ThinkingThinkingProblem SolvingProblem Solving

CreativityCreativity

ThinkingThinkingProblem SolvingProblem Solving

CreativityCreativityVI VI make 7 ---make 7 ---

IX IX make 6 ---make 6 ---

IX IX make 6 ---make 6 ---

VII

SIX

1 x 6

IntelligenceAnalyzing situations, Making decisions, Using language

• Cognition: mental activities involved in…– Acquiring…– Retaining…remembering– Using…Knowledge

• Thinking• communicating

• Thinking: manipulating mental representations of info in order to draw inferences & conclusions

Creating concepts (mental categories)

Natural concepts

• Formed by experience• Empirically

• Fuzzy boundaries• Compare to

PROTOTYPE– Typical example of

object– Based on average

features

Formal concepts

• Formed by learning– Rules– Defining features– All or nothing– logically

Example of prototypes• Robin, sparrow, eagle• Red or blue• Equilateral triangle• A car• Short declarative statement• Superman, batman, fireman• Single act by a male • Video game• Socrates or Aristotle• Twilight, Divergent

• A bird• A color• A triangle• A motor vehicle• A sentence• A hero• A heroic action• A game• A philosopher• A writer

High Need for Cognition: engage in & enjoy thinking

• John Cacioppo & Richard Petty• Discriminated btwn university faculty & factory workers on assembly lines • engage in & enjoy thinking vs. perform repetitive & monotonous tasks for a living

• No relationship with test anxiety & social desirability

• Positive correlation effective problem solvers– Field independence (internal source of info) & general intelligence– preferred a complex problem-solving task over a simple one.– desire & actively seek out information in forming their

attitudes– express opinions more quickly (great deal of prior knowledge)– See selves in control of fate, more open to experience– Cognitive: persistence, confidence, complexity

• Negative correlation– Dogmatism (arrogant assertion of opinions)

Exemplar vs. PrototypeEssential vs. average

Problem Solving Strategies

• Algorithms: step by step

• Insight: Aha! Sudden realization

• Heuristics: general rule

• Trial & Error: keep trying various solutions

• Intuition: ‘gut feeling’ with out conscious process

• Its in the approach & how you view problems…»Pessimistic ~ obstacles that pervade &

ruin your life!»Optimistic ~ challenges you have the

power to overcome!

Making decisions & forming judgments

when we are uncertain…

• Estimating likelihood of Event…– Availability heuristic …how readily

available memory is.• EIU• If overestimate, we are more likely to…

– Representative heuristic …how similar to prototype.

» A form of stereotyping: we judge people according to the likelihood that they fit our representation of groups to which we feel they should belong.

Representative vs. Availability

• Assume females smarter than males since top 25% of students in your class are predominantly female.

• Rejecting the scientific belief that people cannot talk to the dead because you watched a hoax on TV where someone spoke to dead.

Heuristics:Anchoring heuristic• First guess • Assume initial guess

has some validity, even when no reason to do so.

• Influences outcome:

Base-rate fallacy (neglect)

• Favor some data & ignore other

• Focus on other info not relevant

• Motive fallacy

Creativity & problem solving…

• Novel & valuable ways • Expertise

• Imaginative thinking skills

• Venturesome personality

• Intrinsic motivation• Creative

environment

Obstacles to Prob Solv…

• Confirmation bias:

• Fixation: – Mental set (rigidity) …persist solving probs

how…?

– Functional Fixedness… prevents us from seeing…

• Lack of divergent thinking…

Convergent = “come together”Divergent = “divide”

Break mental set…• A hunter sees a bear 1

mile due south. He shoots & misses, and the bear runs off. The hunter walks the 1 mile south to where the bear had been, then 1 mile due east, then 1 mile due north-at which point the hunter is standing again at exactly the same spot from which the gun had been fired. What color was the bear?

Break fixations…(mental set or functional fixedness)

• Mental set: parents won’t let you go out…they are unreasonable, mean…

• Break mental set of above example… what would you tell yourself?

• be nice to p’s maybe they are right– test tomorrow, school night. – Unsafe conditions

Heuristics lead to...

• OVERCONFIDENCE ~ overestimating the accuracy of our knowledge & judgments.

• BELIEF PERSEVERANCE ~ clinging to beliefs in the face of contrary evidence

• FRAMING ~

It is amazing that human cognition is efficient & adaptive. With experience… we grow at making quick, shrewd judgments.

List your top 5 fearsIs the fear…

• Related to evolutionary history?

• Something you cannot control?

• Immediate?

• The result of the availability heuristic

Marshmallow challenge• Kids do better than business students• Marshmallow is a metaphor for hidden assumptions of

a project– Assumption = marshmallow is light and fluffy, and easily

supported by spaghetti sticks– Once build the structure, don’t seem so light

• Innovation: kindergarteners create taller & more interesting structures– Prototyping: – Kids spend more time playing & prototyping

» http://marshmallowchallenge.com/Welcome.html

• Orient selves to task– Talk about it, figure out what it will look like,

jockey for power, – Then spend time planning, organizing, lay

out spaghetti– Spend most time assembling sticks into

structure– Taa-daa turns into uh oh!

• We need to identify the assumptions in our project

• Is there a single right plan?• Average 20 in (best)• Specialized skills and Facilitation skills• Nature of incentives

– High Stakes decrease business– Increase students

Universal Characteristics of Human Language

• Language development similar across cultures; what are the common elements?

• Morphemes—smallest meaningful units of language– content morphemes (e.g., nouns, verbs, adjectives,

adverbs)– grammatical morphemes (e.g., articles, conjunctions,

some prefixes and suffixes)

Universal Characteristics of Human Language

• Phonemes—elementary vowel and consonant sounds

• Grammar—rules of language– phonology—how phonemes can be combined to

make morphemes– Semantics—Understanding meaning and word

combinations– syntax—how words can be combined to make phrases

and sentences• The White House vs. The House White

Language Development

• Infant preference for human speech over other sounds– before 6 months can hear differences used in all languages– after 6 months begin to hear only differences used in

native language

• Cooing—vowel sounds produced 2–4 months• Babbling—consonant/vowel sounds between

4 to 6 months• Even deaf infants coo and babble

Language Development

MONTH Speech Characteristic

2 Cooing vowel sounds 4 Babbling consonant/vowel 10 Babbling native language sounds12 One-word stage 24 Two-word stage (Telegraphic Speech)24+ Sentences

Features of Young Children’s Speech

• Telegraphic– gimme ball, want more (making a request) – no bed, no wet (negation) – mommy sock (subject-object "sentences," i.e. mommy get my sock)

• Overextension: the child applies a word to a broader class of objects or actions than in adult usage. – "dog" might be used to describe any four-legged animal, or the word

"eat" might be used to describe both eating and drinking

• Underextension : the child applies the word to a smaller class of objects than he or she should. – For instance, the word "cat" might be used to describe the family pet but

not unfamiliar cats.

• Over-regularization-misapplication of a rule of grammar or syntax in language use– I runned over to help my sister. My mom drived us to the store. The bestest part

was the cake. I was the mostest excited.

Place the following in the correct developmental order:

• 1. “Doggie,” while pointing to a cow • 2. “The dogs runned away”• 3. Doggie run.”• 4. “The dogs ran away”• 5. “Doggie”, while pointing to a dog• 6. “Timmy thinks like his head is full of mashed

potatoes”

1, 5, 3, 2, 4, 6

Social Learning & Operant Conditioning

Theory

• B.F. Skinner from the Behaviorist School

• Baby may imitate a parent.

• If they are reinforced they keep saying the word.

• If they are punished, they stop saying the word.

Chomsky’s Theory(nativist theory)

• We learn language too quickly for it to be through reinforcement and punishment.

• We have a a biological predisposition to learn language

• Inborn universal language acquisition device

Whorf’s Linguistic Relativity(linguistic determinism)

• The idea that language determines the way we think.

• Genie learns to throw a fit…

• The Hopi tribe has no past tense in their language, so Whorf says they rarely think of the past.

• Eskimos describing snow

Erik Lenneberg

• Born with principle to speak, but there is a deadline for applying that skill. – Critical period hypothesis

Do people that speak more than one language think differently

depending on their language at that time?

Thinking without Language• We can think in words.

• But more often we think in mental pictures.

In 1977, Reggie Jackson hit 3 HR’s against the Dodgers.

He has stated that before each at bat, he visualizes crushing a home run.

Do you think visualization helps?

Do Animals think?

Animal thinking – Form concepts– Classify – Display insight– Sort– Solve problems– Exhibit numerical ability– Tool use (fashion tools)

– Grooming– Courtship– Cultural diversity

• Transmit local cultural patterns

• Different dialects• Hunting styles

– Read person’s intent– Self-awareness– Altruism– Cooperation– Group aggression

Kohler’s Chimpanzees

• Kohler exhibited that Chimps can problem solve.

Honeybees seem to communicate

Apes and Signing

Answers AP Practice Test Questions p. 324-325

further practice at www.worthpublishers.com/myers

1. C. concepts2. D framing3. B recalling…4. E A golden retriever (dog)5. A B.F. Skinner6. D fixation7. B syntax8. A images9. D units of sound in a language10. E overconfidence11. D a position of ignorance12. C intuition13. A deciding that a new kid…14. B influence language has on thinking15. A Exposure to language in early childhood.