Cognition: How Your Mind Can Amaze and Betray You - Crash Course Psychology

The video explores cognition, highlighting its role in human uniqueness and its potential for both brilliance and error. It discusses how concepts and prototypes shape our thinking and can lead to prejudice. Problem-solving strategies like algorithms, heuristics, and insight are examined, along with cognitive biases such as confirmation bias and the availability heuristic. The video emphasizes the importance of being mindful of these biases to improve decision-making.

What is one of the key roles of cognition in humans?

• To ensure logical thinking at all times

• To perform only mathematical calculations

• To process information like a computer

• To enable knowing, remembering, and understanding

How do concepts help in simplifying our thinking?

• By providing unique names for everything

• By forming mental groupings of similar objects

• By eliminating the need for communication

• By ensuring all thoughts are logical

What is a potential downside of relying on prototypes?

• They always lead to accurate judgments

• They can cause us to overlook unique characteristics

• They simplify communication too much

• They eliminate the need for problem-solving

Which problem-solving strategy involves trying different solutions until one works?

• Insight

• Algorithms

• Heuristics

• Trial and error

What is a characteristic of heuristics in problem-solving?

• They are slow and methodical

• They guarantee a solution

• They are mental shortcuts

• They are always accurate

What is confirmation bias?

• The tendency to change beliefs frequently

• The tendency to favor evidence that supports our beliefs

• The tendency to seek evidence that contradicts our beliefs

• The tendency to avoid making decisions

What is belief perseverance?

• Believing in multiple contradictory ideas

• Avoiding beliefs altogether

• Clinging to initial beliefs despite contradictory evidence

• Changing beliefs in the face of new evidence

What is the availability heuristic?

• Judging events based on their rarity

• Judging events based on logical reasoning

• Judging events based on statistical data

• Judging the likelihood of events based on their vividness

How can framing affect decision-making?

• By presenting information in a neutral way

• By altering the perception of risk through presentation

• By ensuring decisions are always logical

• By eliminating the need for decision-making

What is a common effect of the availability heuristic?

• Underestimating the likelihood of vivid events

• Overestimating the likelihood of vivid events

• Accurately predicting the likelihood of events

• Ignoring vivid events altogether