HP1000 Introduction to Psychology
Notes 8
A. Components of Thought
– Thinking is a cognitive process in which the brain uses information from the senses, emotions,
and memory to create and manipulate mental representations such as concepts, images,
schemas, and scripts
o These mental representations serve as the building blocks of cognition
o Thinking organizes them in meaningful ways
– Ultimate results: higher thought processes we call reasoning, imagining, judging, deciding,
problem solving, expertise, creativity, and genius
1. Concepts
– The ability to assimilate experiences, objects, or ideas into familiar mental categories, and
take the same action or give them the same label, is one of the most basic attributes of
thinking organisms
– Concept: Mental groupings of similar objects, ideas, or experiences
o Building blocks of thinking, as they help us organize our knowledge
o Can represent
▪ Classes of objects
▪ Properties, abstractions, relations, procedures, intentions
o Cannot be observed directly as concepts are mental structure
▪ Need to infer concepts from their influence on behaviour or on brain activity
(a) 2 Kinds of Concepts
– Natural Concepts: Mental representations of objects and events drawn from direct experience
o E.g. possess a natural concept of “bird” based on experiences with birds, which in turn
invokes a mental prototype
▪ To determine whether an object is a bird or not, you mentally compare it to
your bird prototype
▪ The closer it matches, the quicker you can make your decision
o Our personal prototypes encompass all kinds of natural concepts
▪ Imprecise: One person’s prototype might differ from that of someone else,
which can create the basis for misunderstanding in our relationships
– Artificial Concepts: Concepts defined by rules, such as word definitions and formulas
o Represent precisely defined ideas or abstractions
▪ Most of the concepts learned in school are artificial concepts
(b) Concept Hierarchies
– Levels of concepts, from most general to most specific, in which a more general level includes
more specific concepts
o Also, we can often link each category to a variety of other concepts
o Our concept hierarchies are often intricate webs of concepts and associations
(c) Culture, Concepts, Thought
– Concepts can carry vastly different meanings in different cultures
o The concepts of “democracy” and “freedom” so dear to Americans, may have the
connotation of chaos in parts of Asia and the Middle East
o Americans also differ from many Asians in the ways they deal with conflicting ideas
and contradictions
▪ Chinese culture encourages thinkers to keep opposing perspectives in mind
and seek a “middle way”
▪ American culture tends toward thinking in more polarized “either–or” terms
o Many cultures do not value the use of logical reasoning as much as do Europeans and
North Americans
– While there are some universal principles of thought that cut across cultures, they involve
very basic processes, such as the fact that everyone forms concepts
o But when it comes to how they form concepts or the meaning they attach to them,
we should be cautious about assuming that others think as we do
2. Imagery and Cognitive Map
– Sensory imagery adds complexity and richness to thinking
o Thinking with sensory imagery can be useful when solving problems in which
relationships can be conveyed more clearly in an image than in words
– Cognitive Map: A cognitive representation of physical space
o By using cognitive maps, people can move through their homes with their eyes closed
or go to familiar destinations even when their usual routes are blocked.
o People’s cognitive maps can be vastly different
▪ Based on our unique perceptions
3. Thought and the Brain
– Developments in brain imaging have allowed cognitive researchers to begin mapping the mind
o Scientists can now connect certain thoughts with specific electrical wave patterns in
the brain
▪ They do this by repeatedly presenting a stimulus to a volunteer “wired” to
record the brain’s electrical responses
▪ While the brain waves on just one trial may show no clear pattern, a computer
can average many brain wave responses to a single, repeated stimulus,
eliminating the random background “noise” of the brain and isolating the
unique brain wave pattern evoked by that stimulus
– Other methods tell us which parts of the brain switch on and off while we think
o With PET scans, MRI, and fMRI, neuroscientists have identified brain regions that
become active during various mental tasks
o Two broad conclusions:
▪ Thinking is an activity involving widely distributed areas of the brain, not just
a single “thinking center”
▪ Neuroscientists see the brain as a community of highly specialized modules,
each of which deals with different components of thought
o The brain generates many of the images used in thought with the same circuitry it
uses for sensation
▪ Visual imagery drawn from memory activates the visual cortex
▪ Auditory memories engage the auditory cortex
– Thinking with language may involve different regions, depending on the topic.
o Most jokes tickle us mainly in the language-processing areas of the cortex
o Sound-alike puns activate the brain’s sound-processing circuits as well
o The picture of thought reveals thinking as a process composed of many modules
acting in concert
– The frontal lobes of the brain play an especially important role in coordinating mental activity
as we make decisions and solve problems
o To do so, the prefrontal cortex performs three different tasks:
▪ Keeping track of the episode (situation in which we find ourselves)
▪ Understanding the context (meaning of the situation)
▪ Responding to a specific stimulus in the situation
o All these tasks are performed by different combinations of brain modules that work
together in seamless synchronicity
4. Intuition
– Intuition: the ability to make judgements without consciously reasoning
– When people make decisions, they sometimes make quick judgments based on feelings, i.e.
intuition, as well as reason
o Intuition (emotional component of thinking) involves the prefrontal cortex
▪ Unconsciously factors emotional “hunches” into our decisions in the form of
information about past rewards and punishments.
▪ Individuals with severe damage to prefrontal cortex may display little
emotion or have impairments in intuition → hence, make unwise choices
– But intuition is not always right; may be merely our prejudices and biases
o E.g. Hiring executives believing they are especially good judges of other people’s
abilities and character
▪ Hence rely exclusively on in-person interviews for hiring
▪ Even though studies show they make better judgments when factoring in
objective data, such as educational levels and test scores
– Sometimes, quick intuitive judgments can be surprisingly on target
o E.g. Students’ quick judgments about a professor’s teaching effectiveness correlate
highly with end-of-course ratings
o Intuition is an evolutionary invention that helped our ancestors make snap judgments
in difficult and dangerous situations
– The accuracy of our intuition may depend on:
o The context
▪ In general, “instincts” about personality are often correct
▪ However, statistical or numerical intuitions are likely wrong
o More reliable in complex situations when time is limited, or with distractions
▪ Our conscious processing skills simply cannot handle the complexity or the
number of factors that need to be quickly weighed
▪ Thus, our intuition may be a better guide than an incomplete attempt at
logical analysis
o Expertise
▪ When a person has the expertise to analyze a situation, intuition may impede
clear thinking
▪ In the absence of experience, intuition trumps a clumsy analysis
– Hence, it is important to recognize when we are making intuitive judgments and to consider
the context, the time available, and our expertise in that area
o Must also be mindful that intuition can be wrong
o Must learn to balance our use of analysis and intuition
B. Abilities of Good Thinkers
– Good thinkers not only have a repertoire of effective strategies, called algorithms and
heuristics, they also know how to avoid common impediments to problem solving and
decision making
1. Problem Solving
– Most successful problem solvers share certain characteristics:
o Possess the requisite knowledge for solving the problems they face
o Skilled at identifying the problem
o Skilled at selecting a strategy to attack the problem
(a) Identifying the Problem
– A good problem solver learns to consider all relevant possibilities without leaping to
conclusions prematurely
o One situation may stem from various problems
o The good problem solver considers all possibilities before committing to one solution
(b) Selecting a Strategy
– Selecting a strategy that fits the problem at hand
o Simple problems: a trial-and-error approach will do
o Difficult problems: require more efficient methods
▪ Problems in specialized fields may require not only specialized knowledge but
also special procedures or formulas known as algorithms
▪ In addition, expert problem solvers have a repertoire of more intuitive, but
less precise, strategies called heuristics
(c) Algorithms
– Problem-solving procedures, formulas that guarantee a correct outcome, if correctly applied
o Help to solve particular kinds of problems for which you have all the necessary
information
o If applied correctly, an algorithm always works because you merely follow a step–by–
step procedure that leads directly from the problem to the solution
– However, algorithms will not solve every problem
o Problems involving subjective values or having too many unknowns
o Problems that are just too complex for a formula
(d) Heuristics
– Cognitive strategies or “rules of thumb” used as shortcuts to solve complex mental tasks
o Help us cut through the confusion of complicated situations
o Unlike algorithms, heuristics do not guarantee a correct solution, but they often start
us off in the right direction
▪ Some heuristics require special knowledge
▪ Other heuristics are more widely applicable
– Working Backward
o Eliminate some of the dead ends otherwise encountered by trial and error
o Best for problems in which the goal is clearly specified
▪ E.g. Solving crimes: Narrowing down the potential pool of suspects by starting
from the crime scene to the origin
– Searching for Analogies
o Best for a new problem similar to one faced before
o Recognize the similarity, or analogy, between the new problem and the old one
▪ Then employ the similar strategy for dealing with the old problem
– Breaking a Big Problem into Smaller Problems
o Break the big problem into smaller, more manageable steps, often called sub goals
▪ Begin to organize the work and develop a plan for each part of the problem
▪ Makes big problems seem more manageable
(e) Obstacles to Problem Solving
– Mental Set: The tendency to respond to a new problem in the manner used for a previous
problem
o Setting the mind on a strategy, but choosing the wrong analogy, schema, or algorithm
o The rapid advance of technology offers many opportunities to get stuck in mental sets,
and many opportunities to practice overcoming them
o Insight is often a good solution to mental set
▪ Occurs spontaneously when we mentally step back from the problem in
hopes of seeing it from a novel perspective
– Functional Fixedness: The inability to perceive a new use for an object associated with a
different purpose (special form of mental set)
o The function of a familiar object becomes so set, or fixed, in your mind that you cannot
see a new function for it
– Self-Imposed Limitations: Imposing unnecessary limitations on ourselves
o E.g. Nine-Dot Problem: Most people impose an unnecessary restriction on themselves
by assuming they cannot draw lines beyond the square made by the dots.
o E.g. Students may assume that they have no talent for math or science – thereby
eliminating the possibility of a technical career
– Other Obstacles:
o Lack of specific knowledge required by the problem
o Lack of interest, low self-esteem, fatigue, and drugs
o Arousal and its accompanying stress
▪ There is an optimum arousal level for any task
▪ Beyond that critical point, further arousal causes performance to deteriorate
▪ Thus, moderate levels of arousal actually facilitate everyday problem solving,
but high stress levels can make problem solving impossible
– In general, we humans are thinkers who readily jump to conclusions, based on our knowledge
but also biased by our knowledge, motives, emotions, and perceptions
o Most of our problem-solving efforts draw on past experience to make predictions
about future rewards or punishments → Operant Conditioning
o Many of the “flaws” in our reasoning abilities are actually adaptive strategies that help
us apply previous experience to solve new problems
2. Judging and Making Decisions
– Each decision is the solution to a problem, for which there may not be a clear answer, but
instead requires judgment
o Judgment can be clouded by emotions and biases that interfere with critical thinking
(a) Confirmation Bias
– Confirmation bias will cause a person to ignore or find fault with information that doesn’t fit
his opinions while seeking and remembering information with which he agrees
o A powerful and all-too-human tendency, especially when we hold strong opinions
(b) Hindsight Bias
– The tendency, after learning about an event, to “second guess” or believe that one could have
predicted the event in advance
o This form of distorted thinking appears after an event has occurred
o People overestimate their ability to have predicted it
– Hindsight bias impedes our ability to learn from our mistakes
