Welcome!! ● As you come in... o Be ready for stamp o Go over Forgetting Notes- study for quick quiz What did Ebbinghaus explain? Types of forgetting encoding v. retrieval failure, storage decay Interference vs. Amnesia -- how do we remember these?

Thinking & Problem Solving RG 7f Modified PowerPoint from: Aneeq Ahmad -- Henderson State University. Worth Publishers © 2007

Goals ● Can you… o Identify and explain methods of problem solving. o Describe obstacles to solving problems– things that might get in the way.

Thinking Thinking or cognition refers to a process that involves knowing, understanding, remembering and communicating.

Concepts Mental grouping of similar objects, events, ideas, or people. There are a variety of chairs but their common features define the concept of chair. What are some of those common features? ● seat ● back ● legs (base)

Development of Concepts We form some concepts by definitions, e.g., triangle has three side. But mostly we form concepts by a mental image or a best example (prototype), e.g., robin is a prototype of a bird but penguin or ostrich is not. Triangle (definition) Bird (mental image)

Development of Concepts Concepts tend to be mentally represented as schemas or generalizations developed about categories of objects, events and people. Schemas help us understand what the concept is and often cause us to generate expectations about what that concept does Let’s look at the concept of a police officer… ● What is your prototype (mental image) of an officer? ● What are some of the common features all have? ● As we develop a schema of police officers, we would EXPECT them to wear uniforms and help people in need.

Problem Solving There are three ways to solve problems: Algorithms: Methodical, logical rule or procedure that guarantees solving a particular problem. Algorithms exhaust all possibilities before arriving at a solution. They take a long time. Computers use algorithms. Let’s say you wanted to find oatmeal at the grocery store…using an algorithm, you would search every aisle until you found the oatmeal.

Heuristics Are simple thinking strategies that often allows us to make judgments and solve problems efficiently. They enhance the likelihood of success, but cannot assure it Speedier but more error-prone than algorithms. Finding the oatmeal…using a heuristic you would read the signs at the end of the aisles, look for cereal & look in that aisle 1 st B2M Productions/Digital Version/Getty Images

Insight Insight involves sudden novel realization of a solution to a problem. You’ll often need some prior experience and initial trial-and-error to gain insight. Insight is in humans and animals. Grande using boxes to obtain food

Insight Brain imaging and EEG studies suggest that when an insight strikes (“Aha” experience) it activates the right temporal cortex (Jung- Beeman, 2004). The time between not knowing the solution to knowing it is 0.3 seconds. From Mark Jung-Beekman, Northwestern University and John Kounios, Drexel University

Fixation: Inability to see a problem from a fresh perspective. Impediment to problem solving. Two examples are… Obstacles in Solving Problems Mental Set: tendency for old patterns of problem solving to persist, and make it impossible for use to see new ways to solve the problem Functional fixedness: tendency to think of the only familiar functions for objects ● Name the ways you could use a fork…

Obstacles in Solving Problems Confirmation Bias: A tendency to search for information that confirms a personal bias. We seek evidence to support ideas and tend to dismiss evidence that is contrary to our way of thinking. You believe…your boyfriend is faithful…so rather than notice that he is often receiving text messages from other girls and isn’t as available for dates as he once was, you pay attention to the fact that the calls you once a day (even if it is for a few moments) and always brings you flowers when he is able to take you out on a date

Using and Misusing Heuristics Two kinds of heuristics have been identified by cognitive psychologists. Representative and availability heuristics. While heuristics often help us solve problems, they can also bias our judgment. Amos Tversky Daniel Kahneman Courtesy of Greymeyer Award, University of Louisville and the Tversky family Courtesy of Greymeyer Award, University of Louisville and Daniel Kahneman

You would probably say librarian because he fits the prototype…yet the probability is that he is a construction worker by sheer number. Representativeness Heuristic Judging the likelihood of things or objects in terms of how well they seem to represent, or match a particular prototype….it allows people to make quick judgments. If you were to meet a man, dressed in dress slacks and a sweater, who is small in stature, wears glasses, is soft- spoken and somewhat shy and were then asked if this man were a librarian or a construction worker…what would you say?

Availability Heuristic Cognitive shortcut in which the probability of an event is determined by how easily the event can be brought to mind You choose the alternative that is most mentally “available”. People are usually more afraid of dying in a plane crash than in an auto accident, despite contrary evidence…the reason is that plane crashes receive much more publicity, so are more readily brought to mind

Overconfidence Overconfidence: a tendency to overestimate the accuracy of one’s beliefs and judgments. Think about the last project you had to do…how long did you think it would take you? Did it take longer than that? Overconfidence while it poses some problems for making decisions is actually associated with happiness and making tough decisions easier as thinking everything will work out in the end can keep us from worrying.

Exaggerated Fear Opposed to overconfidence is our tendency for exaggerated fear about how things may happen. Such fears may be ill- founded. 9/11 crashes led to decline in air travel due to fear. AP/ Wide World Photos

Framing Decisions How an issue is presented can significantly affect decisions and judgments. Framing the exact same issue in two different ways can produce two very different results…the more positive you make it sound, the more people will respond to it. Example: What is the best way to market ground beef — as 25% fat or 75% lean? A surgery – 90% success or 10% failure

Belief Bias The tendency for one’s preexisting beliefs to distort logical reasoning sometimes by making invalid conclusions. Belief Perseverance Our tendency to cling to our beliefs in the face of contrary evidence. If you believe the grass is purple, I could show you every piece of scientific evidence, bring in an expert on grass and an expert on color and prove to you that grass is really green…you’d still believe that grass was purple