Overcoming Functional Fixedness Through Categorical Generalization

Unlike linear thinking, non-linear thinking is never tied to a pattern based upon prior experiences; however, non-linear thinking strengthens are experience and expertise the sub consciousness or unconsciousness uses during the thin-slicing process. Non-linear thinking often relates to uncertainty and the ability to have multiple outcomes. The non-linear framework accepts uncertainty and complexity as natural elements. The characteristics of a non-linear system can be describes as interdependent and non-proportional (Gingrich, 1998, pp. 72-73).

Challenges are all around us. Sometimes we face easy challenges and other times we face difficult challenges. In order to solve a problem, regardless of its level of difficulty, one must think critically and creatively in order to develop a satisfactory solution. As we try to solve the problems of our daily lives, it is important to examine any and all ideas. From the most mundane to the most radical, it is a healthy activity to express all ideas and do the filtering later. This paper will attempt to discuss and solve a problem I have some personal experience with. “It is one thing to have thinking skills and quite another to use them in everyday situations”

We categorise all physical objects and motor activities we come across in our everyday life and we make decisions based on those categories. “Without the ability to categorise, we could not function at all, either in the physical world or in our social and intellectual lives. An understanding of how we categorise is central to any understanding of how we think and how we function, and therefore central to an understanding of what makes us human”. (Lakoff 1987: 6) Although traditional Aristotelian view on categories provides answers that differ from the recent research, both classical and cognitive theories see categorisation as crucial to understanding how human beings make sense of experience and how they communicate. Categorization is basic to human thought, perception, action, and speech. It is

If someone walked up to a random person and asked them to name the first tool that came to mind, they would be more likely to say “hammer” than “shingle froe”. The average Joe has a hammer in their house than a shingle froe since hammer is more commonly used. A single froe is a specialized tool that construction workers use to put shingles on the roof of a house. Prototype theory is the phenomenon that causes people’s mind automatically think of a hammer when asked that question. The prototype theory is the belief where everyone has a mindset of one word relating to another. (Prototype Theory, 2015). Another way the prototype is known as a way a person categorizes their mind (What is Prototype Theory?, 2016). An example would be is when a

Functionalism, one of the most influential and widespread theories of mind of our day, proposes a model of human behaviour based on the way certain inputs are processed when the mind is in a given state, to yield certain outputs. This theory concerns itself only what mental states do, rather than the substance with which they are made, or whether they exist at all; this is called ‘multiple realizability’. In other words, the theory is ontologically modest, or flexible, and this enables functionalism to stay compatible with Cartesian dualism or monisms like materialism, an advantage when other theories lose followers due to their ontological preconceptions. The other notable strength functionalism claims is that it avoids some of the pitfalls of its counterpart theory, behaviourism. However each of these apparent strengths has flaws, both in and of themselves and in comparison to other theories of mind. These strengths and their flaws will be assessed in this essay, but allow me first to outline what the functionalist theory of mind proposes.

If the machine is in S2, and sees a “1”, it says Even and returns to S1. The purpose of this case Block provided us is to give us a direct insight to how a functionalist theory works. The nature of a mental state in a human mind is equivalent to the nature of a machines state; therefore, it can demonstrate the relations to other states and to inputs and outputs.

"Eleanor Rosch (1973, 1975, 1977) conducted a series of experiments on how people respond to different members of "natural" categories -- categories of objects found in the real world, such as bird, vegetables, or vehicles" (Mazur, 2013, p.215). These experiments yielded some very interesting information about the way we categorize items and things based on our concept of understanding, which is centered on having a basic idea of what we consider the normal. We then take our idea of normal and associate all like items based on how similar they are or how different they are according to Mazur (2013). For example a child will call all dogs simply by dog however as they age they will begin to call them by their type such as beagle or poodle.

Barsalou (1987: 106) found that contextual factors play a role in determining prototypicality of category members, and concluded that ‘the same concept is rarely if ever constructed for a category’ (1987: 101) in any given context. This theory is corroborated by Roth and Shoben (1983), who found clear differences when comparing instances of categories produced in isolation with instances of categories produced in particular contexts. It should be noted that in the context of this experiment, the condition of asking participants to spontaneously produce instances of vehicles in isolation may not be representative of how participants would categorise vehicles in a different context. Indeed, ‘it is unlikely we actually make everyday judgements

Selective abstraction-one example of this would be a person getting a good grade in a class but mainly focusing on the one assignment that they got a bad grade in and think about that in a negative aspect. I use this sometimes because in my life I always want to do my very best when it comes to school, when get a bad grade I sometimes do dwell on that for a while. Negative predication, one example of this would be if a person thinks that they are not going to get an apartment that they signed up for even though they have a perfect record when it comes to paying rent on time. Overgeneralization- one example for this would be if an individual had a bad day at work, he might conclude that he is a bad coworker. Looking through the many cognitive

The ideal categories tend to be the focus of this hypothesis since the root metaphor is the organic system but the progressive categories are need in order to connect the integrated system with the phenomena it is trying to predict. On the other hand one cannot get rid of the primary categories because that removes the seeking of order within an event and leaves the hypothesis identical to contextualism. Thus this hypothesis can be applied to events but only those with components that that can be integrated into a coherent system leaving it with less scope than a hypothesis like

Since being discovered, gestalt psychology created vital contributions to the psychology of thinking and problem solving influenced by thinkers, including, Immanuel Kant, Ernst Mach and Johann Wolfgang von Goethe. This paper will reflect on the main influences on Gestalt psychology, their contributions, and the principles of perceptual organization.

In the development of an individual’s cognitive abilities, most individuals will start with concrete thinking. As the individual age, they will develop different levels for abstract thinking.

One of the strengths of the schema theory is that it has been proven very helpful in the explanation of how cognitive operations function (e.g. reasoning, perception and reasoning). Schemata help interpret situations and comprehend social issues such as bias and the creation of stereotypes. It has also contributed to the understanding of reconstructive memory and memory distortion. This theory is testable and a wide range of studies provide evidence for it such as the Bartlett (1932) “The War of Ghosts” and Brewer and Treyens (1981) Experiment on memory of objects in a room. There is also biological research to support the idea that our brain processes information through categorization. The Caramazza (2009) study demonstrated that our brains automatically classify information about living and nonliving objects, in the same way that schema theory suggests. Schema Theory can also be applied to several fields of psychology such as abnormal psychology (Beck's Cognitive Theory of Depression), health psychology (health campaigns) and human relationships (violence and bullying). Schema theory is applied cross-culturally although most of the research has been conducted in the West. One of the limitations of the schema theory is that it is still unclear how schemas are constructed and where they originate from, although many psychologists argue they stem from cultural frameworks (traditions, values, myths and customs). Also, it is difficult to explain how these mental representations influence mental processes, because it is impossible to observe how schema processing occurs in the brain. Another limitation is that schema theory mainly focuses on the errors in recalling memory when in reality people usually remember correctly. Overall, with the amount of strengths and limitations of schema theory, the strengths conclusively outweigh

Every day individuals are faced with many different problems for example deciding what to wear, finding a suitable place to park your car or even completing an assignment. Whatever the problem is, ‘problem solving is defined as any goal-directed sequence of cognitive operations’, as suggested by Anderson (1980, p.257).

People learn new information through the induction of categories, allowing for the recognition that different stimuli are the same in a given way. Inductive learning involves recognition and understanding of the similarities and differences among and between stimuli. To learn a new category of information, exemplars belonging to a given category are conceptualized and grouped as belonging to that category. Such learning is fundamental in human cognition, enabling persons to categorize novel exemplars as instances of a given category or concept (Birnbaum, 2013). In a typical study conducted on the topic of inductive learning or category learning, students are presented with a set of exemplars belonging to a particular category and are subsequently asked to identify and induce a general concept pertaining to the given set of observed exemplars (Zulkiply, McLean, Burt, & Bath, 2012). Such exemplars may include nonsense syllables, words, sentences, pictures and faces (Ebbinghaus, 1985/1913; Glenberg & Lehmann, 1980; Rothkopf & Coke, 1966; Hintzman & Rogers, 1973; Cornell, 1980). Research on inductive learning shows that participants learn category similarities and category differences from the way in which study stimuli are presented to those participants.