Pyc1501 Exam Pack 2023

PYC1501 exam pack
2023


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PYC1501BASIC
PSYCHOLOGY
Cognition:Problemsolving(P1)
Problemsolvingisoftenregardedasoneofthehighestformsofthinking.Theyaretwo
phasestosuccessfulproblem-solving.Firstyouneedtodiscoverthegeneralpropertiesof
thecorrectsolution.Thisgeneralsolutionisanherbalideaofwhatisrequiredtosolvethe
problembutwithoutspecificdetail.Onceyouhaveageneralsolution,youcanworkonthe
functionalsolutionwithsufficientdetailtoguidefurtheractiontosolvetheproblem.


Stepsintheprocessofproblemsolving
1.Identifytheproblemanddefineitclearly
Problem-solvingstartswiththerecognitionthatthereisaproblemandthisisfollowedby
definitionoftheproblem.Thewayyourecognizeanddefineaprobleminfluencestheway
yougoaboutsolvingit.

2.Explorevariousstrategies
Strategiesforsolvingtheproblem:

Trialanderrorapproach
Thetrialanderrorapproachtosolvingaproblemiscalledthemechanicalapproach,
becauseitinvolvesapplyingasetofrulesordiscoverybyroute.Trialanderrorthinking
involvestryingallpossibilitiesmoreorlessrandomly.

Heuristicstrategies
Anunderstandingapproach.Theheuristicapproachincreasestheoddsofsuccess,but
doesnotguaranteeasolution.
 Tryworkingbackfromthedesiredgoaltothecurrentsituation.
 Identifythewaythatthecurrentsituationdiffersfromyourdesiredgoalandidentify
thestepsthatyouneedtotaketoreducethedifferences.
 Adoptananalogicalapproachbythinkingofasimilarproblemandconsiderwhether
thesolutiontothesimilarproblemwillworkforyourpresentproblem.
 MakealistofyourassumptionsofChristianandsystematicallychallengeortest
eachone,thismaysuggestideasforsolvingtheproblem.

3.Explorepossiblesolutions
severalpossiblesolutionsmayhaveemergedfromthepreviousphaseofproblemsolving
andeachoneneedstobeconsidered.Youmayneedtoaskwhattheparticularsolution
wouldbringaboutorhowitwouldchangetheproblemsituation,whataretheadvantages
anddisadvantages.



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4.Evaluateandlearnfromthesolution

Happenedatpotentialsolutionyoutrygivesrisetoanotherproblem,butyoucanagaindeal
witheachoneuntilyoufindasatisfactorysolution.Youhavetoassesseachsolutiontofind
outwhetherithassolvedtheproblemefficiently.

Insight-sometimes,ananswertoaproblemappearssuddenlyandwewonderwhywedidn't
seethesolutionbefore.Thisiscalledgaininginsightintoaproblem.


Restrictedthinking
Mentalsetorfixation-tendencytoevaluatetheproblemsituationinaparticularwayandto
sticktothatevaluation.
Emotionalbarriers-sometimesweareunabletosolvetheproblembecauseouremotions
getinthewayofthinkingclearly.
Learnedbarriers-wemaythinkthatsomethingcananybedoneinonewaybecausethatis
thewaywehavelearnedtodothings.Theyareotherwaysofproblemsolvinginadditionto
theoldways.
Perceptualbarriers-sometimeswetendtoseeonlyoneaspectoftheproblemandignore
others.
Culturalbarriers-aculturalvaluesmayleadustobelievethatreasonandlogicarethebest
meansofsolvingproblemsandthatfantasyandtheyarewasteoftime.Inthiswaywedo
notexplorethevariouswaysofproblemsolving.


Cognition:Reasoning(P6)
Reasoningisoneformofthought.Reasoningcanbedefinedasaprocessofgoal-directed
thinkingthatdrawsconclusionsfromasetoffacts.Whenwereasonwecomparedifferent
bitsofinformation.


Thestructureofreasoning
Apremise
Isthestatementfromwhichtheconclusionisinferred.Thepremiseprovidestheevidence
thatsupportsyourconclusion.
Aconclusion
Whenyoureason,theviewpointyouadoptproclaimyoumakeistheconclusion.


Reasoningbasedonformalrulesoflogic
Deductivereasoning
Deductivereasoningreferstotheprocessofdrawingaconclusionthatfollowslogically
fromtwoormorestatementsorpremises.Deductivereasoningisbasedonthelogicalruled
thatifthepremiseistrue,thentheconclusionistrue(andcannotpossiblybefalse).

Inductivereasoning
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inductivereasoningusesavailableevidencetogenerateaconclusionaboutthelikelihoodof
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something.Inductivereasoning,theconclusionisbasedonthepremise,butthepremisesdo
notguaranteetheconclusion.Thepremisesonlyprovidesomesupportforthelikelihoodof
probabilityoftheconclusion.

Analogicalreasoning-meansthatyouinferpatternsofrelationsbetweenthings.



Differencesbetweenformalandinformalreasoning
Formalreasoning Informalreasoning
Thepremisesarestatedexplicitly. Thepremisesaremoreimpliedthanexplicit.

Theproblemthatisbeingreasonedaboutis Usuallyhaspersonalconsequencesfor
generallynotpersonallyrelevant. everydaylife.Thiscanleadtoweaknessesin
reasoning.(1)wemayacceptapremiseas
truewithoutthinkingcarefullyaboutits
accuracy(2)wemayacceptaconclusion
becauseitagreeswithourpersonal
viewpointwithoutthinkingcarefullyabout
theevidenceonwhichitisbased.

Thestructuresandrulesofformalreasoning
aremoreobviousthaninformaleveryday
reasoning.

Usuallyonecorrectsolution. Severalpossiblesolutionsbecauseofthe
practicalitiesofeverydaylife.



Fallacies

Conclusionsaresometimesbasedonfallaciesormisleadingarguments.Peoplemayuse
fallacieswhentheywantustochangethewaywebelieve.Fallaciesuseirrelevantpremises
tosupportaconclusion,asifthosepremisesarerelevant.Differentformsoffallacy:
 Playingonsomeone'ssympathiestogetsomethingdone.
 Tryingtodiscreditanissuebydiscreditingthepersonwhosupportstheissue.
 Relyingonthecharacteristicsofacertaingroupinordertogainsupportfora
particularconclusion.
 Usingafalseanalogy-thismeansimplyingthatthingsthataresimilaractually
identical.
 Usingaslightlychangedversionofsomeoneelse'spointofviewasabasisforyour
reasoning.


Criticalreasoning
Inordertopreventmisunderstandings,itisimportantthatweshouldbeabletoevaluatethe
informationwereceive,thatweshouldreasoncorrectlyandthatweshouldmakegood
judgments.Thisiswhatismeantbytheterm"criticalreasoning".Criticalreasoningmeans
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thatyoulookatalltheoptionsandvariousexplanationsforsomethinganddonotmerely
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