Thinking

Thinking, or cognition, refers to a process that involves knowing, understanding, remembering, and communicating

The Cognitive Revolution

19th Century focus on the mind
When psychology first emerged as an independent science, the focus was on the mind. Yet introspective methods yielded unreliable results.

Behaviorist focus on overt responses The behaviorist focus on overt responses was empirically more sound,
yet theorists argued that it provided an incomplete picture of human functioning. Empirical study of cognition Renegade theorists continued to study cognition, the mental processes involved in acquiring knowledge. 1956 conference 3 major advances in this empirical study were reported at a scientific conference in 1956, a watershed in the history of psychology.

Simon and Newell problem solving

Simon and Newell described the first computer program simulating human problem solving

Chomsky new model of language

Noam Chomsky outlined a new model that changed the study of language

Miller memory
George Miller presented his famous paper arguing for the 7 plus or minus two capacity of STM.

Cognitive science has since grown into a robust, interdisciplinary field focusing on language, problem solving, decision-making, and reasoning.

Cognition
Another term for thinking, knowing and remembering Does the way we think really matter? Maybe by studying the way we think, we can eventually think better.

Cognitive Psychologists
Thinking involves a number of mental activities, which are listed below. Cognitive psychologists study these in great detail.
1.
2. 3.

4.

Concepts Problem solving Decision making Judgment formation

In order to think about the world, we form..

A mental grouping of similar objects, events, ideas or people. Concepts help us sort information into categories (based on shared similarities) that enable us to make instant judgments about objects we have never seen before. Concepts are similar to Piagets idea of

Concepts

Schemas

These animals all look different, but they fall under our concept of dogs.

Development of Concepts Prototypes

We form some concepts with definitions. For example, a triangle has three sides. Mostly, 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.
J. Messerschmidt/ The Picture Cube

Daniel J. Cox/ Getty Images

Triangle (definition)

Bird (mental image)

We base our concepts on .

If this was my prototype of a man, then what is Mr. Riek?

Prototypes
A mental image or best example of a category. If a new object is similar to our prototype, we are better able to recognize it. If it is quite a bit different, we might have difficulty.

If this was my prototype of a woman, then what am I???

THINKING
We develop hierarchies for concepts to organize information in our memory

How do we solve problems?

Problem solving strategies include:
1. 2.

3.
4.

Trial and Error Algorithms Heuristics Insight

Approaches to Problem Solving Trial and Error

Try it out and see what happens!

Approaches to Problem Solving Algorithms

An algorithm is a methodical, stepby-step procedure for trying all possible alternatives in searching for a solution to a problem. Basically it is a systematic trial-and-error (ex: mathematical formulas, computers use algorithms) Pros:
Exhausts all possibilities Guarantees a solution

Cons:
Very time-consuming and inefficient

If we were to unscramble these letters to form a word using an algorithmic approach, we would face 907,200 possibilities.

SPLOYOCHYG

Sheldons Use of Algorithms on The Big Bang Theory

Watch at home: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k0xgjUhEG3U

Approaches to Problem Solving Heuristics

Heuristics are guiding principles or rules of thumb used in solving problems. Basically, its a shortcut that makes it easier for us to use a simple principle to arrive at a solution to a problem (ex: i before e except after c) Pros:
Allows us to make judgments and solve problems efficiently Less time-consuming than algorithms

Who would you trust to baby-sit your child?

Cons:
Dont guarantee a solution Can be prone to errors

Your answer is based on your heuristic of their appearances.

Heuristics (cont.)
Heuristics make it easier for us to use simple principles to arrive at solutions to problems.

SPLOYOCHYG S PP SL YO CH YO OC LH OGY
Put a Y at the end, and see if the word begins to make sense.

Approaches to Problem Solving Insight

Sudden realizations of solutions that pop into out heads without the aid of algorithms, heuristics, or any other strategy; A sudden and often novel realization of the solution to a problem. No real strategy involved Often fun, satisfying, and one of the reasons that people enjoy working on word jumbles and other mental puzzles (causes a pleasing excitement)

Grande using boxes to obtain food

Insight
Brain imaging and EEG studies suggest that when an insight strikes (the Aha experience), it activates the right temporal cortex (JungBeeman & others, 2004). The time between not knowing the solution and realizing it is about 0.3 seconds.

From Mark Jung-Beekman, Northwestern University and John Kounios, Drexel University

Obstacles to Problem Solving

Confirmation Bias Fixation
Mental Set Functional Fixedness

First, try Handout 9.3

Obstacles to Solving Problems Confirmation Bias

Our unconscious tendency to look for evidence for what we believe to be true. We try to find evidence that confirms our preconceptions.
We tend to recall more easily, and pay more attention to evidence that supports our idea than evidence that refutes it U.S. Senate Select Committee on Intelligence (WMD)
Sources confirming WMD = provided valuable information Sources denying WMD = either lying or not knowledgeable about Iraqs problems

Beliefs regarding race

Review the different types of bias with the cognitive bias song! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3RsbmjNL Qkc&feature=related

For example, if you believe as a high school teacher that during a full moon there is an increase in student misbehavior, you will take notice of misconduct during a full moon, but you will be inattentive to the moon when misbehavior occurs during other days of the month.

Obstacles to Solving Problems Fixation

Efficient strategies that become so routine that they interfere with our ability to consider any other options. We cant see the problem from a fresh perspective (think outside the box). This impedes problem solving. Two examples of fixation
Mental Set Functional Fixedness

Mental Set
A tendency to approach a problem in a particular way, especially if that way has been successful in the past. May or may not be a good thing. When asked, How would you arrange six matches to form four equilateral triangles, people often have trouble realizing that they can work in 3-dimensions instead of just in 2-D.

=
Match_Problem

Figure 8.10: The nine-dot problem. Without lifting your pencil from the paper, draw no more than four lines that will cross through all nine dots. Source: Adams, J. L. (1980). Conceptual block-busting: A guide to better ideas. New York: W. H. Freeman. Copyright 1980 by James L. Adams. Reprinted by permission of W. H. Freeman & Co.

A common barrier to problem solving can be when we assume unnecessary constraints on the problem. What makes us think that we have to stay within a box when we draw our lines?
Figure 8.14: Two solutions to the nine-dot problem. The key to solving the problem is to recognize that nothing in the problem statement forbids going outside the imaginary boundary surrounding the dots. Source: Adams, J. L. (1980). Conceptual blockbusting: A guide to better ideas. New York: W. H. Freeman. Copyright 1980 by James L. Adams. Reprinted by permission of W. H. Freeman & Co.

Mental Sets in Die Hard with A Vengeance

Watch at home: http://www.yout ube.com/watch ?v=ozSF7_Fwec and http://www.yout ube.com/watch ?v=xfQxZTtbCT g

Functional Fixedness
When we are unable to think outside the box to see usefulness in things beyond their usual functions
Coin as an emergency screwdriver

Using these materials, how would you mount the candle on a bulletin board?
It may be difficult for us to see a matchbox as being useful for anything other than holding matches.

Overcoming Functional Fixedness in Apollo 13

Watch at home: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C2YZnTL596Q

If you are not experiencing functional fixedness, you might invent a new electric wheelchair!
Examples of overcoming functional fixedness with Jay Lenos There I Fixed It segment:
http://www.flickr.com/ph otos/psychfiles/sets/721 57627570907260/ and http://thereifixedit.failblo g.org/ or Michael

Britts summary here:

http://www.youtube.com /watch?v=ksgaup4zqz0 &feature=results_video &playnext=1&list=PLA6 4840301ADE8982

MacGyver is famous for overcoming functional fixedness!

If you dont know who MacGyver is, he was the main character in a 1980s TV show by the same name. He was a secret agent who refused to carry a gun and became famous for his encyclopedic knowledge of science, able to solve complex problems with everyday materials he finds at hand, along with his ever-present duct tape and Swiss Army knife (from Wikipedia). Watch as MacGyver turns a coffin into a jet ski! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v= LTWEh2mcdsg

Poor John and Mary

John and Mary were found dead in a locked room. The following objects were found in the room with them: some water, a table, a dog, a chair, and broken glass. How did John and Mary die? Do you need a hint? The water was once in the glass. If you suddenly solved the riddle, you probably showed insight too bad you cant see how your brain just lit up!

Give Up?
The solution to this riddle rests in a complete examination of your assumptions and inferences. We can solve the riddle if we first realize that John and Mary are fish! The dog jumped on top of the table and knocked the fish tank onto the floor and broke it. The fish drowned by not being able to extract oxygen from the air. The chair added nothing; it was a decoy. If you got stuck, you probably experienced functional fixedness, a condition in which you automatically made some assumptions about the elements of a problem, based on our own experience. For example, it was hard to avoid the image of John and Mary as humans in this problem because we dont often assign common human names to goldfish. If the problem specified that Goldie and Fin were found dead in a room, you probably would have no difficulty solving the problem. Those names are commonly used in our language to communicate the concept goldfish, just as John and Mary invoke the concept human.

Making Decisions and Forming Judgments

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

Types of Heuristics (That Can Often Lead to Errors)

Using and misusing heuristics: How do these generally helpful shortcuts sometimes lead us to really poor decisions? Cognitive psychologists Amos Tversky and Daniel Kahneman (1974) researched types of heuristics that can lead people to make errors.
Representative heuristic Availability heuristic
Courtesy of Greymeyer Award, University of Louisville and the Tversky family Courtesy of Greymeyer Award, University of Louisville and Daniel Kahneman

Amos Tversky

Daniel Kahneman

Representativeness Heuristic
A rule of thumb for judging the likelihood of things or objects in terms of how well they seem to represent, or match, a particular prototype. Can cause us to ignore important information.
Below is Linda. She loves books and hates loud noises. Is Linda a librarian or a beautician?

Chances are, she is a beautician!!!

Jurors might rely on representative heuristics to determine the guilt of a suspect

From the article Murder Defendants Tattoos Covered for Trial (http://www.nytimes.com/2010/12/06/us/06tattoo.html?_r=1)
Mr. Ditullios lawyer successfully argued that the tattoos could be distracting or prejudicial to the jurors, who under the law are supposed to consider only the facts presented to them. The court approved the judicial equivalent of an extreme makeover, paying $125 a day for the services of a cosmetologist to cover up the tattoos that Mr. Ditullio has gotten since his arrest. Theres no doubt in my mind without the makeup being used, theres no way a jury could look at John and judge him fairly, Mr. Brunvand said in an interview in his office here.

Availability Heuristic
Estimating the likelihood of events based on their availability in our memory. In other words, if it comes to mind easily (maybe a vivid event), we presume it is common, and that is what leads us to make decisions. Factors that could influence the availability heuristic:
How recently we have heard about the event How distinct it is How correct it is

Although diseases kill many more people than accidents, it has been shown that people will judge accidents and diseases to be equally fatal. This is because accidents are more dramatic and are often written up in the paper or seen on the news on TV and are more available in memory than diseases.

Moving Images
Stossel in Estimating Risk: The Availability Heuristic

Watch at home: http://www.yout ube.com/watch ?v=KOzAxhu6 w2s

Michael Britt Interviews an Expert about Availability Heuristics

Watch at home: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2WjM_YwpGao Are planes more dangerous than cars?

Figure 9.8 Still killing Americans Myers: Psychology, Ninth Edition

Copyright 2010 by Worth Publishers

Because of the availability heuristic, people tend to be more afraid of a dying in a terrorist attack than a car accident, which doesnt make logical sense.
Figure 9.7 Risk of death from various causes in the United States, 2001 Myers: Psychology, Ninth Edition
Copyright 2010 by Worth Publishers

Alternative Outcomes Effect

Another misuse of heuristics: The alternative outcomes effect occurs when peoples belief about whether an outcome will occur changes, depending on how alternative outcomes are distributed, even though the summed probability of the alternative outcomes is held constant.

Figure 8.19: The alternative outcomes effect in a study of hurricane projections. In one of their six studies, Windschitl and Wells (1998) showed participants these two maps, which depict the estimated probability of a hurricane coming ashore in the fictitious town of Sunbury, Georgia. As in their other studies, the distribution of alternative outcomes influenced subjects perceptions about the likelihood of the focal event. The people who saw Map A were more worried about the hurricane hitting Sunbury than those who saw Map B.

Overconfidence
Our tendency to be more sure of ourselves than we should be, which can lead to bad decisions. We overestimate the accuracy of our beliefs and judgments, making us more confident Considering overconfidence, would you than correct. want to risk 1 million dollars on an
audience poll?

Other Examples of Overconfidence

Hitler invading Russia LBJ invading N. Vietnam Bush marching into Iraq to eliminate WMD Students estimating the time it will take to complete an assignment Mrs. Riek estimating how long it will take to finish the unit and be ready for a test When given clear and prompt feedback about the accuracy of predictions, people learn to assess their accuracy more realistically

Letterman: Top Ten Signs that Obama is Overconfident

Watch at home: http://www.yout ube.com/watch ?v=kuMZzXA Wv2U

Is Overconfidence a New Epidemic?

Teens Overconfidence

Watch at home: http://www .youtube.c om/watch? v=DWuLjj UHBkw

Belief Bias
The tendency for ones preexisting beliefs to distort logical reasoning. Sometimes making invalid conclusions valid or vice versa. In other words, people will tend to accept any and all conclusions that fit in with their systems of belief, without challenge or any deep consideration of what they are actually agreeing with. The reverse is also true, and people will tend to reject assertions that do not fit in with their belief systems, even though these statements may be perfectly logical and arguably possible (we have a tendency to consider an argument "more logical" if it leads to a conclusion that the person believed to begin with). For example: I will accept that some good ice skaters are not professional hockey players, but will reject an assertion that some professional hockey players are not good ice skaters (which, although it seems unlikely, is possible).

Belief Perseverance
Our tendency to stick with our initial beliefs even after new information discredits those beliefs Charles Lords research w/ groups who had opposing views on capital punishment (p. 377 of your text) A teachers belief about a student A voters belief about a candidate An investors belief about a company * It takes more to change a belief than create it

INTUITION
Fast, automatic, unreasoned feeling and thought Although sometimes leading us astray, it is efficient and adaptive Gives us instant help when we need it As we gain experience in the field, we grow adept at making quick, shrewd judgments (blitz chess) Use intuition but check it against available evidence

Table 10.1 Myers: Psychology, Eighth Edition

Copyright 2007 by Worth Publishers

Framing
Decisions and judgments may be significantly affected depending upon how an issue is framed.
Framing The way an issue is worded or presented can tilt our mental scale toward one decision versus another
Condoms have 95% success rate in stopping HIV, the virus that causes AIDS
90% of college students rated condoms as effective

Condoms have a 5% failure rate in stopping HIV, the virus that causes AIDS
40% of college students rated condoms as effective

Ground beef marketed as 25% fat rather than 75% lean A surgeon bragging about a 2% death rate as opposed to a 98% survival rate

How has framing played a part in presidential elections?

Figure 8.20: The framing of questions. This chart shows that Programs A and B are parallel in probability to Programs C and D, but these parallel pairs of alternatives lead subjects to make different choices. Studies show that when choices are framed in terms of possible gains, people prefer the safer plan. However, when choices are framed in terms of losses, people are more willing to take a gamble.

The Gamblers Fallacy

The gamblers fallacy is the belief that the odds of a chance event increase if the event hasnt occurred recently.
On August 18, 1913, at the casino in Monte Carlo, black came up a record twenty-six times in succession [in roulette]. [There] was a nearpanicky rush to bet on red, beginning about the time black had come up a phenomenal fifteen times. In application of the maturity [of the chances] doctrine, players doubled and tripled their stakes, this doctrine leading them to believe after black came up the twentieth time that there was not a chance in a million of another repeat. In the end the unusual run enriched the Casino by some millions of francs.