AP Psychology - Vocabulary 5

cognition

cognition

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

concept

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

prototype

a mental image or best example of a category. Matching new items to a prototype provides a quick and easy method for sorting items into categories (as when comparing feathered creatures to a prototypical bird, such as a robin)

algorithm

a methodical, logical rule or procedure that guarantees solving a particular problem. Contrasts with the usually speedier—but also more error-prone—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

insight

a sudden realization of a problem's solution; contrasts with strategy based solutions

confirmation bias

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

fixation

in thinking, the inability to see a problem from a new perspective; an obstacle to problem solving

mental set

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

functional fixedness

the tendency to think of things only in terms of their usual functions, an impediment to problem-solving

representativeness 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

overconfidence

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

belief bias

the tendency for one's preexisting beliefs to distort logical reasoning, sometimes by making invalid conclusions seem valid, or valid conclusion seem invalid

belief perseverance

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

deduction

reasoning from the general to the specific; in logic, if the premises are true then the conclusion must be true; Socrates is a man, All men are mortal, thus Socrates is mortal

induction

reasoning from the specific to the general; in logic if the premises are true then the conclusion is one of probability; Mary went to nursing school, Mary works at a hospital, thus Mary is a nurse

expert versus novice

experts use induction, insight, and heuristics; novices use deduction and algorithmic schemas, experiment: experts pick the expert 90% people off the street 60%, teachers of that subject only 30%

Dilthey's hermeneutical circle

reasoning oscillates back and forth between deduction and induction

fallacy

an error in logical reasoning; some famous fallacies: ad hoc - it does not follow, ad hominem - attack the man, ad verecundiam - appeal to a false authority, red herring - get off track by an emotional appeal

base-rate rule

the probability of something being a member of a class is greater the more class members there are; experiment with 30 engineers and 70 lawyers and people say 50/50

conjunction rule

the probability of a proposition cannot be less than the probability of that proposition conjoined with another proposition, example: Mary was an outspoken philosophy major at Berkeley in the 60's, A - Mary is now a bank teller, B - Mary is now a bank teller who protests the war in Iraq. more people picked B though A is more likely

anchoring

the tendency to be influenced by a suggested reference point, pulling our response towards that point

prospect theory

researched by Daniel Kahneman and Amos Tversky; as the magnitude of the gain increases the amount of additional satisfaction people get out of each additional unit decreases; economists call this "the law of diminishing marginal utility"

loss aversion

researched by Daniel Kahneman and Amos Tversky; losing $100 produces a feeling of negativity that is more intense than the feelings of elation produced by a gain of $100

endowment effect

when something becomes an object of our possession we consider it to have more value

convergent thinking

conventional thinking; thinking directed toward a single correct solution

divergent thinking

thinking that produces many alternatives or ideas; creativity

propositional thought

one mode of thought that takes the form of verbal sentences making a statement

imaginal thought

one mode of thought that consists of images that we can see, hear, or feel in our mind

motor thought

one mode of thought that relates to mental representations of motor movements, such as throwing an object

incubation

flash of insight after we have temporarily given up and put the problem aside

script

a schema that unfolds in a regular or standardized order

means-ends analysis

identify differences between the present situation and the desired goal, then make changes that will reduce the differences

subgoal analysis

formulating subgoals or intermediate steps toward a solution

sequential processing

processing one aspect of a problem at a time; generally used to process new information or to solve difficult problems

ad hoc

a fallacy that does not follow

ad hominem

a fallacy that attacks the man

ad verecundiam

a fallacy that appeals to a false authority

red herring

a fallacy that gets off track by an emotional appeal

Daniel Kahneman and Amos Tversky

investigated the use of heuristics in decision-making; studied the availability, anchoring, and representativeness heuristics; developed loss aversion and prospect theory