1. Announcements Please turn in your article summary to the bin, be sure your name is on it! Read through the Motivation Project guidelines you received at the door. We will discuss the project when the bell rings.

2. Thinking

3. Cognition thinking, knowing, remembering, problem solving, and decision makingthinking, knowing, remembering, problem solving, and decision making Does the way we think really matter? Of Course it does!!!! Maybe we can become super Thinkers if we understand the process of thinking!!!

4. How do I become a super thinker you ask… ConceptsIn order to think about the world, the 1 st step is to form something called Concepts mental category –A mental category of similar objects, events or ideas schemas –Concepts are similar to Piaget’s idea of…schemas These animals all look different, but they fall under our concept of ???? Lets try another…

5. What is the Concept??? One or Two??

6. Prototype Sometimes we use our concepts of things to define a Prototype A best example of a concept (category) If a new object is similar to our prototype, we are better able to recognize it If that is your prototype what about these people? What happens if something doesn’t fit your prototype?? Prototype Man Differs from person to person based on experience

7. Concept Hierarchy levelsDifferent levels of thinking generalmore complex –start with a general concept and then get more complex –Helps us understand our world better simple simpleWhen our thinking is simple we first master the simple concepts –“Hey look at that truck!!” sophisticatedcomplexThen when our thinking becomes more sophisticated we can understand more complex concepts –“No, that is not a truck it is a Ford crossover SUV” Vehicles cars or trucks cars sports car or sedan sports car corvette

8. How do we solve thinking problems?

9. Trial and Error Tryinguntil one worksTrying out different solutions until one works This is good for solving problems when?? –Only practical when the number of solutions is pretty small

10. Algorithms step by steprulesA step by step set of rules that will always lead to a correct solution or ending Example – following model directions Good and Bad?? –always will produce a solution – –but could take very very long

12. Heuristics short cutA short cut to a solution Does not guarantee a solution, but you will arrive at one more quickly Good and Bad?? –May be quick –But may be prone to errors

13. Insight and Intuition sudden solutionA sudden solution to a problem AHA!! I’ve Got It!!! No real strategy involved Move only 3 dots to make A downward facing triangle Jokes, Riddles, and Insight

14. Obstacles to Problem Solving What stops us from figuring things out?? OPS’s

15. Irrelevant Information Sometimes there is just too much stuff and we have to figure out what is needed and what is fluff –Example – Can you solve? In the Thompson family there are five brothers, and each brother has one sister. If you count Mrs. Thompson, how many females are there in the Thompson family? Click to find the answer –2–2 Fifteen percent of the people in Topeka have unlisted telephone 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? Click to find the answer –0–0 OPS #1

16. Confirmation and Belief Bias Preexisting beliefs distort logical reasoning…because… –We only search for information that confirms our preconceptions –For example, if you believe that during a full moon there is an increase in admissions to the emergency room where you work, you will take notice of admissions during a full moon, but be inattentive to the moon when admissions occur during other nights of the month Why can be a problem for juries??Why can be a problem for juries?? Belief Perseverance Clinging to your initial conceptions after the basis on which they were formed has been discredited OPS #2

17. Fixation We can’t solve a problem because we can’t see the problem in a new way OPS #3 Mental Set The tendency to rely on strategies that worked in the past –Because things worked in the past we think they will work again or may be the only way things work Why do we suffer from Fixation??

18. Fixation Without lifting your pencil from the paper, Draw no more than four Lines that will cross Through all nine dots. See also the Tower of Hanoi Problem See also the Tower of Hanoi Problem OPS #3

20. Functional Fixedness The tendency to think of things only in terms of their usual functions What are some things I can do with this quarter (other than spend it)? OPS #4

21. How would you grasp both strings at the same time?

23. Mount a candle on the wall with the items shown.

26. Overconfidence The tendency to be more confident than correct To overestimate the accuracy of your beliefs and judgments. OPS #5 I’m the Greatest of all time!!!

27. Framing The way statement is posed or how choices are structured can often confuse us –This can block us from making good decisions and judgments A surgeon has 95% success rate or a 5% death rate? –Who would you feel comfortable with?? What would happen if ground beef were marketed as 20% fat instead of 80% lean? OPS #6

28. AA - a sure gain of $240 BB – a 25% chance of winning $1000 and a 75% chance of winning nothing AA – a sure loss of $750 BB – a 75% chance of losing $1000 and a 25% chance of losing nothing

29. Decisions Involving Uncertainty How do we make a decision when we are uncertain and not sure what to do?? We often use a heuristic…(remember what these are??) –They will help us solve problems and reach answers but often lead to errors and bad decisions 1. Availability Heuristic 2. Representativeness Heuristic

30. Availability Heuristic We base our judgments (or decisions) on the availability of information in our memories –If instances of an event come to mind easily we assume such events are common Ex: Although car accidents kill many more people than airplane crashes, it has been shown that people will judge airplane crashes to be more of an issue. This is because airplane crashes are more dramatic and are often written up in the paper or seen on the news on T.V. and are more available in memory than car crashes

31. Representativeness Heuristic A rule of thumb for judging the likelihood of things in terms of how well they match our prototype Ex: Below is Linda. She loves books and hates loud noises. Is Linda a librarian or a beautician? –Chances are she is a beautician. Why? Even though the person described maybe be more representative of librarians, statistically there is a better chance she is a beautician because of the number of beauticians out there.

32. Creativity and Thinking Creativity –there is no real definition of creativity but often it is looked at as the ability to generate novel, valuable, useful ideas –Must have a minimum level of intelligence to be creative, but not all intelligent people are creative Divergent vs. Convergent Thinking DivergentDivergent – people’s thoughts go in different directions as they try to generate many different solutions to a problem ConvergentConvergent – people narrow down a list of possibilities to arrive at a single right answer creativity Divergent thinking is generally associated more with creativity