Thinking - The mental manipulation of representations of information we encounter in our environment

2 main kinds of Representations

• Analogical Representation - Mental representations that have some of the physical characteristics of objects usually correspond to images. They have some characteristics of actual objects.

  • Examples: maps correspond to geographical layouts. Family trees depict branching relationships between relatives. A clock corresponds directly to the passage of time

• Symbolic Representation - Abstract mental representations that consist of words or ideas

  • Examples: The word “hamburger” is a symbolic representation that usually represents a cooked patty of beef served on a bun. The word “violin” stands for a musical instrument

Schemas - Mental structures, collections of ideas, prior knowledge, and experiences that help organize information and guide thought and behavior.

How schemas are related to stereotypes? Stereotype schema contains knowledge, beliefs, and expectancies about groups. Tells us what features or traits we should expect to encounter for a certain group. Stereotypes are not necessarily positive or negative but limits the range of our expectations about groups

3 ways we use thinking

• Reasoning - Using information to determine if the conclusion is valid

• Decision Making - To select between options

• Problem Solving - Overcome obstacles

Heuristic - Informal way to make a decision (quicker way), it is useful for survival

Three types of Heuristic

• Availability - Information that readily comes to your mind

  • Example - If it’s raining, you won’t play outside

• Representativeness - Placing people/objects in a category if they’re in a similar concept

• Affective - Only taking how you feel/emotions into consideration when making a decision

Things that Influence decision making

• Framing - The way information is presented can change how you view/make decisions about it

• The paradox of choice - When too many options are available, and all of them seem appealing, you can experience conflict and indecision. The 2 approaches to decision making:

  • Maximizers -  try to make the perfect choice among their options

  • Sacrificers - seek to find a “good enough” choice that meets their minimum requirements

Problem Solving/Goal Achieving Strategies

• Subgoals - When you break down the problem into little goals. Achieving each subgoal gets you a little closer to solving the overall problem

• Working Backward - When the appropriate steps for solving a problem are not clear, proceeding from the goal state to the initial state can help yield a solution.

  • Basically means that you should retrace your steps in a plan from the beginning to where you are now to reflect on mistakes/things that are going well

• Insight - happens only when you stop actively thinking about a problem or take a break from actively thinking about the problem, and the answer may spontaneously become apparent

Problem Solving Roadblocks

• Restructuring - Thinking about a problem in a new way in order to solve it

  • You can overcome it by removing restrictions that actually aren’t a part of the problem

• Mental Sets - A tendency to approach a problem in the same way that has worked in the past, which may make it harder to solve a problem.

  • You can overcome it by saving the time and effort of searching for new types of solutions. But sometimes they make it difficult to find the best solution

• Functional Fixedness - A tendency to think of things based on their usual functions, which may make it harder to solve a problem

  • You can overcome it by reinterpreting the objects’ potential functions

• Intelligence - The ability to use knowledge to reason, make decisions, make sense of events, solve problems, understand complex ideas, learn quickly, and adapt to environmental challenges

  • Intelligence Quotient - A mathematical measure of intelligence originally computed by dividing a child’s estimated mental age by the child’s chronological age, then multiplying this number by 100

The Five main types of Intelligence -

• General intelligence -  The theory that one common factor underlies intelligence.

  • The single, common factor that contributes to performance on any intellectual task

  • Intelligence tends to yield higher IQ scores on intelligence tests

• Fluid Intelligence -  Intelligence that reflects the ability to process information, particularly in novel or complex circumstances

• Crystallized Intelligence -  Intelligence that reflects both knowledges gained through experience and the ability to use that knowledge

  1. Knowledge from experience that is used to solve problems

• Emotional Intelligence - Skills in managing emotions and recognizing them in other people

• Multiple Intelligences - includes musical, bodily-kinesthetic, linguistic, mathematical/logical, spatial, intrapersonal, and interpersonal

  1. Many bits of intelligence are not measurable by IQ tests.

• Behavioral Genetics -  is a field of study concerned with the genetic (inborn) and situational (from the environment) influences on behavior.

  1. Monozygotic Twins - identical twins; these siblings result from one zygote splitting in two, so they share the same gene

  2. Dizygotic Twins - Fraternal twins; these siblings result from two separately fertilized eggs, so they are no more similar genetically than nontwin siblings are

Researchers use that info to judge genetic influence by focusing on a specific trait. They compare how similar monozygotic twins are in phenotypes (observable traits and characteristics) with how similar dizygotic twins are. The increased similarity in that trait for monozygotic twins is considered most likely due to genotypes (genetic influences).

Environment Factors

• Because of exposure to certain environments and experiences, the brain can change in three ways: growing new neurons, changing existing neural connections, and reorganizing.

Achievement vs Aptitude Test

1. Achievement Tests - A psychometric test that is designed to test a person’s knowledge and skills, the ACT or SAT is an example

Aptitude Test - A psychometric test that is designed to test a person’s ability to learn that is, the person’s future performance, the IQ exam is an example

Cultural Biases in Intelligence Test

1. Doing well on intelligence tests often requires knowing the language and culture of the mainstream

2. Differences in intelligence across races and ethnicities are hard to assess because of environmental differences.

3. Stereotype threat influences test scores when people believe that their performances might confirm negative stereotypes about their sex or race