Module 4

THINKING
 REASONING
Reasoning: Drawing conclusions or inferences from observations, facts, or
assumptions

Formal Reasoning is measured by means of IQ test; College Entrance Exam

Deductive Reasoning: A form of reasoning in which conclusions follow

certain premises; if the premises are true, conclusion must be true.

• A conclusion is arrived at by reasoning from a general principle to a

specific conclusion
Inductive Reasoning: A from of reasoning wherein the premises provide support for
conclusion but it is possible for the conclusion to be false.

A conclusion is arrived at by reasoning from many specific observations to a general

principle.

For Example
• I’ve eaten at Cafe Tato several time; they have good food
• Food is likely to be good but could have been just what you ordered
• Science depends on inductive reasoning
What is This?
 Elements of Cognition
1. Concepts
• Concept: Ideas that represent a class or category of objects, events, or activities.
• Dog = golden retriever, collie, St. Bernard, Pomeranian
• Emotion = happy, sad, fear, excitement
You know what they are even if you don't have hand experience with them

• Basic concepts have a moderate number of instances and that are easier to acquire
than those having few or many instances.
• Apple more basic than fruit, less specific than Macintosh apple
• Screwdriver is easy to understand than tools

• Prototype–an especially representative example of a concept

• To decide if item belongs to a concept we compare it to a prototype
• When somebody asks about toys, we name doll/truck rather than sandbox
Barriers to Reasoning Rationally
 1. Exaggerating the Improbable
Availability Heuristic:
• It is a tendency to judge the probability of an event by how easy it is to
think of examples
• People think natural disasters or accidents happen more often because
they are easier to think of as examples or instances
Affect heuristic :
• It is the tendency to consult one’s emotions instead of estimating
probabilities of objective facts
2. Avoiding Loss
People will look at a gain more than a loss and that’s why are more likely to
take risks.
Example: when looking at lottery tickets, people will look at the ticket
having a 10% chance of winning instead of a 90% chance of losing
 3. Biases Due to Mental States

Mental State: It is a tendency to try to solve new problems by using the same

heuristics, strategies, & rules that worked in the past on similar problems

people try to follow patterns even though they could be wrong.

For Example:

• People with arthritis may say the symptoms occur when the weather gets

bad, but when doctors followed these patients it was discovered that it was

not true.

• The patients chose not to believe the doctor, because of their mental state.
 4. The Hindsight Bias
• It is the tendency to overestimate one‘s ability to have predicted an event
• Once the outcome is known people are unwilling to learn because they think
they know
• Example: I “knew it all along” phenomenon

5. The Confirmation Bias

• It is paying attention only to the evidence that confirms their belief & finding
fault with evidence or arguments that point in a different direction
• Here people apply double standard, think most critically about results they
dislike
• For Example: When a cop thinks a person is guilty, they will take anything
the person says as evidence confirming the person's guilt
 6. The Need for Cognitive Consistency

Cognitive Dissonance: It is a state of tension that occurs when a person simultaneously

hold two cognitions that are psychologically inconsistent, or when a person's belief is
incongruent with his or her behavior

Causes of Dissonance
• Post Decision Dissonance: Tension that occurs when you believe you may have
made a bad Decision
• Justify Behaviour: that conflicts with your view of self. E.g. ‘Everyone does it’
• Justification of Effort: Tendency of individuals to increase their liking for something
that they have worked hard or suffered to attain.
Creativity
• Creativity is a particular kind of thinking which involves reaching out to the

solution of a problem in a unique and novel way which was nonexistent

earlier.

• Creativity is the mother of all inventions and discoveries in the world.

• Unlike routine solutions to the problems, creative solutions are novel,

original, and unique, that others have not thought of before.

• The creative solutions or productions are sudden or spontaneous and are

the outcome of a lot of work and preparation already done consciously

and unconsciously.

• The sudden appearance of new ideas is called insight.

• The creative thinker can be any more such as an artist, musician, writer,

scientist or sports person

 Stages of Creative Thinking
• Graham Wallas , one of the leading psychologists of early twentieth century stated that there

are five stages of creative thinking.

• These are Preparation, incubation, illumination, evaluation, and revision.

1. Preparation:

• This is the first stage in which the thinker formulates the problem and collects facts and

materials necessary for the solution.

• He/she finds that the problem cannot be solved after days, weeks, or months of concentrated

effort.

• Unable to solve the problem the thinker deliberately or involuntarily turns away from the

problem, initiating stage two i.e. incubation.

• At this stage of problem solving, it is important to overcome negative consequences of

mental set and any kind of mental set or bias.

2. Incubation

• This is a stage of no solution and involves a number of emotional

and cognitive complexities.

• However, the negative effects of mental set, functional fixedness,

and other ideas that interfere with the solution tend to fade.

• Perhaps, fatigue and too much of concern with the problem also

mount up during this period.

• Further, the unconscious thought processes involved in creative

thinking are at work during this stage.

2. Illumination

• In this stage a potential solution to the problem seems to be realized as if

from nowhere. It is about having the insight about the possible solution.

• Illumination occurs with its “aha” experience when a sudden idea or

solution appears into consciousness.

3. Evaluation

• In this stage the obtained solution is verified or tested to see if it works.

• Frequently, the insight may turn out to be unsatisfactory, and may need

some modification in the strategy of approaching the problem.

5. Revision

• Revision is required in the case a solution which is not satisfactory

 Conclusion

• It has been found that creative people are generally

talented (e.g. artists, musicians, mathematicians etc.) and
have specific abilities.

• Creative people have been found to have some specific

personality characteristics such as they are independent in
their judgments, self-assertive, dominant, impulsive, prefer
complexity, etc.