Behavioral Sciences 4

how our brains process and react to the info overload around us

• Thinking requires sensation, encoding and storage
• Stimuli must be analyzed by brain (rather than responded to automatically)
• Situational modification (decisions made in one situation can be adjusted to help solve new problems)
• Problem solving is dependent on person’s cognitive level, and the context and complexity of the problem

• sensorimotor
• preoperational
• concrete operational
• formal operational
• believed that each stage is continuous and sequential

process of classifying new information into existing schemata when new info does not fit into existing schemata, then accommodation occurs

process by which existing schemata are modified to encompass this new info

organized pattern of behavior and thought (as in children instinctively knowing the grasping reflex)

• 0-2
• manipulate environment in order to meet physical needs

repetition of a body movement that originally occurred by chance

• occur when manipulation is focused on something outside the body such as repeatedly throwing toys from a high chair (repeated b/c child gets response from environment)
• end with object permanence

understanding that objects continue to exist even when out of view.

child has begun to create mental representations of external objects and events.

• 2-7
• symbolic thinking, egocentrism, and centration

ability to pretend, play make believe and have an imagination

inability to imagine what another person may think or feel

• tendency to focus on only one aspect of a phenomenon (inability to understand conservation)
• cannot tell different quantity in two identical pizzas

• 7-11
• understand conservation and consider the perspectives of others
• logical thinking with concrete objects

• 11
• ability to think logically about abstract ideas, reason with abstract ideas and problem-solve

• child's internationalization of her culture drives cognitive development
• her skills and abilities are further developed with help from environment (family/friends)

• problem solving skills
• peaks in early adulthood

• use of learned skills and knowledge
• peaks in middle adulthood

• begins with impaired memory, but later progresses to impaired judgment and confusion
• most common cause Alzheimer's disease
• vascular (multi-infarct) demnetia: high blood pressure and repeated microscopic clots in brain

rapid fluctuation in cognitive function that is reversible and caused by medical (nonpsychological) causes like low blood sugar, infection, drug reaction

frame the problem, then generate potential solutions (derived from mental set). when we get stuck on a problem it is because the manner in which we have framed the problem is not useful

defined as the inability to consider how to use an object in a nontraditional mannder

formula or procedure for solving a certain type of problem (instructions or math equation that automatically gives you the correct result)

set of general rules and draws conclusions from the info given

• seeks to create a theory via generalizations
• starts with specific instances and then draw a conclusion from them

• rules of thumb
• availability heuristic is used when we try to decide how likely something is (when we try to think of how many words with k as their first letter vs. third letter)

categorizing items on the basis of whether they fit the prototypical, stereotypical or representative image of the category

using prototypical or stereotypical factors while ignoring actual numerical info

the evidence obtained from testing demonstrated that the solution does not work

tendency to focus on information that fits an individual's beliefs, while rejecting information that goes against them

tendency to erroneously interpret one's decisions, knowledge and beliefs as infallible

ability to act on perceptions that may not be supported by available evidence

• doc's brain is sorting through info to match a pattern and using that "intuition" to make a decision.
• developed by experience

subjective experience of a person in a certain situation

• linguistic, logical (mathematical), musical, visual (spatial), bodily (kinesthetic), interpersonal, and intrapersonal
• western culture value linguistic and logical (math)

mental age/chronological age *100