PSY 324 Exam 3

Deductive Reasoning

the conclusion follows necessarily from the premises; if you accept the premises u must accept the conclusion; rigid structure; if you don’t accept you are engaging in a fallacy

Inductive Reasoning

if you accept the premises to be true, then it is reasonable for the conclusion to be accepted and true

Validity

if we accept the premises we must accept the conclusion, but doesn’t guarantee the conclusion is actually true; doesn’t have to be sound to be valid

Soundness

it has to be valid first and the premises must be true, which means the conclusion is also true; strongest argument you can achieve

Modus Ponens

affirming the antecedent, always valid

Modus Tollens

denying the consequent, always valid

Affirming/denying the antecedent/consequent

antecedent = if, consequent = then; affirming the consequent is always invalid, denying the antecedent is also invalid (doesn’t cover all of the scenarios)

Base rate neglect fallacy

assume something to be an overestimate because we don’t account for the real prevalence; best example is false positive; base rate important for understanding probability of the outcome

Phonemes

smallest unit of sound in language (ex: 4 or 5 phonemes in the word giraffe)

Morphemes

smallest unit of meaning (only one if the word giraffe)

Motor Theory

the physical position of the mouth will lead us to predict what sounds will come from it; species specificity - only certain species can perceive speech

Auditory Theory

the auditory systems are what allow us to interpret speech; matter of sound not physical motions

Chomsky’s universal grammar

humans have some innate mechanism inborn that allows us to interpret the grammars of language; poverty of stimulus argument

Poverty of stimulus argument

external stimuli alone are not sufficient to learn complex linguistic rules; there must also be some innate understanding

Syntax

how the words in a sentence relate to each, the relationship will often be dictated in the order the words are presented

Active versus passive sentences

active sentences are preferred, quicker to interpret

Garden path sentences

run on sentences that are unclear about the subject and verb

Aphasia (Wernicke’s and Broca’s)

Wernicke’s = deficit in the comprehension of language, Broca’s = deficit to the production of language

Aspects of problems

 4 aspects = goals, givens, means of transforming conditions, obstacles

Problem space

mental representation of the problem

Task environment

external factors outside the self related to the problem

Problem state

in the problem space; minimum of 2 problem states - initial state and the goal state

Problem operator

in the problem space; the means by which the problem moves from one state to the next; what you do to fix the problem

Well vs Ill defined problems

well defined problem = clear cut on what you’re trying to achieve and how ex:puzzle; ill defined = ambiguous and vague impression of what to be achieved 

Algorithms

searches every possibility for the best solutions; disadvantage = highly time and resource consuming; guaranteed but highly inefficient

Heuristics (hill climbing and means end analysis)

cognitive shortcut because we can’t rely on algorithms; hill climbing = consider the problem operators and choose the one we believe will get us closest to the goal; no guarantee highly efficient

Functional fixedness

inability to view/use object as anything but its original purpose

Normative models

what we ought to do if we’re rational beings

Descriptive models

how we actually behave

Expected value theory

normative; follow the math; very problematic

Expected utility theory

normative; still be consistent with all of our decisions

Prospect theory

descriptive; subjective probability - relates to an individual’s perception

Regret theory

descriptive; possible explanation for the certainty effect

Transitivity principle

if A is preferred over B, and B is preferred over C, then A is preferred over C

Non contradictory principle

if A is preferred over B, the B is not preferred over A

Violations of normative principles

complex dynamics may influence our perspectives on how candidates compare to each other; contextual details may influence the preference

Risk seeking vs risk aversive (and framing effects)

more likely to be risk seeking when problems framed in terms of loss; more likely to be risk aversive when problems framed positively

Availability heuristic

when I make a decision I may be biased by what comes to mind first

Representativeness heuristic

more likely to believe it’s true if it’s representative of the category it belongs to

Anchoring and adjustment heuristic

people make estimates on the basis of some starting or baseline value and adjust from there

Simulation heuristic

mentally simulating and envisioning scenarios to figure out what could have been done differently

Fast and frugal theory

instead of focusing on when heuristics fail we focus on when they succeed 

Conjunction fallacy

tied to representativeness heuristic; a cognitive error where a person believes two events together are more likely to occur than either on their own

Optimizing

most basic approach to examine every option and select the best one

Satisficing

decision maker declines to review every single option and instead decides from a smaller subset of options

Elimination by aspects

some aspect is considered and any option not meeting it is eliminated