1. Mr. Leonoff WICHS Psychology
Thinking
Mr. Leonoff
WICHS
Psychology

2. Def: changing and reorganizing info stored in memory to create new or transformed info
Areas of Thinking:
Cognitive
Problem-Solving
Thinking

3. Thinking Units of Thought
Processes that help direct the process of thought
Image: visual, mental representation of a specific event of object
Highlights the main idea – not always specific
Symbol: sound, object, or design that represents an object or quality
Can have multiple meanings…
Ex: Words, Numerals, letters, icons
Symbols lead to concept formation
Concepts contain common attributes to classify
Ex: Animals, Music, Vehicles
These are then known as Prototypes (characteristics of the particular concept)
Thinking

4. Thinking Units of Thought, cont.
Rule: statement of relation between concepts
Ex: A person cannot be in two places at the same time
Ex: Mass remains constant despite changes in appearance
These are the building blocks of mental activity
Thinking

5. Thinking Concept Formation
Categorize information (Apples and Oranges = Fruits)
Concept – category used to group objects, events, and characteristics on the basis of common properties
Without concepts, we cannot generalize information – everything would be unique
Concepts allow us to relate experiences and objects
Biology, Math, English = Subjects learned in school
Allow our memory to be more efficient
Remember characteristics of the concept rather each object or experience
Thinking

6. Thinking Concept Formation, cont.
Concepts keep us from constantly needing to relearn
We understand what the concept means because of prior clues
Need to form hypotheses in order to create a concept
Educated guesses that are tested to determine the proper concept
Thinking

7. Thinking Concept Formation, cont.
Prototype Matching – decide if an item belongs to a concept based on matching to a concept’s best representative
Ex. Is a short, stalky man a prototype of an NBA player?
Thinking

8. Reasoning: combine results of two or more learning experiences to arrive at a desired goal
Deductive Reasoning (Deduction): Thinking more generally to specific (“Top Down”)
All Mammals have DNA. Sheep are mammals. Therefore, Sheep have DNA.
Inductive Reasoning (Induction): Thinking more specifically to broad generalizations (“Bottom Up”)
Sheep are mammals and they have DNA. Pigs are Mammals and they have DNA. Therefore, all mammals have DNA.
Leads to a conclusion that is probable or likely to be true, but may need further investigation
Thinking

9. Thinking Reasoning, cont.
Directed Thinking: systematical and logical attempt to reach a specific goal or answer through reasoning
Ex: Math Problem
Depends on symbols, concepts, rules
Deliberate and Purposeful
Thinking

10. Thinking Reasoning, cont.
Divergent Thinking: come up with a variety possible alternative solutions (Creative Thinking)
Ex: Essay
Convergent Thinking: narrow down many possibilities to find one good solution
Ex: Multiple Choice
Undirected Thinking: Free flow of thoughts
Fantasies, Daydreams
Thinking

11. Thinking Metacognition “Thinking about Thinking”
Mental activities (Mind)
How info enters, is stored and transformed, and retrieved
Thinking of the accuracy and validity of your thoughts, decisions, and judgements
Monitoring your understanding
Measuring your progress toward completing a task
Thinking

12. Thinking Decision Making Usually automatic Why did you do something?
“Gut Decision” = Intuition: what feels right
Strategies
Setting a deadline to help procrastinators
Making a list to help organization or see options
Decision Tree – If I do this, I move here, and so on to an outcome
Obstacles
Procrastination, Avoidance, Fear of Failure, Misunderstanding
Thinking

13. Thinking Problem Solving
Bridge a gap between a situation and desired goal
Need concepts to guide problem solving
Def: attempt to find an appropriate way of attaining a goal when the goal is not readily available
Why car won’t start, how to save money to buy a car, how to get into college…
Thinking

14. Thinking Problem Solving Strategies Step 1: Define the Problem
Step 2: Find possible solutions
Step 3: Evaluate possibilities and select best one
Step 4: Put the solution to action
Thinking

15. Thinking Strategies, cont.
Algorithms – procedures that guarantee an answer to a problem
Specific set of steps (Ex: Equations)
Can be time consuming
Heuristics – strategies that suggest a solution to problem
Shortcuts that allow a quick solve
Could result in bad decision – miss pertinent info
Ex: Subgoaling, Working Backwards, Estimating Probabilities, Past experience solving a problem
Thinking

16. Thinking Heuristics, cont.
Availability Heuristic – Rely on info that is more prominent or easily recalled and overlook info that is available but less prominent
Ex: Overestimate chances of winning the lotto
Representativeness Heuristic – Assume that if an item is similar to members of a particular category, it is probably a member of that category, too
10 flips of coin = tails 10x; odds are it will be heads on #11 (50-50 chance no matter what)
Anchoring Heuristic – Make decisions based on certain ideas/standards important to us then verge to an acceptable result
Negotiating a price that both parties agree to
Thinking

17. Thinking Problem Solving, cont. Contemporary Model Defining Problems
Define the problem as carefully as possible
Ex. Why exactly does someone have high blood pressure?
Need to be specific
Divide problem into subgoals – achieve smaller goals in order to solve the larger goal
Thinking

18. Thinking Problem Solving, cont. Exploring Alternative Approaches
Analyze how you currently are reacting to the problem
Consider other options/strategies that could be used
Thinking

19. Thinking Problem Solving, cont. Exploring Alternative Approaches
Learning Sets – Solving problems with the same strategy or tendency
Nine Dot Problem – Draw 9 dots, 3x3 on a piece of paper
Connect the dots using only 4 straight lines without removing pencil from paper
Why is this difficult?
Thinking

20. Thinking Problem Solving, cont. Exploring Alternative Approaches
Functional Fixedness – the inability to solve a problem because it is viewed only in terms of its usual function
More difficult if the problem needs to be solved in a new and different way
Ex: WordBrain – see a word that doesn’t fit, but you continue to focus on that word
Thinking

21. Thinking Problem Solving, cont. Mental Set
A particular strategy becomes a habit
Interfere with solving a problem = rigidity
Thinking

22. Thinking Creative Thinking
Ability to use info in such a way that the result is somehow new, original, and meaningful
Step 1: Preparation – gather info
Step 2: Incubation – define problem and process info
Step 3: Illumination – pieces fall into place
Step 4: Verification – evaluates result/make adjustments
Thinking

23. Thinking Creative Thinking, cont.
Flexibility – ability to overcome rigidity
Able to find multiple solutions to a problem
Recombination – rearranging a mental set of the elements to a problem
Utilizing past knowledge to create new forms of that knowledge
Insight – sudden emergence of a solution
Usually comes after a long struggle or frustration
“Aha” Moment
Thinking

24. 1. What is the difference between algorithms and heuristics?
2. Describe the characteristics of creative thinking.
3. What are the building blocks of mental activity?
4. How can problem solving strategies become obstacles?
5. How do flexibility and recombination lead to insight?
6. What is a situation affecting our school? Describe how you would solve this problem using problem solving techniques.
Lesson 1 Review