PSYC 1010 Chapter Notes - Chapter 27: Availability Heuristic, Confirmation Bias, Belief Perseverance

• School: York University
• Department: Psychology
• Course: PSYC 1010
• Professor: Rebecca Jubis

Document Summary

Cognition: all the mental activities associated with thinking, knowing, remembering + communicating. Concept: a mental grouping of similar objects, events, ideas or people. Prototype: a mental image or best example of a category. Matching new items to a prototype provides a quick + easy method for sorting items into categories. More closely something matches our prototype of a concept, the more readily we recognize it as an example of the concept. Once we place an item in a category, our memory of it later shifts toward the category prototype. Some problems we solve through trial + error. Algorithms: 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. Heuristics: a simple thinking strategy that often allows us to make judgments + solve problems efficiently; usually speedier but also more error prone than algorithms. Insight: a sudden realization of a problem"s solution; contrasts with strategy-based solutions.