Ch 7

• Cognition is the process of acquiring knowledge, facilitated by cognitive processes such as attention, thinking, remembering, and reasoning
• Cognitive processes are controlled and regulated by the cerebral cortex in the brain
• Thinking is a complex mental process that involves manipulation of information collected through senses and stored in memory
• Thinking involves mental activities such as inferring, abstracting, reasoning, imagining, judging, problem solving, and creative thinking
• Thinking is usually initiated by a problem and goes through steps like judging, abstracting, inferring, reasoning, imagining, and remembering towards a solution
• Concepts are mental structures that represent objects, activities, ideas, or living organisms, allowing us to organize knowledge systematically
• Reasoning is a key aspect of thinking involving inference, used in logical thinking and problem solving
• There are two types of reasoning: deductive (drawing conclusions from initial assertions) and inductive (generating conclusions from available evidence)
• Problem solving is directed thinking focused on dealing with a specific problem, involving the problem, the goal, and the steps to reach the goal
• Two prominent methods in problem solving are "Means-end-analysis" and "Algorithms"
• Mental set is a tendency to respond to new problems in the same way as previous problems, hindering the generation of new ideas to solve new problems
• Creativity is a unique kind of thinking that involves reaching solutions in novel ways, leading to original and unique outcomes
• Creative solutions are sudden or spontaneous and are the result of conscious and unconscious preparation and work
• Creative thinking involves reaching out to the solution of a problem in a unique and novel way that was nonexistent before
• Creative solutions are novel, original, and unique
• There are five stages of creative thinking: Preparation, incubation, illumination, evaluation, and revision
• Preparation stage:

  • Formulating the problem and collecting necessary facts and materials for the solution
  • Problem cannot be solved after concentrated effort, leading to the next stage
• Incubation stage:

  • Stage of no solution with emotional and cognitive complexities
  • Negative effects of mental set and biases tend to fade
  • Unconscious thought processes involved in creative thinking are at work
• Illumination stage:

  • Potential solution to the problem seems to be realized suddenly
  • Involves having insight about the possible solution
  • "Aha" experience when a sudden idea or solution appears into consciousness
• Evaluation stage:

  • Obtained solution is verified or tested to see if it works
  • Insight may turn out to be unsatisfactory and may need modification in the problem-solving strategy
• Revision stage:

  • Required when a solution is not satisfactory