Chapter 7: Thinking, Language, and Intelligence

Copyright © The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. Permission required for reproduction or display. Thinking and Reasoning Thinking –The manipulation of mental representations of information Mental images –Representations in the mind in the form of object or event being represented

Copyright © The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. Permission required for reproduction or display. Categorizing the World Concepts –Categorizations of objects, events, or people that share common properties that enable us to organize complex phenomena into simpler cognitive categories Prototypes –Typical, highly representative examples of a concept What is a tree?

Copyright © The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. Permission required for reproduction or display. Reasoning: Making Up Your Mind Syllogistic reasoning –Formal reasoning in which people draw a conclusion from a set of assumptions (or premises) All men are mortal (premise) Socrates is a man (premise) Therefore, Socrates is mortal (conclusion)

Copyright © The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. Permission required for reproduction or display. Reasoning: Algorithms and Heuristics Algorithm –A rule which, if applied appropriately, guarantees a solution to a problem Heuristic –A cognitive shortcut that may lead to a solution Availability heuristic –Involves judging the probability of an event by how easily the event can be recalled from memory

Copyright © The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. Permission required for reproduction or display. Preparation: Understanding and Diagnosing Problems Novel problems –Time is spent on any restrictions on the way to the solution –Time is spent on the initial status of the components Familiar problems –Require less time at this stage = ?

Copyright © The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. Permission required for reproduction or display. Kinds of Problems Arrangement problems –Require that a group of elements be rearranged or recombined in a way that will satisfy a certain criterion Problems of inducing structure –Identify the relationships that exist among the elements presented and construct a new relationship among them ?

Copyright © The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. Permission required for reproduction or display. Kinds of Problems Transformation problem –Consist of an initial state, a goal state, and a series of methods for changing the initial state into the goal state

Copyright © The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. Permission required for reproduction or display. Representing and Organizing the Problem Our ability to represent the problem and the kind of solution we eventually come to is affected by the way a problem is phrased, or framed Will it take a person the same amount of time in order to climb up 8 stories as it does to climb down 8 stories?

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Production: Generating Solutions Trial and Error –Most primitive means of seeking a solution Means-end analysis –Repeated testing for differences between the desired outcome and what currently exists

Copyright © The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. Permission required for reproduction or display. Production: Generating Solutions Subgoals –Dividing a problem into intermediate steps, and solving each of those steps Insight –A sudden awareness of the relationships among various elements that had previously appeared to be unrelated to one another

Copyright © The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. Permission required for reproduction or display. Impediments to Solutions Functional fixedness –The tendency to think of an object only in terms of its typical use Mental set –The tendency for old patterns of problem solving to persist

Copyright © The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. Permission required for reproduction or display. Impediments to Solutions Inaccurate evaluation of solutions Confirmation bias –Initial hypotheses are favored and contradictory information supporting alternative hypothesis or solutions is ignored

Copyright © The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. Permission required for reproduction or display. Creativity and Problem Solving Creativity –The combining of responses or ideas in novel ways Divergent thinking –The ability to generate unusual, yet nonetheless appropriate, responses to problems or questions Convergent thinking –Responses that are based primarily on knowledge and logic Cognitive complexity –The preference for elaborate, intricate, and complex stimuli and thinking patterns

Copyright © The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. Permission required for reproduction or display. Language The communication of information through symbols arranged according to systematic rules

Copyright © The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. Permission required for reproduction or display. Grammar: Language’s Language Grammar –The system of rules that determine how our thoughts can be expressed Phonology –The study of the smallest basic sound units, called phonemes that effect the meaning of speech

Copyright © The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. Permission required for reproduction or display. Grammar: Language’s Language Syntax –The rules that indicate how words and phrases can be combined to form sentences Semantics –The rules governing the meaning of words and sentences

Copyright © The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. Permission required for reproduction or display. Language Development Babble –Speechlike but meaningless sounds made by children from the ages of around 3 months through 1 year Critical period –Time period where child is particularly sensitive to language cues and where language is most easily acquired Telegraphic speech –Sentences that sound as if they were part of a telegram, in which words not critical to the message are left out

Copyright © The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. Permission required for reproduction or display. Language Development Overgeneralization –The phenomenon where children apply rules even when the application results in an error, e.g. “he runned”

Copyright © The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. Permission required for reproduction or display. Understanding Language Acquisition Language-acquisition device –Neural system that permits the understanding of language –Universal grammar All the world’s languages share a similar underlying structure Learning-theory approach –Language acquisition follows the principles of reinforcement and conditioning

Copyright © The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. Permission required for reproduction or display. Understanding Language Acquisition Whole language approach –the use of whole and meaningful materials Basic skills approach –emphasizes the recognition of words in isolation A combination of the whole language and basic skills

Copyright © The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. Permission required for reproduction or display. The Influence of Language on Thinking Linguistic-relativity hypothesis –The notion that language shapes and, in fact, may determine the way people of a particular culture perceive and understand the world

Copyright © The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. Permission required for reproduction or display. Defining Intelligent behaviour Intelligence –The capacity to understand the world, think rationally, and use resources effectively when faced with challenges Intelligence tests –Tests that are developed in order to identify a person’s level of intelligence

Copyright © The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. Permission required for reproduction or display. Measuring Intelligence Mental age –The average age of individuals who achieve a particular level of performance on a test Chronological age –Physical age

Copyright © The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. Permission required for reproduction or display. Measuring Intelligence IQ = MA CA X100

Copyright © The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. Permission required for reproduction or display. IQ Tests: Gauging Intelligence Stanford-Binet IV Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale – III (WAIS-III) Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children - III (WISC-III)

Copyright © The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. Permission required for reproduction or display. Achievement and Aptitude Tests Achievement test –A test designed to determine a person’s level of knowledge in a given subject area Aptitude test –A test designed to predict a person’s ability in a particular area or line of work

Copyright © The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. Permission required for reproduction or display. Reliability and Validity: Taking the Measure of a Test Reliability –A tests ability to consistently measure what they are trying to measure Validity –The tests ability to measure what it is supposed to measure Norms –Standards of test performance

Copyright © The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. Permission required for reproduction or display. Intelligence G or G-factor –Early theory that proposed a single, general factor underlying every aspect of intelligence Fluid intelligence –Reflects information processing capabilities, reasoning, and memory Crystallized intelligence –Accumulation of information, skills, and strategies that people have learned through experience

Copyright © The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. Permission required for reproduction or display. Gardner’s Multiple Intelligences Musical Bodily Kinesthetic Logical- mathematical Linguistic Spatial Interpersonal Intrapersonal

Copyright © The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. Permission required for reproduction or display. Information Processing Intelligence? Cognitive psychologists believe intelligence is indicated by how information is processed: –The processes used to produce intelligent behaviour Encoding, identifying parts of problems, etc –The speed of processing

Copyright © The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. Permission required for reproduction or display. Intelligence Practical intelligence –Intelligence related to overall success in living Emotional intelligence –Set of skills that underlie the accurate assessment, evaluation, expression, and regulation of emotions

Copyright © The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. Permission required for reproduction or display. Variations in Intellectual Ability Mental retardation (now called intellectual disability or developmental disability in Canada) –Significantly below-average intellectual functioning, plus limitations in at least two areas of adaptive functioning involving –Communication skills –Self-care –Ability to live independently –Social skills –Community involvement –Self direction –Health & safety –Academics –Leisure & work

Copyright © The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. Permission required for reproduction or display. Identifying Roots of Mental Retardation Biological causes –Down syndrome Familial retardation Care and treatment –Least restrictive environment –Mainstreaming –Full inclusion

Copyright © The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. Permission required for reproduction or display. Intellectually Gifted 2 to 4 % of the population have IQ scores greater than 130 Stereotypes

Copyright © The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. Permission required for reproduction or display. Individual Differences in Intelligence Culture-fair IQ test –A test that does not discriminate against members of any minority group Heritability –A measure of the degree to which a characteristic is related to genetic, inherited factors –IQs are increasing