PRESENTATION NAME

UNDERSTANDING PSYCHOLOGY 9TH EDITIONBy Robert FeldmanPowerpoint slides by Kimberly Foreman

CHAPTER EIGHT:COGNITION AND LANGUAGE

MODULE 23: Thinking and ReasoningWhat is thinking?

What processes underlie reasoning and decision making?

MODULE 23: Thinking and ReasoningCognitive PsychologyBranch of psychology that focuses on the study of higher mental processes, including thinking, language, memory, problem solving, knowing, reasoning, judging, and decision making

MODULE 23: Thinking and ReasoningThinkingManipulation of mental representations of information

Mental Images: Examining the Minds EyeRepresentations in the mind of an object or eventNot just visual representations but every modality

Concepts: Categorizing the WorldConceptsCategorizations of objects, events, or people that share common propertiesPrototypesHighly representative examples of a concept Example: Vehicle

Reasoning: Making Up Your MindSyllogistic Reasoning: The Formal Rules of LogicKind of formal reasoning in which a person draws a conclusion from a set of assumptionsExamplePremise 1: All professors are mortal. Premise 2: Professor Rivera is a professor.Conclusion: Therefore, Dr. Rivera is mortal.

Reasoning: Making Up Your MindAlgorithmRule that, if applied appropriately, guarantees a solution to a problem

a + b = c

Reasoning: Making Up Your MindHeuristicCognitive shortcut that may lead to a solutionRepresentativeness heuristicRule one applies when he judges people by the degree to which they represent a certain category or group of peopleAvailability heuristic Judging the probability of an event on the basis of how easily the event can be recalled from memory

Computers and Problem Solving: Searching for Artificial Intelligence

Field that examines how to use technology to imitate the outcome of human thinking, problem-solving, and creative activities

MODULE 24: Problem SolvingHow do people approach and solve problems?

What are the major obstacles to problem solving?

What is creativity?

Preparation: Understanding and Diagnosing ProblemsWell-defined ProblemBoth the nature of the problem itself and the information needed to solve it are available and clear

Ill-defined ProblemNot only the specific nature of the problem is unclear, but the information required to solve the problem is less obvious

Preparation: Understanding and Diagnosing ProblemsKinds of ProblemsArrangement problemsProblems of inducing structureTransformation problems

Preparation: Understanding and Diagnosing ProblemsRepresenting and Organizing the ProblemDepends on the way a problem is phrased, or framed

Production: Generating SolutionsMeans-end AnalysisInvolves repeated tests for differences between the desired outcome and what currently exists Most frequently applied heuristic in problem solving

Production: Generating SolutionsForming Subgoals: Dividing Problems into Their Parts

Insight: Sudden AwarenessWolfgang Khler

Judgment: Evaluating the SolutionsImpediments to Solutions: Why Is Problem Solving Such a Problem?Functional FixednessTendency to think of an object only in terms of its typical useMental SetTendency for old patterns of problem solving to persist

Judgment: Evaluating the SolutionsImpediments to Solutions: Why Is Problem Solving Such a Problem?Inaccurate evaluation of solutionsConfirmation biasProblem solvers favor initial hypotheses and ignore contradictory information that supports alternative hypotheses or solutions

Creativity and Problem SolvingCreativityAbility to generate original ideas or solve problems in novel waysDivergent thinkingAbility to generate unusual, yet appropriate, responses to problems or questionsConvergent thinkingProduces responses that are based primarily on knowledge and logic

MODULE 25: Language How do people use language?

How does language develop?

MODULE 25: LanguageCommunication of information through symbols arranged according to systematic rules

Grammar: Languages LanguageGrammarSystem of rules that determines how our thoughts can be expressedPhonologySmallest basic units of speechPhonemes SyntaxRules that indicate how words and phrases can be combined to form sentencesSemantics Meanings of words and sentences

Language Development: Developing a Way with WordsBabblingSpeechlike but meaningless sounds

Production of LanguageTelegraphic speechOvergeneralization

Language Development: Developing a Way with WordsApproachesLearning theory approachNativist approachUniversal grammarLanguage-acquisition deviceNeural system in the human brainInteractionist approachGenetically determined predispositions and environmental circumstances that help teach language

The Influence of Language on Thinking: Do Eskimos Have More Words for Snow than Texans Do?

Linguistic-relativity hypothesisNotion that language shapes and, in fact, may determine the way people in a specific culture perceive and understand the world

Do Animals Use Language? Chimpanzees and sign languageCritics contend that language such animals use lacks grammar and complex and novel constructions of human language

Teaching with Linguistic Variety: Bilingual EducationBilingual Education

Immersion ProgramsStudents are immediately plunged into foreign language instruction in all subjects

Alternation Model