Lecture 7 (thinking and problem solving)

Thinking: going beyond provided information.

Problem-solving cycle: identification - definition - strategy formulation - organization of information- allocation of resources - monitoring - evaluation.

Strategy formulation: analysis (breaking down) and synthesis (putting together).

Reasoning: process of drawing conclusions from principles and evidence.

Reasoning types: deductive (reasoning from one or more general statements) and inductive (from specific facts or observations).

Paradox of aging: decline in cognitive and physical performance while maintaining or increasing well-being and emotional regulation. Often used explanation for this is Socioemotional Selectivity Theory.

Laura Carstensen positivity effect: time horizon influences the basic goals of individuals and the relative importance and value of these goals. Long life obtaining resources, short is striving for emotional satisfaction.

Algorithms: sequences of operations that may be repeated over and over again and that, in theory, guarantee the solution to a problem.

Convergent thinking: attempt to narrow down the multiple possibilities to converge on a single best answer.

Creativity

Expert systems: computer programs that can perform the way an expert does in a fairly specific domain.

Expertise: superior skills or achievements reflecting a well-developed and well-organized knowledge base.

Functional fixedness: inability to realize that something known to have a part use may also be used for performing other functions.

Heuristics: informal, intuitive, speculative strategies that sometimes lead to an effective solution and sometimes do not.

Ill-structured problems: problems that lack well-defined paths to solution.

Incubation: putting the problem aside for a while without consciously thinking about it.

Insight: a distinctive and sometimes seemingly sudden understanding of a problem or strategy that aids in solving the problem.

Isomorphic: the formal structure is the same, and only the content differs.

Mental set: a frame of mind involving an existing model for representing a problem, a problem context or a procedure for problem solving.

Negative transfer: occurs when solving an earlier problem makes if harder to solve a later one.

Positive transfer: occurs when the solution of an earlier problem makes it easier to solve a new problem.

Problem solving: an effort to overcome obstacles obstructing the path to a solution.

Problem space: the universe of all possible actions that can be applied to solving a problem, given any constraints that apply to the solution of the problem.

Productive thinking: involves insights that go beyond the bounds of existing associations.

Stereotypes: beliefs that members of a social group tend more or less uniformly to have particular types of characteristics.

Synthesis: putting together various elements to arrange them into something useful.

Transfer: any carryover of knowledge or skills from one problem situation to another.

Transparency: occurs when people see analogies wheee they do not exist because of similarity of content.

Well-structured problems: problems that have well-defined paths to solution.