THINKING

Concepts

Mental categories used to group objects, events, characteristics

Prototypes

All instances of a concept are compared to an ideal example (what you first think of

Algorithms

Step by step strategies that guarantee a solution (formula)

Heuristics

Shortcut strategy (won’t have to do all the steps)

Representative heuristic

Inferences based on personal experiences (stereotyping)

Availability heuristic

Relying on availability of info- what immediately comes to mind

Functional fixedness

Keep using one strategy- cannot think outside the box

Belief perseverance

Holding on to beliefs even when evidence proves those beliefs to be false

Belief bias

Preexisting beliefs distort logical reasoning by making invalid conclusions

Confirmation bias

Looking for evidence that supports what we already believe

Overconfidence

Overestimating our own skill, knowledge, or judgement

Hindsight bias

I knew it all along! Tendency to view events as more predictable than they really are

Framing (cognitive bias)

Process of presenting/posing issue or question- how it is framed can really impact decisions and judgements people make

Anchoring effect (cognitive bias)

Favoring first information offered

Mental set

Tendency for people to only use solutions that have worked in the past rather than looking for new ideas

Convergent thinking

Logical- focused on coming up with the single, well-established answer to a problem

Divergent thinking

Imagination- used to generate creative ideas by exploring multiple solutions