Cognitive psych final 13
Describe the example of organ donation as it relates to the way a choice is presented.
Even though 85% of Americans approve of organ donations, only 28% have actually granted permission by signing a donor card. The signing of the card is called an opt-in procedure and requires the person to take an active step. Countries such as Denmark, the UK, and Germany also have low consent rates and opt-in procedures. However in France and Belgium the consent rate is more than 99% and they have opt-out procedures where they have to request not to be an organ donor. The opt-in versus opt-out results indicate that the procedure used to identify people's willingness to be organ donors does have an effect. The way the choice is presented effects their decision making.
What is the Wason Card task? Why does the 7 card need to be turned over to solve it? Describe the basic findings of studies of the Wason Card task using abstract vs. concrete examples.
In the Wason four-card problem, each card has a letter on one side and a number on the other side. Your task is to indicate which cards you would need to turn over to test the following rule: if there is a vowel on one side, then there is an even number on the other side. When Wason posed this task (abstract task), 53 percent of his participants indicated that the E must be turned over. This is correct because turning over the E directly tests the rule. However, another card needs to be turned over to fully test the rule. Forty-six percent of Wason's participants indicated that in addition to the E, the 4 would need to be turned over. The problem with this answer is that if a vowel is on the other side of the card, this is consistent with the rule, but if a consonant is on the other side, turning over the 4 tells us nothing about the rule, because having a consonant on one side and a vowel on the other does not violate the rule. Only 4 percent of Wason's participants came up with the correct answer - that the second card that needs to be turned over is the 7. Turning over the 7 is important because revealing a vowel would dis-confirm the rule. When the problem is presented in concrete examples performance improves.
Describe Duncker's radiation problem. what is the solution, and how have researchers used this problem to illustrate analogical problem solving.
the dunkers radiation problem is as follows: assume you are a specialist confronted by a patient who has a tumor, the question is how to get radiation to the tumor without destroying healthy tissue. most of the participants could not answer the question appropriately. the solution is to bombard the tumor with smaller amounts of radiation from different angles. most the participants could not answer this question initially but when they were posed with a question involving an army trying to take over a castle they were able to come to the conclusion. they used the way one problem was solved to solve another one. researchers have used this to discover skills for solving different analogical problems.
surface & structural features in the radiation problem
tumor surface features: laser tumor tissue army surface features: fortress roads landmines structural features: goal in the center, direct force causes something bad, so it has to be broken down to reach the goal safely.
what is function fixedness
an effect that occurs when the ideas a person has about an objects function inhibits the persons ability to use the object for a different function
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
an expert is someone who devoted a large amount of time to learn about a field and practice/apply that learning. experts have more knowledge about their fields, and this knowledge is organized differently from novices, they spend more time analyzing problems. in general experts are only experts within their own field and perform like anyone else outside their field.
what is the basic idea behind analogical problem solving?
analogical problem solving is defined as the technique of utilizing a solution to a problem that is similar, so as to find the result of a new problem.
Briefly summarize the "What Would You Do" demonstration on page 384. How are the findings (p. 385) explained (e.g., in terms of risk, gains and losses)
Participants were given the scenario that there is going to be a disease outbreak that may kill up to 600 people. The first group is given two options (A & B) that fight the disease. Program A saves 200 people and Program B states that 1/3rd of the 600 may die and there is a 2/3 chance no one will live. Another group is presented with the same scenario but have two different options to choose from (C & D). Program C states that 400 people would die, and program D states that there is a 1/3 probability that no one would die and 2/3 probability 600 people would die. In group one 72% picked A and 28% picked B. In group two 22% picked C and 78% picked D. The programs are actually identical pairs (A & C, B & D). However, when the statement was framed in terms of gains (people living) people were more likely to use a risk-diversion strategy, and when the statement was framed in terms of losses (people dying) they used a risk-taking strategy.
How is the confirmation bias related to how people choose their sources of information, i.e., for news and politics.
People choose their sources of information based on if the information they will receive align with their beliefs. For example, conservative trump supporters watching FOX news.
Describe how the following can cause errors in everyday reasoning: availability heuristic, representative heuristic?
The availability heuristic states that events that are more easily remembered are judged as being more probable than event that are less easily remembered. Availability heuristic can cause errors in everyday reasoning by misleading us into reaching the wrong conclusion when less frequently occurring events stand out in our memory. Representative heuristic is related to the idea that people often make judgments based on how much one event resembles another event. Representative heuristic states that the probability that A is a member of class B can be determined by how well the properties of A resembles the properties we usually associate with B. Representative heuristic can causes errors in everyday reasoning because you can be influenced so much by how much one event resembles another, that you don't account for other important information, like the probability of the event actually being true.
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 states there are two mental systems a non-conscious, fast, automatic, intuitive system, and a slower, reflective, conscious, and controlled system. System one would use heuristics like availability and representativeness.
How do the results of the male/female births experiment relate to the law of large numbers?
The law of large numbers states that the larger the number of individuals that are randomly picked from a population, the more representative the resulting group will be of the entire population. Samples of small numbers of individuals will be less representative of the population. The results of the male/female birth experiment relates to the law of the large numbers in that it is more likely that the percentage of boys/girls born on any given day will be near 50 percent in the large hospital and father from 50 percent in the small hospital. People often assume that representativeness holds for small samples, and this leads to errors in reasoning.
What is the basic principle behind the Gestalt approach to problem solving? Describe how the following problems illustrate this principle, and also what else these problems demonstrate about problem solving: the circle (radius) problem; the candle problem; the two-string problem; the water jug problem. be sure you understand function fixedness
problem solving depends on how the problem is represented in a persons mind and solving a problem involves reorganizing or restructuring of this representation. in the circle problem if you can determine the length of "x" then the length of the other diagonal, x is equal to r. in the in candle problem use the matchbox as a stand/support for the burning candle. in the two string problem the subjects are asked to tie two ends of a string, and were given a chair and a pair of pliers. the solution would be to attach the pliers to one wend and use it as a pendulum and when it swings the person grabs it and ties the two ends. in the water jug problem you use the formula volume=B-A-2C. however, once people began using the formula they become fixated on it even when there was an easier way to solve the problem.
what does it mean to say that problem solving is a process
problem solving involves a lengthy period of trial-and-error development to turn the idea into something useful. to solve a problem you must go through a series of steps in order to reach a solution to a problem
monty hall
shown three doors, pick from, shown an empty one, then have to make a decision to keep the door you picked or switch. you should always switch. its not a 50/50 chance of getting the correct door. when the game starts there is a 1/3 chance of winning, and 2/3 chance of losing when given the option of switching doors. there's a 1/3 chance the prize is behind the door you picked and 2/3 chance its behind the other door.
How does the mutilated checkerboard experiment illustrate that the way a problem is stated can affect a person's ability to solve the problem?
subjects in the bread-and-butter group solved the problems twice as fast and required fewer hints than the blank group, and the pink group fell in the middle. the results show that solving a problem becomes easier when information is provided that helps point people toward the correct representation of the problem.
how do surface and structural features of a problem influence a person's ability to make effective use of analogies in problem solving.
surface features are the specific elements that make up the problem. the more different the surface the harder it is for analogical transfer. structural features are the underlying priniciples that govern the solutions.