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Module 27
Thinking
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Cognition – mental activities involved
with thinking, knowing, and
communicating information, retaining and
using knowledge.
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Building Blocks of
Thought
Concepts—mental
groupings of similar
objects, events, ideas, or
people
Concepts provide a
kind of mental
shorthand,
economizing cognitive
efforts.
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Formal Concept – clear cut defining rules
e.g. Triangle
Natural Categories – Fuzzy defining rules
e.g., game or friend
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Concepts - generally true of a category of experiences.
E.g., Dogs - have four legs
- bark
- are pets
- eat meat
- might bite
- sometimes have fleas
If I tell you I have a dog, you will infer that it has
4 legs. Why? That is part of your concept of dogs.
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Concepts allow is to:
• Quickly identify new
instances of known
categories
• Form generalized expectations
- how should I treat this?
- what should I expect of it?
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Is X a member of the category?
E.g., Is a robin a good example of a bird?
Sparrow?
Turkey?
Ostrich?
Big Bird?
Some members are better examples of the
category then others.
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Prototypes (or best exemplar)
Compare it to the prototype.
Probabilistic (not all or none)
.
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Once we categorize an object, our memory of
it may shift to be more consistent with the
category prototype.
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Gender
ambiguous
faces were
created by
morphing
male and
female source
faces.
People who viewed 70% male faces categorized
them as male, then later picked out a more male
face as the face they had earlier categorized.
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We are slower to verify that an atypical
member of a category is as a member of the
category.
Since the penguin is less typical of the bird
category, it will take longer to respond.
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Mental Images - pictures in the mind
Can be used for problem solving
Do people manipulate Mental Images the same
way they manipulate images of real objects?
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Mental images—
mental representations of
objects or events that are
not physically present.
• Do people manipulate
Mental Images the
same way they
manipulate images of
real objects?
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Scanning Studies
Distance between two points
on the image is strongly
correlated with the time it
takes to mentally scan to the
new location.
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Mental rotation studies
For each row, which of the three comparison shapes
on the right is identical to the shape on the left?
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Psychologists have found that the farther you have
to rotate an object mentally, the longer the
comparison takes. The speed at which you can
complete the tasks provides a general measure of
your spatial ability.
-takes time to mentally
rotate object
-greater the rotation,
longer the time
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Neurological Studies
- Imagery uses the same brain areas as perception.
Visual Imagery is like thinking with your visual
system!
Images in Memory
Are they accurate?
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Only one of these images of a penny is correct. Which one is it? Check your answer and find out
"what's going on" by clicking on a penny.
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Problem Solving Using what we know, to
apply to new situations.
Well defined Problems: Clear starting
point, rules and goal.
Everyday (ill-defined) Problem Solving
- premises are not clear cut
- there may be no perfect answer.
- may be more than one answer.
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Problem Solving Techniques
1) Trial and Error –High effort, no guarantee of
solution
2) Algorithm – High effort, guaranteed solution
3) Heuristic – Lower effort, no guaranteed solution
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Biases in Decision Making
Confirmation Bias
people tend to look for evidence that
confirms what they are trying to prove, and
neglect looking for counter-evidence.
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D
K
3
7
Rule: All cards with a D on one side have
a 3 on the other side.
Which cards do you need to turn over?
D - if 3 then rule holds
7 - if D then rule is disconfirmed
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Luchins’ water-jug experiment (Lurchin 1942, 1959)
The subject is given a set of jugs of various stated capacities, and is asked to measure out a
desired quantity of water.
1
2
3
Capacity Capacity of Capacity
Desired
of Jug A
Jug B
of Jug C
quantity
21
127
3
100
14
163
25
99
18
43
10
5
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
9
20
23
15
28
18
14
Problem
42
59
49
39
76
48
36
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4
3
3
3
4
8
21
31
20
18
25
22
6
23
All problems except 8 can be solved by B - 2C - A.
For problems 1 through 5 this solution is simplest.
For problem 7 and 9 the simpler solution is A + C.
Problem 8 cannot be solved by B - 2C - A, but can be
solved by A - C.
Problems 6 and 10 can be solved more simply as A - C.
Subjects who worked through all problems in order:
83% used B- 2C - A on problems 6 and 7.
64% failed to solve problem 8.
79% used B - 2C - A on problems 9 and 10.Subjects who
saw only last 5 problems. Fewer than 1% used B - 2C - A.
Only 5% failed to solve problem 8.
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Mental Set – a tendency to approach a
problem in one particular way, often a way
that has been successful in the past.
Cognitively efficient (less effort).
But can block or slow
down more efficient
ways of doing things.
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Mental set can cause us to put non-existent
conditions on a problem. Video
You Tube Escalator
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Decision Making (Uncertainty)
Have options – estimate probabilities.
Flip a coin four times.
Which outcome is most likely?
HHHH, TTTT HTTH
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We are capable of using more systematic Algorithmic
strategies (e.g., Choosing an apartment)
Start by identifying our options then:
• Single Feature Model
Choose the one closest to school
•Additive Model
Make a pro and Con lists
• Elimination by aspects
- eliminate those too far away
- eliminate those that are too expensive
- eliminate those that don’t allow cats.
etc. etc.
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Representiveness Heuristic
We know this is random process.
Option 3 looks most random.
It is representative of our concept of random.
Availability Heuristic
Things that came to mind more easily are
thought to be more likely.
e.g., Summer of the Shark
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Overconfidence Bias – Tendency to
overestimate the accuracy of our knowledge.
People who are more overconfident:
• Are happier
•Make tough decisions easier
•Appear more credible than others
BUT THEY ARE NOT MORE CORRECT!
E.g., , in a spelling task, subjects were correct
about 80% of the time when they were "100%
certain."
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Belief Perseverance – clinging to one’s
initial conceptions after the basis on
which they were formed has been
discredited.
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Framing effects—how an issue is presented, or
framed, can significantly affect thought
processes, judgments, and decisions
Which sounds better: ground beef that is 75
percent lean, or ground beef that has 25 percent
fat?
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Insight Problems
Answer occurs suddenly “aha” or not at all.
Metcalfe Study - rated “how close to a solution”
every 30 secs.
Non-Insight problems -knew when they were
close.
Insight problems - did not know they
were close.
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Kounios & Beeman (2009) have identified where
Insight flashed come from. In the seconds before
the insight appears, a brain area in the right
temporal lobe (shown here) shows a spike in
activity. This region of the ‘right brain’ in
particular excels in drawing together distantly
related information – exactly what is needed when
working on a hard creative problem.
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Example of an Insight Problem
The cheap-necklace problem experiment
(Silveira 1971)
“You are given four separate pieces of chain that
are each three links in length. It costs 2¢ to open a
link and 3¢ to close a link. All links are closed at
the beginning of the problem. Your goal is to join
all 12 links of chain into a single circle at a cost of
no more than 15¢.”
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Incubation Effect
The experience of leaving a problem for a
period of time, then finding the difficulty
evaporates on returning to the problem, or
even more striking, that the solution "comes
out of the blue", when thinking about
something else.
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Incubation effects - taking a break
Group 1 - no break: 55% solved the problem.
Group 2 - 30 min break: 64% solved the problem
Group 3 - 4 hour break: 85% solved the problem
Are people working on it without knowing it?
Talk aloud protocols
- did not come back with a solution.
- break counteracted Mental Set effects.
- new solutions were tried.
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Incubation effect appears to be due to looking
at the problem with a fresh point of view. In
other words, the break can overcome the
effects of mental set.
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Intuition – Perils and Powers
Decision making that coming to an effortless
conclusion or making a judgment without conscious
awareness of a thought process.
Intuition is recognition born of experience.
 enables quick reactions, which have been found to
be based on unconscious perceptions based on
expertise
 when amounting to overfeeling and underthinking,
can be based on gut fears or prejudice
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Intuition
comes only
with feedback
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Intuition comes from practice,
practice and more practice!!
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