understanding psychology files/psychology/feldman10_ppt_ch08... · 2018-07-02 · reasoning: making...

UNDERSTANDING PSYCHOLOGY 10TH EDITION

By Robert Feldman

Powerpoint slides by Kimberly Foreman

Revised for 10th Ed by Cathleen Hunt

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Copyright McGraw-Hill, Inc. 2011

CHAPTER EIGHT:

COGNITION AND LANGUAGE

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MODULE 23:

Thinking and Reasoning

What is thinking?

What processes underlie reasoning and

decision making?

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MODULE 23:


Cognitive Psychology

› Branch of psychology that focuses on the study of

higher mental processes, including thinking,

language, memory, problem solving, knowing,

reasoning, judging, and decision making

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MODULE 23:


Thinking

› Manipulation of mental representations

of information

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Mental Images:

Examining the Mind’s Eye

Representations in the

mind of an object or

event

› Not just visual

representations but

every modality

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Concepts: Categorizing the World

Concepts

› Mental groupings of

similar objects, events, or

people

Prototypes

Highly representative

examples of a concept

Example:

Vehicle, Chair, right-

angled triangle

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Concepts: Categorizing the World

Measures of electrical activity in the brain differed according to the level

of categorization on which participants had been trained

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Reasoning: Making Up Your Mind

Syllogistic Reasoning: The Formal Rules of

Logic

› Kind of formal reasoning in which a person draws

a conclusion from a set of assumptions

› Example

Premise 1: All dogs are animals.

Premise 2: All animals have four legs.

Conclusion: Therefore, all dogs have four legs

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Algorithm

› Rule that, if applied appropriately, guarantees a

solution to a problem

a² + b² = c²

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Heuristic

› Thinking strategy that may lead to a solution

Representativeness heuristic

Rule one applies when he judges people by the degree

to which they represent a certain category or group of

people.

e.g.(even though, statistically, it is unlikely that any given

teenager will rob the store)

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Heuristic

› Thinking strategy that may lead to a solution

Availability heuristic

Judging the probability of an event on the basis of how

easily the event can be recalled from memory

e.g. although 10 times as many people die from falling

out of bed than from lightning strikes, we’re more afraid

of being hit by lightning.

The reason is that plane crashes and lightning strikes

receive far more publicity, and they are therefore more

easily remembered12


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

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e.g. A computer using artificial intelligence software was able to mimic

compositions by Johann Sebastian Bach so successfully it fooled expert

musicologists.

MODULE 24: Problem Solving

How do people approach and solve

problems?

What are the major obstacles to problem

solving?

What is creativity?

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Preparation: Understanding and

Diagnosing Problems

Well-Defined Problem

› Both the nature of the problem itself and the

information needed to solve it are available and

clear

Ill-Defined Problem

› Not only the specific nature of the problem is

unclear, but the information required to solve the

problem is less obvious 15



Diagnosing Problems

Kinds of Problems

› Arrangement problems

› Problems of inducing

structure

› Transformation problems

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Diagnosing Problems

Kinds of Problems


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Diagnosing Problems

Kinds of Problems


structure

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Diagnosing Problems

Kinds of Problems



structure

› Transformation problems

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Diagnosing Problems

Representing and Organizing the Problem

› Depends on the way a problem is phrased, or framed

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Production: Generating Solutions

Trial and Error

Means-end Analysis

› Involves repeated tests for differences between

the desired outcome and what currently exists

› Most frequently applied heuristic in problem

solving

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Production: Generating Solutions

Forming Subgoals: Dividing Problems into

Their Parts

Insight: Sudden Awareness

› Wolfgang Köhler› Insight : A sudden awareness of the relationships among various elements that

had previously appeared to be independent of one another.

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Judgment: Evaluating the

Solutions Impediments to Solutions: Why Is Problem Solving Such a Problem?

› Functional Fixedness Tendency to think of an object only in terms of its typical use

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› Functional Fixedness Tendency to think of an object only in terms of its typical use

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› Mental Set Tendency for old patterns of problem solving to persist

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› Mental Set

› It can prevent you from seeing beyond the apparent constraints of a problem.

› For example, try to draw four straight lines so that they pass through all nine dots in the grid below—without lifting your pencil from the page.

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Solutions

Impediments to Solutions: Why Is Problem Solving Such a Problem?

› Mental Set

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Solutions

Impediments to Solutions: Why Is Problem

Solving Such a Problem?

› Inaccurate evaluation of solutions

Confirmation bias

Problem solvers favor initial hypotheses and ignore

contradictory information that supports alternative

hypotheses or solutions

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Creativity and Problem Solving

Creativity

› Ability to generate original ideas or solve

problems in novel ways

Divergent thinking

Ability to generate unusual, yet appropriate, responses to

problems or questions

Convergent thinking

Produces responses that are based primarily on

knowledge and logic

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MODULE 25: Language

How do people use language?

How does language develop?

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MODULE 25: Language

Communication of information through

symbols arranged according to systematic

rules

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Grammar: Language’s Language

Grammar

› System of rules that determines how our thoughts

can be expressed

Phonology

Smallest basic units of speech

Phonemes

e.g. a morpheme like “Speech” contains 4 phonemes

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Grammar› System of rules that determines how our thoughts can be

expressed

Syntax

Rules that indicate how words and phrases can be combined to form sentences

e.g. English speakers have no difficulty recognizing that “TV down the turn” is not a meaningful sequence.

e.g. Changes in meaning caused by the different word orders in the following three utterances:

“John kidnapped the boy,”

“John, the kidnapped boy,”

and “The boy kidnapped John”33



Grammar

› System of rules that determines how our thoughts

can be expressed

Semantics

Meanings of words and sentences

e.g. We are able to make the distinction between:

“The truck hit Laura” (which we might say if we had just

seen a truck crashing into Laura)

versus

“Laura was hit by a truck” (which we might say to explain

why Laura didn’t show up for a party) 34


Language Development:

Developing a Way with Words

Babbling (babble)

› Speechlike but meaningless sounds

› “Critical periods” for language

Production of Language

› Telegraphic speech: 2 words

e.g. “I am drawing a dog” may become “Drawing dog.”

› Overgeneralization: apply rules inflexibly

e.g. “he walked” … “he runned”35




Approaches

› Learning theory approach: Language acquisition follows the principles of reinforcement and

conditioning.

› Nativist approach: genetically determined, innate mechanism directs language development.

Universal grammar

Language-acquisition device

Neural system in the human brain

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Approaches› Interactionist approach

Language development is produced through a combination of genetically determined predispositions and environmental circumstances that help teach language.

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The Influence of Language

on Thinking:

Do Eskimos Have More Words for Snow

Than Texans Do?

Linguistic-relativity hypothesis

› Notion that language shapes and, in fact, may

determine the way people in a specific culture

perceive and understand the world

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Do Animals Use Language?

Chimpanzees and sign language

› Chimps are able to communicate at surprisingly

high levels

Example: Washoe could sign 132 words and

combine simple sentences

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Do Animals Use Language?

Chimpanzees and sign language

› Critics contend that language such animals use

lacks grammar and complex and novel

constructions of human language

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Teaching with Linguistic Variety:

Bilingual Education

Bilingual Education

Immersion Programs

› Students are immediately plunged into foreign

language instruction in all subjects

Alternation Model

› Biculturalism 41


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understanding psychology files/psychology/feldman10_ppt_ch08... · 2018-07-02 · reasoning: making...

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