Concepts

Brain-Mind ◽  
2019 ◽  
pp. 72-92
Author(s):  
Paul Thagard
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Problem Solving ◽  
Constraint Satisfaction ◽  
Mental Representations ◽  
Motor Processes ◽  
New Concepts ◽  
Sensory Motor ◽  
Conceptual Combinations ◽  
Planning Decision

Concepts are mental representations corresponding roughly to words. Construed as semantic pointers, concepts are capable of playing inferential roles, but they also maintain embodied connections with sensory–motor processes. Understanding concepts in this way enables us to give biologically and psychologically plausible accounts of innateness, learning, and categorization. Learning new concepts can occur not only through slow, incremental use of multiple examples but also by fast, sometimes revolutionary conceptual combinations. The process of categorization is carried out by retrieval through reactivation of neural patterns and through parallel constraint satisfaction accomplished by competition among semantic pointers. Categorization can contribute to different kinds of problem solving, including planning, decision making, and explanation. Concepts do not have strict definitions, but they can nevertheless be meaningful because of their relations with sensory and motor inputs and with other concepts.

scholarly journals A pre-post evaluation of an online career planning module on university students’ career adaptability

2019 ◽  
Vol 10 (1) ◽  
pp. 42-55 ◽  
Author(s):  
Megan Teychenne ◽  
Kate Parker ◽  
Danielle Teychenne ◽  
Shannon Sahlqvist ◽  
Susie Macfarlane ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Problem Solving ◽  
University Students ◽  
Career Planning ◽  
Controlled Trial ◽  
Career Adaptability ◽  
Post Intervention ◽  
Online Module ◽  
Decision Making Problem ◽  
Planning Decision

Indecisiveness and negative thinking regarding career pathways can hinder university students’ career planning, motivation, and mental health. Students intending to enter the workforce after graduation therefore need to develop skills related to career adaptability (i.e. career planning, decision-making, problem solving/confidence and exploration), particularly since career planning and construction is linked to gaining employment. This study aimed to test the effectiveness of an online career planning module on students’ career adaptability.  The career-focussed online module, based on the constructs of Savickas’ (2005) theory of career construction, and tailored to students’ skills and interests, was developed and embedded into the University curriculum of a second-year exercise and public health-related unit. In 2018, 80 students completed the online module, along with pre- and post-intervention questionnaires assessing career adaptability elements including career planning, decision making, problem solving/confidence, and exploration. Dependent t-tests were conducted to assess differences in these measures pre- and post-intervention. Post-intervention, significant increases in career-planning strategies used (t(69)=5.45, p<0.001), career planning concern (t(69)=3.73, p<0.001), decision making (i.e. career path identification) (t(70)=3.86, p<0.001), decision making confidence (t(65)=2.69, p<0.01), and problem solving/confidence (t(65) = 2.16, p=0.03) were observed. Further, 80% of participants identified jobs at post-intervention not previously identified pre-intervention (exploration) and 71% of participants perceived improvements in confidence regarding job ideas/making career choices.  Findings from this research indicated that completing a brief online career education module, tailored to an individual’s skills and interests, improved all dimensions of the participating students’ career adaptability. Further research utilising longer-term follow-up and randomised controlled trial designs are required to confirm the reliability and transferability of the findings.

Truth Matters: Cognitive Integrity as an Intervention for Self-Deception

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Eugenia Isabel Gorlin ◽  
Michael W. Otto
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Problem Solving ◽  
Autonomous Agents ◽  
Therapeutic Interventions ◽  
Empirical Validation ◽  
The Past ◽  
Adaptive Problem

To live well in the present, we take direction from the past. Yet, individuals may engage in a variety of behaviors that distort their past and current circumstances, reducing the likelihood of adaptive problem solving and decision making. In this article, we attend to self-deception as one such class of behaviors. Drawing upon research showing both the maladaptive consequences and self-perpetuating nature of self-deception, we propose that self-deception is an understudied risk and maintaining factor for psychopathology, and we introduce a “cognitive-integrity”-based approach that may hold promise for increasing the reach and effectiveness of our existing therapeutic interventions. Pending empirical validation of this theoretically-informed approach, we posit that patients may become more informed and autonomous agents in their own therapeutic growth by becoming more honest with themselves.

scholarly journals HR Managers’ Emotions in Strategic Decision-Making Events: Evidence from Croatia

2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (2) ◽  
pp. 845
Author(s):  
Marli Gonan Božac ◽  
Katarina Kostelić
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Problem Solving ◽  
Strategic Planning ◽  
Strategic Decision ◽  
Strategic Decision Making ◽  
Personal Perspective ◽  
Human Resource Managers ◽  
Organizational Perspective ◽  
Hr Managers ◽  
Experienced Emotion

The inclusion of emotions in the strategic decision-making research is long overdue. This paper deals with the emotions that human resource managers experience when they participate in a strategic problem-solving event or a strategic planning event. We examine the patterns in the intensity of experienced emotions with regard to event appraisal (from a personal perspective and the organization’s perspective), job satisfaction, and coexistence of emotions. The results reveal that enthusiasm is the most intensely experienced emotion for positively appraised strategic decision-making events, while frustration is the most intensely experienced emotion for negatively appraised problem-solving events, as is disappointment for strategic planning. The distinction between a personal and organizational perspective of the event appraisal reveals differences in experienced emotions, and the intensity of experienced anger is the best indicator of the difference in the event appraisals from the personal and organizational perspective. Both events reveal the variety of involved emotions and the coexistence of—not just various emotions, but also emotions of different dominant valence. The findings indicate that a strategic problem-solving event triggers greater emotional turmoil than a strategic planning event. The paper also discusses theoretical and practical implications.

Systems thinking, a consilience of values and logic

2005 ◽  
Vol 24 (4) ◽  
pp. 259-274
Author(s):  
Sameer Kumar ◽  
Thomas Ressler ◽  
Mark Ahrens
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Problem Solving ◽  
Systems Thinking ◽  
Qualitative Reasoning ◽  
Colleges And Universities ◽  
Decision Makers ◽  
Modern World ◽  
Problem Solving Process ◽  
Problem Solvers

This article is an appeal to incorporate qualitative reasoning into quantitative topics and courses, especially those devoted to decision-making offered in colleges and universities. Students, many of whom join professional workforce, must become more systems thinkers and decision-makers than merely problem-solvers. This will entail discussion of systems thinking, not just reaching “the answer”. Managers will need to formally and forcefully discuss objectives and values at each stage of the problem-solving process – at the start, during the problem-solving stage, and at the interpretation of the results stage – in order to move from problem solving to decision-making. The authors suggest some methods for doing this, and provide examples of why doing so is so important for decision-makers in the modern world.

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