tutorial letter + examination guideline

PYC1501BASI
C
PSYCHOLOGY
Cogni
ti
on:
Probl
em sol
vi
ng(
P1)
Probl
em sol v
ingisoftenregardedasoneoft hehi
ghestformsofthinking.Theyaretwo
phasest osuccessfulprobl
em- sol
ving.Fir
styouneedtodiscoverthegeneralproper
ti
esof
thecorrectsoluti
on.Thisgeneralsoluti
onisanherbali
deaofwhati srequiredtosol
vethe
probl
em butwi thoutspecif
icdetail
.Oncey ouhaveageneralsolut
ion,youcanwor konthe
funct
ionalsoluti
onwi t
hsuffici
entdet ai
ltoguidef
urt
heracti
ont osolvetheproblem.


St
epsi
nthepr
ocessofpr
obl
em sol
vi
ng
1.Identi
fytheproblem anddef
ineitcl
early
Problem-solv
ingstart
swi t
htherecogni
tionthatther
eisaprobl
em andt
hisisfol
l
owedby
defini
ti
onoft heprobl
em.Thewayy ourecognizeanddef
ineaprobl
em i
nfl
uencestheway
yougoaboutsol vingit
.

2.Explorev
ari
ousst
rat
egi
es
Str
ategiesf
orsol
vi
ngthepr
obl
em:

Tri
alanderrorapproach
Thetrial
ander r
orapproachtosol
vi
ngaproblem iscal
ledt
hemechanical
approach,
becauseitinv
olvesapplyi
ngasetofrul
esordiscover
ybyrout
e.Tr
ial
ander r
orthi
nki
ng
i
nvolvestry
ingallpossi
bil
it
iesmor
eorlessrandomly.

Heuri
sti
cst r
ategies
Anunder st
andingappr oach.Theheur i
sti
cappr oachincr
easest heoddsofsuccess, but
doesnotguar anteeasol ut
ion.
 Tr ywor ki
ngbackf r
om thedesiredgoal tothecurr
entsi t
uation.
 I denti
fythewayt hatthecurrentsituati
ondiff
ersfrom yourdesi r
edgoal andi
denti
fy
thestepst hatyouneedt otaketor educethediff
erences.
 Adoptananal ogi
calapproachbyt hinki
ngofasi milarprobl
em andconsi derwhet
her
thesoluti
ont othesimilarprobl
em wi ll
wor kf
oryourpr esentproblem.
 Makeal i
stofy ourassumptionsofChr ist
ianandsy stematicall
ychall
engeortest
eachone, thismaysuggesti deasforsol vi
ngtheproblem.

3.Expl
orepossi bl
esoluti
ons
sever
alpossiblesolut
ionsmayhaveemer gedfr
om theprevi
ousphaseofproblem solvi
ng
andeachoneneedst obeconsider
ed.Youmayneedt oaskwhatt hepar
ti
cularsolut
ion
wouldbringaboutorhowi twouldchangetheprobl
em si
tuat
ion,
whataretheadv antages
anddisadvantages.

,4.Ev
aluat
eandl
ear
nfr
om t
hesol
uti
on

Happenedatpotent
ialsoluti
onyout r
ygivesr i
setoanotherpr
obl
em,butyoucanagai
ndeal
wit
heachoneunt i
lyoufindasatisfactor
ysol ut
ion.Youhavet
oassesseachsol
uti
ontof
ind
outwhetheri
thassolvedt hepr
oblem effi
cientl
y.

Insi
ght
-someti
mes,ananswertoaprobl
em appearssuddenl
yandwewonderwhywedi
dn'
t
seethesol
uti
onbef
ore.Thi
siscal
ledgai
ningi
nsighti
ntoaprobl
em.


Rest
ri
ctedt
hinki
ng
Ment alsetorf ixat ion-t endencyt oevaluatetheprobl
em sit
uationinaparti
cularwayandt o
sti
ckt ot hatev aluat ion.
Emot ional bar r
ier s-somet i
meswear eunabletosolvetheproblem becauseouremot ions
getint hewayoft hi nkingclear
ly.
Learnedbar riers-wemayt hinkthatsomet hi
ngcananybedonei nonewaybecauset hati
s
thewaywehav el ear nedt odothings.Theyar eotherwaysofpr oblem sol
vi
ngi naddit
ionto
theoldway s.
Percept ual barrier s-somet imeswet endt oseeonlyoneaspectoft heproblem andignore
others.
Culturalbar ri
ers-acul turalval
uesmayl eadust obeli
evethatreasonandlogicarethebest
meansofsol v i
ngpr oblemsandt hatfantasyandtheyarewast eoft i
me.Inthi
swaywedo
notexpl oret hev ar i
ousway sofpr obl
em sol vi
ng.


Cogni
ti
on:
Reasoni
ng(
P6)
Reasoni
ngisonefor
m ofthought
.Reasoningcanbedefi
nedasaprocessofgoal-
dir
ected
thi
nki
ngthatdr
awsconclusi
onsfrom asetoffact
s.Whenwereasonwecompar edi
ffer
ent
bit
sofinf
ormati
on.


Thest
ruct
ureofr
easoni
ng
Apremise
I
sthestat
ementf rom whichtheconcl
usioni
sinferr
ed.Thepremi
seprov
idestheev
idence
t
hatsupportsyourconclusi
on.
Aconcl
usion
Whenyour eason,t
heviewpointyouadoptpr
oclaimy oumakeist
heconcl
usion.


Reasoni
ngbasedonf
ormal
rul
esofl
ogi
c
Deducti
vereasoni
ng
Deducti
vereasoni
ngrefer
stot heprocessofdrawingaconcl
usionthatfoll
owslogicall
y
fr
om twoormor estat
ement sorpremises.Deduct
iver
easoni
ngi sbasedont helogicalr
uled
t
hatifthepremisei
strue,t
hent heconclusi
onistr
ue(andcannotpossiblybefal
se).

I
nduct
iver
easoni
ng
i
nduct
iver
easoni
ngusesav
ail
abl
eev
idencet
ogener
ateaconcl
usi
onaboutt
hel
i
kel
i
hoodof

,somethi
ng.Inducti
vereasoni ng,t
heconcl
usi
onisbasedont
hepremise,
butthepremisesdo
notguarant
eet heconclusion.Thepr
emisesonl
yprovi
desomesupportf
ortheli
keli
hoodof
probabi
l
ityoftheconclusion.

Anal
ogi
cal
reasoni
ng-meanst
haty
oui
nferpat
ter
nsofr
elat
ionsbet
weent
hings.



Di
ff
erencesbet
weenf
ormal
andi
nfor
mal
reasoni
ng
For
mal
reasoni
ng I
nfor
mal
reasoni
ng
Thepr
emi
sesar
est
atedexpl
i
cit
ly. Thepr
emi
sesar
emor
eimpl
i
edt
hanexpl
i
cit
.

Theprobl
em t
hatisbei
ngreasonedabouti
s Usuallyhasper sonalconsequencesfor
gener
all
ynotper
sonall
yrel
evant
. ev er
ydaylife.Thiscanl eadtoweaknessesin
reasoning.(1)wemayacceptapr emiseas
truewithoutt hinki
ngcar eful
l
yaboutits
accuracy( 2)wemayacceptaconcl usion
becausei tagr eeswi t
hourper sonal
viewpointwi thoutthinki
ngcar ef
ull
yabout
theev i
denceonwhi chitisbased.

Thest r
ucturesandrul
esoffor
mal reasoni
ng
aremor eobv i
ousthani
nfor
mal ev
er y
day
reasoning.

Usual
l
yonecor
rectsol
uti
on. Severalpossi
blesol
uti
onsbecauseoft
he
pract
icali
ti
esofever
ydayli
fe.



Fal
l
aci
es

Conclusionsar esomet i
mesbasedonf al
laci
esormi sl
eadingar gument s.Peoplemayuse
fal
l
acieswhent heywantust ochanget hewaywebel i
eve.Fallaciesuseirrel
evantpremises
tosuppor taconcl usion,asifthosepr emisesarerelevant.Differentformsoff al
lacy:
 Pl ayi
ngonsomeone' ssy mpathiestogetsomet hi
ngdone.
 Tr yi
ngt odi scr
editanissuebydi scredi
ti
ngt heper sonwhosuppor t
st heissue.
 Rel yi
ngont hecharacteristi
csofacer t
aingroupi nor dert ogainsupportfora
par ti
cularconclusion.
 Usi ngaf alseanalogy-t hismeansi mplyi
ngt hatthingst hataresimi l
aractuall
y
identical.
 Usi ngasl ightl
ychangedv ersi
onofsomeoneel se'spoi ntofviewasabasi sforyour
reasoni ng.


Cr
it
ical
reasoni
ng
I
nordert
opr ev
entmi sunderstandi
ngs,
iti
simpor t
antthatweshouldbeabletoeval
uat
ethe
i
nfor
mati
onwer eceiv
e,thatweshouldreasoncorrect
lyandthatweshouldmakegood
j
udgments.Thi
si swhatismeantbyt heterm"cri
ti
calreasoni
ng".Cr
it
ical
reasoni
ngmeans
t
hatyoul
ookatal ltheoptionsandvari
ousexplanati
onsforsomethi
nganddonotmer el
y

, acceptonepoi ntofv iewort heexpl anat
ionthatsuit
syou.Cri
ticalr
easonhelpsy out
ocope
bett
erwi t
hsi tuat ionsi ndai lyli
fe.Usi ngcri
ti
calreasoni
nghelpsy ougaingreateri
nsi
ghti
nto
thi
ngs,t
obebet terinformed, t
obeopen- mindedandt omakegooddeci sions.
Thefoll
owi ngar est epsy oucant aketoimproveyourcri
ti
calreasoningabil
it
y.
1.I dentifyt hepr obl em
2.Keepanopenmi nd
3.Remembert hedi fferencesbet weenlanguageandreali
ty
4.Useopenended- quest i
ons
5.Av oidov er-gener alisations
6.Beempat hetic
7.Obt ainr elevanti nfor mat ion
8.Usei nf ormal knowl edge
9.Dev elopcol lectivet hinking

ReadP11


Cogni
ti
on:
Thi
nki
ng(
P13)
Thi
nki
ngist
heinternal
repr
esentati
onofaprobl
em orsi
tuat
ion.Whenwear
ethi
nki
ng,
we
makeuseofcer
tainmentalst
ructur
esorsyst
emsofsy mbol
s.
I
mages
Imagesarethesy mbolicrepresentat
ionofobj
ectsandthei
rcharact
eri
sti
cs.Animageisa
mentalr
epresentati
ont hathaspictureli
kequal
i
ties.Wecanalsofor
m auditoryi
mages,
basedonaper son'svoiceforexampl e.I
mageplaysanimport
antrolei
nourt hought
sand
canevenhelpust othinkmor eeffecti
vel
y.
Concept
s
Abasi cpr ocessi nthinkingi stocat egorizeexper i
ences.Thecat egor
ieswef orm asmental
represent ati
onsofgr oupsofr el
atedi t
emsar ecalledconcept s.Theyaret hebuil
dingbl
ocks
ofthinkingandt heyhel pust oorganizeknowl edgei nsystemat i
cway s.
Hierarchicalor gani
zationofconcept s
Tomakesenseoft hewor l
d, peopletendt oor ganizerelatedconceptsintoahi er
archy,
which
meansi nanor gani
zedway .Aconcept ualhierarchiesmadeupofatl eastt hr
eelevel
s:A
superordi nate(ortop)lev el
, anintermedi ate(ormi ddle)levelandasubor dinat
e(orbottom)
l
ev el
.Thi ngst hathavecommonat t
ributesfallont hesamel evel
.


Super
ordi
nat
e Food
l
evel

Fr
uit Vegat
abl
es
I
nter
medi
atel
evel


Apples, Carrots,
Subor
dinat
elev
el
Bananas, onions,
oranges, tomatoes,
grapes beans

Concept
ualr
ules
Werelyonconcept
ual
rul
est
odeci
dewhet
herornotsomet
hingbel
ongst
oacer
tai
n