Chapter 8 Flashcards
What is cognition?
The way in which information is processed and manipulated in remembering, thinking, and knowing.
Explain the cognitive revolution.
From the 1920-1950s, behavior psychology dominated psychology in America (Watson and Skinner.) However, when the computer was invented in 1940, it became a way to think about human mental processing. Psychologists, programs, and creators all got together to create a template for humans behaviors as analogy to computers. Brain is the hardware or the phone and cognition is the apps on the phone. This results in cognitive psychology.
What is artificial intelligence?
A scientific field that focuses on creating machines capable of performing activities that require intelligence when they are done by people.
What is cognitive psychology?
Seeks to explain observable behavior by investigating mental processes and structures we can’t directly observe.
What are some topics in cognitive psychology?
thinking, consciousness, memory, language, intelligence, and cognitive neuroscience
What is thinking?
The process of manipulating information mentally by forming concepts, solving problems, making decisions, and reflecting critically or creatively.
What are concepts?
Basic component of thinking and they are mental categories that are meant to group objects, events, and characteristics.
What do concepts allow us to do?
- Allow us to generalize.
- Associate experiences and objects.
- Aid memory
- Clues about responding in novel contexts.
What are prototypes?
Most typical items in a category. (Like an average)
What is the prototype model?
A model emphasizing that when people evaluate whether a given item reflects a certain concept, they compare the item with the most typical items in that category and look for a “family resemblance” with that item’s properties. Ex: you are in the woods and you see an animal, does it look like a dog?
What is an issue with protoypes?
Is a penguin a bird? What about an ostrich?
What is problem solving?
The mental process of finding an appropriate way to attain a goal when the goal is not readily available.
What are the steps of problem solving?
- Find and frame a problem.
- Develop good problem-solving strategies
- Evaluate solutions
- Rethink and redefine problems and solutions over time.
What are subgoals?
Intermediate goals or problems devised to put the individual in a better positions for reaching the final goal or solution. Ex: taking certain classes to get a good grade towards your degree.
What are algorithms?
Strategies-including formulas , instructions, and the testing of all possible solutions- that guarantee a solution to a problem. Exhaustive search but will find solution. Ex: once you checked in the places where you think your phone might be, then you check everywhere like the trash.
What are heuristics?
Shortcut strategies or guidelines that suggests solution to a problem but do not guarantee an answer. Imagine you are looking for your cat, you would look in the mostly likely places first.
Describe the candle problem.
A group of people were given a match box, a thing of tacks, and a candle and were told to get the candle to stick to the wall and let none of the candle wax fall to the floor. Everyone failed when all they had to do was use the match box to hold the candle and tack it to the wall. People could not think past the idea that the box was just storage and nothing else.
What is an obstacle to problem solving?
Becoming fixated.
What is fixation?
Using a prior strategy and failing to look at a problem from a fresh new perspective.
What is functional fixation?
Failing to solve a problem as a result of fixation on a thing’s usual functions, ignoring unusual usages.
How do you fight functional fixation?
Cognitive flexibility: recognizing the options available and adapting to the situation. Ex: naked and afraid.
What are the basic components of thinking?
Problem solving, reasoning, and decision making.
What is reasoning? What are the two types?
The mental activity of transforming information to reach conclusions. Closely tied to critical reasoning. Inductive and deductive reasoning.
What is inductive reasoning?
Reasoning from specific observations to generalizations. Ex: the sun will come up tomorrow, exploding phone, stable chair. Bottom up processing, data driven.
What is deductive reasoning?
Reasoning from general to specific. Draw conclusions based on logic. Top-down processing. Ex: all Texans love the Dallas Cowboys, John is from Texas therefore he must love the Dallas Cowboys.
What is decision making?
The mental activity of evaluating alternatives and choosing amongst them.
What are all of the decision making biases?
Loss aversion, confirmation bias, hindsight bias, availability heuristic, base-rate neglect, representativeness heuristic, and bias blind spot.
What is loss aversion?
The tendency to strongly prefer to avoid losses compared to acquiring gains. Ex: at a B+ could take an exam that could make you jump up to an A- or plummet to a C. You would more than likely going to avoid the test.
What is confirmation bias?
The tendency to search for and use information that supports one’s ideas rather than refutes them. Ex: also called myside bias.
What is hindsight bias?
The tendency to report falsely, after the fact, that one has accurately predicted an outcome. Ex: “I knew it all along”
What is availability heuristic?
A prediction about the probability of an event based on the ease of recalling or imagining a similar event. Ex: more worried about plane crashes than car crashes when they are more rare only because we hear about them more on the news.
What is base-rate neglect?
The tendency to ignore statistical information in favor of very specific but vivid information. Ex: panel of experts rates a particular vehicle exceptionally well. However, your friend tells you about her bad experiences with that car which would sway your decision.
