1. Thinking
Thinking, or cognition, refers to a process that involves knowing, understanding, remembering, and communicating.
OBJECTIVE 1| Define cognition.

2. Cognitive Psychologists
Thinking involves a number of mental activities, which are listed below. Cognitive psychologists study these in great detail.
Concepts
Problem solving
Decision making
Judgment formation

3. Concept
The mental grouping of similar objects, events, ideas, or people. There are a variety of chairs but their common features define the concept of a chair.
OBJECTIVE 2| Describe the roles of categories, hierarchies, definitions, and prototypes in concept formation.

4. A 2 B 3
Each card has a letter on one side and a digit on the other. There is a rule: If there is a vowel on one side, there must be an even number on the other side. Your job is to verify whether this rule is met for this set of four cards and to turn over the minimum number of cards necessary to do so. Which cards would you turn over?

5. Beer 31 17
sprite
You are to imagine that you are a bouncer in a bar. Each card represents a patron, with the person’s age on one side and their drink on the other. You are to enforce this rule: If you’re drinking beer, then you must be twenty one or over. Your job is to verify whether this rule is met for this set of four people. You should turn over the minimum number of cards necessary to do so. Which cards would you turn over

7. Fixation
Fixation: An inability to see a problem from a fresh perspective. This impedes problem solving. Two examples of fixation are mental set and functional fixedness.
The Matchstick Problem: How would you arrange six matches to form four equilateral triangles?
From “Problem Solving” by M. Scheerer. Copyright © 1963 by
Scientific American, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

8. The Matchstick Problem: Solution
From “Problem Solving” by M. Scheerer. Copyright © 1963 by
Scientific American, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

9. Mental Set

10. Mental Set
A tendency to approach a problem in a particular way, especially if that way was successful in the past.
People had attempted to make flying machines by using flapping wings, but were unsuccessful in their approach. In order for the Wright brothers to create an airplane they had to break this mental set.

11. Functional Fixedness
NASA wanted to find a way for astronauts to write notes in space, pens were not reliable work because of the lack of gravity
After millions of dollars they finally developed a pen that could write in space
The Russians had to deal with the same question, what did they use? as

12. Divergent Thinking
To generate many different ideas about a topic in a short period of time
Thought process or method used to generate creative ideas by exploring many possible solutions

13. Convergent Thinking
Generally means the ability to give the "correct" answer to standard questions that do not require significant creativity

14. EXTRA CREDIT Remove six letters to reveal a common word or phrase
S B I A X L N E T A T N E R A S

15. Algorithms vs. Heuristics
Will get the answer, but might take some time
Might get the answer fast, but may be incorrect

16. There are two ways to solve problems:
Problem Solving
There are two ways to solve problems:
Algorithms: Methodical, logical rules or procedures that guarantee solving a particular problem.
OBJECTIVE 3| Compare algorithms and heuristics as problem-solving strategies, and explain how insight differs from both of them.

17. S P L O Y O C H Y G Algorithms
Algorithms, which are very time consuming, exhaust all possibilities before arriving at a solution. Computers use algorithms.
S P L O Y O C H Y G
If we were to unscramble these letters to form a word
using an algorithmic approach, we would face
907,208 possibilities.

18. Heuristics
Heuristics are simple, thinking strategies that allow us to make judgments and solve problems efficiently. Heuristics are less time consuming, but more error-prone than algorithms.
B2M Productions/Digital Version/Getty Images

19. Put a Y at the end, and see if the word
Heuristics
Heuristics make it easier for us to use simple principles to arrive at solutions to problems.
S P L O Y O C H Y G
S P L O Y O C H G Y
P S L O Y O C H G Y
P S Y C H O L O G Y
Put a Y at the end, and see if the word
begins to make sense.

20. Using and Misusing Heuristics
Two kinds of heuristics, representative heuristics and availability heuristics, have been identified by cognitive psychologists.
OBJECTIVE 5| Contrast the representative and availability heuristics, and explain how they can cause us to underestimate or ignore important information.
Courtesy of Greymeyer Award, University
of Louisville and the Tversky family
Courtesy of Greymeyer Award, University
of Louisville and Daniel Kahneman
Amos Tversky
Daniel Kahneman

21. Representativeness Heuristic
Judging the likelihood of things or objects in terms of how well they seem to represent, or match, a particular prototype.

22. Representative Heuristics
Stereotypes 15:20
Gambler’s Fallacy
Base Rate Fallacy
Regression to the mean
Conjunction Fallacy

23. Concept
The mental grouping of similar objects, events, ideas, or people. There are a variety of chairs but their common features define the concept of a chair.
OBJECTIVE 2| Describe the roles of categories, hierarchies, definitions, and prototypes in concept formation.

24. We organize concepts into category hierarchies.
Courtesy of Christine Brune

25. Development of Concepts
We form some concepts with definitions.
J. Messerschmidt/ The Picture Cube
Daniel J. Cox/ Getty Images
Triangle (definition)
Bird (mental image)

26. Categories
Once we place an item in a category, our memory shifts toward the category prototype.
When you experience something new it is compared against your prototype or mental representation.
Courtesy of Oliver Corneille
Olive
Category: Fruit
Prototype: Apple

27. Base Rate Fallacy
When a person judges that an outcome will occur without considering prior knowledge of the probability that it will occur.
Which is a more likely winning lottery sequence? The lottery has you pick five numbers out of 52.
1,2,3,4,5
6,11,16, 33, 42

28. Regression towards the mean
Some authors have claimed that the alleged "Sports Illustrated Cover Jinx" is a good example of a regression effect: extremely good performances are likely to be followed by less extreme ones,
Athletes are chosen to appear on the cover of Sports Illustrated only after extreme performances.
Assuming athletic careers are partly based on random factors, attributing this to a "jinx" rather than regression, as some athletes reportedly believed, would be an example of committing the regression fallacy.

29. Conjunction Fallacy
Linda is 31, single, outspoken and very bright. She majored in philosophy. As a student, she was deeply concerned with issues of discrimination and social justice and also participated in antinuclear demonstrations. 
Is she more likely to be:
A. a bank teller or
B. a bank teller and active in the feminist movement

30. Conjunction Fallacy
When two events can occur separately or together, the conjunction, where they overlap, cannot be more likely than the likelihood of either of the two individual events.
People forget this and ascribe a higher likelihood to combination events, erroneously associating quantity of events with quantity of probability.

31. A professor likes to write poetry is rather shy, wears glasses and is small in stature. Which of the following is his field?
1) Chinese studies
2) Psychology
3) Truck Driver
4) Police Officer

32. Availability Heuristic
Why does our availability heuristic lead us astray?
Whatever increases the ease of retrieving information increases its perceived availability.
How is retrieval facilitated?
How recently we have heard about the event.
How distinct it is.
How correct it is.

33. What is the most likely sequence for the next 6 babies born in the U.S. (b=boy, g=girl)
BBBBBB
GBBGGB
BBBGGG

34. Availability Heuristic
Why does our availability heuristic lead us astray?
Whatever increases the ease of retrieving information increases its perceived availability.
How is retrieval facilitated?
How recently we have heard about the event.
How distinct it is.
How correct it is.

35. I’m sick I wonder what it is?

36. Which of the following do more people die of:
Motor Vehicle Accidents or Stroke

37. Which of the following do more people die of:
Homicide or Diabetes

38. Are there more words that begin with the letter "r" or that have "r" as the third letter?

39. 100 Most Dangerous Things in Everyday life
Chairs
Hospitals
Stairs
Staying in bed
410,000 a year
1 out of 20
1091 die a year
411,689 injuries related to beds- 297 people have died by becoming trapped in hospital beds

40. Other Problem Solving Terms
Backward-working Heuristics
Creating sub-goals
Analogy
Incubation Periods

41. Insight
Insight involves a sudden novel realization of a solution to a problem. Humans and animals have insight.
Grande using boxes to
obtain food

42. Insight
Brain imaging and EEG studies suggest that when an insight strikes (the “Aha” experience), it activates the right temporal cortex (Jung-Beeman, 2004). The time between not knowing the solution and realizing it is 0.3 seconds.
From Mark Jung-Beekman, Northwestern
University and John Kounios, Drexel University

43. Making Decision & Forming Judgments
Each day we make hundreds of judgments and decisions based on our intuition, seldom using systematic reasoning.

44. Obstacles in Solving Problems
Confirmation Bias: A tendency to search for information that confirms a personal bias.
Simple Definition: seeing what you want or expect to see, and ignoring what contradicts it
Example: After buying a piece of clothing, we will look for the same clothing in a more expensive store to confirm that we have bought a bargain.
OBJECTIVE 4| Contrast confirmation bias and fixation, and explain how they can interfere with effective problem solving.

45. Confirmation Bias

46. Confirmation Bias Wow HD
Sixty people in turn were shown the same video clip
Half were told to expect clearer, sharper pictures thanks to HD technology: an impression backed up by posters, flyers and the presence of an extra-thick cable connected to the screen.
The other half were told to expect a normal DVD image.
Questionnaires revealed that the people who had been led to expect HD reported seeing higher-quality images.
“Participants were unable to discriminate properly between digital and high-definition signals,”
University of Twente in Enschede, the Netherlands, who carried out the study with colleagues from Utrecht University.

47. Overconfidence
Intuitive heuristics, confirmation of beliefs, and the inclination to explain failures increase our overconfidence. Overconfidence is a tendency to overestimate the accuracy of our beliefs and judgments.
OBJECTIVE 6| Describe the drawbacks and advantages of overconfidence in decision making.
At a stock market, both the seller and the buyer may be confident about their decisions on a stock.

48. The 9/11 attacks led to a decline in air travel due to fear.
Exaggerated Fear
The opposite of having overconfidence is having an exaggerated fear about what may happen. Such fears may be unfounded.
The 9/11 attacks led to a decline in air travel due to fear.
AP/ Wide World Photos

49. Framing Decisions Example: NOW 15% lean! 85% fat
Decisions and judgments may be significantly affected depending upon how an issue is framed.
Example: NOW 15% lean!
85% fat
OBJECTIVE 7| Describe how others can use framing to elicit from us the answers they want.
There has been a 100% increase in domestic abuse on campus this year as compared to last year.
2 incidents in incident in 2008

50. Cars starting at 29,999

51. Framing Decisions
Decisions and judgments may be significantly affected depending upon how an issue is framed.
Example: What is the best way to market ground beef — as 25% fat or 75% lean?
We have to do this surgery and you will have a 30% chance of dying
We have to do this surgery but there is a 70% survival rate.
OBJECTIVE 7| Describe how others can use framing to elicit from us the answers they want.

52. Framing Effect Option A saves 200 people's lives
Option B has a 33% chance of saving all 600 people and a 66% possibility of saving no one
These decisions have the same expected value of 200 lives saved, but option B is risky. 72% of participants chose option A, whereas only 28% of participants chose option B.

53. Framing Effect If option C is taken, then 400 people die
If option D is taken, then there is a 33% chance that no people will die and a 66% probability that all 600 will die
However, in this group, 78% of participants chose option D (equivalent to option B), whereas only 22% of participants chose option C (equivalent to option A).

54. To which parent would you award sole custody?
Parent A
Average income
Average health
Average working hours
Reasonable rapport with the child
Stable social life
Parent B
Upper Class Income
Minor health problems
Lots of work related travel
Very close relationship with the child
An extremely active social life

55. Which parent would you deny custody?
Parent A
Average income
Average health
Average working hours
Reasonable rapport with the child
Stable social life
Parent B
Upper Class Income
Minor health problems
Lots of work related travel
Very close relationship with the child
An extremely active social life

56. Belief Bias
The tendency of one’s preexisting beliefs to distort logical reasoning by making invalid conclusions.
Ignoring logic, good or bad and focusing on your belief of the conclusion.
Gates Lost to Webster
Penfield Beat Webster
We beat Penfield
We will beat Gates
OBJECTIVE 8| Explain how our preexisting beliefs can distort our logic.

57. Belief Bias
We see bad logic more easily when we do not agree with the conclusion.
God is love
Love is blind
Stevie Wonder is blind
Stevie wonder is God

58. Belief Bias Some A are B Some B are C Therefore Some A are C
Some women are democrats
Some democrats are men
Therefore some men are women

59. Belief Perseverance
Belief perseverance is the tendency to cling to our beliefs in the face of contrary evidence.
If you see that a country is hostile, you are likely to interpret their ambiguous actions as a sign of hostility (Jervis, 1985).
OBJECTIVE 9| Describe the remedy for belief perseverance phenomenon.

60. Actions Can Affect Attitudes
Why do actions affect attitudes? One explanation is that when our attitudes and actions are opposed, we experience tension. This is called cognitive dissonance.
OBJECTIVE 5| Explain how the foot-in-the-door phenomenon, role-playing, and cognitive dissonance illustrate the influence of actions on attitudes.

61. Cognitive Dissonance

62. Football

63. Cognitive Dissonance Book Example

64. I am going to die anyways
Better Example
I am going to die anyways

65. Other Problem Solving Terms
Backward-working Heuristics
Creating sub-goals
Analogy
Incubation Periods

66. Insight
Insight involves a sudden novel realization of a solution to a problem. Humans and animals have insight.
Grande using boxes to
obtain food

67. Insight
Brain imaging and EEG studies suggest that when an insight strikes (the “Aha” experience), it activates the right temporal cortex (Jung-Beeman, 2004). The time between not knowing the solution and realizing it is 0.3 seconds.
From Mark Jung-Beekman, Northwestern
University and John Kounios, Drexel University

68. What is the most likely sequence for the next 6 babies born in the U.S. (b=boy, g=girl)
BBBBBB
GBBGGB
BBBGGG

69. Base Rate Fallacy
When a person judges that an outcome will occur without considering prior knowledge of the probability that it will occur. I show you a bag of 250 M&Ms with equal numbers of 5 different colors.
I ask you what the probability is I will pick a green one while my eyes are closed?
I also tell you that green M&Ms are my favorite and yesterday I picked out twice as many green M&Ms than red ones.
If you ignored the fact that there are 50 of each color, and instead focused on the fact that I picked out twice as many green M&Ms than red yesterday, you have committed a base rate fallacy because what I did yesterday is irrelevant information.

70. Regression towards the mean
Some authors have claimed that the alleged "Sports Illustrated Cover Jinx" is a good example of a regression effect: extremely good performances are likely to be followed by less extreme ones,
Athletes are chosen to appear on the cover of Sports Illustrated only after extreme performances.
Assuming athletic careers are partly based on random factors, attributing this to a "jinx" rather than regression, as some athletes reportedly believed, would be an example of committing the regression fallacy.

71. Conjunction Fallacy
Linda is 31, single, outspoken and very bright. She majored in philosophy. As a student, she was deeply concerned with issues of discrimination and social justice and also participated in antinuclear demonstrations. 
Is she more likely to be:
A. a bank teller or
B. a bank teller and active in the feminist movement

72. Conjunction Fallacy
When two events can occur separately or together, the conjunction, where they overlap, cannot be more likely than the likelihood of either of the two individual events.
People forget this and ascribe a higher likelihood to combination events, erroneously associating quantity of events with quantity of probability.

73. Availability Heuristic
Why does our availability heuristic lead us astray?
Whatever increases the ease of retrieving information increases its perceived availability.
How is retrieval facilitated?
How recently we have heard about the event.
How distinct it is.
How correct it is.

74. Car Accidents 46,000 Lung Cancer 140,000
Which of the following do more people die of:
Car Accidents or Lung Cancer
Car Accidents 46,000 Lung Cancer 140,000

75. Which of the following do more people die of:
Homicide or Emphysema
Homicide 19,000 Emphysema 22,000

76. Tuberculosis 4,000 Fire and Flames 7,000
Which of the following do more people die of:
Tuberculosis or
Fire and Flames
Tuberculosis 4,000 Fire and Flames 7,000

77. Are there more words that begin with the letter "r" or that have "r" as the third letter?

78. Making Decision & Forming Judgments
Each day we make hundreds of judgments and decisions based on our intuition, seldom using systematic reasoning.

79. Overconfidence
Intuitive heuristics, confirmation of beliefs, and the inclination to explain failures increase our overconfidence. Overconfidence is a tendency to overestimate the accuracy of our beliefs and judgments.
OBJECTIVE 6| Describe the drawbacks and advantages of overconfidence in decision making.
At a stock market, both the seller and the buyer may be confident about their decisions on a stock.

80. The 9/11 attacks led to a decline in air travel due to fear.
Exaggerated Fear
The opposite of having overconfidence is having an exaggerated fear about what may happen. Such fears may be unfounded.
The 9/11 attacks led to a decline in air travel due to fear.
AP/ Wide World Photos

81. 100 Most Dangerous Things in Everyday life
Chairs
Hospitals
Stairs
Staying in bed
410,000 a year
1 out of 20
1091 die a year
411,689 injuries related to beds- 297 people have died by becoming trapped in hospital beds

82. Is this sound logic?
Some teachers wear ties Some men wear ties Therefore some teachers are men
Some teachers wear ties
Some scarecrows wear ties
Therefore some teachers are scarecrows

83. Is this sound logic? Some murderers truly love their own children
All who truly love their own children are effective parents.
Some murderers are effective parents. His difficulty best illustrates:

84. Belief Bias
The tendency of one’s preexisting beliefs to distort logical reasoning by making invalid conclusions.
God is love.
Love is blind
Ray Charles is blind.
Ray Charles is God.
Anonymous graffiti
OBJECTIVE 8| Explain how our preexisting beliefs can distort our logic.

85. I continually get C’s on tests!
Belief Perseverance
Belief perseverance is the tendency to cling to our beliefs in the face of contrary evidence.
I am an A student!
I continually get C’s on tests!
OBJECTIVE 9| Describe the remedy for belief perseverance phenomenon.

86. Belief Perseverance
Dad is a good person.
Dad murdered 16 people.