PSY 211 Exam #3 Study Guide

Memory, abstract reasoning, critical judgment, language representation, spatial representation, conceptual/analytical thought, creative thinking, problem solving

Thinking outside the box

Scrambled letters that must be rearranged to form words or expressions

The notion that two, three, or four heads are better than one and that more relevant ideas will be produced by a group than a single person; any process that can help to generate possibilities that will aid the production stage in problem solving

A set of instructions that will guarantee the success of a procedure of the ultimate solution to a problem

A short cut of rule of thumb that speeds up the problem solving process by using an educated guess, common sense, or your intuition

A problem solving bias rather than a strategy; difficulty switching to a new and uncommon use of a tool or object

Learning to adopt strategies for solving past problem that may not be helpful for future items Example: After the first mystery of a man dying in a room full of bicycles, you want to assume that the next mystery of a man who was running and stopped by a man with a mask and never made it home" is also about murder, when it's actually about a baseball

We settle for solutions that are sub-optimal, "good enough"

The organism comes equipped with a family of responses that are arranged in a hierarchy of strength based on past experience of their effectiveness

A sudden understanding of how all the elements in a problem fit together and form the solution to the problem

You must see the problem in a different way; you must re-conceptualize the problem; you must have the epiphany about extending the lines beyond the perimeter, once the insight occurs, then the problem becomes solvable

The view that problem solving is not a mechanical process of building behaviors on top of behaviors but a directional process guided by the nature of the problem

Balance between searching for alternative solutions and scanning the consequences of a solution

Break problem into sub-goals then solve each sub-goal

Start with a known solution, then follow steps backward to a problem state

Reduce problem to a simpler form, find smaller sub-problems and compare it to similar problems you've faced to make it more clear

The ability to generate many possible approaches or potential solutions to a problem

The ability to let go and not fixate on an approach of solution

The approaches or potential solutions are unusual, novel, or "off-the wall"

The ability to think of useful, practical, worthwhile ideas and not fanciful or silly notions

Creative ideas or products that flourish and extend from a single source

Creative ideas that coalesce around a single point of origin; many things combine to one thing

Identify the relevant features or dimensions

Discover how attributes are combined

Concept has a single attribute that is either present or absent Example: Speed Limit is 65 MPH

Concept has two or more attributes and all must be present to identify itExample: A car has wheels AND doors

Concept has two or more attributes, either or both can be presentExample: Doctor can have either a PhD or an MD

Concept has two or more attributes defined by a condition "if, then" ruleExample: You're in a school zone, if a sign is posted, then drive below posted speed

Shifting to respond to a set of stimuli with an opposite characteristic than the first set

Shifting to respond to a set of stimuli with a different characteristic than a first set

(0-2 years old) Sensory and motor coordinator, egocentrism, representational thought

(2-7 years old) Object permanence, simple classification

(7-11 years old) Complex classifications, reversibility

Abstract thought, hypothetical reasoning