Ap Psych Thinking, Concepts, and Creativity (module 34 unit 11)

Creativity

The ability to produce novel and valuable ideas

Concept

A mental grouping of similar objects, events, ideas or people

Prototype

A mental image or best example of a category: ~ Matching items to a prototype provides a quick and easy method for sorting items into categories

Algorithm

A methodical, logical rule or procedure that guarantees solving a particular problem ~Contrasts with the usually speedier (but more error prone) use of heuristics

Heuristic

A simple thinking strategy that often allows us to make judgments and solve problems efficiently; usual speedier but also more error-prone than algorithms

Insight

A sudden realization of a problem's solution; contrasts with strategy-based solutions

Mental set

A tendency to approach a problem in one particular way, often a way that has been successful in the past

Confirmation bias

A tendency to search for information that supports our preconceptions and to ignoree or distort contradictory evidence

Cognition

All the mental activities associated with thinking, knowing, remembering, and communicating

Intuition

An effortless, immediate, automatic feeling or thought, as contrasted with explicit, conscious reasoning

Belief Perseverance

Clinging to one's initial conceptions after the bias on which they were formed has been discredited

Availability Heuristic

Estimating the likelihood of events based on their availability in memory; if instances come readily to mind (perhaps because of their vividness), we presume such events are common ~ex. more likely to remember the wins at a casino than the loses because the wins are accompanied with lights and bells that are more likely to be remembered

Divergent thinking

Expands the number of possible problem solutions (creative thinking that diverges in different directions)

Representativeness Heuristic

Judging the likelihood of things in terms of how well they seem to represent, or match particular prototypes ~ May lead us to ignore other relevant information

Convergent thinking

Narrows the available problem solutions to determine the single best solution

Overconfidence

The tendency to be more confident than correct - to overestimate the accuracy of our beliefs and judgments

Framing

The way an issue is posed; how an issue is framed can significantly affect decisions and judgments