Chapter #7 Thinking, Intelligence, & Language PDF

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These are notes from chapter #7 in the textbook "PSYCH" 4th edition. I go to Sheridan college in Ontario and my professor's name is Pat Giarrizzo, hope this helps!...

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. Definitions Psychology Core Concepts Chapter #7: Thinking, Intelligence, & Language Learning Outcomes: LO1 Define thinking and the various concepts involved in thinking LO2 Identify the concept of intelligence and the techniques used to measure intelligence LO3 Explain the genetic and environmental influences on intelligence LO4 Describe how language develops Thinking: paying attention to information, mentally representing it, reasoning about it, and making decisions about it. ● Enables us to pose problems and solve them, and to make judgments and decisions. ● People dier from lower organisms in their capacity for rational thinking. ● Thinking refers to conscious, planned attempts to make sense of and change the world Imagery: the representation of sensory experiences in our mind using our five senses of taste, sight, touch, hearing, and smell. Concept: a mental category that is used to class together objects, relations, events, abstractions, or qualities that have common properties. ● The mental grouping of similar objects, events, ideas, or people. There are a variety of chairs but their common features define the concept of a chair. ● Prototype: a concept of a category of objects or events that serves as a good example of the category. - best example of a concept. ○ Ex; Good prototype of a fish = goldfish, Bad prototype of a fish = seahorse ● Exemplar: a specific example. ● Hierarchies are used to organize concepts (e.g. dogs and goldfish are both animals - dogs are in a subcategory of animals called mammals; goldfish are in a subcategory of animals called fish) Problem Solving; ● ●

Is an important aspect of thinking We may use trial and error to solve a problem ○ Solutions for trial and error may be eective or not.

. Definitions Understanding the problem: Requires that: ● Elements of our mental representation of the problem relate to one another in a meaningful way ● Elements of our mental representation of the problem correspond to the elements in the world ● We have background knowledge that we can apply to the problem ● Algorithm: a systematic procedure for solving a problem that works invariably when it is correctly applied. ○ For example, a mathematical formula such as the Pythagorean theorem ● Systematic random search: an algorithm for solving problems in which each possible solution is tested according to a particular set of rules. ○ For example, using a dictionary or a spell checking program to solve a letter/word-making problem ● Heuristics: general rules that help us simplify and solve problems. ○ Means–end analysis: a heuristic device in which we try to solve a problem by evaluating the dierence between the current situation and the goal. ○ For example, if lost on an unknown path, you may drive toward a setting sun, if your destination is to the west. ○ Unlike algorithms, heuristics do not guarantee a correct solution to a problem, but when they work they permit more rapid solutions. ● Analogies: partial similarities among things that are otherwise dierent. ○ Used when we refer to a previous problem to solve a new problem ○ We tend to look for things that helped us in the past in similar situations. ● Factors that aect problem solving; ○ 1. Expertise; experts are more ecient, strategic, and intuitive problem solvers than novices. ○ 2. Mental set: the tendency to respond to a new problem with an approach that was successfully used with similar problems. ○ 3. Insight: a sudden perception of relational elements of a problem that permits its solution. ○ 4. Incubation: standing back from a problem for a while and then the solution “suddenly” appears ○ 5. Functional fixedness: tendency to view an object in terms of its name or familiar usage. ■ Makes it dicult to use familiar objects to solve problems in novel ways.

. Definitions Judgment & Decision Making: ● Contrary to conventional wisdom, most people make decisions on the basis of limited information. ● Shortcuts are taken and heuristics are used in judgment and decision making as in problem solving. ● Heuristics in Decision Making; ○ Representativeness heuristic: making judgments about samples on the basis of the population they appear to represent. ○ Availability heuristic: basing estimates of the frequency of event on how easy it is to find examples of the event. ○ Anchoring and adjustment heuristic: using a presumption as a cognitive anchor for subsequent information. ●

Other factors that aect decision making; ○ Framing eect: the influence of wording, or the context in which information is presented. For example, people prefer to call themselves “pro-choice” rather than “pro-abortion” or “pro-life” rather than “anti-abortion”. ○ Overconfidence: we are overconfident of our decisions, even if incorrect.

Intelligence: a complex and controversial concept; according to David Wechsler (1975), the “capacity . . . to understand the world [and] resourcefulness to cope with its challenges”. ● Makes things possible ● Allows people to learn from experience and adapt to environment ● Permits people to create environments ● Is tied to the concept of achievements Theories of Intelligence: Factor theories: propose that intelligence is made up of a number of mental abilities. Abilities range from one kind of ability to hundreds. ● Charles Spearman (1904) distinguished between factors g, general intelligence, and s, specific abilities. ○ g: Spearman’s symbol for general intelligence, which he believed underlay more specific abilities. ○ s: Spearman’s symbol for specific factors, or s factors, which he believed accounted for individual abilities. ● Louis Thurstone (1938) suggested the presence of 9 specific factors, which he labeled primary mental abilities. ○ Primary mental abilities: the basic abilities that make up intelligence; examples include word fluency and numerical ability.

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These abilities contain the types of items measured on the most widely used intelligence tests today.

J.P. Guilford (1967) proposed 3 dimensions to the structure of the intellect ○ Mental operations: processes that include thinking, memory, and evaluation ○ Contents: what is being thought about or evaluated ○ Products: the outcomes of mental operations

Theory of Multiple Intelligences: Howard Gardner (1983/1993) proposed many dierent intelligences. Language ability

Interpersonal intelligence

Logical-mathematical ability

Intrapersonal intelligence

Bodily-kinesthetic talents

Naturalist intelligence; the innate ability to understand the natural world, including animals, plants, and astronomy.

Musical talent

Existential intelligence; the innate ability to master philosophical understanding and the deeper questions of life.

Spatial-relations skills

. Definitions

The Triarchic Theory of Intelligence: Robert Sternberg (2000) proposed a three-pronged theory of intelligence, with 3 types of intelligence; 1. Analytical intelligence: academic ability - solve problems, compare and contrast, judge, evaluate, and criticize. 2. Creative intelligence: ability to cope with novel situations and generate multiple solutions to problems - invent, discover, suppose, theorize 3. Practical intelligence: “street smarts” - adapt to the demands of one’s environment, apply knowledge in practical situations The Measurement of Intelligence: ● The Stanford-Binet Intelligence Scale ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○

First version, Binet-Simon scale, used in 1905 The current version is the Stanford-Binet Intelligence Scale (SBIS). Binet assumed that intelligence increases with age, so items are arranged in order of diculty. SBIS measures a child’s intellectual level of functioning Mental age (MA): the accumulated months of credit that a person earns on the SBIS Intelligence quotient (IQ): (1) originally, a ratio obtained by dividing a child’s score (or mental age) on an intel-ligence test by chronological age; (2) generally, a score on an intelligence test. ■ Average = 100 ■ IQ = MA ÷ CA x 100

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The Wechsler Scales ○ David Wechsler developed a series of scales for use with children and adults. ○ Groups test questions into a number of separate subtests ○ Separate subtests measure dierent intellectual tasks. ○ Yields scores for each separate subtest, as well as a score for overall intellectual functioning ○ Includes verbal & performance tasks ○ IQ score is determined by comparing test takers with others of the same age group. Group Tests ○ Intelligence tests that are administered to large groups of people at a time ○ Often used in schools and in the military ○ Allow for placement or streaming of students by ability

Dierences in Intellectual Functioning: ● Gender dierences ○ ○ ○ ○ ●

Intelligence tests do not show overall gender dierences in cognitive abilities. Girls tend to score higher than boys in verbal ability Boys tend to score higher than girls in visual-s;atial ability Boys tend to score higher on math tests

Socioeconomic and Ethnic Dierences ○ European North Americans and Asian North Americans tend to show higher test scores compared with other ethnic groups.

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Dierence in IQ scores among ethnic groups due to socioeconomic status, cultural attitudes toward education, culturally biased test questions. Culture-fair tests constructed to rule out cultural biases

Nature and Nurture in Intelligence: ● Most researchers agree that intelligence is the result of complex interactions between; ○ Nature (genetic influences) ○ Nurture (environmental influences) Genetic Influences on Intelligence: ● Research on genetic influences on intelligence uses kinship, twin, and adoptee studies. ● IQ scores of identical twins (monozygotic) are more alike than for any other pairs (dizygotic) ○ However, identical twins who are reared apart have less similarity in IQ scores than identical twins reared apart, so one cannot discount environmental influence on intelligence. ● Moderate correlations exist between fraternal twins, siblings, and parents and their children ● Weak correlations exist between children and their foster parents and between cousins. ○ There is a stronger relationship between IQ scores of adopted children and their biological parents than between adopted children and adoptive parents, which indicates that genetic factors do outweigh environmental influences. ● Heritability: the degree to which the variations in a trait from one person to another can be attributed to, or explained by, genetic factors.

. Definitions Environmental Influences on Intelligence: ● The home environment ○ Engaged parents and enriched home environment linked to high IQ scores in children ○ Socioeconomic status ● Education ○ Quality school programs predictive of higher IQ scores ● Flynn Eect ●

○ Increase in IQ scores in Western world between 1947 and 2002 Emotional intelligence; theory popularized by Daniel Goleman (1995) that social and emotional skills are a form of intelligence ○ Emotional intelligence resembles 2 of Harold Gardner’s (1983/1993) “intelligences”: intrapersonal skills & interpersonal skills ○ However, an individual’s emotional intelligence and IQ scores are not related

Creativity & Intelligence: ● Creativity: the ability to generate novel and useful solutions to problems. ○ Research shows that there is only a moderate relationship between measures of creativity and scores on standard intelligence tests. ○ Creativity is seen as the ability to make unusual, sometimes remote, associations to the elements of a problem to generate new combinations. ○ It is not clear if creativity is distinct from intelligence or a form of it. ○ Convergent thinking: a thought process that narrows in on the single best solution to a problem. ○ Divergent thinking: a thought process that attempts to generate multiple solutions to problems. Type of thinking associated with creativity. **LANGUAGE PORTION OF THIS MODULE WILL NOT BE TESTED** Language: the communication of information by means of symbols arranged according to rules of grammar. ● Humans use language not only in communicating, but also thinking. Semanticity: meaning; the quality of language in which words are used as symbols for objects, events, or ideas. Infinite creativity: the capacity to combine words into original sentences.

. Definitions Displacement: the quality of language that permits one to communicate information about objects and events in another time and place. Metacognition: higher-order thinking, which involves active control over cognitive processes engaged in learning. Linguistic-relativity hypothesis: the view that language struc-tures the way in which we view the world. Phonemes: the smallest units of sounds in spoken language. Morphemes: the smallest units of meaning in spoken language. Syntax: the arrangement and orga-nization of words to form meaningful sentences; rules to create grammatical sentences. Semantics: the meanings associated with a morpheme or sentence. Pragmatics: the ways in which we use language to convey social meanings of spoken language. Psycholinguistic theory: the view that language learning involves an interaction between environ-mental factors and an inborn tendency to acquire language. Language acquisition device (LAD): in psycholinguistic theory, neural “pre wiring” that facil-itates the child’s learning of grammar....