Thinking & Language (Chapter 10) Unit 5 Thinking & Language (Chapter 10)

Introduction 5.11.16

What This Unit Covers How & why do we form concepts? How do we solve problems? How & why do we make judgments? Are humans the only species that has language? How does language work? Why do we have it?

Handout 10-1 Use prior knowledge to choose whether each statement is true or false. Educated guesses are encouraged.

Cognition We have learned how we receive, perceive, store, and retrieve information. Now, we’re looking at how our cognitive system uses this information.

Cognition Cognition: all the mental activities associated with thinking, knowing, remembering, and communicating. Cognitive psychologists study these mental activities, including logical & illogical ways in which we create concepts, solve problems, make decisions, and form judgments.

Need for Cognition John Cacioppo & Richard Petty Attempts to identify differences among individuals in their “tendency to engage in & enjoy thinking” The higher the score, the greater the need for cognition Need an occupation that requires you to engage in & enjoy thinking Enjoy complex, problem-solving tasks Handout 10-2

Thinking Styles Epstein & Colleagues – Rational Experiential Inventory Two modes of processing information Rational: analytic, effortful, explicit Experiential: intuitive, automatic, implicit Each person prefers one system over the other Different life problems may call for use of one system over another Handout 10-3

Discovering Psychology #10: Cognitive Processes