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Discovering Psychology Chapter 7

Terms in this set (38)

Cognition
The mental activities involved in acquiring, retaining, and using knowledge (p.277)
Thinking
The manipulation of mental representations of information in order to draw inferences and conclusions (p. 277)
Mental image
A mental representation of objects or events that are not physically present (p. 277)
Concept
A mental category of objects or ideas based on properties they share (p. 279)
Formal Concept
A mental category that is formed by learning the rules or features that define it (p. 279)
Natural concept
A mental category that is formed as a result of everyday experience (p. 281)
Prototype
The most typical instance of a particular concept (p. 281)
Exemplars
Individual instances of a concept or category, held in memory (p. 281)
Problem solving
Thinking and behavior directed toward attaining a goal that is not readily available (p. 281)
Trial and error
A problem-solving strategy that involves attempting different solutions and eliminating those that do not work (p. 281)
Algorithm
A problem-solving strategy that involves following a specific rule, procedure, or method that inevitably produces the correct solution (p. 282)
Heuristic
A problem-solving strategy that involves following a general rule of thumb to reduce the number of possible solutions (p. 282)
Insight
The sudden realization of how a problem can be solved (p. 282)
Intuition
Coming to a conclusion or making a judgment without conscious awareness of the thought processes involved (p. 282)
Functional fixedness
The tendency to view objects as functioning only in their usual or customary way (p. 285)
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