ap psych unit 5 vocab

cognition

all the mental activities associated with thinking, knowing, remembering, & communicating

concepts

mental groupings of similar objects, events, ideas, or people

formed by prototypes

ex. the idea of a chair

prototypes

a mental image or best example of a category. new items can be matched to this example to easily categorize them

ex. comparing feathered creatures to a classic bird

metacognition

an awareness of your own thought processes and the patterns behind them

algorithm

methodical, logical rule that guarantees a solution to a problem

• can take a very long time and a lot of effort

• will not make any errors though

heuristics

a simple thinking strategy that allows us to make judgements and solve problems efficiently

• speedier than an algorithm but also more error-prone

insight

a sudden realization of a problem’s solution

confirmation bias

a tendency to seek information that supports our preconceptions and to ignore or distort contradictory evidence

• we also don’t look for evidence that disproves our assumptions!

fixation

an inability to see a problem from a new perspective once we’ve formed our belief

caused by confirmation bias

mental set

our tendency to approach a problem in a particular way that has been successful in the past 

perceptual set vibes

schema

a mental framework or concept that helps organize + interpret information

• a pattern of thought and behavior that represents our unique knowledge, beliefs, and expectations

assimilation

the process of incorporating new information into existing schemas

accomodation

the process of modifying schemas or creating new ones to incorporate new information

functional fixedness

cognitive bias limiting us to use objects only in the way they’re traditionally used

executive function

a set of cognitive processes that allow us to plan, organize, and regulate behavior

ex. problem-solving, impulse control

intuition

effortless, immediate, automatic thought

representativeness heuristic

estimating the likelihood of events based on how well they match particular prototypes

• may lead us to ignore relevant information

• ex. how after 9/11 young arab men were seen as terrorists (even though they were regular people)

availability heuristic

estimating the likelihood of events based on their availability in memory

• we perceive events as common when they come easily to mind

• ex. wins are loud but losses are quiet in casinos, so we think that we win more than we do

priming

unconscious activation of associations, predisposing one’s memory/perception/response

nudge

an attempt to influence the behavior, choices, judgements, or feelings of an individual/group in a predictable way without forbidding options or changing incentives

• subtly influences behavior in ways that are easily avoidable

• ex. putting fruit at eye level in the cafeteria

gambler’s fallacy

belief that the probability of a random event occurring in the future is influenced by previous instances of that type of event

• ex. believing that a coin must land on tails next after landing on heads 3x

sunk-cost fallacy

when someone refuses or is reluctant to abandon a strategy/course of action because they’ve invested a lot into it… even though abandonment would be more beneficial!

overconfidence

our tendency to overestimate the accuracy of our beliefs and judgements

belief perseverance

clinging to one’s initial conceptions after they’ve been discredited or disproved

framing

the way an issue is posed

• significantly effects our stances and judgements

• ex. “pro-life” vs. “anti-abortion”

creativity

the ability to produce novel, valuable ideas

convergent thinking

narrowing down available solutions to find the single best one

• used on standardized multiple-choice test

• requires aptitude

divergent thinking

expanding the number of possible solutions

• creative thinking does this