What the exam asks
- Section I (Multiple Choice): You will read short scenarios about people categorizing objects, adjusting their beliefs after new experiences, or getting stuck on a puzzle, and you must identify the exact cognitive process at work.
- Section II (Free Response): In the AAQ, you may need to state an operational definition for a problem-solving variable (such as counting the number of novel uses generated for a brick to measure divergent thinking). In the EBQ, concepts like assimilation, accommodation, executive functions, and functional fixedness can earn the second point in parts B(ii) and C(ii) when you apply them correctly to explain how study evidence supports your claim.
Core ideas
Concepts and prototypes
To keep from being overwhelmed by millions of individual stimuli, the mind groups similar objects, events, ideas, or people into mental categories called concepts (for example, chair, bird, or celebration).
We organize most concepts around a prototype—the mental image or best, most typical example of a category.
- For most people in North America, a robin matches the bird prototype much more closely than a penguin or an ostrich does.
- Items that closely match a prototype are recognized and categorized faster than items that do not. If an illness does not match a patient’s prototype of a heart attack (chest-clutching pain), they may delay seeking help.
Schemas: assimilation and accommodation
A schema is a broader mental framework or script that organizes and interprets information about the world (such as what happens at a restaurant, or what dogs are like). As we encounter new information, we update or use our schemas in two ways:
| Process | How it works | Classroom example |
|---|---|---|
| Assimilation | Interpreting new experiences in terms of existing schemas without changing the schema. | A child whose schema for “dog” is a four-legged furry animal sees a raccoon and calls it a “dog.” |
| Accommodation | Adapting or modifying current schemas (or creating a new one) to incorporate new information that does not fit. | After being told the animal is a raccoon that climbs trees and has a striped tail, the child narrows their “dog” schema and creates a new “raccoon” schema. |