Psych 1300- Ch. 9.2

Front 1

Goal state

Back 1

is a problem-solving state in which a person has all the information he or she needs

Front 2

Set of operations

Back 2

consists of the steps that a person needs to take to get from the initial state to the goal state.

Front 3

Algorithm

Back 3

is a step-by-step procedure that a person can follow to arrive at a solution to a particular problem

Front 4

Mental set

Back 4

is a preexisting state of mind that a person uses to solve problems because that state has helped the person solve similar problems in the past

Front 5

Functional fixedness

Back 5

is a bias that limits a person’s ability to think in unconventional ways

Front 6

Reasoning

Back 6

is a cognitive process of organizing information or beliefs into a series of steps to reach conclusions

Front 7

Practical reasoning

Back 7

is a type of reasoning in which a person considers what to do or how to act

Front 8

Theoretical reasoning

Back 8

is a type of reasoning directed toward arriving at a belief or conclusion rather than at a practical decision.

Front 9

Syllogistic reasoning

Back 9

is a type of reasoning in which a person decides whether a conclusion logically follows from two or more statements that the person assumes to be true

Front 10

Syllogism

Back 10

is a deductive pattern of logic in which a conclusion is made based on two or more premises

Front 11

Deductive reasoning

Back 11

is a top-down method of arriving at a specific conclusion based on broader premises

Front 12

Inductive reasoning

Back 12

is a method of using specific examples to arrive at a general conclusion

Front 13

Overconfidence

Back 13

is a person’s tendency to think that he or she is more knowledgeable or accurate than he or she really is

Front 14

Hindsight bias

Back 14

describes a person’s erroneous belief that he or she knew something all along after an event has occurred

Front 15

Belief bias

Back 15

describes the effect that occurs when a person’s beliefs distort his or her logical thinking.

Front 16

Belief perseverance

Back 16

is a person’s tendency to continue believing something even when presented with evidence refuting that belief.

Front 17

Heuristics

Back 17

are informal rules that make the decision-making process quick and simple

Front 18

Availability heuristic

Back 18

is a type of heuristic that tells a person that if he or she can bring examples of an event to mind easily, that event must be common.

Front 19

Confirmation bias

Back 19

is a person’s tendency to look for evidence that proves his or her beliefs and to ignore evidence that disproves those beliefs.

Front 20

Conjunction fallacy

Back 20

is a phenomenon that causes people to believe that additional information increases the probability that a statement is true, even though that probability actually decreases

Front 21

Decision making

Back 21

is the process of selecting and rejecting available options.

Front 22

Framing

Back 22

describes the perspective from which people interpret information before making a decision

Front 23

Rational choice theory

Back 23

states that people make decisions by determining how likely each outcome of that decision is, as well as the positive or negative value of each outcome

Front 24

Prospect theory

Back 24

states that people will more likely avoid risk in situations where they stand to gain but will seek risk when they stand to lose something.

Front 25

Dopamine

Back 25

is a neurotransmitter that helps people make decisions that lead to good outcomes and avoid bad outcomes.

Front 26

Executive control systems

Back 26

are parts of the brain that inhibit pleasurable responses so that people can avoid making decisions that feel good but are bad for them.

Front 27

Dual-coding theory

Back 27

states that concrete words are represented both visually and verbally, whereas abstract terms are coded only verbally, requiring more complex coding and making them more difficult to retrieve.

Front 28

Sex

Back 28

is a person’s biological classification as either male or female based on the sex chromosomes contained in his or her DNA

Front 29

polyglot

Back 29

people who are fluent in four or more languages or dialects