated that before each at bat, he visualizes crushing a home run. Do you think visualization helps?

Do Animals think?

Kohler’s Chimpanzees Kohler exhibited that Chimps can problem solve.

Honeybees seem to communicate

Apes and Signing

Thought Production Comprehension Sentence Clauses Phrases (proposition) Production Sentence Comprehension Clauses Phrases Words (morphemes) Sounds (phonemes)

Thought Production Comprehension Watch | out | a | ... Watch out a leopard is sneaking up on our left Comprehension Watch out | a leopard is sneaking up | on our left Watch out | a leopard | is sneaking up | ... Watch | out | a | ... woch out a lep`erd iz snek`ing up on ou`er left