PSYC 2000 Lecture Notes - Lecture 16: Problem Solving, Decision-Making, Psych
Psych notes 10/18/2016
Cognition pt. 1
● Cognition or thinking: mental activity that occurs in the brain when a person is organizing
and attempting to understand and or communicate info to others
○ Involves acquiring, storing, retrieving, and using info
○ Making decisions, comparing things, solving problems
○ The mental manipulation of representations (abstract representations we have
for things) of info we encounter in our environments
● How people think…
○ The nature of thought or the processes involved in thinking
○ How well people think…
■ Variations among people in thinking ability
● Mental images: mental representations (approximations) that stand for objects or events
and have a picture-like quality
○ Interacted with in similar ways as physical objects
○ Not just for visions
○ Very helpful for memory and for learning or maintaining motor skills
● Concept: ideas that represent a class or group of objects, events, or activities that share
common characteristics or attributes
○ Contain important features of the objects or events people think about
○ Allow for the identification of new objects and events that may fit the concept (ex.
Seeing a new type of dog for the first time)
● Formal concepts: concepts formed by learning the specific rules or features that define it
○ Many acquired in school. Each member of the concept meets all the rules (or has
all the defining properties) and no nonmember does
○ Ex. a square
● Natural concepts: concepts formed as a result of people’s experience in the real world
○ Most concepts we form. Defined by a GENERAL set of features, not all of which
must be present for an object to be considered a member of the concept
○ Ex. birds, fruits
○ When we’re making judgments on attributes, we tend to have a prototype in mind
● Prototype: an example that closely matches the defining characteristics or common
features of a concept
○ Prototypes develop according to…
■ The exposure a person has to objects in a category
■ The knowledge of a person has about objects in a category
■ The culture of a person (regions)
● Decision making: process of evaluating alternatives and choosing among them
● Problem solving: the thoughts and actions required to achieve a certain goal
● Problem solving
○ Trial and error (mechanical solutions): trying one possible solution after another
until finding one that works
○ Algorithms: a systematic step-by-step procedure, such as a mathematical
formula, that guarantees a solution to a problem of a certain type
find more resources at oneclass.com
find more resources at oneclass.com
Document Summary
Cognition or thinking: mental activity that occurs in the brain when a person is organizing and attempting to understand and or communicate info to others. The mental manipulation of representations (abstract representations we have for things) of info we encounter in our environments. The nature of thought or the processes involved in thinking. Mental images: mental representations (approximations) that stand for objects or events and have a picture-like quality. Interacted with in similar ways as physical objects. Very helpful for memory and for learning or maintaining motor skills. Concept: ideas that represent a class or group of objects, events, or activities that share common characteristics or attributes. Contain important features of the objects or events people think about. Allow for the identification of new objects and events that may fit the concept (ex. Seeing a new type of dog for the first time) Formal concepts: concepts formed by learning the specific rules or features that define it.
