1. Psychology in Action (8e)
PowerPoint  Lecture Notes Presentation
Chapter 8: Thinking,
Language, and Intelligence
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2. ©John Wiley & Sons, Inc. 2007 Huffman: Psychology in Action (8e)
Lecture Overview
Thinking
Language
Intelligence
The Intelligence Controversy
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Chapter Introduction
Thinking, language, and intelligence are often studied under the larger topic of cognition (mental activities involved in acquiring, storing, retrieving, and using knowledge).
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Thinking
Cognitive building blocks.
The processes of thinking are distributed throughout the brain, especially in the frontal lobe
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5. Thinking—Three Components (Mental Images)
1. Mental Images or Symbols is an object or an act that stands for something else. (mental representations of a previously stored sensory experience, including visual, auditory, etc.)
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6. Thinking—Three Components (Mental Images Continued)
Why are the two forms in (a) the same, yet the two forms in (b) are different? Solving this problem requires mental manipulation of the mental images.
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7. Thinking—Three Components (Mental Images Continued)
Mental Image Solution: To solve the problem rotate one of the objects in (b) and then compare the rotated image with the other object to see whether they match or not.
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8. Thinking—Three Components (Concepts)
Concepts (mental representation of a group or category that shares similar characteristics)
How do we learn concepts?
a. Artificial concepts are formed by logical, specific rules.
b. Natural concepts/prototypes are formed by our experiences in everyday life.
c. Hierarchies help us group concepts into subcategories within broader categories.
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9. Thinking—Three Components An Example of Hierarchies
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10. Thinking—Three Components (Language)
3. Language (a form of communication using sounds and symbols combined according to specified rules)
Prototypes an example
of a concept that best
Exemplifies that concept.
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Problem Solving
Step 1: Preparation- identifying, separating, and defining.
Step 2: Production- generating possible solutions (hypotheses) by using algorithms and heuristics.
Algorithms - is a specific procedure that, when used properly and in the right cricumstances, will always lead to the solution of the problem.
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Problem Solving
Heuristics – are rules of thumb that often, but not always, help us find a solution to the problem.
Step 3: Evaluation- judging hypotheses in Step 2 against the criteria in Step 1.
Pg Six Problems to Solve
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13. Problem Solving - Problem Solving Methods
1. Trial and Error - Trying different things and seeing what happens with each one until we arrive at our goal more or less by chance.
2. Difference Reduction – we identify our goal, where we are in relation to it, and the direction we must go to move closer to it.
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14. Problem Solving - Problem Solving Methods
3. Means-End Analysis – we know that certain things we can do (means) will have certain results (ends).
4. Working Backward – involves breaking a problem down into parts and then dealing with each part individually.
The problem solver starts by examining the final goal and then works backward from the final goal to determine the best coarse of action.
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15. Problem Solving - Problem Solving Methods
5. Analogies – is a similarity between two or more items, events, or situations.
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16. Problem Solving – Insight and Incubation
Insight – Sudden understanding of some problem or situation.
Incubation – when we stand back from a problem and allow the solution to take place.
Incubation effect – when we arrive at the solution to a problem when we have not even been consciously working on the problem.
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17. Problem Soving—Five Key Barriers to Obstacles of Problem Solving
1. Mental Sets (persistence in using strategies that have worked in the past)
Using no more than four lines, can you connect all nine dots without lifting your pencil from the paper?
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Problem Solving—Five Key Barriers to Problem Solving (Mental Sets Continued)
To overcome mental sets you must “think outside the box”—literally!
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19. Problem Solving—Five Key Barriers to Problem Solving
2. Functional Fixedness (thinking of an object as only functioning in its usual way)
Can you use these supplies to mount the candle on the wall so that it can be lit in a normal way without toppling over?
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Problem Solving—Five Key Barriers to Problem Solving (Functional Fixedness Continued)
To overcome functional fixedness, you must think of the matchbox, tacks, and candle all functioning in new ways.
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21. Problem Solving—Five Key Barriers to Problem Solving
3. Confirmation Bias (preferring information that confirms preexisting positions or beliefs, while ignoring contradictory evidence)
4. Availability Heuristic (judging the likelihood of an event based on how readily available other instances are in memory)
©John Wiley & Sons, Inc Huffman: Psychology in Action (8e)

22. Problem Solving—Five Key Barriers to Problem Solving
5. Representativeness Heuristic [estimating the probability of something based on how well the circumstances match (or represent) a previous prototype]
When people overestimate the dangers of flying is it an example of the availability heuristic or the representativeness heuristic?
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23. Problem Solving—Creativity
Creativity (ability to produce valued outcomes in a novel way)
Three elements of creativity:
Originality
Fluency
Flexibility
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25. Problem Solving—Creativity
Divergent thinking (ability to produce many alternatives or ideas) is linked to creativity (e.g., reordering these letters “grevenidt” to form many new words).
Convergent thinking (attempting to find one correct answer) is linked to conventional, non-creative thinking (e.g., = ?).
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26. Thinking – The ABCD’s of Problem Solving
1. Assessing the Problem – examining its parts and making sure that you understand it.
2. Brainstorming Approach – is the free, spontaneous production of possible approaches or solutions to a problem.
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27. Problem Solving – The ABCD’s of Problem Solving
3. Choosing an Approach – made on the basis of which approach seems most likely to work.
4. Doing the problem – Try out the approach.
5. Evaluating the Results – Deciding outcomes and determine if the results are final. May need to repeat the problem solving process.
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28. Reasoning – Deductive Reasoning
3. Choosing an Approach – made on the basis of which approach seems most likely to work.
4. Doing the problem – Try out the approach.
5. Evaluating the Results – Deciding outcomes and determine if the results are final. May need to repeat the problem solving process.
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Thinking—Creativity
Want to test your creativity? Arrange 10 coins in the configuration shown here. Then, by only moving two coins, create two rows of 6 coins.
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Thinking—Creativity
Can you see how this is a creative solution to the 10 coin problem?
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Warm Up
What is Insight and Incubation?
Give an example of insight and incubation. How might you use either of the two?
©John Wiley & Sons, Inc Huffman: Psychology in Action (8e)

33. Language: Three Building Blocks
1. Phoneme (smallest unit of speech or sound)
2. Morpheme (smallest meaningful unit of language)
3. Grammar (rules specifying how phonemes, morphemes, words, and phrases should be combined to express thoughts)
Syntax (rules for word order)
Semantics (system of using words to create meaning)
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Language Development
Prelinguistic Stage (crying, cooing, and babbling)
Linguistic Stage (single-utterances, telegraphic speech, and learning the rules of grammar)
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36. Theories of Language Development
The Nature Perspective: language is an inborn capacity and develops primarily by maturation.
Chomsky’s language acquisition device (LAD)
The Nurture Perspective: language develops from a complex system of rewards, punishments, and imitation
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37. ©John Wiley & Sons, Inc. 2007 Huffman: Psychology in Action (8e)
Intelligence
Intelligence (global capacity to think rationally, act purposefully, and deal effectively with the environment)
Intelligence is a hypothetical, abstract construct.
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38. ©John Wiley & Sons, Inc. 2007 Huffman: Psychology in Action (8e)
What Is Intelligence?
Historical views of intelligence:
1. Single ability or general factor called “g” (Spearman)
2. Multiple abilities (Thurstone and Guilford)
3. Single ability with two types of g, fluid and crystallized intelligence (Cattell)
4. Multiple abilities (Gardner and Sternberg)
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Intelligence Models
Gardner
Sternberg
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42. Measuring Intelligence
Stanford-Binet and Wechsler most widely used individual intelligence tests. Both tests compute an intelligence quotient (IQ), which compares the deviation of a person’s test score to norms for that person’s age group.
Original version of Stanford-Binet (IQ = MA/CA x 100)
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43. Measuring Intelligence— The Normal Distribution of IQ Scores
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44. Measuring Intelligence— Sample Wechsler Tests
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45. Measuring Intelligence
Three scientific standards for psychological tests:
Standardization establishes norms and uniform procedures for giving and scoring a test.
Reliability is a measure of the consistency and stability of test scores over time.
Validity is the ability of a test to measure what it was designed to measure.
©John Wiley & Sons, Inc Huffman: Psychology in Action (8e)

46. The Intelligence Controversy—Extremes in Intelligence
Mental Retardation (IQs of 70 and below)
Mental Giftedness (IQs of 135 and above)
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48. The Intelligence Controversy: Explaining Differences
Is it the brain? All mental activity (including intelligence) results from neural activity in the brain.
Is it genetic or environmental influences? Heredity and environment are important, inseparable factors in intellectual development.
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An Example of a “Brain” Test for Intelligence? Which “leg” of the drawing is longer (a) or (b)?
When images are quickly flashed, the amount of time someone needs to make a correct choice may reveal something about intelligence.
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50. An Example of “Genetic Vs. Environmental” Influences on Intelligence
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51. The Intelligence Controversy: Are IQ Tests Culturally Biased?
Some ethnic groups score differently on IQ tests, but there are numerous contributing factors, including stereotype threat.
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