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