Outline
Overview
- Problem state (solution state)
- initial state
- goal state
Six Steps
- Where am I now
- Where do I want to be
- How do I get from here to there
- Will this work
- Try it out
- Where am I now
Thorndike & Guthrie
NINE ACCOMPLISHMENTS OF E.L. THORNDIKE
- 1. Founded connectionism
- Through experience, neural bonds or connections are formed between perceived stimuli and emitted responses
- Intellect facilitates formation of the neural bonds
- People of higher intellect can form more bonds
- People of higher intellect form bonds easier
- The ability to form bonds is rooted in genetic potential through the genes’ influence on the structure of the brain
- The content of intellect is a function of experience and cultural background
- 2. Conducted the first animal lab studies
- Research on cats in puzzle boxes
- Trial-and-error learning
- Cats escaped by trying various behaviors until hit on the one solution that worked
- Discard all non-solution behaviors
- “Stamp in” correct connection
- 3. Proposed multifactor theory of intelligence
- During the 1920’s
- CAVD Test of Intelligence
- Completion
- Arithmetic
- Vocabulary
- Directions
- 4. Popularized adult education
- 5. Changed “trained mind” to “transferable skills”
- Locke’s Doctrine of Formal Discipline
- John Locke (1632-1704)
- Empiricism = ideas originate with sensory experience
- No innate ideas
- Blank slate
- The mind is like a muscle
- You have to exercise it to make it stronger
- Transfer depends on the amount of effort you put into mastering a task
- To reason well, a man must exercise his mind by observing the connection of ideas and following them in train
- John & John Stuart Mill “Train of thought”
- Nothing does this better than mathematics
- It should be taught to all those who have the time and opportunity
- Not to make them mathematicians
- But to make them “reasonable creatures”
- Once the mind is trained, they will be able to transfer their reasoning skills to other areas of knowledge
- Thorndike’s Theory of Identical Elements
- Transfer takes place when the original task is similar to the transfer task
- More similarity, more transfer
- It depends on how many “elements” the two tasks have in common
- Taking a high school course in geometry
- Won’t strengthen a general ability to think logically
- May help you later in life
- If you become a surveyor or navigator
- Won’t help you if you become a lawyer
- 6. Laid the groundwork for behaviorism
- Objective experimental approach
- 7. Laid groundwork for operant conditioning
- Law of Effect
- 8. Laid the groundwork for psychometrics
- Used factor analysis before there were computers
- 9. Founded educational psychology
PUZZLE BOXES
- Research on cats in puzzle boxes
- Trial-and-error learning
- Cats escaped by trying various behaviors until hit on the one solution that worked
- Discard all non-solution behaviors
- “Stamp in” correct connection
- Animals not “realize” solution
- No sudden solutions
- Time to solve gradually shortens
- S-R relationships “stamped in”
- General Learning Theory
- Learning consists of forming connections between specific stimuli and specific actions
- (S-R learning)
- The cats learned gradually; blind trial-error
- Responses that opened the door were repeated
- Responses that didn’t open the door eventually stopped occurring
- 2 kinds of transfer
- Positive
- Learning on the first task speeds up learning on the transfer task
- Negative
- Learning on transfer task slows down
- Piper “Cub”
- Cessna “Bobcat”
THREE LAWS
- Effect
- Responses followed by satisfaction are strengthened
- Responses followed by discomfort are weakness
- Exercise
- Repeated responses are strengthened
- Unused responses are weakened
- Readiness
- Subject must be able & ready to perform task
- The cat must be hungry
- The child ready to read
GUTHRIE
- more dress rehearsals
- puzzle box & film
- stereotyping = same sequence but faster
- learn chains of behavior
- one shot
- stay in place until replaced
- HAM: habits, acts, movements
- pre-cognitive theory: change your behavior, not your thinking
- practice where triggering $ are present
- hang up coat
SIMON & GIGERENZER
- Simon: bounded rationality & satisficing
- Gigerenzer: fast & frugal; ignore part of info
Algorithms
- Search: depth first, breadth first
- Tower of Hanoi
Heuristics
- trial and error
- hill climbing (local high, local low)
- means-end analysis (subgoals)
- root-cause analysis
- focusing effect
Solution Strategies
- Definition
- Steps used to solve problem (reach goal)
- Cycle of
- recognize
- define
- strategy
- fix problem
- organize problem-cycle knowledge
- identify available resources
- monitor progress
- evaluate effectiveness (accuracy)
- Algorithms
- Heuristics
- Trial and Error
- No planning involved
- Reach goal after large number of random steps
- How to Solve It (Pólya)
- understand the problem
- make a plan
- carry out plan
- look back
- 6 Steps
- Where am I now
- Where do I want to be
- How do I get from here to there
- Will this work
- Try it out
- Repeat
- 8 Ds
- The Ford Motor Company developed a problem solving model it calls the Eight Disciplines (8 Ds).
- It cheats by adding a zero step to the process: plan (prerequisites)
- 1. use a team
- 2. describe the problem. Quantify it with the 5W2H questions (who, what, where, when, why, how and how many)
- 3. contain the problem until it is solved
- 4. root causes and why not noticed
- 5. find correction that will resolve the problem
- 6. implement correction
- 7. prevent recurrence of this and similar problems
- 8. congratulate your team
- Hill Climbing
- No planning involved
- Follow the rule
- At each step, try to move closer to goal
- At each state, assign a score to each next state
- Take best next state
- Problem:
- get stuck when each next move leads to worse score
- ‘Local High’
a state from which any next step is worse
- Stepping stone
- finding optimal solution
- Means-end analysis
- Reevaluate at each step toward goal
- Distinguishes between planning and execution
- Detect differences between current- and state-goal
- Establish sub-goals if needed
- Means-end Analysis: Painting
- Apply paint
- None available
- Set sub-goal of getting paint
- Go to hardware store
- None available to walk to
- Set sub-goal of driving to hardware store
- Car won’t start without keys
- Set sub-goal of finding car keys
- Root cause
- Other
- abstraction = use model before real life
- analogy = solve similar problem
- brainstorming = generate ideas and options
- divide and conquer = breakdown large problems into solvable segments
- hypothesis testing = try to prove or disprove one possible explanation of why the problem exists
- lateral thinking = try a different tack; hit it from the side
- retrograde analysis = determine which chess moves led to a given position; sometimes called retros.
- reverse engineering = examine logic of how something was created
- method of focal objects = what do problem characteristics have in common
- morphological analysis = evaluate whole system, including interactions and outputs
- proof = find a starting point by trying to prove the problem can’t be solved
- reduction = change problem into one that can be solved
- research = find existing solutions to similar problems
- root-cause analysis = find cause of problem (unplugged)
- trial-and-error = try all possible combinations
PROBLEM SOLVING OVERVIEW
- Everyone has problems; come with being alive
- unwelcome and unexpected
- big, small, harmful
- All require some effort on our part
- Problems are persistent circumstances
- cause doubt, uncertainty and anxiety
- Metaphors for problems and their goals
- “hitting a dead end”
- “stuck in the mud”
- “being lost”
- “having no clue of what to do”
- solution hunting as “searching”
- “getting over obstacles”
- “getting around roadblocks”
- Problems tend to be content specific
- solution to one problem (6 times 5) doesn’t help with different problem (which shoes to wear with jeans)
- General commonalities
- create a mental representation
- includes current state (what’s wrong now)
- includes goal state (what success looks like)
- often called search spaces or problem spaces
- Problem Finding
- application of creativity
- notice what is missing
- extend search from small problem to larger problems or underlying causes
- Problem Definition
- identifying the characteristics of situation
- Two general categories: well-defined and ill-defined
- Well-defined problems (well-structured)
- limited set of options
- clear initial state
- clear outcome state
- Examples
- calculating price of an order
- converting gallons to liters
- predicting the flight of an arrow
- Games are typically well-defined
- go
- checkers
- Ill-defined problems (ill-structured)
- don’t have as many limits
- Examples
- deciding to be honest
- what caused a war
- predicting the weather
- deciding what to buy as a housewarming gift
- Can move from well-defined to ill-defined
- Tower of Hanoi task with 3 poles = well-defined
- regardless of how many disks are involved
- can be solved with an algorithm
- Tower of Hanoi task with 4+ poles = ill-defined
- seemingly infinite options
- Problem Shaping
- manipulation of problem components
- convert problem into something more manageable.
- approach from a different angle
- different perspectives
- framing
- Problem Solving
- Use of ad hoc methods in an orderly manner
- Ad hoc means “for this” or “for this specific purpose”
- applies to a specific situation or knowledge domain
- problem solving techniques work on some problems but not others
- Use in an orderly manner
- define problem and select which ad hoc method to apply
- each domain has techniques which will work better than others
Terms
- the whole is greater than the sum of its parts”
- acquiring information
- Aristotle’s laws of association
- attention
- bearing map
- biotic experiments
- Bruner, Jerome
- cognition
- cognitive maps
- cognitive theories
- constructivism
- contextual theories
- contiguity
- decision making
- discovery learning
- evaluation
- functional fixedness
- Gestalt
- information processing
- inputs
- integrated whole
- intervening variables
- judgment
- landmark maps
- latent learning
- Maslow’s hammer
- memory stores
- mental action
- mental processes
- mental set
- mind as a computer analogy
- opposites
- path integration
- perceptions
- phenomenon experimental analysis
- phi phenomenon
- Piaget
- principle of psychophysical isomorphism
- principle of totality
- processing inputs
- reasoning
- remembering
- scaffolding
- self-organizing tendencies
- similarity
- sketch maps
- spiral curriculum
- storing knowledge
- structuralism
- thinking
- Tolman, Edward
- understanding
- vector maps
- vividness
- Vygotsky
- Wertheimer, Max
- working memory
Quiz
1. Which is German for shape or form:
- a. Stumpf
- b. cognition
- c. Gestalt
- d. hodos
2. Which cognitive model uses the computer as a model of how the mind works:
- a. information processing
- b. constructivism
- c. structuralism
- d. humanism
3. Tolman is known for introducing the term:
- a. intervening variable
- b. dependent variable
- c. centered variable
- d. chunking
4. Which are mental representations which summarize spatial information:
- a. mind maps
- b. concept maps
- c. cognitive maps
- d. GPS maps
5. Which is part of cognition:
- a. judging
- b. evaluating
- c. synthesizing
- d. all of the above
1. Which is German for shape or form:
- a. Stumpf
- b. cognition
- c. Gestalt
- d. hodos
2. Which cognitive model uses the computer as a model of how the mind works:
- a. information processing
- b. constructivism
- c. structuralism
- d. humanism
3. Tolman is known for introducing the term:
- a. intervening variable
- b. dependent variable
- c. centered variable
- d. chunking
4. Which are mental representations which summarize spatial information:
- a. mind maps
- b. concept maps
- c. cognitive maps
- d. GPS maps
5. Which is part of cognition:
- a. judging
- b. evaluating
- c. synthesizing
- d. all of the above
Honors Cognition
How we think involves attention, memory, judgment and reasoning.
Outline
Cognition
DEFINITION & DESCRIPTION
- cognition is mental action
- process we use to understand, remember and communicate with others
- process of acquiring, processing and storing knowledge
- includes attention, working memory, judgment, evaluation, reasoning, computation, thinking, decision making, comprehension, meaning extraction and mental structures.
- forming prototypes, concepts and images
- create conceptual structures to simplify our thinking and make sense of the world.
- Aristotle’s laws of association
- similarity
- opposites
- contiguity
- mental set
- functional fixedness
- Maslow’s hammer
- attention is influenced by vividness
Cognitive Theories
Gestalt
- Gestalt (German for shape or form)
- pre-cognitive theory based on perception research
- integrated whole
- “the whole is greater than the sum of its parts”
- self-organizing tendencies
- principle of totality = conscious thought is a relational complex
- Max Wertheimer’s phi phenomenon = flashing lights that look like they are moving directionally
- not double-blind experiments
- prefer phenomenon experimental analysis
- goal is to find a phenomenon and assess its sensory qualities and perceptual impact
- biotic experiments = studies are conducted in natural settings
- in contrast to the structuralism of Wundt and Titchener
- Gestalt researchers (Wertheimer, Koffka, Kohler & Stumpf)
- principle of psychophysical isomorphism = correlation of experience and mental activity
Information processing
- first major cognitive theory was information processing
- mind as a computer analogy
- perceptions are inputs
- thinking and problem solving as processes
- memory as stores
- behavior as outputs
- behaviorism treated everything between input and output as a black box
- information processing focuses on processing systems
- attention, perception, short-term memory, stimulus discrimination and object identification
Constructivism
- global focus
- looks at how we get meaning from our experiences
- cognitive developmental model of Piaget
- cognitive model of Vygotsky
- cognitive model of Jerome Bruner (scaffolding)
- discovery learning
- learning is an active process
- use what we already know to interpret new information
- combine them into consolidated structures
- we “go beyond the information given”
- prefers spiral curriculum
Contextual Theories
- extension of constructivism
- sees a need for leaning in multiple contexts
- advocates internships, peer teaching and experiential activities (field trips, study abroad, etc.).
- emphasizes problem solving, student-focused learning, and active learning
- assumes students can self-monitor and self-regulate
Tolman, Edward
- disagreed with Watson and Hull
- cognitive behaviorism
- analyzed behavior holistically
- behavior is goal directed
- influenced by Gestalt psychologists
- NOT just as a series of S-R connections
- influenced by behaviorism
- necessary but “shameful” to have to incorporate internal processes to explain behavior
- intervening variables = internal processes were inferred from observable behavior
- behavior is guided by internal processes like “expectations” and “hypotheses”
- distinction between “learning” and “performance”
- cognitive map
- latent learning
Cognitive maps
- Introduced by Tolman (1948)
- mental representations that summarize spatial information.
- help explain our ability to find our way home
- unique to the individual
- help with encoding, storage and retrieval of spatial relationships
- use mental images to reduce cognitive load
- mind maps, infographics and structural overviews are examples of cognitive maps
- represent concepts and information in relational term
Hippocampus
Two cognitive maps are generated
- spatial reasoning is integrated by the hippocampus
- works with the medial temporal lobe
- not clear where the result is stored
- damage to the hippocampus impacts the ability to form cognitive maps
- convert’s object location and spatial features into a mental representation
- uses a complex network of place cells, boundary cells and grid cells.
- bearing map = vector-based information (head this direction for this amount of time)
- sketch map = landmarks (drive until you see a big tree)
- some evidence that men and women tend to differ on which type of cognitive map they tend to use
- little evidence that cognitive maps exist in non-humans
- Rats
- Tolman began his work on cognitive maps using rats
- cross-maze, allowed to explore
- food was always in the arm to the right of the rat
- placed in a different arm
- instead of turning right, headed to where it had learned to expect the food
- evidence of cognitive mapping?
- critics suggest simpler explanations
- familiarity with landmarks
- path integration (Darwin’s explanation for birds being to find their way back to the nest using continuous integration of movement cues)
- animals might use bearing maps but not sketch maps
Cognitive Bias
- refers to the imperfection of our information processing heuristics
- heuristics are rules used to prevent information overload
- help us sort out what is important
- fast but have systematic errors (bias)
- attentional bias – pay attention to emotional $ or recurring thoughts. When we frequently think about the car we drive, we pay more attention to the cars other people drive.
- availability heuristic = overestimate our future performance when we focus on our past successes; remember wins and ignore losses
- Availability heuristic. If you can remember it, it is important or true.
- Bandwagon effect. Base your behavior on what others are doing.
- Barnum effect (Forer effect). Tendency to rate vague descriptions of personality as highly accurate if you believe they were generated specifically for you. A type of subjective validation.
- belief bias. Strength of belief is interpreted as truth
- confirmation bias = look for confirming evidence of our current beliefs and ignore contradictory evidence
- confirmation bias. Search for supporting data to reduce inconsistency.
- current moment bias. Prefer current pleasure, leave pain for the future.
- fundamental attribution error (correspondence bias). Over-emphasize personality-based explanations. Under-emphasize situational influences
- gambler’s fallacy (Monte Carlo fallacy). A type of mental averaging or limited time frame. Belief that random events currently more frequent than normal will in the short term future be less frequent than normal.
- Google effect. Less likely to remember information you believe is accessible online.
- halo effect. A form of confirmation bias combined with stimulus generalization. Throndike’s observation that positive feeling in one area tend to be transferred to other areas. If you like a person, they are good and trustworthy. If you dislike one aspect, you will dislike everything.
- hindsight bias. I knew it all the time. Post hoc ego proctor hoc.
- IKEA effect. Dan Ariely’s observation that people tend to place greater value on things they make or assemble. A type of effort justification.
- Lake Wobegone effect. Tendency to overestimate achievements (based on Garrison Keillor fictional town where all the children above average). People estimate their intelligence, driving ability, popularity and problem solving skills as being above average.
- loss aversion. Strong preference to avoid loss; twice as strong as desire for gain (Tversky & Kahneman).
- neglect of probability. Tendency to disregard probability, particularly in uncertain situations. Small risks are completely neglected or greatly overrated.
- normalcy bias. Tend to under prepare for disasters because we underestimate its probability and its effect.
- post-purchase rationalization. Find reasons for having made a decision.
- spotlight effect. The tendency to overestimate how much others notice you. Similar to the imaginary audience experienced by adolescents.
- status-quo bias. Tend to be reluctant to change. Stay with routines.
Psych Learn
1. Cognition
- cognition is mental action
- process we use to understand, remember and communicate with others
- process of acquiring, processing and storing knowledge
- includes attention, working memory, judgment, evaluation, reasoning, computation, thinking, decision making, comprehension, meaning extraction and mental structures.
- forming prototypes, concepts and images
- create conceptual structures to simplify our thinking and make sense of the world.
- Aristotle’s laws of association
- similarity
- opposites
- contiguity
- mental set
- functional fixedness
- Maslow’s hammer
- attention is influenced by vividness
2. Gestalt
- Gestalt (German for shape or form)
- pre-cognitive theory based on perception research
- integrated whole
- “the whole is greater than the sum of its parts”
- self-organizing tendencies
- principle of totality = conscious thought is a relational complex
- Max Wertheimer’s phi phenomenon = flashing lights that look like they are moving directionally
- not double-blind experiments
- prefer phenomenon experimental analysis
- goal is to find a phenomenon and assess its sensory qualities and perceptual impact
- biotic experiments = studies are conducted in natural settings
- in contrast to the structuralism of Wundt and Titchener
- Gestalt researchers (Wertheimer, Koffka, Kohler & Stumpf)
- principle of psychophysical isomorphism = correlation of experience and mental activity
3. Cognitive Theories
Information processing
- first major cognitive theory was information processing
- mind as a computer analogy
- perceptions are inputs
- thinking and problem solving as processes
- memory as stores
- behavior as outputs
- behaviorism treated everything between input and output as a black box
- information processing focuses on processing systems
- attention, perception, short-term memory, stimulus discrimination and object identification
Constructivism
- global focus
- looks at how we get meaning from our experiences
- cognitive developmental model of Piaget
- cognitive model of Vygotsky
- cognitive model of Jerome Bruner (scaffolding)
- discovery learning
- learning is an active process
- use what we already know to interpret new information
- combine them into consolidated structures
- we “go beyond the information given”
- prefers spiral curriculum
Contextual Theories
- extension of constructivism
- sees a need for leaning in multiple contexts
- advocates internships, peer teaching and experiential activities (field trips, study abroad, etc.).
- emphasizes problem solving, student-focused learning, and active learning
- assumes students can self-monitor and self-regulate
4. Tolman, Edward
- disagreed with Watson and Hull
- cognitive behaviorism
- analyzed behavior holistically
- behavior is goal directed
- influenced by Gestalt psychologists
- NOT just as a series of S-R connections
- influenced by behaviorism
- necessary but “shameful” to have to incorporate internal processes to explain behavior
- intervening variables = internal processes were inferred from observable behavior
- behavior is guided by internal processes like “expectations” and “hypotheses”
- distinction between “learning” and “performance”
- cognitive map
- latent learning
5. Cognitive maps
- Introduced by Tolman (1948)
- mental representations that summarize spatial information.
- help explain our ability to find our way home
- unique to the individual
- help with encoding, storage and retrieval of spatial relationships
- use mental images to reduce cognitive load
- mind maps, infographics and structural overviews are examples of cognitive maps
- represent concepts and information in relational term
Hippocampus
- spatial reasoning is integrated by the hippocampus
- works with the medial temporal lobe
- not clear where the result is stored
- damage to the hippocampus impacts the ability to form cognitive maps
- convert’s object location and spatial features into a mental representation
- uses a complex network of place cells, boundary cells and grid cells.
Two cognitive maps are generated
- bearing map = vector-based information (head this direction for this amount of time)
- sketch map = landmarks (drive until you see a big tree)
- some evidence that men and women tend to differ on which type of cognitive map they tend to use
- little evidence that cognitive maps exist in non-humans
Rats
- Tolman began his work on cognitive maps using rats
- cross-maze, allowed to explore
- food was always in the arm to the right of the rat
- placed in a different arm
- instead of turning right, headed to where it had learned to expect the food
- evidence of cognitive mapping?
- critics suggest simpler explanations
- familiarity with landmarks
- path integration (Darwin’s explanation for birds being to find their way back to the nest using continuous integration of movement cues)
- animals might use bearing maps but not sketch maps
When you want a bit more than general psych
Your theory determines your model components, which variables to measure, and what you are trying to prove. Theory also determines which statistics to use and how to interpret them.
