Chapter 8 Thinking and Intelligence
Dread Risks: Gerd Gigerenzer proposed that low-probability events that are highly
publicized and have dire consequences, such as the deaths associated with the hijackings of
9/11 can result in fears called dread risks
Caused a large amount of people to start driving instead of flying even in countries
where hijackings are unlikely; even though more people die every year because of
car crashes then then number who die in airplane disasters
o Humans do not always weigh the actual probabilities of different actions, we
may be influenced by factors that may not always be rational (prominence of
events/images in our minds)
o Gigerenzer believes the biases that typically affect decision making after
highly unlikely tragic events should be publicized, so that education about
dread risks might prompt people to reconsider choices that could result in
additional negative consequences
o Way we think about info makes important differences in the quality of our
lives- both individually and collectively
How Does the Mind Represent Information?
Some people seem to be better at using information than others, we describe this ability as
intelligence
For the most part our thinking is adaptive, we make rules for making fast decisions,
ability to use information rapidly is a critical human skill
Unconscious cognitive processes not only influence thought and behaviour but also
affect decision making and problem solving
Intuition develops over years of experience
Cognition: mental activity such as thinking or representing information
o we use representation to understand objects we encounter in our
environments
o cognition is directly associated with manipulating these representations
challenge for cognitive psychologists is to understand the nature of our everyday
mental representations
two basic types of representations:
Analogical Representations: a mental representation that has some of the physical
characteristics of an object, it is analogous to the object (maps)
Symbolic Representations: an abstract material representation that does not
correspond to the physical features of an object or idea, usually words or ideas (the
word violin has no direct systematic relationship to what violin looks, sounds like
etc.)
o These two representations form the basis of human thought, intelligence and
the ability to solve problems Mental Images are Analogical Representations
Experiment where participants were shown an object in its normal orientation (e.g. R) and
then showed it with various amounts of rotation, they study showed the bigger the angle of
rotation the longer the participant took to decide whether it was a mirror image or in its
normal orientation. Fig 8.3
The same brains areas activate when we view something and when we think of
images
o Shows that at least some thoughts take the form of mental images
Visual imagery is associated with activity in visual perception- related areas of the
brain (primary visual cortex); same brain areas activated when we view something
are active hen we think in images
When you retrieve info from memory, the representation of that pic in your mind’s
eye is parallels the representation in your brain the first time you saw the pic
o This process is like having an eye that faces into the brain instead of the
outside world, there is no actual image in your head though; mental image is
not perfectly accurate either
Limits of Analogical Representations
We can represent only a limited range of knowledge analogically, and if something
cannot be perceived wholly by our perceptual system then we cannot form a
complete analogical representation of it
Mental maps involve a mixture of analogical and symbolic representations
Symbolic representations can lead to errors, we can only represent a limited range of
knowledge analogically and thus use memory shortcuts unconsciously Fig 8.4
o The regularization of irregular shapes in memory is a shortcut we use
unconsciously for keeping info in memory
Concepts are Symbolic Representations
Most of our thinking reflects not only visual representations of the world but also our
general knowledge of the world (what you do with a lemon depends on how you think
about it)
Categorization: grouping things based on shared properties, reduces the amount of
knowledge we must hold in memory- which is an efficient way of thinking
Concept: a mental representation that groups or categorizes objects, events or
relations around common themes, ensures that we do not have to store every
instance of an object, or quality individually, instead we store abstract relations
based on the properties particular items/ideas share (violins are smaller than violas)
Defining Attribute Model Fig 8.6: the idea that a concept is characterized by a list of
features that are necessary to determine if an object is a member of the category
(for musical instrument it would be device that produces sound)
o This model suggests membership in these categories on an all-or none
principle, when really there are exceptions (most people would say birds can
fly, even though not all do or some people use spoons as instruments-which
is not usually categorized as instrument)
o Secondly model suggests that all attributes are equal in terms of defining the
category. However some attributes are more important and the boundaries between categories are much fuzzier then the model suggests (has wings is
salient in how we think about birds while is warm blooded is less so)
o Thirdly the model posits that all members of a category are equal in
membership (no one fit is better than the other) (a 30 year old is more of a
bachelor than a 16 year old boy)
Prototype Model (alternative to defining attribute model): an approach to object
categorization is based on the premise that within each category some members are
more representative than others “prototype”
o Allows for flexibility in the representation of concepts
Drawback is that a particular prototype can be chosen for different
reasons (is it most common example of that particular category?)
Exemplar Model: information stored about the members of a category is used to
determine category membership, all the examples (exemplars) of category
membership form the concept (your representation of dogs is made up of all the
dogs you have encountered in your life, no single representation of a concept); some
members are more prototypical than others because those are those we have
encountered more
o The defining attribute and prototype models explain how we classify objects
we encounter and how we represent those objects in our minds
Schemas Organize Useful Information about Environments
Schemas enable us to interact with the complex realities of our daily environments,
help us perceive, organize and process information, knowledge regarding situations
and social contexts
Scripts are schemas about the sequences of events in certain situations (going to the
movies)
We can employ schemas because
o 1. Common Situations have consistent attributes (libraries are quiet)
o 2. People have specific roles with situational contexts
Sometimes have unintended consequences such as reinforcing sexist or racist beliefs
(when kids asked to draw scientist they usually draw males)
Gender Roles: the prescribed behaviours for females and males are a type of schema
that operates at the unconscious level-we should become aware of these schema,
gender related bias in orchestra
Scripts dictate appropriate behaviours
Relational schemas influence what people expect from others in their social
interactions (script for dating, man drives and pays for dinner)
Schemas and scripts children learn will most likely affect their behaviour when they
are older, see alcohol and cigarettes as a script for adult social life
Scripts and schemas minimize the amount of attention given to familiar environments, also
allows us to recognize and avoid dangerous situations
Thinking about objects, events and circumstances allows us to make appropriate
actions, make intelligent decisions and function efficiently in our every day lives.
How Do We Make Decisions and Solve Problems
Reasoning: using information to determine if a conclusion is valid or reasonable Decision Making: attempting to select the best alternative among options
Problem Solving: finding a way around an obstacle to reach a goal
You have a problem when a gap/barrier exists between where you are and where
you want to be
People use Deductive and Inductive Reasoning
Deductive Reasoning: Using a belief or rule to determine if a conclusion is valid (follows
logically from the belief or rule); from general to specific (expect a person from Vancouver
to be nice because of what you have heard)
Use logic to draw specific conclusions under certain circumstances or premises
Often presented as syllogisms, logical arguments containing premises and a
conclusion:
o Conditional: If A (premise) is true then B is true , if you can assume the
premise is true, you can be certain about the conclusion (if your friend has
good taste then the restaurant he recommends will have good food)
o Categorical: contains two premises and a conclusion All A are B. All B are C.
Therefore all A are C, this can sometimes lead to valid but incorrect
conclusions; also can be valid but not make much sense in the real world (all
foods made with spinach are delicious, cake is made with spinach, valid
conclusion would be that the cake is delicious-most people would say
otherwise) A conclusion follows logically from its premises, it is valid, but it
may or not be true
Inductive Reasoning: using examples or instances to determine if a rule or conclusion is
likely to be true based on general premises; from specific to general (decide people from
Vancouver are friendly because those you have met from there are friendly; researchers
find that university students in clubs have higher GPA’s then those that don’t, researchers
then induce a general principle from the specific instances of the students in the
experiment). We are strongly influenced by those that are close to us.
Decision Making Often Involves Heuristics
Research on decision making has been influenced by:
Normative Models: view humans as optimal decision makers, choosing what has
highest gain
Descriptive Models: tried to account for human’s tendencies to misinterpret the
probabilities underlying many decision making scenarios and to act irrationally when
they understand the probabilities
o We usually make decisions without taking time to consider pros and cons
which is useful for dealing with many challenges (quick decisions)
Expected Utility Theory: one normative model of how humans should make
decisions, views decision making as a computation of utility (the overall value for
each possible outcome in a decision making scenario), picking most desirable
alternative (compare all options)
Heuristics: in problem solving, shortcuts (rules of thumb or informal guidelines) used
to reduce the amount of thinking that is needed to move from an initial state to a
goal state, occurs unconsciously and lets us focus attention on other things, may lead to biases (all soaps are the same, but some people think the more expensive one is
better)
o Availability Heuristic: making a decision based on the answer that most easily
comes to mind
o Representativeness Heuristic: a rule for categorization based on how similar
the person or object is to our prototypes for that category often fail to take
into account the base rate (frequency of an events occurring); we may
conclude that someone is a psychologist based on fact that they are more
similar to a psychologist then a postal worker, but there are much more
postal workers then psychologists
Algorithm: is a procedure that if followed correctly will always give the correct
answer (an informed guide, eg. recipe)
Framing Effects
Framing: the effect of presentation on how information is perceived, framing the
decision to emphasize the gains or losses affects the decision making (when
emphasizing the certain amount of lives to be saved we choose that situation over
one who may not save any lives at all, but when situation emphasizes the amount of
certain deaths we pick it over one that may kill all the population) pg. 357
o The framing decision to emphasize gains or losses affects decision making
Prospect Theory:
o 1. Need to take into account people’s wealth in predicting their choices
(poorer person more likely will take $200 for over the risk in winning $1000
or nothing, while richer will take the risk) all money does not have the same
subjective value
o 2. The fact that because losses feel much worse than gains feel good, people
try to avoid situations that involve losses (loss aversion)
Affective Forecasting (Daniel Gilbert/ Timothy Wilson)
People are not good at knowing how they will feel about things in the future, people don’t
realise this either
People think loss of loved ones will have much worse effects on them then they
really do (overestimate), only consider the immediate intense pain and don’t realise
life goes on, overestimate the pain and underestimate how well they will cope with
it
o Making sense of an event helps reduce its negative emotional consequences
Affective forecasting can also influence our perceptions of positive events
o Bronze medal winners are happier than those who win silver
o Depends on context, winning any medal seems like quite the achievement
but to an athlete winning silver does not match up to winning gold
Affective forecasting errors may be involved in racism (people said they would be
very distraught if they saw an act of racism, but when they did they showed little
distress)
Good Decision Makers
Those who perform better on decision making tests report fewer negative life
events than those who perform poorly on the test
Applying critical thinking skills can positively affect multiple areas of a person’s life Problem Solving Achieves Goals
To solve a problem people must use knowledge to determine how to move from their
current state to the goal. How the person thinks about the problem can help or hinder the
person’s ability to find solutions.
Organization of Sub-goals
Breaking down a problem into sub-goals is an important part of problem solving
however it may be hard when there is no obvious next step
The tower of Hanoi problem
Sudden Insight
Problems are not problem until they seem unsolvable (keys in ignition of your locked
car is only a problem once you see it)
Insight: the sudden realization of a solution to a problem
Wolfgang Kohler- convinced that some nonhuman animals could behave intelligently
(chimp put sticks together in order to get a banana)
Norman Maier-put people in room with 2 strings hanging from the ceiling and were
asked to tie the strings together (pliers were also in the room), they were too far
apart, solution was to tie pliers onto one string and use it as a pendulum and grab it
while it was swinging, he induced this insight on some people by brushing up against
the string causing it to swing back and forth
o Insights can be achieved when a problem initially seems unsolvable
Changing Representations to Overcome Obstacles
Restructuring: a new way of thinking about a problem that aids its solution
Scheerer’s Nine Dot Problem
o Solving the problem requires restructuring the representation by eliminating
assumed constraints
Mental Set: a problem solving strategy that has worked in the past
o Are often useful buts sometimes make it difficult to find the best solution
o Exp.: filling cups of water, when people were used to complex methods of
using all three cups they tried to do the same when given a simpler problem
Overcoming functional fixedness requires the problem to solver to reinterpret the
objec
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