THINKING

&
PROBLEM SOLVING
 Hira Akhtar
1573
Hadia Shamraz
1468
Muqaddas Altaf
1572
Rabbia Batool
1571
PRESENTED BY Laiba Hameed
1469

Shehr Bano
1467
Noureen Mehmood
1472
THINKING
• a dynamic and multifaceted cognitive
process
• involves a combination of perceptual,
cognitive, and metacognitive activities to
process information
• solve problems, make decisions, and
generate new ideas or understand
concepts
PROBLEM SOLVING
• An effort to overcome obstacles obstructing the path to a
solution.

• Problem-solving is included within the general category

called “thinking.”

Components

• Initial state

• Goal state

• The obstacles
The Problem Solving Cycle

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 Basic objects in natural categories

• Basic objects in natural categories refer to the most inclusive

categories for which a concrete image of the category as a whole
can be formed. These objects carry the most information,
possess high category cue validity, and are highly differentiated
from one another. Essentially, they represent the fundamental
building blocks or prototypes within a given category. For
instance, in the category of "birds," basic objects might include
"sparrow" or "eagle,“.

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 Principle of Categorization
• Basic Categories:Natural objects are categorized into basic categories, which carry the
most information, possess high category cue validity, and are highly differentiated from
one another.
• Prototype Theory:Categorization involves representing categories by prototypes, which
are the most typical or representative examples within a category. Prototypes serve as
reference points for categorization and feature the most salient attributes of the
category.
• Graded Membership: Category membership is not binary; instead, objects have varying
degrees of membership based on their similarity to prototypes. Some objects may be
more typical members of a category than others. An example of graded membership in
categorization is observed in the classification of "birds."

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• FUZZY BOUNDARIES: CATEGORIES OFTEN HAVE FUZZY BOUNDARIES, MEANING
THERE IS NO CLEAR-CUT DISTINCTION BETWEEN WHAT BELONGS AND WHAT DOES
NOT. OBJECTS NEAR CATEGORY BOUNDARIES MAY BE MORE AMBIGUOUS IN TERMS
OF CATEGORIZATION.

• COGNITIVE ECONOMY: TO CATEGORIZE A STIMULUS MEANS TO CONSIDER IT, FOR

PURPOSES OF THAT CATEGORIZATION, NOT ONLY EQUIVALENT TO OTHER STIMULI
IN THE SAME CATEGORY BUT ALSO DIFFERENT FROM STIMULI NOT IN THAT
CATEGORY. .
• CUE VALIDITY: CUE VALIDITY IS A PROBABILISTIC CONCEPT; THE VALIDITY OF A
GIVEN CUE X AS A PREDICTOR OF A GIVEN CATEGORY Y (THE CONDITIONAL
PROBABILITY OF Y/X) INCREASES AS THE FREQUENCY WITH WHICH CUE X IS
ASSOCIATED WITH CATEGORY Y INCREASES AND DECREASES AS THE FREQUENCY
WITH WHICH CUE X IS ASSOCIATED WITH CATEGORIES OTHER THAN Y INCREASES.
 Concepts and Conceptual Structure

A concept is a mental representation of a category and

refers to a class of objects, ideas, or events that share
common properties. It plays an important role in the
thinking process as concept formation helps in organizing
knowledge so that it can be accessed with less time and
effort.
 Concept Formation
• Concepts initially emerge based on sensory experiences.
• Concepts form through direct sensorial experience, operations with existing concepts,
language communication, and individual learning.
• New concepts often begin as sensory images and are later verbalized, becoming
abstractions or contours, especially in cases of multiple-meaning words.
• Providing examples during the learning of abstractions highlights the figurative nature of
concepts and aids comprehension.
• As concepts become more abstract and gain attributes, they transition from sensory
images to mental representations, but figurativeness and sensuality persist alongside
linguistic nature.
• Language plays a crucial role in concept formation.
• Conceptual thinking often involves articulating thoughts in speech, and concepts can
correlate with multiple lexical units within a lexical and semantic paradigm.
 Structure of Concepts

Components include figurative, value, and notional aspects.

Figurative Component: Comprises sensory characteristics like visual, auditory,
tactile, taste, and smell.
Notional Component: Involves linguistic fixation, designation, description, attribute
structure, and comparative characteristics.
Contains etymological and associative characteristics.
Value Component: Encompasses the importance of the concept on both individual
and collective levels.
Active layer: Attributes known to all in a culture.
Passive layers: Additional attributes important for specific cultural groups.
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 Piaget’s Observation
Piaget’s observations highlight the crucial role of early childhood experiences in
shaping conceptual understanding.

• Infants initially differentiate themselves from their environment before

developing an understanding of the physical world.
• Preschoolers classify objects based on perceptually attractive, concrete
physical features.
• Children in early primary grades often explain external changes in
terms of their own needs or desires.
• By adolescence, individuals can analyze objects apart from immediate
perceptual characteristics, understanding hierarchies within classes.
• Children demonstrate significant concept-forming abilities by age six,
often exhibiting linguistic competence and abstract thinking.
• Some linguists suggest that language shapes how concepts are formed;
lacking words for a concept may hinder its development in thought.
13
 Modus Ponens

Modus Ponens is also known as affirming the

consequent, is a valid argument form in propositional
logic.

EXAMPLE

"If it is raining (P), then the streets are wet (Q)."

If you look outside and see that it is indeed raining (P), then you can conclude
that the streets are wet (Q).

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 Modus Tollens

Modus tollens is a valid form of deductive reasoning that

allows us to infer the falsity of a statement based on the falsity
of its consequent.

EXAMPLE

- If it is raining (P), then the streets are wet (Q).

- The streets are not wet (not Q).

- Therefore, it is not raining (not P).

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 Cognitive Biases
Illusory Correlation is when we think two things are related, but they're not really.
Our brains naturally connect certain events or characteristics, even when there's no real
connection between them.

Overconfidence is when someone thinks too highly of their own abilities,

knowledge, or judgments. They may believe they are more correct or capable than they
actually are.

Hindsight Bias is when we look back at past events and believe we could have easily
predicted what would happen based on what we know now. But in reality, it's often much
harder to foresee these outcomes before they happen. 16
 Heuristics
• Heuristics are mental shortcuts that lighten the cognitive load of
making decisions.

• In order to be able to make a decision within a reasonable time

frame, we need to reduce the available information to a
manageable amount.

• Heuristics are informal strategies that lead towards effective

solution.

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• Types of heuristics

1. Satisficing
2. Process of elimination by aspects
3. Representativeness
4. Availability Heuristic
5. Anchoring
6. Framing

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1.Satisficing

• In this, we consider options one by one, and then we

select an option as soon as we find one that is
satisfactory or just good enough to meet our minimum
level of acceptability.

2.Availability Heuristic
We use the availability heuristic, in which we make
judgments based on how easily we can call to mind what
we perceive as relevant instances of a phenomenon.

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3. Anchoring
A heuristic related to availability is the anchoring-and-
adjustment heuristic, by which people adjust their
evaluations of things by means of certain reference
points called end-anchors.

4. Framing
Another consideration in decision theory is the
influence of framing effects, in which the way that the
options are presented influences the selection of an
option.

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 Fallacies

• Fallacies are common errors in reasoning that will undermine the logic of your
argument.

• Fallacies can be either illegitimate arguments or irrelevant points and are often
identified because they lack evidence that supports their claim. A fallacy is an
illogical step in the formulation of an argument.

• For example, "Blue is a bad color because it is linked to sadness" is an argument

because it makes a claim and offers support for it.
 The Gambler’s Fallacy and the Hot Hand

The Gambler’s Fallacy: The gambler’s fallacy is the mistaken belief that
if something happens more frequently than normal during a given period,
it will happen less frequently in the future.

Hot hand: The hot hand is the belief that a person who has experienced
success with a random event, such as making consecutive basketball
shots, is more likely to continue experiencing success in the immediate
future.
 The Conjunction Fallacy

The Conjunction Fallacy is a cognitive bias where people mistakenly

believe that specific combinations of events are more likely than single
events, even though the probability of the conjunction of events is always
less than the probability of their constituent events. In other words,
people tend to assign higher probabilities to conjunctions of events than
to the individual events that make up the conjunction.
 The Sunk-Cost Fallacy

• The Sunk-Cost Fallacy is where individuals continue to invest

resources (such as time, money, or effort) into a project or decision
because they have already invested so much, even when the additional
investment is unlikely to yield positive returns or change the outcome.
• In other words, people irrationally factor in past investments (which
are sunk costs and cannot be recovered) when making decisions about
future investments.

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 Algorithms
Algorithms are sequences of operations that may be repeated over and
over again and that, in theory, guarantee the solution to a problem.

Algorithms in Cognitive Psychology

Consider a problem-solving task where someone needs to find a solution to a
complex puzzle. The person may use a mental algorithm involving systematic trial-
and-error or breaking down the problem into smaller, more manageable sub-
problems.
They might apply strategies such as working backward from the goal, using analogies
from similar past experiences, or employing heuristics (rule-of-thumb strategies) to
guide their search for a solution.
thank you!
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