1. Thinking, Language, and Intelligence
Chapters 10 and 11
Thinking, Language, and Intelligence

2. Thinking Cognition Cognitive Psychologists
mental activities associated with thinking, knowing, remembering, and communicating
Cognitive Psychologists
study these mental activities
concept formation
problem solving
decision making
judgment formation

3. Thinking Concept Prototype
mental grouping of similar objects, events, ideas, or people
Prototype
mental image or best example of a category
matching new items to the prototype provides a quick and easy method for including items in a category (as when comparing feathered creatures to a prototypical bird, such as a robin)

4. Which one is the prototype?

5. Thinking Algorithm Step by step procedures that guarantee a solution
methodical, logical rule or procedure that guarantees solving a particular problem
contrasts with the usually speedier–but also more error-prone--use of heuristics

6. Thinking
Heuristic
simple thinking strategy that often allows us to make judgments and solve problems efficiently
usually speedier than algorithms
more error-prone than algorithms

7. S P L O Y O C H Y G Thinking Unscramble Algorithm Heuristic
all 907,208 combinations
Heuristic
throw out all YY combinations
other heuristics?

8. Heuristic searching To search for hot cocoa mix, you could search every supermarket aisle (an algorithm), or you could check the breakfast, beverage, and baking supplies sections (heuristics). The heuristics approach is often speedier, but an algorithmic search guarantees you will find it eventually.

9. Thinking Insight Creativity
sudden and often novel realization of the solution to a problem
contrasts with strategy-based solutions
Creativity
the ability to produce novel and valuable ideas
The Aha! moment A burst of right temporal lobe activity accompanies insight solutions to word problems

10. five components of creativity
Expertise
Imaginative thinking skills
A venturesome personality
Intrinsic Motivation
A creative environment

11. What Hinders our Problem Solving?
Confirmation Bias
tendency to search for information that confirms one’s preconceptions
Fixation
inability to see a problem from a new perspective
impediment to problem solving

12. The Matchstick Problem
How would you arrange six matches to form four equilateral triangles?

13. The Three-Jugs Problem
Using jugs A, B, and C, with the capacities shown, how would you measure out the volumes indicated?

14. The Candle-Mounting Problem
Using these materials, how would you mount the candle on a bulletin board?

15. Example of Fixation Mental Set
tendency to approach a problem in a particular way
especially a way that has been successful in the past but may or may not be helpful in solving a new problem

16. Example of Fixation Functional Fixedness
tendency to think of things only in terms of their usual functions
impediment to problem solving

17. The Matchstick Problem
Solution to the matchstick problem

18. The Three-Jugs Problem
Solution: a) All seven problems can be solved by the equation shown in (a): B - A - 2C = desired volume.
b) But simpler solutions exist for problems 6 and 7, such as A - C for problem 6.

19. The Candle-Mounting Problem
Solving this problem requires recognizing that a box need not always serve as a container

20. Heuristics (Mental Shortcuts)
Representativeness Heuristic
judging the likelihood of things in terms of how well they seem to represent, or match, particular prototypes
may lead one to ignore other relevant information

21. Heuristics Availability Heuristic
estimating the likelihood of events based on their availability in memory
if instances come readily to mind (perhaps because of their vividness), we presume such events are common
Example: airplane crash

22. Thinking Overconfidence tendency to be more confident than correct
tendency to overestimate the accuracy of one’s beliefs and judgments
How can overconfidence lead to cramming?

23. Thinking Framing the way an issue is posed
how an issue is framed can significantly affect decisions and judgments
Example: What is the best way to market ground beef--as 25% fat or 75% lean?

24. Framing and Options Preferred portion size depends on framing
SuperSize Me?
Why choosing to be an organ donor depends on where you live.
Automatic?
How to help employees decide to save for their retirement.
Opt-In or Opt-Out

25. Thinking Belief Bias Belief Perseverance
the tendency for one’s preexisting beliefs to distort logical reasoning
sometimes by making invalid conclusions seem valid or valid conclusions seem invalid
Belief Perseverance
clinging to one’s initial conceptions after the basis on which they were formed has been discredited

26. Intuition
Intuition- an effortless, immediate, automatic feeling or thought, as contrasted with explicit, conscious reasoning
Faced with complex decisions involving many factors, the best advice may indeed be to take our time—to "sleep on it"—and to await the intuitive result of our unconscious processing.

28. Artificial Intelligence
designing and programming computer systems
to do intelligent things
to simulate human thought processes
intuitive reasoning
learning
understanding language

29. Artificial Intelligence
Computer Neural Networks
computer circuits that mimic the brain’s interconnected neural cells
performing tasks
learning to recognize visual patterns
learning to recognize smells

30. Language Language Phoneme
our spoken, written, or gestured works and the way we combine them to communicate meaning
Phoneme
in a spoken language, the smallest distinctive sound unit
Bat= phonemes b, a and t
869 exist, but English only uses about 40
Changes in phonemes produces changes in meaning
Ie bat, bet, beet, beat, bit, etc.

31. Language Morpheme Grammar
in a language, the smallest unit that carries meaning
may be a word or a part of a word (such as a prefix or suffix)
Grammar
a system of rules in a language that enables us to communicate with and understand others

32. Language Semantics Syntax
the set of rules by which we derive meaning from morphemes, words, and sentences in a given language
also, the study of meaning
Ie add –ed to a verb and it is past tense
Syntax
the rules for combining words into grammatically sensible sentences in a given language
Ie adjectives come before nouns

33. Language We learn about 3500 words per year
We are all born to recognize speech sounds from all the world’s languages
100 90 80 70 60 50 40 30 20 10
Percentage able
to discriminate
Hindi t’s
Hindi-
speaking
adults
6-8
months
8-10
10-12
English-
Infants from English-speaking homes

34. How Do We Learn Language?
Skinner and Operant Learning: Through association, imitation, and reinforcement once the vocal musculature becomes able to learn
Chomsky: Language is an acquisition device than can be turned on and off; there is a universal grammar that exists

35. Language Babbling Stage One-Word Stage beginning at 3 to 4 months
the stage of speech development in which the infant spontaneously utters various sounds at first unrelated to the household language
One-Word Stage
from about age 1 to 2
the stage in speech development during which a child speaks mostly in single words

36. Language Two-Word Stage Telegraphic Speech beginning about age 2
the stage in speech development during which a child speaks in mostly two-word statements
Telegraphic Speech
early speech stage in which the child speaks like a telegram-–“go car”--using mostly nouns and verbs and omitting “auxiliary” words

37. Language Summary of Language Development Month (approximate) Stage 410 12 24
24+
Babbles many speech sounds.
Babbling reveals households
language.
One-word stage.
Two-world, telegraphic speech.
Language develops rapidly into
complete sentences.

38. Language
Genes design the mechanisms for a language, and experience activates them as it modifies the brain

39. Language New language learning gets harder with age
100 90 80 70 60 50
Native
3-7
8-10
11-15
17-39
Percentage
correct on
grammar
test
Age at school
New language learning gets harder with age
Young children have a readiness to learn language. Ten years after coming to the United States, Asian immigrants took a grammar test. Although there is no sharply defined critical period for second language learning, those who arrived before age 8 understood American English grammar as well as native speakers did. Those who arrived later did not

40. Language Limits
When a young brain does not learn any language, its language-learning capacity never fully develops.
Childhood seems to represent a critical (or "sensitive") period for mastering certain aspects of language
Deaf children who gain hearing with cochlear implants by age 2 develop better oral speech than do those who receive implants after age 4
Natively deaf children who learn sign language after age 9 never learn it as well as those who become deaf at age 9 after learning English.

41. Language
The interplay of thought and language

42. Does language influence our thinking?

43. Whorf’s Linguistic Relativity
The idea that language determines the way we think (not vive versa).
The Hopi tribe has no past tense in their language, so Whorf says they rarely think of the past.

44. Do people that speak more than one language think differently depending on their language at that time?

45. Thinking without Language
We can think in words.
But more often we think in mental pictures.
In 1977, Reggie Jackson hit 3 HR’s against the Dodgers. He has stated that before each at bat, he visualizes crushing a home run. Do you think visualization helps?

46. Do Animals think?

47. Kohler’s Chimpanzees
Kohler exhibited that Chimps can problem solve.

48. Honeybees seem to communicate

49. Apes and Signing