1. Cognition: Thinking and Language
Chapter 8

2. Cognition
Refers to the way in which information is processed and manipulated in remembering, thinking, and knowing.
Includes: Memory, Thinking, and Language
Mental processes

3. Thinking
The mental process of manipulating information mentally by forming concepts, solving problems, making decisions, and reflecting critically or creatively.
Forming Concepts
Problem Solving
Decision Making
Critical Thinking
Creativity

4. Concept
A mental category that is used to group objects, events, and characteristics.
The concept of a chair has common features:
four legs
seat
back
Prototype: The first example of a concept that comes to mind.

5. Steps in Problem Solving
Find and Frame Problems
Develop Good Problem Solving Strategies
Sub-goals: Intermediate goals or problems that put us in a better position for reaching the final goal or solution.
Algorithms and Heuristics
Evaluate Solutions
Rethink and Redefine Problems and Solutions over Time

6. Problem Solving There are two ways to solve problems:
Algorithms: strategies that guarantee a solution to a problem.
Methodical, logical rules, or procedures that guarantee a solution
Very time consuming
Heuristics: shortcut strategies or guidelines that suggest a solution to a problem but do not guarantee an answer.
Simple; rules-of-thumb; shortcuts
Less time consuming, but more error-prone
2 kinds of heuristics:
representativeness and availabilty

7. Problems The Candle Problem The Nine-Dot Problem
The Six-Matchstick Problem

8. Problem Solving Obstacles
Fixation: Using a prior strategy and failing to look at a problem from a fresh new perspective.
When we are unable to see a problem from a different perspective it hinders problem solving
Mental Set: Tendency to approach a problem in a certain way, because that method worked before.
Rigidity
Functional Fixedness: Failing to solve a problem as a result of fixation on a thing’s unusual functions.
What is my favorite tool?

9. Functional Fixedness
NASA wanted a way for astronauts to write notes in space
The problem was pens need gravity for the ink to flow
After many years and millions of dollars, NASA discovered a new fluid that would allow astronauts to write in space
How did the Russian’s solve this same problem?

10. Decision Making
Reasoning: The mental activity of transforming information to reach conclusions.
Inductive Reasoning: Reasoning from specific observations to make generalizations.
Deductive Reasoning: Reasoning from general case that is known to be true to a specific instance.
Decision Making: The mental activity of evaluating alternatives and choosing among them.

11. Framing Decisions Refers to the way an issue is presented or posed.
Decisions and judgments may be significantly affected by how an issue is framed
Would you rather hear that 90% of the population will be saved by a new medication or that 10% of the population will die despite this medication?

12. Decision Making Obstacles
Confirmation bias
Base rate fallacy
Hindsight bias
Representative heuristics
Availability heuristics
Overconfidence
Belief Perseverance

13. Confirmation Bias
The tendency to search for and use information that supports our ideas rather than refutes them.

14. Base Rate Fallacy
The tendency to ignore information about general principles in favor of very specific but vivid information.

15. Hindsight Bias
The tendency to report falsely, after the fact, that we accurately predicted an outcome.
“I knew it all along effect!”

16. Representativeness Heuristic
The tendency to make judgments about group membership based on physical appearance or the match between a person and one’s stereotype of a group rather than on available base rate information.

17. Availability Heuristic
A prediction about the probability of an event based on the ease of recalling or imaging similar events.
We assume whatever is easiest to remember is what happens most often
Factors that influence this:
How recently we have heard about the event
How distinct it is

18. Overconfidence
The tendency to overestimate the accuracy of our beliefs and judgments.

19. Belief Perseverance
The tendency to cling to our beliefs in the face of contrary evidence.

20. Critical Thinking
Means thinking reflectively and productively and evaluating the evidence.
Metacognition: The awareness and understanding of one's own thought processes.
Mindfulness: The state of being alert and mentally present for one’s everyday activities.
Open-mindedness: The state of being receptive to other ways of looking at things.

21. Creative Thinking
Creativity: The ability to think about something in novel and unusual ways and to devise unconventional solutions to problems.
Divergent thinking: Thinking that produces many solutions to the same problem.
Brainstorming
Convergent thinking: Thinking that produces the single best solution to a problem.
The best answer
Creative thinkers use both types of thinking.
Inventions