Chapter 8- Thinking, Language, and Intelligence Flashcards
All the mental activities associated with thinking, knowing, remembering, and communicating.
Cognition
A mental grouping of similar objects, events, ideas, and people
Concept
A methodical, logical rule or procedure that guarantees you will solve a particular problem.
Algorithm
A simple thinking strategy that often allows you to make judgments and solve problems efficiently; usually speedier but also more error prone than algorithms
Heuristic
A sudden realization of the solution to a problem; it contrasts with strategy- based solutions
Insight
A tendency to search for information that supports our preconceptions and to ignore or distort evidence that contradicts them
Confirmation bias
The inability to see a problem form a new perspective; an obstacle to problem solving
Fixation
An effortless, immediate, automatic feeling or thought, as contrasted with explicit, conscious reasoning
Intuition
Judging the likelihood of an event based on its availability in memory; if an event comes readily to mind (perhaps because it was vivid), we assume it must be common
Availability heuristic
The tendency to be more confident than correct- to overestimate the accuracy of our beliefs and judgments
Overconfidence
Clinging to beliefs and ignoring evidence that proves they are wrong
Belief perseverance
The way an issue is posed; framing can significantly affect decisions and judgments
Framing
The ability to produce new and valuable ideas
Creativity
Narrows the available problem solutions to determine the single best solution
Convergent thinking
Expands the number of possible problem solutions (creative thinking that diverges in different directions).
Divergent thinking
Our spoken, written, or signed words and the ways we combine them to communicate meaning.
Language
Beginning at about 4 months, the stage of speech development in which the infant spontaneously utters various sounds at first unrelated to the household language
Babbling stage
The stage in speech development, from about age 1-2, during which a child speaks mostly in single words
One- word stage
Beginning about age 2, the stage in speech development during which a child speaks mostly two- word statements
Two word stage
Early speech stage in which a child speaks like a telegram- “go car”- using mostly nouns and verbs
Telegraphic speech
In a specific language, a system of rules that enables us to communicate with and understand others
Grammar
Controls language expression- an area of the frontal lobe, usually in the left hemisphere, that directs the muscle movements involved in speech
Broca’s area
Controls language reception- a brain area involved in language comprehension and expression; usually in the left temporal lobe
Wernicke’s area
Mental quality consisting of the ability to learn from experience, solve problems, and use knowledge to adapt to new situations
Intelligence
A general intelligence factor that, according to Spearmen and others, underlies specific mental abilities and is therefore measured by every task on an intelligence test
General intelligence
A condition in which a person otherwise limited in mental ability has an exceptionally specific skill, such as in computation or drawing
Savant syndrome
The ability to perceive, understand, manage, and use emotions
Emotional intelligence
A measure of intelligence test performance devised by Benet; the chronological age that most typically corresponds to a given level of performance. thus, a child who does as well as an average 8 year old is said to have a mental age of 8
Mental age
The widely used American revision (by Terman at Standford University) of Binet’s orginal intelligence test
Standford- Binet
Defined originally as the ratio of mental age (ma) to chronological age (ca) multiplied by 100 (thus, IQ= ma/ca X 100). On contemporary intelligence tests, the average performance for a given age is assigned a score of 100.
Intelligence quotient (IQ)
The most widely use intelligence test; contains verbal and performance (nonverbal) subtests
Wechsler Adult intelligence Scale (WAIS)
Defining uniform testing procedures and meaningful scores by comparison with the performance of a pretested group
Standardization
The bell-shape curve that describes the distribution of many physical and psychological attributes. Most scores fall near the average, and fewer and fewer scores lie near the extremes
Normal curve
The extent to which a test yields consistent results, as assessed by the consistency of scores on two halves of the test, on alternative forms of the test, or on retesting
Reliability
The extent to which a test measures or predicts what it is supposed to
Validity
The portion of variation among individuals that we can attribute to genes. the heritability of a trait may vary, depending on the population and the environment
Heritability
A study in which people of different ages are compared with one another
Cross-sectional study
Research in which the same people are restudied and retested over a long period
Longitudinal study
Accumulated knowledge and verbal skills; tends to increase with age
Crystallized intelligence
Our ability to reason speedily and abstractly; tends to decrease during late adulthood
Fluid intelligence
A self-confirming concern that we will be judged based on a negative stereotype
Stereotype threat
Decisions based on stereotypes or how similar something or someone is to something we already know about
Representativeness Heuristic
Mental image or best example of a category
Prototypes
Intelligence consists of multiple abilities that come in different packages
Gardner’s 8 intelligences
Naturalist, linguistic, interpersonal, logical-mathematical, intrapersonal, musical, bodily-kinesthetic and spatial
Gardner’s 8 intelligences
Analytical intelligence, creative intelligence, practical intelligence
Sternberg’s 3 intelligences
Individuals with severe intellectual deficits but exceptional abilities in some cognitive area
Savants
Method for assessing an individual’s mental aptitudes and comparing them with those of others using numerical scores
Intelligence test
Test designed to predict a person’s future performance; aptitude is the capacity to learn
Aptitude test
Test designed to assess what a person has learned
Achievement test
Was the test standardized? Was the test reliable? Was the test valid?
3 tests of a “good” test
Are gender differences in intelligence test scores minor?
Yes
Do social expectations and opportunities matter?
Yes
Is there little or a great gender math gap found in gender-equal cultures?
Little
Races are more “____” than different
Alike
Is it possible to conclude that race has any bearing on intelligence?
It is impossible
