1

Thinking Cognition

mental activities associated w/ thinking, knowing, remembering, & communicating

Affects …how we learn (Ch 8)…how we remember (Ch 9)…how we plan…Nurture (Ch 3 & 4)… how we dream (Ch 7)…how we use and learn language (this Ch)…. It is affected by neuropsych activity (Ch 2)…

Cognition & cognitive processes will relate to EVERY CHAPTER we do in this book!

Cognitive Psychologists: The mental activities they research:

concept formation:

how we form ideas, schemas,

heuristics,etc.

problem solving: involves how we look

at info, analyze it, & come up w/

solutions

decision making

judgment formation2

Cognition…or maybe NO cognition???

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4

Concept: mental grouping of similar objects, events, ideas, or people EX’s: cats, dogs, chairs, horses, law

enforcement, etc.)….schemas

Prototype: Mental image or best EX: of a category

matching new items to the prototype provides a quick, easy way to include items in a category

EX: Comparing feathered creatures to a prototypical bird, such as a robin

(which is MOST ppl’s prototype for “bird” …not a penguin)

5

Algorithm Step-by-step methodical, logical rule or

procedure that guarantees solving a particular problem

-efficient, but can be time-consuming

Heuristic: (mental short-cuts) simple thinking strategy that often allows us

to make judgments & solve problems efficiently

usually speedier than algorithms more error-prone than algorithmsEX: You lose your keys...Which of these do you

use to find them???

Insight:

6

Thinking

Answer to “lost keys”: First heuristics (EX’s: looking in the last place you

remember seeing them, the place you usually put them, along the path you took to come home, etc.)

If these fail, you then fall back on algorithm & look every single place they could possibly be. (EX’s?)

--------------------------------------------------------------------Unscramble

S P L O Y O C H Y G Algorithm

all 907,208 possible combinations Heuristic

throw out all YY combinations other heuristics?

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Insight sudden & often novel (?) realization of the

solution to a problem (“Ah-HA!!” “Hey, wait…What about THIS?”)

contrasts with strategy-based solutions Confirmation Bias: a major obstacle to

problem solving tendency to search for information that

confirms one’s preconceptions Fixation: stuck in one way of seeing

something inability to see a problem from a new

perspective impediment to problem solving

8

The Matchstick Problem

How would you arrange six matches to form four equilateral triangles?

9

The Three-Jugs Problem

Using jugs A, B, and C, with the capacities shown, how would you measure out the volumes indicated?

10

The Candle-Mounting Problem

Using these materials, how would you mount the candle on a bulletin board?

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5 ppl in a hospital: Each 1 has only 1 disease & each has a different disease. Each 1 occupies a separate room. Room #’s are 101 -105

1. Person w/ asthma in room 1012. Ms. Jones has heart disease3. Ms. Green is in Rm 1054. Ms. Smith has tuberculosis5. Woman w. mono is in Room 1046. Ms. Thomas is in Rm 1017. Ms. Smith is in 1028. 1 of the patients, other than Ms. Anderson, has

gall bladder disease.What disease does Ms. Anderson have &

what room is she in?

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CREATIVITY & THOUGHT: COMING UP W/ SOLUTIONS… (Read only…)

Lipstick A private school in Washington recently was faced

with a unique problem. A number of 12-year-old girls were beginning to use lipstick & would put it on in the bathroom… but after they put it on, they would press their lips to the mirror leaving dozens of little lip prints. Every night, the maintenance man would remove them & the next day, the girls would put them back.

Finally the principal decided that something had to be done. She called all the girls to the bathroom and met them there with the maintenance man. She explained that all these lip prints were causing a major problem for the custodian who had to clean the mirrors every night.

To demonstrate how difficult it had been to clean the mirrors, she asked the maintenance man to show the girls how much effort was required. He took out a long-handled squeegee, dipped it in the toilet, and cleaned the mirror with it. Since then, there have been no lip prints on the mirror. There are teachers….and then there are educators...

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Thinking Mental Set

tendency to approach a problem in a particular way…EX: a pencil? Matches?

especially a way that has been successful in the past but may or may not be helpful in solving a new problem

Functional Fixedness tendency to think of things only in terms

of their usual functions impediment to problem solvingBreaking set (or avoiding functional

fixedness): coming up w/ novel ways to use items…”McGyver effect”

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The Matchstick Problem

Solution to the matchstick problem involves thinking outside the box…and not assuming limits like 2-D instead of 3-D

Consider new ways…not fixed ways

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The Three-Jugs Problem

Solution: a) All seven problems can be solved by the equation shown in (a): B - A - 2C = desired volume.

b) But simpler solutions exist for problems 6 and 7, such as A - C for problem 6.

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The Candle-Mounting Problem

Solving this problem requires recognizing that a box need not always serve as a container

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Writing assignment: Pp. 392-393: Read “Risks—Do we fear the right things?”

Summarize and explain the 4 influences on our intuitions about risks…..Give examples of each.

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Heuristics: Some possible Causes of Faulty thinking!

Representativeness Heuristic judging the likelihood of things in terms of how

well they seem to represent, or match, particular prototypes

may lead us to ignore other relevant info Availability Heuristic: 2 parts:

1) estimating the likelihood of events based on their availability in memory…relate to “recency effect”

2) if instances come readily to mind (perhaps because of their vividness…how it stands out), we presume such events are common

EX: airplane crash = phobia…but what about cars?

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Thinking Overconfidence

tendency to be more confident than correct

tendency to overestimate the accuracy of one’s beliefs & judgments

Planning fallacy: when we are over-confident RE: time it will take us to do something…

EX: Research paper? Studying? Framing: way an issue is posed; way it’s

worded how an issue is framed can significantly

affect decisions & judgments EX: What’s best way to market ground beef--as

25% fat or 75% lean?

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Thinking

Belief Bias: tendency for our pre-existing beliefs to distort logical reasoning sometimes invalid conclusions seem

valid…or valid conclusions seem invalid (relates to “group-think” also…Ch. 18)

Belief Perseverance clinging to one’s initial conceptions

after the basis on which they were formed has been discredited

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Artificial Intelligence (AI) designing & programming computer systems

to… …do intelligent things …simulate human thought processes (parallel)

intuitive reasoning learning understanding language (272 Baron’s)

Computer Neural Networks computer circuits that mimic brain’s

interconnected neural cells & perform tasks much like humans… learning to recognize visual patterns learning to recognize smells

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Language Language

our spoken, written, or gestured works & the way we combine them to communicate meaning

Phoneme 1st bldg. block in a spoken language, the smallest

distinctive sound unit EX: bat = b, a, t or that = th, a, t photo = ph, o, t, o

Morpheme 2nd building block in a language, the smallest unit

that carries meaning EX’s: I a bat or… -s = cat cats de- compose

decompose may be a word or a part of a word (such as a

prefix or suffix) Grammar: rules in a language that enables

us to communicate w/ & understand others

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Language

Semantics the set of rules by which we derive meaning

from morphemes, words, & sentences in a given language

also, the study of meaning Includes connotation…if it has a positive or

negative feel… determined or bull-headed ? Syntax

the rules for combining words into grammatically sensible sentences in a given language

apple red…or red apple?

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Language We are all born to recognize speech

sounds from all the world’s languages About when do we “switch” to the “home

language”?100

90

80

70

60

50

40

30

20

10

0

Percentage ableto discriminateHindi t’s

Hindi-speaking

adults

6-8 months

8-10months

10-12months

English-speaking

adultsInfants from English-speaking homes

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Cooing: 1st…2-3 months: “Oooooooo…” Babbling Stage: begins about 3 - 4 months

infant suddenly utters various sounds that are at 1st unrelated to the household language EX’s?

Beginning to recognize sounds Sounds connected to own culture’s lang. by

about 10 mos. 1-Word Stage: (about age 1 2)

child speaks mostly in single words EX:’s? Inflection can = a sentence EX: “Doggy!”

2-Word Stg: (about age 2) speaks in mostly 2-word statements EX’s? kid is “getting” syntax…word order: EX: Engl. = noun + adj. But SP? FR?

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Telegraphic Speech: Early speech stage in which the child speaks like a telegram-–“go car”--using mostly nouns & verbs & omitting “auxiliary” words

Remember assimilation & accommodation? (Ch. 4)--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

3 theories RE: way kids devel. Lang.: Are based on the Heredity vs. Environment

question:1) Behaviorism/Skinner (learn w/ rewards/punish.)2) Genetics/Noam Chomsky (it is “hard-wired” in

humans)3) Cognitive/neuroscience (connections, etc…it’s

BOTH) Lev Vygotsky: Kids learn to use words & solve

problems by internalizing their culture’s lang., & relying on inner speech

Erik Lenneberg: Remember CRITICAL Period & the time limit on learning certain things? And GENIE?

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Language (t-406)Some add a first stage of “cooing” (about 2 mos.)

Summary of Language Development

Month(approximate)

Stage

4

10

12

24

24+

Babbles many speech sounds

Babbling reveals households language.

One-word stage.

Two-word, telegraphic speech.

Language develops rapidly intocomplete sentences.

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Lang. Development Theories: Nature or nurture?

1) Skinner: It’s Behaviorism! We learn language from association, imitation, & operant conditioning’s reinforcement…learn from our environ./experiences!

--little response = slower development

2) Noam Chomsky: It’s genetic! linguist; says there is some learning, but there is also innate mechanism for language (“hard-wiring”)

-2 main ideas: wired for “universal grammar” & wired for grammatical rules

--kids create their own sentences too fast for it to be just learning…and their own patterns…

EX: Over-generalizing: adding –ed for past tense ADD -Erik Lenneberg: There is a Critical Period for

language

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Noam Chomsky’s “hard-wire” language theories Said genes

design the mechanisms for a language (heredity) , & experience (environment) activates them as it modifies the brain

Are we “hard-wired” for language? Is it innate?

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3) Cognitive neuroscientists: Statistical learning: It’s BOTH! Shoots down Chomsky’s universal grammar, but supports tendency to follow & form grammatical rules: See infant’s learning (406)

-those w/o access to language don’t develop left hemisphere can be limited

Whorf”s hypothesis: Language determines the way we think…The interplay of thought & language

EX: Hopi have no past tenses…so thinking in the past is limited (p. 409)

Engl. vs. Japan.? = individualistic vs. collectivist soc.? Most now say language shapes or influences how we

think… not determines… Lev Vygotsky fits here!! Kids learn to use

words & solve problems by internalizing their culture’s lang., & relying on inner speech

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Linguistic Determinism (409)

Whorf”s hypothesis:

Language affects thinking which affects lang. which affects…. The problem w/ this is in “determines”…Now linguists accept more of the “linguistic relativism” which says lang./thought are all related…but not determined

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Language New language learning gets harder w/ age

Teach kids languages early for best results

Best age for 2nd language:

3 - 7 yrs.

100

90

80

70

60

50Native 3-7 8-10 11-15 17-39

Percentage correct ongrammar test

Age at school

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Kids & language… How kids translate it into what they understand… (Read only)

A Sunday school teacher asked her class, "What was Jesus' mother's name?“ Tammy answered, "Mary."

The teacher then asked, "Who knows what Jesus' father's name was. Anthony said, "Verge."

Confused, the teacher asked, "Where did you get that?"

Anthony replied, "Well, you know, they are always talking about Verge n‘ Mary.''

3-year-old Reese: "Our Father, Who does art in heaven, Harold is His name. Amen."

One particular four-year-old prayed, "And forgive us our trash baskets as we forgive those who put trash in our baskets.“

Amen….

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Benefits of bi- & multilingual education: some doubt this, but studies have been done that do show mental advancement in those who speak more than one language early on w/o economic influences being a part (p. 410)

Umpire signals inbaseball came from the 1st deaf baseball player in 1892.It worked so wellit spread toother sports…

Thinking w/o language: Mental practice (411): athletes, musicians, students

show improvement using mental rehearsal…Walk yourself mentally thru the steps involved…

…but not just “seeing” themselves get an “A”…

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Interesting quick video! How to interpret body language...

Up to 80% of human communication is thru NON-verbal communication!

http://www.howcast.com/videos/10608-How-To-Interpret-Body-Language

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Inspired problem-solving:

How a Swiss company solved the problem of “male spillage” in apublic urinals: Increased accuracy by 85%!!

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Clever—even if totally wrong & given no points...

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Animal Thinking & Language(communication) Bees tell other

bees where to find nectar sources using a dance…

The straight-line part of the dance points in the direction of a nectar source, relative to the sun

Direction ofnectar source

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Animal Thinking & LanguageGestured Communication: Our lang. probably came from gestures, which apes still use. Body lang. & other non-verbal messages are a large part of communication (60-80%?!)

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Animal Thinking & Language

Is this really language?

Animals can use language & even a bit of syntax…

But NOT to the extent humans can

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H-O 10,2: Rational-Experiential Inventory (REI):

Are you analytical/rational or intuitive/experiential?

Reverse #’s for 1, 2, & 5 (1=5, 2=4, 3=3, 4=2, 5=1) then add all (keep actual score for 3 & 4)

Rational Scale: Higher scores=more rational (5 – 25)

Experiential scale: Add actual #’s for 6-10 (5 – 25, higher = more intuitive/experiential)

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Forward I am heavy, but backward I am not. What am I?

He has married many women, but has never been married. Who is he?

How are a jeweler and a jailer alike?How many bricks does it take to complete a

building made of brick?How many of each animal did Moses take

on the ark?How many times can you subtract thenumber 5 from 25?Once. After the first calculation, you willbe subtracting 5 from 20, then 5 from15, and so on.How much dirt is in a hole 4 feet deepand 2 feet wide?There is no dirt in a hole.I am used to bat with, yet I never get ahit. I am near a ball, yet it is neverthrown. What am I?Eyelashes.A farmer had seventeen sheep, all butnine died, how many did he have left?Nine.A father's child, a mother's child, yet noone's son.A girl or daughter.

A man builds a house with all 4 sidesfacing south. A bear walks past thehouse. What color is the bear?White: the house is built directly on theNorth Pole.A man drove all the way from New Yorkto San Francisco only to discover at theend of the trip that he had a flat tire fromthe very start. Yet his car was completelyunaffected by it?How is this possible?Even if they are starving, natives livingin the Arctic will never eat apenguin's egg. Why not?Penguins are native to Antarctica.I have a head like a cat. I have feet likeat cat. But I am not a cat. What am I?A kitten.I know a word of letters three,Add two and fewer there will be.Few.If a rooster laid a brown egg and a whiteegg, what kind of chicks would hatch?None. Roosters don't lay eggs!If an egg came floating down the GreenRiver, where did it come from?A chicken.If there are fifteen crows on a fence andthe farmer shoots a third of them, howmany crows are left?None. The rest of the crows flew away

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1. A woman had two sons who were born on the same hour of the same day of the same year. But they were not twins. How could this be so?

2. Before Mount Everest was discovered, what was the highest mountain on Earth?

3. Before the days of motor cars, a man rode into town on his horse. He arrived on Friday, spent three days in town and left on Friday. How is that possible?

4. Big as a biscuit, deep as a cup, even a river can't fill it up. What is it?

5. Can a man legally marry his widow's sister in the state of California?

6. (Answers next slide, 2nd column)

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1. A ton2. A priest.3. The jeweler sells watches and

the jailer watches cells4. Only one - the "last" one.5. Hint: Who?6. Once. After the first calculation,

you will be subtracting 5 from 20, then 5 from 15, and so on.

7. There is no dirt in a hole.8. Eyelashes.9. Nine.10. A girl or daughter.11. It was his spare tire.12. White, b/c at North Pole.13. Penguins are native to

Antarctica.14. Few.15. None. Roosters don't lay eggs!16. A chicken 17. None. The rest of the crows flew

away when they heard the gunshot.

18. Nine.

1.They were two of a set of triplets.

2.Mount Everest.3.Hint: Can you

guess the horse's name?

4.A kitchen strainer.

5.No, because he's dead.

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Confirmation Bias: tendency to search for information that confirms one’s preconceptions