aguiar ap cognition thinking problem_solving_creativity_language

Cognition: Thinking,Intelligence & Language

Cognition: Thinking,Intelligence &

LanguageCognition: Thinking,Intelligence & Language

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HeredityTermanDelayBiasWechsler

CreativityA.I.ProblemsConcepts Cognition

Section 1: Thinking and Problem Solving

Learning Goals•Students should be able to answer the following:

1. What are the functions of concepts?

2. What strategies assist our problem solving? What is creativity and what fosters it?

3. What are the obstacles to problem solving?

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ThinkingThinking

Mental

activity

for

organizing,

understanding

and

communicating

ognition

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Concepts

• Concept – idea that represents category of objects, events or activities

SUPERORDINATE

BASIC LEVEL

SUBORDINATE

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Concepts

• Formal concepts - defined by specific rules or features

• Natural concepts - form as result of real world experience (fuzziness)

• Prototype - example of concept that closely matches defining characteristics

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Concepts v. Prototypes

• Concept: The mental grouping of similar objects, events, ideas, or people. There are a variety of chairs but their common features define the concept of a chair.

• Prototype: Best example of a concept– we form concepts with mental images or typical

examples (prototypes). For example, a robin is a prototype of a bird, but a penguin is not.

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What Is Typical For You?

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Types of Thinking

• Convergent Thinking: Deliberate, purposeful thinking that is useful for solving problems with only one correct solution

• Divergent Thinking: also known as creative thinking, it follows no set plan and is more useful for solving problems that have multiple solutions in different directions.

• Metacognition: Thinking about thinking. Example: thinking about your strategy to solve an algebra problem

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Problem-Solving

• Problem solving – cognition used to reach goal by thinking/behaving in certain ways– Trial and error – one

possible solution after another tried until successful

– Algorithms – specific steps for solving certain problems

– Heuristics – guess based on experience (“rule of thumb”)

7.2 What are the methods people use to solve problems and make decisions?

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Problem Solving

• Algorithms: Methodical, logical rules or procedures that guarantee solving a particular problem.– Algorithms, which are very time consuming, exhaust

all possibilities before arriving at a solution. Computers use algorithms.

S P L O Y O C H Y GIf we were to unscramble these letters to form a word

using an algorithmic approach, we would face 907,208 possibilities.

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Algorithm according to Big-Bang Theory

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Problem Solving Examples

1. How can you physically stand behind your father while he is standing behind you?

2. What occurred on the 6th of May, 1978 at 12:34PM?

3. Can you translate this: Y Y U R Y Y U B I C U R Y Y 4 M E

4. A man bought a horse for $60 and sold it for $70. Then he bought the same horse back for $80 and sold it again for $90. How much money did he make in the horse business?

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Insight & Incubation

• Insight: involves a sudden novel realization of a solution to a problem. Humans and animals have insight.– Example: Wolfgang Kohler & Sultan

the Ape• Incubation Effect: Walking away

from the problem only to have insight set in

• Brain imaging and EEG studies suggest that when an insight strikes (the “Aha” experience), it activates the right temporal cortex

• The time between not knowing the solution and realizing it is 0.3 seconds.

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Insight

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Problem-Solving Barriers

Functional fixedness - thinking about only most typical functions of objects

Mental set - persist using past problem-solving patterns

• Confirmation bias – search for evidence that fits beliefs while ignoring evidence not fitting beliefs

7.3 Why does problem solving sometimes fail and what is creative thinking?

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Functional Fixedness

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Working Backwards

• Working Backwards is another way to solve problems like this one:

The water lilies on the surface of a small pond double in area every 24 hours. From the time the first water lily appears until the pond is completely covered takes 60 days. On what day is half the pond covered in water lilies?

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Section Thinking and Problem Solving

Reflect on Learning Goals•Students should be able to answer the following:

1. What are the functions of concepts?

2. What strategies assist our problem solving? What is creativity and what fosters it?

3. What are the obstacles to problem solving?

Self-Rating Level of Understanding

4.0I can…•Identify and describe the terms associated with the learning goal questions.•Explain the answer to the learning goal questions with specific details.•Apply the main concepts of the learning goal to myself or other topics related to the course.

★ 3.0 ★I can…•Identify and describe the terms associated with the learning goal questions.•Explain the answer to the learning goal questions with specific details.

2.0I can…•Identify and describe the terms associated with the learning goal questions.

1.0 •I need help in understanding the learning goals!

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Section Assessment

• Using the handouts and games provided by the instructor, students will work in groups to solve various brain teasers and puzzles.

• Students should be able to discuss with the instructor how the problem-solving terms relate to solving the brain teasers and puzzles.

• Complete the problem-solving analysis worksheet on your own paper.

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Section 2:Heuristics and Framing


1. How do heuristics, overconfidence, and belief perseverance influence our decisions and judgments?

2. What is framing?

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How do we make decisions using heuristics?

• Heuristics are simple, thinking strategies that allow us to make judgments and solve problems efficiently. Heuristics are less time consuming, but more error-prone than algorithms. (AKA- Rules of Thumb or Shortcuts)– Representativeness Heuristic: Judging the

likelihood of things or objects in terms of how well they seem to represent, or match, a particular prototype.

– Which would you pick for a six question T/F Test?

1. T T T T T T2. T T T F F F 3. T F F T T F 22

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• Representativeness Heuristic (con’t)– Tom W. is of high intelligence, although lacking in true creativity. He has a

need for order and clarity, and for neat and tidy systems in which every detail finds its appropriate place. His writing is rather dull and mechanical, occasionally enlivened by somewhat corny puns and by flashes of imagination of the sci-fi type. He has a strong drive for competence. He seems to feel little sympathy for other people and does not enjoy interacting with others. Self-centered, he nonetheless has a deep moral sense."

– Which major is Tom?• Psychology• Biological Sciences (Pre-Med)• Education/Teaching• Business/Management• Engineering

Most Popular Majors1. Psychology2. Business3. Biosciences4. Education9. Engineering

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Representative Heuristic Video

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• Availability Heuristic– Whatever increases the ease of

retrieving information increases its perceived availability.

– Is it safer to fly or drive?– 2002-2004

• 34 deaths by plane• 128,000 by car

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Availability Heuristic

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• Overconfidence

the tendency to be more confident that correct – to over-estimate the accuracy of our beliefs and judgments.

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At a stock market, both the seller and the buyer may be confident about their decisions on a stock.

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CreativityA.I.ProblemsConcepts Cognition 28

Belief Bias

The tendency of one’s preexisting beliefs to distort logical reasoning by making invalid

conclusions.

God is love.Love is blind

Ray Charles is blind.Ray Charles is God.

Anonymous graffiti

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Belief Perseverance

clinging to one’s initial conceptions after the basis on which they are formed has been discredited.•If you see that a country is hostile, you are likely to interpret their ambiguous actions as a sign of hostility (Jervis, 1985).Intuition

an effortless, immediate, automatic feeling or thought, as contrasted with explicit, conscious reasoning.

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Decision Making

• Framing Effect: Decisions and judgments may be significantly affected depending upon how an issue is framed. “5% fat or 95% fat free”

Doctors may use framing effect to help patients elect to do surgeries

Other Framing:Condoms have a 95% success rate in stopping HIV infections.(90% college students rate condoms as effective)Condoms have a 5% failure rate (4% rate condoms as effective)

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Section Assessment

1. Breast cancer has recently received a great deal of attention in the news. This may lead us to believe that breast cancer is a much bigger risk of death than is heart disease, which would not be the case. This overestimation of risk effect is an example of:

(A) Representativeness heuristic

(B) Availability heuristic

(C) Stereotyping

(D) Confirmation bias

2. A math student consistently tries to answer a problem using the same solution, but is unable to generate any new approaches to the problem. This is best illustrated by:

(A) A Mental Set

(B) Overgeneralization

(C) The Framing Effect

(D) Metacognition

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Section 2 Heuristics and Framing


1. How do heuristics, overconfidence, and belief perseverance influence our decisions and judgments?

2. What is framing?






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Section 3: Language


1. What are the structural components of a language?

2. What are the milestones of language development?

3. How do we learn language?

4. What is the relationship between language and thinking?

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Language Structures

• Phonemes: The smallest distinct sound unit in a spoken language. For example: t, ch (40 in the English lang.)

• Morpheme: The smallest unit that carries a meaning. It may be a word or part of a word. (Ex. –ed, un-, s)

• Grammar: is the system of rules in a language that enable us to communicate with and understand others.– Syntax: consists of the rules for combining words

into grammatically sensible sentences– Semantics: is the set of rules by which we derive

meaning from morphemes, words, and sentences.

The future of language?: (Jeet, Jew) 34

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Stages of Language Development

Pre-Linguistic Stage: Cooing and Babbling (3 months- 12 months)

Holophrastic Stage: One-word (12 months)

Telegraphic Stage: Two Word (age 2)

Complete Sentences: 2 Years +

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Learning Language with Age

Vocabulary By Age

18 months: 501st grade: 10,0005th grade: 40,000

“Fast-mapping” helps in adding words to about age 7.

FACTS OF LANGUAGE-Babbling before 8 months occurs with multiple language syllabus, after 8 months they only babble in their native language.-Deaf babies babble with their hands.-The sensitive period of language tends to occur between birth and age 7.-Children who hear a second language before age 7 generally don’t speak with an accent.

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Language Development Theories

1. Operant Learning: Skinner (1957, 1985) believed that language development may be explained on the basis of learning principles such as association, imitation, and reinforcement.

2. Inborn Universal Grammar: Noam Chomsky (1959, 1987) opposed Skinner’s ideas and suggested that the rate of language acquisition is so fast that it cannot be explained through learning principles, and thus most of it is inborn. Language Acquisition Device. Chomsky says that all children need to learn language is to be introduced to it

Based on the ideas above, answer the following:1.Who views language from the nature perspective? Nurture Perspective?2.In a debate, who would raise the question, “How can children make up new sentences without hearing them first?”3.In a debate, who would raise the question, “How does the LAD work, where is it located?”

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Thinking and Language

• Linguistic Determinism: Whorf (1956) suggested that language determines the way we think. For example, he noted that the Hopi people do not have the past tense for verbs. Therefore, the Hopi cannot think readily about the past.

• Some cultures count: 1, 2, many…

When a language provides words for objects or events, we can think about these objects more clearly and remember them. It is easier to think about two colors with two different names (A)

than colors with the same name (B)38

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Explaining Language Development

Statistical Learning and Critical Periods: • Well before our first birthday, our brains are

discerning word breaks by statistically analyzing which syllables in hap-py-ba-by go together.

• These statistical analyses are learned during critical periods of child development.

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Language & Age

Learning new languages gets harder with age.

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Chomsky’s Language Structures

• Surface Structure: The actual words, symbols or signs (phonemes, morphemes and syntax)

• Deep Structure: The meaning of the words (semantics)

• More Flaws in Grammar:– “Jack The Giant Killer”– “Astronaut takes blame for gas in

spacecraft.”– “Stolen painting found by tree.”– “Safety experts say school bus

passengers should be belted.”41

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Flaws in Semantics and Syntax

• Grammar Flaws– Can we eat Grandma?– He eats shoots and leaves.– Try our hotdogs. None

like them. – Can’t sleep, come to our

informational meeting.

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Developmental Language Flaws

• Overextensions– ‘Ball’ is used to describe anything round like the

moon.• Underextensions

– ‘Doll’ might describe only their doll but not other dolls

• Overregularizations– overuse of rules that do not fit– ‘Goed’ or ‘hitted’

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Language Flaws: Lost in Translation

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Language Review: Mini FRQ

Darren, a junior in high school, is taking French I. For part of his midterm exam, he is required to translate a dialogue in French and recite it in front of the class. Describe how the following may affect his performance.

•Phonemes•His Age•Syntax•Proactive Interference

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Language Review: Mini FRQ Grading

• POINT 1: Darren needs to know the French phonemes so he can pronounce the words correctly.

• POINT 2: As he is older, he will have difficulty (1) pronouncing or (2) understanding the word order because he is past his critical period of language development, hence learning another language is harder

• POINT 3: He needs to know the proper syntax in French, so that he can say the words in proper order so the dialogue makes sense. (an example may be needed to clarify this point)

• POINT 4: Darren’s learning of English first, may interfere with his recall of French terms. (student may use another example as long as they indicate that old information is interfering with him learning French).

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Section 3 Language


1. What are the structural components of a language?

2. What are the milestones of language development?

3. How do we learn language?

4. What is the relationship between language and thinking?






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Lecture Activities

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• Mental Rotation of Objects

• Some creative studies have been conducted on our ability to mentally rotate “three-dimensional” objects. On each of the next three slides, you will see two groups of blocks (A and B). Your task will be to decide, as quickly as possible, whether:

• 1. Groups A and B ARE identical structures rotated to different orientations or…

• 2. Groups A and B ARE NOT identical structures.

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(Click button to rotate configuration A)

A B

Sample Item 1

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A B

Sample Item 2

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A B

Sample Item 3

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• As is the case with most psychology abilities, people are better at some tasks than others. How did you do? Is it possible to improve at this type of task? How might the ability to mentally rotate objects correlate with other intellectual aptitudes?

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• On the next slide you will see various items on a desk and be presented with a problem to be solved. Let’s see who is able to break through their functional fixedness.

Breaking Through Functional Fixedness

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• Using only the items on top of the desk, how could you attach the candle to the wall ABOVE the desk, so that when the candle burns, it does NOT drip wax onto the desk?

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• Perhaps the most elegant solution to this problem is to:

1. Empty the matches out of the box.

2. Nail the empty box to the wall.

3. Place the candle in the box.

• This solution requires one to avoid fixating on the normal function of the box as that of holding matches. Avoiding this trap allows one to see more than one use for the box (i.e., as a candle holder).

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• A Mental Set

• Try this one. On your paper, draw nine dots just like you see up here. Then, see if you can draw four straight lines so that they pass through ALL nine dots without lifting your pencil from the page AND without touching any dot more than once?

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(Click button to show solution)

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• Did you solve the problem? Did you experience any “insight”? If not, what was it that kept you from doing so? Was it thinking about the group of circles as a square with solid boundaries? How can you break free from mental sets to “step outside of the box” when you need to?

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Tower of Hanoi

Time to solve another problem. The object of the game is to move ALL of the disks onto a different pole. The rules are these: 1) You can only move one disk at a time. 2) A bigger disk can't go on a smaller disk. See how quickly you can solve the tower in seven moves.

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(Click button to reveal solution)

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• Did you use an algorithm or a heuristic to solve that problem? What types of day-to-day problems might require algorithmic solutions? What types of daily problems could be handled more heuristically? What do your conclusions suggest about the nature of problem solving?

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• Certainly, one definition of “creativity” won’t satisfy everyone in class. Get together in small groups and develop your own definition. Write down your group’s definition. Be prepared to share.

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Divergent Creativity

Time to harness some of that doodling creativity. On a sheet of notebook paper, see how many different pictures you can draw, using this image comprising two circles. Don’t worry about drawing perfect pictures. Just make sure that the circle image is in each of your pictures. Work quickly. You will have 60 seconds.

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• Times up! After such a task, a psychologist studying creativity might be interested in answers to the following types of questions:

1. How many pictures did you draw? 2. Were the pictures from different semantic

categories (e.g., fruits, sports, cars, etc.)? 3. Were your pictures unique? In other words,

did you draw pictures that others probably did not?

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• Gardner’s list began with seven different types of intelligence. The list has grown to nine. Are there more than nine types of intelligence? What other types of intelligence might Gardner’s list still be missing?

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