C. Skepticism- Some Scientists Still Won T Study It- How Do You Measure It?

Thinking I. Thinking A. Mental manipulation of words and images as in concept formation, problem solving and decision making- aka- cognition B. John Watson’s influence- thinking was ignored because of him because it was not observable behavior C. Skepticism- Some scientists still won’t study it- how do you measure it? D. Directed vs. Non-directed thought- 1. Directed- thinking that is directed at obtaining a particular goal 2. Non directed- “just thinking”; daydreaming that is usually image laden II. Concepts and Categories A. Concepts- how we organize the world- Unit of knowledge used to organize environment B. Prototypes- A mental image or best example that incorporates all the features we associate with a category. C. Categories- something that has a set of members- given some label, have some defining attribute III. Images and Imagery A. Images- pictures- B. Images and spatial knowledge- Dental admissions have a lot to do with this- because dentists do everything with a mirror- C. Imagery- coaches and athletes use it now- Bruce Jenner kept a hurdle in the living room and mentally jumped it. IV. Problem solving A. Refers to the active 1. Well defined problems- Problems in which the initial state, the goal state and the constraints are clearly specified 2. Ill-defined problems- one or more elements among the initial state, the goal state and the constraints are incompletely and unclearly stated. a. riddled with uncertainty b. often ambiguous about what represents the best solution B. Barriers to problem solving 1. Irrelevant information- 2. Functional Fixedness- 3. Mental set-. a. Abraham Luchins- 4. Unnecessary constraints- 5. Confirmation bias- 6. Belief perseverance- 7. Overconfidence effect- 8. Framing- a. When seeking to obtain goals people tend to avoid risky options, however when seeking to cut their losses people are more likely to take risks b. Gas example- used to charge more for credit- but called it a cash discount, not credit surcharge. V. Approaches to problem solving 1. Involves trying possible solutions and discarding those that are in error until one works. 2. Often applied haphazardly- but sometimes people try to be systematic B. Algorithm- 1. Methodical, a. Anagram- IHCRA b. You can write down all the possible combinations 2. Effective when relatively few possible solutions 3. Do not exist for many problems 4. Become impractical when the problem space is too large. C Heuristic 1. Guiding a. Used because algorithms are inefficient b. Selectively narrow the problem space c. Do not guarantee success 2. Types of heuristics a. Subgoals- intermediate steps toward a solution. b. Working backward- Begin at the end and work back c. Searching for analogies- If you can spot an analogy between problems, you may be able to use the solution to a previous problem to solve a current d. Changing the representation of the problem- VI. Decision making- A. Involves evaluating alternatives and making choices among them. B. Theory of Bounded rationality- Herbert Simon- Most people think they are rational and systematic in making decisions- He proved it wrong 1. Asserts that people tend to use simple strategies in decision making that focus on only a few facets of available options and often result in “irrational” decisions that are less than optimal. C. Compensatory decision models- D. Noncompensatory decision models- E. Risky decision making 1. Involves making choices under conditions of uncertainty. 2. You can make a decision by expected value- dice game example. (pg. 329) 3. Subjective utility- represents what an outcome is personally worth to an individual. F. Heuristics in judging probabilities (using and misusing heuristics in decision making) 1. Availability Heuristic-

a. Divorce rate based on personal experience 2. Representative heuristic-

G. Pitfalls in Reasoning about decisions 1. Gambler’s fallacy- Belief that the odds of a chance event increases if the event hasn’t occurred recently. (representative heuristic) 2. Law of small numbers- assumption that results on small samples are representative of the population, but they are more likely to be a fluke 3. Overestimate the improbable- People tend to overestimate the likelihood of dramatic, vivid, but infrequent events that have heavy media coverage (availability heuristic) INSIGHT- Sternberg pg. 323- 326- A distinctive and apparently sudden understanding of a problem or a sudden realization of a strategy for its solution in a totally new way. Feel sudden- but often are the result of much prior thought and hard work Wolfgang Kohler- Chimp (Sultan) and banana problem VII. Reasoning and creativity A. Involves drawing conclusions from evidence B. Deductive- process of drawing conclusions from evidence involving one or more general premises (statements of fact or assertions of belief on which a deductively reasoned argument may be based) C. Inductive reasoning- Process of drawing general explanatory conclusions based on evidence involving specific facts or observations D. Creativity- is the process of producing something that is both original and valuable. Divergent- Convergent-

VIII. Language A. Definition- system of words and rules for combining words to communicate thoughts and feelings 1. Critical properties a. Language is symbolic b. Language is semantic, or meaningful c. Language is generative- (a limited number of symbols can be combined in an infinite variety of ways to generate and endless array of novel messages) d. Language is structured- There are rules governing the arrangement of words and phrase B. Components of Language 1. Phonemes (fo- nem like hem)- a. Linguists say humans are capable of recognizing only about 100 basic sounds- most languages use 20-80, English uses 40 2. Morphemes- smallest

3. Semantics- Area of language concerned

a. Denotation- dictionary definition b. Connotation- includes emotional overtones and secondary implications 4. Syntax-

a. Example- sentences must have a noun phrase and a verb phrase

C. Development of Language (USE excel spread sheet) 1. Critical period- current term- sensitive period- Time when language is more easily learned. Lennenberg- 1967- psychologist 2. Genie D. Theories of Language Acquision 1. Learning theory- Skinner said children learn by imitation, reinforcement and conditioning 2. Nativist Theory- Chomsky- a. LAD- Humans are equipped with a Language acquision device meaning learning language is innate. We learn to talk like a bird learns to fly- if we are biologically equipped b. The brain contains a program that allows us to combine nouns, verbs, objects in an endless variety of meaningful sentences 3. Cognitive Theory- Language development is simply an important aspect of more general cognitive thinking which depends on maturation and experience

E. Issues in Psycholinguistics- Benjamin Worf’s Linguistic Relativity Theory-

Does language influence thought? Ask a person who English is not their native language- do you think in English or your native language or do you think differently in your native language than in English?

F. Bilingualism- nearly ½ the world’s pop grows up bilingual 1. Does it affect cognitive processes and skill? a. evidence is mixed-

2. Age criticial determinant of how affectively people acquire the second language- the younger the better 3. Aculutration also facitilites more rapid acquisition- degree to which a person is socially and psychologically integrated into a new culture

Chart on Language development

Overregularizations in language