Class notes
PSYCH 101 Class Notes: Thinking and Memory
- Course
- PSYC 101
- Institution
- Boise State University
Lecture notes regarding the cognitive processes of thought and memory, including schemas, prototypes, biases, and more.
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PSYCH 101 Lecture NotesBoise State University
Thinking and Memory
We use thinking shortcuts to help us quickly process information and extrapolate meaning.
The concept/schema:
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Cognitive economy: supply and demand; supply is ability to process information, and
demand is cognitive economy. There’s only so much cognitive power we have.
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We divide the world into classes of things to decrease the amount of information we
need to learn, perceive, remember, and recognize. We save ourselves a lot of
processing time.
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They permit us to make predictions about the world around us (hopefully accurate ones)
that help us function.
A prototype, or best example in a category/schema, is a quick reference:
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What is a dog? - example
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Goes along with the idea of a schema
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Quick reference: allows us to compare to our prototype, quickly assess situations
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Saves us time on our cognitive economy
Prototypes aren’t foolproof; sometimes we infer wrong information; exceptions and losses of
information about individual cases. Example: what is a bachelor? What is a criminal?
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If someone tells you that they are liberal or conservative, you might assume something
about them based on the prototype you use; you might have a certain image in your
head
Social implications of prototype use: implicit racism, self perpetuating cycle
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Black prototype of criminals
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Cops pay more attention to black suspects
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More blacks arrested, charged, and sentenced
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More blacks in the criminal justice system
Ways to solve problems:
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Algorithm: long and costly (takes more energy) but are typically guaranteed, you will find
the solution eventually. Trying every possible solution/combination. Adaptive.
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Heuristics: short cuts, quick but not always sure. Guessing, what is likely to be the
correct answer? Not guaranteed. Mental set influences how we think and process information:
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Framework of understanding
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Influences how we think about and solve problems in a specific way
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May make it hard for us to see other solutions
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Similar to how perceptual sets predispose/influence what we perceive
Convergent vs. Divergent Thinking:
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Convergent: looking for the one right answer. Tends to be influenced by mental sets.
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Divergent: looking for any possible insight. More creative, innovative, and open-minded.
Acknowledging that there might be multiple possibilities. Trying to understand the
problem better. Seeking a good answer, not necessarily a right one. Associated with new
developments and technology.
Creativity – get outside of your mental set by thinking divergently:
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Develop expertise: knowledge is a building block for creative solutions
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Allow time for incubation: your unconscious mind is good at processing information
(don’t push through)
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Allow your mind to roam: serenity seeds spontaneity
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A new point of view: multicultural experiences foster flexibility in thinking (opens your
mind)
Availability heuristic:
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Dramatic outcomes make us gasp, probabilities we hardly grasp
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We tend to rely on the most cognitively available example of something going wrong, as
opposed to the actual probabilities associated with a risk
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Cognitively more available if they’re recent, dramatic, or a combination of both
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Overestimating the likelihood of things going wrong
Confirmation bias:
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We tend to give more value to and remember more quickly evidence that supports our
own beliefs, and we tend to forget information that doesn’t support our beliefs
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When people with opposing views of the death penalty were given two (fake) research
studies, one supporting their beliefs and the other opposing their beliefs, they felt that
the one supporting their beliefs was more valid and were very quick to pick apart the one
that opposed their beliefs. (Happened on either side of the argument)
Belief perseverance:
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It takes more evidence to change a belief that it does to make that belief in the first place
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