Psychology

Chapter 11. Thinking and Problem Textbook Solutions

NIOS Class 12 Psychology Chapter 11 Answers

INTEXT QUESTIONS 11.1

Fill in the Blanks:

1. _____ thinking is highly private and may use symbols having personal meaning.

Ans: Autistic

2. Sentences that relate one concept to another are called __________.

Ans: Propositions

3. ________ concept does not have specified set of defining features.

Ans: Natural

INTEXT QUESTIONS 11.2

1. Match the following.

i. Algorithm	a. based on specific facts and observation
ii. Heuristic	b. solving a problem in one particular way
iii. Inductive Reasoning	c. general rule of thumb
iv Mental Set	d. precise sequences of procedure that automatically generate a solution if followed in a particular manner

Ans:

i. d

ii. c

iii. a

iv. b

INTEXT QUESTIONS 11.3

State which of the following statements are ‘true’ and which are ‘false’?

1. Representativeness and Availability are types of Heuristics.

Ans: True

2. Cultural and social issues do not affect the decision-making ability of a person.

Ans: False

3. Anchoring and Adjustment are one of the stages of decision-making.

Ans: False

INTEXT QUESTIONS 11.4

1. Barriers to creative thinking:

(a) Perceptual

(b) Cultural

(d) All of the Above

Ans: d

2. The first stage of creative thinking is:

(a) Incubation

(b) Preparation

(d) None of the Above

Ans: b

TERMINAL QUESTIONS

1. Discuss the nature of Thinking.

Ans: Our life revolves around understanding things, people, and situations. Most of humans ‘ waking hours, even sleeping and dreaming, involve thinking. Human Thinking involves processing, organizing, and managing information. It involves all those processes that fall between the reception of a stimulus to production of a response. Hence, it requires cognitive rearrangement or manipulation of information from the surroundings or environment along with the information stored in memory, including symbols, concepts, and images. Thus, starting from collecting, comparing, and organizing all the information until you reach a final decision is called thinking.

2. What do you understand by concept? Discuss propositions.

Ans: Concepts are important language symbols used in thinking. A concept is the symbolic

construction that represents some common and general features of different objects and events. E.g.: Concept of age, color, love, mother, etc. The main aim of concept formation is the classification of objects into categories.

Propositions are statements that either state one concept or a relationship between concepts. Clusters of propositions are represented as Mental Modals.

3. Highlight different stages of problem solving. Discuss barriers in effective problem solving.

Ans: The problem-solving process moves through various stages to attain the desired goals:

Framing and understanding of problems- Recognizing that a particular problem exists and then figuring out what issues need to be solved.
Generation of hypotheses or possible solutions- A hypothesis is a tentative answer to a problem. This process needs higher-order thinking, collecting information, matching existing information, and then coming up with potential solutions.
Testing the hypothesis- Now comes the evaluation of each alternative or possible solution. The cost associated with each solution is graded, and then the best possible one is used.
Evaluation of results and revision of earlier steps wherever needed- Once the solution is applied, it becomes important to evaluate the results, and if the desired results are not achieved, then revision to the earlier steps is to be done.

Barriers to Problem Solving

Mental set- When you solve a problem in a particular way, it becomes a set. These are already tried mental operations or steps. This could lead to success in some situations, but could also create a kind of mental rigidity that acts as a hindrance to thinking in new ways, rules, and strategies for problem-solving.
Functional fixedness- It means seeing the functions of a particular object or thing only as it has been used before. Here, fixation occurs as we are fixed on a thing’s usual function. It is our strong tendency to think of using objects only in ways they have been used before.

4. What are the different kinds of reasoning?

Ans: reasoning. Reasoning is the cognitive activity in which we transform information to reach specific conclusions.

Deductive- It begins with an assumption. Here, we start with a general assumption that we know or believe and move down to drawing specific conclusions. It is reasoning from general to specific. E.g: You know that women generally cry when they fight with their husbands, hence, you assume that this woman is also crying because of this reason, whereas this may or may not be true.
Inductive- This kind of reasoning is based on specific facts and observation. Here, we draw general conclusions based on particular observations. E.g.: Concluding that all females cry after fighting from seeing just one or two incidents. Here we compare and predict.

5. Discuss types of heuristics with examples.

Ans:

1. Availability- It is the tendency to make judgments about the frequency or likelihood of events in terms of how readily examples of them can be brought to mind.
2. Representativeness- This type of Heuristic suggests that the more closely an event or object resembles typical examples of some concept or situation, the more likely it is to belong to that concept, situation, or category. Here, it is seen whether the current situation is a representation that has already been experienced.
3. Anchoring and Adjustment- Here, we start with a certain subjective probability and raise or lower it depending on the circumstances. When we make these adjustments, the outcome depends upon the starting point. If we start with a high estimate, even if we adjust it downward, our probability estimate will be higher than if we started with a low estimate. It is as if’ the initial level provided an ‘Anchor’ that biased our estimate, and therefore, this biasing effect is called anchoring.
4. Attribute Substitution- Another name for this heuristic is Substitution Bias. Here, a person solves a problem by placing incorrect substitution. They unconsciously substitute a hard problem for an easy one. Whatever is available to the mind is chosen rather than what is needed.

6. What do you understand by creative thinking? Highlight different characteristics of creative thinker.

Ans: Creative thinking involves a considerable amount of unconscious rearrangement of symbols. It involves the production of new and original ideas, solutions, or objects.

Characteristics of Creative Thinkers

Preference to complex tasks – Such people like a higher degree of complexity and imbalance in their tasks.
Independence in judgments – Self-dependency is important to them; hence, they make judgments independently without being influenced by others.
Higher awareness and sensitivity – Creative thinkers are vigilant about their surroundings and people. They always strive to know more.
Notice contradictions and incompleteness – They analyze situations in both a holistic manner and by breaking it into parts. That is why it becomes easy for them to pinpoint incompleteness.
Pondering over mysteries of situations and objects – Finding new ways and trying to solve the mystery around is important to them.
Developing the art of asking questions- Questioning others and oneself is the skill these people rely on.
Generating diverse ideas and solutions – Divergent thinking is a forte for creative thinkers.
Brainstorming – These people try to find as many solutions as possible to a problem.
Getting feedback on the solutions – Once applied, they follow up on the consequences of the solution and take feedback so that better performance can be achieved in the future.
Resistance to the temptation of immediate reward and success, coping with frustration and failure- Creative thinkers are masters in the delay of gratification, they wait for the right time and enjoy success then.
Visualizing causes and consequences and predicting things – They not only understand the start and end of a problem and solution, but also try to know the mediating factors too.
Awareness of one’s own defenses- Self-Introspection is what they depend on. Knowing one’s weaknesses and strengths leads them towards better solutions.
Self-positivity and confidence – Positive self-talk is an important characteristic of creative thinkers.
Self- assertiveness and dominance – Being assertive about their decisions and judgments is visible in their personality.
Rejection of suppression – Suppression of thought people, and situations is not acceptable to creative thinkers.

7. Explain Linguistic Relativity Hypothesis.

Ans: Benjamin Lee Whorf was of the view that language determines the contents of thought. This view is known asthe Linguistic Relativity Hypothesis. In its stronger version, this hypothesis states that what and how individuals think is only determined by the linguistic categories they use. This is known as Linguistic Determinism. This view does have certain experimental evidence showing that some thoughts may be easier in one language compared to other but there is other evidence portraying the same level or quality of thoughts in all languages.

8. Examine relation between language and thought.

Ans: Thinking is not only based on concepts and images; our words and language are also essential in our thinking process. Language is one’s ability to use a diverse set of symbols and rules for combining them to communicate information. Our thinking process depends on how we

describe it in our language. Swiss psychologist Jean Piaget believed that thought not only determines language but also precedes it. It could be concluded that language and thought are interdependent; depending on the situation and circumstances, one leads another.

9. Discuss the stages of development of language.

Ans: Development of human language is complex, spontaneous, and creative. Acquisition of language in children generally follows a predictable pattern, which moves from crying to cooing, then babbling, Echolalia (strings of sounds combined into repetitive patterns), one word, Holophrases (one or more words which combine to form whole sentences or phrases), then telegraphic speech, and then at last language with correct rules and impact.

10. Describe the process of creative thinking.

Ans: Different stages come before creative thinking. It begins with

Preparation: The thinker formulates the problem and collects the facts and materials considered necessary for the new solution.
Incubation: During this period, some of the ideas that were interfering with the solution tend to fade. The unconscious thought processes involved in creative thinking are also at work during this period.
Illumination: Here comes the ‘Aha’ effect. In this, an idea for the solution suddenly wells up into consciousness. The person has a feeling of excitement and satisfaction.
Evaluation: The apparent solution is tested to see if it is unsatisfactory, and if it is, then the thinker is back at the beginning of the creative process. The solutions are tested and judged.
Revision: Frequently, the insight turns out to be unsatisfactory, and the thinker is back at the beginning of the creative process. In other cases, the insight is generally satisfactory but needs some modification or the solution of minor problems to be a “good” new idea.