Cognitive Psychology (Problem solving/decision making)

Problem solving

1-it is purposeful (goal directed) 2-it involves controlled processes and is not totally reliant on automatic processes. 3-a problem only exists when someone lacks the relevant knowledge to produce an immediate solution.

General problem solving methods

A method: a procedure for perfomring a search for a solution HOw to find the solution may not often be clear therefore we use heurisitic strategies, helps obtain a solution but isnt guaranteed-like a rule of thumb

Solution

A sequence of opertators that tranforms initial state into goal state (path to goal e.g the sequence of places you looked when you were looking for your keys

insight

A sudden and often novel realization of the solution to a problem

confirmation bias

A tendency to search for information that supports our preconceptions ignoring or distorting contradictory evidence

trial and error learning

A type of learning in which the solution is produced by a series of random responses rather than by processes of thought

problem solving as search

AI inspired search problem solving -first they wanted to figure out how humans problem solve and then use that -decided to use search because computers were very good at searching -we search by considering different options by relating our final decisions to the final desired outcome e.g. check mate in chess -PROBLEM-it cant be exhaustive because you need to be able to problem solve in order to search for possibilities to problem solve-need strategies

Operator

An action that changes one state to another (looking in different places for keys

prospect theory

Kagneman & Tversky. A major theory in decision making. 2 main components: 1) A person's wealth affects his or her choices 2) Because losses feel much worse than gains feel good, a person will try to avoid situations that involve losses. As a result they're are more willing to take risks to avoid losses

Gestalt approach

Looks at the importance of representation -the importance of the whole in comparison to its parts -looked at the importance in the way we present a aproblem -Dunker found that we could use previous problem that were solved to solve new problems, the key to solving a problem can be restructuring a representation e.g the monk problem

conjunction fallacy

Occurs when people estimate that the odds of two uncertain events happening together are greater than the odds of either event happening alone

Constraints

Retrictions of what can be done (you may have lost your keys on the train-how could you know?)

productive thinking

Solving a problem by developing an understanding of the problem's underlying structure.-restructuring representations.

expected utility theory

The idea that people are basically rational, so if they have all of the relevant information, they will make a decision that results in the maximum expected utility.-not so, deal with pen, lawyers

support theory

Theory that maintains that the more information we provide about a certain event, the more probable people will believe it is.

Functional fixity

We develop mental sets: tend to see things in a certain way, use certain solutions according to our representations. The tendency to hold onto this perception. Fail to notice novel uses of objects Dunkers candle problem (1945)

uncertinity

a fundamental concept, the problem of induction

progressive monitoring

a heuristic used in problem solving in which non sufficient rapid progress towards a solution leads us to adopt a different strategy-the sooner you understand you cannot solve the problem, the sooner you will be able to switch strategies (nine dot and line problem)

Algorithim

a methodical (step by step), logical rule or procedure that guarantees solving a particular problem. Contrasts with the usually speedier—but also more error-prone—use of heuristics.

status quo bias

a tendency for an individual to repeat a choice several times in spite of changes in their preferences

metacogntiion

an individuals beliefs and knowledge about his/her own cognitive processes and strategies

Judgements

are evaluated in terms of accuracy-refers to components of larger decision making processes concerned with assessing, estimating and imagining what will occur and what the decision makers evaluative actions to those outcomes will be

Decisions

are vealuated in terms of their consequences

the general problem solver

assumes people have a limited amount of processing capacity and that processing is serial, thus relies on the use of heuristics-has better memory but inferior planning in comparison to humans

well defined problems

clearly specified goals and solution paths

transfer OF TRAINING

depends on task similarity, context similarity, and time interval. far transfer is enhanced by metacogntiion (orienting, self judging) and increased by self explanation.

skill aquisition

developing ability through practice to increase probability of goal achievement

Reasoning

drawing further inferences from current knowledge and beliefs

ohlsson's representational change theory

emphasis on the importance of changing representations through; elaboration, constraint relaxation and re-encoding for insight to occur

availability heurisitc

estimating the likelihood of events based on their availability in memory; if instances come readily to mind (perhaps because sensalisation in the media), we presume such events are common e.g. murders more common than suicide

base rate neglect

even when we have relevant information we dont use it e.g. even if there are a high number of lawyers, if someone seems like an engineer based on some heuristic we go for this rather than the high probability of lawyers

Bias towards loss aversion

evidence shows that equivalent wins and losses showed that people rated losses as higher than wins e.g. the value of a mug will be different to each party, it was found that seller place more value in mug than buyers-tversky and Kahneman (1981) found people reject a 50/50 bet when the could win 200 but lose 100

simon and tversky (1992)

gave two possible payments for pen pay six dollars for cheap pen or nice pen, if they dont want the pen they could take some cash-when comparing to competitors people were more likely to take pen. Tehy think it is a 'good deal'

Approaches to problem solving

gestalt approach, problem solving as search-genereal problem solving methods, knowledge and problem solving-insight-analogy

framing effects

how we represent or frame a problem is critical to how we solve a problem; organ doanting effect (2003) less in countries that had to take action as opposed to countries that had to 'opt out'-opting out is like defaulting the loss whereas opting in is a loss-perhaps like the 'sunk cost fallacy' people have already counted the loss

recognition heurisitic

if one of two objects is recognised and the other is not, it is assumed that the recognised object has higher value

savants

individuals with mental retardation who are extremely talented in one domain

complex decision making

involves bounded rationality, we are constrained by our limited processing ability.

Decision making

involves choosing among various options-refers to entire course of choosing action

hill climbing heuristic

involving changing he present state of a problem into one apparently closer goal-like climbing a hill

Far transfer

like positive transfer however applies to current problem solving in dissimilar context e.g. the elephant problem

Set effects

lunchin's (1942) water jug problem-After a sequence of similar solutions people often fail to see simpler solutions

Metclafe et al (1987)

measured levels of problem solving by comparing/ contrasting participants ratings of feelings of 'warmth' to a solution, designed to illustrate the differences between insight (indicated by a spike in the data) and general problem solving.

means ends analysis

method for solving problems which requires creating a subgoal to reduce the difference between current state and goal state

search

more of a language describing problem solving than a 'testable theory'

knowledge rich problems

need previous specific knowledge to solve like a (physics problem)

errors of judgement

occur when people misunderstand the question, peoples judgements are only biased and error prone because of the availability of information e.g. the media coverage of murders as opposed to suicides

Representativeness

often known as a heuristic rule of thumb. Used when people judge the probability of an object or event A belonging to class B

Problem solving focus

on the factors that influence the chouce of strategies e.g. successful/unsuccessful

anchoring and adjustment

once we have an anchor we adjust, frog in hot water

Weir et al. (2002)

other species can see goals and find paths to them too, crows can fashion tools to retrieve food, the outcomes were spontaneous not trial and error

negative transfer

past experience of problem solving leads disruption and inability to solve a current similar problem e.g. functional fixedness

positive transfer

past experience of problem solving makes it easier to solve current problem

bystander apathy

people base their behaviour according to other peoples behaviour, e.g. if nothing is being acted upon or done about a particular situation we assume that something has already been done, or there is no reason to act

bayer theorem

people often take less account of the prior odds (base rate info) than they should.

knowledge lean problems

problems that can be solved without the use of much prior knowledge, with most of the necessary information being provided by the problem statement.

knowledge and problem solving

provides us with most creative solutions, can sometimes be a constraint to problem solving, can eliminate problem solving,

reproductive thinkning

re-use of previous knowledge to solve current problem

Generate test

solutionsare generated and then tested one at a time, requires no knowledge but sometimes ineffectual because the search space is too large and reaches the solution to slowly

State

specification of situation (lost keys)

ill defined problems

starting points, potential solutions,end point all not clear, (most everyday problems are these).

kohler 1925

studied chinps solving problems, trial and error

expertise

template theory suggests that experts contain more templates of a given expertise than a non expert-the precise information contained in a template remains unclear.

Goal

the desired state (keys)

In the brain plays a major role in problem solving

the dorsal lateral prefrontal cortex

incubation

the finding that a problem is solved when it is put aside for some time-research suggests that the leading reason of the effectiveness of incubation is because misleading information or representations are given enough to time to be forgotten and no longer interferes with problem solving

base rate

the frequency of which an event occurs or an attribute present in the population

analogical problem solving

the radiation problem: solving a problem by finding a similar problem with a known solution and applying that solution to the current problem. Transfer depends on three types of similarity: superficial, structural, procedural. The central executive plays a major role.

omission bias

the tendency to prefer inaction to action when engaged in risky decision making

why we use heuristics

they can be cognitively undemanding and be applied rapidly

Urban Le Verrier

used the same representations for detecting 'planets' he used for detecting Uranus, kept using until he died-an example of mental set

adaptiity

we make the best decisions we can with the amount of time, limited memory, and cogntiive capacity stores we have we use fast and frugal heurisitcs because its ecologically valid