AP Psych Class Announcements:
AP PSYCH QUIZ BOWL
Defend our title!!!!
Attend and get your EXTRA CREDIT
Kellam HS Thursday 1/17
Aim: to explain and provide
examples of terms related to
problem solving
Review session for those competing Wed
2:00
Do NOW: Ch 9 application
assignment
Quiz make-ups: See me if you need
to do so.
HW:
1. ch 8,9 practice ques. and
study for test
I want to thank many of you who
have been very responsible about
make-up work recently, even if you
have had multiple quizzes to catch
up on. In most cases, I never even
have to remind you….Just another
reason why I appreciate my
students so much!!!!!
2.Bring in ch 8,9 flashcards!!
Next Psych Club:
Monday 1/28
Help Class for ch 8,9 test next
Tuesday at 2:00
Thinking
Cognition
• Another term for thinking, knowing and
remembering
Does the
way we
think really
matter?
Maybe by studying the way we think, we
can eventually think better.
In order to think about the world, we form……..
Concepts
• A mental grouping
of similar objects,
events, ideas or
people.
• Concepts are
similar to Piaget’s
idea of….
Schemas
These animals all look different, but
they fall under our concept of
“dogs”.
We base our concepts on ….
Prototypes
• A mental image or
best example of a
category.
•If a new object is
similar to our
prototype, we are
better able to
recognize it.
If this was my prototype of a
man; then what am I?
How do we solve problems?
Algorithms
• Ex: following a recipe
• A step by step rule or
procedure that
guarantees the a
solution.
• Usually by using a
formula.
• They work but are
sometimes impractical.
Heuristics
• EX: What strategy
should your dad use
in the grocery store
to find oregano?
• Go down the aisle
labeled “spices”
• A rule-of-thumb
strategy that often
allows us to make
judgments and solve
problems efficiently.
•A short cut (BUT
can be prone to
errors).
Insight
• A sudden and often
novel realization of
the solution to a
problem.
•No real strategy
involved
What are some obstacles to problem
solving?
Confirmation Bias
• A tendency to
search for
information that
confirms one’s
preconceptions.
Example:
An elementary teacher might think that
boys are naughtier than girls, therefore,
she watches the boys more closely and
“catches” them misbehaving more
frequently
Activity:
• Can you cut a pizza into 8 slices using only 3
lines?
Match Problem
Fixation
• The inability to
see a problem
from a new
perspective.
Scenario:
• A girl feels her man is
not spending enough
time with her. She feels
he’s hanging with the
guys too much.
• What to do?
• Last time she wanted to get
him to spend Friday night
with her, she cried and he
did.
• Should she do it again?
Mental Set
• A tendency to approach a
problem in a particular way,
especially if it has worked in
the past.
• May or may not be a good thing.
Functional Fixedness
• The tendency
to think of
things only in
terms of their
usual functions.
What are some things I can do with
this quarter (other than spend it)?
Functional Fixedness
• The inability to see a
new use for an
object.
Think of as many uses as
you can for a ……
Types of Heuristics
(That often lead to errors)
Representativeness Heuristic
• A rule of thumb for
judging the
likelihood of things
in terms of how well
they match our
prototype.
• Can cause us to
ignore important
information.
Below is Linda. She loves
books and hates loud noises.
Is Linda a librarian or a
bartender?
Availability Heuristic
Which place would you be more scared of
getting mugged or even murdered?
• Judging a situation
based on examples
of similar situations
that initially come to
mind.
• Vivid examples in the
news often cause an
availability heuristic.
The crime rate of Gary, Indiana is MUCH higher
than the Bronx. But when you think of crime,
which town comes to mind?
Gary, Indiana
I realize the Bronx picture is misleading.
The Bronx, NY
Can you think of an example of
availability heuristic?
• Scenario: An 8th grader
is considering one of
the many academies in
VB. One is the academy
at Bayside HS.
• What availability
heuristic might the
student use to
determine his/her
decision?
• “Bayside is________
because __________.”
Representative or availability
heuristic?
1. The day after the tragic plane crash, the number of people
flying decreased dramatically the following day.
2. Tim’s symptoms were so similar to that of a concussion, he
mistakenly believed he had one following the accident.
3. Chris Brown is frustrated when fans and reporters continue to
ask him questions about his attack on Rihanna 4 years ago.
Overconfidence
• The tendency to
be more
confident than
correct.
• To overestimate
the accuracy of
your beliefs and
judgments.
Considering “overconfidence” who you
want to risk 1 million dollars on an
audience poll?
Framing
•
Example:
•
80% lean or
20% fat
•
90% of the population will be
saved with this medication…..or
10% of the population will die
despite this medication.
• The way a problem is
presented can
drastically effect
the way we view it.
Belief Perseverance
• Clinging to your
initial
conceptions
after the basis
on which they
were formed
has been
discredited. .
• “I researched the Health
Care Bill and, despite my
feelings against it, I found
out it is wonderful for all.
However, I think the
article I read may be
incorrect in it data, so I’m
still against it.”
Phonemes
B, th, d, ch, p
• In a spoken
language, the
smallest
distinctive sound
unit.
• Chug has three
phonemes, ch, u, g.
Phones make sound.
Morphemes
• In a language, the
smallest unit that
carries meaning.
• Can be a word or
part of a word
(prefix or suffix).
• Anti-, car . . .
Grammar
• A system of
rules in a
language that
enables us to
communicate
and understand
others.
Semantics
• The set of rules
by which we
derive meaning in
a language.
• Adding ed at the
end of words
means past
tense.
The Chinese languages
do not have expansive
semantic rules. They
usually have totally
different symbols for
different tenses.
Syntax
• The rules for
combining words
into grammatically
sensible
sentences.
• In English, adjectives
come before nouns, but Is this the White
not in Spanish!!
House of the House
White?
Language development
• How many words do you think you know
now?
Probably around 80,000.
After age 1 you average about 13
words a day.
Language Development
• Babbling Stage: starting at 3-4 months, the
infant makes spontaneous sounds. Not limited
to the phonemes of the infant’s household
language.
•One-word stage: 1-2 years old, uses one
word to communicate big meanings.
•Two word stage: at age 2, uses two words
to communicate meanings- called
telegraphic speech.
How do we explain language
development?
Skinner
• Skinner thought
that we can
explain language
development
through social
learning theory
(which is?).
The young boy imitates his
dad, then gets a reward.
Noam Chomsky
Inborn Universal Grammar
• We acquire language
too quickly for it to
be learned.
• We have this
“learning box” inside
our heads that enable
us to learn any human
language.
• We’re born with a
“blue print” for
learning language
Does language influence our
thinking?
Whorf’s Linguistic Relativity
• The idea that
language
determines the way
we think (not vive
versa).
•The Hopi tribe has
no past tense in
their language, so
Whorf says they
rarely think of the
past.