1. Unit 7 Part II: Cognition
CHS AP Psychology
Unit 7 Part II: Cognition
Essential Task 7.1: Define cognition and identify how the following interact to form our cognitive life: schemata/concepts, prototypes, assimilation, accommodation, effortful processing, and unconscious processing. 

2. Cognition, or thinking, refers to a process that involves:
Cognition Definition
Cognition, or thinking, refers to a process that involves:
Knowing
Understanding
Remembering
Problem solving
Communicating.
Purposeful!
OBJECTIVE 1| Define cognition.

3. Cognitive Psychology
Cognition involves a number of mental activities, which are listed below:
Concepts
Problem solving
Decision making
Judgment formation
Language
Memory

4. Remember Schema? What prior knowledge lets us know what a CHAIR is?
Furniture
Seat
Four Legs
Back
Arms
Sits one person
Cushioned
Made of wood

5. Schema or Concept
The mental grouping of similar objects, events, ideas, or people. There are a variety of chairs but their common features make up your CHAIR schema
OBJECTIVE 2| Describe the roles of categories, hierarchies, definitions, and prototypes in concept formation.

6. Schemata can get fuzzy Is a whale a mammal?
Are penguins and kiwis birds?
Are 17 year old people children or adults?

7. Can I read your mind? Get out a half sheet of paper to find out!
State a color.
Name or draw a triangle.
List the first type of motor vehicle that comes to mind.
Write a sentence
Give me a hero.
Describe a heroic act
Game
Philosopher
Writer
Pop Star

8. I gave schemata and tried to predict prototypes.
red or blue
a picture of an equilateral triangle
a car
a short declarative statement, e.g., “The boy is home.”
Superman, Batman, or possibly a fireman
a single act by a male, e.g. a rescue by a fireman
monopoly or some other board game
Socrates or Aristotle
Nicolas Sparks, or some other white male author
Justin Bieber or Taylor Swift or Lady Gaga

9. Prototypes
A prototype is the BEST example or cognitive representation of something within a certain schema or concept.
Schema
List characteristics that make a place a college or university.
Prototype
Now list a specific college that BEST represents or embodies those characteristics.

10. The way we THINK leads us to…
Determine how we solve problems

11. 4 Problem Solving Steps Define the Problem
Use that definition to decide what category a problem belongs to and then based on that
Select a solution strategy that would solve a problem in that category
Evaluate progress toward goal

12. Possible Solution Strategies
Trial and error
Works best with limited number of choices
Information retrieval
Retrieve from memory information about how such a problem has been solved in the past
Algorithms
Step-by-step methods that guarantees a solution
Methodical, logical rules or procedures that guarantee solving a particular problem.
Math problems are an example of the type best solved using an algorithm
Heuristics
Rules of thumb that may help simplify a problem, but do not guarantee a solution.
They are quicker than algorithms

13. S P L O Y O C H Y G Algorithms
Algorithms, which are very time consuming, exhaust all possibilities before arriving at a solution. Computers use algorithms.
S P L O Y O C H Y G
If we were to unscramble these letters to form a word
using an algorithmic approach, we would face
907,208 possibilities.

14. Heuristics
In psychology, heuristics are simple, efficient rules, learned from experience
people use to
make decisions
come to judgments
solve problems typically when facing complex problems or incomplete information.

15. Heuristic at work: Y’s usually go at the end of a word.
Heuristics
Heuristics make it easier for us to use simple principles to arrive at solutions to problems.
S P L O Y O C H Y G
P S L O Y O C H G Y
P S Y C H O L O G Y
S P L O Y O C H G Y
Heuristic at work: Y’s usually go at the end of a word.

16. Heuristics
A quick way to arrive at a solution, but it also is more error-prone.
It’s sometimes referred to as “jumping to conclusions.”
How can “jumping to conclusions” be a problem?

17. Obstacles to Solving Problems
Confirmation Bias
Search for things that fit our own prejudice and ignore facts
Motivation
Desire to solve a problem
Mental sets
Tendency to perceive and approach problems in certain ways
Functional fixedness
Tendency to see only a limited number of uses for an object

18. Confirmation Bias
While we make a decision, we actively look for information that confirms our ideas

19. Motivation
If you don’t attempt to solve a problem you won’t.

20. Mental Set
“We can't solve problems by using the same kind of thinking we used when we created them.”  Albert Einstein

21. Functional Fixedness
“I can only use it for this one thing!”