Understanding Psychology (10th Ed)

K E Y T E R M S
cognitive psychology p. 242
thinking p. 243
mental images p. 244
concepts p. 245
prototypes p. 245
syllogistic reasoning p. 247
algorithm p. 248
heuristic p. 248
1. 
mental images;
2.
concepts;
3.
pr
ototype; 4.
heuristic
250 Chapter 
8 
Cognition and Language
R E C A P / E V A L U A T E / R E T H I N K
R E C A P 
What is thinking?
• Cognitive psychology encompasses the higher mental 
processes, including the way people know and under-
stand the world, process information, make decisions 
and judgments, and describe their knowledge and un-
derstanding to others. (p. 242)
• Thinking is the manipulation of mental representations 
of information. Thinking transforms such representa-
tions into novel and different forms, permitting people 
to answer questions, solve problems, and reach goals. 
(p. 243)
• Mental images are representations in the mind of an ob-
ject or event. (p. 244)
• Concepts are categorizations of objects, events, or people 
that share common properties. (p. 245)
• Prototypes are representative examples of concepts. 
(p. 245)
What processes underlie reasoning and decision making?
• In syllogistic reasoning, people derive implications from 
a set of assumptions that they know to be true. (p. 247)
• Decisions sometimes (but not always) may be improved 
through the use of algorithms and heuristics. An algo-
rithm is a rule that, if applied appropriately, guarantees a 
solution; a heuristic is a cognitive shortcut that may lead 
to a solution but is not guaranteed to do so. (p. 248)
E VA LU AT E
1.
are representations in the mind of 
an object or event.