REVIEW Thinking

Learning Objectives

Test Yourself by taking a moment to answer each of these Learning Objective Questions (repeated here from within the module). Research suggests that trying to answer these questions on your own will improve your long-term memory of the concepts (McDaniel et al., 2009).

Question

25-1 What is cognition, and what are the functions of concepts?
ANSWER: Cognition refers to all the mental activities associated with thinking, knowing, remembering, and communicating. We use concepts, mental groupings of similar objects, events, ideas, or people, to simplify and order the world around us. We form most concepts around prototypes, or best examples of a category.

Question

25-2 What cognitive strategies assist our problem solving, and what obstacles hinder it?
ANSWER: An algorithm is a methodical, logical rule or procedure (such as a step-by-step description for evacuating a building during a fire) that guarantees a solution to a problem. A heuristic is a simpler strategy (such as running for an exit if you smell smoke) that is usually speedier than an algorithm but is also more error prone. Insight is not a strategy-based solution, but rather a sudden flash of inspiration that solves a problem. Obstacles to problem solving include confirmation bias, which predisposes us to verify rather than challenge our hypotheses, and fixation, such as mental set, which may prevent us from taking the fresh perspective that would lead to a solution.

Question

25-3 What is intuition, and how can the availability heuristic, overconfidence, belief perseverance, and framing influence our decisions and judgments?
ANSWER: Intuition is the effortless, immediate, automatic feelings or thoughts we often use instead of systematic reasoning. Heuristics enable snap judgments. Using the availability heuristic, we judge the likelihood of things based on how readily they come to mind, which often leads us to fear the wrong things. Overconfidence can lead us to overestimate the accuracy of our beliefs. When a belief we have formed and explained has been discredited, belief perseverance may cause us to cling to that belief. A remedy for belief perseverance is to consider how we might have explained an opposite result. Framing is the way a question or statement is worded. Subtle wording differences can dramatically alter our responses.

Question

25-4 What factors contribute to our fear of unlikely events?
ANSWER: We tend to be afraid of what our ancestral history has prepared us to fear (thus, snakes instead of cigarettes); what we cannot control (flying instead of driving); what is immediate (the takeoff and landing of flying instead of countless moments of trivial danger while driving); and what is most readily available (vivid images of air disasters instead of countless safe car trips).

Question

25-5 How do smart thinkers use intuition?
ANSWER: As people gain expertise, they grow adept at making quick, shrewd judgments. Smart thinkers welcome their intuitions (which are usually adaptive), but when making complex decisions they gather as much information as possible and then take time to let their two-track mind process all available information.

Question

25-6 What is creativity, and what fosters it?
ANSWER: Creativity, the ability to produce novel and valuable ideas, correlates somewhat with aptitude, but is more than school smarts. Aptitude tests require convergent thinking, but creativity requires divergent thinking. Robert Sternberg has proposed that creativity has five components: expertise; imaginative thinking skills; a venturesome personality; intrinsic motivation; and a creative environment that sparks, supports, and refines creative ideas.

Question

25-7 What do we know about thinking in other animals?
ANSWER: Researchers make inferences about other species' consciousness and intelligence based on behavior. Evidence from studies of various species shows that many other animals use concepts, numbers, and tools and that they transmit learning from one generation to the next (cultural transmission). And, like humans, some other species show insight, self-awareness, altruism, cooperation, and grief.

Terms and Concepts to Remember

Test yourself on these terms.

Question

cognition (p. 316)
concept (p. 316)
prototype (p. 316)
algorithm (p. 317)
heuristic (p. 317)
insight (p. 317)
confirmation bias (p. 317)
mental set (p. 318)
intuition (p. 318)
availability heuristic (p. 319)
overconfidence (p. 321)
belief perseverance (p. 322)
framing (p. 322)
creativity (p. 322)
convergent thinking (p. 325)
divergent thinking (p. 325)
an effortless, immediate, automatic feeling or thought, as contrasted with explicit, conscious reasoning.
narrowing the available problem solutions to determine the single best solution.
estimating the likelihood of events based on their availability in memory; if instances come readily to mind (perhaps because of their vividness), we presume such events are common.
a sudden realization of a problem's solution; contrasts with strategy-based solutions.
the tendency to be more confident than correct—to overestimate the accuracy of our beliefs and judgments.
a tendency to search for information that supports our preconceptions and to ignore or distort contradictory evidence.
clinging to one's initial conceptions after the basis on which they were formed has been discredited.
the way an issue is posed; how an issue is framed can significantly affect decisions and judgments.
a mental image or best example of a category. Matching new items to a prototype provides a quick and easy method for sorting items into categories (as when comparing feathered creatures to a prototypical bird, such as a robin).
a methodical, logical rule or procedure that guarantees solving a particular problem. Contrasts with the usually speedier but also more error-prone use of heuristics.
expanding the number of possible problem solutions; creative thinking that diverges in different directions.
all the mental activities associated with thinking, knowing, remembering, and communicating.
a simple thinking strategy that often allows us to make judgments and solve problems efficiently; usually speedier but also more error-prone than algorithms.
a tendency to approach a problem in one particular way, often a way that has been successful in the past.
a mental grouping of similar objects, events, ideas, or people.
the ability to produce new and valuable ideas.

Experience the Testing Effect

Page 329

Test yourself repeatedly throughout your studies. This will not only help you figure out what you know and don’t know; the testing itself will help you learn and remember the information more effectively thanks to the testing effect.

Question 9.1

1. A mental grouping of similar things is called a .

Question 9.2

2. The most systematic procedure for solving a problem is a(n) .

Question 9.3

3. Oscar describes his political beliefs as “strongly liberal,” but he has decided to explore opposing viewpoints. How might he be affected by confirmation bias and belief perseverance in this effort?
ANSWER: Oscar will need to guard against confirmation bias (searching for support for his own views and ignoring contradictory evidence) as he seeks out opposing viewpoints. Even if Oscar encounters new information that disproves his beliefs, belief perseverance may lead him to cling to these views anyway. It will take more compelling evidence to change his beliefs than it took to create them.

Question 9.4

4. A major obstacle to problem solving is fixation, which is a(n)

A.
B.
C.
D.

Question 9.5

5. Widely reported terrorist attacks, such as on 9/11 in the United States, led some observers to initially assume in 2014 that the missing Malaysian Airlines Flight 370 was probably also the work of terrorists. This assumption illustrates the heuristic.

Question 9.6

6. When consumers respond more positively to ground beef described as “75 percent lean” than to the same product labeled “25 percent fat,” they have been influenced by .

Question 9.7

7. Which of the following is NOT a characteristic of a creative person?

A.
B.
C.
D.

Use image to create your personalized study plan, which will direct you to the resources that will help you most in image .

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