Thinking

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Session Overview

Photo of Rodin's "The Thinker," a statue of a seated man, chin resting on hand and deep in thought.

How do we make decisions about the situations we experience every day? In this session, we'll use brain teasers and word problems to highlight some of the mechanisms that drive human thinking — e.g. functional fixedness, heuristics, and framing. The lecture also touches briefly on the role of the brain's frontal lobes in problem solving and emotions.

Keywords: thinking, functional fixedness, heuristics, anchoring, adjustment, framing, frontal lobes, risk taking, psychopathology

Image courtesy of marttj on Flickr.

Session Activities

Readings

Read the following before watching the lecture video.

  • [Sacks] Chapter 13, "Yes, Father-Sister" (pp. 116-119)
  • One of the following textbook selections:

Lecture Videos

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Video Resources

  • Clips removed from lecture video due to copyright restrictions:
    • Two segments, "Math Problems" and "Square Feet?", from Candid Camera Classics for Introductory Psychology. DVD/VHS. Candid Camera, Inc., and McGraw Hill. 1993. [Find in a library via WorldCat]
  • Lecture Slides (PDF - 1.3MB)

Discussion

Some discussion content on this topic is provided within the next session on Intelligence.

Check Yourself

Short Essay Questions

1) Two approaches to problem solving include using algorithms and heuristics. How are these two approaches different? Give two real-life examples of problems and for each explain how it might be approached using an algorithm and a heuristic. Given the differences between algorithms and heuristics, under what circumstances might it be preferable to use one or the other?

Sample Answer

2) There are many examples of how problem solving can go awry. Some of these involve logical errors, others involve heuristics that bias you towards the wrong conclusion. Give four examples of different logical errors or troublesome heuristics, and how they lead the wrong conclusions.

Sample Answer

Further Study

These optional resources are provided for students that wish to explore this topic more fully.

TYPE CONTENT CONTEXT
Supplemental reading Seabrook, John. "Suffering Souls." The New Yorker, November 10, 2008. Story about Dr. Kent Kiehl, mentioned by Prof. Gabrieli at the end of lecture. Dr. Kiehl is a studying psychopathy with a a truck-mounted MRI scanner that he brings into prisons.
Related research Delude, C. M. "Culture influences brain function, study shows." MIT News, Jan. 11 2008. Short news article about research led by Prof. Gabrieli, which identified cultural influences on making quick judgements.
Textbook supplement Study materials for Ch. 8 "Language and Thinking: What Humans Do Best." In Kosslyn & Rosenberg, Psychology in Context, 3/e (Pearson, 2007) Practice test questions, flashcards, and media for a related textbook

 

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