hj

believes that having a visual representation and a verbal representation of a piece of information increases the likelihood of recall

• people form visual images whenever they can
• the more concrete the noun, the richer the visual image created thus the more elaborate the memory

believes that visual images themselves aren't  important, rather the number of visual "hooks" and "tags" attached to a memory is what makes it easier for recall and images by nature have many

• imagery improves memory by producing more associations between items recalled
• the more hooks and tags created, the better the recall
• forming an interaction between images creates more associations between images

both the theories agree imagery is important, however, the relational-organizational hypothesis believes it is important because it creates many associations between items recalled so the importance lies more on the "hooks" or "tags" images creates, whereas the dual coding theory believes that having a visual and verbal representation of information will increase recall

• Set/revise goals
• Make plans
• Gather information
• Structure the decision
• Make a final choice

decision-maker takes stock of their values, priorities, and plans for the future

begins to ask questions like "what are the various options?", "what are the consequences of each option?", "what do you want from each option?"

• organize all information collected for the decision
• prioritize information
• ask yourself what's acceptable and unacceptable

select the best option based on previous steps and evaluate

when the information available overwhelms the cognitive processing available

Instances that are more easily thought of, remembered, or computed stand out more

People think crime is increasing in America because that is what is primarily shown, but it is actually decreasing

when we are unaware that individual results are not related; comparing the likelihood of an event by comparing it to an existing prototype in our minds


if someone flips a coin and get a heads 5 times in a row, we assume he'll be more likely to get heads the next time he flips even though its the same 50-50 chance

information can be framed as a win or a loss depending on how we present it


condoms work 99% of the time vs. 1 out of 100 women get pregnant

the initial starting point has a huge effect on the estimate 


When the same series of numbers is given, but one starts from the largest number and the other starts from the smallest, people tend to estimate the product much larger when it starts with the bigger number

When we don't entertain all the information present and ignore base rates


people were told that there were only 30 engineers and 70 lawyers, and then were told 60 people got injured on the job and were asked how many were engineers most said a number greater than 30

we are more likely to believe negative information than positive ones


when shown over 50 positive reviews about a professor or restaurant and then given a few negative ones, many people choose to believe the negative ones instead

we have a greater tendency to continue on an endeavor once an investment has been made


hundreds of thousands of people don't believe that abstinence-only sex ed should continue, but because millions of dollars have been spent on it they don't want to discontinue it

the belief that we have influence over random events or events in which we are powerless


participants that chose their lottery numbers sold their tickets for more money than those that were just given the numbers

others' expectations of a person effects that person's performance 


when teachers were told certain students were late bloomers according to a fake Harvard test, they treated the students differently and ended up the students ended up performing significantly better

Participants were shown 3D images, they were then rotated and they had to decide if the shape was the original or mirrored 

Decision time to decide whether the shape is original or mirrored was based on the angle the shape was rotated and not the complexity of the shape

• that we create mental images instead of simply recalling memories of pictures 
• we can manipulate our visual representations

he asked people to find certain parts of an image that were separated by space and to "stop" once they found it ... he realized that people took longer to say "stop" the farther away the image was from the stopping point


We preserve spatial properties of pictures when we create mental representations

• general to specific 
• no new information is added
• deductive validity (impossibility of false conclusions)

• from specific to general 
• new information can be added 
• inductive strength (improbability of false conclusions)

• Propositional Reasoning
• Affirming the Consequent 
• Denying the Antecedent

Drawing conclusions from premises that are propositional (either true or false)

if, then statements

if A, then B. B occurs. Therefore, A

If there's no gas in the car then it won't start. The car won't start. Therefore, there's no gas in the car.

If A the B. A does not occur. Therefore, B does not occur.

If animals can fly then its a bird. A penguin can't fly. Therefore, it is not a bird

A is to B and C is to ?

begins with a clear starting point and has a specific goal

daydreaming or intentionally calling to mind a number of different and loosely related ideas

• Algorithms
• Heuristics
• Generate and Test 
• Means-Ends Analysis 
• Working Backward
• Backtracking 
• Working by Analogy

they are guaranteed to work, but it is time consuming

"Rule of thumb", saves time but produces errors

• high cognitive burden
• awareness of current state, goal state, and how to move closer to the goal

envisions the end or ultimate goal, and then determines the best strategy for attaining the goal in the current situation

When you start from the goal state and work backward to find rules or starting point

preparing to decorate a room for a birthday party

• 20 questions 
• the game Guess Who

• checking and updating 
• comprehension monitoring

to use analogies to "prime" a solution to a different problem

It can limit you to a mental set and hinder you from seeing other solutions

• Mental set
• Incomplete or incorrect representations 
• Lack of problem-specific knowledge or expertise
• Unconscious processing/incubation

the tendency to adopt a certain framework or procedure, even when a more simple or direct solution is present

involves the initial interpretation of the problem, the problem may be misunderstood or the focus may be on the wrong problem

most participants failed to include the two removed pieces as crucial to solving problems, and thus had an incomplete representation of the problem

leaving a problem and then coming back to it at a later time 

it can remove mental sets

unconscious processing/incubation

Critical thinking

measured how many times participants raised objections or challenges to their own thinking

good thinking requires a large knowledge base and the means of using it efficiently

• People can be swayed based on verbage used "bumped vs. smashed"
• People give the answer they think you want to hear (did you see the/a broken headlight)
• There's the weapon effect
• People use default values for missing information (biases)

our attention is drawn to specific details of an event which causes the exclusion of other important details 

it impacts what we attend to, what we encode, and what we can recall

• Implicit Encoding
• Perceptual Equivalence 
• Spatial Equivalence
• Transformational Equivalence 
• Structural Equivalence

images may not be intentionally stored, but remain accessible nonetheless

When many of the same mechanisms and functions are the same between visual perception and creation of mental imagery 

(we use the same parts of our brain with make believe stuff and stuff we actually see)

Spatial arrangements are preserved from physical pictures to mental imagery

Imagined transformations and physical transformations exhibit corresponding characteristics and laws of motion

the structure of mental images are coherent, well organized, and can be reorganized and reinterpreted

visual images aren't all formed at once, they are pieced together into a final rendition

mental images are "byproducts" of thought; implied and understood without being stated

the participants knew how long it took to physically scan the distance, and expect the experiment to demand this type of response

• Tactic knowledge
• Demand characteristics
• Images are more easily distorted by interpretation

Mental constructs we use to navigate spatially through an environment

they are both subject to leveling changes, sharpening, and rationalization