Download Decision Making

COGNITION: THOUGHT
Introduction
What is Cognitive
Psychology?
• Study of perception,
learning, memory,
thought, and language
in knowledge
acquisition
Cognitive Psychology
Assumptions
- Mental processes exist
- People are active
processors
- Cognitive processes
can be studied
Concept Formation
• Concepts:
– Mental categories used to
classify events and objects
according to common
properties
• Concept Formation:
– The way people organize
and classify events and
objects, usually to solve
problems
Concept Formation
• Classification:
– Separating dissimilar
events, finding
commonalities, and then
One of These Things
grouping similar items
(Is Not Like The Others)
together
Concept Formation
• “fuzzy concepts”
– Concepts with
unclear boundaries
– Defined by using
prototypes
Is this furniture?
Is this Furniture?
Is this Furniture?
Is this Furniture?
Is this furniture?
Is this furniture?
Concept Formation and
Stereotyping
• Our natural
tendency to form
concepts and
categorize leads
to stereotyping
– Eg. Sexism, racism,
ageism
• Only solution is to
educate
Problem Solving
• Problem solving
– Confronting and
resolving
situations that
require insight or
determination of
some unknown
elements
How do we solve new Problems?
• Learning Theory
– Trial-and-error
• Gestalt Theory
– Insight
• InformationProcessing Theory
– Purposeful registration
and retrieval of
information.
Figure 7.2 Stages in Problem Solving
Approaches to Problem Solving
• Algorithm
– Strategy involving applying a
set of rules until the problem is
solved.
– Guarantees a correct
solution.
– Impractical due to lack of
rules in most situations and
time demands.
Approaches to Problem Solving
• Heuristic
– Strategy that involves
the use of flexible
guidelines (rules of
thumb)
– Does not guarantee
a correct solution
– Efficient
Group Activity
• Each group will be given
three items.
• Your task is to identify as
many uses for each item
as possible.
• You will have 10 minutes.
• Each group will report
their results to the class.
Barriers to Problem Solving
• Functional Fixedness
– Inability to see that an
object can have a function
other than its stated or
intended use.
• Mental Set
– Limited ways of thinking
about possibilities.
– Creativity involves breaking
out of mental sets.
How would you mount the candle
upright on a cork board?
The Solution…were you
functionally fixed?
Creative Problem Solving
• Creativity:
– generating ideas that are
original, novel, and appropriate.
– Original responses:
• do not copy or imitate another
response
– Novel responses
• are new or have no precedent
– Appropriate responses
• are reasonable in terms of the
situation
Ways of Thinking
Convergent Thinking
– Narrowing choices and
alternatives to arrive at
one answer.
– Limits creativity
• Example:
– Where is the Eiffel
Tower?
Ways of thinking
Divergent thinking
– Expanding options.
– Facilitates creativity.
• Example:
– What would you say if
you were a Cheerio?
Reasoning
& Decision
Making
REASONING
• Reasoning =
– purposeful process
– Allows us to:
(a)generate logical ideas
(b)evaluate situations
(c)reach conclusions
- Formal vs. informal
REASONING
Formal
• Information provided
• Method available (e.g.
algorithm)
• One correct answer
Informal
• Information often missing
• No method
• Multiple solutions
LOGIC
Logic: system of reasoning
used to reach valid
conclusions or make
inferences
Tools
• Deductive Reasoning
• Inductive Reasoning
DECISION MAKING
• Decision making:
assessing and
choosing among
alternatives
• Trivial or complex
Uncertainty: Estimating
Probabilities
• Decisions can be based on:
(a) formal logic
(b) hypothesis, testing
(c) an educated guess
Educated Guess: making a
decision based on knowledge
from past experiences
Educated Guess
Problems with
Estimating Probabilities
• Because of their mood or
lack of attention, people
may act irrationally, ignore
key data, and make bad
decisions
Barriers to Good Decision Making
Gambler’s Fallacy:
The belief that an
event is more likely to
occur if it has not
recently occurred.
Barriers to Good Decision Making
Belief in small numbers
Decision based on a
small number of
observations
Barriers to Good Decision Making
Availability heuristic
Judging the probability
of an event based on
how easy it is to think of
examples of it
Barriers to Good Decision Making
Overconfidence
Being so committed to
one’s own ideas that
one is often more
confident than correct
Barriers to Good Decision Making
Confirmation bias
People cling to
beliefs despite
contradictory
evidence
Barriers to Good Decision Making
Fallacy of Composition:
Belief that what is true
of the parts is also true
of the whole
ARTIFICIAL
INTELLIGENCE
Artificial Intelligence - definition
• Artificial intelligence
– a field that draws
on concepts from
both cognitive
psychology and
computer science to
develop artificial
systems that display
some aspects of
human-like
intelligence
Limitations of AI
• Well-defined and illdefined problems
– Computers do not define
their own problems
Limitations of AI
• Lack of common sense
– computers do not have a
referential context in which to
interpret situations
• Lack of creativity
– Computers are programed by
people and can not function
independent of their
programs
Neural Networks
• Various bits of information
are stored in different
parts of the brain
• A convergence zone is
needed to mediate and
organize the information
located in various areas
of the brain
Assignment #5
In your view, what are the
advantages and
disadvantages of a
computer that can think
like a human.
** Remember to include: Your full
name, id, my name, course code
(sec 30), date, and assignment #5.
HAVE A GOOD WEEK!