Cognition: Thinking, Concepts and Creativity The highs and lows of the human mind

The Human Mind Humans, in many ways, seem to be especially dim-witted. We fear nonsensical or incorrect things, and allow a single day’s hot or cold weather influence our judgements on climate change. We can be overconfident in our decisions and often cling to discredited beliefs. However, despite all of this, we can show remarkable mental and creative powers, that without a doubt place us as the most powerful and intelligent life on the planet. With our study of cognition, we’ll see how and why both extremes happen.

What is Cognition? Cognition - the mental activities associated with thinking, knowing, remembering, and communicating information. One way we demonstrate cognition in a powerful and unique way is our ability to create concepts. Concepts are mental groupings of similar objectives, events, ideas and people. As we have seen, a single concept, such as chair, can have many different objects associated with it: baby chair, office chair, desk chair, perhaps even more obscure associations such as throne or bean-bag chair. Without concepts, we would be unable to speak in more general terms, such as “throw the ball”. The words “throw” and “ball” would have no general meaning, and we’d have to describe each situation in excruciating detail.

The Prototype We often form our concepts around a prototype, a mental image or best example of a category. We then attempt to our prototype to an object or idea to see if it falls under the same concept. For example, the most common prototype for the word “bird” would be something like a robin: a relatively small and flying animal that sings or makes other notable sounds. So, when we think of a robin or bluejay, this matches. However, it is harder for someone to link a turkey or a penguin to “bird”, especially if they haven’t seen one before.

This can be a problem when trying to introduce new ideas like the Smart Car, as consumers associated it more with their concept of “toy” than their concept of “car”.

Problems with Prototypes After we do associate an item with our prototype, we are more likely to remember it more closely related to the prototype than it actually was. For instance, in one study, when people viewed images of human faces that were 70% male, the participants later recalled them as more masculine than they actually were. Prototypes can also cause problems with things don’t mesh, or boundaries blur. Is a 17 year old female a “girl” or a “woman”? When is the distinction made? If something doesn’t fit our prototype at all, this can cause problems that are harmless (not recognizing a whale as a mammal) or potentially fatal (not going to the hospital for a heart attack because there is no sharp, shooting pain).

Creativity Back in the 1600s, a genius named Pierre de Fermat challenged his contemporary mathematicians to solve a series of number theory problems. His most famous challenge, later known as Fermat’s last theorem, stumped the greatest of mathematical minds for hundreds of years. Even after a prize was offered in 1908 equal to 2 million dollars in today’s money, scientists were unable to figure it out. Andrew Wiles, a Princeton mathematician, worked on the last theorem for more than 30 years, getting close to the answer but not quite reaching it. Then, all of the sudden, in 1995, he had a revelation, and the answer came to him “in a flash”.

Creativity This incredible moment of Wiles’ illustrates creativity: the ability to produce ideas that are both novel and valuable. Studies have suggested that a certain level of aptitude, such as an IQ score above 120, supports creativity. Those who score exceptionally high in quantitative aptitude as 13 year olds are more likely to obtain graduate science and math degrees as well create published or patented work. Intelligence matters, but it alone does not determine creativity. IQ tests require one correct answer, or convergent thinking; which narrows the available solutions to one best answer. Damage to the left parietal lobe damages this ability. Creativity requires divergent thinking; which expands the number of possible solutions. Damage to the frontal lobe can leave the 3 R’s intact but destroy imagination.

Components of Creativity While there is no Creativity Quotient like there is an Intelligence Quotient (IQ), Robert Sternberg and his colleague have developed 5 components of creativity. Expertise: a well-developed base of knowledge that furnishes the ideas, images, and phrases we use as mental building blocks. The more blocks we have, the more likely we are to find creative uses for them. Imaginative Thinking Skills: These provide the ability to see things in novel ways and to recognize patterns. After developing expertise, this allows you to recombine your “blocks A venturesome personality: A desire to seek new experiences, tolerate failure, and overcome obstacles

Components of Creativity, Continued 4. Intrinsic Motivation: Being motivated by internal factors, such as interest and self- satisfaction, rather than external pressures, such as income. Being intrinsically motivated to find new ways of doing things is more likely to succeed. 5. A creative environment: Having the support of peers and mentors is more likely to develop creativity. Being able to work without interruption and in a team allow much greater work to be done.