I NTRODUCTION TO C OGNITION HTTP :// EDUCATION - PORTAL. COM / ACADEMY / LESSON / INTR O - TO - INTELLIGENCE. HTML HTTP :// EDUCATION - PORTAL. COM / ACADEMY / LESSON / INTR O - TO - INTELLIGENCE. HTML Cognitive Psychology = Study of mental processes…how humans receive info from their environment & then Modify it Make it meaningful Store the info Retrieve the info Use the info Communicate info to others

W HAT IS C OGNITION ? Literally “thinking” The brain’s representations of information in the world around us

C IRCLE OF T HOUGHT Describe Elaborate Decide Plan Guide/Act 5 Core Functions of Human Thinking

C ONCEPTS A mental grouping of similar objects, events, ideas, or people. Enables us to chunk large amounts of information – don’t need to treat every new piece of information as unique. Chairs Holidays Political ideologies Psychologists

Concepts = Categories Categories: mental groupings of similar objects, events, and people..

What’s the category? Human infant Photo albums Jewelry Dog Insurance documents Data discs Tapestries “Things to take from a burning house”

C ONCEPTS Category Hierarchies – We organize concepts into category hierarchies

Prototypes = objects or events that represent c Prototypes = objects or events that represent concepts: Mental image or best example of a category

S OLVING P ROBLEMS Algorithm A methodical, logical rule or procedure that guarantees solving a particular problem Heuristic A rule-of-thumb strategy that often allows us to make judgments and solve problems efficiently (speedier but error-prone)

O BSTACLES … In the Thompson family there are 5 brothers, and each brother has one sister. If you count Mrs. Thompson, how many females are there in the Thompson family? Fifteen percent of people in Topeka have unlisted phone numbers. You select 200 names at random from the Topeka phone book. How many of these people can be expected to have unlisted phone numbers?

Without lifting your pencil from the paper, draw no more than 4 lines that will cross through all 9 dots.

O BSTACLES TO PROBLEM SOLVING Irrelevant Information Unnecessary constraints (self-imposed limitations)

O BSTACLES TO P ROBLEM S OLVING Confirmation Bias A tendency to search for information that confirms one’s perceptions Seinfeld Example Fixation The inability to see a problem from a new perspective Mental Set = tendency to approach situations in a certain way because that method worked in the past Functional Fixedness = form of cognitive bias in which a person is unable to think of other, more creative uses for an object aside from its traditional use Learned

R EPRESENTATIVENESS H EURISTIC A rule of thumb for judging the likelihood of things in terms of how well they seem to represent, or match, particular prototypes people determine the probability of something based on assumptions or past experience used quite often when making decisions ….we make our decisions based on the likeliness of a sample to occur in the population.

H EURISTICS E XAMPLE Pick a number between 1 – 9 Subtract 5 Multiply by 3 Square the number (ex 6 x 6 = 36) Add the 2 digits together (ex = 9) If your number is less than 5, add 5 HOWEVER if you number is 5 or above, subtract 4 Multiply by 2 Subtract 6 Find the corresponding letter in the alphabet Think of a country that begins with that letter Find the 2 nd letter of the country & think of a mammal that begins with that letter

H EURISTICS EXAMPLE CONTINUED This demonstration of cognitive heuristics works best for people who are most familiar with European countries, for the load caused by doing the math pops the name Denmark into their heads most rapidly (instead of the Dominican Republic). And while people can, if they give it some time, think of an animal whose name starts with an E besides an Elephant (how about an Elk), Elephants are cognitively easier. Pick a number between 1 – 9 Find the corresponding letter in the alphabet Think of a country that begins with that letter Find the 2 nd letter of the country & think of a mammal that begins with that letter Think of the color of that mammal Is it a grey elephant from Denmark?

U SING AND M ISUSING H EURISTICS Availability Heuristic Estimating the likelihood of events based on their availability in memory If instances come to mind = we presume such events are common

U SING AND M ISUSING H EURISTICS Anchoring Heuristic Starting with an implicitly suggested reference point (the "anchor") and make adjustments to it to reach their estimate Once the anchor is set, it usually wont change. Videos = portal.com/academy/lesson/heuristics. html portal.com/academy/lesson/heuristics. html