of ideas.”
Lines Pauling
What is it?
All mental activities associated with
thinking, knowing, remembering and
communicating
Interprets experience
In order to think about the world, we form……..
Mental groupings of
similar events, ideas and
people
Good to know that when
one concept is
‘activated’, others
nearby in the network are
primed
Golf?
Chess?
NASCAR?
Trial& error
Algorithm
A systematic, step-by-step problem-solving
strategy, guaranteed to provide a solution
Heuristic
A rule of thumb (simple thinking strategy) that
allows one to make judgments that are quick but
often in error
Insight
A sudden realization of a problem’s solution – this
is not a strategy based solutions to solve problems
efficiently
That we stole Ms.Vaessen’s debit card and
have decided to empty her bank account
How do we get past the pin?
Algorithm
We will try every possible set of 4 digit numbers
(10 000) but we may get caught before we get
the money
Heuristic
You could try birthdays of herself and her
husband…nope…Becca and Pip? Nope again. Oh!
She knows that birthdays are a bad choice
Insight
A sudden realization of a problem’s solution –
Ms. Vaessen enjoys Benedict Cumberbatch! We
type in 7437…you’re in!
Thisis the effortless, immediate, automatic
feeling or thoughts we often use instead of
systematic reasoning
What did they study at school?
• This heuristic is judging
a situation based on
how similar the aspects
are to the prototypes
the person holds in their
mind.
Kyle Rideout did not go to
Harvard (but he looks like
he did).
•Sonia Dara is a Sports Illustrated swimsuit model – did you
perhaps make certain quick judgments (heuristics) about
her…like about her interests or intelligence?
•She was an economics major at Harvard University while
modelling
Judging a situation based on examples of
similar situations that initially come to mind.
Vivid
examples in the news on social media
often cause an availability heuristic.
Remembering the existence of the
representativeness heuristic and
availability heuristic is important precisely
because we make decisions on effortless,
immediate/automatic feelings or thoughts
(but Tversky and Kahneman point out as so
easily flawed)
Sowhile heuristics can cut down on time,
they can also lead to errors in thinking
Representativeness Heuristic
A tendency to estimate the likelihood of an event
in terms of how typical (how similar to the
prototype) it seems
Availability Heuristic
A tendency to estimate the likelihood of an event
in terms of how easily instances of it can be
recalled
Research repeatedly shows that taking
time to allow our unconscious ‘mental
machinery’ (unconscious processing) to
work on a problem facilitates wise
decision making
BeliefPerseverance-
maintaining a belief even after
it has been proven wrong.
Creative process
Research studies indicate that useful and
genuine creativity rarely appears in the form of
sudden flashes
Creative ideas that come to conscious awareness
have been incubating for some time
Convergent thinking
type of mental activity measured by IQ and
achievement tests
consists of solving precisely defined, logical problems
for which there is a known correct answer
characterized by greater activity in the left frontal
cortex
Divergent thinking
The ability to produce multiple ideas, answers, or
solutions to a problem for which there is no agreed-on
solution
marked by higher levels of activity in the right frontal
cortex
Three hobbits and three orcs arrive at a
riverbank, and they all want to cross to the
other side. Fortunately, there is a boat available,
but, unfortunately, it can carry only two
creatures at a time. What really makes the
situation complicated is that the orcs are vicious
creatures.
Whenever there are more orcs than hobbits on
one side of the river, the orcs will immediately
attack the hobbits and eat them up.
Consequently, you should be certain that you
never leave more orcs than hobbits on either
riverbank. Although the orcs are vicious, they
can be trusted to bring the boat back. Your
challenge is to move all six creatures across the
river without allowing the orcs to eat the
hobbits.
1) Send two orcs 2) Send 1 orc back
(1 orc 3 hobbits remain) (1 orc on right side)
3) Send 2 orcs 4) Send 1 orc
(0 orcs 3 hobbits remain) (2 orcs 0 hobbits on right side)
5) Send 2 hobbits 6) Send 1 hobbit and 1 orc
(1 orc 1 hobbit remain) (1 orc 1 hobbit on right side)
7) Send 2 hobbits 8) Send 1 orc
(2 orcs 0 hobbits remain) (0 orcs 3 hobbits on right side)
9) Send 2 orcs 10) Send 1 orc
(1 orcs 0 hobbits remain) (1 orcs 3 hobbits remain)
11) Send 2 orcs
(0 orcs 0 hobbits remain)