5B - learning and thinking

Forming concepts

mental groupings of similar objects, events, ideas, and people.

Algorithms

step-by-step procedures that guarantee a solution

Insight

an abrupt, true-seeming, and often satisfying solution (burst of activity in the right temporal lobe)

Confirmation bias

the tendency to seek out and prefer information that supports our preexisting beliefs

Intuition

our fast, automatic, unreasoned feelings and thoughts

heuristics

a general rule based on our experience that we use to judge and make decisions

Forming Subgoals

By breaking a problem down into smaller steps, we can approach larger more complex problems

Working backward

starting with a final solution and working back one step at a time to the beginning; this only works when possible final solutions are known

Searching for Analogies

observing the similarities between a new problem to be solved and one you've successfully solved in the past

Changing the representation of the problem

When our problem-solving efforts fail, sometimes it is useful to look at the problem in a different way

Overconfidence

the tendency to be more confident than correct—to overestimate the accuracy of our beliefs and judgments

Belief perseverance

the tendency to continue believing something even after evidence supporting it has been contradicted

Framing

the way that a problem is presented to someone, and it can drastically change that person's view or reaction to the problem

Problem-solving

is a more complex process, involving a lot of decisions or judgements along the way to finding a solution

Decision-making

involves evaluating and choosing between different courses of action or options available to us

Additive Strategies

decision making methods in which all possible options or variables are weighed or given a score (good or bad) and then compared to each other in order to make a decision

Elimination by Aspects

decision-making strategy in psychology that involves evaluating options based on a set of criteria or attributes and eliminating options that do not meet the criteria one-by-one

Expected Utility

a tool that helps one make decisions under conditions of uncertainty

• We choose the options which will result in the highest probability of a positive outcome for us

Subjective Utility

Making a Risky Decision that is Worth it to the Individual

• Like Paying for Insurance makes you feel Safer.

Metal set (rigidity)

an obstacle to problem solving which involves fixating only on solutions that have worked in the past

Functional fixedness

The ability to see a new use for an object

Confirmation Bias

We look for evidence to confirm our beliefs and ignore evidence that contradicts them

Framing

The way a problem is presented can drastically affect the way we view it

Creativity

Little correlation between creativity and intelligence

Convergent thinking vs. Divergent thinking

Convergent: Solving problems with a single correct answer

Divergent: Solving problems with many possible solutions

Phonemes

The smallest units of sound in a language

English has about 44 phonemes

Morphemes

The smallest unit of meaningful sound

Can be words like a or but

Can also be parts of words like prefixes or suffixes… “ed” at the end of a word means past tense

Stages that we learn to use language

1. Babbling language

2. Holophrastic State (one word stage)

3. Telegraphic Speech Stage (two word stage)

After the telegraphic stage we get overgeneralization, aka overregularization

Social Learning Theory

• B.F. Skinner from the Behaviorist School

• Baby may imitate a parent

• If they are reinforced, they keep saying the word.

• If they are punished, they stop saying the word

Chomsky’s Theory (nativist theory)

says we're born with the ability to learn language naturally because our brains are wired for it. It's like we have a language "instinct" built into us from birth.

Fast Mapping Theory

the idea that children can quickly learn and remember new words after just a brief exposure to them.

• suggests that even with minimal exposure, children can make initial connections between words and their meanings.

• helps in the rapid expansion of vocabulary during development

Whorf’s Linguistic Determinism

The idea that language determines the way we think

• (ex. The Hopi tribe has no past tense in their language, so Whorf says they rarely think of the past)

Whorf’s Linguistic relativity

Our view of the world is relative to the language we speak. People with different language view the world differently

Evolutionary Advantages

Human language may be a result of evolutionary processes because language allows humans to acquire information about the world secondhand

Interactionist/Emergentist Perspective

In other words, social interaction with our environments leads to the emergence of language-based neural pathways