Transcript Definition

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