Cognitive Processes

Cognition refers to mentally processing information. Our thoughts take many forms,
including problem solving, reasoning, and even daydreaming etc. Although thinking is not
limited to humans, the other animals are not much developed as like humans.

Basic Units of Thought

At its most basic, thinking is an internal representation (mental expression) of a

problem or situation. Imagine planning what to study for an exam, what to say at a job
interview are examples for thinking. Better yet, in each of these cases imagine what might
happen if you didn’t, or couldn’t, plan at all.

The basic units of thoughts are images, concepts, and language (or symbols). Images are
picture-like mental representations. Concepts are ideas that represent categories of
objects or events. Language consists of words or symbols, and rules for combining them.
Thinking also involves attention, pattern recognition, memory, decision making, intuition,
knowledge, and more.

Mental Imagery

Almost everyone has visual and auditory images. More than half of us have imagery for
movement, touch, taste, smell, and pain. Thus, mental images are sometimes more than just
“pictures.” For example, your image of a bakery may also include its delicious odor. We may
use mental images to:

• Make a decision or solve a problem (choosing what clothes to wear; figuring out how to
arrange furniture in a room).

• Change feelings (thinking of pleasant images to get out of a bad mood).

• Improve a skill or prepare for some action (using images to improve a tennis stroke;
mentally rehearsing how you will ask for a raise).

• Aid memory (picturing Mr. Cook wearing a chef ’s hat so you can remember his name).

The Nature of Mental Images Mental images are like photographs. Seeing something in
your “mind’s eye” is similar to seeing real objects. Information from the eyes normally
activates the brain’s primary visual area, creating an image. Other brain areas then help us
recognize the image by relating it to stored knowledge. When you form a mental image, the
system will works in reverse. Brain areas in which memories are stored send signals back
to the visual cortex, where once again, an image is created.

Concepts
A concept is an idea that represents a category of objects or events. Concepts help us
identify important features of the world. That’s why experts in various areas of knowledge
are good at classifying objects. If you are knowledgeable about a topic, such as horses,
flowers, or football, you literally see things differently than less well-informed people do.

Forming Concepts: Concept formation is the process of classifying information into

meaningful categories. At its most basic, concept formation is based on experience with
positive and negative instances (examples that belong, or do not belong, to the concept
class). Concept formation is not as simple as it might seem. Imagine a child learning the
concept of dog. Dog Daze A child and her father go for a walk. At a neighbor’s house, they
see a medium-sized dog. The father says, “See the dog.” As they pass the next yard, the child
sees a cat and says, “Dog!” Her father corrects her, “No, that’s a cat.” The child now thinks,
“Aha, dogs are large and cats are small.” However, with more positive and negative
instances, the child will eventually recognize everything as members of the same
category—dogs.

As adults, we often acquire concepts by learning or forming rules. A conceptual rule is a

guideline for deciding whether objects or events belong to a concept class. For example, a
triangle must be a closed shape with three sides made of straight lines. Rules are an
efficient way to learn concepts, but examples remain important.

Types of Concepts: different kinds of concepts are conjunctive concepts, or “and

concepts,” are defined by the presence of two or more features. In other words, an item
must have “this feature and this feature and this feature.” For example, a motorcycle
must have two wheels and an engine and handlebars.

Relational concepts are based on how an object relates to something else, or how its
features relate to one another. All of the following are relational concepts: larger, above,
left, north, and upside down. Another example is brother, which is defined as “a male
considered in his relation to another person having the same parents.”

Disjunctive concepts have at least one of several possible features. These are
“either/or” concepts. To belong to the category, an item must have “this feature or that
feature or another feature.” For example, in baseball, a strike is either a swing and a miss or
a pitch over the plate or a foul ball. The either/or quality of disjunctive concepts makes
them harder to learn.

Prototypes: When you think of the concept bird, except listing out the features the birds,
we use prototypes, or ideal models, to identify concepts. Prototypes are especially helpful
when we try to categorize complex stimuli.
Faulty Concepts: Using inaccurate concepts often leads to thinking errors. For example,
social stereotypes are oversimplified concepts of groups of people. Stereotypes about men,
women, or other groups often direct thinking about members of the group. A related
problem is one-dimensional thinking. In this case, we classify things as absolutely right or
wrong, good or bad, fair or unfair, honest or dishonest etc.

Language

It helps to express an idea that exists as a vague image or feeling. Nevertheless, most
thinking relies heavily on language, because words encode (translate) the world into
symbols that are easy to manipulate. Likewise, the words we use can greatly affect our
thinking. Language also plays a major role in defining ethnic communities and other social
groups. Thus, language can be a bridge or a barrier between cultures.

Structure of Language:

• Semantics: The study of meaning in words and language is known as semantics.

Words get much of their meaning from its context.
• Phonemes: The basic speech sounds are known as phonemes. A language must
provide symbols that can stand for objects and ideas. The symbols we call words are
built out of phonemes.
• Morphemes: The meaningful units of speech sounds, such as syllables or words are
known as morphemes.
• Grammar: A language must have a grammar, or set of rules for making sounds into
words and words into sentences.
• Syntax: One part of grammar, known as syntax, concerns rules for word order.
Syntax is important because rearranging words almost always changes the meaning
of a sentence: “Dog bites man” versus “Man bites dog.”
• Pragmatics: the practical aspects of language usage, including speech pace,
gesturing, and body language.

Reasoning
It is the process of drawing conclusions from available information. More formally, in
reasoning we make cognitive transformations of appropriate information in order to reach
specific conclusions. These are two types, deductive reasoning and inductive reasoning.

Deductive reasoning is a form of thinking in which one draws a conclusion that is

intended to follow logically from two or more statements or premises. For eg, if A=B, B=C,
then A=C. It moves from generalized principles that are known to be true to a true and
specific conclusion. And inductive reasoning is a form of reasoning that uses available
evidence to generate likely, but not certain, conclusions. It moves from specific instances to
a generalized conclusion.

Problem Solving

It is the efforts to develop or choose among various responses in order to attain desired
goals. It is a mental process that involves discovering, analyzing and solving problems. The
ultimate goal of problem solving is to overcome obstacles and find a solution that best
resolves the issue. The problem and the all other related aspects are togetherly known as
problem space. Solutions do not arise out of a cognitive vacuum; they require thinking
critically about a problem, and they depend heavily on the information stored in long-term
memory that can be retrieved. The more information available, the greater the number and
the wider the scope of potential solutions we can generate. Formulating a wide range of
possible solutions is an extremely important.

Types of problems: there are mainly two types of problems, ill-defined problems and
well-defined problems. Ill- defined problems are the problem usually having multiple
possible solutions. And the information regarding the problems or problem space is not
clearly defined or understood. Whereas, the well defined problems are the ones having
clear cut solutions, and can be solved by an algorithm.

Steps: the following steps include developing strategies and organizing knowledge.

1. Identifying the problem: figure out just what issues, obstacles, and goals are
involved. It is not always as simple as it sounds. In some cases, people might
mistakenly identify the wrong source of a problem.
2. Defining the problem: after the problem has been identified, it is important to fully
define the problem so that it can be solved.
3. Forming a strategy: the next step is to develop a strategy to solve the problem.
The approach will depend upon the situation and the individual’s unique
preferences.
4. Organizing information: before coming up with a solution, we need to first
organize the available information.
5. Allocating resources: allocate the available and possible resources on the basis of
priorities. The most important and urgent problems to be solved first.
6. Monitoring and evaluation: monitor the progress and evaluate the results to
determine if it is the best possible solution to the problem.
 Monitor
Form
Identify Define Organize Allocate and
strategy
evaluate

Methods:

• Trial and Error: A method of solving problems in which possible solutions are tried
until one succeeds. Trial and error involves trying different responses until,
perhaps, one works. Sometimes this is all you can do: You don’t have enough
information to adopt a more systematic approach. But such an approach is not very
efficient, and it offers no guarantee that you’ll find a useful solution.
• Algorithm: A rule that guarantees a solution to a specific type of problem. For
example, finding solution for mathematical problem. It involves step by step
processes to reach the solution.
• Heuristics: these are mental rule of thumb we often use to guide our cognition.
With respect to problem solving, heuristics involve strategies suggested by prior
experience—ones we have found useful in the past. These may or may not work in
the present case, so a solution is not guaranteed. They often provide useful
shortcuts.
• Means–Ends Analysis: A technique for solving problems in which the overall
problem is divided into parts and efforts are made to solve each part in turn. Each of
these is then solved, and the distance between our original state and the goal is
reduced in a step-by-step fashion.
• Analogy: A strategy for solving problems based on applying solutions that were
previously successful with other problems similar in underlying structure.

Barriers to effective Problem Solving: Sometimes, despite our best efforts, we are
unable to solve problems. In many cases our failure stems from obvious causes, such as
lack of necessary information or experience. We may also lack internal frameworks that
allow us to represent the problem situation fully and effectively. In other cases, though,
difficulties in solving problems seem to stem from more subtle factors. Let’s consider
some of these now.

• Functional Fixedness: The tendency to think of using objects only as they have
been used in the past.
• Mental Set: The impact of past experience on present problem solving;
specifically, the tendency to retain methods that were successful in the past even
if better alternatives now exist.
 • Confirmation bias: a tendency in solving problems to look for information that
meets our expectations. If you have heard that all of the professors in the
department in which you are thinking of taking a class are good teachers, you
may only seek out opinions from students who completed the class taught by the
professor whose class you are thinking of taking, rather than undertaking the
more difficult task of finding people who have dropped the course.
• Emotional barriers: inhibition and fear of making a fool of oneself, fear of
making a mistake, inability to tolerate ambiguity, excessive self-criticism
• Cultural barriers: values that hold that fantasy is a waste of time; that
playfulness is for children only; that reason, logic, and numbers are good; that
feelings, intuitions, pleasure, and humor are bad or have no value in the serious
business of problem solving
• Perceptual barriers: habits leading to a failure to identify important elements
of a problem

Creative thinking
It is a process in which the individual generates original, unusual and productive solutions
to a problem. The thinking involved here may be inductive (going from specific facts or
observations to general principles) or deductive (going from general principles to specific
situations). Thinking may also be logical (proceeding from given information to new
conclusions on the basis of explicit rules) or illogical (intuitive, associative, or personal).
Creative thinking involves all these thinking styles, plus fluency, flexibility, and originality.

Fluency is defined as the total number of suggestions you are able to make. Flexibility is
the number of times you shift from one class of possible uses to another. Originality refers
to how novel or unusual your ideas are. By counting the number of times you showed
fluency, flexibility, and originality, we could rate your creativity, or capacity for divergent
thinking.

In routine problem solving or thinking, there is one correct answer, and the problem is to
find it. This leads to convergent thinking (lines of thought converge on the answer).
Divergent thinking is the reverse, in which many possibilities are developed from one
starting point. It is worth noting that divergent thinking is also a characteristic of
daydreams (vivid waking fantasies). For most people, fantasy and daydreaming are
associated with greater mental flexibility or creativity.

Regardless, no matter when or how it occurs, creative thinking produces new answers,
ideas, or patterns rather than repeating learned solutions. Problem finding is another
characteristic of creative thinking. Many of the problems we solve are “presented” to us—
by employers, teachers, circumstances, or life in general. Problem finding involves actively
seeking problems to solve. When you are thinking creatively, a spirit of discovery
prevails: You are more likely to find unsolved problems and choose to tackle them. Thus,
problem finding may be a more creative act than the convergent problem solving that
typically follows it.

Stages of Creative Thought: Typically, five stages occur during creative problem solving:

1. Orientation. As a first step, the person defines the problem and identifies its most
important dimensions.

2. Preparation. In the second stage, creative thinkers saturate themselves with as much
information about the problem as possible.

3. Incubation. Most major problems produce a period during which all attempted solutions
will be futile. At this point, problem solving may proceed on a subconscious level: Although
the problem seems to have been set aside, it is still “cooking” in the background.

4. Illumination. The stage of incubation is often ended by a rapid insight or series of

insights. These produce the “Aha!” experience, often depicted in cartoons as a light bulb
appearing over the thinker’s head.

5. Verification. The final step is to test and critically evaluate the solution obtained during
the stage of illumination. If the solution proves faulty, the thinker reverts to the stage of
incubation.

Decision Making
It is the process of choosing among various courses of action or alternatives. From the
moment you wake up until you turn out the light at night, life presents a continuous series
of choices. What to wear, what to eat for breakfast, whether to attend a class or meeting,
whether to speed up so you can get through that yellow traffic light—the list of everyday
decisions is endless. And at intervals we face much more important decisions: what school
to attend, what job to accept, what house to buy, whether to continue or end a long-term
relationship. Let’s consider several factors that influence the decision-making process,
making it less rational or effective than might otherwise be the case.

Heuristics: Mental rules of thumb that permit us to make decisions and judgments in a
rapid and efficient manner. Since making decisions is hard work, it is only reasonable to
expect people to take shortcuts in performing this activity. It will reduce the effort
required, though they may not necessarily enhance the quality or accuracy of the decisions
reached. Heuristics are extracted from past experience and serve as simple guidelines for
making reasonably good choices quickly and efficiently. There are 3 types of heuristics.
They are:
1. Availability Heuristic: A cognitive rule of thumb in which the importance or
probability of various events is judged on the basis of how readily they come to
mind. This shortcut tends to work fairly well, because the more readily we can bring
events to mind, the more frequent they generally are; but it can lead us into error as
well.
2. Representativeness Heuristic: A mental rule of thumb suggesting that the more
closely an event or object resembles typical examples of some concept or category,
the more likely it is to belong to that concept or category. . In other words, you
would be making your decision on the basis of a relatively simple rule: The more
closely an item— or event, object, or person—resembles the most typical examples
of some concept or category, the more likely it is to belong to that concept or
category. Although making judgments or decisions on the basis of
representativeness saves cognitive effort, it can also be a source of serious errors. In
particular, use of this heuristic sometimes causes us to ignore forms of information
that could potentially prove very helpful.
3. Anchoring-and-Adjustment Heuristic: A cognitive rule of thumb for decision
making in which existing information is accepted as a reference point but then
adjusted in light of various factors. For eg, bargaining in car sale. The starting value
will be higher than the selling value. The basic problem with the anchoring-and-
adjustment heuristic is that the adjustments are often insufficient in magnitude to
offset the impact of the original reference point. The influence of heuristics appears
to be quite strong and occurs unintentionally and unconsciously.