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Exam of 214 pages for the course Basic Psychology at University of South Africa (pyc1501)
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PYC1501EXAM
PACK
2023
Latest exam pack questions and answers and summarized
notes for exam preparation. Updated for Oct Nov 2023
exams. For assistance contact; biwottcornelius@gmail.com
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PYC1501BASIC
PSYCHOLOGY
Cognition:Problemsolving(P1)
Problemsolvingisoftenregardedasoneofthehighestformsofthinking.Theyaretwo
phasestosuccessfulproblem-solving.Firstyouneedtodiscoverthegeneralpropertiesof
thecorrectsolution.Thisgeneralsolutionisanherbalideaofwhatisrequiredtosolvethe
problembutwithoutspecificdetail.Onceyouhaveageneralsolution,youcanworkonthe
functionalsolutionwithsufficientdetailtoguidefurtheractiontosolvetheproblem.
Stepsintheprocessofproblemsolving
1.Identifytheproblemanddefineitclearly
Problem-solvingstartswiththerecognitionthatthereisaproblemandthisisfollowedby
definitionoftheproblem.Thewayyourecognizeanddefineaprobleminfluencestheway
yougoaboutsolvingit.
2.Explorevariousstrategies
Strategiesforsolvingtheproblem:
Trialanderrorapproach
Thetrialanderrorapproachtosolvingaproblemiscalledthemechanicalapproach,
becauseitinvolvesapplyingasetofrulesordiscoverybyroute.Trialanderrorthinking
involvestryingallpossibilitiesmoreorlessrandomly.
Heuristicstrategies
Anunderstandingapproach.Theheuristicapproachincreasestheoddsofsuccess,but
doesnotguaranteeasolution.
Tryworkingbackfromthedesiredgoaltothecurrentsituation.
Identifythewaythatthecurrentsituationdiffersfromyourdesiredgoalandidentify
thestepsthatyouneedtotaketoreducethedifferences.
Adoptananalogicalapproachbythinkingofasimilarproblemandconsiderwhether
thesolutiontothesimilarproblemwillworkforyourpresentproblem.
MakealistofyourassumptionsofChristianandsystematicallychallengeortest
eachone,thismaysuggestideasforsolvingtheproblem.
3.Explorepossiblesolutions
severalpossiblesolutionsmayhaveemergedfromthepreviousphaseofproblemsolving
andeachoneneedstobeconsidered.Youmayneedtoaskwhattheparticularsolution
wouldbringaboutorhowitwouldchangetheproblemsituation,whataretheadvantages
anddisadvantages.
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4.Evaluateandlearnfromthesolution
Happenedatpotentialsolutionyoutrygivesrisetoanotherproblem,butyoucanagaindeal
witheachoneuntilyoufindasatisfactorysolution.Youhavetoassesseachsolutiontofind
outwhetherithassolvedtheproblemefficiently.
Insight-sometimes,ananswertoaproblemappearssuddenlyandwewonderwhywedidn't
seethesolutionbefore.Thisiscalledgaininginsightintoaproblem.
Restrictedthinking
Mentalsetorfixation-tendencytoevaluatetheproblemsituationinaparticularwayandto
sticktothatevaluation.
Emotionalbarriers-sometimesweareunabletosolvetheproblembecauseouremotions
getinthewayofthinkingclearly.
Learnedbarriers-wemaythinkthatsomethingcananybedoneinonewaybecausethatis
thewaywehavelearnedtodothings.Theyareotherwaysofproblemsolvinginadditionto
theoldways.
Perceptualbarriers-sometimeswetendtoseeonlyoneaspectoftheproblemandignore
others.
Culturalbarriers-aculturalvaluesmayleadustobelievethatreasonandlogicarethebest
meansofsolvingproblemsandthatfantasyandtheyarewasteoftime.Inthiswaywedo
notexplorethevariouswaysofproblemsolving.
Cognition:Reasoning(P6)
Reasoningisoneformofthought.Reasoningcanbedefinedasaprocessofgoal-directed
thinkingthatdrawsconclusionsfromasetoffacts.Whenwereasonwecomparedifferent
bitsofinformation.
Thestructureofreasoning
Apremise
Isthestatementfromwhichtheconclusionisinferred.Thepremiseprovidestheevidence
thatsupportsyourconclusion.
Aconclusion
Whenyoureason,theviewpointyouadoptproclaimyoumakeistheconclusion.
Reasoningbasedonformalrulesoflogic
Deductivereasoning
Deductivereasoningreferstotheprocessofdrawingaconclusionthatfollowslogically
fromtwoormorestatementsorpremises.Deductivereasoningisbasedonthelogicalruled
thatifthepremiseistrue,thentheconclusionistrue(andcannotpossiblybefalse).
Inductivereasoning
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inductivereasoningusesavailableevidencetogenerateaconclusionaboutthelikelihoodof
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something.Inductivereasoning,theconclusionisbasedonthepremise,butthepremisesdo
notguaranteetheconclusion.Thepremisesonlyprovidesomesupportforthelikelihoodof
probabilityoftheconclusion.
Analogicalreasoning-meansthatyouinferpatternsofrelationsbetweenthings.
Differencesbetweenformalandinformalreasoning
Formalreasoning Informalreasoning
Thepremisesarestatedexplicitly. Thepremisesaremoreimpliedthanexplicit.
Theproblemthatisbeingreasonedaboutis Usuallyhaspersonalconsequencesfor
generallynotpersonallyrelevant. everydaylife.Thiscanleadtoweaknessesin
reasoning.(1)wemayacceptapremiseas
truewithoutthinkingcarefullyaboutits
accuracy(2)wemayacceptaconclusion
becauseitagreeswithourpersonal
viewpointwithoutthinkingcarefullyabout
theevidenceonwhichitisbased.
Thestructuresandrulesofformalreasoning
aremoreobviousthaninformaleveryday
reasoning.
Usuallyonecorrectsolution. Severalpossiblesolutionsbecauseofthe
practicalitiesofeverydaylife.
Fallacies
Conclusionsaresometimesbasedonfallaciesormisleadingarguments.Peoplemayuse
fallacieswhentheywantustochangethewaywebelieve.Fallaciesuseirrelevantpremises
tosupportaconclusion,asifthosepremisesarerelevant.Differentformsoffallacy:
Playingonsomeone'ssympathiestogetsomethingdone.
Tryingtodiscreditanissuebydiscreditingthepersonwhosupportstheissue.
Relyingonthecharacteristicsofacertaingroupinordertogainsupportfora
particularconclusion.
Usingafalseanalogy-thismeansimplyingthatthingsthataresimilaractually
identical.
Usingaslightlychangedversionofsomeoneelse'spointofviewasabasisforyour
reasoning.
Criticalreasoning
Inordertopreventmisunderstandings,itisimportantthatweshouldbeabletoevaluatethe
informationwereceive,thatweshouldreasoncorrectlyandthatweshouldmakegood
judgments.Thisiswhatismeantbytheterm"criticalreasoning".Criticalreasoningmeans
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thatyoulookatalltheoptionsandvariousexplanationsforsomethinganddonotmerely
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