Guide to Cognition

COGNITION Cognition: (Thinking) the mental activities associated with thinking, knowing, remembering, and communicating. Concept: a mental grouping of similar objects, events, ideas, or people. Prototype: a mental image or BEST example of a category (e.g., a prototypical "bird" may be a robin). Artificial Intelligence (AI): the science of designing and programming computer systems to do intelligent things and to simulate human thought processes, such as intuitive reasoning, learning, and understanding language. Solving Problems Algorithm: a methodical, logical rule or procedure that guarantees solving a particular problem. Heuristic: a simple thinking strategy that often allows us to make judgments and solve problems efficiently; usually speedier but also more error-prone than algorithms. Insight: a sudden and often novel realization of the solution to a problem; it contrasts with strategy-based solutions. Obstacles to Problem Solving Confirmation Bias: a tendency to search for information that confirms one's preconceptions. Fixation: the inability to see a problem from a new perspective. Mental Set: a tendency to approach a problem in a particular way, especially a way that has been successful in the past but may or may not be helpful in solving a new problem. Functional Fixedness: the tendency to think of objects only in terms of their usual functions. Making Decisions and Judgments Representativeness Heuristic: judging the likelihood of things in terms of how well they seem to represent, or match, particular prototypes; may lead one to ignore relevant information. Availability Heuristic: estimating the likelihood of events based on their availability in memory; if instances come readily to mind (perhaps because of their vividness), we presume such events are common. Overconfidence: the tendency to be more confident in our judgments that correct---to overestimate the accuracy of one's beliefs and judgments. Framing: the way in which an issue is posed (or worded); this can significantly affect decisions and judgments. Belief Bias: the tendency for one's preexisting beliefs to distort logical reasoning, sometimes by making invalid conclusions seem valid, or valid conclusions seem invalid. Belief Perseverance: clinging to one's initial conceptions after the basis on which they were formed has been discredited. Cognitive Bias – Focus on the ones in the text for this unit Many of these biases are studied for how they affect belief formation, business decisions and scientific research. During groupthink, members of the group avoid promoting viewpoints outside the comfort zone of consensus thinking. A variety of motives for this may exist such as a desire to avoid being seen as foolish, or a desire to avoid embarrassing or angering other members of the group. Groupthink may cause groups to make hasty, irrational decisions, where individual doubts are set aside, for fear of upsetting the group’s balance. The term is frequently used pejoratively, with hindsight Confirmation bias — the tendency to search for or interpret information in a way that confirms one's preconceptions. Framing — by using a too narrow approach or description of the situation or issue. Also framing effect — drawing different conclusions based on how data are presented. ▪ To clarify: When one seeks to explain an event, the understanding often depends on the frame referred to. If a friend rapidly closes and opens an eye, we will respond very differently depending on whether we attribute this to a purely "physical" frame (he blinked) or to a social frame (he winked). Page 1 Mere exposure effect — the tendency for people to express undue liking for things merely because they are familiar with them. (Mere)Exposure effect is a psychological phenomenon well known to advertisers: people express undue liking for things merely because they are familiar with them. This effect has been nicknamed the "familiarity breeds liking" effect. In interpersonal attractiveness research studies, the term exposure principle is used to characterize the phenomenon in which the more often a person is seen by someone the more pleasing and likeable that person appears to be. Memory biases Hindsight bias, I-Knew-It-All-along, is the inclination to see events that have occurred as more predictable than they in fact were before they took place. Hindsight bias has been demonstrated experimentally in a variety of settings, including politics, games and medicine. In psychological experiments of hindsight bias, subjects also tend to remember their predictions of future events as having been stronger than they actually were, in those cases where those predictions turn out correct. The availability heuristic is a rule of thumb (which can result in a cognitive bias), where people base their prediction of the frequency of an event or the proportion within a population based on how easily an example can be brought to mind. In these instances the ease of imagining an example or the vividness and emotional impact of that example becomes more credible than actual statistical probability. Because an example is easily brought to mind or mentally "available", the single example is considered as representative of the whole rather than as just a single example in a range of data. Several examples: ∙ ∙ ∙ Someone argues that cigarette smoking is not unhealthy because his grandfather smoked three packs of cigarettes a day and lived to be 100. The grandfather's health could simply be an unusual case that does not speak to the health of smokers in general Someone makes a statement that people who drive red cars get more speeding tickets, and you agree with the statement because a mutual friend, Jim, drives a red car and frequently gets speeding tickets. The reality could be that Jim just drives fast and would get a speeding ticket regardless of the color car that he drove. In fact, statistics from the New Jersey State Police showed that fewer speeding tickets were given to red cars in 2007 than to many other colored cars, but in this case since Jim is an available example, the statement may seem more plausible. The misinformation effect is a memory bias that occurs when misinformation affects people's reports of their own memory. In one oft-cited study led by Elizabeth Loftus, people watched footage of a car accident. Later some were asked to estimate the speed at which the car was going when it hit the other car. Others were asked how fast they thought the car was going when it smashed into the other. Those who were asked the question with the smashed wording were much more likely to "remember" seeing broken glass in a later question (in reality, no glass had been broken in the accident). They also remembered the car as driving much faster. Mood congruent memory bias: the improved recall of information congruent with one's current mood. Primacy effect: that the first items on a list show an advantage in memory. Recency effect: that the last items on a list show an advantage in memory. Page 2 Serial position effect: that items near the end of a list are the easiest to recall, followed by the items at the beginning of a list; items in the middle are the least likely to be remembered Spacing effect: that information is better recalled if exposure to it is repeated over a longer span of time. Tip of the tongue phenomenon: when a subject is able to recall parts of an item, or related information, but is frustratingly unable to recall the whole item. This is thought to be an instance of "blocking" where multiple similar memories are being recalled and interfere with each other (Schacter, 1999) Illusory correlation — beliefs that inaccurately suppose a relationship between a certain type of action and an effect. The just-world phenomenon, also called the just-world theory, just-world fallacy, just-world effect, or just-world hypothesis, refers to the tendency for people to want to believe that the world is "just" so strongly that when they witness an otherwise inexplicable injustice they will rationalize it by searching for things that the victim might have done to deserve it. This deflects their anxiety, and lets them continue to believe the world is a just place, but at the expense of blaming victims for things that were not, objectively, their fault. Fundamental attribution error — the tendency for people to over-emphasize personality-based explanations for behaviors observed in others while under-emphasizing the role and power of situational influences on the same behavior (see also actor-observer bias, group attribution error, positivity effect, and negativity effect). False consensus effect — the tendency for people to overestimate the degree to which others agree with them. Gambler's fallacy — the tendency to assume that individual random events are influenced by previous random events. For example, "I've flipped heads with this coin five times consecutively, so the chance of tails coming out on the sixth flip is much greater than heads." Hawthorne effect — refers to a phenomenon which is thought to occur when people observed during a research study temporarily change their behavior or performance (this can also be referred to as demand characteristics). Chapter 10 ST. Guide ___ 1. The text defines cognition as: A) silent speech. B) all mental activity. C) mental activity associated with processing, understanding, and communicating information. D) logical reasoning. ___ 2. Dr. Mendoza is studying the mental strategies people use when solving problems. Dr. Mendoza is clearly a(n): A) cognitive psychologist. C) organizational psychologist. B) experimental psychologist. D) developmental psychologist. ___ 3. A mental grouping of similar things, events, or people is called a(n): A) prototype. B) concept. C) algorithm. D) heuristic. ___ 4. When forming a concept, people often develop a best example, or ________, of a category. A) denoter B) heuristic C) prototype D) algorithm ___ 5. Complete the following analogy: Rose is to flower as: A) concept is to prototype. B) prototype is to concept. concept. ___ 6. The basic units of cognition are: A) phonemes. B) concepts. C) prototypes. C) concept is to hierarchy. D) morphemes. Page 3 D) hierarchy is to ___ 7. If you want to be absolutely certain that you will find the solution to a problem you know is solvable, you should use: A) a heuristic. B) an algorithm. C) insight. D) trial and error. ___ 8. A dessert recipe that gives you the ingredients, their amounts, and the steps to follow is an example of a(n): A) prototype. B) algorithm. C) heuristic. D) mental set. ___ 9. Boris the chess master selects his next move by considering moves that would threaten his opponent's queen. His opponent, a chess-playing computer, selects its next move by considering all possible moves. Boris is using a(n) ________ and the computer is using a(n) ________. A) algorithm; heuristic B) prototype; mental set C) mental set; prototype D) heuristic; algorithm ___ 10. Which of the following is an example of the use of heuristics? A) trying every possible letter ordering when unscrambling a word B) considering each possible move when playing chess C) using the formula “area = length × width” to find the area of a rectangle D) playing chess using a defensive strategy that has often been successful for you ___ 11. Experts in a field prefer heuristics to algorithms because heuristics: A) guarantee solutions to problems. B) prevent mental sets. C) often save time. D) prevent fixation. ___ 12. During a televised political debate, the Republican and Democratic candidates each argued that the results of a recent public opinion poll supported their party's platform regarding sexual harassment. Because both candidates saw the information as supporting their belief, it is clear that both were victims of: A) functional fixedness. B) mental set. C) belief bias. D) confirmation bias. ___ 13. Confirmation bias refers to the tendency to: A) allow preexisting beliefs to distort logical reasoning. B) cling to one's initial conceptions after the basis on which they were formed has been discredited. C) search randomly through alternative solutions when problem solving. D) look for information that is consistent with one's beliefs. ___ 14. Mental set and functional fixedness are two types of: A) algorithms. B) heuristics. C) fixation. D) insight. ___ 15. Failing to see that an article of clothing can be inflated as a life preserver is an example of: A) belief bias. B) the availability heuristic. C) the representativeness heuristic. D) functional fixedness. ___ 16. Failing to solve a problem that requires using an object in an unusual way illustrates the phenomenon of: A) mental set. B) functional fixedness. C) framing. D) belief perseverance. ___ 17. Marilyn was asked to solve a series of five math problems. The first four problems could only be solved by a particular sequence of operations. The fifth problem could also be solved following this sequence; however, a much simpler solution was possible. Marilyn did not realize this simpler solution and solved the problem in the way she had solved the first four. Her problem-solving strategy was hampered by: A) functional fixedness. C) mental set. B) the overconfidence phenomenon. D) her lack of a prototype for the solution. ___ 18. Rudy is 6 feet 6 inches tall, weighs 210 pounds, and is very muscular. If you think that Rudy is more likely to be a basketball player than a computer programmer, you are a victim of: A) belief bias. B) mental set. C) functional fixedness. D) the representativeness heuristic. ___ 19. You hear that one of the Smith children is an outstanding Little League player and immediately conclude it's their one son rather than any of their four daughters. You reached your quite possibly erroneous conclusion as the result of: A) the confirmation bias. C) the representativeness heuristic. B) the availability heuristic. D) belief perseverance. Page 4 ___ 20. Representativeness and availability are examples of: A) mental sets. B) belief bias. C) algorithms. D) heuristics. ___ 21. Airline reservations typically decline after a highly publicized airplane crash because people overestimate the incidence of such disasters. In such instances, people's decisions are being influenced by: A) belief bias. B) the availability heuristic. C) the representativeness heuristic. D) functional fixedness. ___ 22. Your stand on an issue such as the use of nuclear power for electricity involves personal judgment. In such a case, one memorable occurrence can weigh more heavily than a bookful of data, thus illustrating: A) belief perseverance. B) confirmation bias. C) the representativeness heuristic. D) the availability heuristic. ___ 23. Assume that Congress is considering revising its approach to welfare and to this end is hearing a range of testimony. A member of Congress who uses the availability heuristic would be most likely to: A) want to experiment with numerous possible approaches to see which of these seems to work best. B) want to cling to approaches to welfare that seem to have had some success in the past. C) refuse to be budged from his or her beliefs despite persuasive testimony to the contrary. D) base his or her ideas on the most vivid, memorable testimony given, even though many of the statistics presented run counter to this testimony. ___ 24. Most people tend to: A) accurately estimate the accuracy of their knowledge and judgments. B) underestimate the accuracy of their knowledge and judgments. C) overestimate the accuracy of their knowledge and judgments. D) lack confidence in their decision-making strategies. ___ 25. In relation to ground beef, consumers respond more positively to an ad describing it as “75 percent lean” than to one referring to its “25 percent fat” content. This is an example of: A) the framing effect. B) confirmation bias. C) mental set. D) overconfidence. ___ 26. A common problem in everyday reasoning is our tendency to: A) accept as logical those conclusions that agree with our own opinions. B) accept as logical those conclusions that disagree with our own opinions. C) underestimate the accuracy of our knowledge. D) accept as logical conclusions that involve unfamiliar concepts. ___ 27. Which of the following illustrates belief perseverance? A) Your belief remains intact even in the face of evidence to the contrary. B) You refuse to listen to arguments counter to your beliefs. C) You tend to become flustered and angered when your beliefs are refuted. D) You tend to search for information that supports your beliefs. ___ 28. Phonemes are the basic units of ________ in language. A) sound B) meaning C) grammar D) semantics ___ 29. The English language has approximately ________ phonemes. A) 25 B) 30 C) 40 D) 45 ___ 30. The word “predates” contains ________ phonemes and ________ morphemes. A) 7; 3 B) 3; 7 C) 7; 2 D) 3; 2 ___ 31. Complete the following: -ed is to sh as ________ is to ________. A) phoneme; morpheme B) morpheme; phoneme C) grammar; syntax D) syntax; grammar ___ 32. The rules most directly involved in permitting a person to derive meaning from words and sentences are rules of: A) syntax. B) grammar. C) phonemic structure. D) semantics. Page 5 ___ 33. The sentence “Blue jeans wear false smiles” has correct ________ but incorrect ________. A) morphemes; phonemes B) phonemes; morphemes C) semantics; syntax D) syntax; semantics ___ 34. Syntax refers to the: A) sounds in a word. B) rules for grouping words into sentences. C) rules by which meaning is derived from sentences. D) overall rules of a language. ___ 35. A listener hearing a recording of Japanese, Spanish, and North American children babbling would: A) not be able to tell them apart. B) be able to tell them apart if they were older than 6 months. C) be able to tell them apart if they were older than 8 to 10 months. D) be able to tell them apart at any age. ___ 36. Which of the following is not true of babbling? A) It is imitation of adult speech. B) It is the same in all cultures. C) It typically occurs from about age 4 months to 1 year. D) Babbling increasingly comes to resemble a particular language. ___ 37. One reason an English-speaking adult may have difficulty pronouncing Russian words is that: A) the vocal tracts of English- and Russian-speaking people develop differently in response to the demands of the two languages. B) although English and Russian have very similar morphemes, their phonemic inventories are very different. C) although English and Russian have very similar phonemes, their morphemic inventories are very different. D) after the babbling stage, a child who hears only English stops uttering other phonemes. ___ 38. The child who says “Milk gone” is engaging in ________. This type of utterance demonstrates that children are actively experimenting with the rules of ________. A) babbling; syntax B) telegraphic speech; syntax C) babbling; semantics D) telegraphic speech; semantics ___ 39. Telegraphic speech is typical of the ________ stage. A) babbling B) one-word C) two-word D) three-word ___ 40. Children first demonstrate a rudimentary understanding of syntax during the ________ stage. A) babbling B) one-word C) two-word D) three-word ___ 41. Skinner and other behaviorists have argued that language development is the result of: A) imitation. B) reinforcement. C) association. D) all of the above. ___ 42. Which of the following utterances is an example of overgeneralization of a grammatical rule? A) “We goed to the store.” B) “Ball pretty.” C) “The sky is crying.” D) “We eat 'paghetti.” ___ 43. Which of the following is not cited by Chomsky as evidence that language acquisition cannot be explained by learning alone? A) Children master the complicated rules of grammar with ease. B) Children create sentences they have never heard. C) Children make the kinds of mistakes that suggest they are attempting to apply rules of grammar. D) Children raised in isolation from language spontaneously begin speaking words. ___ 44. Which of the following best describes Chomsky's view of language development? A) Language is an entirely learned ability. B) Language is an innate ability. C) Humans have a biological predisposition to acquire language. D) There are no cultural influences on the development of language. Page 6 ___ 45. Infants as young as 6 months old display a remarkable ability to learn statistical aspects of speech. Specifically, research studies have shown that they: A) are quickly able to recognize syllable sequences that appear repeatedly. B) respond to changes in the pitch of a speaker's voice. C) pay less attention to a same-gender voice. D) do all of the above. ___ 46. The study in which people who immigrated to the United States at various ages were compared in terms of their ability to understand English grammar found that: A) age of arrival had no effect on mastery of grammar. B) those who immigrated as children understood grammar as well as native speakers. C) those who immigrated as adults understood grammar as well as native speakers. D) whether or not English was spoken in the home was the most important factor in mastering the rules of grammar. ___ 47. Deaf children who are not exposed to sign language until they are teenagers: A) are unable to master the basic words of sign language. B) learn the basic words but not how to order them. C) are unable to master either the basic words or syntax of sign language. D) never become as fluent as those who learned to sign at a younger age. ___ 48. According to the text, language acquisition is best described as: A) the result of conditioning and reinforcement. B) a biological process of maturation. C) an interaction between biology and experience. D) a mystery of which researchers have no real understanding. ___ 49. In preparing her class presentation, “Updating Chomsky's Understanding of Language Development,” Britney's outline includes all of the following evidence except that: A) computers programmed to learn to form the past tense of irregular verbs can learn to do so, even without “inborn” linguistic rules. B) infants rapidly learn to detect subtle differences between simple sequences of syllables. C) infants can recognize color differences even before they can name different colors. D) children isolated from language during the first seven years of life never fully develop language. ___ 50. Whorf's linguistic determination hypothesis states that: A) language is primarily a learned ability. B) language is partially an innate ability. C) the size of a person's vocabulary reflects his or her intelligence. D) our language shapes our thinking. ___ 51. The linguistic determinism hypothesis is challenged by the finding that: A) chimps can learn to communicate spontaneously by using sign language. B) people with no word for a certain color can still perceive that color accurately. C) the Eskimo language contains a number of words for snow, whereas English has only one. D) infants' babbling contains many phonemes that do not occur in their own language and that they therefore cannot have heard. ___ 52. Several studies have indicated that the generic pronoun “he”: A) tends for children and adults alike to trigger images of both males and females. B) tends for adults to trigger images of both males and females, but for children to trigger images of males. C) tends for both children and adults to trigger images of males but not females. D) for both children and adults triggers images of females about one-fourth of the time it is used. ___ 53. Which of the following is true regarding the relationship between thinking and language? A) “Real” thinking requires the use of language. B) People sometimes think in images rather than in words. Page 7 C) A thought that cannot be expressed in a particular language cannot occur to speakers of that language. D) All of the above are true. ___ 54. Regarding the relationship between thinking and language, which of the following most accurately reflects the position taken in the text? A) Language determines everything about our thinking. B) Language determines the way we think. C) Thinking without language is not possible. D) Thinking affects our language, which then affects our thought. ___ 55. The chimpanzee Sultan used a short stick to pull a longer stick that was out of reach into his cage. He then used the longer stick to reach a piece of fruit. Researchers hypothesized that Sultan's discovery of the solution to his problem was the result of: A) trial and error. B) heuristics. C) functional fixedness. D) insight. ___ 56. Researchers who are convinced that animals can think point to evidence that: A) monkeys demonstrate the ability to “count” by learning to touch pictures of objects in ascending numerical order. B) chimpanzees regularly use branches, stones, and other objects as tools in their natural habitats. C) chimps invent grooming and courtship customs and pass them on to their peers. D) all of the above occur. ___ 57. Researchers who believe that some primates possess a rudimentary theory of mind point to evidence that: A) chimpanzees have been observed using mirrors to inspect themselves. B) vervet monkeys have different alarm calls for different predators. C) orangutans in the wild frequently use stones as tools. D) honeybees communicate the direction and distance of a food source by performing an intricate dance. ___ 58. Researchers taught the chimpanzee Washoe and the gorilla Koko to communicate by using: A) various sounds. B) plastic symbols of various shapes and colors. C) sign language. above. D) all of the ___ 59. Many psychologists are skeptical of claims that chimpanzees can acquire language because the chimps have not shown the ability to: A) use symbols meaningfully. C) acquire even a limited vocabulary. B) acquire speech. D) use syntax in communicating. ___ 60. Which of the following has been argued by critics of ape language research? A) Ape language is merely imitation of the trainer's behavior. B) There is little evidence that apes can equal even a 3-year-old's ability to order words with proper syntax. C) By seeing what they wish to see, trainers attribute greater linguistic ability to apes than actually exists. D) All of the above have been argued. Page 8 Answer Key 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. 11. 12. 13. 14. 15. 16. 17. 18. 19. 20. 21. 22. 23. 24. 25. 26. 27. 28. 29. 30. 31. 32. 33. 34. 35. 36. 37. 38. 39. 40. 41. 42. 43. 44. 45. 46. 47. 48. 49. 50. 51. 52. 53. 54. 55. C A B C B B B B D D C D D C D B C D C D B D D C A A A A C A B D D B A A D B C C D A D C A B D C C D B C B D D Page 9 56. 57. 58. 59. 60. D A C D D Page 10