Unit 7 Part II: Cognition

1. CHS AP Psychology Unit 7 Part II: Cognition Essential Task 7.1: Define cognition and identify how the following interact to form our cognitive life: schemata/concepts, prototypes, assimilation, accommodation, effortful processing, and unconscious processing. 

2. Cognition Definition Cognition, or thinking, refers to a process that involves: • Knowing • Understanding • Remembering • Problem solving • Communicating. Purposeful!

3. Cognitive Psychology Cognition involves a number of mental activities, which are listed below: Concepts Problem solving Decision making Judgment formation Language Memory

4. Remember Schema? What prior knowledge lets us know what a CHAIR is? • Furniture • Seat • Four Legs • Back • Arms • Sits one person • Cushioned • Made of wood

5. Schema or Concept The mental grouping of similar objects, events, ideas, or people. There are a variety of chairs but their common features make up your CHAIR schema

6. Schemata can get fuzzy • Is a whale a mammal? • Are penguins and kiwis birds? • Are 17 year old people children or adults?

7. Can I read your mind?Get out a half sheet of paper to find out! • State a color. • Name or draw a triangle. • List the first type of motor vehicle that comes to mind. • Write a sentence • Give me a hero. • Describe a heroic act • Game • Philosopher • Writer • Pop Star

8. I gave schemata and tried to predict prototypes. • red or blue • a picture of an equilateral triangle • a car • a short declarative statement, e.g., “The boy is home.” • Superman, Batman, or possibly a fireman • a single act by a male, e.g. a rescue by a fireman • monopoly or some other board game • Socrates or Aristotle • Nicolas Sparks, or some other white male author • Justin Bieber or Taylor Swift or Lady Gaga

9. Prototypes A prototype is the BEST example or cognitive representation of something within a certain schema or concept. Schema List characteristics that make a place a college or university. Prototype Now list a specific college that BEST represents or embodies those characteristics.

10. The way we THINK leads us to… • Determine how we solve problems

11. 4 Problem Solving Steps • Define the Problem • Use that definition to decide what category a problem belongs to and then based on that • Select a solution strategy that would solve a problem in that category • Evaluate progress toward goal

12. Possible Solution Strategies • Trial and error • Works best with limited number of choices • Information retrieval • Retrieve from memory information about how such a problem has been solved in the past • Algorithms • Step-by-step methods that guarantees a solution • Methodical, logical rules or procedures that guarantee solving a particular problem. • Math problems are an example of the type best solved using an algorithm • Heuristics • Rules of thumb that may help simplify a problem, but do not guarantee a solution. • They are quicker than algorithms

13. 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.

14. Heuristics • In psychology, heuristics are simple, efficient rules, learned from experience • people use to • make decisions • come to judgments • solve problems typically when facing complex problems or incomplete information.

15. Heuristics Heuristics make it easier for us to use simple principles to arrive at solutions to problems. S P L O Y O C H Y G P S L O Y O C H G Y P S Y C H O L O G Y S P L O Y O C H G Y Heuristic at work: Y’s usually go at the end of a word.

16. Heuristics • A quick way to arrive at a solution, but it also is more error-prone. • It’s sometimes referred to as “jumping to conclusions.” • How can “jumping to conclusions” be a problem?

17. Obstacles to Solving Problems • Confirmation Bias • Search for things that fit our own prejudice and ignore facts • Motivation • Desire to solve a problem • Mental sets • Tendency to perceive and approach problems in certain ways • Functional fixedness • Tendency to see only a limited number of uses for an object

18. Confirmation Bias • While we make a decision, we actively look for information that confirms our ideas

19. Motivation • If you don’t attempt to solve a problem you won’t.

20. Mental Set • “We can't solve problems by using the same kind of thinking we used when we created them.” Albert Einstein

21. Functional Fixedness • “I can only use it for this one thing!”