Thinking has been defined as “going beyond the information given”

it is “a complex and high-level skill” that “fill[s] up gaps in the evidence”

as a process of searching through a problem space and as

what we do “when we are in doubt about how to act, what to believe, or what to desire.’

components of thoughts-

(The symbols we use in thinking are often words and language; therefore, thinking and language are closely related. A language makes available hundreds of thousands .of potential symbols -and gives us rules for using them. To a large degree, the availability of language symbols makes human thinking so much more sophisticated than other animals think. Although language is a powerful tool in human thought, as when we "talk to ourselves" internally, images are another essential type of symbol used in thinking.)

1. LANGUAGE AND THINKING -

• The words, their meanings, and the rules for joining them are stored in our semantic long-term memories. When we thinking with language, we draw on this store of information to use language as a tool of thought.

• Some theorists take a more extreme view of the role of language in thinking; they claim that language can actually determine the thoughts we are capable of having. But this linguistic relativity hypothesis is also known as linguistic determinism.

• there’s an innate human program for language ,

• deaf children with little verbal abilities score normal range on standardized test and cognitive performance. their ability develops relatively normally.

• deaf ppl learn sign lang and even if they don’t they’'ll develop one of their own

• it is shown that ppl whole berbal lang skills are minimal seem to have non verbal tool of thought they can think of signs.

2. images AND THINKING -

• When we use images to think, they are not usually complete "pictures in the head." They are usually incomplete.

• Consider the imagery you use, if you use it at all, in solving the following problems . Imagine that you are standing on a certain street corner in a section of a city you know well. How would you walk or drive from this point to some other part of the city?, When solving problems like these, most people report that their images are incomplete.

• The incomplete, abstract images most of us use in thinking seem to be constructed from elements stored in long-term memory.

3. Concepts

• are important language symbols used in thinking

• A concept is a symbolic construction that represents some common and general feature or features of many objects or events. Examples are "man," "red," "triangle," "motivation," "atom," "anger," and the word concept itself.

• These concepts, or categories, are acquired easily; appear in thinking very early in life; and, to some degree, reflect the way the brain processes and sorts information. An example of such a natural concept is the division of the colors of the spectrum into the categories "red," "green," and so forth

many of our concepts are acquired more slowly and with more effort.

Discrimination learning plays a role in the formation of some concepts. This type of learning occurs when some responses are rewarded, or reinforced, and other responses are not rewarded.

By seeing examples of a concept in different contexts, or settings,we often learn the defining features of the concept.

leaning by definition - Many of the concepts acquired in the later stages of a person's education are learned in this way. You have learned many concepts in this book by having them defined for you, and of course, dictionaries tell us what words and concepts mean.

Definition, then, helps us acquire concepts by describing them in terms of other words or concepts with which we are already familiar.

IMAGERY AND COGNITIVE THOUGHTS

1. Schemas- mental structures that enable you to interpret concepts and events. Piaget termed such mental structures schemas. We have schemas for concepts, such as “dog” and “development.” We have schemas for actions, such as “eating with chopsticks,” or “studying.” We also have schemas for solving problems, such as “finding the area of a circle” or “dealing with a crying baby.” In general, schemas are mental frameworks that guide thinking. According to Piaget, they are also the building blocks of development. Schemas form and change as we develop and organize our knowledge to deal with new experiences and predict future events.

2. An event schema or script consists of knowledge about sequences of interrelated, specific events and actions expected to occur in a certain way in particular settings (Baldwin, 1992). We have scripts for going to a restaurant, taking a vacation, listening to a lecture, going on a first date, and even making love. Conflict can arise, however, when your script differs from that of someone else in your world.

3. IMAGERY AND COGNITIVE MAPS - mental imagery, is a representation of a stimulus, that originates inside the brain rather than from external sensory input.

A cognitive representation of physical space is a special form of a visual concept called a cognitive map. people’s cognitive maps can be vastly different. Just like other elements of thinking, they are based on our unique perceptions. Cognitive maps help you get to your psychology class and enable you to give a friend directions to a nearby theater or deli.

• a cognitive map, a mental representation of the spatial layout. The concept of cognitive maps supported Tolman’s belief that learning does not merely “stamp in” stimulus-response connections. Rather, learning provides knowledge, and based on their knowledge, organisms develop an expectancy, a cognitive representation, of “what leads to what.” Behaviorists disagreed with Tolman’s interpretations and, as with insight, the debate over cognitive maps continues. Nevertheless, Tolman’s concept of expectancy remains a cornerstone of today’s cognitive approaches to classical and operant conditioning.

4. Visual imagery adds complexity and richness to our thinking, as do images involving other senses (sound, taste, smell, and touch). Thinking with sensory imagery can be helpful when solving problems in which relationships can be conveyed more clearly in an image than in words.

5. cultural influences on cognitive maps , mental maps reflect our subjective impressions of physical reality. the maps often mirror our view of the world that we have developed from the perspective of our own culture . cultural differences In education or geographical thinking.

^^STRATEGIES AND BARRIERS TO EFFECTIVE PROBLEM SOLVING- ^^

• well defined. Well-defined problems have a clear goal (you know immediately if you’ve reached the solution), present a small set of information to start from, and often (but not always) present a set of rules . or guidelines to abide by while you are working toward a solution.

• In contrast, ill-defined problems don’t have their goals, starting information, or steps clearly spelled out.

• Psychologists have focused on well-defined issues for several reasons: They are easy to present, they don’t take weeks or months to solve, they are easy to score, and they are easy to change.

• It is assumed that problem solving for ill-defined problems works in similar ways to problem-solving for well-defined problems, although the assumption has not been extensive tested (Galotti, 1989). In one study, Schraw, Dunkle, and Bendixen (1995) demonstrated that performance on well-defined problems was not correlated with performance on an ill-defined one

METHODS OF PROBLEM SOLVING -

1. Generate-and-Test Technique it consists of generating possible solutions (for example, “Let’s call people at American Express and see if they can help”) and then testing them (for example, “Hello, American Express? Can you help me with the following problem . . . ?”). The tests didn’t work for the first four possibilities but did for the fifth (it would work, the cost was reasonable, and the money would get there in time)

   Generate-and-test is a technique that loses its effectiveness very rapidly when there are many possibilities and when there is no particular guidance for the generation process.Generate-and-test can be useful, however, when there aren’t a lot of possibilities to keep track of.

2. Means–Ends Analysis- It involves comparing the goal (Summit, New Jersey) with the starting point thinking of possible ways of overcoming the difference and choosing the best one. The selected option (taking a plane) may have certain prerequisite conditions (for example, being at the airport, with a ticket). If the preconditions aren’t met, then a subgoal is created (for example, “How can you get to the airport?”). Through the creation of subgoals, the task is broken down into manageable steps that allow a full solution to be constructed.

Newell and Simon (1972) THE study means the end analysis by using arithmetic or cryptic arithmetic problems. GPS- GENERAL PROBLEM SOLVER, the study involved human participants and the GPS. the researcher gave the arithmetic problem to both. human participants used verbal protocols in words and languages. GPS produces its goals first and then sub goals and then operation. operations to be applied.

3. working backward.

• Its user analyzes the goal to determine the last step needed to achieve it, then the next-to-last step, and so on. In the problem of getting to my mother’s house, for instance, the very last step is to walk from outside her front door into the house. The problem in getting to her front door from the Tampa airport can be solved by taking a cab to her house. I can get a cab at the airport, and so on. Working backward often involves establishing subgoals, so it functions similarly to means–ends analysis.

• the solution process usually does not start with the problem solver making a move and seeing what happens. Instead, even after only a little practice, the usual pattern is to plan moves in advance, setting up many intermediate goals along the way (Egan & Greeno, 1974). Of course, it takes a few trials before the problem solver adopts the correct solution.

4. In solving a problem, you often need to make certain provisional assumptions. Sometimes they turn out to be wrong and need to be “unmade.” In those instances, it is useful to have some means of keeping track of when and which assumptions were made so you can back up to certain points of choice and start over, a process known as backtracking.

• The key to backtracking, then, is that the problem solver keep close track of choice points—places where she made a provisional assumption—so that, if subsequent work leads to a dead end, she can “back up” to that choice point and make a different assumption.

5. Reasoning by Analogy- Analogical reasoning is a kind of reasoning that is based on finding a common relational system between two situations, exemplars, or domains.

• When such a common system can be found, then what is known about one situation can be used to infer new information about the other.

BARRIERS

Several factors can hinder or enhance problem-solving.

1. MENTAL SET- mental set—a frame of mind involving an existing model of a procedure for problem-solving. Another term for the mental set is entrenchment. When problem solvers have an entrenched mental set, they fixate on a strategy that normally works well in solving many problems but that does not work well in solving this particular problem.

   Mental sets also can influence the solution of rather routine problems.

2. Another type of mental set involves fixation on a particular use (function) for an object. Specifically, functional fixedness is the inability to realize that something known to have a particular use may also be used for performing other functions (German & Barrett, 2005; Rakoczy et al., 2009). Functional fixedness prevents us from solving new problems by using old tools in novel ways. Becoming free of functional fixedness is what first allowed people to use a reshaped coat hanger to get into a locked car. It is also what first allowed thieves to pick simple spring door locks with a credit card.

3. Stereotypes

• are beliefs that members of a social group tend more or less uniformly to have particular types of characteristics.

• We seem to learn many stereotypes during childhood. For example, cross-cultural studies of children show their increasing knowledge about— and use of—gender stereotypes across the childhood years.

• Stereotypes often arise in the same way that other kinds of mental sets develop. We observe a particular instance or set of instances of some pattern. We then may overgeneralizE from those limited observations. We may assume that all future instances similarly will demonstrate that pattern.

4. transfer- Transfer is any carryover of knowledge or skills from one problem situation to another ransfer can be either negative or positive.

• Negative transfer occurs when solving an earlier problem makes it harder to solve a later one. Sometimes an early problem gets an individual on a wrong track.

• Positive transfer occurs when the solution of an earlier problem makes it easier to solve a new problem. That is, sometimes the transfer of a mental set can be an aid to problem-solving. For instance, one may transfer early math skills, such as addition, to advanced math problems of the kinds found in algebra or physics (Bassok & Holyoak, 1989; Chen & Daehler, 1989; see also Campbell & Robert, 2008)

4. Incubation—putting the problem aside for a while without consciously thinking about it—offers one way in which to minimize negative transfer. It involves taking a pause from the stages of problem solving

JUDGING AND MAKING DECISIONS- write exams later pg 473 galotii add anchoring etc

1. UTILITY MODEL OF DECISION MAKING

2. Research on people’s decision-making skills and styles has consistently demonstrat473 ed the existence of certain systematic and common biases, and ways of thinking that lead to systematic errors. Typically, the biases are understandable and often justifiable ways of thinking under most conditions but can lead to error when misapplied. These systematic biases have been labeled cognitive illusions (von Winterfeldt & Edwards, 1986b). The term itself is meant to invoke the analogy to perceptual illusions: errors of cognition that come about for understandable reasons and that provide information relevant to understanding the normal functioning.

3. argued that when faced with the task of estimating probability, frequency, or numerosity, people rely on shortcuts or rules of thumb, known as heuristics, to help make these judgments easier. One such heuristic is known as the availability heuristic—“assessing the ease with which the relevant mental operation of retrieval, construction, or association can be carried out” (p. 208). In other words, instances (for example, particular words, particular committees, or particular paths) that are more easily thought of, remembered, or computed stand out more in one’s mind. Those instances are particularly salient and hence are deemed to be more frequent or probable,

Our own efforts and behaviors are more apparent and available to us than are the efforts and behaviors of others. After all, we are certain to be present when we perform an action, but we may or may not be when a friend or spouse does. Our own thoughts and plans are important to us, and we may be formulating them just at the time when other people do or say something, thus distracting us from their contributions. In general, what we do, think, say, or intend is more accessible to us than to anyone else and also more accessible than anyone else’s deeds, thoughts, words, or intentions. Small wonder, then, that in joint ventures each partner often feels she or he shoulders a greater share of the burden. 4. Representativeness- The problem is that people generally expect that a random process, such as a coin flip, will always produce results that are random looking. That is, they expect the results to be representative of the process that generated them. People who make judgments this way are said to be using the representativeness heuristic.

A related error in judgment is called the gambler’s fallacy. 5. the sunk cost effect: “[the] greater tendency to continue an endeavor once an investment in money, effort, or time has been made” explanation goes something like this: Money spent is already gone. Whether or not a great deal of money (or time, or energy, or emotion) has been spent does not affect the likelihood of future success. Those resources have been used, regardless of which option is chosen. All that should affect a decision, therefore, are the expected future benefits and costs of each option (Arkes & Hutzel, 2000). 6. The phenomenon of seeing nonexistent relationships is called $illusory correlation.$There is no ambiguity over where individual cases fall (everyone is classified as a hair twister or not, and under stress or not), and there is no reason to expect personal biases on your part to interfere with your estimate. 7. Hindsight Bias . Fischhoff (1982b) described this bias as a tendency to “consistently exaggerate what could have been anticipated in foresight” when looking back (in hindsight) on an event (p. 341). The idea is that once you know how a decision has turned out, you look back on the events leading up to the outcome as being more inevitable than they really were 8. confirmation bias - This is the tendency to search only for information that will confirm one’s initial hunch or hypothesis, and to overlook or ignore other information. Parents go wrong if they only seek information that would potentially confirm their hunch that a particular option is the best. If they only talk to parents of children in the program, they talk to parents most likely to be happy customers of the program. (If they weren’t happy with the program, then presumably those parents would have placed their children in other programs.) The most rational decision, then, would be made by talking to a randomly selected set of parents, or to parents who have transferred out of a particular option, as well as to parents with children still in that option. 9. Overconfidence- people’s impressions of their own accuracy are inflated. Overconfidence is a real impediment to good decision making. If your confidence in your judgment is inappropriately high, you probably will spurn any offers of help in making decisions because you will fail to see the need for it. Even when good decision aids are available to help you overcome other biases and errors of judgment, overconfidence will make you weight your own intuitions more heavily than any objective information that might be available. Overconfidence, then, can be thought of as arrogance in decision making.

DESCRIPTIVE MODELS OF DECISION MAKING

issue, though, is how people sift through all the gathered information to reach a decision.we will review two models that describe, or purport to describe, exactly what people are doing when they structure a decision and choose from alternatives.

1. Image Theory- The fundamental assumption of this theory is that in making real-life decisions, people rarely go through a formal structuring process in which they lay out all their options and criteria and then weigh and integrate various pieces of information, Instead, most of the decision-making work is done during a phase known as the “prechoice screening of options.” In this phase, decision makers typically winnow the number of options under active consideration to a small number, sometimes one or two.They do this by asking themselves whether a new goal, plan, or alternative is compatible with three images: the value image (containing the decision maker’s values, morals, and principles), the trajectory image (containing the decision maker’s goals and aspirations for the future), and the strategic image (the way in which the decision maker plans to attain his or her goals).

2. he argues, experts are most likely to rely on intuition, mental simulation, making metaphors or analogies, and recalling or creating stories. Klein and his associates expanded these studies into a series of investigations they dub “naturalistic decision making” (Lipshitz, Klein, Orasanu, & Salas, 2001), and the model they created is called recognition - primed decision making

3. IMPROVING IN DECISION MAKING - Real improvement in reducing bias seems to require extensive practice with the task, individual feedback about one’s performance, and some means of making the statistical and/or probabilistic aspects of the decisions clearer. Under some of these conditions, substantial reductions in bias have been reported