I. THINKING AND LANGUAGE
A. Thinking
1. Thinking, or cognition, refers to all the mental activities associated with
processing,understanding, remembering, and communicating.
2. Cognitive psychologists study these mental activities, including the logical and
sometimes illogical ways in which we create concepts, solve problems,make decisions,and form
judgments.
B. Thinking: Concepts
1. To think about the countless events, objects, and people in our world, we
simplify things and form concepts- mental groupings of similar objects, events and people.
2. To simplify things further, we organize concepts into category hierarchies and
form some concepts by definition. However, we more often form our concepts by developing
prototypes-m a mental image or best example that incorporates all the features we associate with
category (Rosch, 1978).
C. Thinking: Solving Problems
1. Some problems we solve through trial and error. For other problems, we may
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- Spring '10
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- simple thinking strategy, judgments, mental activities, concepts- mental groupings, problems,make decisions,and form
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