Chapter 8: Thinking, Language and Intelligence Flashcards
What is cognitive psychology?
The study of mental functions such as intelligence, thinking, language, memory, and decision making
What is cognition ?
The mental activity that includes thinking and the understandings that result from thinking
Cognitive psychology is based on two ideas. What are those ?
1) Knowledge : about the world is stored in the brain in representations
2) Thinking : is the mental manipulation of these representations
In thinking, we use two basic types of mental representations. What are they ?
1) Analogical and symbolic
What are analogical representations? Give an example.
Representation that have some characteristics of the objects they represent
Clock represent time, a map represents the geographical layout
What are symbolic representations? Give an example.
These representations are usually words, numbers, or ideas. They do not have relationships to physical qualities of objects in the world
The word violon, stands for a musical instrument. You cannot “see” any part of a violin in the shape of the word.
What is categorization? Why does this mental activity takes place?
Grouping things based on shared properties
This mental activity reduces the amount of knowledge we must hold in memory and is therefore an efficient way of thinking
What is a concept ?
It is a category, or class, of related items. enabling us to organize mental representations around a common theme
What is the prototype model of concepts?
When you think about a category, you tend to look for a best example, or prototype, for that category. Once you have the prototype, you categorize new objects based on how similar they are to the prototype
What is the exemplar model of concepts?
It proposes that any concept has no single best representation. All the examples, or exemplars, of category members that you have actually encountered form the concept
In cognition, we can use schemas for two reasons. What are those reasons ? Give an example.
1) Common situations have consistent rules
2) People have specific roles within situational contexts
1) If you go see theater, you have to stay quiet
2) Actors, staff and spectators don’t act the same
What is the unintended consequences of schemas or prototypes?
stereotypes
On a cognitive level, what are gender roles ?
A type of schema that operates at the unconscious level
What is a script? Give an example
A schema that directs behavior over time within a situation
Going to the restaurant. You know you’re gonna arrive, wait for a table, sit down, look at the menu, order food, eat and leave.
If schemas and scripts are potentially problematic, why do they persist?
Because they have an adaptative value. These shortcuts minimize the amounts of attention required to navigate familiar environments
What is happening during the process of decision making?
We select among alternatives. We identify important criteria and determine how well each alternative satisfies these criteria
What happens during the process of problem solving?
We overcome obstacles to move from a present state to a desired goal state
True or false. Decision makers are biased, use irrelevant criteria, and are unduly influenced by their emotions
True.
What are heuristics?
Shortcuts in thinking that are fast and efficient strategies that people typically use to make decisions
What is an hindsight bias?
An error in reasoning created by the after-the-fact explanations
What is anchoring ? Give an example.
It occurs when, in making judgments, people rely on the first piece of information they encounter or on information that comes most quickly to mind.
An anchor serves as a reference point in decision making.
For example, if I ask someone if cougars are dangerous vs if I ask them to describe cougars characterics, the answers would not be the same based on the question.
What is anchoring ? Give an example.
It occurs when, in making judgments, people rely on the first piece of information they encounter or on information that comes most quickly to mind.
An anchor serves as a reference point in decision making.
For example, if I ask someone if cougars are dangerous vs if I ask them to describe cougars characterics, the answers would not be the same based on the question.
What is framing ? Give an example.
It refers to the tendency to emphasize the potential losses or potential gains from at least one alternative in decision making
I wanna buy a computer. I could spend 3000$ on one that is very powerful or 800$ on a good one. I might choose the 800$, but it’s gonna have a shorter life span than the 3000$ one.
Within framing, what is the loss aversion effect?
People are generally much more concerned with costs than with benefits
What are the two types of relative comparisons heuristic ?
Anchoring and framing
What is the availability heuristic? Give an example.
The general tendency to make a decision based on the answer that comes most easily to mind
If you are part of the LGBTQ+ community, you might think there is more queer people than the reality, while if you come from a conservative environnement, you might think there is less than reality.
What is the representativeness heuristic? Give an example.
The tendency to place a person or an object in a category if the person or object is similar to our prototype for that category
Max is very well educated, loves to read and love going to the theater. You’re surprise to learn that he works in construction, because it doesn’t fit your prototype of someone that workds in this field.
What is the base rate effect when it comes to faulty thinking with representativeness heuristic? Give an example.
How frequently an event occurs
With the last example of Max, there are so many construction workers, that there is a good chance that a lot of them are educated, loves reading and loves going to theater.
True or false. When people are in good moods, they tend to be persistent and to find creative, elaborate responses to challenging problems
True
What is the cognitive purpose of anticipating future emotional states?
It serve as a source of information and a guide in decision making
emotions serve as (…) : They provide feedback for making quick decisions
Heuristic
When emotions and cognitions are in conflict, (…) typically have the stronger impact on decisions
Emotions
What is the affect-as-information theory? Give an example.
People use current moods to make judgments and appraisals. They rely on their moods even if they are unaware of a mood’s source
I’m a critic, I go see a play and I’m in a bad mood. I might give a negative critic
What is Damasio’s somatic marker theory? Give an example.
Most decisions are influenced by bodily reactions, that arise from emotional evaluation of an action’s consequences (called somatic markers).
The action is based on past history to future outcomes
I have a gut feeling that someone is following me, I hurry up even if the person is not a threat at the end
What part of the brain, when damage, make people insensitive to somatic markers?
The middle of the prefrontal region
What is affective forecasting? Give an example of common poor affective forecasting
Predicting how they will feel about things in the future
People overestimate how happy they will be for positive events, such as getting married, having children
One study found that people who had been paralyzed were more optimistic about their futures than were people who had won lotteries. Why ?
After a negative event, people engage in strategies that help them feel better . Making sense of an event helps reduce its negative emotional consequences.
Framing is poweful in marketing. Why ? Give an example
The point is that positively framed information is more influential in changing behavior than negatively framed information
It helps to frame it as discount instead of a surcharge.
It also helps with low-sugar product that are already high in sugar
If you were had a buisiness selling technologies, how would you anchor your price ?
I would start with overpriced product and virtually lowering those prices as discounts, so the consumers would see it as a great deal considering the product they just buy and be more impressed by it.
Give strategies for problem solving.
1) Fixing and organising subgoals
2) Restructuring the problem
3) Persist with previous strategies, or mental sets ( A mental set)
4) Using an algorithm
5) Finding an appropriate analogy
What is functional fixedness?
In problem solving, having a fixed idea of the properties of object.
What is an algorithm ?
An algorithm is a guideline (formula) that if followed correctly will always yield the correct answer
What is analogical problem solving?
It means using a strategy that works in one context to solve a problem that is structurally similar. To accomplish this kind of transfer, we must pay attention to the structure of each problem
What is Insight, in problem solving ?
The sudden realization for a solution to a problem
When too many options are available, why people experience conflict and indecision?
Cause all of them are attractive, which results in indecision.
What are the two approachs is decision making?
What is the difference between the two?
Maximizing and satisficing
Maximizers seek to identify the perfect choice among a set of options, whereas satisficers seek to find a “good enough” choice that meets their minimum requirements
It turns out that maximizers, compared with satisficers, tend to select the objectively best choice, but…
those choices bring them less happiness
Does maximizers or satisficers have more tendancies of engaging in more upward counterfactual thinking than satisficers (regrets) ?
Maximizers, cause they want the best option and second guess all the time
What are some advice of The Paradox of Choice (2004) by Schwartz?
1) Approach the decision with the mindset of a satisficer. Try to articulate your minimum requirements for a good major
2) Promise yourself that you will stick with your decision (irreversibility)
3) Have realistic expectations
4) Practice an attitude of gratitude
What is Language ?
A system of communication using sounds and symbols according to grammatical rules
What is the hierarchy of language, from bottom-up?
0) Phonemes
1) Morphemes
2) Word
3) Phrases
4) Sentences
What are morphemes ? What are they made of ?
1) Morphemes are the smallest units that have MEANING
2) Phonemes.
What are phonemes?
The basic sounds of speech, the building blocks of language
What is syntax ?
The system of rules that govern how words are combined into phrases and how phrases are combined to make sentences
What is Semantics ?
The study of the system of meanings that underlie words, phrases, and sentences
What is aphasia ? What is expressive aphasia?
1) A language disorder which results in deficits in language comprehension and production
2) It interrupts their ability to speak
Where is Wernicke’s area? What happens when it’s damaged ?
1) Region of the left hemisphere where the temporal and parietal lobes meet
2) Patients develop receptive aphasia. They have trouble understanding the meaning of words
What happens with people with receptive aphasia?
Those with receptive aphasia are often highly verbal, but what they say does not follow the rules of grammar or make sense
What is global aphasia ?
Where the person cannot produce or comprehend language
What is the role of right hemisphere in language ?
Processing the rythm of speech and understanding metaphors
What is the linguistic relativity theory?
The claim that language determines thought
How does culture influence language and cognition ? Give an example
The usage of certain words can activate schemas that differ from culture to culture because of language.
For example, if a culture use more sexist terms, maybe there will be more tendencies for machism.
True or false. Up to six months of age, a baby can discriminate all the phonemes that occur in all languages, even if the sounds do not occur in the language spoken in the baby’s home
True.
From five to seven months, they begin…
What is does this language form use as components ?
Babbling !
Consonants and vowels
From seven to eight months, they…
What are the components of this form of language?
Babbles
Continuous syllables
When are the first words of infants ?
By the end of their first year
What is telegraphic speech?
A rudimentary speech used by toddlers, with logic and syntax, with missing words and no grammatical marking.
Why are children overgeneralizing grammatical rules ?
Because they can’t discriminate yet when it is appropriate to use it, and use it at every occasion.
Before 18 months of age, how does an infant typically speak?
In single words. It is not until after this age that children begin to string words together.
What is Chomsky’s universal grammar ?
All languages are based on humans’ innate knowledge of a set of universal and specifically linguistic elements and relationships. All languages include similar elements, such as nouns and verbs, but how those elements are arranged varies considerably across languages.
What is surface structure and deep structure? Give an example
1) surface structure: the sound and order of words. 2) deep structure: the implicit meanings of sentences
'’The boy eat the candy’’ and ‘‘The candy, eaten by the boy’’ have the same deep structure but not the safe surface structure
True or false. Chomsky thinks that humans are not born with a language acquisition device, which contains universal grammar
False. Chomsky, humans are born with a language acquisition device,
True or false. Deaf babies exposed to signed languages from birth acquire these languages on an identical maturational timetable as hearing babies acquire spoken languages
True
What are phonics ?
An association between letters and their phonemes
What are the whole language approaches?
These approaches emphasize learning the meanings of words and understanding how words are connected in sentences
How is the whole language approach to teaching reading better or worse than the phonics approach?
Whole language may be better at motivating students to read, but phonics reliably produces better reading
What is intelligence?
The ability to use knowledge to reason, make decisions, make sense of events, solve problems, understand complex ideas, learn quickly, and adapt to environmental challenges.
What is the psychometric approach to mesure intelligence ?
On how people perform on standardized tests that assess mental abilities
What are Achievement tests ?
It assess people’s current levels of skill and of knowledge
What are Aptitude tests?
Tests that seek to predict what tasks, and perhaps even what jobs, people will be good at in the future
What is the Stanford-Binet test ?
A test to measure children normative score
The Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale (WAIS) ?
The same thing as Stanford-Binet, but for adults
What is Binet’s concept of mental age ?
This measure is determined by comparing the child’s test score with the average score for children of each chronological age
How do you calculate an IQ for children ?
IQ is computed by dividing a child’s estimated mental age by the child’s chronological age and multiplying the result by 100
Why does the IQ calculation for adults different than for children ?
Instead, IQ in the adult range is measured in comparison with the average adult and not with adults at different ages
True or false. IQ test is good to determine someone’s intelligence.
It depends what kind of intelligence, but the overall evidence indicates that IQ is a fairly good predictor of such life outcomes
True or false. One study found that children’s self-control, assessed through teacher and parent reports as well as laboratory tasks, was much better than IQ in predicting final grades
True
True or false ? People from privileged backgrounds tend to have higher IQs
True, but it is explained by a lot of advantages too
What is factor analysis in measuring intelligence ?
In this statistical technique, items similar to one another are clustered. The clusters are called factors. Most intelligence test items tended to cluster as one factor
What is Spearman view on ‘‘general intelligence’’
Spearman viewed general intelligence as a factor that contributes to performance on any intellectual task
What is Spearman ‘‘specific skills’’ ?
The fact that you perform better on some tasks than on others
What are Cattel’s two types of Intelligence ?
1) Fluid intelligence: is being able to understand abstract relationships and think logically WITHOUT prior knowledge
2) Crystallized intelligence: involves knowledge acquired through experience, such as vocabulary and cultural information, and the ability to use this knowledge to solve problems
Robert Sternberg (1999) has theorized that there are three types of intelligence:
1) Practical
2) Creative
3) Analytical
What is Emotional intelligence consisted of (EI) ?
1) managing one’s emotions,
2) using one’s own emotions to guide thoughts and actions 3)recognizing other people’s emotions
4) understanding emotional language
What is the relation between IQ and speed of processing?
Those with high IQs tend to have quicker reaction times, especially on choice reaction time tests.
How does stereotype threat sometimes interfere with minority students’ performance on intelligence tests?
hen minority students focus on stereotypes about their groups, they may become anxious about confirming such stereotypes through their test results. This distraction makes them less likely to do well on the tests.
