Psychology 1 Marks Question

When a person tries to generate alternative ideas and trying to view the problem or task from an unusual perspective, there may be a feeling of getting stuck. One may even get disgusted with failure and may leave the problem or the task for some time. This is the stage of incubation.

1. Convergent thinking: It is a process through which many different starting points converge on the same solution to a problem.
2. Divergent thinking: It refers to the creation of many ideas as possible solution from one idea. The characteristic of divergent thinking is the variety of thoughts involved.

Preparation stage requires one to understand the task or problem in hand, analyse the problem, and become aware of the background facts and related information.

Analogy is form of reasoning which involves four parts, A is to B as C is to D with relation between the first two parts being the same as the relation between the last two. Analogies help in identifying and visualizing the salient attributes of an object or event, which would otherwise go unnoticed.
e.g., White is to snow as black is to coal.

• Brainstorming is based on the principle that producing ideas should be kept separate from the evaluation of their worth.
• The basic assumption is to let the minds think freely and the tendency to put judgement on the worth of ideas may be postponed i.e., imagination should be given priority over judgement till all the ideas are exhausted.
• This helps in increasing the fluency of ideas and piling up alternatives.

• A prototype is the best representative member of the category. Eleanor Rosch argues that in considering how people think about concepts, prototypes are often involved in real life.
• Most of the concepts people use in thinking overlap one another and are often poorly defined. When such confusion arises a prototype or model is used to answer the question.
• In prototype matching people decide whether an item is a member of a category by comparing it with the most typical items of the category. e.g. For small stool, study chair or small study table can be used as a prototype to put it under the category of chair or table.

Judgement is a process by which we form opinions, arrive at conclusions, and make critical evaluations about objects, events and people on the basis of available information.
Process of judgement is often automatic and spontaneous and is dependent on our beliefs and attitudes. Judgement can also change on the basis of newly acquired information.
Judgements involve evaluating information while decision require making choices.

• Reasoning is a process that involves inference. It is used in logical thinking and problem solving. It is goal directed and the conclusions are drawn from a set of facts.
• In reasoning information from the environment and the stored information in brain are used following certain rules. Reasoning can be classified into two main types: deductive and inductive.
• Reasoning is the process of gathering and analyzing information to arrive at conclusions.

Decision making is a kind of problem solving in which we have several alternatives and after evaluating the cost and benefit associated with each alternative, we must choose best possible among them.
Judgement and Decision-making are inter-related. Decision-making differs from other types of problem solving as in this we already know the various choices and one has to be selected.
e.g. To choose between any two subjects in class XII. Decision has to be based on one's interest, future prospects, availability of books, efficiency of teachers and interaction and feedback from seniors.