Overcoming Mindsets
• Jill approaches the edge of a field with an unopened package. As she nears the field, she realizes that she is about to die. She is in perfect health and no one is chasing her, but sure enough her dead body is found in the field later that day.
• Why?
Overcoming Mindsets
• Jamie died in the mountains and Craig died at sea. Everyone was happy with Craig’s death but no one was pleased about Jamie’s.
• Why?
Overcoming Mindsets
• What is unique about this sequence?
8 5 4 9 1 7 6 10 3 2 0
Overcoming Mindsets
• A man heading home encounters two masked men. He turns around to run away, but it is too late!
• What happened?
Overcoming Mindsets
• What starts with the letter E, ends with the letter E, contains only one letter but it is not the letter E?
Overcoming Mindsets
• A woman had two daughters born on the same hour of the same day of the same year but they were not twins.
• How could this be so?
Overcoming Mindsets
• Jane hits a homerun over her backyard fence and it falls into the middle of a neighbor’s lake. It’s her only ball so she runs to the lake to retrieve the ball. She does this and not only does she not get wet, the ball is not wet. The lake is very deep throughout.
• How does she avoid getting herself or the ball wet?
Overcoming Mindsets
• A man walks into a bar and asks for a glass of water. The bartender pulls out a shotgun and points it at him. The man says, thank you and leaves.
• Why?
Problems
• Definition: mismatch between the present state and a goal
• Problems include:– An initial state– A goal state– Strategies or actions to reach goal (problem space)
Small Problem Space
Fss (return to initial) ss (F) |ss (F) |
Fs | s F (s) | sF (ss) |
Fss (return to initial) Fs (s) |Fs (s) | far bank
near far
Initial: Fss |
Goal: | Fss
Mindsets are the biggest obstacles to Problem Solving
• Mental sets are forms of entrenchment– Often served by Confirmation Bias – ignore data that
discredits one’s ideas, highlight confirming evidence– Mindsets are forms of Fixation - inability to see a
problem from a fresh perspective = “field dependence”• Overgeneralization: one believes rules apply when actually they
don’t (e.g., name implies person; Waikato)– Functional Fixedness - tendency to think about familiar objects in
familiar ways that may prevent using them in other, more creative ways (e.g., use shoe or book as doorstop)
• Undergeneralization: one believes that rules don’t apply when actually they do (e.g., falling rates of a pound of feathers vs a pound of bricks)
• 4 straight lines, without lifting up pencil
Overgeneralization: Presume a rule, falsely constrained by edge of rows and columns
Undergeneralization – one presumes that points have no space, but obviously they do
Problem Types
• Well structured – clear problem space and path to solution (e.g., area of triangle)
• Ill structured – vague problem space and path to solution (e.g., SETI)
Problem Solving Techniques
• Algorithm – slow and plodding, 100% accurate– needs well-structured problem generally – total information needed
• Heuristic – quick, often correct but not 100% – total information is often not needed– (e.g., taller candidate wins presidency, longer name)
– Insight vs Plodding Solutions• Anagrams: EWT vs AABCEILNP
– (too large, mostly insightful solution)
HAL-9000 in “2001: A Space Odyssey” was a Heuristic-ALgorithmic device
Structural Obstacles to Problem Solving
• Novelty
• Number of rules
• Complexity of rules
• Counterintuitive rules– Tower of Hanoi
employs
counterintuitive
strategies
Anagram answer: wet incapable
Psychological obstacles to Problem Solving
• Premature Cognitive commitment or inability to keep other hypotheses available- may focus on incorrect hypotheses when multiple hypotheses available
• Overconfidence- unrealistically confident in our predictions, esp. about our ability to accomplish
• Use of potentially Faulty Heuristics
Problems with heuristics
• Availability heuristic: occurs when people estimate probability of an outcome based on how easy that outcome imagined.
– Which is more likely: Dying from a shark attack or dying from injuries sustained from falling airplane parts (x30)
Problems with heuristics
• Representativeness heuristic: we judge things as being similar based on how closely they resemble each other using prima facie (at first sight), often superficial qualities, rather than essential characteristics. – Lucy wears her hair in bun, lives alone, dresses
very conservatively, and loves to read. Is she a librarian or a business woman? (x30)
Problems with heuristics
• Anchoring heuristic: Probability of an event is estimated by adjusting an earlier estimate rather than starting from scratch
Creativity = new + relevant (+ economic)
• Preparation – experience with problem
• Incubation – take time away from problem
• Illumination – solution appears suddenly (eureka moment)
• Verification – does solution work? Test it.
Kepler’s “Insight”
Criticism of this model of creativity
• Often continuous process, not single leap of insight• Often new problem identified instead of old problem
solved (representational change)
• Incubation may serve to:– new stimuli activate new perspectives or analogies– release from unimportant details
• or allow integration of remote seemingly unimportant cues
– release from memory interference– minimize negative transfer (past solutions do not apply)
Positive Transfer
• A medieval lord attacks city with army of 500 knights. Only 100 knights can cross bridge into city without bridge collapsing. Men must cross all at once to surprise enemy else they will be defeated.
• There are 6 bridges that lead into the city.
• What is the solution?
Positive Transfer
• Tumor in brain can be eliminated with radiation but it requires 400 rads (roentgen) and surrounding brain tissue will be damaged if exposed to more than 30 rads.
• What is the solution?
Positive Transfer
Negative Transfer
Negative Transfer
Representations
• Analogic – iconic; resembles some aspect
• Symbolic – arbitrary– Our representation can fixate our ways of
thinking about an object or event
DEMO: NAME INK COLORS
GLP
XTPD
RSLGT
ZMQ
WXFG
HLBG
NAME INK COLORS
MAPLE
BAR
HORSE
CHILD
CLOUD
FORK
NAME INK COLORS
GLPXTPDRSLGTZMQSPRHLBGOSLGTZQXRTREYYPWXFG
ROSLGGWLSLPDRSLGTOMQFGYTJBBRSLGTXLLLLFGTLG
WXFGGLPRMSMQLXTPDRSLGTTTGHBGUJULGTZQP
NAME INK COLORS
REDGREENBLUEBLUEREDBROWNGREENREDGREENBLUEBROWN
REDGREENBLUEGREENBROWNREDBLUEGREENREDGREENBROWN
BLUEREDREDBLUEBROWNGREENREDBLUEGREENREDBROWN
Stroop with numbers
Stroop Task
• Reading overlearned, difficulty to stop– It’s hard to inhibit an automatic processes
• Reading of color word competes with ink naming when incongruent.
Artificial Intelligence• Scientists in the field of A.I. are developing
computer systems that imitate the products of human perception and thought (any day now, 1970s on)
HAL from “2001”
An A.I. success: Chess
• Gary Kasparov split two close decisions
• After losing the second, he suspected that a human may have intervened
Artificial IntelligenceAlan M. Turing
– “Can machines think?”• Born June 23 1912,
London• Mathematician• Worked on breaking the
German codes (Enigma encryption machine) during WWII using COLOSSUS, a forerunner to the digital computer, built to decipher the Enigma
Germany’s Enigma MachineAutomated Encryption
Colossus, 1943 Bombe, 1940 (Bletchley Park )
Turing Test (1950)– a test of imitation
“Can machines think?” “Can machines behave intelligently?” Operational definition of intelligence is whether
someone intelligent believes they are interacting with another intelligence
Computer needs to possess: Natural language
processing, Knowledge representation, Automated reasoning, and machine learning
The Loebner Prize
• A contest to see if a computer program can pass a Turing Test
• Group of experts questions the several computer entrants yearly
Towards Autonomous Vehicles
Future EEG Applications
• Firefox and other brain-computer interfaces (BCI)
IntelligenceIntelligence Tests
-how best to assess
Nature of Intelligence
-unitary or multiplicity
Great Debate
-nature or nurture
Assessment of Intelligence
• Alfred Binet (1904) developed first intelligence test to screen French school children for potential academic problems.
Intelligence Quotient (IQ)
– Originally a ratio of mental age to chronological age
Mental Age
Chronological Age( ) x 100IQ=
IQ tests supposed to be aptitude or tests of potential
But they often test achievement, cultural knowledge
Use of IQ Tests• Individual testing originally:
Stanford-Binet, Wechsler, and others tested people one at a time.
• Group testing developed during World War I as U.S. Army administered tests for officer training selection.
• Group IQ tests screened immigrants in early 1900s. – Many Eastern and Central Europeans
judged mentally defective (due to low English proficiency)
Monty Python example• IN SKIT: Non-
English speaking humans scored the same as penguins on English IQ tests
• Therefore penguins are as smart as humans and start to take over the world
Wechsler Scales• Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale
(WAIS) and WISC (C=children)– Developed for adults originally– Widely used today – Separate Verbal and Performance scores – Standardized, based on % no longer mental age
Estimated IQs above 200.
Sample Items from the WISC-IIISample Items from the WISC-III
PICTURE COMPLETION
What part is missing from this picture?
Sample Items from the WISC-IIISample Items from the WISC-III
Block Design
Put the blocks together to make this picture.
IQ tests revised and standardized
• Administered to 1000s of people similar to those test is intended. • Calculate average & its distribution (IQ set to 100, std dev of 15)
Verification of independence for these components: differential aging
Are Intelligence Tests Accurate?
• Standardization – empirical norms (mean & standard deviation)
• Reliability - measures a variable consistently. (Reliability doesn’t ensure validity).
• Validity - measures what it intends to measure (e.g., free of cultural bias, language proficiency)
Are Intelligence Tests Biased?
Raven's
“Culture-Fair”
Test
Nature of Intelligence
General Intelligence (g)
g = broad intellectual-ability factor used to explain why performances on different intelligence-test items are often correlated
Neurophysiological evidence of g = Neural Speed correlates with IQ
Nature of IntelligenceHoward Gardner’s Multiple Intelligences (8)
• Linguistic – Verbal ability, skills in speaking,
listening, reading, and writing
• Logical-mathematical– Abstract reasoning ability
• Musical– Ability to appreciate tonal
qualities of sound, skills to compose and play instruments
• Spatial– Visual ability, orienting oneself in
space and navigation
• Bodily-kinesthetic – Ability to control gross and fine
body movements
• Intrapersonal – Ability to understand oneself,
self-insight
• Interpersonal – Ability to understand others,
social skills
• Naturalistic– Ability to classify world
Nature of Intelligence
Sternberg's Triarchic Theory
Nature’s Influence on IQ• Genetic similarity
reflected in IQ scores
• MZ = monozygotic = identical twins = 100% genes,
• similar environment
• DZ = dizygotic = fraternal twins = ~50% genes similar environment
Nuture’s Influence on IQ• Environment similarity
reflected in IQ scores?
• Reared together = shared environment
• Reared apart = similar but unshared environment
Environments can magnify genetic influences
Self-fulfilling cycles, prophecies• Teacher with low expectations of a student may
settle for lower performance from student.
Environments can magnify genetic influences Enrichment experiments
Enriched Not Enriched
Effects of Schoolingwith 180-day yearwith 210-day year
• Project Head Start– Preschool intellectual-
enrichment program for children born of poor families
• 100,000s families served yearly
– Alumni score higher on IQ, more confident, less likely to repeat grades, and more likely to graduate from HS.
–
Environment’s influence on intellectual potential
Gender DifferencesMental-Rotation Test of Spatial Ability
• Which view shows a different view of the same object as each standard?
Gender DifferencesVerbal, Mathematical, and Spatial Abilities
• Girls > boys on verbal abilities and reading.• Boys > girls on spatial tasks• Girls > boys on arithmetic in grade school,
– but < boys surpass by Jr H.S.
Extremes of Intelligence• Giftedness
– Intelligence significantly above average– May be specific to a given domain
• Mental Retardation– A diagnostic category used for people with IQ
scores below 70 who have difficulty adapting to the routine demands of life
– Mild (IQ 50-70)– Moderate (IQ 35-49)– Severe (IQ 20-34)– Profound (IQ below 20)