PSY 200

cognitive psych

three determinants of high-level cognition

1. working memory and problem complexity
2. time
3. long term memory

algorithm

rule that generates the solution of a problem

heuristic

rule of thumb

insight

sudden appearance of the solution to a problem

four stage decomposition

1. preparation
2. incubation
3. insight
4. verification

sudden flash of illumination

ill defined problems are solved by

incrementally

well defined problems are solved

problem

occurs where there is an obstacle between present state and goal state

states and operators

problems are composed of

problem space

the set of all the problem states

creative problem solving

study of incubation and insight

explicit implicit interaction theory

integrative theory of creative problem solving made up of knowledge interaction and knowledge integration

deduction

inference that draws a conclusion about a specific event on the basis of a general concept

induction

an inference that builds a general explanation about something based on a subset of observations

normative models

theories about how people should think

descriptive models

theories about how people normally think

categorical logic

a normative model for reasoning about propositions using and, or, if, if and only if, & not

universal negative

No A are B

universal affirmative

all A are B

particular negative

some A is not B

particular positive

some A is B

belief bias

the natural tendency to judge a conclusion valid based on how believable it is

conditional reasoning

inferences that us "if-then" statements

confirmation bias

seek evidence that confirms ones hypothesis while ignoring evidence that would prove it false

availability heuristic

estimation of the probability of an event is judged by how easy it is to retrieve it from memory

representativeness heuristic

the probability of an event A is evaluated by the degree to which A resembles event B

anchor

an arbitrary value that participants are asked to consider before making a numerical estimate

anchoring effect

numeric estimates tend to remain close to the anchor

classical approach

require necessary and sufficient attributes

principle of family resemblance

use of characteristic features for categorization

catergories

pointers to knowledge

semantic network view of concepts

classical view without restrictive assumptions

classical view

all or none mentality- no levels

prototype view

average of all members of a category, making one common object

typicality effect

prototypical objects are processed preferentially, named more rapidly, more affected by a priming stimulus

exemplar view

categories are represented by the sets of all previously encountered exemplars, there is no summary representation

similarity based approach

some categories can be learned fast (square) and others require a rule (bachelor)