1. Unit 7B – Thinking, Problem Solving, Creativity, & Language
Cognition
Unit 7B – Thinking, Problem Solving, Creativity, & Language

2. Thinking Cognition is thinking.
We like order and put things into order, hierarchies.
Concepts – simplified mental groupings of similar objects, events, ideas, and people. Big picture, not details.
Prototypes – the ideal example of a concept.
Ex.: think of a bird
…a bird is a feathery, flying creature
Experiment: ethnicity on a sliding scale (next slide)

4. Problem solving
3 techniques (+ 1 bonus). Example: trying to crack a passcode.
1. Trial-and-error
Randomly entered passcode.
+ MIGHT work
- Very random, usually takes time
2. Algorithm – use step-by-step procedure
Trying 0001, 0002, 0003, etc.
+ It WILL get the right answer
- Often takes times
3. Heuristics – you “use your brain”
Trying the person’s birthday, their birth year, 1234
+ Usually gets answer quicker
- Can fool you
* Insight learning – you’re stuck, then it comes all-at-once

5. Creativity Def. = ability to create novel and valuable ideas
Creativity and IQ are not the same
IQ tests convergent thinking – ability to focus on 1 correct answer
Creativity tests divergent thinking – seeking multiple answers
5 parts of creativity…
Expertise – a starting point
Imagination
Venturesome personality – non-conformists
Intrinsic motivation – do things for their own value
Creative environment

8. Solutions

9. Obstacles to creativity
Confirmation bias – tend to seek info that confirms our beliefs
This leads us to think we’re right (overconfidence)
Fixation – being unable to see a problem from a new perspective; I’m stuck.
Mental set – tendency to solve a problem in a way that’s worked before
Can be helpful. Can also trick us.
Functional fixedness – we see only one function for something
Flathead screwdriver or…
…butter knife.

10. Decisions & judgments
Representativeness heuristic – probability of how well something fits a prototype.
The trick here is that it has to do with numbers.
Truck driver who likes poetry or Ivy League professor?
Availability heuristic – we judge based on how easy it is to get info.
Easy info means we lean that way.
Belief perseverance – holding onto one’s way of thinking despite overwhelming evidence to the contrary.
To fight this, imagine the evidence was the opposite.

11. Cont. Intuition – our gut feeling; a decision without hard evidence.
Can be terribly wrong.
Can be right. Often, there is something telling us to think a certain way.
Framing – the way that something is presented affects how we view it.
“Aid to the needy” versus “money for welfare”
10% chance of death; 90% survival rate
To “down-play” this, use %, like 10%. To “up-play” this, use numbers, like 10 people in 100.

12. Language Spoken, written, signed words
We can transfer thoughts through the air, paper, electronics, signs via language
Language parts…
1. Phonemes – basic sounds (no meaning)
English has 26 letters, but…
…40 phonemes (sounds)
People struggle to make sounds in languages they didn’t grow up with
In English, consonants are more important than vowels

13. Cont. 2. Morphemes – smallest language units that have meaning
Usually contains 2+ phonemes (“book” has “buh” and “kuh”; tree)
Might be only 1 phoneme (“I”; “oh” – one sound, but has meaning)
Grammar – system of rules for language
Semantics – rules that give us meaning from the morphemes
Syntax – rules used to assemble sentences.
Ex.: in English, the adjective comes before the noun (the white house).

14. Language & thinking
So close to thinking, it might actually be thinking
Language influences how we think. This is linguistic determinism.
Hopi Indians have no verbs in past tense – they struggle with history.
Brazilian tribe has no number above 2 – they struggle with pile of 7 nuts.
Words influence how we perceive color. Naming it affects seeing it.