psychology midterm 3

thought

using what we know

elements of cognition: summary

concepts → propositions → cognitive schemas ← mental images

elements of cognition: concepts

mental category that groups objects, relations, activities, abstractions, or qualities having common properties

elements of cognition: basic concepts

• have a moderate number of instances

• are easier to acquire than those having many instances

• are easier to acquire than those having few instances

elements of cognition: prototypes

when we need to decide whether something belongs to a concept, we are likely to compare it to a prototype as a representative instance of the concept

proposition

a unit of meaning that is made up of concepts and expresses a single idea

• linked together in cognitive schemas

cognitive schemas

integrated mental network of knowledge, beliefs, and expectations concerning a particular topic of aspect of the world

mental images

• mental representation that mirrors or resembles the thing it represents

• occurs in many and perhaps all sensory modalities

• important in thinking and in constructing cognitive schemas

how is conscious a thought?

• subconscious processes

• non conscious process

• mindlessness

subconscious processes

occurs outside of conscious awareness but accessible to consciousness when necessary

• ex: multitasking

• allows us to handle more information and perform complex tasks than if we had to consciously process everything

non conscious process

occurring outside of, and not available to, consciousness

• implicit learning: occurs when you acquire knowledge about something without awareness of how you did so

mindlessness

mental inflexibility, inertia, and obliviousness in the present context

• keeps people from recognizing when a change in a situation requires a change in behavior

what is involved in problem solving and decision making?

algorithm and heuristic

algorithm

a problem solving strategy guaranteed to produce a solution even if the user does not know how it works

heuristic

• rule of thumb that suggests a course of action or guide problem solving

• does not guarantee an optimal solution

  • all faces with incomplete info with which to reach a solution and therefore result to heuristics that have proven effect in the past

reasoning

drawing conclusions or inferences from observations, facts, or assumptions

reasoning rationally includes…

• formal reasoning

• informal reasoning

• pre-reflective thinkers

• quasi-reflective thinkers

• reflective thinkers

formal reasoning

• info needed for drawing a conclusion or reaching a solution is specified clearly

• there is a single right or best answer

informal reasoning

• often no clearly correct solution

• many approaches, viewpoints, or possible solutions may compete

pre-reflective thinkers

don’t distinguish between knowledge and belief or between belief and evidence - see no reason to justify a belief

quasi-reflective thinkers

think that because knowledge is sometimes uncertain, any judgement about the evidence is purely subjective

reflective thinkers

understand that although some things cannot be known with certainty, some judgements are mor valid than others

what is reasoning rationally

• sometimes the typers of judgements people make depend on the kind of problem or issue they are thinking about

• might be able to use reflective judgement for some yet be pre-reflective on others that hold deep emotional meaning to them

• most people show no evidence of reflective judgement until their mid/late 20’s

intelligence

• how we see someone

• based on experience

• inferred characteristics of an individual, usually defines as the ability to profit from experience, acquire knowledge, think abstractly, act purposefully, or adapt to changes in environment.

measuring the invisible

• psychometric approach

• tradition approach to intelligence

• focuses on how well people perform on standardized aptitude tests

barriers to reasoning rationally

• avoiding loss

• fairness bias

• hindsight bias

• confirmation bias

• mental sets

affect heuristic

tendency to consult one’s emotions instead of estimating probabilities objectively

• making decisions based on emotion

availability heuristic

tendency to judge the probability of a type of event by how easy it is to think of examples or instances

avoiding loss

• framing effect: tendency for people’s choices to be affected by how a choice is presented

• people generally try to avoid or minimize risk of incurring losess when making decisions

fairness bias

if a test is statistically biased, it is not possible for the testing process to be fair

hindsight bias

tendency to overestimate one’s ability to have predicted an event once the outcome is known

confirmation bias

tendency to look or pay attention only to information that confirms one’s own belief

mental sets

• tendency to solve new problems by using the same heuristics, strategies, and rules that worked in the past on similar problems

• make learning and problem solving more efficient

• not helpful when problems call for fresh insights/methods

need for cognitive consistency

• cognitive dissonance: state of tension that occurs when a person holds 2 cognitions that are psychologically inconsistent

reducing cognitive dissonance

1. when you need to justify a choice or decision you freely made

2. when you need to justify behavior that conflicts with your view of yourself

3. when you need to justify the effort put into a decision or choice

justification of effort

• that tendency of people to increase their liking for something they have worked hard for or suffered to attain

• common form of dissonance reduction

• the more effort you put into reaching a goal, the more highly you’re likely to value it

overcoming our cognitive biases

• after we understand a bias, we may be able to reduce or eliminate it

• active, mindful effort

invention of IQ tests

• IQ = intelligence quotient

• measure of intelligence originally computed by dividing a person’s mental age or their chronological age and multiplying by 100

• in america, used to identify a person’s “natural ability”

alfred binet

designed the first widely used intelligence test to identify children who could benefit from remedial work

metacognition

knowledge/awareness of one’s own cognitive processes and the ability to control those processes

triarchic theory

theory of intelligence that emphasizes analytic, creative, and practical abilities

examples of different kinds of intelligences

• musical intelligence

• kinesthetic intelligence

• capacity for insight

• emotional intelligence

emotional intelligence

ability to identify your own and other people’s emotions accurately, express emotions clearly, regulate emotions

intellectual achievement depends on

• motivation

• hard work

• self discipline

what can help account differences in academic performance

• beliefs about intelligence

• standards

• values

cognitive ethology

study of cognitive processes in nonhuman animals

memory

based on mental process of learning, retention, and retrieval

source misattribution

inability to distinguish an actual memory of an event from information you learning about elsewhere

flashbulb memory

• “episodic memory”

• frontal temporal dementia

• some unusual, shocking, or tragic events hold a special place in memory

  • 911 or covid

confabulation

confusion of an event that happened to someone else with one that happened to you

• due to memory being reconstructive

• confabulated memories can feel vividly real but be false

conditions of confabulation

1. you have thought, heard, or told others about the event many times

   1. your own active imagination inflates your belief that the event really occurred

2. the image of the event contains lots of details that make it feel real

3. the event is easy to imagine

eyewitness on trial

eyewitnesses are not always reliable

factors that influence accuracy

• differing ethnicity

• question wording

• misleading information

children testimony

• biased interviewer uses suggestive techniques to seek confirming evidence

  • pressure, badgering, bribes, threats

  • encourage imagination inflation

  • expresses approval/disapproval

measuring memory — long term

• explicit memory

• implicit memory

explicit memory

memory that needs conscious effort

implicit memory

memory recalled without conscious effort

recognition

ability to identify previously encountered material

• recognition tests can be tricky, especially when false items closely resemble correct ones

• easier than recall

priming

a person reads or listens to information and is later tested to see whether the information affects performance on another type of task

relearning method

method for measuring retention that compares the time required to relearn material with the time used in the initial learning of the material

models of memory

• encoding

• storage

• retrieval of information

three memory systems

1. sensory register

2. short-term memory

3. long-term memory

sensory register

1. larger capacity

2. contains sensory information

3. very brief retention of images

short-term memory

1. limited capacity

2. brief storage of items

3. involved in conscious processing of information

long-term memory

1. unlimited capacity

2. some memories are permanent

3. information organized and indexed

sensory register: visual (iconic) images

remain in visual subsystem for a maximum of half a second

sensory register: auditory (echoic) images

remain in an auditory subsystem for a slightly longer time, up to two seconds or so

STM: limited capacity memory system

retain new info for up to 30 seconds

what helps extend STM’s limited capacity

chunking extends STM’s limited capacity — most models propose that we bind small bits of information into larger units (chunks)

working memory

processing and manipulating information

long term memory: semantic categories

one way to organize words

tip-of-the-tongue (TOT)

can’t fully recall something (names, phrases, words)

serial position effect

when people best recall the first and the last items

primary effect

• long term

• remembering all the things from the beginning

recency effect

• short term

• remembering all the things from the end

contents of long-term memory

• procedural memories

• declarative memories

  • semantic memories

  • episodic memories

procedural memories

• (knowing how)

• memories for the performance of actions of skills

declarative memories

• (knowing that)

• memories for facts, rules, concepts, and events

semantic memories

• part of declarative memories

• general knowledge, facts, rules, propositions

episodic memories

• part of declarative memories

• personally experienced events and the contexts in which they occurred

• autobiographical memory