What involves using a prior strategy and failing to look at a problem from a fresh new perspective

The way information is processed and manipulated in rembering, thinking and knowing.

Cognitive Psychology

(Thinking and Intelligence)

•     Approach that looks to explain observable behavior by investigating mental process and structures that we can not observe
•        Basically examining the thinking behind behavior

Involves manipulating information mentally by forming concepts, solving problems, making decisions, and reflecting in a critical or creative manner.

They are mental categories that are used to group objects, events, and characteristics

They:

›Allow us to generalize

›Allow us to associate experiences and objects

›Aid memory by making it more efficient by not needing to re-learn everything

›Provide clues about how to react to a particular object or experience

•  A way to explain the structure of concepts
•       Emphasizes that when people evaluate whether a given item reflects a certain concept they will compare the item with the most typical item in the category and look for common features with that items properties
•        Ex) How do you know that something is a water bottle, or a cat or a dog?

What are the 4 steps of:

Problem Solving?

1.     Find and Frame problems
2.     Develop good problem solving strategies -–Set goals and sub goals (intermediate goals)
3.     Evaluate solutions
4.     Rethink and redefine problems and solutions over time

Using a prior strategy and failing to look at a problem from a fresh new perspective

Mental activity of transforming information to reach conclusions

Inductive _______

›Involves reasoning from specific observations to make generalization

›Utilizing prior experiences to make generalization judgments

(ooh, look! that switch turns on the light. All switches must turn on lights.)

Deductive _______

›Reasoning from a general case that is known to be true to a specific instance

›Draw conclusions from facts

(since I know that switches turn on lights, that switch must also turn on the lights)

Tendency to search for and use information that supports rather than refutes ones ideas.

(One of the 3 types biases covered in this course) 

Usually defined as a general rule of thumb for decision making.

Problems:

›Representative _______ (would give answer away)

–Tendency to make judgments about group membership based on physical appearance or stereotype rather than available base rate information

›Availability _______

–Prediction about the probability of an event based on the ease of recalling similar events

Means thinking reflectively and productively and evaluating the evidence

Being able to work past the “obvious” answer

Mindfulness

›Being alert and mentally present for ones everyday activities

Open-mindness

›Being receptive to other ways of looking at something

      A characteristic of a person that emphasizes the ability to think about something in novel and unusual ways to come up with unconventional solutions to problems.

All-purpose ability to do well on cognitive tasks, to solve problems and learn from experience

Measuring Intelligence:

What three elements does a good IQ test have? 

›Validity

–Does the test measure what it is intended to measure

›Reliability

–Does the test produce consistent performance

›Standardization

–Uniform procedures for administering and scoring a test as well as creating norms

Created first intelligence test

›Coined term Mental Age

›Compare mental abilities to mental abilities typical for that age group

Devised term intelligence quotient (IQ)

›Mental age divided by chronological age

 The Flynn Effect

(Part of the "Nature v Nurture" debate)

IQ test scores around the world are rapidly increasing

Developed triarchic theory of intelligence

(Analytical intelligence, Creative intelligence, Practical intelligence)

Developed Theory: Nine types of intelligence

(–Verbal, –math, –spatial, –bodily kinesthetic, –Musical, –Interpersonal, –Intrapersonal, -Naturalist, –existentialist)

Form of communication that is based on a system of symbols, whether spoken, written, or signed

5 basic rule system of language:

Part 1: Phonology

5 basic rule system of language:

Part 2: Morphology

Language's rule for word formation

(consider how language changes over time)

5 basic rule system of language:

Part 3: Syntax 

Languages rules for combining words to form acceptable phrases and sentences

5 basic rule system of language:

Part 4: Semantics

Meaning of words and sentences in a particular language or culture. .....

5 basic rule system of language:

Part 5: Pragmatics

Useful characteristic of language; the ability to communicate more meaning than what is said

Argued that humans are pre-wired for language

›Brain contains particular areas responsible for language use

–Broca area (speech production)

–Wernicke's area (language comprehension)

Locked in isolation, the child did not speak. This shows that the teaching of language at a young age is a necessary component to development.

Refers to a person's interpretation of a situation

Involves regulating our feelings about an experience by reinterpreting it or thinking about it in a different way or from a different angle

note: The way you think about an event will greatly affect your ability to cope with it

Tendency to report falsely after the fact that one predicted an outcome

(One of the 3 types of biases covered in this course)

Tendency to ignore information about general principle in favor of very specific but vivid information.

(One of the 3 types of biases covered in this course)

Failing to solve a problem as a result of fixation on a thing's usual function.

(just becuase a rock's not a hammer doesn't mean

you can't use it as one)

ca. (1904)

›First to come up with idea of intelligence as a general ability (called g)