Last Class in Review STM LTM Encoding Rehearsal

Last Class in Review • STM LTM – Encoding • Rehearsal: – – • • Maintenance: repetition, rote rehearsal Elaborative: associate with personal experiences or old memories » Aids in retrieval Mnemonic devices: acronyms, rhymes, method of loci Theories of why we forget 1. 2. 3. Decay = use it or lose it Replacement = new memories push out old memories Interference: • • 4. 5. Retroactive (affects things in the past), Proactive (affects things subsequently) Cue-dependent = not encoded well = bad retrieval cues Amnesia = brain injury, disease, psychogenic

Learning Objectives • Cognition: 1. What are the distinctions among a concept, prototype, proposition, schema, and mental image? 2. What is the difference between deductive and inductive reasoning? 3. What is the difference between an algorithm and a heuristic? 4. What are the barriers to reasoning rationally? 5. What are the availability heuristic, the hindsight bias, and the confirmation bias?

chapter 7 Elements of cognition Concept Proposition Cognitive Schema Mental Image

chapter 7 Elements of cognition Concept Mental category that groups objects, relations, activities, abstractions, or qualities having common properties General ideas that allow us to categorize stimuli Prototype: best or most typical example of a category Chair

Adapted from Cognitive Psychology, 2 nd ed, Kellogg (2002)

Elements of cognition Propositions Represent the relationship of concepts to one another to express a single idea Cognitive Schemas • Mental models of the world, that link together propositions and concepts • An integrated mental network of knowledge, beliefs, and expectations that defines the properties of an object or event • Organizes information and aids in retrieval • Scripts – like how to behave in a restaurant

Adapted from Cognitive Psychology, 2 nd ed, Kellogg (2002)

Cognitive Schema: Script • To get a haircut. I make an appointment with the hairdresser. Drive to the salon. Tell the receptionist I am there and wait until I am called. Get my hair washed and conditioned. The hairdresser combs and cuts my hair. The hairdresser puts gel in my hair and dries it. I pay for the haircut. I drive home.

Elements of cognition Mental Image A mental representation that resembles what it represents Occurs when the relevant object, event, or scene is not actually present • Indirect measurement: • How long it takes a person to rotate an image

chapter 7 Your turn “To get a hamburger, go to a fast-food restaurant and wait in line behind the counter. When it is your turn, tell the person by the cash register that you want a hamburger. He/she will tell you how much it costs. Give him/her enough money. In a few minutes someone behind the counter will give you a hamburger. ” This kind of mental representation is best described as a: 1. Concept 2. Proposition 3. Schema 4. Image

chapter 7 Reasoning The drawing of conclusions or inferences from observations, facts, or assumptions Formal Reasoning Information needed to draw a conclusion is available There is a right and wrong answer 1. Algorithms 2. Formal Logic • Deductive reasoning • Inductive reasoning Informal Reasoning No clear cut answer or correct solution • Heuristics • Dialectical Reasoning

chapter 7 Formal Reasoning Information needed to draw a conclusion is available You must find the right (or best) answer Algorithms: A set of instructions for accomplishing a task that produces a solution Don’t need to understand how/why it works - recipe for baking bread - how to solve a math problem - how to calculate molarity (chemistry) Formal Logic: Deductive reasoning: provide complete support for a conclusion Inductive reasoning: provide some, but not complete support for a conclusion

chapter 7 Deductive Reasoning A tool of formal logic in which a conclusion necessarily follows from a set of premises. Examples: • All dogs are mammals. All mammals have kidneys. Therefore all dogs have kidneys. • Since all squares are rectangles, and all rectangles have four sides, all squares must have four sides. • All apples are fruit. All fruit grows on trees. Therefore all apples grow on trees.

chapter 7 Inductive Reasoning A tool of formal logic in which a conclusion probably follows from a set of premises. Examples: • All swans we have seen have been white; therefore all swans are white. • I always hang pictures on nails; therefore all pictures hang on nails

chapter 7 Reasoning Informal Reasoning No clear cut answer or correct solution Heuristics: A rule of thumb that suggests a course of action or guides problem solving but does not guarantee an optimal solution Mental shortcut; allows us to solve problems and make decisions more quickly Dialectical Reasoning: Comparing, contrasting, weighing and evaluating opposing points of view to determine the best solution

Heuristics Well known: Anchoring and adjustment Availability heuristic Representativeness heuristic Less well known: Affect heuristic Effort heuristic Fluency heuristic Peak-end rule Scarcity heuristic Simulation heuristic Take-the-best heuristic Contagion heuristic Familiarity heuristic Gaze heuristic Recognition heuristic Similarity heuristic Social proof

chapter 7 Dialectical Reasoning A process in which opposing facts or ideas are weighed and compared, with a view to determining the best solution or resolving differences Trial Jury Prosecution Defense Eye Witness Alibi DNA Murder Weapon with defendants fingerprints Claim DNA was contaminated It was his knife so of course it would have his fingerprints

chapter 7 Reflective judgment Skills Question assumptions Ø Evaluate and integrate evidence Ø Relate evidence to theory or opinion Ø Consider alternative interpretations Ø Reach defensible conclusions Ø Reassess conclusions in face of new evidence Ø

chapter 7 Stages of reflective judgment Middle-Late 20 s

chapter 7 Barriers to rational reasoning Affect Heuristic Availability Heuristic Avoiding loss Fairness bias The confirmation bias The hindsight bias Mental sets Cognitive dissonance

chapter 7 Exaggerating the improbable Affect Heuristic The tendency to consult emotions instead of estimating probabilities objectively • Your current feeling or emotion influences your decision Availability heuristic The tendency to judge the probability of an event by how easy it is to think of examples.

Fairness Bias • Motivation for cooperation and fairness outweigh the need to avoid loss and to win

chapter 7 The hindsight bias: “I knew it all along” effect The tendency to overestimate one’s ability to have predicted an event once the outcome is known. • Inclination to see events that have occurred as more predictable than they were before they took place – Politics, games, medicine, relationships – “Hindsight is 20/20” – “We’re all Monday morning quarterbacks”

chapter 7 The confirmation bias The tendency to pay attention only to information that confirms one’s own beliefs – avoid information and interpretations that contradict our beliefs 5, 7, 9 Goal: To find the rule to which these numbers conform

chapter 7 Mental Set Tendency to solve problems using procedures that worked before on similar problems - finding patterns in events • Why are mental sets good? – Make learning and problem solving more efficient • Why can mental sets be bad? – Not helpful when problem calls for new approach

chapter 7 The nine-dot problem Connect all 9 dots. Use only 4 lines. Do not lift your pencil from the page after you begin drawing.

chapter 7 Cognitive Dissonance A state of tension produced when a person holds two contradictory cognitions or when a person’s belief is inconsistent with his/her behavior

chapter 7 When are you more likely to try and reduce cognitive dissonance? 1. When you need to justify a choice or decision you freely made • Postdecision dissonance: second guessing a decision after it is made » “buyers remorse” 2. When you need to justify behavior that conflicts with your view of yourself 3. When you need to justify the effort put into a decision or choice • Justification of Effort: Hard work makes goal more attractive, even if once we attain the goal we realize it really wasn’t that good to begin with

Last Class in Review • Elements of Cognition – Concept: mental category of commonalities • Prototype: most typical example of category/concept – Propositions: connect concepts together, represent relationships – Cognitive Schema: mental network of concepts, scripts – Mental Image: experience that resembles a perception from any sense mode, but the stimuli is not currently present • Reasoning – Formal reasoning • Algorithms: set of rules or instructions used to solve a problem • Deductive (must be true) vs. Inductive reasoning (possibly true) – Informal reasoning • Heuristics: rules of thumb • Dialectical reasoning: trial jury, voting, debates – Barriers to reasoning • • Affect & Availability Heuristic Loss aversion, Fairness, Hindsight, Confirmation bias Mental Set Cognitive Dissonance

Learning Objectives • Intelligence: 1. What are three components of the Triarchic theory of intelligence? 2. What evidence is there that intelligence is influenced by both genetics and the environment? • Group Exercise – Cognitive Dissonance

chapter 7 Defining intelligence Intelligence An inferred characteristic of an individual, usually defined as the ability to profit from experience, acquire knowledge, think abstractly, act purposefully, or adapt to changes in the environment g factor A general intellectual ability assumed by many theorists to underlie specific mental abilities and talents

chapter 7 The Invention of IQ tests • 1904 – French Ministry of Education asked Alfred Binet to find a way to identify children who were slow learners so they could be given remedial work • Mental age (MA) and Intelligence Quotient (IQ) • MA = level of intellectual development relative to other kids • IQ = MA divided by chronological age times 100 » Now we use norms and tables to compute IQ • Stanford-Binet Intelligence Scale • Established norms for American children • Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale (WAIS) • General IQ, plus scores for specific types of abilities

chapter 7 Sternberg’s Triarchic Theory The skills and knowledge needed for success in life, according to one’s own definition of success, within one’s own sociocultural context

chapter 7 Sternberg’s Triarchic Theory Three aspects of Intelligence: 1. Componential Intelligence (analytic) Comparing, analyzing, and evaluating This type of process correlates best with IQ Metacognition: Knowledge or awareness of one’s own cognitive processes 2. Experiential Intelligence (creative) Inventing solution to new problems Transfer skills to new situations How you deal with novel (new) situations 3. Contextual Intelligence (practical) Applying the things you know to everyday contexts Tacit knowledge: strategies for success that aren’t explicitly taught

chapter 7 Emotional Intelligence (EQ) The ability to identify your own and other people’s emotions accurately, express your emotions clearly, and manage emotions in self and others Appears to be biologically based (Damasio, 1994)

Intelligence: Nature or Nurture? • Heritability: A statistical estimate of the proportion of the total variance in a trait that is attributable to genetic differences among individual within a group – Genetic studies • Children and adolescents = 0. 50 • Adults = 0. 60 -0. 80 – Adoption and Twin Studies • Score similarity: Identical twins > Fraternal twins • Adopted children’s scores correlate better with biological parents

Intelligence: Nature or Nurture? • What environmental influences can reduce mental ability? – – Poor prenatal care Malnutrition Exposure to toxins Stressful family circumstances • What environmental influences can raise mental ability? – Healthy, stimulating environment • Remember neurogenesis and stem cells?