Chapter 9 PSYC notes

Concept

A mental category grouping objects, relations, activities, or qualities sharing certain properties for simplifying and summarizing information.

Cognitive Schemas

Integrated mental networks of knowledge, beliefs, and expectations about specific aspects of the world.

Mental Images

Representations in the mind mirroring or resembling the things they represent, crucial in constructing cognitive schemas.

Subconscious Thinking

Mental processing lying outside awareness but can be brought into consciousness when needed, enabling multitasking.

Algorithm

A problem-solving strategy ensuring the correct solution even without understanding the process.

Heuristics

Rules of thumb aiding decision-making by limiting options and reducing cognitive effort, especially in fuzzy problems.

Dialectical Reasoning

Weighing opposing facts or ideas to determine the best solution or resolve differences in informal reasoning problems.

Affect Heuristic

Judging probabilities based on emotions rather than objective assessments. (The tendency to consult their emotions to judge the “goodness” or “badness” of a situation rather than judging probabilities objectively. - based off emotion or gut feeling - not so much logic)

Availability Heuristic

Assessing event probabilities based on ease of recalling examples.(The tendency to judge the probability of an event by how easy it is to think of examples or instances. Ex: worried about getting in a plane crash, not worried about getting in a car crash.)

Conjunction Fallacy

Mistaken belief that finding a specific member in two overlapping categories is more likely than finding any member of a larger category.

Intelligence

Inferred ability to profit from experience, acquire knowledge, think abstractly, act purposefully, or adapt to changes in the environment.

Mental Sets

A barrier to rational thinking is the development of _________ (The tendency to solve new problems using past successful heuristics, strategies, and rules)

Bias Blind Spot

Acknowledging biases in others but believing oneself to be free of bias.

Metacognition

Knowledge and awareness of one's cognitive processes, crucial for monitoring and controlling cognitive activities.Ex - studying for an exam and being able to know what you need to work on, someone who has a low score will think they understand everything about the same

Nonconscious processes

Is outside of conscious awareness but affects behavior.

Subconscious processes

Lies outside of awareness but can be brought into consciousness when necessary. (it becomes automatic, but can easily be brought back into consciousness) ex knitting or driving

Prototype

A representative instance of a concept. - Ex what bird do you think of when you think of birds (not an ostrich)

Reasoning

A purposeful mental activity that involves operating on information to reach a conclusion. It requires us to draw specific inferences from: observations, facts, and assumptions.

Name the 3 different types of reasoning

Formal reasoning problems provide the information necessary to reach a conclusion or solution and permit a single correct or best answer.

Informal reasoning problems often have no clearly correct solution.

Informal reasoning requires dialectical reasoning which is a process in which opposing facts or ideas are weighed and compared, with a view to determining the best solution or resolving differences.

Conjunction Fallacy

The mistaken belief that finding a specific member in two overlapping categories is more likely than finding any member of one of the larger, general categories. Ex - “I have the flu and pneumonia” this incorrectly assumes that the likelihood of having both the flu and pneumonia is greater than the likelihood of having the flu alone

The intelligence quotient, or I Q,

Represents how well a person has done on an intelligence test compared to other people

Mental age (MA)

A measure of development expressed in terms of the average mental ability at a given age. (MA divided by cronicalal age x 100 = IQ?)

What were the 3 aspects of intelligence that Robert Sternberg’s Triarchic Theory of Intelligence proposed?

Analytical: The information-processing strategies you draw on when you are thinking intelligently about a problem.

Creative: Creativity in transferring skills to new situations. - you'll have a tougher time solving new problems

Practical: Practical application of intelligence; tacit knowledge, action-oriented strategies for achieving goals that not formally taught but must instead be inferred by observing others. - this is kinda like “street smart”

Emotional intelligence

Involves the ability to identify your own and other people’s emotions accurately, express emotions clearly and regulate emotions in yourself and others