Cognitive and Perceptual processes

Concept

The mental grouping of similar objects, events, ideas, or people. There are a variety of chairs but their common features define the concept of a chair.

Prototypes

In psychology, a prototype refers to the best or most typical example of a concept or category. It’s the mental representation or "ideal" image we have of something based on common features that define a category.

For example, when you think of the category "bird," a robin might come to mind as a prototype because it has many of the features (wings, feathers, ability to fly) that are commonly associated with birds. Prototypes help us organize and simplify information, allowing us to make quick judgments about whether something fits into a certain category.

Development of Concepts

• We form some concepts with definitions. For example, a triangle has three sides.

• Mostly, we form concepts with mental images or typical examples (prototypes). For example, a robin is a prototype of a bird, but a penguin is not.

Representativeness heuristic

• Judging the likelihood of things or objects in terms of how well they seem to represent, or match, a particular prototype.

• If you meet a slim, short, man who wears glasses and likes poetry, what do you think his profession would be?

  
  

  An Ivy league professor or a truck driver?

• Availability heuristic

The availability heuristic is a mental shortcut people use to make judgments and decisions based on how easily examples come to mind. If something is more easily recalled, we tend to assume it's more common or likely to happen.

For example, if you frequently hear about plane crashes in the news, you might overestimate the risk of flying, even though statistically, it's much safer than driving.

Confirmation bias

• tendency to search for information that confirms one’s preconceptions

Insight

• sudden and often novel realization of the solution to a problem

• contrasts with strategy-based solutions

• Fixation

• inability to see a problem from a new perspective

• impediment to problem solving

• Hindsight bias

• we tend to believe, after learning an outcome, that we would have foreseen it 

• the “I-knew-it-all-along” phenomenon

• Overconfidence

• we tend to think we know more than we do

• Overconfidence effect

• Intuitive heuristics, confirmation bias, and the tendency to explain away failures all contribute to overconfidence, which is the tendency to overestimate the accuracy of our beliefs and judgments. Here's how each factor plays a role:

  1. Intuitive heuristics: These are mental shortcuts that allow us to make quick decisions based on instinct rather than thorough reasoning. While they help us process information quickly, they can lead to errors in judgment because they rely on limited or easily accessible information rather than all relevant facts.

  2. Confirmation of beliefs (confirmation bias): We tend to seek out or focus on information that supports what we already believe while ignoring evidence that contradicts it. This reinforces our confidence in those beliefs, even when they might be incorrect or incomplete.

  3. Explaining failures: When something goes wrong, we often come up with explanations that protect our beliefs, like blaming external factors. By explaining away our mistakes, we don't learn from them as effectively, further boosting our confidence in our flawed judgments.