Myers Ch 9
Cognition
o Mental activities associated with thinking, knowing, remembering, and
communicating information
o Cognitive Abilities
When thinking goes right
o Concepts
Mental groupings of similar things
Simplify our thinking
Prototypes
Mental image
Best example of a category
o Ex: robin is a better prototype of bird than penguin is
Categorization
We see something and can put it into a category based on
previous knowledge
If something resembles our prototype, we can categorize it
o Ex: you have never seen a blue chair before, but you know
it is a chair because it has the other chair-like qualities
As time passes, we remember things as more representative of
the category
o Representativeness heuristic
o Someone who is mixed race but looks 70% white, we later
remember them as 80/90% white
o Makes us fail to recognize prejudice as often, especially
when it doesn’t fit discrimination prototypes
Like females exhibiting prejudice to males
o Problem Solving
Using algorithms
Methodical, logical rule to guarantee a solution to a problem
Using heuristics
Quicker but more error-prone solution than algorithm
Using insight
Sudden realization of a solution
Not strategy-based
Right temporal lobe
Intuition is fast, automatic, and unreasoned
Limits of Human Cognition
o When thinking goes wrong
o Fixation: inability to see a problem from a new perspective
Mental set: tendency to approach a problem with a mindset of what has
worked previously
Cognition
o Mental activities associated with thinking, knowing, remembering, and
communicating information
o Cognitive Abilities
When thinking goes right
o Concepts
Mental groupings of similar things
Simplify our thinking
Prototypes
Mental image
Best example of a category
o Ex: robin is a better prototype of bird than penguin is
Categorization
We see something and can put it into a category based on
previous knowledge
If something resembles our prototype, we can categorize it
o Ex: you have never seen a blue chair before, but you know
it is a chair because it has the other chair-like qualities
As time passes, we remember things as more representative of
the category
o Representativeness heuristic
o Someone who is mixed race but looks 70% white, we later
remember them as 80/90% white
o Makes us fail to recognize prejudice as often, especially
when it doesn’t fit discrimination prototypes
Like females exhibiting prejudice to males
o Problem Solving
Using algorithms
Methodical, logical rule to guarantee a solution to a problem
Using heuristics
Quicker but more error-prone solution than algorithm
Using insight
Sudden realization of a solution
Not strategy-based
Right temporal lobe
Intuition is fast, automatic, and unreasoned
Limits of Human Cognition
o When thinking goes wrong
o Fixation: inability to see a problem from a new perspective
Mental set: tendency to approach a problem with a mindset of what has
worked previously
