Cognitive psychology is the study of

mental processes by which people

process and remember info,

develop language, solve problems,

and think.

Cognition - Mental activities involved in acquiring, retaining, and using knowledge

What is thought?

• There are basically two types of thought…

1. Concepts (schemas)…usually based on prototypes.

2. Images

Our concept of men may include all of the following guys….

But they are based on our prototype (ideal) male…..

Concepts (mental representation of a group or category that shares similar characteristics)

– How do we learn concepts? a. Artificial concepts (definitions) are

formed by logical, specific rules. b. Natural concepts/prototypes are

formed by our experiences in everyday life.

c. Hierarchies help us group concepts into subcategories within broader categories.

Cognition

Which bird is a prototypical bird?

Hierarchies

• We develop hierarchies for concepts to organize information in our memory

How do we solve problems?

Trial and Error

Algorithms • A rule that

guarantees the right solution to a problem.

• Usually by using a formula.

• They work but are sometimes impractical.

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Algorithms

Algorithms, which are very time consuming, exhaust all possibilities before arriving at a

solution. Computers use algorithms.

S P L O Y O C H Y G

If we were to unscramble these letters to form a word using an algorithmic approach, we would face

907,208 possibilities.

Heuristics

• A rule-of-thumb strategy that often allows us to make judgments and solve problems efficiently.

•A short cut (that can be prone to errors).

Who would you trust to baby-sit your child?

Your answer is based on your heuristic of their appearances.

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Heuristics

S P L O Y O C H Y G S P L O Y O C H G Y P S L O Y O C H G Y P S Y C H O L O G Y

Put a Y at the end, and see if the word

begins to make sense.

Insight – the “A-ha! Moment”

Insight involves a sudden novel

realization of a solution to a problem. Humans and animals

have insight.

No real strategy is involved

you just me What does this phrase mean?

What does this phrase mean?

stood well view Often fun, satisfying,

and one of the reasons that people enjoy working on word jumbles and other mental puzzles (causes a pleasing excitement)

What are some obstacles to problem solving?

Confirmation Bias

• A tendency to search for information that confirms one’s preconceptions.

• For example, if one believes that all Italians are in shape and go tanning, then they turn on MTV.

Look…I knew it was true!!! But is it really?

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Fixation

Fixation: An inability to see a problem from a fresh perspective. This impedes problem

solving. Two examples of fixation are mental set and functional fixedness.

The Matchstick Problem: How would

you arrange six matches to form four equilateral triangles?

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The Mind Can Refuse to Make Connections

Q. How do you put a bear in a refrigerator?

A. Open the door, put the bear in, close the door.

Q. How do you put a lion in the refrigerator?

A. Open the door, take out the bear, put the lion in.

Q. Noah is hosting an animal conference. All animals

but one attend. Which one?

A. The lion who is freezing his butt off in the refrigerator

Q. You want to cross a river that is inhabited by crocodiles.

How do you do it?

A. Swim across – the crocs are at the conference.

Mental set

• a.k.a. rigidity

• The tendency to approach a problem one particular way, usually a way that has been successful in the past.

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Mental Set

Using no more than four lines, can you connect all nine dots without lifting your pencil from the paper?

(Mental Sets Continued)

• To overcome mental sets you must “think outside the box”—literally!

Functional Fixedness (thinking of an object as only functioning in its usual way) • Can you use these supplies

to mount the candle on the wall so that it can be lit in a normal way without toppling over?

Functional fixedness occurs when a person is unable to recognize a new use for a familiar object

Thinking—Five Key Barriers to Problem Solving

(Functional Fixedness Continued)

• To overcome functional fixedness, you must think of the matchbox, tacks, and candle all functioning in new ways.

This person has overcome functional fixedness

How are our judgments and decisions influenced?

Misuse of heuristics Overconfidence Belief Bias Belief Perseverance

Representativeness Heuristic

• Judging a situation based on how similar the aspects are to the prototypes the person holds in their mind.

• Like thinking everyone from Decatur is preppy, or someone with glasses is nerdy, or a blonde is not smart.

•If I tell you that Sonia Dara is a Sports Illustrated swimsuit model, you would make certain quick judgments (heuristics) about her…like about her interests or intelligence. •She is an economics / human evolutionary biology major at Harvard University.

Who went to Harvard? My friend Dan is a smart dude, but did not go to Harvard (but he looks like he did).

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Representativeness Heuristic

Linda is 31, single, outspoken and very bright. She majored in philosophy in college. As a student, she was deeply concerned with discrimination and other social issues, and she participated in antinuclear demonstrations. Which statement is more likely?

a. Linda is a bank teller

b. Linda is a bank teller and a feminist activist.

Availability Heuristic

• Judging a situation based on examples of similar situations that initially come to mind.

• Vivid examples in the news often cause an availability heuristic.

Which place would you be more scared of getting mugged or even murdered?

Los Angeles, CA

Gary, Indiana

The crime rate of Gary, Indiana is MUCH higher than Los Angeles. But when you think of crime, which town comes to mind?

The Availability and Representativeness Heuristics

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Overconfidence Misuse of heuristics, confirmation of beliefs, and the inclination to explain failures increase

our overconfidence. Overconfidence is a tendency to overestimate the accuracy of our

beliefs and judgments.

At a stock market, both the seller and the buyer may be

confident about their decisions on a stock.

Belief Bias • The tendency for

one’s preexisting beliefs to distort logical reasoning.

• Sometimes making invalid conclusions valid or vice versa.

• So, we more easily see the illogic of conclusions that run counter to our beliefs than those that agree with our beliefs.

Premise 1: some communists are golfers Premise 2: all golfers are Marxists Conclusion: Some communists are Marxists Agree?

Premise 1: Americans support free speech Premise 2: Dictators are not Americans Conclusion: Dictators do not support free speech Agree?

Premise 1: Robins have feathers Premise 2: Chickens are not robins Conclusion: Chickens do not have feathers Agree?

Belief Perseverance • Clinging to your initial conceptions after the basis on which they were formed has been discredited. All Cowboy fans who still believe

that this is their year are suffering from belief perseverance.

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Formal Reasoning -Logic

• Deductive Reasoning

• Reasoning from the general to the specific

• An argument whose premises make its conclusion certain

• Drawing conclusions from a set of observations or premises.

• If the premises are true, the conclusion must also be true.

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Formal Reasoning -Logic

• Inductive Reasoning • Reasoning from the

specific to the general • an argument whose

premises make its conclusion likely

• Form conclusions about all members based on a few.

• Draw conclusions but could be conceivably wrong if the few we chose are not representative of the whole.

Formal Reasoning - Logic

• Deductive Reasoning Examples: • 1. All oranges are fruits

2. All fruits grow on trees 3. Therefore, all oranges grow on trees

• The soccer game is on either Thursday or Friday. I just found out that the game is not on Thursday, so the game must be on Friday.

• If the two premises really are true, then there is no

possible way that the conclusion could be false.

• Inductive Reasoning Example: • All the tigers observed

in a particular region have yellow black stripes, therefore all the tigers native to this region have yellow stripes

• My dog has never bitten me, so dogs don’t bite.

• Even if all the premises are true, it is still possible that the

conclusion is false.

January has always been cold here

in Siberia. Today is January 14, so it

is going to be another cold day in

Siberia.

This argument is inductive. The premises makes

the conclusion likely, but they do not guarantee

that the conclusion is true. To put the point

another way, it is possible that the

premises of this argument could be true and

the conclusion could still be false. One can,

for example, imagine a freak warm day

in Siberia on January 14.

Framing • 90% of the population will be saved when they take this medication…..or

• 10% of the population will die when they take this medication.

In many North American and European countries people can elect to become organ donors when they get a driver’s license.

• In countries where the default is “yes” but one can opt out, nearly 100% are organ donors.

• In countries where the default option is “no” but one can opt in, the rate is closer to 25%.

• The way a problem is presented can drastically effect the way we view it.

Framing in the consumer world Be aware of what people you don’t know - know about you…

CREATIVITY

• Almost impossible to define.

• Little correlation between creativity and intelligence.

• Convergent Thinking versus Divergent Thinking

Divergent thinking, Convergent thinking

• Divergent thinking is thinking in which multiple solutions are desired. (creativity tests – areas in frontal lobe.)

• Convergent thinking is more conforming but just as good. Sometimes the standard way is the best. (school success, intelligence tests – left parietal lobe)

Example of Divergent Thinking

A man who lived on the 10th floor of an apartment

building took the elevator to the ground floor every

summer morning in order to get to work. When coming

home in the late afternoon, the man took the elevator to

the 5th floor and walked up the stairs to his apartment

on the 10th floor except on rainy days when the man

took the elevator all the way to 10.

How do you explain this behavior?

1. The man was a little person and could only reach as

high as the 5th floor button. On rainy days, though,

he could use his umbrella to hit the 10th floor button.

2. The man enjoyed the exercise of walking up steps but

could only manage 5 floors at a time. On rainy days he

would create a muddy mess in the hallway so he took

the elevator to 10 then.

3. The stairs from the 5th to 10th floor are outside and

unprotected. The man took the stairs when convenient

to enjoy the late afternoon sun and view overlooking

the ocean. On rainy days that was out of the question.

Example of Divergent Thinking

Language

A means of communication.

Language can be…..

Phonemes

• In a spoken language, the smallest distinctive sound unit.

• Chug has three phonemes, ch, u, g.

How many phonemes does platypus have?

Morphemes

• In a language, the smallest unit that carries meaning.

• Can be a word or part of a word

• Can be a prefix (pre) or suffix (ed).

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Structuring Language

Phrase

Sentence

Meaningful units (290,500) … meat, pumpkin. Words

Smallest meaningful units (100,000) … un, for. Morphemes

Basic sounds (about 40) … ea, sh. Phonemes

Composed of two or more words (326,000) … meat eater.

Composed of many words (infinite) … She opened the jewelry box.

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Grammar

Grammar is the system of rules in a language that enable us to communicate with and

understand others.

Grammar

Syntax Semantics

Semantics • The set of rules

by which we derive meaning in a language.

• Adding ed at the end of words means past tense.

The Chinese languages do not have expansive semantic rules. They usually have totally different symbols for different tenses.

Syntax

• The rules for combining words into grammatically sensible sentences.

• In English, adjectives come before nouns, but not in Spanish!!

Is this the White House of the House White?

Language Acquisition

Stages that we learn language…

1. Babbling Stage – 4 months

2. Holophrastic Stage (one word stage) – 12 months

3. Telegraphic Speech Stage (two word stage) – 24 months

• After the telegraphic stage we get overgeneralization. You never starve in

the desert because of all the sand-which-is there.

How do we learn language?

How do we explain language development?

Skinner / Bandura • Skinner thought that we can explain language development through social learning theory (which is?).

• If we are rewarded for saying a word, we repeat it.

• If we are punished for saying a word, we don’t repeat it.

• Language learned through social reinforcement/punishment.

Chomsky’s Theory (nativist theory)

• We learn language too quickly for it to be through reinforcement and punishment.

• Inborn universal language acquisition device

Critical period hypothesis Eric Lenneberg - 1967

• Supports Chomsky’s LAD theory

• There is a critical period for language learning.

• There is no agreement about how long this sensitive period lasts.

• Genie (The Wild Child) provided evidence that language cannot be learned after puberty.

Does language influence our thinking?

Sapir -Whorf’s Linguistic Determinism

• The idea that language determines the way we think (not vice versa).

•The Hopi tribe has no past tense in their language, so Whorf says they rarely think of the past.

(Strong influence)

Linguistic relativity • Sapir-Whorf’s hypothesis that language can influence the way we

think

Basic Color Terms

English purple Blue Green Yellow Orange Red

Shona cipswuk

a

citema cicena cipswuk

a

Bassa hui zðza

Color delineations are arbitrary. But once we make them, they affect us. Native shona speakers report that blue and green are more similar than blue and purple, for example.

(Weaker influence)

A man and his son were in an automobile accident. The man died on the way to the hospital, but the boy was rushed into surgery. The emergency room surgeon said "I can't operate, that's my son!" How is this possible?

Language influences thinking

• Studies of the effects of the generic pronoun “he” show that subtle prejudices can be conveyed by the words we choose to express our everyday thoughts

• Some evidence indicates that vocabulary enrichment, particularly immersion in bilingual education, can enhance thinking – Children of signing deaf parents become fluent in

sign language and outperform other students on measures of academic and intelligence achievement

Do people that speak more than one language think differently depending on

their language at that time?

Figure 10.11 Language and perception

Myers: Psychology, Eighth Edition Copyright © 2007 by Worth Publishers

When a language provides words for objects or events, we can think about these objects more clearly and remember them. It is easier to think about two colors with two different names (A) than colors with

the same name (B) (Özgen, 2004).

Scenario one - The random breath test. Police officer: "Had anything to drink tonight, madam?" Driver: "That's a complex question, but I would like to say that I've been driving for over a decade now and am comfortable that my offence-to-kilometre ratio is well below the national average." Scenario two mathematics exam. Exam paper: "Differentiate 3x + tan x with respect to x." Student: "Quite frankly I think I've answered enough questions on x and tan over the past six years to make my position on this matter absolutely clear."

DOUBLESPEAK Doublespeak is language designed to alter our perception of reality

and to corrupt our thinking.

Can be humorous, like labeling a “mechanic” an “automotive internist”

a. Euphamism – an inoffensive or positive word or phrase

used to avoid harsh, unpleasant, or distasteful reality. Ie: Tax increase = revenue enhancement.

b. Jargon – Specialized language of a trade or profession, such as medicine, law, engineering, psychology. Crack in metal support beam = discontinuity

c. Gobbledygook – piling on words, or overwhelming the audience with long sentences.

d. Inflated language – Makes ordinary seem extraordinary, to make everyday things seem impressive, or to make the simple complex.

Thinking without Language • We can think in words.

• But more often we think in mental pictures.

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Thinking in Images

To a large extent thinking is language-based. When alone, we may talk to ourselves. However,

we also think in images. (Especially when relying on procedural memory)

2. When we are riding our bicycle.

1. When we open the hot water tap.

We don’t think in words, when:

Do Animals think?

Kohler’s Chimpanzees • Kohler

exhibited that Chimps can problem solve.

Do animals use language?