Cognitive Psychology: Reasoning and Decision Making

Flashcards for reviewing lecture notes on cognitive psychology, focusing on reasoning, decision-making, and related concepts.

Anterior Insula

A brain region associated with emotional responses, particularly during decision-making.

Availability Heuristic

A mental shortcut where easily remembered events are judged as more probable.

Base Rate Information

The relative proportion of different classes in the population.

Categorical Syllogism

Deductive reasoning with premises and a conclusion relating categories using 'All,' 'No,' or 'Some.'

Confirmation Bias

The tendency to seek confirming information and overlook contradictory information.

Conditional Syllogism

Deductive reasoning where the first premise is in 'If…then' form.

Conjunction Rule

The probability of two events occurring together cannot exceed the probability of either event alone.

Deductive Reasoning

A cognitive process from information to definite conclusions, often using syllogisms.

Dual Systems Approach to Thinking

A theory proposing two mental systems: System 1 (intuitive, fast) and System 2 (reflective, slow).

Expected Emotions

Predicted emotional responses to decision outcomes, which may differ from actual emotions.

Falsification Principle

Testing a rule requires seeking situations that could disprove it.

Framing Effect

Decisions influenced by how choices are presented (e.g., gains vs. losses).

Illusory Correlations

Perceived relationships between unrelated things, often linked to the availability heuristic.

Incidental Emotions

Emotions unrelated to the decision itself but still influencing it.

Inductive Reasoning

Drawing conclusions from evidence with varying certainty based on past experiences.

Law of Large Numbers

Larger random samples are more representative of the population.

Modus Ponens

A valid form of conditional syllogism: If P then Q; P; therefore Q.

Myside Bias

The tendency to favor one's own opinions when evaluating evidence.

Neuroeconomics

An interdisciplinary field studying decision-making using psychology, neuroscience, and economics.

Prefrontal Cortex (PFC)

A brain region associated with cognitive task demands and complex decision-making.

Reasoning

A cognitive process leading to conclusions beyond the given information.

Representativeness Heuristic

A mental shortcut where judgments are based on how much one event resembles others.

Risk Aversion

Avoiding risks, often seen when choices are framed as gains.

Risk-Taking Strategy

Willingness to take risks, often seen when choices are framed as losses.

Stereotypes

Oversimplified and often incorrect generalizations about groups of people.

Syllogism

A form of deductive reasoning with two premises and a conclusion.

System 1 (Type 1 processing)

The intuitive, fast, nonconscious mental system.

System 2 (Type 2 processing)

The reflective, slow, conscious, and controlled mental system.

Truth (of a syllogism)

Determined by the content of statements and their correspondence to known facts.

Ultimatum Game

An economic game studying how emotions interfere with rational decision-making.

Utility Approach to Decision Making

People are rational and make decisions in their best interest.

Validity (of a syllogism)

Determined by whether the conclusion logically follows from the premises.

Wason Four-Card Problem

A task used to study how people evaluate conditional syllogisms and apply the falsification principle.