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AP Psychology Thinking Flashcards

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5737131808Cognitionthe mental activities associated with thinking, knowing, remembering, and communicating.0
5737131809Concepta mental grouping of similar objects, events, ideas, or people.1
5737131810Prototypea mental image or best example of a category. Matching new items to a prototype provides quick/easy methods for sorting things.2
5737131811Algorithma methodical, logical rule or procedure that guarantees solving a particular problem.3
5737131813Insighta sudden and often novel realization of the solution to a problem; it contrasts with strategy-based solutions. An "aha!" moment4
5737131814Confirmation biasa tendency to search for information that supports our preconceptions and to ignore or distort contradictory evidence.5
5737131815Fixationthe inability to see a problem from a new perspective, inability to employ a different mindset.6
5737131816Mental seta tendency to approach a problem in one particular way, often a way that has been successful in the past.7
5737131817Functional fixednessthe tendency to think of things only in terms of their usual functions; an impediment to problem solving.8
5737131818Representative heuristicjudging the likely-hood of things based on how well they represent, or match, particularly prototypes. More likely to assume someone described as tall and muscular is an athlete than a member of the math team.9
5737131819Availability heuristicestimating the likely-hood of events based on their availability in memory; if instances come readily to mind we presume such events are common. For instance, we might cancel our flight and drive to vacation because of recent news reports of plane crashes. In reality, car crashes are more common, but we don't easily think of them.10
5737131820Overconfidencethe tendency to be more confident than correct; to overestimate the accuracy of our beliefs and judgements11
5737131821Belief perserverenceclinging to one's initial concepts after the basis on which they were formed has been discredited.12
5737131822Intuitionan effortless, immediate, automatic feeling or thought as contrasted with explicit, conscious reasoning.13
5737131823Framingthe way an issue is posed; can significantly affect decisions and judgments. For instance, if chips are marketed as 70% fat free, they sound healthier than if they were marketed as containing 30% fat.14
5737154053Heuristicproblem solving strategy that involves using a rule of thumb or mental short cut such as leaving $2 in tip for every $10 you spend at a restaurant15
5737305114Trial and ErrorProblem solving method that doesn't involve any real strategy or step by step process; just winging it.16
5737314074Divergent ThinkingThinking that is creative, out of the box and results in many possibilities17
5737314075Convergent ThinkingThinking that is limited only to available facts and results in one solution18
5737328367Cognitive ApproachSchool of psychology that emphasizes the importance of thinking and mental processes. Cognitive psychologists examine thinking, memory, and problem solving.19

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