Write the first 2 physical characteristics that come to mind when you think of each of the following:

• Fruit• Bird• Crime• Sport• Vegetable• Vehicle

Rate each of the following as to how typical it is of the given category:

0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 atypical fairly typical prototypical

a) Apple as a fruit ____ Tomato as a fruit____ What is the prototypical fruit?

______b) Robin as a bird ____ Penguin as a bird____ What is the prototypical bird?

______c) Robbery as a crime_____ Forgery as a crime____ What is the prototypical crime?

______d) Soccer as a sport?_____ Rugby as a sport? ____ What is the prototypical sport?

______e) Onion as a vegetable____ Red pepper as a vegetable ____ What is the prototypical vegetable?

______f) Jeep as a vehicle____ Elevator as a vehicle____ What is the prototypical vehicle?______

Results from Rosch, 1975

• Apple was rated the prototypical fruit.• Robin was rated the prototypical bird.• Murder was rated the prototypical crime.• Football was rated the prototypical sport.• Carrot was rated the prototypical vegetable.• Vehicle was not included in the Rosch test.

Unit 7B:Cognition: Thinking, Problem

Solving, Creativity, and Language

Thinking

• Concepts– simplify– mental groupings– Category hierarchies further simplify– form concepts by definition – form concepts by prototype

• mental image or best example • the more closely something matches our

prototype…..

Once we place an item in a category, our memory of it later shifts towards the

category prototype.

Superordinate Concept (food)Basic Concept (bread)

Subordinate Concept (rye bread)

rearpoot algorithm heuristics

• Trial & Error

• Algorithms» Step-by-step » guarantee a solution

• Heuristic– rule of thumb– may or may not work– faster

• Insight

Solving ProblemsStrategies

Solving ProblemsCreativity

• Creativity• Strernberg’s five components

–Expertise–Imaginative thinking skills–A venturesome personality–Intrinsic motivation–A creative environment

Connect the 9 dots using four straight lines

without lifting the pencil from the paper

Solving ProblemsObstacles to Problem Solving

• Confirmation bias– we seek evidence to support our ideas

rather than refute them

• Fixation– inability to see a problem from a fresh perspective

– Mental set• approaching a problem the way it worked in the past

– Functional fixedness• think of things only in terms of their useful functions

To judge likelihood,

compare our mental

representations of category – if

matches it usually overrides

statistics

Making Decisions and Forming Judgments Using and Misusing Heuristics

• The Representative HeuristicShort – slim –glasses –reads poetry

trucker or professor?– judging the likely of things based on how well

they represent particular prototypes

– enables us to make snap judgments– leads us to ignore relevant information

Statistically more

likely?

Making Decisions and Forming Judgments Using and Misusing Heuristics

gambling

List the top five things you fear.

• The Availability Heuristicbase our

judgments on how mentally

available information is –

if something “pops into mind” we

perceive it as available/more

likely

We reason by

emotion

Do We Fear the Right Things?

• We fear what our ancestral history has prepared us to fear.

• We fear what we cannot control

• We fear what is immediate• We fear what is most readily available in

memory

Making Decisions and Forming JudgmentsOverconfidence

• Overconfidence– tendency to overestimate the accuracy of our

knowledge and judgments

Making Decisions and Forming JudgmentsThe Belief Perseverance Phenomenon

• Belief perseverance–clinging to one’s initial

conceptions after they’ve been discredited

–fix: consider the opposite

Making Decisions and Forming JudgmentsThe Perils and Powers of Intuition

• Intuition–Unconscious intuition

Group ExperimentEach side of the room is going to be presented with a series of questions.

You must keep your eyes closed and head down when the other side of the room is reading their questions.

You will write your answers down.

You cannot speak while answering questions.

Door Side (window side/eyes closed)

• What is 1x2x3x4x5x6x7x8?• Is the cost of the average college textbook more

or less than $70?• Estimate an answer – What is the cost of the

average college textbook?• When Gandhi was killed in January 1948, was he

older or younger than 9 years old?• Estimate an answer – How old was Gandhi

when he was killed?

Window Side (door side/eyes closed)

• What is 8x7x6x5x4x3x2x1?• Is the cost of the average college textbook more

or less than $700?• Estimate an answer – What is the cost of the

average college textbook?• When Gandhi was killed in January 1948, was he

older or younger than 140 years old?• Estimate an answer – How old was Gandhi

when he was killed?

Show your estimates

Do we notice any patterns in differences between the

sides?

Door Side…• What is 1x2x3x4x5x6x7x8?• Is the cost of the average

college textbook more or less than $70?

• Estimate an answer – What is the cost of the average college textbook?

• When Gandhi was killed in January 1948, was he older or younger than 9 years old?

• Estimate an answer – How old was Gandhi when he was killed?

Window Side…• What is 8x7x6x5x4x3x2x1?• Is the cost of the average

college textbook more or less than $700?

• Estimate an answer – What is the cost of the average college textbook?

• When Gandhi was killed in January 1948, was he older or younger than 140 years old?

• Estimate an answer – How old was Gandhi when he was killed?

Making Decisions and Forming Judgments

• Framing–the way a question/problem is

framed can influence the decision

Definition Slides

Cognition

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

Concept

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

Prototype

= a mental image or best example of a category. Matching new items to a prototype provides a quick and easy method for sorting items into categories (as when comparing feathered creatures to a prototypical bird, such as a robin).

Algorithm

= a methodical, logical rule or procedure that guarantees solving a particular problem. Contrasts with the usually speedier – but also more error-prone – use of heuristics.

Heuristic

= a simple thinking strategy that often allows us to make judgments and solve problems efficiently; usually speedier but also more error-prone than algorithms.

Insight

= a sudden and often novel realization of the solution to a problem; it contrasts with strategy-based solutions.

Creativity

= the ability to produce novel and valuable ideas.

Confirmation Bias

= a tendency to search for information that supports our preconceptions and to ignore or distort contradictory evidence.

Fixation

= the inability to see a problem from a new perspective, by employing a different mental set.

Mental Set

= a tendency to approach a problem in one particular way, often a way that has been successful in the past.

Functional Fixedness

= the tendency to think of things only in terms of their usual functions; an impediment to problem solving.

Representativeness Heuristic

= judging the likelihood of things in terms of how well they seem to represent, or match, particular prototypes; may lead us to ignore other relevant information.

Availability Heuristic

= estimating the likelihood of events based on their availability in memory; if instances come readily to mind (perhaps because of their vividness), we presume such events are common

Overconfidence

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

Belief Perseverance

= clinging to one’s initial conceptions after the basis on which they are formed has been discredited.

Intuition

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