1. I CAN Distinguish natural and artificial concepts
Explain challenges to problem solving
Distinguish the types of bias

2. What Are the Components of Thought?
Thinking is a cognitive process in which the brain uses information from the senses, emotions, and memory to create and manipulate mental representations, such as concepts, images, schemas, and scripts
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3. Copyright © Allyn & Bacon 2007
Concepts
Mental representations of categories of items or ideas, based on experience…enable us to organize knowledge in a systematic way
Example:
Objects: chairs, birthday parties, birds
Properties: red, tiny, large
Abstractions: truth, love
Relationships: ‘smarter than’
Procedures: tying a shoe
Intentions: intention to break into a conversation
You can not be sure that anyone shares your concept of ‘red’ … but you can see if they respond the same way as you do to the stimulus you both call ‘red’
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Concepts
Natural Concepts
Mental representations of objects/events from our personal experiences
Example: ’bird’
Prototype
Ideal/best example of a concept category
IE: best example of a bird is a crow, not a penguin
Artificial Concepts
Defined by rules
As with a math formula or a dictionary definition…
Represent precisely defined ideas or abstractions…
NOT actual objects in the real world
Example: A rectangle; Pythagorean theorem
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Concept Hierarchies
Organize levels of concepts from most general to most specific
Example
Living beings ----animals----birds----canary
We organize much of our declarative memories into concept hierarchies
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6. Copyright © Allyn & Bacon 2007
Animal
Has skin
Eats
Breathes
Bird
Fish
Has wings
Can fly
Has feathers
Has fins
Can swim
Has gills
Canary
Ostrich
Shark
Salmon
Can sing
Is yellow
Can’t fly
Is tall
Can bite
Is dangerous
Is pink
Is edible
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7. Schemas and Scripts Help You Know What to Expect
Schema A knowledge cluster or general framework that provides expectations about topics, events, objects, people, and situations in one’s life
Terminal:
Airline passenger
Auto mechanic
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8. Schemas and Scripts Help You Know What to Expect
Script A cluster of knowledge about sequences of events and actions expected to occur in particular settings
Going to a restaurant
Using a library
A first date
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9. What Abilities Do Good Thinkers Possess?
Good thinkers not only have a repertoire of effective algorithms and heuristics, they know how to avoid the common impediments to problem solving and decision making
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10. Copyright © Allyn & Bacon 2007
Selecting a Strategy
Algorithms
Problem-solving procedures or formulas that guarantee a correct outcome if correctly applied
Example: balancing a checkbook
Heuristics
Cognitive shortcuts used to solve complex mental tasks
They do not guarantee a correct solution
“Rule of Thumb”
EX: more expensive means more quality
Insight
A sudden and novel realization of the solution to a problem
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11. Friendship Algorithm Big Bang Theory

12. Obstacles to Problem Solving
Example
A child may enter a store by pushing a door open.
Every time they come to a door after that, the child pushes the door expecting it to open even though many doors only open by pulling.
Mental Set Tendency to respond to a new problem in the manner used for a previous problem
Lacks creativity
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13. Obstacles to Problem Solving
Functional Fixedness Inability to perceive a new use for an object associated with a different purpose
Lacks creativity
Example
If someone needs a paperweight, but they only have a hammer, they may not see how the hammer can be used as a paperweight.
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16. Given this sequence, name the next 3 letters:
O T T F

19. Two-String Problem
You must tie together 2 strings dangling from the ceiling without pulling them down. But when you grab the end of one string and pull it toward the other one, you find that you cannot quite reach the other string. The only objects available to you in the room are on the floor in the corner: a ping-pong ball, five screws, a screwdriver, a glass of water, and a paper bag. How can you reach both strings at once and tie them together?

21. Other Obstacles to Problem Solving
Self-imposed limitations
Lack of interest
Lack of knowledge
Low self-esteem
Stress
Fatigue
Drugs (legal and illegal)
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22. Obstacles…
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?

23. Fifteen percent of people in Topeka have unlisted phone numbers
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?
Irrelevant information = obstacle to
problem solving

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The Nine-Dot Problem
Without lifting your pen from the page, can you connect all nine dots with only four lines?
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25. Judging and Making Decisions
Confirmation Bias
Hindsight Bias
Anchoring Bias
Representativeness Bias
Availability Bias
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26. Judging and Making Decisions
Confirmation Bias
Ignoring or finding fault with information that does not fit our opinions…
…and seeking information with which we agree
For example, if you believe that during a full moon there is an increase in negative student behavior at school where you work, you will take notice of it during a full moon…
…but be inattentive to negative student behavior during other nights of the month.
Hindsight Bias
Anchoring Bias
Representativeness Bias
Availability Bias
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27. Judging and Making Decisions
Confirmation Bias
Tendency, after learning about an event, to believe that one could have predicted the event in advance
“I knew the Patriots were going to lose the Super Bowl”
Hindsight Bias
Anchoring Bias
Representativeness Bias
Availability Bias
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28. Judging and Making Decisions
Confirmation Bias
Faulty heuristic caused by basing (anchoring) an estimate on a completely unrelated quantity
The common human tendency to rely too heavily, or "anchor," on one trait or piece of information when making decisions.
Dumb football player
Happy cheerleader
Airhead blonde
Hindsight Bias
Anchoring Bias
Representativeness Bias
Availability Bias
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29. Judging and Making Decisions
Confirmation Bias
Faulty heuristic strategy based on presumption that, once a person or event is categorized, it shares all features of other members in that category
A girl joins the high school hockey team….
Hindsight Bias
Anchoring Bias
Representativeness Bias
Availability Bias
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30. Judging and Making Decisions
Confirmation Bias
Faulty heuristic strategy that estimates probabilities based on information that can be recalled from personal experience
You hear of a Democratic governor being unethical, and you assume all Democrats are unethical
Hindsight Bias
Anchoring Bias
Representativeness Bias
Availability Bias
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31. Deaths per 100 million All accidents vs. Strokes
Asthma vs. Electrocution
(920) vs. (500)
Homicide vs. Diabetes
(9,200) vs. (19,000)
Appendicitis vs. Lightning
(440) vs. (52)
Car accidents vs. Cancer of digestive system
(27,000) vs. (46,400)
Drowning vs. Leukemia
(3,600) vs. (7,100)

32. The FBI classifies crime in the U. S
The FBI classifies crime in the U.S. into 2 categories – violent crimes, such as murder, rape, robbery, and assault, and property crimes, such as burglary, larceny, or car theft.
What percentage of crime would you estimate are violent rather than property crimes?
What percentage of accused felons plead insanity?
What percentage of these are acquitted?
What percentage of convictions for felony crimes are obtained through trial instead of plea bargaining?
12%
Less than 1%
only a ¼ these are acquitted
Less than 10% of convictions are obtained through trial
Media reporting is higher for trials, violent crimes, and pleas of insanity.

33. Creativity
Process that produces novel responses that contribute to the solution of a problem
A mental and social process involving the generation of new ideas or concepts
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34. Aptitudes Innate potentialities for creativity…including Independence
Intense interest in a problem
Willingness to restructure a problem
Preference for complexity
Need for stimulating interaction
Willingness to take chances
Willingness to fail
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35. CAN I? Distinguish natural and artificial concepts
Explain challenges to problem solving
Distinguish the types of bias