COGNITION
VIEWS ON HOW WE THINK AND
ACQUIRE KNOWLEDGE
What is cognition?
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How we think
acquire knowledge
Imagine
plan and solve problems
Mental Images
 One tool in thought process
 Use everyday
 Helps us remember where we parked our
car
 Find furniture for home
 Relax in daydreaming
Concepts
 Class or category of objects
 Allows us to communicate with each
other
Types of Concepts
 Super ordinate Concept
 Basic level type
 Most general form…a dog is a dog
 Subordinate Concept
 More specific
 Poodle, Lab, Great Dane
Types of Concepts
 Formal Concepts
 Specific rules or features
 Rigid
 Science and math
 Natural Concepts
 Formed as a result of the real world
 More fuzzy
Prototypes
 An example of a concept that closely
matches the defining characteristics
 May be influenced by area we grow up in
Problem Solving
 When a goal must be reached
 Thinking and feeling in a certain way
 Trial and Error
 One solution after another
algorithms
 Solve problems through formal
reasoning
 step-by-step, routine or mechanical
procedure for solving a problem
 Exhausting all the possibilities
heuristics
 “rule of thumb” strategies to simplify a
problem or guide an investigation
 Educated guess based on prior experience
 Advice from those we respect
 “word of mouth”
heuristics
 Representative
 Categorizing objects
 Availability
 Estimation of the frequency of an event
based on how easy to recall
 Means-ends analysis
 Difference between the starting situation and
the goal is determined and then steps are
taken to reduce that difference
The Limits of Heuristics
 In many situations heuristics are the only
way to tackle a complex problem
 Since they rely on assumptions,
occasionally they lead to bad decisions
and mistakes
 Will Not always lead to the correct
solution
Insight
 You have a corked bottle with a coin in it,
how do you get it out without removing
the cork?
 Aha moment!
Errors in problem
solving
 Confirmation Bias
 Search for evidence that fits our beliefs
 Functional Fixedness
 Block when we only think of object in
typical manner
 Mental Sets
 We get stuck on using techniques that
have worked in the past
How would you attach
candle to the wall??
Creativity
 Entirely new way of looking at the
problem
 Combining ideas and or behavior in new
ways
Thinking
 Convergent
 Only one answer
 All lines of thinking lead to same answer
 Divergent
 Many different ideas
 Creative, and intelligence
Divergent thinkers
 Not all attention is focused on solution
 Higher mental process
 Less prone to some of the barriers of
problem solving
 Broad range of knowledge
 Aren’t afraid to be different
 independent
Intelligence
 Ability to learn from one’s experience
 Acquire knowledge
 Use resources effectively
Theories of intelligence
 Spearman's G Factor
 G Factor-general intelligence
 S Factor-Specific intelligence
 Over simplified
Gardener’s Multiple
intelligences
 Naturalist Intelligence
 botanist or chef
 Existential Intelligence
 Interpersonal Intelligence
 Teachers, social workers, actors, and
politicians
 Bodily-Kinesthetic Intelligence
 Athletes, dancers, surgeons, and
craftspeople
Gardner’s Intelligence
 Musical Intelligence
 composers, conductors, musicians, vocalist,
and sensitive listeners
 Linguistic Intelligence
 poets, novelists, journalists, and effective
public speakers
 Intra-personal Intelligence
 psychologist, spiritual leaders, and
philosophers
Gardner’s Intelligence
 Spatial Intelligence
 Sailors, pilots, sculptors
 Logical-Mathematical Intelligence
 Mathematicians, scientists, and detectives
Sternberg’s Triarchic
Theory
 Analytical
 Break problems down to solve
 Creative
 New ways to problem solve
 Practical
 Street smarts
IQ Tests
 Fifth addition
 Measures
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Fluid reasoning
Knowledge
Quantitative processing
Visual-spatial processing
Working memory
 Mental age versus chronological age
 IQ = MA/CA X 100
 Many kids are given this test at age 7 or 8
Test Questions
Test Questions
 STRAWBERRY:RED
(A) peach:ripe
(B) leather:brown
(C) grass:green
(D) orange:round
(E) lemon:yellow
IQ Cultural Bias
 Test questions were originally designed without
thought of cultures
 White America
 Very Difficult to develop a test free of cultural
bias/needs to be culturally fair
 Need to be developed with little to no language
 Non verbal abilities
 Does well at predicting academic success for those at
the higher and lower ends of the curves
Dove Counterbalance IQ
Test
 How long should one boil chitlins while
preparing them?
A. Five Minutes
B. Three Hours
C. 24 Hours
D. 45 Minutes
Intellectual Disabilty
 Defined by
 IQ below 70
 Adaptive behavior
 Present below age of 18
 Causes
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Unhealthy living conditions
Prenatal care
Poor nutrition during the formative years
Biological/heredity
Giftedness
 IQ above 140
 2% of the population