Thinking Processes and Problem Solving

Metacognition

Thinking about one’s thinking processes

Executive functions

Cognitive processes that allow individuals to generate, organize, plan, carry out goal-directed behaviors, and experience critical thinking

Prototypes

Mental image or the best example of a category that aids in recognizing or categorizing objects or concepts

Schemas

Frameworks that help organize or interpret information based on past experience and knowledge

Assimilation

Fitting new information into existing schema

Accomodation

Modifying existing schemas or creating new ones in response to new information

Convergent thinking

Finding a single correct solution to a problem by applying logical steps

Functional fixedness

Bias that limits an individual to use an object only in a way that it is traditionally used

Algorithm

Step-by-step procedures or formulas for solving problems that guarantee a correct solution

Divergent thinking

Thought process or method to generate creative ideas by exploring many possible solutions

Heuristic

Mental shortcuts or rules of thumb to simplify decision-making by decreasing the cognitive burden

Representative heuristic

Cognitive shortcut where individuals make judgements about the probability of an event under uncertainty based ion how much it resembles existing stereotypes or typical cases

Availability heuristic

Mental shortcut that relies on immediate examples that comes to an individual’s mind when evaluating a specific topic, concept, method, or decision

Mental set

Tendency to approach situations in a certain way because that method worked in the past which prevents an individual from seeing alternative solutions

Priming

Exposure to one stimulus influences a response to a subsequent stimulus without conscious guidance or intention

Framing

How information is presented influences decisions and perceptions

Gambler’s fallacy

Bias when individuals believe the outcome of a random event is influenced by previous outcomes, even though each event is independent

Sunk cost fallacy

Bias where individuals continue investing time, money, or effort into a project or decision because they already invested so much, even if returns are poor or no longer align with goals