Thinking, Concepts, Creativity

Cognition

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

Concepts

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

Prototype

a mental image or the best example of a category

Convergent thinking

narrowing the available problem solutions to determine the single best solution

Divergent thinking

expanding the number of possible problem solutions; creative thinking that diverges in different directions

schema

a concept or framework that organizes and interprets information

Algorithms

step-by-step procedures that guarantee a solution

Heuristics

A simple thinking strategy that often allows us to make judgments and solve problems efficiently; usually speedier, but more error-prone than algorithms

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 cognition, 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

Intuition

an effortless, immediate, automatic feeling or thought, as contrasted with explicit, conscious reasoning

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.

Planning Fallacy

the tendency to underestimate how long it will take to complete a task

Belief Perseverance

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

Framing

The way an issue is posed, how an issue is framed, can significantly affect decisions and judgments.

Mastered (19)

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