Cognitive Final

deductive reasoning

deductive reasoning

Premise 1

Premise 2

….

Premise N

→ Conclusion

premise

statements that are assumed to be true

valid conclusion

it follows logically from the premises

invalid conclusion

it does not follow logically from the premises

Manaslu is taller than McKinley

Lhotse is taller than Manaslu

Therefore, Lhotse is taller than McKinley

categorical syllogisms

consists of two premises and a conclusion. the premises and conclusion contain qualifiers such as all, some, none

Experiment on Belief Bias (Evans et. al., 1983)

Subjects were presented with 4 types of conclusions (valid-believable, valid-unbelievable, invalid-believable, invalid-unbelievable). Subjects had to judge the validity of the conclusions.

Results: Percentage of subjects indicating the conclusion is valid.

Conclusion Believable unbelievable

valid 81 63

invalid 44 6

belief bias for both valid and invalid conclusions

conditional syllogisms

Consists of two premises and a conclusion. The first premise is an if p then q statement. The phrase p is called the antecedent and the phrase q is called the consequent.

modus ponens

a valid deductive argument form in logic. It follows this pattern: 1. If P, then Q. 2. P. 3. Therefore, Q. In other words, if we have a conditional statement "If P, then Q" and P is true, we can conclude that Q is also true. It is a fundamental rule of inference in logic.

modus tollens

a valid logical argument form in propositional logic. It follows the pattern: "If P implies Q, and Q is false, then P must be false." In symbolic notation, it can be represented as: "P implies Q, not Q, therefore not P."

Experiment (Cummings et. al., 1991) High Believability of first premise

If a person's finger is cut, then the person's finger will bleed

Sam's finger is cut

Therefore, Sam's finger bleeds (valid, modus ponens)

If a person's finger is cut, then the person's finger will bleed

Sam's finger is not bleeding

Therefore, Sam's finger is not cut (valid, modus tollens)

If asked—"How likely is it that a cut finger will bleed?"—people tend to indicate a high probability (thus the first premise is highly believable)

The more believable the first premise, the more valid the conclusion is judged to be.

Experiment (Cummings et. al., 1991) Low Believability of first premise

If a person eats candy often, then the person will have cavities

Sam eats candy often

Therefore, Sam has cavities (valid, modus ponens)

If a person eats candy often, then the person will have cavities

Sam does not have cavities

Therefore, Sam does not eat candy often (valid, modus tollens)

If asked—"How likely is it that a person who eats candy often will get cavities?"—people tend to indicate a lower probability (thus the first premise is less believable)

Preexisting knowledge about alternative causes of the consequent can influence judgments of validity.

The representative heuristic

Estimating the probability of an event on the basis of how similar the event is to the typical prototype of that event. The more similar the event is to the prototype, the higher its estimated probability

Experiment (Kahneman & Tversky, 1972)

All the families having exactly six children in a particular city were surveyed. In 72 of the families, the exact order of births of boys (B) and girls (B) was G B G B B G.

What is your estimate of the number of families with the B G B B B B birth pattern?

about 72

Gambler’s fallacy

The belief that the probability of a chance event increases if the event hasn't occurred recently

If you flip a coin six times and the first five flips are H H H H H, what is the probability that the next flip will be a T?

50%

Experiment (Kahneman & Tversky, 1973)

A panel of psychologists interviewed and administered personality tests to 30 engineers and 70 lawyers. There are 5/100 descriptions available to view.

Jack is a 45-year-old man who is married with four children and has variable personality traits. What is the probability that Jack is an engineer?

30%

The availability heuristic

Estimating the probability of an event on the basis of how easily instances of the event come to mind. The more easily instances of the event come to mind, the higher its estimated probability

Experiment (Lichtenstein et. al., 1978)

Consider all the people now living in the United States—children, adults, everyone. Now suppose we randomly pick just one of those people. Will that person more likely die next year from cause A or cause B?

Cause A Cause B

homicide vs. suicide

pregnancy vs. appendicitis

tornado vs. asthma

accident vs. stroke

botulism vs. lightning

Cause B is more likely

Experiment (McKelvie, 1997)

Subjects listened to a list of 26 names

famous men condition: 12 famous male names and 14 nonfamous female names

famous female condition: 12 famous female names and 14 nonfamous male names

After listening to the list, subjects indicated whether the list contained more male names, more female names, or an equal number of male and female names

Results

famous men condition: 77% of subjects indicated more male names

famous women condition: 81% of subjects indicated more female names

What is a problem

occurs when there is an obstacle between a present state and a goal and it is not immediately obvious how to get around the obstacle

Problem defined by psychologist

a situation in which you need to accomplish a goal and the solution is not immediately obvious

What are gestalt psychologists interested in?

perception, learning, problem solving, and attitudes and beliefs

Problem solving for gestalt psychologists

how people represent a problem in their mind and how solving a problem involves a reorganization or restructuring of this representation.

One central idea of gestalt approach

success in solving a problem is influenced by how it is represented in the person’s mind.

restructuring

the process of changing the problem’s representation

insight

any sudden comprehension, realization, or problem solution that involves a reorganization of a person’s mental representation of a stimulus, situation, or event to yield an interpretation that was not initially obvious

analytically based problems

they are solved by a process of systematic analysis, often using techniques based on past experience.

fixation

people’s tendency to focus on a specific characteristic of the problem that keeps them from arriving at a solution.

functional fixedness

work against solving a problem, focusing on familiar functions or uses of an object

mental set

a preconceived notion about how to approach a problem, which is determined by a person’s experience of what has worked in the past.

initial state

conditions at the beginning of the problem

goal state

the solution of the problem

operators

actions that take the problem from one state to another

problem space

all possible state that could occur when solving a problem

analogical problem solving

using the solution to a similar problem to guide solution of a new problem

analogical transfer

transfer from one problem to another

target problem

problem the participant is trying to solve

source problem

another problem that shares some similarities with the target problem and that illustrates a way to solve the target problem

three steps in analogical problem solving

noticing, mapping, and applying

analogical encoding

the process by which two problems are compared and similarities between them are determined

trade-off strategy

refers to a negotiating strategy in which one person says to an-other, “I’ll give you A, if you’ll give me B.”

contingency strategy

refers to a negotiating strategy in which a person gets what he or she wants if something else happens

divergent thinking

thinking that is open-ended, involving a large number of potential “solutions”

executive control network (ECN)

involved in directing attention as a person is carrying out tasks and plays a crucial role in creativity

volitional daydreaming

The act of choosing to disengage from external tasks in order to pursue an internal stream of thought that might have positive outcomes