PSYC 230: M3 Exam
inductive
Any time you make a prediction about what will happen based on observations about what has happened in the past, you are using ______________ reasoning
Availability Heuristic
Basing judgement about the frequency of events on what events come to mind the easiest/fastest Ex: the most likely cause of death survey (people assume they're more likely to die from a homicide, shark attack or pneumonia than appendicitis -- which isn't true) Ex. stereotypes
Perception
Both imagery & perception have a sensory impression, but only _____________ has a sensory input
Type 1 Processing
Characteristics: Fast Relatively automatic Unconscious, nonverbal High capacity Evolutionarily "old" Independent of intelligence and working memory
Type 2 Processing
Characteristics: Slow Deliberate or controlled Conscious, linked to language Low capacity Evolutionarily "new" Linked to intelligence and working memory
Novices (and problem solving)
Focus on surface-level features According to the M3 article, outsiders are more creative when their search variation is focused & their search effort is "considerable."
A
Gabrielle is blonde, extremely attractive, and lives in an expensive condo. If we judge the probability of Gabrielle's being a model quite high because she resembles our stereotype of a model, we are using _____________________ A. the representativeness heuristic. B. the availability heuristic. C. framing. D. the law of small numbers.
Deductive reasoning
General --> Specific Involves syllogisms, in which a conclusion logically follows from premises Conclusion is stated as definitely being true
D
How does mental imagery compare with perception? A. Perception relies exclusively on bottom-up processing. B. Perception relies exclusively on top-down processing. C. Mental imagery relies exclusively on bottom-up processing. D. Mental imagery relies exclusively on top-down processing.
Restructuring
How people reorganize/restructure/represent the problem in their mind If they can change this representation, it helps them better understand and solve the problem Ex. Can look at Sudoku through rows, columns, or as a whole Ex. Circle and radius example - need to restructure to see the triangle as a box and realize the radius applies
Analogical Problem Solving
3 Steps Noticing there's an analogous relationship between the source and its target Mapping the correspondence between the source and target Applying the mapping to generate a parallel solution
Design fixedness
???? idfk
Illusory Correlation
A correlation that appears to exist between two events, when in reality there is no correlation or it is weaker than it is assumed to be. Thought to help cause the availability heuristic Can lead to stereotypes
Lexicon
A person's knowledge of what words mean, how they sound, and how they are used in relation to other words Ours is all the words we know like a "mental dictionary" Ex. Lexical ambiguity: when a word can have more than one meaning ▪Example: bank (river, money) ^^Context clears up ambiguity
Mental Set
A preconceived notion about how to approach a problem Determined by a person's experience or what has worked in the past Ex. Water jug problem --Gave people weird-sized jugs (127, 21, or 3 cups) and a chart of different desired quantities and they had to figure out how they got there --Same algorithm works for all problems --A simpler algorithm works just for problems 7 and 8 --The people who saw all 8 at first developed a mental set and applied that to 7 and 8 instead of searching for an easier solution --Two groups: one only saw 7 and 8 and another saw 1-8 --Participants in 1-8 group developed a mental set, while the 7,8 group didn't --Participants without a mental set aka 7,8 found a solution faster
Spatial Representation
A representation in which different parts of a mental image can be described as corresponding to specific locations in space We act as if our mental images are physical objects "Mental scanning" experiments showed: -Takes someone longer to visualize scanning a long distance than a short one -How fine your resolution is, depends on how close you are to the object in your mind Imagery is based on spatial mechanisms Ex. A mental image of a cat under a table
Propositional Representation
A representation in which mental relationships are portrayed by symbols Words represent objects and the relationships between objects Imagery based on language mechanisms Ex. "The cat is under the table"
Heuristics
A rule of thumb that may lead to a solution reasonably quickly with relatively low computational costs - fast & frugal --The more accepted view is that heuristics lead humans astray & distort our ability to make fully rational decisions --The other is that heuristics are highly adaptive modes of thought
valid
A syllogism can be _______ even if it's not true
Biases
A tendency to make systematic errors based on cognitive factors instead of evidence
Pragmatic reasoning schema
A way of thinking about cause and effect in the world that is learned as part of experiencing everyday life --> why concrete examples are easier than abstract ones in the Wason 4 Card Task
Factors that influence delay discounting
Addiction - people with addictive disorders (gambling, smoking, cocaine) tend to discount more than healthy controls - and the more severe their addiction, the more they discount ADHD - children with ADHD tend to discount more than typically developing children & children with autism Personality - greater delay discounting is associated with low openness, low conscientiousness, high extraversion, high neuroticism - Smaller amounts discounted more than larger amounts Socioeconomic Status - Lower income older adults display greater discounting than upper income older adults. Power - Managers showed less delay discounting than workers on monetary discounting task. Ex. Participants assigned to manager (high-power) or worker (low-power): Manager assigned tasks to workers Workers had no say in the tasks assigned to them Peer Pressure - Adolescents discount more in the presence of peers than when alone
Functional Fixedness
An effect that occurs when the ideas a person has about an object's function inhibit the person's ability to use the object for a different function Ex. The candle problem Mount the candle to the wall so it'll burn without dripping on the floor Solution: tack the matchbox to the wall to act as a stand for the candle Ex. Candle problem cont. One group got the supplies (candle, match, tack) in a box and the others got it outside the box When the box was empty, more likely to get to a solution
Conceptual Peg Hypothesis
Concrete nouns create images that other words can "hang onto" --> enhances memory Easier to build associations if you can imagine them right next to each other Ex. Memory palace Ex. Boat in a tree
General, specific
Deductive reasoning goes from ___________ to _____________
syllogisms
Deductive reasoning involves ___________ which is when a conclusion logically follows from premises
A
Discounting refers to A. the tendency to reduce the value of a reward if there is a cost associated with it. B. the tendency to represent value in a propositional code. C. the tendency for reaction times to decrease under time pressure. D. the rate at which people reduce the value of an outcome
Pavio's Dual Coding Hypothesis
Easier to encode words that are concrete & can evoke mental images Concrete words - can encode verbally AND visually Abstract words - can only encode verbally
Role of context on language processing
Ex. Semantics tell us "The bird saw the man with the binoculars." is just |The bird saw| |the man with the binoculars|. b/c birds can't use binoculars Ex. Phonemic Restoration Effect - Asked to identify where in the word the person coughed but NO ONE was able to because we fill in missing phonemes based on the sentence's "context" in our mind & the portion of the word presented. Ex. Word Superiority Effect - People were fastest and most accurate when the stimulus was a word - even more than just the single letter because context matters --> Words give letters context, which facilitates processing Ex. Lexical ambiguity - when a word can have more than one meaning --- bank (river, money) ^Context clears up ambiguity
Mental Imagery
Experiencing a sensory impression without a sensory input Ex. athletes visualizing plays or moves to improve performance Ex. Imagining
Kosslyn's mental scanning experiments
Experiment Imagine a rabbit and an elephant next to each other Asked "does the rabbit have whiskers?" Imagine a rabbit and a fly next to each other and asked the same question Result: Participants answered questions more rapidly when the rabbit was larger/filled more of your mental visual field - visual acuity
Kosslyn's mental scanning experiments
Experiment Island drawing picture Gave people different trips to take and asked them to imagine traveling from one location to another It took longer to mentally scan between greater distances
Kosslyn's mental scanning experiments
Experiment Memorize a picture of a boat and create a mental image of it Move from one part of the mental image to another Took people longer to mentally move long distances than shorter distances Suggests like perception, imagery is spatial
Kosslyn's mental scanning experiments
Experiment Mental walk task Asked to imagine they were walking toward their mental image of an animal When the animal filled their entire visual field, asked how far away they were from it Participants had to move closer for smaller animals than for large, just like they would have in real life
Experts (and problem solving)
Focus on structural (deeper) features According to the M3 article, insiders are more effective when they conduct a widely varied search & their effort is "substantial." Have more knowledge about their fields Spend more time analyzing problems Expertise is only an advantage in the areas of expertise Sometime expertise is NOT an advantage (paradigm shift)
Sapir-Wharf hypothesis
Idea that different languages produce different patterns of thought Ex. English and Russian colors Given a colored square and asked if it matched one of 2 other colored squares given - measured their reaction time - Russian speakers responded more quickly when the 2 squares they were comparing to were of different categories aka the shades had different names in their language whereas English speakers took longer because they didn't have different names for them *Language can affect color perception b/c they have more categories in their brain for something due to language Ex. Simon task and bilingualism Showed that in the hard task, where they had to process extra colors, it was easier for bilingual people in working memory
Unconscious Thought Theory
Idea that relying on unconscious impressions often produces better judgments than more conscious reactions VERY Controversial Conscious Thought (CT) Limited in capacity Good at solving problems with a limited number of variables Ex. Which oven mitt should I buy? Unconscious Thought (UT) Better at solving complex tasks Has high capacity & good at weighting the attributes of decision objects Ex. Which car/house should I buy?
Endowment Effect
If you have something, you want to keep it Ex. people given a lottery ticket or $2 - given the opportunity to trade - very few accepted the trade Ex. people sometimes over-price things at yard sales because you value them more than someone else Ownership increases the value of an item
A.
Imagine that you read about research in which students study a map of an imaginary college campus. Then they are instructed to mentally travel between two points on this map. According to their results, the mental travel time increases as the distance increases between the two points. These results seem to support A. the spatial code. B. the propositional code. C. the alignment heuristic D. the spatial framework model.
B
In a lexical decision task, participants have to decide whether A. a statement is true. B. a letter string is a word. C. a stimulus is presented. D. two stimuli are associated.
definitely
In deductive reasoning, the conclusion is stated as ____________ being true
probably
In inductive reasoning, the conclusion is stated as ______________ being true.
C
In the Ultimatum Game, people usually _____ offers that are less than 20% of the total amount of money when playing with another person. A. accept B. consider C. reject D. prefer ((Two players are given an endowments Player 1 is the proposer - proposes a split of a certain amount of money Player 2 can either accept or reject If player 2 rejects the offer, then neither receives any money People usually reject offers that are less than 20% of the endowment when playing with people - viewed as unfair People don't behave "irrationally" (rejecting money) if they think they are playing with a computer Suggests us rejecting the money from an unfair split by a person acts as a punishment for unfairness, how we work as a society))
specific, general
Inductive reasoning goes from __________ to _______________
C
Making probable conclusions based on evidence involves_________________reasoning. A. deductive B. syllogistic C. inductive D. connective
A
Mental imagery involves A. experiencing a sensory impression in the absence of sensory input. B. mental representations of the current sensory inputs. C. sensory representations of a stimulus. D. all of these.
real-world, valid
Participants do better if syllogisms are framed in __________________ terms & if the conclusion is _____________
Shepard and Metzler's mental rotation experiment
Participants mentally rotated one object to see if it matched the image of another Time to respond strongly correlated with angle of rotation *When the objects were the same -- the more they have to rotate it, the longer it takes to respond *When the objects were different -- the correct response took the same time regardless of angle Used a technique called chronometry Suggests people are actually mentally rotating the object in their mind
Anchoring and Adjustment
People start with an implicitly stated reference point (anchor) and make adjustments to reach their estimate Ex. Group 1: 1 x 2 x3 x4 x 5 x 6 x7 x8. Group 2: 8 x 7 x6 x5 x 4 x 3 x2 x1 The order of the numbers changes the estimates people make - group 2 had a higher estimate than group 1 Ex. MacBook Pro By anchoring her at $1200 first for replacing the motherboard, then their $500 repair doesn't sound too bad
Affirming the Consequent (conditional syllogism)
Premise 1: If p, then q Premise 2: q Conclusion: p INVALID
Denying the Antecedent (conditional syllogism)
Premise 1: If p, then q. Premise 2: Not p Conclusion: Not q INVALID
Denying the Consequent (conditional syllogism)
Premise 1: If p, then q. Premise 2: Not q Conclusion: Not p VALID
Affirming the antecedent (conditional syllogism)
Premise 1: If p, then q. Premise 2: p Conclusion: q VALID
Phonemic Restoration Effect
Presented with a sentence in which a word was interrupted with a cough Asked to identify where in the word the person coughed but NO ONE was able to because we fill in missing phonemes based on the sentence's context in our mind & the portion of the word presented.
Representativeness Heuristic
Probability that an event A comes from class B can be determined by how well A resembles the properties of Class B Ex. If Steve is shy, helpful, and timid - people are more likely to assume that he is a librarian over other careers b/c this description seems representative/stereotypical of a librarian ^^Problematic b/c failing to consider the base rate
Ill-defined (wicked) problems
Problem where it's difficult to specify a clear goal Usually, the path to solutions is unclear
Well-defined problems
Problems that have correct answers Usually, certain procedures will lead to solutions
Lexical decision task
Read a list of words and nonwords Identify real words (verbal or button-press response) as quickly as possible Measures reaction time
Two types of risk propensities
Risk-Aversion: the tendency to avoid taking risks • When the problem is stated in terms of gains Risk-Seeking: the tendency to take risks • When problem is stated in terms of losses • People over-estimate how bad they will feel about losing
Analogical Transfer
The application of problem-solving strategies experienced in solving one problem (the source problem or story) to the solution of another problem (the target problem) Ex. Source problem (Russian village marriage story) helps people with the target problem (mutilated checkerboard) Ex. Radiation Problem Correct answer is to apply a bunch of low intensity rays at different directions In a later study, they split subjects into two groups - one read the "fortress story" where an army divided and conquered before having the radiation problem - they were more successful
Wason Four Card task
Shows that deductive reasoning performance is better when using concrete examples instead of abstract because of pragmatic reasoning schema Details: Given 4 cards and need to indicate which ones you need to flip over to test the given rule Ex. Rule: "If vowel, then even number on other side" Cards: E, K, 4, 7 Most people say E and 4 but the correct answer is actually E and 7 Led to the falsification principle To test a rule, it's necessary to look for situations that would falsify the rule Found that people did much better when the cards were based on real-life, concrete terms instead of abstract ones Ex. Rule: If drinking beer, then over 19 years old Cards: Beer, Soda, 16 years old, 24 years old Correct answer is flipping over beer and 16 years old Easier because of the pragmatic reasoning schema A way of thinking about cause/effect in the world that's learned as part of experiencing everyday life The beer example deals specifically with the permission schema A pragmatic reasoning schema that states that if a person satisfies condition A, then they get to carry out action B Ex. If you are 19, then you get to drink beer
Inductive reasoning
Specific (evidence/examples) --> General Conclusion is stated as probably being true. Any time you make a prediction about what will happen based on observations about what has happened in the past, you are using inductive reasoning Strength of argument comes from: Representativeness of Observations Ex. We can't draw strong conclusions about the nature of people based on observations of only college students Number of Observations Ex. We can't draw strong conclusions about the effect of a medicine based on only two people Quality of Evidence Ex. We can't draw strong conclusions from uncontrolled experiments
Surface Features
Specific elements that make up a problem Ex. there's an army, a fortress, they want to attack the fortress Aligning these between source and target can improve analogical transfer
C
Suppose that you have a mental image of your favorite male actor. If that image is stored in a propositional code, the representation would emphasize A. spatial relationships, including information about angles and lines. B. a correspondence between the mental imagery and perceptual imagery. C. a language-like description. D. spatial relationships for the actor's general shape, but a language-like description for the details of his face.
Categorical Syllogisms
Syllogisms in which the premises and conclusion describe the relationship between two categories by using statements that begin with "all, no, or some" Ex. Premise 1: All cats are animals. Premise 2: All animals eat food. Conclusion: All cats eat food. Premise 1: All students are tired. Premise 2: Some tired people are irritable. Conclusion: Some of the students are irritable. INVALID because in the picture, none of the students are actually irritable Ex. Premise 1: All fish are animals. Premise 2: All animals have four legs. Conclusion: All fish have four legs. VALID because the conclusion follows the premise FALSE because one or more of the premises is not true
Conditional Syllogisms
Syllogisms with two premises and a conclusion, whose first premise is an "If ... then ..." statement If p (antecedent), then q (consequent) Ex. Premise 1: If it is Monday, then the meeting is in room 101. Premise 2: It is Monday. Conclusion: Therefore, the meeting is in room 101. Types: Affirming the Antecedent Premise 1: If p, then q. Premise 2: p Conclusion: q VALID Affirming the Consequent Premise 1: If p, then q Premise 2: q Conclusion: p INVALID Denying the Antecedent Premise 1: If p, then q. Premise 2: Not p Conclusion: Not q INVALID Denying the Consequent Premise 1: If p, then q. Premise 2: Not q Conclusion: Not p VALID
Syntax-first approach to parsing
Syntax (the grammatical structure) of a sentence determines parsing There are several principles proposed by this approach, including Late Closure Late closure: the parser assumes new word is part of the current phrase until it is no longer possible Cast iron, Cast iron sinks, Cast iron sinks quickly, Cast iron sinks | quickly rust, etc.
Interactionist approach to parsing
Syntax AND Semantics influence processing as one reads a sentence Influenced by the meaning of words Influenced by environmental settings Ex. "The spy saw the man with the binoculars." |The spy saw| |the man with the binoculars| vs. |The spy saw the man| |with the binoculars| Ex. "The bird saw the man with the binoculars." (mostly based on semantics) |The bird saw| |the man with the binoculars|.
Delay Discounting
Tendency to undervalue, or ignore, future consequences/rewards in favor of immediate gratification Often associated with impulsivity, delayed gratification, self-control Low discount rate o Looks like a flat-ish line o Patient, self-control High discount rate o A steep, negative slope o Impatient
B
The finding that people tend to incorrectly conclude that more people die from tornados than from asthma has been explained in terms of the A. representativeness heuristic. B. availability heuristic. C. falsification principle. D. belief bias.
Word Superiority Effect
The idea that letters are easier to identify when they are part of a word than when they are seen in isolation or in a string of letters that do not form a word. Stimuli (a word, a letter, or a nonword) flashed briefly - then a pattern and 2 letters are presented - must pick the letter that was in the original stimulus People were fastest and most accurate when the stimulus was a word - even more than just the single letter - because context matters Words give letters context, which facilitates processing
B
The interactionist approach to parsing states that A. semantics is activated only at the end of a sentence. B. semantics is activated as a sentence is being read. C. the grammatical structure of a sentence determines the initial parsing. D. semantics is only activated to clear up ambiguity.
Law of Large Numbers
The larger the number of individuals that are randomly drawn from a population, the more representative the resulting group will be of the entire population Ex. For 1 year, two hospitals recorded the days on which more than 60% of the babies born were boys. The smaller hospital recorded more of these days because less representative and easier to pass that threshold
Semantics
The meaning of words and sentences affect our comprehension Ex. The cats won't eat - makes sense The cats won't bake - doesn't make sense Usually processed in temporal lobe
Parsing
The mental grouping of words in a sentence into phrases Syntactic ambiguity = a situation in which there is more than one possible structure, and more than one meaning Ex. "The cow was found by the stream by the farmer" Temporary ambiguity = a situation in which the meaning of a sentence, based on its initial words, is ambiguous Ex: garden path sentences (a sentence in which the meaning that seems to be implied at the beginning of the sentence turns out to be incorrect based on information later in the sentence) ▪"After the musician played the piano..." ▪"...was wheeled off the stage." OR ▪"After the musician played..." ▪"...the piano was wheeled off the stage."
Base Rate
The relative proportions of different classes in a population. Influences reasoning Ex. Steve (timid, shy) is actually more likely to be a farmer than a librarian because in 1974, there were more male farmers that male librarians People make better decisions when given ONLY base rate info If they're given base rate & descriptive info, they won't use the base rate as much :(
Syntax
The rules for combining words into sentences affect comprehension The cats won't eat - makes sense The cats won't eating - doesn't make sense The eat cat won't - doesn't make sense Usually processed in frontal lobe
Phonemes
The shortest segment of speech/sound that, if changed, changes the meaning of the word You can have accents and things that produce different sounds, but if you still understand the same meaning, it's the same phoneme Ex. p vs. b
Morphemes
The smallest unit of language that has meaning or grammatical function Ex. "Unladylike" has 3 morphemes
representativeness, number, quality
The strength of an inductive reasoning argument comes from: ______________________ of Observations Ex. We can't draw strong conclusions about the nature of people based on observations of only college students _____________________ of Observations Ex. We can't draw strong conclusions about the effect of a medicine based on only two people _____________________ of Evidence Ex. We can't draw strong conclusions from uncontrolled experiments
Insight
The sudden realization of a problem's solution (ah-ha!) Ex. Move 3 dots in a triangle so arrow shape points down Ex. Rings that cost different amounts to open or close them (2 cents to open, 3 cents to close) to attach 4 chains of 3 together - need to open all in one chain Ex. Metcalfe and Wiebe Gave participants insight problems & non-insight problems Participants gave "warmth judgments" as they worked to indicate how close they thought they were to a solution *For algebra/non-insight problems, gradually increased *But for insight problems, started lower because thought far away from a solution, then jumped up when they understood
Confirmation Bias
The tendency to selectively look for information that conforms to our hypothesis and to overlook information that argues against it. Ex. People given neutral statements about Bush and Kary - then given evidence that contradicts their statements - Participants more likely to identify contradictions in the candidate for the opposing party over their own Ex. Participants shown descriptions of research studies on the effectiveness of capital punishment - asked to rate how convincing each study was - people's responses reflected their attitudes towards capital punishment
Structural features
The underlying principle of the problem and solution to the problem Ex. I have something that's too strong and need to break it up - fortress and radiation had very similar structural features but different surface features Changing structural features --> reduces analogical transfer
A
The word frequency effect refers to the fact that we respond more A. slowly to low-frequency words than high-frequency words. B. slowly to letters appearing in non-words than letters appearing in words. C. quickly to letters that appear multiple times in a word than just once in a word. D. quickly to phonemes that appear multiple times in a word than just once in a word.
Convergent thinking
Thinking that works toward finding one solution to a specific problem that usually has a correct answer Works well with well-defined problems Shows that depending on the problem, it's more efficient to apply different strategies/problem-solving approaches
Divergent thinking
Thinking that's open-minded and involves a large number of potential solutions Works well with ill-defined or wicked problems Shows that depending on the problem, it's more efficient to apply different strategies/problem-solving approaches
Falsification principle
To test a rule, it's necessary to look for situations that would falsify the rule
Word Frequency Effect
Used Lexical Decision Tasks and asked participants to read a list or real and nonwords - then asked to identify the real words by pressing a button or giving a verbal response Ex. People responded more rapidly/fast reaction time to high frequency (more common) words Ex. Used Eye Scanning and found that when reading text with both high and low-frequency words - participants looked at low-frequency words longer
Conjunction Fallacy
When people think that two events are more likely to occur together than either individual event Ex. Linda is 31, single, outspoken, and very bright. She majored in philosophy. As a student, she was deeply concerned with issued of social justice. Which is more probable? Linda is a bank teller OR Linda is a bank teller and is active in the feminist movement The correct answer is just Linda is a bank teller
Problem
When there's an "obstacle" between a present state and a goal, and a solution isn't immediately obvious
A
Which of the following students provides the most accurate summary of System 1 and System 2 processing, in connection with decision making? A. Frank: "System 1 processing doesn't require much conscious attention; System 2 processing is slow, and we need to pay close attention."
TMS
______ can show causal relationships by creating temporary virtual lesions Current studies with it suggest that brain activity in visual area of brain plays a causal role for perception AND imagery
Skinner
_________'s perspective on language Language is learned through reinforcement
Chomsky
_________'s perspective on language Said language is innate and coded into our genes The underlying basis of all languages is similar Children produce sentences they've never heard before so it couldn't have been because of "reinforcement"
fMRI
__________ studies are correlational NOT causal (could be an epiphenomena) They suggest that brain activity & imaging are connected because there's an overlap of activation & consistency in deactivation
Perception
_____________ is automatic and stable
Imagery
_____________ takes effort and is fragile
neuropsychological
________________________ studies involving brain damage such as a missing part of visual cortex or unilateral neglect have "mixed" results Shows evidence for both double dissociation & shared mechanisms Not fully explainable but it's thought these mechanisms partially overlap b/c imagery is top-down and perception is top-down & bottom-up
epiphenomena
phenomena that occur along with behavior but have no causal role in behavior