Thinking & Decision Making III 2024 PDF

Thinking and Decision Making III Reading: Passer et al. Psychology, The Science of Mind and Behaviour, pp. 343-358 (Chapter under Reading List on Nuku) After this lecture you should be able to: Explain the distinction between hot and cold cognition. Understand the importan...

Thinking and Decision Making III Reading: Passer et al. Psychology, The Science of Mind and Behaviour, pp. 343-358 (Chapter under Reading List on Nuku) After this lecture you should be able to: Explain the distinction between hot and cold cognition. Understand the important role that emotion plays in human thinking and decision making  Kahneman: Fast vs. Slow thinking FAST SLOW heuristics goal-oriented thinking schemas open-ended reflection But there’s another important kind of “thinking” Michael: shrapnel injury, combat damaged frontal lobes still intelligent, could solve complex problems. but poor judgement (financial decisions, impulsive marriages)  Hot Cognition The mental processes involved in making judgements and decisions in situations involving strong emotion Making choices based on preference (e.g., where to go for dinner) Responding appropriate in socially sensitive situations Understanding how other people might be feeling in a situation Hot cognition can facilitate rapid decisions in these situations  Hot Cognition and Decision Making skin conductance Response (SCR): High wins Lower wins VERY high losses small losses HIGH RISK BEST STRATEGY Healthy people learn to avoid high risk decks They show an SCR when they approach these decks People with frontal damage – to orbital region – don’t  Hot Cognition and Decision Making People learn what decks to avoid even when not “aware” of the rule. They learn to associate losses with a “bad feeling” This guides them towards the safer card decks Those who can’t do this perform badly on the task  Damasio’s Somatic Marker Hypothesis This brain region binds memories together with their emotional (and physiological) associations When faced with a decision, we recall emotions from previous similar actions/situations Bad associations deter us from that action, good associations encourage us Damasio says we use these emotional “markers” in many everyday situations  Hot Cognition and Making Choices EVR: “Deciding where to dine might take hours, as he discussed each restaurant’s seating plan, particulars of menu, atmosphere, and management… but even then he could not finally decide which to choose.” (Eslinger & Damasio, 1985, p. 1732). Hot Cognition and Social Inference-Making Patients with frontal damage can fail the Faux Pas task. Mike, a 9-year-old boy, just started at a new school. He was in one of the cubicles in the toilets at school. Joe and Peter, two other boys at school, came in and were standing at the sinks talking. Joe said, “You know that new guy in the class? His name's Mike. Doesn't he look weird? And he's so short!” Mike came out of the cubicle, and Joe and Peter saw him. Peter said, “Oh, hi, Mike! Are you going out to play football now?” Did anyone say anything they shouldn't have said? Who said something they shouldn't have said? Why shouldn't they have said it?  Hot Cognition and Social Inference-Making Patients may also have trouble interpreting subtle social cues: "Emotion, tears, that's all gone out of the window. If I saw someone cry I’d just laugh--people look silly getting upset.” Hornak et al (1996)  Putting it all together Emotions play a key role in judgement and decision-making They: guide our choices shape our decisions facilitate inferences about others’ emotional states ensure we behave appropriately in social situations  “We are not thinking “Because reason...is the machines that feel; we only thing that makes us are feeling machines men...” that think...” Descartes Damasio