Myers’ Psychology for AP* David G. Myers *AP is a trademark registered and/or owned by the College Board, which was not involved in the production of, and does not endorse, this product. PowerPoint Presentation Slides by Kent Korek Germantown High School Worth Publishers, © 2010

Unit 7B: Cognition: Thinking, Problem Solving, Creativity, and Language

Unit Overview  Thinking Thinking  Language Language  Thinking and Language Thinking and Language Click on the any of the above hyperlinks to go to that section in the presentation.

Introduction  Cognition (thinking): the mental activities associated with thinking, knowing, remembering, and communicating. Cognition  Cognitive psychologists

Thinking

Concepts  Concepts: a mental grouping of similar objects, events, ideas, or people. Concepts  Category hierarchies  What we use to organize concepts into a category.  Prototype: a mental image or best example of a category. Prototype

Solving Problems Strategies  Algorithms: a methodological, logical rule or procedure that guarantees solving a particular problem Algorithms  Slower, less error prone  Step-by-step  Heuristic: a simple thinking strategy that often allows us to make judgements and solve problems efficiently Heuristic  Speedier, more effort prone  More error prone

Solving Problems Strategies  Insight : a sudden and often novel realization of the solution to a problem. Insight  It contrasts with strategy-based solutions.

Solving Problems Creativity  Creativity Creativity  Strernberg’s five components  Expertise  Imaginative thinking skills  A venturesome personality  Intrinsic motivation  A creative environment

Creativity and Thinking Convergent Thinking  Converge, meaning to come together to one point.  Requires focusing on one answer.  Intelligence tests require convergent thinking. Divergent Thinking  Diverge, meaning to separate into multiple points.  Requires people to consider multiple answers.  Creativity tests require divergent thinking.

Solving Problems Obstacles to Problem Solving  Confirmation bias: Confirmation bias  we seek evidence verifying our ideas more eagerly than those that might refute them.

Solving Problems Obstacles to Problem Solving  Fixation: the inability to see a problem from a new perspective. Fixation  Mental set: a tendency to approach a problem in one particular way, often one that has been successful in the past. Mental set  Functional fixedness: the tendency to think of things on in terms of their usual functions, an impediment to problem solving. Functional fixedness

Solving Problems Obstacles to Problem Solving

Making Decisions and Forming Judgments Using and Misusing Heuristics  The Representativeness Heuristic The Representativeness Heuristic  Judging the likelihood of things in terms of how well they represent particular prototypes (your mental representation)  A form of stereotyping: we judge people according to the likelihood that they fit our representation of groups to which we feel they should belong.  Leads you to ignore relevant information.

Making Decisions and Forming Judgments Using and Misusing Heuristics  The Availability Heuristic The Availability Heuristic Estimating the likelihood of events base on their availability in memory. If instances come readily to mind (perhaps because of vividness), we presume such events are common.

Making Decisions and Forming Judgments Overconfidence  Overconfidence: the tendency to be more confident than correct – to overestimate the accuracy of our beliefs and judgements. Overconfidence  Intuitive heuristics for forming judgements, eagerness to confirm beliefs, and for explaining away failures give combine for overconfidence.

Making Decisions and Forming Judgments The Belief Perseverance Phenomenon  Belief perseverance Belief perseverance  Clinging to one’s initial conceptions after the basis on which they were formed has been discredited.  “Consider the opposite.”

Making Decisions and Forming Judgments The Perils and Powers of Intuition  Intuition: an effortless, immediate, automatic feeling or thought, as contrasted with explicit, conscious reasoning. Intuition  See Chart 7B.1: Intuition’s Perils and Powers, p. 310.

Making Decisions and Forming Judgments The Effects of Framing  Framing: the way an issue is posed. Framing  How an issue is framed can significantly affect decisions and judgments.  Influences business and political decisions. “10% of patients undergoing this surgery die.” OR “90% of patients undergoing this surgery survive.”