DO NOW:

What is cognition (it’s okay to guess)?

Prepare your spring break extra credit to turn in (if you have it).

Cognition

AP PsychologyMs. Desgrosellier4.5.2010

THINKING

Objective: SWBAT define cognition.

THINKING

Cognition: the mental activities associated with thinking, knowing, remembering, and communicating.

Concepts

Objective: SWBAT describe the roles of categories, hierarchies, definitions, and prototypes in concept formation.

Concepts

concept: a mental grouping of similar objects, events, ideas, or people.

ConceptsWhat makes a “chair” a chair?

Concepts

concept: a mental grouping of similar objects, events, ideas, or people.

Concepts To simplify concepts down even

more, we organize them into hierarchies.

Some concepts are formed by definition. e.g. a triangle is a figure with

three sides, therefore all three sided objects are triangles.

Concepts prototype: a mental image or

best example of a category. Matching new items to the

prototype provides a quick and easy method for including items in a category.

The more closely something matches our prototype of a concept, the more readily we recognize it as an example of the concept.

Solving Problems Objective: SWBAT compare

algorithms and heuristics as problem-solving strategies, and explain how insight differs from both of them.

Solving Problems Solving problems is one way

that we form and use concepts.

Solving Problems algorithm: a methodical,

logical rule or procedure that guarantees solving a particular problem. e.g. SPLOYOCHYG We could try our every

combination of these letters one-by-one to figure out what the word is, but this would give us 907,200 options.

Solving Problems heuristic: a simple thinking

strategy that often allows us to make judgments and solve problems efficiently. Speedier, but more error-prone

than algorithms. With our example, we can use

heuristics to reduce the number of options.

e.g. SPLOOCHGYY

Solving Problems insight: a sudden and often

novel realization of the solution to a problem. This contrasts with strategy-

based solutions.

Obstacles to Problem Solving

Objective: SWBAT contrast the confirmation bias and fixation, and explain how they can interfere with effective problem solving.

Obstacles to Problem Solving

confirmation bias: a tendency to search for information that confirms one’s preconceptions. We look for evidence that

confirm our ideas more often than we look for evidence that might refute them.

Obstacles to Problem Solving

fixation: the inability to see a problem from a new perspective.

Slows down problem solving.

Obstacles to Problem Solving

mental set: a tendency to approach a problem in a particular way, often a way that has been successful in the past.

O-T-T-F-?-?-?

J-F-M-A-?-?-?

Obstacles to Problem Solving

functional fixedness: the tendency to think of things only in terms of their usual functions.

Hunting for a screwdriver when you could have used a coin.

MAKING DECISIONS AND FORMING JUDGMENTS

Using and Misusing Heuristics

Objective: SWBAT contrast the representativeness and availability heuristics, and explain how they can cause us to underestimate or ignore important information.

MAKING DECISIONS AND FORMING JUDGMENTS

representativeness heuristic: judging the likelihood of things in terms of how well they seem to represent, or match, particular prototypes.

This may lead one to ignore other relevant information.

MAKING DECISIONS AND FORMING JUDGMENTS

availability heuristic: estimating the likelihood of events based on their availability in memory.

if examples come easily to mind, we assume such events are common.

Overconfidence

Objective: SWBAT describe the drawbacks and advantages of overconfidence in decision making.

Overconfidence

overconfidence: the tendency to be more confident than correct – to overestimate the accuracy of one’s beliefs and judgments.

Confidence is not necessarily related to correctness; people who are very confident can be just as incorrect.

Framing Decisions

Objective: SWBAT describe how others can use framing to elicit from us the answers they want.

Framing Decisions

framing: the way an issue is posed.

How an issue is framed can significantly affect decisions and judgments.

e.g. 75% lean vs. 25% fat.

Belief Bias

Objective: SWBAT discuss how our preexisting beliefs can distort our logic.

Belief Bias

belief bias: the tendency for one’s preexisting beliefs to distort logical reasoning, sometimes by making invalid conclusions seem valid, or valid conclusions seem invalid.

Belief Bias

Premise 1: Democrats support free speech.

Premise 2: Dictators are not Democrats.

Conclusion: Dictators do not support free speech.

The Belief Perseverance Phenomenon

Objective: SWBAT describe the remedy for the belief perseverance phenomenon.

The Belief Perseverance Phenomenon

belief perseverance: clinging to one’s initial conceptions after the basis on which they were formed has been discredited.

The Belief Perseverance Phenomenon

To counter the belief perseverance phenomenon, consider the opposite.

e.g. Given a side in a debate, it’s easier to ignore evidence that counters your beliefs.