Thinking, Language and Intelligence Psychology 40S C. McMurray

Can you describe thought using thought? Thinking What is Thinking? Can you describe thought using thought? Thinking, or cognition, refers to a process that involves knowing, understanding, remembering, and communicating.

Cognitive Psychologists Thinking involves a number of mental activities, which are listed below. Cognitive psychologists study these in great detail. Concepts Problem solving Decision making Judgment formation

Concepts A concept is the mental grouping of similar objects, events, ideas, or people. It is the way we categorize and think about things. There are a variety of chairs but their common features define the concept of a chair. Preview Question 1: What are the functions of concepts?

Prototype Prototype is a best example or a representative example of a concept. What is your prototype for: A house? A sandwich? A fish?

Development of Concepts We form some concepts with definitions. For example, a triangle has three sides. Mostly, we form concepts with mental images or typical examples (prototypes). For example, a robin is a prototype of a bird, but a penguin is not. J. Messerschmidt/ The Picture Cube Daniel J. Cox/ Getty Images Triangle (definition) Bird (mental image)

Problem solving strategies include: Trial and Error Insight Algorithms Heuristics Preview Question 2: What strategies assist problem solving, and what obstacles hinder it? Funny Problem Solving

Trial and Error For some problems we use trial and error. This is when we try every possible solution.

Insight Insight involves a sudden realization of a solution to a problem. Humans and animals have insight. Grande using boxes to obtain food

Problem Solving Strategies Algorithms are step-by step procedures for solving a problem. Mathematical and scientific formulas are algorithms. Heuristics are simple, thinking strategies that allow us to make judgments and solve problems efficiently.

d r u g a o n i a t Algorithms Algorithms, which are very time consuming, exhaust all possibilities before arriving at a solution. Computers use algorithms. d r u g a o n i a t If we were to unscramble these letters to form a word using an algorithmic approach, we would face thousands of possibilities

d r u g a o n i a t Algorithms Algorithms, which are very time consuming, exhaust all possibilities before arriving at a solution. Computers use algorithms. d r u g a o n i a t 1814400 possibilities 10! (According to Jake!)

Try a different consonant at the beginning and end Heuristics Heuristics make it easier for us to use simple principles to arrive at solutions to problems. d r u g a o n i a t g r u d a o t i a n g r a d u a t i o n Try a different consonant at the beginning and end

Heuristics Heuristics are simple, thinking strategies that allow us to make judgments and solve problems efficiently. Heuristics are less time consuming, but more error-prone than algorithms. B2M Productions/Digital Version/Getty Images

BIG BANG …Friendship Algorithm http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jWWOM53Zh20&safe=active

Obstacles in Solving Problems Fixation: An inability to see a problem from a fresh perspective. This impedes problem solving. The Matchstick Problem: How would you arrange six matches to form four equilateral triangles? From “Problem Solving” by M. Scheerer. Copyright © 1963 by Scientific American, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

The Matchstick Problem: Solution From “Problem Solving” by M. Scheerer. Copyright © 1963 by Scientific American, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

An example of fixation: Functional Fixedness (Candle-Mounting Problem) Using these materials, how would you mount the candle on a bulletin board? From “Problem Solving” by M. Scheerer. Copyright © 1963 by Scientific American, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

Candle-Mounting Problem: Solution

Obstacles to Problem Solving Fixation: An inability to see a problem from a fresh perspective. This impedes problem solving. Functional Fixedness: the inability to imagine new functions for familiar objects Mental Set: a habitual strategy or pattern of problem solving

Fixation and Mental Set O T T F F S S E N T

Fixation and Mental Set O T T F F S S E N T ONE TWO THREE FOUR FIVE SIX SEVEN EIGHT NINE TEN

Fixation and Mental Set J F M A M J J A S O N D

Fixation and Mental Set J F M A M J J A S O N D JANUARY, FEBRUARY, MARCH, …

The Monty Hall Problem The Monty Hall Problem

If You Are a Genius Solve This

Language Language, our spoken, written, or gestured work, is the way we communicate meaning to ourselves and others. Preview Question 5: What is framing? M. & E. Bernheim/ Woodfin Camp & Associates Language transmits culture.

Children learn their native languages much before learning to add 2+2. Language Development Children learn their native languages much before learning to add 2+2. We learn, on average (after age 1), 3,500 words a year, amassing 60,000 words by the time we graduate from high school. Preview Question 6: What are the structural components of a language? Time Life Pictures/ Getty Images

When do we learn language?

Explaining Language Development Operant Learning: Skinner believed that language development may be explained on the basis of learning principles such as association, imitation, and reinforcement. Preview Question 8: How do we learn language?

Explaining Language Development 2. Inborn Universal Grammar: Chomsky opposed Skinner’s ideas and suggested that the rate of language acquisition is so fast that it cannot be explained through learning principles, and thus most of it is inborn.

Explaining Language Development Childhood is a critical period for fully developing certain aspects of language. Children never exposed to any language (spoken or signed) by about age 7 gradually lose their ability to master any language.

Learning new languages gets harder with age. Critical Period Learning new languages gets harder with age.

Thinking and Language: Language Influences Thinking Linguistic Determinism: Whorf (1956) suggested that language determines the way we think.

Animal Thinking & Language Do animals have a language? Preview Question 11: What do we know about animal thinking? Do other animals share our capacity for language? Honey bees communicate by dancing. The dance moves clearly indicate the direction of the nectar.

Do Animals Exhibit Language? There is no doubt that animals communicate. Vervet monkeys, whales and even honey bees communicate with members of their species and other species. Copyright Baus/ Kreslowski Rico (collie) has a 200-word vocabulary

Language Development Read pages 306-307 in the small yellow textbook (Understanding Psychology.) Explain the nature versus nurture debate concerning the development of language? (Explain Chomsky’s view of development and Skinner’s opposing view. Which view backs up “nature” and which view backs up “nurture”?

Intelligence

Intelligence What is intelligence? Where does it come from? How is it measured? Are there ethnic or gender differences in intelligence?

Intelligence Intelligence is the ability to learn from experience, solve problems and use knowledge to adapt to new situations. We often speak of intelligence as though it were one thing, but it may be more accurate to speak of multiple intelligences.

Howard Gardner Howard Gardner argues that there are at least eight independent kinds of intelligence. readnicole.wordpress.com

Robert Sternberg Psychologist Robert Sternberg defines three separate types of intelligences: Analytic: School smarts Practical: Street smarts, common sense Creative: Creating, designing, inventing

Mental Age vs Chronological Age Intelligence Testing Roots of standardized intelligence testing can be traced back to 19th century France, and to Alfred Binet. Mental Age vs Chronological Age Mental age is the child’s mental ability. Chronological age is your actual age.

Stanford Binet Intelligence Test Lewis Termin revised Binet’s test for American children…The Stanford Binet intelligence test. IQ = MA CA X 100

Intelligence Tests Modern intelligence tests all use this same basic technique, comparing a person’s actual age with that person’s level of mental development. Scores are adjusted so that 100 represents average intelligence for one’s age group. The original formula however is no longer used. The term “IQ” is now a shorthand way of saying “intelligence test score.”

Intelligence Extremes

Intelligence Extremes babble.com