Thinking and Language

Thinking and Problem Solving

Thinking *Cognition- mental activity associated with thinking, knowing, and remembering *Thinking= changing and reorganizing information stored in memory to create new information Units of thought: image, symbol, concept, prototype, rule

Types of Thinking *Directed/convergent thinking- systematic, logical attempt to reach a specific goal or answer Math problem *Nondirected/divergent thinking- free flow of thoughts with no particular plan Depends more on images *Metacognition- thinking about thinking

Directed vs. Nondirected Thinking An old money-lender offered to cancel a merchant’s debt and keep him from going to prison if the merchant would give the money-lender his lovely daughter. Horrified yet desperate, the merchant and his daughter agreed to let providence decide. The money-lender said he would put a black pebble and a white pebble in a bag and the girl would draw one. The white pebble would cancel the debt and leave her free. The black one would make the money-lender’s, although the debt would be canceled. If she refused to pick, her father would go to prison. From the pebble-strewn path they were standing on, the money-lender picked two pebbles and quickly put them in the bag, but the girl saw he had picked up two black ones. What would you have done if you were the girl?

This problem was devised by psychologist Edward De Bono, who believes that conventional directed thinking is insufficient for solving new and unusual problems. His approach to problem solving requires use of nondirected thinking to generate new ways of looking at the problem situation. When the girl put her hand into the bag to draw out the fateful pebble, she fumbled and dropped it, where it was immediately lost among the others. “Oh,” she said, “well, you can tell which one I picked by looking at the one that’s left.” The girl’s lateral thinking saved her father and herself.

Problem Solving: Strategies Subgoals (smaller goals) Work backward from the goal (mystery stories) Look at the different ways Algorithms- step-by-step procedure for solving a problem Heuristics- a rule-of-thumb, mental shortcuts We like to use old strategies, not new

Problem Solving: Heuristics *Rules of thumb, mental shortcuts *Availability heuristic- rely on information that is common or easily recalled, easily overlook information that is available but less prominent (lottery in news) Representativeness heuristic- we assume that if an item is similar to members of a particular category, it is probably a member of that category too (coin flips) Anchoring heuristic- make decisions based on certain ideas, or standards, that are important to us (waking up early)

Obstacles to Problem Solving Mental set- a habitual strategy or pattern of problem solving If interfering with problem solving= rigidity *Confirmation bias- tendency to search for information that confirms one’s preconceptions *Functional fixedness- the inability to imagine new uses for familiar objects *More familiar with situation, more difficult it is to overcome rigidity

The Matchstick Problem How would you arrange six matches to form four equilateral triangles?

The Matchstick Problem- Solution

The Candle-Mounting Problem Using these materials, how would you mount the candle on a bulletin board?

The Candle-Mounting Problem- Solution Solving this problem requires recognizing that a box needs not always serve as a container

Creativity *Creativity= the capacity to use information and/or abilities in new and original ways *Some identified characteristics *Flexibility overcoming rigidity, open to alternatives *Recombination rearranging elements of a problem to arrive at original solution *Insight (aha moment, apparent sudden realization of the solution to a problem)

Insight Wolfgang Kohler’s experiment on insight by a chimpanzee

Language

Language *The expression of ideas through symbols and sounds that are arranged according to rules

Parts of Language *Phonemes- individual sound, smallest unit of language Total around 100; English only uses about 43 *Morpheme- smallest unit of meaning in a language Syntax- language rules that explain how words can be combined to form meaningful phrases and sentences Semantics- study of meaning in language

Phonemes and Morphemes “Fearlessness” has 9 phonemes and 3 morphemes Phonemes . . . . . . . . . F E A R L E S S N E S S Morphemes Fear less ness

Language Development Skinner- operant conditioning *Understand language before they speak *Learn through observation, exploration, imitation (social learning) Chomsky- innate capacity, LAD (language acquisition device)

How Language Develops If Chomsky is right- all infants would develop language in same stages- they do Birth- sounds about distress 2 months- coo 4 months- babbling (all language sounds) 9 months- babbling (native language sounds) 12 months-single words Almost 2 years- two word sentences 2-3 years- sentences of several words 5 years- mostly complete, complexity continues to develop

Language *Animals communicate with each other and us, but cannot learn language because language involves rules of grammar Language may affect perceptions of the physical world, may be just culture Sometimes, certain words in a language creates gender stereotypes

Problem Solving Practice

Who were they? The man himself was a baseball player. The two masked men were the umpire and the other team’s catcher.

What do the following animals have in common? cat fox raccoon squirrel mouse

They all have a tail

Jack is looking at Anne, but Anne is looking at George Jack is looking at Anne, but Anne is looking at George. Jack is married, but George is not. Is a married person looking at an unmarried person? A. yes B. no C. Cannot be determined

A. Why is this question so tricky A. Why is this question so tricky? It is because it appears to give you insufficient information. Anne’s marital status is not known, nor can it be determined, and so you make the inference that the question posed cannot be determined. In fact, Anne’s marital status is irrelevant to the answer. If she is married, then a married person is looking at an unmarried person (Anne is looking at George), and if she isn’t, a married person is looking at an unmarried person (Jack is looking at Anne). Written down it becomes more obvious. If ‘>’ means ‘looking at’ then: Jack > Anne > George, or Married > Unknown > Unmarried Replace Unkown with Married or with Unmarried and either way there is clearly a married person looking at an unmarried one.

TUESDAY Create a poster explaining either the memory process (encoding, storage, and retrieval) or the three stages of memory (sensory, short-term, and long-term). Brainstorm ways to create a visually interesting and informative poster. The poster may include drawings, photos, charts, or other eye- catching elements. The poster should have a title. Your goal should be to inform the viewer about the topic in one minute or less.

FRIDAY In ordinary English, there is no resemblance between the written appearance of a word and the idea for which it stands. Write the following words in such a way that the word illustrates the idea: War Empty Fly Kick Mom

FRIDAY Research what we know about lie detection- the ability to tell when someone is lying. Write a 6-7 sentence summary.

EXTRA Combine your and your partner’s object to have a new object that serves some purpose