COG Quiz 4

What did Wason (1960) demonstrate about the flaw in the way people tend to test rules or hypotheses?

Wason gave participants a list of numbers (2, 4, 6) and told them to figure out the rule by producing their own lists, and he would tell them if it followed the rule or not. Participants would have lists increasing by 2's, and Wason would always say it was correct, so they began to believe that was the rule. The rule was actually just numbers in sequential order of size, but participant's didn't try to disprove their theory.

What is a categorical syllogism? What is the difference between validity and truth in categorical syllogisms?

A categorical syllogism is when the premises and conclusion are statements that begin with all, none, or some. Validity is when the form of the syllogism indicates that its conclusion follows logically from its premises. Truth is that the premises are accurate to the world.

Define: conditional syllogism

A conditional syllogism are those that have "if, then" statements.

How do the results of the male/female births experiment relate to the law of large numbers?

A large hospital's daily average of male to female births would be closer to 50/50, because more babies are being born there. A small hospital is more likely to have a disparity of births because there are smaller numbers. (In other words, 40/45 babies being male is way more unlikely than 13/15).

Define: analogically problem solving, source problem, target problem

Analogically problem solving is using the solution to a similar problem to guide the solution to a new problem. Source problem is when another problem that is similar to the problem you want to solve, it may illustrate a way to solve it. Target problem is the problem which currently does not have a known solution and you are trying to solve.

What is the evidence that the default mode network and the executive control network are both involved in creativity? Why is their joint involvement in creativity called a paradox?

DMN is when your mind wanders and allows new ideas and insight to occur. ECN focuses your attention. The spontaneous mind wandering of DMN is directed and controlled with the ECN, meaning that they work together even though they have basically completely opposite functioning which could be called a paradox.

Describe the actions of daydreaming and solitude, as practiced by highly creative people.

Daydreaming is mind wandering that occurs when people's attention shifts from things that are external to things that are internal. Solitude is the reflection that is achieved through being alone and avoiding distractions.

Define: deductive reasoning.

Deductive reasoning is when we determine if a conclusion logically follows from statements.

What is an expert? What are some differences between the way experts and nonexperts go about solving problems? How good are experts at solving problems outside of their field?

Experts are people that have experience in a topic. Experts solve problems using prior knowledge and understanding, such as a physicist grouping problems with conservation of energy together while a novice just groups inclined planes together. Novices mostly just use common sense. Experts in one field are novices in all other fields, essentially.

What is the difference between focused attention meditation and open monitoring meditation? Which one has been shown to result in greater creativity?

Focused attention meditation is when you focus on one specific thing, and when your mind wanders, refocus on that thing. Open monitoring meditation is when you pay attention to whatever thoughts come to you. Open monitoring meditation leads to more creativity.

Define: functional fixedness, insight, mental set

Functional fixedness is a focus on a familiar function or use on an object that hinders the ability to solve the problem. Insight is any sudden comprehension or realization that reorganizes the problem in a way that wasn't obvious at first. Mental set is a preconceived notion of how to fix a problem based on how they've solved problems in the past.

What is the basic principle behind the Gestalt approach to problem solving?

Gestalt psychologists believe that problem solving is when you represent a problem in your mind and reorganize or restructure it.

If you were up for parole, would you want your case heard be a judge just before or after lunch? (Danziger et al., 2011). What role does context make in everyday purchasing decisions?

I would want my case to be heard after the judge ate lunch. Context can influence decisions, for example, if choosing to buy something low or medium priced, it might be less likely you would buy the medium priced item if there was a third, expensive option.

How is inductive reasoning involved in everyday experience?

If an event usually goes well, we will use inductive reasoning to assume that usually works, such as your method of studying or buying things from the same company over and over.

Describe Duncker's radiation problem. What is the solution, and how have researchers used this problem to illustrate analogical problem solving?

If there is a patient with a tumor in his stomach and you have to use a ray to eliminate it, but the ray only has a weak setting and a strong setting and the strong setting will destroy healthy tissue, how do you eliminate the tumor? The solution is to hit the tumor with the low intensity ray from different angles so going through different parts of healthy tissues will not be affected, but the rays intersect at the tumor with the intensity of combined rays to eliminate it. It demonstrates analogical problem solving because after being told a similar story about a fortress, most people could figure out the solution.

How do the behavioral results of the ultimatum game (Sanfey et al., 2003) experiment vary depending on whether the opponent was a human or computer? What does this indicate about the role of emotion in decision-making?

In the ultimatum game, people who were responders were more likely to accept low offers from a computer than a human, because they would be offended if the person low-balled them. This indicates there is also an emotional goal at play (to punish unfairness).

How do conclusions from deductive reasoning differ from those reached via inductive reasoning?

Inductive reasoning has conclusions that are probably true, but not definitely, because they are drawn from generalities of observations. Deductive reasoning can achieve a definitely true status if the premises are true and the form of the syllogism is valid.

What is inductive reasoning? What factors contribute to the strength of an inductive argument?

Inductive reasoning is drawing general conclusions based on observations and/or evidence. Representativeness of observations, which are how well the observation represents everything in that category, is one factor that contributes to an inductive argument's strength. Another is the number of observations, and the quality of the evidence.

Describe the example of organ donation as it relates to the way a choice is presented. Define: status quo bias.

Organ donation is lower in countries that you have to opt-in the be an organ donor because people have to take a step to become one. Countries that have an opt-out method have much higher rates of potential organ donors because people would have to go out of their way to not be an organ donor. Status quo bias is the tendency to do nothing when faced with a decision.

Define: means-ends analysis, Tower of Hanoi

Means end analysis is a way to solve a problem where you try to minimize the different between the start and end states. The tower of Hanoi is a problem with discs on pegs and rules that state a larger disc cannot be placed on a smaller disc and you can only move one disc at a time, if it has no others on top of it. This is used to demonstrate the Newell-Simon approach to problem solving.

What is the Wason Card task? Why does the 7 card need to be turned over to solve the problem. Describe the basic findings of studies of the Wason Card task using abstract vs. concrete examples.

The Wason card task has 4 cards with a letter on one side and a number on the other. Participants were asked to test the rule "if there is a vowel, it has an even number on the other side". The 7 card needs to be turned over because that would potentially disprove the rule, while turning over the 4 card would just demonstrate that it was true in that one case. Concrete examples are usually easier for people because they have schemas to help them, while abstract ones prove to be more difficult.

Describe how the following can cause errors in everyday reasoning: availability heuristic, stereotypes, representative heuristic?

The availability heuristic is the idea that events that stand out in our mind are perceived as more common occurrences than mundane things that we forget. This can lead to illusory correlations, such as with a lucky object or ritual. Stereotypes are assumptions about a category of things, which can give us preconceived notions of what to expect from something belonging to that category, even if it is not true. The representative heuristic is the idea that the likelihood that something belongs to a bigger category depends on how well that things seems like it would fit in that category, which can lead to incorrect assumptions.

What role does the backfire effect play in political discourse, for example?

The backfire effect is when people's beliefs become even stronger when presented with opposing facts. In political discussions, this is relevant because people often are not open to changing their mind or hearing anyone out, so they cling even more tightly to their ideas.

What is the belief bias? Be sure you understand the results shown in Figure 13.2.

The belief bias is the tendency to think a syllogism is valid if its conclusion is believable.

What is the dual systems approach to thinking? What are the basic properties of system 1 and system 2? How is the use of heuristics related to the two systems?

The dual systems approach to thinking is that there is a fast automatic and intuitive system, and a slower deliberate and thoughtful system. System one is the immediate one and system 2 is the deliberate one. Heuristics is related because system 1 may use the availability and representativeness heuristics to make a quick and effortless choice.

Why would deactivating the left anterior temporal lobe be expected to increase creativity? Describe Chi and Snyder's experiment.

The left anterior temporal lobe is associated with grouping things together, so if you deactivate it, you limit the constrictions of your preconceived notions. Chi and Snyder increased excitability in the right temporal lobe and decreased it in the left temporal lobe and found that participants were better at finding a solution that required abandoning ideas of grouping (9 dot problem).

Describe how the following problems illustrate Gestalt problem solving principles: the circle problem; the candle problem; the water jug problem.

The water jug problem illustrates mental set because participants in one group were shown a specific method for solving the problem, and a control group had not been exposed to a particular procedure. Those in the method group usually solved the problem using that method, and those in the control group used a much easier method. The candle problem demonstrates functional fixedness because when the box was being used as a container, most people did not think to use it as part of a solution. When it was empty, more participants realized they could tack the box onto the wall as a sort of shelf for the candle because it was not categorized as something for holding objects in that moment. The circle problem demonstrates insight because if the diagonal line was it's equivalent diagonal line but on the other side, it would be obvious it is equal to the radius of the circle, but that is not immediately apparent.

How does the mutilated checkerboard experiment illustrate that the way a problem is stated can affect a person's ability to solve the problem? (What are some alternative presentations of the problem, and how do they effect solving performance?)

The way that a problem is presented can affect how easy it is to solve. Another way to represent the problem is 32 males and 32 females to be couples in heterosexual marriages; if 2 men die, it's clear that you cannot make 31 heterosexual pairings. This version helps people better understand the checkboard if they realize that each domino must go on one red and one black square, because 2 red squares were taken away.