Thinking

Thinking

1. Cognition

   • refers to the way the information is processed and manipulated in remembering, thinking, and knowing; everything we do in our head and the activities we think of as part of the mind
   • consciousness
   • memory
   • cognitive neuroscience
   • Also referred to as cognitive psychology

2. Concepts

   • mental categories that are used to group objects, events, and characteristics; allow us to generalize
   • Prototype model
     • a model emphasizing that when people evaluate whether a given item reflects a certain concept, they compare the item(s) in that category and look for a "family resemblance" with that item's properties

3. Problem solving

   • finding an appropriate way to attain a goal when the goal is not readily available; following many steps and overcoming mental obstacles
   • 1. Find and Frame Problems
     • recognizing that a problem exists and then considering exactly what the problem involves
   • 2. Develop Good Problem-Solving Strategies
     • we need to develop strategies for solving the problem 
     • Subgoals
       • intermediate goals or intermediate problems we devise to put us in a better position for reaching a final goal or solution
     • Algorithms
       • strategies- including formulas, instructions, and the testing of all possible solutions- that guarantee a solution to a problem 
     • Heuristics
       • Shortcut strategies or guidelines that suggest a solution to a problem but do not guarantee an answer
   • 3. Evaluate Solutions
     • finding how effective our solution is when we try solving the problem
   • 4. Rethink and Redefine Problems and Solutions Over Time
     • good problem solvers tend to be more motivated than the average person to improve on their past performances
   • Fixation
     • using a prior strategy and failing to look at a problem from a new perspective 
     • Functional Fixedness
       • failing to solve a problem as a result of fixation on a thing's usual functions
     • Cognitively Flexible
       • recognizing that options are available and adapting to the situation

4. Reasoning and Decision Making

   • Reasoning
     • mental activity of transformation information to reach a conclusion; weighing arguments, applying rules of logic, and coming up with sound conclusions
     • Inductive Reasoning
       • involves reasoning from specific observations to make generalizations; bottom-up processing
     • Deductive Reasoning
       • reasoning from a general principle that we know to be true to a specific instance; drawing conclusions based on facts
   • Decision Making
     • the mental activity of evaluating alternatives and choosing among  them; some information might be missing when a final claim is made
   • Automatic Processes
     • occur without awareness or effort
   • Controlled Processes
     • deliberate reflection and conscious control of action
   • Biases
     • Loss Aversion
       • the tendency to strongly prefer to avoid losses compared to acquiring gains
     • Confirmation Bias
       • the tendency to search for and use information that supports our ideas rather than refutes
     • Hindsight Bias
       • the tendency to report falsely, after the fact, that we accurately predicted an outcome
     • Availability Heuristic
       • prediction about probability of an event based on the ease of recalling or imagining similar events
     • Representative Heuristic
       • the tendency to make judgements about group membership based on physical appearance or the match between a person and one's stereotype of a group rather than on available base rate information

5. Thinking Creatively and Critically

   • Critical Thinking
     • thinking reflectively and productively and evaluating the evidence; grasping the deeper meaning, maintaining a sense of humility about what we know, vital to effective problem solving
   • Mindfulness
     • the state of being alert and mentally present for one's everyday activities
   • Open-mindedness
     • the state of being receptive to other ways of looking at things
   • Creativity
     • the ability to think about something in novel and unusual ways and to devise unconventional solutions to problems
   • Divergent thinking
     • produces many solutions to the same problem; occurs during brainstorming 
   • Convergent thinking
     • produces the single best solution to a problem
   • Creative thinking characteristics
     • flexibility and playful thinking; work goes smoothly if taken lightly 
     • inner motivation; creative people are motivated by the joy of creating, they are motivated by internal factors 
     • willingness to face risk; creative people make more mistakes than less creative people
     • objective evaluation of work; strive to evaluate work objectively, will further creative thinking improve work?