1. Cognition and Intelligence

2. Find the answer to the questions  In the Thompson family there are five brothers. Each brother has one sister. Counting the mother, how many females are there in the family?  Fifteen percent of the people in Topeka (the capital of Kansas) have unlisted phone numbers. You select 200 names at random from the phone book. How many of these people can be expected to have unlisted phone numbers?

3. Types of Problems  Problem Solving refers to active efforts to discover what must be done to achieve a goal that is not readily attainable. Three basic types (p.225): 1. Problems of inducing structure (A & F) - --series completion and analogy problems 2. Problems of arrangement (B & E)- --string problems and anagrams (burst of insight) 3. Problems of tranformation (C & D)- --hobbits and orcs (water jar)

4. The TOWER of Hanoi!  Goal: Get all the rings on the 3 rd pole in size order (largest on the bottom)  Only move 1 ring at a time.  A larger ring can not be on top of a smaller ring.

5. Barriers to Effective Problem Solving  Functional Fixedness: the tendency to perceive an item only in terms of its most common use. Young children are less vulnerable to this trait due to less experience.  What else can you use a headband for? use a headband for?

6. Barriers to Effective Problem Solving: continued  Irrelevant Information: Often problems include information that is not necessary to the solving of the problem. It is distracting to the solver. You must figure out what information is relevant BEFORE solving.

7.  Mental Set: Also a rigid thinking problem, mental set is when people continue to use old previously successful patterns to solve new problems.

8. Barriers to Effective Problem Solving  Unnecessary Constraints: Occurs when the solver places unnecessary boundaries on the problem. Sometimes you must be innovative to be able to solve the problem by thinking without boundaries.

9. Approaches to Problem Solving  People employ a variety of strategies to solve problems.  Trial and Error: Involves trying possible solutions sequentially and discarding those that are in error until one works. Example:  It’s dark, and a man is trying to figure out which button on the dashboard of his newly rented car switches on the headlights. He might press all the available buttons until he finds the right one.

10. Approaches to Problem Solving  Algorithms- fixed set of rules  Heuristic: A shortcut; a guiding principle or “rule of thumb” used in solving problems or making decisions. They can be: ---forming sub goals, searching for analogies, and changing the representations of the problem

11. Algorithms   Algorithms exhaust all possibilities before arriving at a solution. They take a long time. 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 algorithm approach would take 907,208 possibilities.

12. Heuristics   Are strategies that often allows us to make judgments and solve problems efficiently. Speedier but more Error prone than algorithms.   S P L O Y O C H G Y   P S L O Y O C H G Y   P S Y C H O L O G Y   Try putting Y at the end and see if the word starts to make sense.

13. Culture, Cognitive style and Problem Solving  Cross cultural differences impact on people’s ability to solve problems.  Witkin’s discovery of dimensions in cognitive style include:  Field dependence-independence refers to individuals’ tendency to rely primarily on external versus internal frames of reference when orienting themselves in space.

14. Field Dependence  External frame of references  Holistic cognitive style- focuses on context and relationships among elements.  Accepts physical environment; won’t change it  Agricultural societies, strict child rearing, conformity

15. Field Independence  Internal frame of reference  Analytical Cognitive Style- focuses on objects and their properties rather than context  Tend to analyze and try to restructure the environment  Common in western societies  Better at problem solving?

16. Availability v. Representative Heuristic  Availability- we rely on info that is more prominent & overlook information that is available but less prominent. Ex: murder rate & media coverage Ex: murder rate & media coverage  Representative- making judgments about samples according to he populations they represent Ex: Which is more likely in a coin toss? Ex: Which is more likely in a coin toss? HHHHHH or THHTHT HHHHHH or THHTHT

17. Availability Heuristic   Availability Heuristic: Why does our availability heuristic lead us astray? Whatever increases the ease of retrieving information increases its perceived availability.   How is retrieval facilitated?   1. How recently we have heard about the event.   2. How distinct it is.   3. How correct it is.

18. Representativeness Heuristic   Representativeness Heuristic: Judging the likelihood of things or objects in terms of how well they seem to represent, or match a particular prototype.   If you meet a man glasses and likes poetry. What do you think would his profession would be?

19. Representative Con’t   Probability that that person is a truck driver is far greater than an ivy league professor just because there are more truck drivers than such professors.

20. Decision Making  Herbert Simon’s Theory of Bounded Rationality- ppl have limited ability to process & evaluate information with many alternatives.  Elimination v. Additive Strategy

21. Risky Decisions  Conjunction Fallacy- people estimate the odds of 2 events happening together are greater than either event alone (p. 234 example)  Framing- wording of choices can change your response  Gambler’s Fallacy- belief that the odds of chance increase if the event hasn’t occurred recently

22. Framing Decisions   How an issue is framed can significantly affect   decisions and judgments.   Example: What is the best way to market   ground beef — as 25% fat or 75% lean?

23. Overconfidence Effect   Intuitive heuristics, confirmation of beliefs, and knack of explaining failures increases our overconfidence. It is a tendency to overestimate the accuracy of one’s beliefs and judgments. At a stock market, both the seller and the buyer may be confident about their decisions on a stock.

24. Overconfidence Effect Why does this happen? 1. Confirmation Bias- we focus on info that confirms our beliefs and ignore those that do not 2. We tend to forget info that runs counter to our beliefs 3. We can sometimes work to bring about the events we believe in (self-fulfilling prophecies)

25. Belief Bias The tendency for one’s preexisting beliefs to distort logical reasoning sometimes by making invalid conclusions. God is love. Love is blind Ray Charles is blind. Ray Charles is God.   Anonymous graffiti

26. Belief Perseverance   Our tendency to cling to our beliefs in the face of contrary evidence is called belief perseverance. Once you see a country as hostile, you are likely to interpret ambiguous actions on their part as signifying their hostility (Jervis, 1985).

27. RAT TEST!!!!  Creativity- perceive things in an unusual way  Correlation between intelligence & creativity?  Correlation between creativity and mental disorders?  Convergent v. Divergent Thinking