Warm Up Answers
2.The maker doesn’t want it, the buyer
doesn’t use it, and the user doesn’t see it.
What is it.

Coffin
3. YYURYYUBICURYY4ME
 Answer:
Too wise you are, Too
wise you be, I see you are, too
wise for me.
Warm Up
•Find
with
a group of 2 or 3 to work
4. 1.How many passengers are left on the
train?
 15
2. How many passengers have gotten off
the train since the first station?
 50
3. How many passengers have gotten on
the train since the first station?
 65
4. How many stations were there?
6

5. How old was the train engineer
Chapter 10 Thinking and Language:
Cognition, Problem Solving, and
Causes of Irrationality

Chapter 10’s Focus: The
Cognitive Perspective
Cognition refers to mental activities
associated with processing,
interpreting, understanding, and
communicating information.
 Cognitive Psychology studies:

Concept
Formation
Problem Solving
Decision Making
Judgment Formation
How We Think
 For
Classification
/Efficiency Purposes
Humans Create:
 Concepts: mental
grouping of similar objects
, events, ideas, or people.
 Concepts are often organized
into hierarchies.
Types of Concepts
How We Think
 Humans
usually form concepts by
creating a:
 Prototype: mental image or best
example of a category. Allows us to
incorporate items easily.
To most people,
a robin is
“birdier” than a
Penguin
An Item’s Failure To Match
Prototype Leads to Trouble
Classifying It.
Methods of Problem Solving

1. Trial and Error: guess and
check
Methods of Problem Solving
 2.
Algorithm:
methodical, logical
pattern or procedure
that guarantees
solving of a particular
problem.
 Looks at all possible
combinations or has
specific formula to solve
the problem.
Methods of Problem Solving

3. Heuristics: “common sense” or rule
of thumb strategies which allow us
to solve problems efficiently and
usually quickly.
 Short-cuts that involve our
preconceptions.
Who would you
rather have baby
sit your child?
Answer is based
on your heuristic
for appearance.
Algorithms vs. Heuristics
 Unscramble
SPLOYOCHYG
-Algorithms go through all 907,208
combinations
-Heuristics would take out YY, etc.
-Other heuristics?
Methods of Problem Solving
 Insight:
sudden
realization of
how to solve a
problem without
a real strategy
involved.
 The Light-Bulb
going off when
you get an idea.
Kohler’s Chimpanzee Study
Illustrates Insight
Obstacles to Problem Solving
 Confirmation
Bias: human tendency
to search for information that
confirms your preconceptions
 Study:
2
What is the pattern?
4
6
Obstacles to Problem Solving
 Fixation:
refers to the inability to
see a problem from a new
perspective.
How would
you arrange
six matches to
form 4 equal
lateral
triangles?
Solution to Matchstick Problem
Obstacles to Problem Solving
 Mental
Set: tendency to approach
a particular problem in a particular
way.
 You usually use strategies that have
been successful in the past at
solving problems even though it may
not be most efficient strategy for the
new problem.
The Three Jugs Problem
Solution to the Jugs
Problem
 B-A-2C=desired
amount of water.
 Problem 6 & 7 had
easier solutions
though which were
probably blocked
by mental set.
6 & 7 Solution
Candle Mounting Problem
Using these
materials,
how would
you mount
the candle
on a bulletin
board?
Candle Mounting Solution
Inability to solve
this problem may
result from
functional
fixedness. Have
to recognize that
a box need not
always serve as a
container
Obstacles to Problem Solving
 Functional
Fixedness: tendency
to think of objects only in terms
of their usual functions.
CAN
EQUAL
Possible Obstacles to Problem
Solving
 Representative
Heuristic: “common
sense” way of judging likelihood of
things in terms of how well they
seem to match our prototypes.
 May lead us to make incorrect
assumptions.
Example of Representative
Heuristic Errors

Below is Linda, she loves books and hates
loud noises. Is she more likely to be a
librarian or a beautician?
Possible Obstacles to Problem
Solving
 Availability
Heuristic: judging the
likelihood of an event based on how
readily the event comes to mind.
Availability Heuristic Can Lead Us
to Irrationally Fear Things Which
Are Unlikely.
EX: People are tend to be more fearful of
the dangers of airplane travel than of
traveling in an automobile.
 EX: People are tend to be more fearful of
being raped by a stranger even though it is
more likely they will be raped by someone
they know.

Overconfidence
Decision Making:
Overconfidence
When making decisions,
humans tend to be
overconfident in their
decisions and abilities.
 On questions where 60%
of respondents answer
correctly, respondents
usually feel 75%
confident.

Influences on Decision
Making
 Framing:
refers to
the way an issue is
posed; can
drastically effect
decision making.
 Best way to market
ground beef:
 25% fat OR 75%
lean?
Influences on Decision
Making
Belief Bias: the way
pre-existing beliefs can
distort logical reasoning;
can make invalid
conclusions seem
valid, or valid
conclusions seem
invalid.
 Decisions influenced
by subject matter.

Is the following a valid
Conclusion:
1. Democrats support
free speech.
2. Dictators are not
democrats.
Conclusion: Dictators
do Not support free
speech.
Influences on Decision
Making

Belief
Perseverance:
Once we have
decided that we
believe something,
we will tend to
keep on
believing it, even
in the face of
disconfirming
evidence.
Riddles1.
What is the next number in the series:
10,4,3,11,15….?
A.
14
B. 1
C. 17
D.12
2. What is so unusual about the sentence below
Jackdaws love my big sphinx of quartz
3. How can you physically stand behind your
father while he is standing behind you?
4. What occurs once in every minute,twice in
every moment,yet never in a thousand?
5. Can you translate the following into a
sentence?
100204180