1 HOLT, RINEHART AND WINSTON P SYCHOLOGY PRINCIPLES IN PRACTICE 1 Chapter 8 THINKING AND LANGUAGE Section 1: What Is Thinking?What Is Thinking? Section 2: Problem SolvingProblem Solving Section 3: ReasoningReasoning Section 4: Decision Making and JudgmentDecision Making and Judgment

2 HOLT, RINEHART AND WINSTON P SYCHOLOGY PRINCIPLES IN PRACTICE Chapter 8 2 Thinking is…… 1. Thinking is the mental activity that is involved in the understanding, processing, and communicating of information. Made possible through the use of symbols, concepts, and prototypes.

3 HOLT, RINEHART AND WINSTON P SYCHOLOGY PRINCIPLES IN PRACTICE Chapter 8 3 Question: What are the three units of thought? THREE UNITS OF THOUGHT SYMBOLS – objects or acts that stand for something else CONCEPTS – mentally grouping together objects, events, or ideas that have similar characteristics such as dogs, horses, etc. PROTOTYPES – examples of concepts that best exemplify that concept Section 1: What Is Thinking?

Symbols 4 Letters and Words are Symbols – Plate Fork Knife

Concepts 5

Thinking: What ’ s involved? Contents of Concepts: Classes or categories (dogs, books, etc.,) Attributes or characteristics (red, tall, painful) Abstractions or non-tangible ideas (love, hate)

Prototype Best represents what we picture or our idea of what something should be Ex: What does a shoe look like?

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Problem Solving Section 2 People solve many kinds of problems. People often use formulas and scientific facts to solve the problems. Other problems concern fitting things into a busy schedule or paying for what we need. How to get a job interview? ** In all of these problems there is a goal. ** 9

10 HOLT, RINEHART AND WINSTON P SYCHOLOGY PRINCIPLES IN PRACTICE Chapter 8 10 How do we solve problems? By simply identifying the problem it is, people have an idea of which method to use – which steps to take in solving the problem. 1. Algorithms: a specific procedure that, when used properly and in the right circumstances, will always lead to the solution of a problem. Ex: formulas. 2. Heuristics: rules of thumb that often, but not always, help us find the solution to a problem. They are shortcuts. Heuristics are faster than algorithms, but they are not as reliable.

11 HOLT, RINEHART AND WINSTON P SYCHOLOGY PRINCIPLES IN PRACTICE Chapter 8 11 The most reliable way to solve a problem correctly is not always the best way of solving it. Algorithms are guaranteed to lead to the solution eventually, but they can be very time consuming. 3. Trial and Error – We know what our goal is, but we have no idea how to reach it, all we can do is try different things and see what happens. Ex: Corn Maze 4. Means-End Analysis – We know that certain things we can do (means) will have certain results (ends). Breaks down the problem into parts, recogizing that solving each of the parts will contribute to solving the entire problem. Ex: Make chicken soup for dinner

12 HOLT, RINEHART AND WINSTON P SYCHOLOGY PRINCIPLES IN PRACTICE Chapter Analogies – the similarity between two or more items, events, or situations. When people have successfully solved one problem, they may try to use the same approach in solving another problem if it is similar enough to the first one.

Insight Sometimes we seem to arrive at the solution to a problem all of a sudden. Oftentimes we have little conscious awareness of how we found the solution, it just came to us on its own. Insight – sudden understanding 13

Psychologist Wolfgang Kohler Kohler experimented with chimpanzees. Kohler believed that chimpanzees solved problem not only through trial-and-error, but also through insight. Kohler’s findings suggested that animals and people set up problems in their minds and play with them until they are solved. 14

15 HOLT, RINEHART AND WINSTON P SYCHOLOGY PRINCIPLES IN PRACTICE Chapter 8 15 Question: What steps can be used to solve problems? THE ABCDEs OF PROBLEM SOLVING A ssess the problem B rainstorm approaches to the problem C hoose the approach that seems most likely to work D o it – try the most likely approach E valuate the results Section 2: Problem Solving