1. You hear people say:
“Let me think about that”
“What do you think?”
“I don’t think so”
“I think I like it”

2. What does it mean to “Think?”

3. Textbook Definition
Academic term
Think (cognition): is the mental activities associated with thinking, knowing, remembering and communicating
(processing = organizing & attempting to understand information and then communicating that information to others)

4. One of the basic elements of thought is the idea of a CONCEPT
Concepts
One of the basic elements of thought is the idea of a CONCEPT
a mental grouping of similar objects, events, ideas or people

5. Concepts activity
In a group with 1 – 2 other people write down as many uses of the item I give you as possible. Chair All the uses you came up with represent thinking and coming up with multiple concepts.

6. Concepts simplify our thinking
Chair
High Chair
Dentist Chair
Rocking Chair
Recliner
Desk Chair
Throne
Without concepts, we would need a different name for every person, idea, object, event, etc.

7. Hierarchical Organization of Conceptual Categories
Superordinate Level - the most general form of concept (animal, vehicle, fruit, utensil)
Basic Level Categories - an example of a type of concept around which other similar concepts are organized (dog, car, pear, knife, table)
Subordinate Level - the most specific category of a concept such as a very specific example (German Shepard, Honda, Bradford pear, steak, card table)

8. We often form concepts by developing prototypes.
a mental image or best example of a category
Bird – more people quickly agree that “a robin is a bird” than “a penguin is a bird” because a robin more closely resembles our bird prototype

9. activity
In your group, identify a prototype of some sort, then come up with a close example of the prototype and a not-so-close example.