cognition

how info is processed and manipulated in remembering, thinking, and knowing.

thinking

manipulating info mentally by forming concepts, solving problems, making decisions, and reflecting in a critical or creative manner

concepts

mental categories used to group projects, events, and characteristics

prototype model

when people evaluate whether a given item reflects a certain concept, they compare it with the most typical item and look for a resemblance

problem solving

finding an appropriate way to attain a goal when the goal is not readily available

subgoals

intermediate goals/problems that put us in a better position for reaching the final goal/solution

algorithms

strategies that guarantee a solution to a problem

heuristics

shortcut strategies or guidelines that suggest a solution to a problem but don't guarantee an answer

fixation

using a prior strategy and failing to look at the problem from a fresh, new perspective

functional fixedness

occurs when individuals fail to solve a problem because they're fixated on a things usual functions.

reasoning

mental activity of transforming info to reach conclusions

inductive reasoning

reasoning from specific observations to make generalizations

deductive reasonings

reasoning from a general case that we know to be true to a specific instance and fact

loss aversion

the tendency to prefer avoiding losses rather than/over acquiring gains

confirmation bias

the tendency to search for/use info that supports our ideas rather than refute them

hindsight bias

our tendency to report falsely. people tend to view events as more predictable than they actually were.

availability heuristic

a prediction of the probability of an event based on the ease of recalling/imagining similar events

base rate neglect

the tendency to ignore info about general principles in favor of very specific but vivid information

representativeness heuristic

the tendency to make judgements about group membership based on physical appearances or the match between a person and the stereotype of a group rather than an available base rate info.