Psychology

1. Chapter 7: Thinking,
Intelligence, and
Language
JSRCC
PSY 1200

2. The Cognitive Revolution in Psychology

Cognition

Way in which information is processed and manipulated in remembering thinking
and knowing

Way thing are process

The senses bring information about the external world into the brain

The brain and spinal cord process sensory information



Reflexes allow for rapid responding to stimuli
Cognitive system allow for extended processing of stimuli
Artificial Intelligence

Scientific field that focuses on creating machines capable of performing activities
that require intelligence when they are done by people

3. Thinking

Thinking


Use of knowledge to accomplish a goal
Concepts

Are mental categories that are used to group objects, events, and characteristics

Concepts-Mental categories containing related bits of knowledge


Emphasizes that when people evaluate whether a given item reflects a certain concepts,
they compare the item with the most typical item in that category and look for a
“familiar resemblance” with that item’s properties
Problem solving


Used to perceive, think about, and deal with word
Prototype Model


Stored in verbal or propositional form


Organized around meaning of information
Means finding an appropriate way to attain a goal when the goal is not readily available
Subgoals

Involves setting intermediate goals or defining intermediate problems that put us in a
better position for reaching the final goal or solution

4. Reasoning

Reasoning



Reasoning is involved in problem solving and decision making. It is also a skill
closely tied to critical thinking
Inductive Reasoning


is the mental activity of transforming information to reach conclusions
Involves reasoning from specific observations to make generalizations
Deductive Reasoning

Is reasoning from a general case that we know to be true to a specific

5. Potential Problems in decision
making/reasoning

Confirmation Bias


Hindsight Bias


Our tendency to report falsely, after the fact, that we accurately predicited an
outcome
Availability Heuristic


The tendency to search for and use information that supports our ideas rather than
refutes them
Judging the likelihood or probability of events based on how readily available are
other instances in our mind
Base Rate Fallacy

Tendency to ignore information about general principles in favor of very specific
but vivid information

6. Critical Thinking

Critical thinking


Mindfulness


Thinking means thinking reflectively and productively and evaluating the evidence
Means being alert and mentally present for one’s everyday activities
Open-mindedness

Means being receptive to other way sof looking at things

7. Intelligence

Intelligence


Standardization


All purpose ability to do well on cognitive tasks, to solve problems, and to learn from experience
Involves developing uniform procedures for administering and scoring a test, as well as creating norms, or performance standards, for
the test
Measuring intelligence

Reliability

The extent to which a test yields a consistent, reproducible measure of performance

Reliability- gives the same results over and over again

Consistency of measurement


Assessed using test-retest
Validity

Extent to which a test is, measures what is intended to measure

Refers to the extent to which a test measures what it is intended to measure

Assessed what the test actually measures

Validity-testing whether or not a test measures what it is intended to measure

8. Binet’s test

French board of education ask him to make a intelligence test

This test is use to identify students that will benefit from a traditional
education

1912- William Stern created concept of intelligence quotient (IQ): refers to a
person’s mental age divided by chronological age, multiplied by 100

Binet test has been revised many times.

Called the Stanford-Binet tests (revisions were made at Stanford University)

9. Mental age

An individual’s level of mental development relative to that of others

Childs current ability compared to other children of different ages

A measure of intelligence test performance devised by Binet

Chronological age that most typically corresponds to a given level of
performance

Child who does as well as the average 8-year old is said to have a mental age
of 8

10. Terman’s Stanford-Binet Intelligence
Scale

First intelligence test use in America and the first person to come up with the
IQ numbers

The Stanford - Binet test


The Sanford Binet-Intelligence Scale, originally the Binet-Simon Test, was designed
to identify students with cognitive disabilities
Stanford-Binet

The widely used American revision of Binet’s original intelligence test

Revused by Terman Stanford University

11. Stern’s Intelligence Quotient

Stern’s Intelligence Quotient


Normal Distribution


A number representing a measure of intelligence, resulting from the division of
one’s mental age by one’s chronological age and then multiplying that quotient by
100
is a symmetrical, bell-shaped curve, with a majority of the scores falling in the
middle of the possible range and few scores appearing toward the extremes of the
range.
Cultural Bias in Testing

Culture-fair tests

Intelligence tests that are intended not to be culturally biased

People with more education still score higher thena those with less education because test
reflect what the dominant culture thing is important

12. Genetic and Environmental Influences
on Intelligence (Nature/Nurture Debate)

Heritability

is the proportion of observable differences in a group that can be explained by differences in
the genes of the group's members

Heritability: fraction of the variance within a population that is attributed to genetics



Attempts to tease apart the effects of heredity and environment in a population
Heritability index is computed using correlational techniques
Environmental Factors


Most experts today agree that the environment also plays an important role in intelligence
(Campbell, 2007; Sternberg, Kaufman, & Grigorenko, 2008).
For most people, modifications in environment can change their IQ scores considerably.

Among the environmental factors that influence intelligence are socioeconomic status,
parental communication with and support of children, quality of neighborhoods, and quality of
schools.

The rapid increase in IQ scores around the world suggests the effects of education rather than
heredity.

13. The Flynn Effects

States that the environment matters

That IQ can improve over a period of time

In the past 60 years, intelligence scores have risen steadily by an average of
27 points. This phenomenon is known as the Flynn effect

Flynn effect-IQ tends to rise 3 points every decade

14. Range of Intelligence

Giftedness

IQ of 130 or above or an usually talent in a specific area

Gifted- the 2 percent of the population falling on the upper end of the normal
curve and typically possessing an IQ of 130 or above

Terman’s research

Terman conducted a longitudinal study that demonstrated that gifted children grow up to
be successful adults for the most part

Terman’s study has been criticized for a lack of objectivity because he became too
involved in the lives of his participants, even to the point of interfering on their behalf.

Intellectual Disability

Condition of limited mental; ability in which an individual has a low IQ,
usually below 70 on a traditional test

15. Level MR

Verbal: The ability to think in words and use language to express meaning. Occupations:
author, journalist, speaker.

Mathematical: The ability to carry out mathematical operations. Occupations: scientist,
engineer, accountant.

Spatial: The ability to think three-dimensionally. Occupations: architect, artist, sailor.

Bodily-kinesthetic: The ability to manipulate objects and to be physically adept.
Occupations: surgeon, craftsperson, dancer, athlete.

Musical: The ability to be sensitive to pitch, melody, rhythm, and tone. Occupations:
composer, musician.

Interpersonal: The ability to understand and interact effectively with others. Occupations:
teacher, mental health professional.

Intrapersonal: The ability to understand oneself. Occupations: theologian, psychologist.

Naturalist: The ability to observe patterns in nature and understand natural and human-made
systems. Occupations: farmer, botanist, ecologist, landscaper.

Existentialist: The ability to grapple with the big questions of human existence, such as the
meaning of life and death, with special sensitivity to issues of spirituality. Gardner has not
identified an occupation for existential intelligence, but one career path would likely be
philosopher.
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Causes
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`
Organic or cultural-familar

16. Theories of Multiple Intelligences

Sternberg’s Triarchic Theory:

Sternberg’s theory that intelligence comes in three forms” analytical, creative, and practical

Triarchic theory of intelligence- Sternberg’s theory that there are three kinds of intelligences:
analytical, creative, and practical

analytical, creative, and practical intelligences

Analytical intelligence- nthe ability to break problems down into component parts, or analysis, for
problem solving

Creative intelligence- the ability to deal with new and different concepts and to come up with new
ways of solving problems

Practical intelligence- the ability to use information to get along in life and become successful

Gardner’s Eight Frames of Mind

Gardner’s Theory


Multiple intelligences- ranging from verbal. Linguistic, and mathematical to interpersonal and intrapersonal
intelligence
v. Spearman’s g factor

G Factor- the ability to reason and solve, problems, or general intelligence

S factor- the ability to excel in certain areas, or specific intelligence