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COGNITION

COGNITION. VIEWS ON HOW WE THINK AND ACQUIRE KNOWLEDGE. What is cognition?. How we think, acquire knowledge, imagine, plan and solve problems. All functions of the cerebral cortex. An important aspect deals with our reasoning abilities. . Reasoning.

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COGNITION

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  1. COGNITION VIEWS ON HOW WE THINK AND ACQUIRE KNOWLEDGE

  2. What is cognition? • How we think, acquire knowledge, imagine, plan and solve problems. • All functions of the cerebral cortex. • An important aspect deals with our reasoning abilities.

  3. Reasoning • Drawing conclusions or inferences from observations, facts, or assumptions • Crucial to make wise decisions

  4. Formal reasoning • Factors are well known and clearly established • 2+2=4 • The capitol of Illinois is Springfield. • Snakes lack legs.

  5. algorithms • To solve problems through formal reasoning, we often use an algorithm A step-by-step, routine or mechanical procedure for solving a problem Exhausting all the possibilities Connecting the TV to the VCR A recipe

  6. heuristics • But sometimes problems are too hard to pin down or there are too many competing alternatives • In these cases, we use heuristics – intuitive, “rule of thumb” strategies to simplify a problem or guide an investigation

  7. heuristics • What restaurant do we choose? • What’s my next school? • What career is best for me? • Go Fish! • We use past experiences, advice from those we respect, “word of mouth”, to eliminate most possibilities quickly

  8. The Limits of Heuristics • In many situations heuristics are the only way to tackle a complex problem • But they have their shortcomings • Since they rely on assumptions, occasionally they lead to bad decisions and mistakes

  9. Errors in cognition • Although essential, heuristics sometimes lead us astray

  10. Errors • Confirmation Bias We make quick or emotional decisions and then focus only on evidence which confirms our hunch, ignoring evidence to the contrary A defendant’s greatest fear

  11. More errors • The Availability heuristic • Strategy of assuming that the number of memories of an event that are available indicates how common the event really is • Leads to illusory correlations • Must look to systematic data • One compelling memory jumps to mind

  12. Availability examples • Million dollar lawsuits • Treacherous Arab-Americans • Lotto winners • Full moon/bizarre behavior connection • Abductions

  13. Hindsight Bias • Years later, we claim that we “knew it all along”. • We didn’t. • Bulls 1992 championship • The White Sox’ magical season • Can prevent us from carefully investigating what happened.

  14. Finally …. • The Sunk Cost Effect • We will often do stupid, illogical things because of money or effort already expended • Throwing good money after bad • Animals and kids just walk away • 150,000 soldiers waiting in Kuwait

  15. Why do we gamble? • After all, we know that the odds (Lotto!) are stacked against us • Let us “count the ways” (reasons) • Over-estimation of control • we think we can influence the odds if we have some, or any, control • But not if they are purely random events

  16. Gambling – why? • Big numbers – Little risks • We flock to long-shot bets with small risk • Even if the odds are much worse • We don’t appreciate the difference between 1 in 70,000 and 1 in 7, 000,000 if enough money is dangled in front of us

  17. More on gambling • The Gambler’s Fallacy • The sad fact that we’ve always lost does not mean that someday we’ll win • The law of averages has little effect on truly random events

  18. Old favorites (?) • Intermittent reinforcement – hard to resist, but no certainty of eventual win • Vicarious reinforcement – we see big winners all the time – Why not us? • Sunk cost – we’ll make up all those losses

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