Cognitive Concepts and Heuristics

Key Psychological Concepts

Creativity: Ability to generate new and original ideas.
Divergent Thinking: Generating multiple possible solutions to a problem.
Convergent Thinking: Narrowing down multiple ideas to find a single solution.

Heuristic: Mental shortcuts or rules of thumb for problem-solving.
Mental Set: Tendency to approach problems using a mindset that has been successful in the past.
Functional Fixedness: Inability to see an object as having a function other than its typical one.
Algorithm: Step-by-step procedure for solving a problem that guarantees a solution.

Confirmation Bias: Tendency to search for, interpret, and remember information that confirms one's preconceptions.
Availability Heuristic: Estimating the likelihood of events based on their availability in memory.
Representativeness Heuristic: Judging the likelihood of things in terms of how well they seem to represent, or match, a particular prototype.
Framing: The way information is presented affects decision-making.
Priming: Exposure to one stimulus influences response to another stimulus.
Overconfidence: Holding a belief that one's decisions are more accurate than they actually are.
Belief Perseverance: Maintaining beliefs even after evidence contradicts them.
Gambler's Fallacy: Believing that past random events affect future random events.
Sunk-Cost Fallacy: Continuing a behavior or endeavor due to previously invested resources (time, money).