PSYC 1200 Chapter 10: Thinking and Emotion

THINKING Basic Concepts of Thought: Concepts: real world objects, activities, etc, that are different from one another but share common properties (ex: dogs, games, etc) -Mental representations of concepts help guide correct behaviours even for objects/situations never experiences before. -People seem best able to use concepts at a level that is not too general and not too specific. 3 Levels: 1. Super-ordinate Level (General): (ex: animal, furniture) 2. Basic Level (Not General, Not Specific): (ex: dog, chair) 3. Subordinate Level (Specific): (ex: cocker-spaniel, beanbag chair) -members of categories may not share ALL features in common BUT one member of a category shares features with a number of other members of that category. Prototype Theory: Prototype: mental representation of the category average. If something is similar to the Prototype it is probably part of that category. -Propositions: representations of how one concept relates to another (ex: birds eat worms) - Cognitive Schemas: propositions that are linked into more complex sets of knowledge. (ex: things that happen in restaurants) Subconscious Processes: can be brought into awareness easily but can occur without conscious awareness or effort (ex: driving, walking, etc) Non-conscious Processes: cannot be accessed by consciousness (ex: identifying people, preferences) Methods of Formal Reasoning: 1) Algorithm: series of steps that lead to an accurate solution. 2) Logical Rules: include deductive and inductive reasoning:  Deductive Reasoning: drawing conclusions from a series of statements, if logical rules are followed, a conclusion drawn from statements must be true if the statements are true. oSDP  Inductive Reasoning: drawing tentative conclusions from a series of statements, if logical rules are followed, a conclusion drawn from statements in probably true but may not be. Informal Reasoning: 1) Heuristics: simple rules that can be used to draw conclusions when one has imperfect knowledge of facts. 2) Dialectical Reasoning: comparing and evaluating both sides of an argument to arrive at the best conclusion (can form good opinions) Levels of Thought: -Pre-Reflective Stage of Reasoning: assumption that there is a correct (and incorrect) answer to any question that can be arrived at directly through personal experience or from an “expert” opinion. - Quasi- Reflective Stage of Reasoning: appreciation that sometimes clear answers do not exist, but people can assume that their OPINIONS are valid. -Reflective Stage of Reasoning: appreciation that sometimes clear answers do not exist but some answers are “better” (more logical) Obstacles in Rational Thinking: -Confirmation Bias: people are motivated to seek evidence that supports their beliefs and avoid evidence that contradicts their beliefs. -Availability Heuristic: people judge an event as likely to occur if examples can easily be brought to mind (ex: West-Nile Virus, Terrorist Attack) can lead to inaccurate estimate of something occurring. -Loss Aversion: people’s decisions are often motivated by avoiding loss rather that treating losses and gains equally. -Mental Set: tendency to solve new problems by using the same methods that worked on some other problem. (ex: Functional Fixedness) -Hindsight Bias: when people know about the outcome of an event, they overestimate the degree to which they expected that event to occur. -Cognitive Dissonance: people tend to reduce inconsistencies b/w different personal beliefs that they hold or b/w a personal belief and their behaviour. REDUCING INCONSISTENCIES: rationalize, modify beliefs, change behaviour. 1) When you know you made a decision on your own and it turns out bad. 2) When behaviour is inconsistent with how someone perceives themselves 3) When effort is much higher than payoff- Justification of Effort (ex: line ups at nightclubs) LANGUAGE & THINKING -words are good for allowing abstract reasoning about complex ideas (ex: justice, good, evil) *Language can be used to make you think differently. Aspects of Language: -Comprehension: accessing the meaning of spoken or written symbols. - Production: communication through the output of spoken or written symbols. -Surface Structure: specific ordering of words in a spoken or written language. -Deep Structure: underlying meaning of those words. Hierarchy of Language: PHONEMES (combine to form)→MORPHEMES (either on their own or combined form)→ WORDS (which combine to form) → PHRASES (which combine to form) SENTENCES. Creole Language: new language that evolves to allow people that speak different languages to communicate. oSDP *Language Development is based on: Biological Maturation/Neural Development, Cognitive Development and Linguistic Environment. -Early exposure to language is critical. Children exposed to language in teir first year will have extreme difficulty acquiring the ability. INTELLIGENCE Achievement Tests: measure “crystallized” intelligence (success in acquiring knowledge or skill in some domain) Aptitude Test: measure “fluid” intelligence (ability to acquire knowledge or skills in the future) IQ TESTS: (Intelligence Quotient) -People’s ability to do a range of tasks that require intelligence. Score is standardized. Factor Analysis: suggests that there is some g-factor that determines performance on IQ tests. Alfred Binet: -worked with children who had problems with learning. -Solution: measures MA (mental age) compared to other children in memory, vocabulary and perception. -IQ=MA/AA (actual age) x100. Lewis Terman: -“Stanford-Binet Intelligence Scale”- still only for children. David Wechsler: -WAIS (Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale) - WISC (Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children) CONCERNS (IQ Tests): -performance of middle class, urban, white people is not a fair standard for evaluating IQ of people from other groups. Differences could be based on: 1) Mental Ability 2) Differences in Experience SOLUTIONS: Culture Fair: questions relevant across cultures. Culture Free: non-verbal questions. *Stereotype