Thinking

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Thinking
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So what is thinking?

• In a general sense, thinking is the intentional
  use of cognitive capabilities for some purpose.
• Recall some kind of information
• Make sense of some incoming stimulus
• Develop a judgment on some person or thing
• Make a decision
• Im thinking.

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What does thinking entail?

• Recall of relevant memories
• Comparison of new information with existing
  knowledge
• Integration of new information into cognitive
  structure
• Schema
• Encoding of new memory structure
• Potentially, action based on new structure

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Judgment and decision-making

• Generally, limited effort is applied to judgments
  and decisions
• Satisficing
• Elimination of alternatives as quickly and simply
  as possible
• Exception Decisions that are highly salient to
  the individual
• Monetary risk
• Physical risk
• Social risk

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Problems

• People exhibit predictable biases in their
  judgments and decision-making
• Risk judgments
• Overestimate the likelihood of risks that are
  sudden, unexpected, socially salient
• Terrorism
• Underestimate risks that are mundane, predictable
  and less newsworthy
• Heart disease
• Auto accidents

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Judgment biases

• Categorization bias
• Categorization of phenomena
• Tendency within category
• Overestimation of the ability to predict from
  category tendencies
• Racial, gender, etc. stereotyping

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Naïve scientist

• One view states that people act as naïve
  scientists
• Informal logic
• Experimentation

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Naïve theorist

• Method of difference
• Distinctiveness
• Consistency over time
• Consistency over modality
• Consensus

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Decision Rules

• Compensatory
• Noncompensatory
• Conjunctive Decision Rule
• Disjunctive Decision Rule
• Lexicographic Rule

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Compensatory Decision Rules
A type of decision rule in which a consumer
evaluates each alternative in terms of each
relevant attribute and then selects the brand
with the highest weighted score.
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Non-compensatory Decision Rules
A type of decision rule by which positive
evaluation of an attribute does not compensate
for a negative evaluation of the same object on
some other attribute.
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Conjunctive Decision Rule
A noncompensatory decision rule in which the
person establishes a minimally acceptable cutoff
point for each attribute evaluated. Objects that
fall below the cutoff point on any one attribute
are eliminated from further consideration.
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Disjunctive Rule
A noncompensatory decision rule in which
consumers establish a minimally acceptable cutoff
point for each relevant attribute.
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Lexicographic Rule
A noncompensatory decision rule the person
first ranks attributes in terms of their
importance, then compares objects in terms of the
attribute considered most important.
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Affect Referral Decision Rule
A simplified decision rule by which a person
makes a choice among alternatives on the basis of
their previously established overall ratings of
the alternatives considered, rather than on
specific attributes.
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Table 16.7 Hypothetical Use of Popular Decision
Rules in Making a Decision to Purchase an
Ultralight Laptop
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Biases

• Availability
• Most accessible thoughts are more likely to be
  used in thinking
• Recent activation
• Integrated into schema
• Used heavily
• Encoded in multiple ways/along with powerful
  emotions, etc.

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Attribution theory

• Attribution theory developed in the 1960s and
  1970s
• Heider, 1958
• Jones, 1960s
• Kelley, 1970s
• The main concerns in attribution theory were how
  people developed informal theories about how the
  world works, and what the nature of those beliefs
  was
• Special case Self-attribution theory
• Bem

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Attribution bias

• Findings tended to indicate that when someone
  observes another doing or saying something, the
  observer tends to attribute it to a relatively
  stable, enduring personality trait
• When asked why they behaved in certain ways,
  people tend to give situational explanationsthey
  did it because the situation called for it

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When observing characters on television, etc. how
do we attribute motives, situational conditions,
etc.?

• Generally speaking, characters are treated as
  real for the sake of attribution. Their
  actions are observable and are assumed to be
  motivated, that the character was aware that his
  actions would have the observed effects, and that
  the effect was actually a result of the behavior.
• Internal motivation of the character, in the
  absence of countervailing information, is assumed.

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Character motivation

• Actions that are considered unusual given the
  portrayed circumstances are assumed to be
  motivated and to reveal internal characteristics
  of the character.
• If the actions observed run counter to social
  norms, the dispositional attribution is even
  stronger.
• Once a dispositional attribution is arrived at,
  further action by the character is interpreted
  from the standpoint of the schema that relates to
  the character. Ambiguous actions are interpreted
  either in a positive manner (positive
  attribution) or negatively (negative attribution)
  based on previous attribution.

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Reality TV

• Character talks to the camera, explaining his
  actions
• Plot twists and what ifs
• Detective stories/murder mysteries
• News coverage of crime, politics, etc.