psych100: language and thought pt 1

cognition

all the mental activities associated with thinking, knowing, remembering, and communicating

concept

mental grouping of similar objects, events and ideas

prototype

mental image or the best example of a category

algorithm

methodical, logical procedure

heuristic

simpler strategy that is usually speedier than algorithm but more error prone

insight

flash of inspiration that solves a problem

confirmation bias

predisposes us to verify rather than challenge our hypotheses

fixation

focusing on one perspective, we do not challenge a fresh one

mental set

tendency to approach a problem with a previously successful mindset, example of fixation

the aha moment

burst of right temporal lobe EEG activity

intuition

effortless, immediate, automatic feeling or thought which can lead to heuristic

representativeness heuristic

estimating the likelihood of events in terms of how well they seem to represent, match particular prototypes (stereotypes)

ex. matching occupation w people

avaliability heuristic

estimating the likelihood of events based on their availability in memory

ex. lots of car crashes on the news

overconfidence

tendency to be more confident than correct, overestimating the accuracy of our beliefs and judgements

belief perserverance

cling to beliefs and ignore evidence that proves our beliefs as wrong

framing

sways decision because of how an issue is presented

creativity

the ability to produce new and valuable ideas

divergent thinking

expands the number of solutions through creative thinking

convergent thinking

narrows the avaliable problem solutions to determine the best solution

robert sternberg and colleagues (1988) propose 5 ingredients of creativity

expertise, imaginative thinking skills, venturesome personality, intrinsic motivation, creative environment