Thinking and Intelligence (lecture)

Fixation (interpretation block)

inability to create a new interpretation of a problem ex. don’t think you can go outside the box

3 components to thinking

1. Solve problems 

2. Make judgements

3. Make decisions

Well defined problem

clear specifications of the start state, goal state, and the process to reaching the goal state

Ill defined problem

lacks clear specification of start, goal and process

Blocks to problem solving

functional fixedness, strategy blocks

Functional Fixedness

inability to see that an object can have a function than its typical one, lock ourselves into understanding of objects

Strategy blocks

past experiences can lead us to mental set, use previously successful strategies without considering others that are more appropriate in a current problem

Insight

new way of interpreting a problem that immediately gives you the solution

Algorithm

step by step procedure that guarantees a correct answer (ex. Math or tying a shoe)

Heuristic

solution strategy seems reasonable given past experiences solving similar problems, may provide quick correct answer but lead to an incorrect answer

Anchoring and adjustment heuristic

use initial estimate as an anchor and make an adjustment up or down (ex. first impression is an anchor) but, many people are so attached to the anchor they do not update

Working backwards heuristic

attempt to solve a problem by working from the goal state backward to the start state

Means-ends analysis heuristic

breaking down problem into sub-goals and work towards decreasing distance to the goal state (writing a major term paper and breaking it down into smaller tasks)

2 Heuristics for judging probability

Representativeness and availability

Representativeness heuristic

judging the probability of membership in a category by how well an object resembles the category

Conjunction fallacy

when we use the representativeness heuristic incorrectly judging the overlap of two uncertain events to be more likely than either of the two events

Gambler fallacy

false belief that an event that has not occurred for a while is more likely to occur 

Availability heuristic

the more available an event in our memory, the more probable it is (ex. seeing it on news recently creates more fear)

Hypothesis testing

confirmation bias, illusory, belief perseverance, person-who reasoning

Confirmation bias

tendency to seek evidence that confirms one’s beliefs

Illusory

false belief that two variables are related when they are not (focus on instances of relation and ignore disconfirming instances) ex. wearing a certain color shirt and getting a good grade on a test 

Belief perseverance

tendency to cling to your beliefs in the face of contradictory evidence

Person-who reasoning

questioning well established findings because you know a person who violates the established finding