unit 2: cognition (perspective and thinking)

concept

a mental grouping of similar objects, events, ideas, or people.

prototype

a mental image or best example of a category.

schema

a concept or framework that organizes and interprets information.

assimilation

interpreting our new experiences in terms of our existing schemas.

accommodation

adapting our current schemas to incorporate new information.

algorithms

a methodical, logical rule or procedure that guarantees solving a particular problem. Contrasts with the usually speedier use of heuristics

heuristic

a simple thinking strategy that often allows us to make judgments and solve problems efficiently; usually speedier but also more error-prone than an algorithm

stereotype

a generalized (sometimes accurate but often overgeneralized) belief about a group of people.

representative heuristic

estimating the likelihood of events in terms of how well they seem to represent, or match, particular prototypes; may lead us to ignore other relevant information

availability heuristic

estimating the likelihood of events based on their availability in memory; if instances come readily to mind (perhaps because of their vividness), we presume such events are common.

mental set

a tendency to approach a problem in one particular way, often a way that has been successful in the past

priming

the activation, often unconsciously, of certain associations, thus predisposing one’s perception, memory, or response.

framing

the way an issue is posed; how an issue is worded can significantly affect decisions and judgments

gambler’s fallacy

a failure to recognize the independence of chance events, leading to the mistaken belief that one can predict the outcome of a chance event on the basis of the outcomes of past chance events

sunk cost fallacy

our tendency to continue with an endeavor we've invested money, effort, or time into—even if the current costs outweigh the benefits.

executive functions

cognitive skills that work together, enabling us to generate, organize, plan, and implement goal-directed behavior.

creativity

the ability to produce new and valuable ideas.

divergent thinking

creative thinking in which an individual solves a problem or reaches a decision using strategies that deviate from commonly used or previously taught strategies

convergent thinking

narrowing the available problem solutions to determine the single best solution, generally the less creative way of thinking

functional fixedness

the tendency to perceive an object in terms of its most common use

belief perserverance

clinging to one’s initial conceptions after the basis on which they were formed has been discredited.

confirmation bias

a tendency to search for information that supports our preconceptions and to ignore or distort contradictory evidence.

overconfidence

the tendency to be more confident than correct — to overestimate the accuracy of our beliefs and judgments.

convergence

a cue to nearby objects’ distance, enabled by the brain combining retinal images.

monocular depth cues

a depth cue, such as interposition or linear perspective, available to either eye alone.

relative clarity

a visual perception that refers to how people interpret the clarity and sharpness of objects to determine how close they are

relative size

one of the monocular depth cues arising from the principle that the size of an object’s visual image is a function of its distance from the eye

texture gradient

the progressive decline in the resolution of textures as the viewer moves away from them

linear perspective

a visual cue for perceiving depth, where parallel lines appear to converge and meet at a distant vanishing point

interposition

allows us to perceive depth by understanding that when one object partially blocks the other, the object being blocked is farther away

visual perceptual constancy

perceiving objects as unchanging (having consistent color, brightness, shape, and size) even as illumination and retinal images change.

phi phenomenon

an illusion of movement created when two or more adjacent lights blink on and off in quick succession.

cocktail party effect

the ability to attend to one of several speech streams while ignoring others, an example of selective attention

selective attention

the focusing of conscious awareness on a particular stimulus

change blindness

failing to notice changes in the environment; a form of inattentional blindness.

binocular depth cues

a depth cue, such as retinal disparity, that depends on the use of two eyes

retinal disparity

each eye seeing a slightly different image

gesalt psychology principles

an organized whole. These psychologists emphasized our tendency to integrate pieces of information into meaningful wholes

closure

perceiving information as being complete even if it is missing parts

figure ground

the organization of the visual field into objects that stand out from their surroundings

proximity

one of the gestalt principles of organization. It states that people tend to organize objects close to each other into a perceptual group and interpret them as a single entity.

similarity

perceiving things as a group when they look more similar

bottom up processing

information processing that begins with the sensory receptors and works up to the brain’s integration of sensory information.a mental predisposition to perceive one thing and not another.

top down processing

information processing guided by higher-level mental processes, as when we construct perceptions drawing on our experience and expectations

perceptual set

a mental predisposition to perceive one thing and not another.