Psych 1101 Chapter 9 Thinking and LanguageCognition-cognition: refers to the mental activities associated with thinking, knowing, remembering, and communicating-we form some concepts by definition (e.g. a triangle has three sides)-more often we form a concept by developing a prototype (a mental image or best example of a particular category)-once we place an item in a category, our memory of it later moves in the direction of the category prototypeCognitive Strategies and Problem-Solving-Trial-and-Error problem solving-Algorithm: a methodical or step by step process of problem-solving; more effortful -we often rely instead on simple thinking strategies called heuristics; however more error prone -confirmation bias: searching for information that confirms our ideas; this can sometimes lead to illogical ideas/conclusions in our problem solving-another obstacle to problem solving is fixation - the inability to see a problem from a fresh perspective-the tendency to repeat solutions that have worked in the past is a type of fixation called mental setDecision Making and Judgment -intuition: effortless, immediate, automatic thinking -availability heuristic: operates when we base our judgments on the availability of information in our memories-enables us to make snap judgments; these quick decisions may lead us to ignore important information-overconfidence: the tendency to overestimate the accuracy of our knowledge and judgments; can be both adaptive and problematic -belief perseverance: clinging to our ideas despite contrary evidence --> Once beliefs are formed and justified, more compelling evidence is needed to change them than it did to create them-to avoid this form of bias is to make a deliberate effort to consider evidence supporting the opposite positionCognition and Intuition-human intuition, although prone to error, can be (whether conscious or unconscious) remarkablyefficient and adaptive-research shows that in making complex decisions, we benefit by letting our brain work on a problem without thinking about it-as we gain expertise in a field, we become better at making quick, adept judgments (e.g. experienced therapists vs. novice therapists)-intuition is powerful, but sometimes perilous, and especially so when we overfeel and underthinkLanguage-language: way of combining words to communicate meaning-spoken language is built from basic speech sounds, called phonemes and elementary units of meaning, called morphemes; and words-finally language must have a grammar, a system of rules that enables us to communicate with and understand others-semantics refers to the rules we use to derive meaning from sounds-syntax refers to the rules we use to order words into grammatically sensible sentences-language becomes increasingly complex as we move from one level to the