PSY 2012 General Psychology
Chapter 8: Thinking and Intelligence
Samuel R. Mathews, Ph.D.
Associate Professor
The Department of Psychology
The University of West Florida
Review from “Memory”
• Working Memory  functions to process
information for encoding into Long Term
Memory
– Processes of rehearsal relate to how well
information can be retrieved from memory
– Organization of information relates to how
well information can be retrieved and to what
we can do with that information
Thinking: How is it different from
remembering?
• Thinking involves not only retrieving
information but also doing something with
it
– Deciding something
– Solving a problem
– Judging something
– Creating something
– Finding something
– Etc.,
Thinking: What’s involved?
• Concepts—mental representations
• Contents of Concepts:
– Classes or categories (dogs, books, etc.,)
– Attributes or characteristics (red, tall, painful)
– Abstractions or non-tangible ideas (love, hate)
– Procedures or processes (how to do ____)
– Goals or intentions (future plans)
Thinking: What’s in our thoughts?
• Types of Concepts
– Natural:
• Based on everyday experiences
• Usually unanalyzed until we are asked to define
the natural concepts
– Artificial:
• Usually based on formal set of experiences
• Based on rules for inclusion/exclusion
• Usually formed by intentional efforts to learn
Thinking: What’s in our thoughts?
• Concepts typically based on prototypes:
– General representations (linguistic or visual)
that represent the object or class but may not
represent an individual member
– The idea of “bird” may not be an individual but
some combination of attributes that allows us
to identify what is “bird” and “not bird.”
Organization of our thoughts:
• Hierarchical:
– From most inclusive and general to less
inclusive and more specific
– MammalQuadrapedDogBeagle
Organization of our thoughts: Culture and
Individual Differences
• Individuals’ own experience with levels of
a hierarchy will determine the unique
organization of the hierarchy.
• Collective (cultural) experiences can lead
to broader agreement on definitions of
concepts.
• Different definitions of concepts can lead
to very different outcomes in problem
solving, decision making, etc.
Thinking, Expectations, and Predictions
• Organization of information in schemas
leads us to create expectations and
predictions with little information
• The constructive nature of memory is
based on our making inferences based on
incomplete knowledge
• Given competing interpretations, we tend
to adopt those that are in agreement with
our schema
Thinking, Expectations, and Predictions
• Scripts
– Schema for process or sequence of events;
– Scripts are useful in routine sequences of
events (e.g. fast food restaurant; listening to a
lecture)
– Scripts allow us to operate on “automatic” as
long as things are predictable.
Scripts, Schemas, and Conflict
• Scripts or schemas based on narrow sets
of experiences can lead the individual to
judge others’ behavior from a biased
perspective
• Individuals and cultures with conflicting
scripts or schemas frequently experience
challenges in communication
Thinking: Considered Reason or
Unconscious Process
• Automatic:
–
–
–
–
Thinking that occurs as a matter of habit;
Thinking that typically requires little effort;
Thinking that is impacted by existing biases;
Frequently leads to less than optimal outcomes
• Controlled:
–
–
–
–
Thinking that is goal directed
Thinking that requires intentional effort
Thinking based on analysis of existing biases
Frequently leads to more optimal outcomes (better
choices and decisions)
Functions of Thinking: Problem-Solving
• Problem-Solving (Sternberg, 1985; 2004)
– Recognizing there is a problem
• Monitoring the situation to recognize some goal is
not being met
– Consider multiple problem definitions by
analyzing context and identifying a goal
– Representing or categorizing information
about the problem
Functions of Thinking: Problem-Solving
(Sternberg, 1985, 2004)
• Constructing or identifying a strategy for solving
the problem (consider multiple strategies)
• Identify and allocate resources needed to carry
out the solution strategy
• Monitor progress of the solution strategy
• Evaluate the solution strategy by obtaining
feedback
Thinking as Problem Solving
– Selecting or developing a strategy
• Algorithm:
– Predefined set of procedures;
– Given the procedures are carried out the outcome is
predictable
– Works best for routine problems (figuring out how much
mileage your car gets per gallon)
• Heuristic:
– General rule that may work most of the time
– Rules that typically apply to most problems
– Working Backward—from the desired state to the
problem
– Analogies—finding a similar situation
– Problem decomposition—creating a set of smaller more
manageable problems
Thinking as Problem Solving
• Problems with Problem Solving
– Mental Set
• Perceptual Set—perceiving the problem from only
one perspective (radiation treatment problem—in
class discussion)
• Response Set—accessing only one solution
response (“it’s the way we’ve always done it”)
Thinking as Problem Solving
• Problems with Problem Solving
– Functional fixedness:
• Focusing on one aspect of a potential solution
when another aspect might be more successful
– Self-imposed limitations OR SelfHandicapping:
• Creating limits to protect one’s status or prevent
one from failing
• May be “unconscious” to the individual (may be
based on perceived social status—sex, race)
Thinking as Decision-Making
• Decision-making implies selecting one course of
action over one or more others;
• Decision-making frequently encountered as
deductive reasoning—constructing logical
conclusions based on information;
• Decision-making ranges from low stakes
decisions (e.g. what shoes to wear; what to
watch on t.v.) to high stakes decisions (e.g. what
career to follow; whether to use illegal drugs or
not)
Thinking as Decision-Making: Biases and
Bad Decisions
• Confirmation Bias—we tend to search for information
that is in agreement with our biases rather than seeking
to disconfirm or disprove our biases
• Hindsight Bias—we tend to overestimate our ability to
have predicted events based on knowledge we had
beforehand; limits our ability to learn from our errors
because we convince ourselves that we “knew it all the
time”
• Anchoring Bias—we tend to base estimates on an initial
experience; we anchor our judgments on an initial piece
of information rather than consider all information
Thinking as Decision-Making: Biases and
Bad Decisions
• Representativeness Bias—we tend to judge
individual instances based on the degree to
which we view them as belonging to or to which
they represent a larger group.
• Availability Bias—we tend to estimate the
likelihood or probability of something based on
whether relevant examples can be retrieved
from memory (e.g. pictures of the same street
crime seen repeatedly can lead to a conclusion
that crimes occur frequently)
Problem-Solving and Decision-Making
as Critical Thinking
• Those who make good decisions and
solve problems with higher levels of
success share characteristics of critical
thinking
– Thinking is goal directed
– Thinking is based on logic and reliable
information
– One’s own assumptions and biases are
questioned first
– Other’s assumptions and assertions are
questioned
Problem-Solving and Decision-Making
as Critical Thinking
• Critical thinking (cont’d)
– Assertions are supported with valid and
reliable supporting data
– Alternative and oppositional views are
considered fairly
– Contradictory data or evidence are
considered and refuted fairly
• Based on Halpern (1998, 2001)
Problem-Solving and Decision-Making
as Critical Thinking
• Individuals who possess a disposition for
critical thinking
– have the attributes of critical thinking as their
normal approach to solving problems and
making decisions;
– typically make more adaptable decisions and
solve problems more successfully;
– Modify their standpoints based on logic, data,
and reason rather than authority, belief, or
bias (e.g. availability, representativeness, etc.)
Thinking Creatively
• Divergent rather than convergent thinking
(seeking multiple possibilities)
• High levels of knowledge and interest in the
relevant domain
• Sees problems as potentially complex
• Typically restructures problems
• Simultaneously seeks interactions with other
creative individuals and reflects independent
thinking
• Intelligence and creativity relationship complex
and not direct