Thinking and Problem Solving

Thinking IS Cognition Primarily a frontal lobe activity –Drawing info from throughout the brain (memory) and then working with it –Process, understand, and communicate info

Concepts Redux Mental groupings of similar objects, events, people/animals can be organized using a ___________________ to simplify Concepts: mental category that groups things –Superordinate – PRODUCE –Basic – APPLES –Subordinate – GRANNY SMITH APPLES

Prototypes: best example of a concept –Apples (basic) – prototype (_____?_____) –Bird (basic) – prototype (______?_____) Schema – mental framework, paradigm, model

Concept vs. Prototype vs. Schema Concepts may be formed by definitions –Four legged, furry things that bark are dogs The more complex our schema about a concept, the more complex our thinking is about it –Cats may first be thought of as dogs, but later we debate whether a wolf is a dog or if there is a bigger concept group, including both - canine

Solving Problems Algorithms –Systematically try every possibility –Slow but extremely accurate –Ex: locker combinations –More suited to computers than humans Examples from stations?

Insight: –“ah ha!” – the solution just pops into your brain

Trial and error: –Similar to algorithms without the system –Example?

Heuristics: –Mental shortcuts that arrive at a solution using past experience –Short cut that may not offer a solution –Ex: looking both ways before crossing the street, what you do when the power goes out

Obstacles to solving problems Confirmation bias - ?

Fixation: –Looking at a problem the same old way or the first way you think of

Functional fixation: –Seeing a tool as only have one function – Kwhttp:// Kw

Mental set: –Repeating problem solving techniques that have worked in the past, but don’t work now Breaking set –Looking at the problem differently or trying unique solutions

Heuristics Representative heuristic: –Prototype to make decisions about things, people, or animals –Who was a cheerleader, Cameron Diaz or Janet Reno?

Heuristics Availability heuristic: –Using most vivid memory to make judgments –We may be afraid to go to certain parts of DC, yet we eat at McDonalds. Which is more likely to hurt you?

Overconfidence Effect Because of our tendency for confirmation bias, belief bias, and use of heuristics, we often are more sure of our decisions than we are correct

Overconfidence: Which death is more likely? Deaths: All accidents combined vs. Strokes 35,900,000 vs. 61,400,000 Deaths: Homicide vs. Diabetes 5,700,000 vs. 23,600,000 Crime rates: Detroit vs. San Juan 572 vs. 665 Manhattan vs. Gary, Indiana 184 vs. 556

Framing The way a question is asked will affect our decisions and judgments (how is this like memory?) In which case would you buy a ticket for a concert for a band you’re dying to see? –Go to the venue and find you’ve lost $150 dollar ticket –Go to the venue and find you lost $150 dollars from your wallet

Belief Bias We more easily see as logical support for currently held belief and see illogic of arguments that contradict our belief –Gun control debates, much? Believe perseverance: it takes OVERWHELMING evidence to “break” us of a belief – can be very damaging –Have teachers slotted you based on non-academic criteria before? How about based on your performance in 1 st and 2 nd grade that determined the rest of your schooling experience?

Creativity Novel and useful Divergent and convergent thinking –Which one explains answering a multiple choice question using process of elimination? IQ and creativity? –Weak positive correlation

Are right brained people going to rule the world? Reese’s Peanut Butter – Daniel Pink’s A Whole New Mind qZUX0http:// qZUX0

River Crossing Problem crossing-puzzle-hard/ crossing-puzzle-hard/

Riddles: Jackdaws love my big sphinx of quartz. What extraordinarily unusual occurrence happened on the 6 th of May, 1978?