1. Thinking, Language, and Intelligence
Chapter 7
Thinking, Language, and Intelligence

2. Thought
Cognition—mental activities involved in acquiring, retaining, and using knowledge
Thinking—manipulation of mental representations to draw inferences and conclusions
Directed toward some goal, purpose, or conclusion.
Involves the manipulation of tww forms of mental representations: Mental images and concepts

3. Mental Images
Mental image—representation of objects or events that are not physically present
Forming lines into the letters of the alphabet, creating mental representation for the tast of chocolate milk.
Mental images we use in thinking are memories of visual images.
Actively constructed and sometimes wrong.

4. Concepts
Concept—mental category we have formed to group objects, events or situations that share similar features or characteristics
Food: pancakes and sardines
Formal concept—mental category formed by learning rules.
follows rigid rules, not usually intuitive: liquid, gas, solid
Natural concept—mental category formed by everyday experience.
name some vehicles
Prototype—the most typical instance of a particular concept.
Identifying an olive as a fruit compared to an apple.
Exemplars—individual instances of a concept or category, held in memory.
When we see new things we compare it to an exemplar to see if it fits a category.

5. Problem Solving Strategies
Problem Solving—thinking and behavior directed toward attaining a goal that is not readily available.
Trial and Error—actually trying a variety of solutions and eliminating those that don’t work
Algorithms—procedure or method that, when followed step by step, always produces the correct solution
Heuristic—strategy that involves following a general rule of thumb to reduce the number of possible solutions
Typing a word into the search bar

6. Insight and Intuition
Insight—sudden realization of how a problem can be solved
Intuition—coming to a conclusion without conscious awareness of the thought processes involved

7. Functional Fixedness
Viewing objects as functioning only in the usual or customary way
Prevents us from seeing the full range of ways in which an object can be used.
Mental set
The tendency to persist in solving problems with solutions that have worked in the past.
If you approach a problem with a rigid mental set then you may not see other solutions.

8. Nine Dots Problem
Without lifting your pencil or retracing any line, draw four straight lines that connect all nine dots

9. Nine Dots
Most people will not draw lines that extend from the square formed by the nine dots
To solve the problem, you have to break your mental set

10. Mounting Candle Problem
Using only the objects present on the right, attach the candle to the bulletin board in such a way that the candle can be lit and will burn properly

11. Candle Problem
Most people do not think of using the box for anything other than its normal use (to hold the tacks)
To solve the problem, you have to overcome functional fixedness

12. Decision Making
Single-feature model—make a decision by focusing on only one feature
Additive model—systematically evaluate the important features of each alternative
Elimination by aspects model—rate choices based on features; eliminate those that do not meet the desired criteria, despite other desirable characteristics

13. Availability Heuristic
Judge probability of an event by how easily you can recall previous occurrences of that event
Most people will overestimate deaths from natural disasters because disasters are frequently on TV
Most people will underestimate deaths from asthma because they don’t make the local news

14. Representative Heuristic
Judge probability of an event based on how it matches a prototype
Prototype: most typical example of an object or event
If our friend gets a ticket, we are more likely to risk getting a ticket if we don’t relate to them at all.
Teenager in flashy car vs parent with a car seat.

15. Language
System of combining symbols to produce an infinite number of meaningful statements.
May be words, sounds, or symbols.
Constantly created- metrosexual or tweeting
Must agree on the sound and what it symbolizes
Bilingualism—fluency in two or more languages.

16. Intelligence
The globals capacity to think rationally, act purposefully and deal effectively with the environment.

17. Measuring Intelligence
Alfred Binet
Focused on memory, attention, and ability to understand similarities and differences.
Questions ordered by difficulty.
Mental age—individuals mental level is expressed in terms of the average abilities of a given age group.
Scores may be affected by child's level of motivation.
Intelligence is nurtured.

18. Stanford-Binet Scale Lewis Therman took Binet’s test and revised it.
IQ: a single score that reflects the persons intelligence.
Dividing the mental age by chronological age and multiplying by 100.
10 year old child with a mental age of 13
13/10 X 100 = 130

19. World War I
Army gave the Army Alpha (writing) and Army Beta (orally) test to screen recruits.
Used to determine job, ability and leadership potential.
Used when people immigrated into the US.
Lead to generalizations about nationalities and races.
Results led to people wanting to keep certain races out of the country.

20. Wechsler Tests The Wechsler tests
used more widely now than Stanford-Binet
Reports scores from subtests to show different abilities
IQ determined by comparing a persons scores against scores of others in the same age group.
Average between 85 and 115
modeled after Binet’s, also made adult test
WISC-III for children
WAIS-IV for adults

21. Qualities of Good Tests
Achievement Test—designed to measure a person’s level of knowledge, skill or accomplishment in a certain area.
Math or foreign language.
Aptitude Test—test designed to asses a person’s capacity to benefit from education or training.
Standardized—administered to large groups of people under uniform conditions to establish norms
Reliable—ability to produce consistent results when administered on repeated occasions under similar conditions
Valid—ability to measure what the test is intended to measure
If a person test high in mechanical aptitude, they should be more successful in mechanical jobs.

22. Theories of Intelligence
Charles Spearman—g factor
Intelligence is a single measure of general cognitive ability.
General mental ability can be expressed in a single number.
Louis Thurstone—intelligence as a person’s “pattern” of mental abilities
Seven different “primary mental abilities”, each a relatively independent element of intelligence.

23. Gardner
Multiple intelligences Must be defined within the context of a specific culture. Everyone has a different pattern of strengths and weaknesses.

24. Robert Sternberg Intelligence is a general quality.
Triarchic theory of intelligence: There are three distinct forms of intelligence: analytic, creative and practical.
Analytic intelligence—mental processes used in learning how to solve problems
Creative intelligence—the ability to deal with novel situations by drawing on existing skills and knowledge
Practical intelligence—the ability to adapt to the environment (street smarts)

25. Nature VS Nurture in IQ
Do we inherit our intellectual potential from our parents or is intelligence the result of our environment?
Heritability
The degree to which variation in trait stems from genetic, rather than environmental, differences among individuals
Environment
The degree to which variation is due to environmental rather than genetic differences

27. Influences on IQ
Cross-cultural studies show that the average IQ of groups subject to social discrimination are often lower than the socially dominant group even if there is no racial difference
Tests reflect the culture in which they are developed; cultural factors also influence test-taking behavior (culture bias)