Area of psychology that refers broadly to mental processes or thinking COGNITION Area of psychology that refers broadly to mental processes or thinking

Problem Solving Refers to the active efforts to discover what must be done to achieve a goal that is not readily attainable Must go beyond given information to overcome obstacles to reach goal/solution

Types of Problems Problems of Inducing Structure Must discover relations among parts of problem Analogy Merchant:Sell::Customer: ___ Series Completion +-XX++-X++--X++-??X

Problems of Arrangement Arrange parts in a way that satisfies some criterion Often solved w/burst of insight Anagrams: elsnsmea = salesmen String Problem p.

Problems of Transformation Must carry out a sequence of transformations in order to reach a goal Hobbits & Orcs Water Jar Problem

Barriers to Problem Solving Irrelevant Information: trying to use all info. to solve a problem/numerical Functional Fixedness: a tendency to perceive only a limited number of uses for an object, thus interfering with the process of problem solving Mental Set: the tendency to perceive and to approach problems in certain ways---especially ones that worked in the past

Try to figure this out… What is the pattern of the following numbers: 8 5 4 1 7 6 3 2 0

More barriers… Unnecessary Constraints: perceiving barriers that don’t exist People usually make assumptions that impose unnecessary constraints on problem-solving Nine-dot problem

Producing Strategies & Evaluating Progress Trial & Error: works best with limited choices Algorithm: step-by-step problem-solving method that guarantees a solution Heuristics: short cuts to problem solving; called “rule of thumb” used to simplify problem Forming subgoals Analogy Changing representation of problem-good to use when your initial attempts were unsuccessful

Unscramble the following letters… G S P L O Y O C H Y Algorithm All 90, 208 combinations Heuristic Throw out all YY combinations

Decision Making Involves evaluating alternatives and making choices among them Simon’s theory of bounded rationality: asserts people frequently make irrational decisions that are less than optimal We tend to use simple strategies that only give us a few options where more are available

Making Choices Additive Strategy: list/weigh options (p. 231) Elimination by Aspects: alternatives are eliminated by evaluating attributes We tend to use additive more often, however, as more options/factors are added we switch to elimination by aspects.

Decision Making Heuristics Availability: easily retrieved information from LTM sways decision KLNRV: Do these letters appear more often in the 1st or 3rd letter position? Is flying more dangerous than driving? People tend to overestimate the likelihood of improbable events Representativeness: resemblance to a stereotypic model used to judge a new situation Steven is articulate, outgoing, artistic, and politically liberal. Is it more likely that he: A) is an engineering major, or B) started out as an engineering major and switched to journalism? Illustrates conjunction fallacy

Confirmation Bias: seeking evidence in support of our beliefs; ignoring evidence that is not Overconfidence Effect: people put too much faith in their estimates, beliefs, and decisions We tend to be more confident than accurate! The more confident we are about our predictions, the more likely we are overconfident. (p. 237)