Thinking—Creativity

• Want to test your creativity? Arrange 10 coins in the configuration shown here. Then, by only moving two coins, create two rows of 6 coins.

Thinking—Creativity

• Can you see how this is a creative solution to the 10 coin problem?

1. A bat and ball cost $1.10 in total. The bat costs $1 more than the ball. How much does the ball cost?

2. A man bought a horse for $60 and sold it for $70. Then he bought the same horse back for $80 and sold it again for $90. How much did he make in the horse business?

Cognitive psychology is the study of

mental processes by which people

process and remember info,

develop language, solve problems,

and think.

Cognition - Mental activities involved in acquiring, retaining, and using knowledge

What is thought?

• There are basically two types of thought…

1. Concepts (schemas)…usually based on prototypes.

2. Images

Our concept of men may include all of the following guys….

But they are based on our prototype (ideal) male…..

How important are concepts (schemas) in our understanding of the world?

Our mental pictures of places, objects, etc. are a result of our concepts of those places, objects, etc.

What is your schema of an office?

How important are concepts (schemas) in our understanding of the world?

Who remembers seeing books?

Who remembers seeing a chair?

Who remembers seeing a desk?

Who remembers seeing a skull?

Memories for location are influenced by our concepts for that location.

Concepts (mental representation of a group or category that shares similar characteristics)

– How do we learn concepts? a. Artificial concepts (definitions) are

formed by logical, specific rules. b. Natural concepts/prototypes are

formed by our experiences in everyday life.

c. Hierarchies help us group concepts into subcategories within broader categories.

Cognition

Which bird is a prototypical bird?

Hierarchies

• We develop hierarchies for concepts to organize information in our memory

How do we solve problems?

Trial and Error

Algorithms • A rule that

guarantees the right solution to a problem.

• Usually by using a formula.

• They work but are sometimes impractical.

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Algorithms

Algorithms, which are very time consuming, exhaust all possibilities before arriving at a

solution. Computers use algorithms.

S P L O Y O C H Y G

If we were to unscramble these letters to form a word using an algorithmic approach, we would face

907,208 possibilities.

Heuristics

• A rule-of-thumb strategy that often allows us to make judgments and solve problems efficiently.

•A short cut (that can be prone to errors).

Who would you trust to baby-sit your child?

Your answer is based on your heuristic of their appearances.

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Heuristics

S P L O Y O C H Y G S P L O Y O C H G Y P S L O Y O C H G Y P S Y C H O L O G Y

Put a Y at the end, and see if the word

begins to make sense.

Insight – the “A-ha! Moment”

Insight involves a sudden novel

realization of a solution to a problem. Humans and animals

have insight.

No real strategy is involved

you just me What does this phrase mean?

What does this phrase mean?

stood well view Often fun, satisfying,

and one of the reasons that people enjoy working on word jumbles and other mental puzzles (causes a pleasing excitement)

What are some obstacles to problem solving?

Confirmation Bias

• A tendency to search for information that confirms one’s preconceptions.

• For example, if one believes that all Italians are in shape and go tanning, then they turn on MTV.

Look…I knew it was true!!! But is it really?

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Fixation

Fixation: An inability to see a problem from a fresh perspective. This impedes problem

solving. Two examples of fixation are mental set and functional fixedness.

The Matchstick Problem: How would

you arrange six matches to form four equilateral triangles?

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The Mind Can Refuse to Make Connections

Q. How do you put a bear in a refrigerator?

A. Open the door, put the bear in, close the door.

Q. How do you put a lion in the refrigerator?

A. Open the door, take out the bear, put the lion in.

Q. Noah is hosting an animal conference. All animals

but one attend. Which one?

A. The lion who is freezing his butt off in the refrigerator

Q. You want to cross a river that is inhabited by crocodiles.

How do you do it?

A. Swim across – the crocs are at the conference.

Mental set

• a.k.a. rigidity

• The tendency to approach a problem one particular way, usually a way that has been successful in the past.

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Mental Set

Using no more than four lines, can you connect all nine dots without lifting your pencil from the paper?

(Mental Sets Continued)

• To overcome mental sets you must “think outside the box”—literally!

Can you get the “A-HA” moment? Or are you a

victim of a mental set?

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Functional Fixedness (thinking of an object as only functioning in its usual way) • Can you use these supplies

to mount the candle on the wall so that it can be lit in a normal way without toppling over?

Functional fixedness occurs when a person is unable to recognize a new use for a familiar object

Thinking—Five Key Barriers to Problem Solving

(Functional Fixedness Continued)

• To overcome functional fixedness, you must think of the matchbox, tacks, and candle all functioning in new ways.

This person has overcome functional fixedness