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Rhythms in Humans • Yearly - seasonal variations in appetite, sleep length, moods ….Seasonal Affective Disorder 28 day - female menstrual cycle 90 minute - we cycle through various stages of sleep • 24 hour - Circadian Rhythms: alertness, body temp, growth hormone secretion Latin: circa means “about” and diem “day” • What happens if no external cues? 25-hour cycle • Jet lag West to East Phase advance East to West Phase delay • Sleep Deprivation: form of torture, stress, after about 72 hours, slip unwillingly into brief, repeated periods of “microsleep” Theories on Sleep There is no physiological reason found for sleep Sleep is a state of consciousness Evolutionary/Circadian Theory: Sleep evolved so that… Adaptive: Species need a certain time awake to survive. Sleep protects by keeping out of trouble. Conserving Energy: Less calories burned Repair/Restoration Theory: Restore body and nervous system, heal wounds, recover from emotional and intellectual fatigue Sleep as a change in consciousness • Sleep Stages – Stage 1 – Stage 2 Collectively called NREM stages – Stage 3 – Stage 4 – REM Brain Waves Sleep Stages 1 & 2 Stage 1 • Theta Waves, irregular, breathing slows, light sleep, easily awakened, lasts about two minutes, may have sensory experience without stimulus Stage 2 • About 20 minutes long • Characterized by sleep spindles (bursts of rapid, rhythmic brainwave activity) and K Complexes • Easily awakened but clearly asleep DEEP Sleep stages 3 & 4 Stage 3 – A purely transitional stage – Marked by 20-50% delta waves Stage 4 – About 30 minutes long – Hard to awaken – Delta waves > than 50% of the time – Walking or talking in sleep, wetting the bed, and night terrors can occur during this stage – Still attend to external stimuli – http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z2BgjH_CtIA Sleep Stages REM REM – Occurs the first time about an hour into the sleep cycle – Brain waves rapid – Breathing and heart rate rapid – Arousal of genitals – Rapid eye movement – Essentially paralyzed during this stage – Cannot easily be awakened The Cycles of Sleep • Repeats about every 90 minutes, 4-7 times • REM sleep increases as the night moves on • About 25% of sleep is REM Specific Sleep Disorders: “Dyssomnias” & “Parasomnias” • Sleep Apnea: irregular breathing or periods of many seconds without breathing during sleep, snoring, repeated awakenings • Narcolepsy: Sudden, irresistible onset of sleep during waking hours, cataplexy is sudden attack of muscle weakness/paralysis http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=2204446853653695027# http://insideedition.com/videos.aspx?videoID=3 • Insomnia: persistent difficulty falling asleep or staying asleep (note: sleeping pills can be helpful for short-term, but create more problems than they solve for more than that) • REM without Atonia: Atonia is loss of muscle tone when we dream… without means we can more easily act out our dreams – can be dangerous • Restless leg: leg discomfort during sleep, which is only relieved by frequent movements of the legs, no known cause • Sleep walking, talking: Walking tend to accompany night terrors and occur during NREM, talking an happen at any stage • Night Terrors: (NREM), children, sudden terror, may be difficult to waken • Nightmares: Usually during REM sleep, bad dreams • Sleep Paralysis: strikes as person is moving into or out of REM sleep. During REM body is largely disconnected from brain leaving the body paralyzed. The Function of Dreaming • Function: Why do we dream? Wish Fulfillment (Freud): - Freud believed that dreams let us see into repressed memories and unacceptable desires - Dream of beating up a bully – wish fulfillment - Manifest Content (actual, story line of dream) Latent Content (symbolic, meaning behind dream) - The Interpretation of Dreams (1913) Information Processing (Cartwright): The need to continue processing the day’s activities. Solves problems According to Freud… Journey = death Horseback riding = sex Dancing = sex Gun, cigar, etc = penis Activation - Synthesis Hypothesis (Hobson & McCarley): Triggered by neural activity from the brainstem, “biological view,” brain guides how dream is constructed around brain activity Psychoactive Drugs: Chemicals that change conscious awareness, mood and/or perception Factors Influencing Drugs Effects • • • • • • • • Tolerance Weight Physiology Amount and strength Mood Personality Age Gender Drugs and Consciousness • Concepts in Drug Use – Tolerance: The need to use more & more of a drug to continue to get the same effects – Reverse Tolerance: taking same or less amount of drug produces bigger effect b/c combines with drugs still in system – Dependence • Physiological: Showing a withdrawal syndrome once removed from the drug regimen • Psychological: An emotional need for the drug (craving) • Co-dependence: When another person ‘enables’ the drug dependent person (Ex: wife calls husband in sick when he is actually hung over) – Withdrawal: A distinct set of physiological symptoms associated with the removal of the drug from the system (headaches, cravings, anxiety, depression, seizures, delirium tremens “DT’s”) Delirium: -Acute & debilitating decline in attentionfocus, perception & cognition - Produces altered form of semiconsciousness Hallucinations & delusions are often present Classifications of Drugs • Stimulants: Drugs that stimulate CNS activity (activity & responsiveness) – Ex – amphetamines, methamphetamine (cyrstal meth), caffeine, nicotine, cocaine, MDMA or “Ecstasy,” Speed, Ritalin Did you know? Tobacco kills more than AIDS, legal drugs, illegal drugs, road accidents, murder and suicide combined • Depressants (Sedatives): Drugs which decrease CNS activity (relaxation, sedation, loss of consciousness & even death) – Ex - Alcohol, Barbiturates (Seconal, Valium), Minor tranquilizers (Rohypnol or “roofies”), Ketamine or “Special K” • Hallucinogens (Psychedelics): Drugs that change perception and self-awareness – Ex - LSD, PCP, marijuana • Opiates (Narcotics): Drugs derived from opium that numb the senses and relieve pain – Ex – Morphine, heroin, codeine Classical Conditioning • Definition: A type of learning that occurs when an association is made between a meaningful stimulus & a non-meaningful stimulus • Ivan Pavlov (1903 Pavlovian Conditioning) – Russian physiologist/digestion in dogs • John Watson (1925) – Little Albert Terminology • Unconditioned Stimulus (UCS): Stimulus that evokes an unconditioned response (automatic) • Conditioned Stimulus (CS): Previously neutral stimulus that has, through conditioning, acquired the capacity to evoke a conditioned response • Unconditioned Response (UCR): Unlearned reaction to an unconditioned stimulus that occurs without previous conditioning • Conditioned Response (CR): Learned reaction to a conditioned stimulus that occurs because of previous conditioning To the food (UCS) To the bell (CS) Classical Conditioning –another version Second-Order Conditioning Procedures in Classical Conditioning • Conditioning or Acquisition Idealized Curve of Acqu – Presenting the CS and the UCS togetherand Spontaneous Extinction, • Testing and Extinction – Presenting the CS alone Myers in Modules, Module 20 Processes in Classical Conditioning • Acquisition: initial stage of learning • Extinction: the gradual weakening and disappearance of a conditioned response tendency (does not mean “unlearn”) - CS repeatedly presented without UCS • Spontaneous Recovery: a reappearance of an extinguished response after a period of nonexposure to the conditioned stimulus • Stimulus Generalization: a similar CS makes a CR – Classic Study: “Little Albert” • Stimulus Discrimination: no CR with a similar CS Idealized Curve of Acquisition, Acquisition, Spont. Extinction, andExtinction Spontaneous& Recovery Recovery Curve Myers in Modules, Module 20 Operant Conditioning: modification of voluntary behavior based on consequences • Thorndike’s Law of Effect Behavior before positive reinforcement Behavior before punishment or no reinforcement – Puzzle Box • Skinner – Skinner Box – Shaping: Reinforcing small steps toward more complex behavior (easiest to build on animals’ existing behavior) – Discriminative Stimulus: signals availability of reinforcement or punishment (light, sound, parent) Skinner Box Consequences Reinforcement • Reinforcement: consequences that strengthen responses – Positive Reinforcement: A response is strengthened (+) because it is followed by the presentation of a rewarding add/give stimulus (Money, praise, food, stickers, candy, smile) – Negative Reinforcement: A response is strengthened because it is followed by the removal of an aversive stimulus (buzzer for seat belt) *Note: “positive” & “negative” are not synonymous with “good” & “bad” or “nice” & “mean” (-) subtract/ remove •Conditioned Reinforcement •Primary Reinforcers: Inherently reinforcing satisfy biological needs (food, water, shelter) •Secondary Reinforcers: Acquire reinforcing qualities by being associated with primary reinforcers (money, stickers, praise) Consequences Punishment Punishment: consequences that weaken responses • Positive Punishment: addition of a stimulus that decreases the likelihood of the response occurring again. (Adding chores for getting home late) • Negative Punishment: taking away a stimulus that decreases the likelihood of the response occurring again (grounding, no car, no scholarship) *Note: “positive” & “negative” are not synonymous with “good” & “bad” or “nice” & “mean” (+) add/give (-) subtract/ remove The Big Bang Theory Clip Schedules of Reinforcement Continuous: Reinforce every time (fastest, but quickest to extinction) Partial Schedules – Variable Ratio: Reinforcer after a variable number of nonreinforced responses – Variable Interval: Reinforcer is given for the first response after a variable time interval has elapsed – Fixed Ratio: Reinforcer is given after a fixed number of nonreinforced responses – Fixed Interval: Reinforcer is given for the first response that occurs after a fixed time interval has elapsed Schedules of Reinforcement Extinction • Variable schedules are most resistant to extinction • Ratio schedules cause the greatest amount of response Observational Learning • Definition: Occurs when an organism’s responding is influenced by the observation of others (model) • Four Processes (Bandura) – – – – Attention – watch closely Retention – remember what was taught Reproduction – demonstrate what we learned Motivation – have desire to learn and repeat what was learned • Applications of Observational Learning - prejudice, domestic violence, media influences, prosocial behavior - http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-4586465813762682933# (bobo) - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5hzh-gW-CO8 Bobo Doll Visual Other Forms of Learning • • • Insight: Sudden understanding of a problem that implies the solution Cognitive Mapping: A mental representation of spatial orientations that may not require direct experience to be learned Latent Learning: Learning that has occurred but has not been expressed (often appears when reward for displaying it) History of Intelligence Testing • Francis Galton – Believed that intelligence was related to visual acuity and reaction time • Alfred Binet – French Government – Mental age – Fear test would be abused History of Intelligence Testing • Terman (Stanford-Binet Scale) – revised the Binet scale – created the term IQ – “IQ” determined by taking: MA/CA x 100 – Extended the test to also assess IQ in adults – The normal distribution of intelligence scores • Wechsler – Developed a more accurate test for adults – First to use standard deviation, bell curve – Examples of some of the test developed by Wechsler include • Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale (WAIS) • Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children (WISC) Kinds of Intelligence • Spearman - “g” and “s” – “g”-general intelligence – “s”-specific abilities Kinds of Intelligence • Gardner - Theory of Multiple Intelligences – He believed that intelligence could be broken down into seven categories: Kinds of Intelligence • Sternberg - Triarchic Theory – He believed that intelligence could be broken down into three categories • creative intelligence-ability to solve problems with novel solutions • practical intelligence-”common sense” • analytical intelligence-ability to analyze a problem into its integral components Kinds of Intelligence Raymond Cattell • Fluid Intelligence: innate, inherited intelligence including reasoning and problem solving abilities, memory, and speed of info-processing - relatively independent of education - tend to decline with age • Crystallized Intelligence: specific knowledge and skills gained through experience & education - tend to increase over life span Types & Characteristics of Tests Types • Aptitude: person’s capability, potential for future • Achievement: person’s knowledge of subject, what they have learned Characteristics • Validity: the ability of the test to measure what you say it will measure • Reliability: the ability of the test to measure a construct with consistency • Standardization: the use of reference scores for interpreting an individual’s performance Types of Validity & Reliability of Tests Validity • Content: Complete range of material to test concept • Criterion: Compare to other tests of the same measure (high on SAT, high on ACT) • Predictive: future performance (MCAT) • Construct: theoretical or hypothetical construct (depression, intelligence) Reliability • Test-retest: take the test again – same score? • Alternate form: give similar, but alternate form – same score? • Inter-rater: do all graders give the same score? Chapter 16: Social Psychology Definition: Sub-field of psychology that studies of how others influence our thoughts, feelings and actions Focuses on… - How large social forces such as groups, social roles and norms bring out the best and worst in all of us - Explaining why people act differently in the same situation, and why the same person may act differently in different situations. Conformity and Obedience • Conformity – going along with a group; yielding to social pressure – Asch’s Conclusions 1) subjects often conform to a group, even when the group states clearly inaccurate conclusions 2) conformity to a group increases with the size of the group, up to five or six, but only when the group is unanimous in its beliefs • Obedience – going along with a direct command, often from figure of authority – Milgram’s Conclusions 1) situational pressures can make people obey instructions that go against their belief systems http://www.france24.com/en/20100317-disturbing-tv-docugame-tests-limits-small-screen-power-france-game-of-death Attribution Theory Definition: Inferences that people draw about the causes of events, others’ behavior, and their own behavior Dispositional Attribution: we attribute a person’s behavior to an internal state (personality, abilities, etc.) Situational Attribution: attributing a person’s behavior to an external state (stress, abuse, hardship, wealth, etc.) • Function: People like to explain and understand behavior and the events that impact their lives • Attributions are made when an event is unusual and personal • “Just world” phenomenon Bias in Attribution • Fundamental Attribution Error (FAE): Observer’s bias in favor of internal attributions in explaining others’ behavior but external attributions in explaining their own (Ex: Someone else drops out of college because “they couldn’t handle the pressure or work load” – internal. You drop out of college because “tuition was raised and you had to help support your family” – external) • Defensive Attribution: Tendency to blame the victim for their misfortune, so that one feels less likely to be victimized in a similar way • Self-Serving Bias: Tendency to attribute one’s successes to personal factors and one’s failures to situational factors Attitudes & Attitude Formation - When we observe & respond to the world around us, it is never without the influence of our attitudes (even if we don’t realize it). - Advertisers spend millions because they know that attitudes can be shaped & changed….to their benefit $$ • Definition Positive, negative, or mixed feelings, based on our beliefs, that predispose us to respond in a particular way to objects, people, and events. Ex: A friend tells you that they believe Coach Stove is a mean teacher. You may feel dislike for Coach Stove, and act unfriendly. • Components of Attitudes – Cognitive: What you believe – Affective: How you feel about it – Behavioral: What you are willing to do about it Cognitive Dissonance & Social Facilitation Cognitive Dissonance Theory: When we act in a way not consistent with our beliefs we feel tension. We then revise our beliefs to align with our behavior. Example: Asked to do hour long boring task Offered $1 or $20 to say it’s fun Results: Larger payment led to less dissonance b/c high payment could account for ‘lying’. $1 was not enough to justify lying so those people changed their attitude to saying they enjoyed the task Example: After you go to all the trouble of buying a new house you start to like it more Social Facilitation Improved performance of tasks in the presence of others better on simple tasks worse on complex tasks Person Perception • Definition: The process of forming impressions of others • Impressions are influenced by: – Physical appearance • good looking people are seen as intelligent, friendly, and confident – Schemas: Organized clusters of ideas about categories of social events and people – 1st Impressions: self fulfilling prophecy, primacy – Stereotypes: gender, race, job Stereotypes, Prejudice, and Discrimination • Stereotype: Thoughts and beliefs held about people strictly because of their membership in a group • Prejudice: A negative attitude held toward members of a group • Discrimination: Negative actions towards a group Explanations These often arise from learning, personal experience, mental shortcuts, economic & political competition, & displaced aggression Scapegoat: Blame other groups without as much power Social Identity (in-group bias): Favor own group Outgroup Homogeneity: Judge members of outgroup as more alike Learning Theory: Classical or operant conditioning Cognitive: Easier to organize our world if we ‘categorize’ Social Influence • Chameleon Effect: our tendency to unconsciously mimic those around us – Yawning when others yawn – Picking up the mood of a happy or sad person – Dress like your friends This automatic mimicry is an ingredient in our ability to empathize with others Behavior in Groups The power of group membership affects us in many ways… • Social Roles: (as mentioned before with Zimbardo study) • Deindividuation: less inhibited, & less Kennedy and the Feel Bayless of self-conscious, Pigs personally responsible as a member of a group than when you are aloneattempt [this canto be assassination increased by requiring of uniform, mask,All same Failed Fidel use Castro in Cuba. of the 1400 men haircut, etc…feeling of anonymity] were captured or killed within three days. •TheBystander Effect: less likely to help others when in groups than when to have precluded drive for consensus among Kennedy's advisors was believed alone crucial information from being discussed, and has been blamed for the invasion's •failure. Diffusion of Responsibility: when more people are around we feel less personally responsible to help The flawed decision of President Kennedy and his advisors to authorize the Bay of •Pigs Social Loafing: individuals lesscommonly work (reduced efficiency & invasion of Cuba is theproduce example used to illustrate the phenomenon effort) when working in groups than by themselves of groupthink. • Decision Making Symptoms of groupthink include members' tendency to Group Polarization - when group group discussion (i) believe group to be more invulnerable than it is; leads tothe a more “polarized”point of view by the group the group's decisions and believe stereotypes about its enemies; and (ii) rationalize (iii) Groupthink feel increasing to agree with others in the group. - whenpressure feel pressure to conform to the group, stops critical thinking to avoid dissention in the group • Ex: Kennedy and the Bay of Pigs Group Polarization Memory • Memory – persistence of learning over time via the storage and retrieval of information – internal record or representation of some prior event or experience • Flashbulb Memory – a clear memory of an emotionally significant moment or event Memory • Memory as Information Processing – Similar to a computer • write to file encoding • save to disk storage • read from disk retrieval Encoding the processing of information into the memory system (perception) Storage the retention of encoded information over time Retrieval process of getting information out of memory Memory • Sensory Memory - the immediate, initial recording of sensory information in the memory system – Iconic Memory - a momentary sensory memory of visual stimuli - a photographic or picture image memory lasting no more that a few tenths of a second - registration of exact representation of a scene – Echoic Memory - momentary sensory memory of auditory stimuli STM & LTM • Short Term Memory – activated memory that holds a few items briefly – look up a phone number, then quickly dial before the information is forgotten • Long Term Memory – the relatively permanent and limitless storehouse of the memory system Encoding- Getting Information In Encoding Effortful/ Controlled requires attention and conscious effort Maintenance Rehearsal conscious repetition of information - to maintain it in consciousness - to encode it for storage Automatic Unconscious encoding of incidental information • space • time • frequency Well-learned information • word meanings We can learn automatic processing • reading backwards Encoding Ebbinghaus used nonsense syllables – TUV ZOF GEK WAV – Found: the more times practiced on Day 1, the fewer repetitions to relearn on Day 2 – Spacing Effect * distributed practice yields better long term retention than massed practice Encoding- Serial Position Effect Percentage of words recalled 90 80 70 60 50 40 Recency effect 30 20 Primacy effect 10 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 Position of word in list 10 11 12 Percentage of list retained when relearning 60 50 40 30 20 10 0 Forgetting • Ebbinghaus- forgetting curve over 30 days – initially rapid, then levels off with time 12345 10 15 20 25 30 Time in days since learning list What Do We Encode? • Semantic Encoding – – encoding of meaning including meaning of words • Acoustic Encoding – – encoding of sound especially sound of words • Visual Encoding – encoding of picture images • Imagery Encoding – mental pictures – a powerful aid to effortful processing, especially when combined with semantic encoding • Mnemonics – memory aids – use of acronyms • HOMES- Huron, Ontario, Michigan, Erie, Superior • ARITHMETIC- A Rat In Tom’s House Might Eat Tom’s Ice Cream • Chunking – organizing items into familiar, manageable units - like horizontal organization: 1776149218121941 – often occurs automatically Storage- Long Term Memory • How does storage work? – Karl Lashley (1950) • rats learn maze • lesion cortex • test memory • Synaptic changes – Long-term Potentiation • increase in synapse’s firing potential after brief, rapid stimulation • Strong emotions make for stronger memories – some stress hormones boost learning and retention Storage- Long Term Memory Amnesia- the loss of memory Explicit Memory – memory of facts and experiences that one can consciously know and declare – hippocampus- neural center in limbic system that helps process explicit memories for storage Implicit Memory – retention without conscious recollection – motor and cognitive skills – dispositions - conditioning Retrieval- Getting Information Out • Recall - ability to retrieve info learned earlier and not in conscious awareness-like fill in the blank test • Recognition - ability to identify previously learned items-like on a multiple choice test • Relearning - amount of time saved when relearning previously learned information • Priming - activation, often unconsciously, of particular associations in memory Retrieval Cues • Deja Vu- (French) already seen – cues from the current situation may subconsciously trigger retrieval of an earlier similar experience – "I've experienced this before" • Mood Congruent Memory – tendency to recall experiences that are consistent with one’s current mood – memory, emotions or moods serve as retrieval cues – State Dependent Memory • what is learned in one state (while one is high, drunk or depressed) can more easily be remembered when in same state Forgetting • Forgetting can occur at any memory stage • As we process information, we filter, alter, or lose much of it Encoding Failure • Information never enters the memory system • Attention is selective – we cannot attend to everything in our environment • William James said that we would be as bad off if we remembered everything as we would be if we remembered nothing • Forgetting as Interference Learning some items may disrupt retrieval of other information – Proactive (forward acting) Interference - disruptive effect of prior learning on recall of new information – Retroactive (backwards acting) Interference - disruptive effect of new learning on recall of old information Forgetting as Interference • Motivated Forgetting – people unknowingly revise history • Repression – defense mechanism that banishes anxiety-arousing thoughts, feelings, and memories • Positive Transfer – sometimes old information facilitates our learning of new information – knowledge of Latin may help us to learn French Memory Construction We filter information and fill in missing pieces • Misinformation Effect – incorporating misleading information into one's memory of an event • Source Amnesia – attributing to the wrong source an event that we experienced, heard about, read about, or imagined (misattribution) Language Definition: Symbolism used to communicate ideas & concepts & to problem solve All Language shares 3 things in common 1. Semanticity: True language conveys thoughts in a meaningful way by use of symbols and sounds 2. Generativity: Ability to combine words in new ways 3. Displacement: Ability to talk about objects that are not present Parts of Language • Phonemes: Smallest unit of sound that can be understood as part of a language, basic speech sounds (40 in English) - Ex: The m of mat, the b of boy, or the ch in church • Morphemes: Smallest meaningful units of language. Can be individual or combinations of phonemes - Ex: Unit consisting of a word, such as man - Ex: A word element, such as -ed in walked - Ex: Phoneme such as I ** cannot be divided into smaller meaningful parts** • Grammar: Set of rules that enables us to use our language – Semantics – Refers to aspects of meaning assigned to language (Ex: adding “ed” means it happened in the past) – Syntax – The system of rules we use to string words together into proper sentences (Ex: adjectives come before nouns) Theories of Language Acquisition • Skinner – Learned through association, reinforcement and social imitation • Chomsky – Believed that language acquisition is innate from his observations that children create sentences they have never heard before and learning is too rapid to be explained solely by learning principles *Possibly a combination of the two Language Acquisition as we get older… Components of Thinking - Concepts • Concepts – Definition: A mental grouping of similar objects, people, events, etc. – Function: Help us to order our world into categories and communicate with fewer words – Prototypes: Our best example of a concept Ex: concept: dog prototype: your Poodle (the image that pops into your head when you think of “dog”) Components of Thinking - Problem Solving Trial and Error: Trying one solution after another in no particular order Ex: Thomas Edison – light bulb Means-Ends Analysis: Given a current state and a goal state, an action is chosen to reduce the difference between the two. Ex: Used often in computer programming and artificial intelligence Insights: Sometimes answer just comes to us out of nowhere when we are not focusing hard on it Ex: Coming up with a jumbled word ITIGKHNN Components of Thinking - Problem Solving Algorithm: A systematic procedure which guarantees a solution, although it may take longer than a Heuristic approach. -Like a recipe to solve something Heuristics: Using a rule of thumb strategy to problem solve and make decisions. -Often comes from our past experiences and personal judgments. -Usually quicker, but more error-prone, than algorithms. -Sometimes called“mental shortcuts Ex: If you are having difficulty understanding a problem, try drawing a picture. If you can't find a solution, try assuming that you have a solution and seeing what you can derive from that ("working backward"). If the problem is abstract, try examining a concrete example. Decision Making Definition: The process of choosing among a number of alternatives • Representativeness Heuristic – When we make a decision based on how much a new situation or object resembles our old prototypes (Ex: truck driver vs. Ivy League professor) • Availability Heuristic – When we base a decision on what we have most available in our memory. Things that come to mind are presumed to be more common. (Ex: letter “k”…more frequent 1st or 3rd letter) (Ex: casino noises) • Comparison – When we measure the value of two alternatives by comparing them on a point-by-point basis Errors Made in Problem Solving • Functional Fixedness: Inability to use familiar objects in new ways – Ex: Need a flashlight? Use your cell phone. – Ex: Someone who does not show functional fixedness is a robber who uses women’s hosiery placed over his head to distort his facial features • Mental Set: When people continue to use problemsolving strategies that have worked in the past • Irrelevant information: When someone becomes fixed on information that is given in the problem that does not impact the solution • Unnecessary Constraints: The inability to solve a problem because we place constraints on the solution that really don’t exist Faulty Decision Making Confirmation Bias – A tendency to seek out information that confirms our previously held beliefs Belief Perseverance – The tendency to hold onto our belief even in the face of evidence against our belief…our beliefs distort our logic Overconfidence – The tendency to count on our own estimates and beliefs too much Framing Decisions – The way we are presented the information needed for making the decision can impact what we decide Ex: coat for $100 or same coat for $150 at 33% off