Chapter 9- Thinking & Intelligence

Question 1

concept

Answer 1

a mental category that groups objects, relations, activities, abstractions or qualities having common properties

Question 2

basic concept

Answer 2

concepts that have a moderate number of instances and that are easier to acquire than those having few or many instances (apple vs fruit)

Question 3

prototype

Answer 3

an especially representative example of a concept (apple = fruit vs pineapple)

Question 4

proposition

Answer 4

a unit of meaning that is made up of concepts and express a single idea

Question 5

cognitive schema

Answer 5

an integrated mental network of knowledge beliefs and expectations concerning a particular topic or aspect of the world

Question 6

mental image

Answer 6

a neutral representation that mirrors or resembles the thing it represents; occur in many and perhaps all sensory modalities

Question 7

subconscious processes

Answer 7

mental processes occurring outside of conscious awareness but accessible to consciousness when necessary

Question 8

nonconscious processes

Answer 8

mental processes occurring outside of and not available to conscious awareness

Question 9

implicit learning

Answer 9

learning that occurs when you acquire knowledge about something without being aware of how you did so and without being able to state exactly what it is you have learned

Question 10

reasoning

Answer 10

the drawing of conclusions or inferences from observations, facts, or assumptions

Question 11

a problem solving strategy guaranteed to produce a solution even if the user does not know how it works

Answer 11

algorithm

Question 12

deductive reasoning

Answer 12

a form or reasoning in which a conclusion follows necessarily from a certain premises; if the premises are true, the conclusion must be true

Question 13

inductive reasoning

Answer 13

a form of reasoning in which the premises provide support for a conclusion, but it is still possible for the conclusions to be false

Question 14

heuristic

Answer 14

a rule of thumb that suggests a course of action or guides problem solving but does not guarantee an optimal solution

Question 15

dialectical reasoning

Answer 15

a process in which opposing facts or ideas are weighed and compared w a view to determining the best solution or resolving differences

Question 16

affect heuristic

Answer 16

tendency to consult ones emotions instead of estimating probabilities objectively

Question 17

availability heuristic

Answer 17

tendency to judge the probability of a type of event by how easy it is to think of examples or instances

Question 18

framing effect

Answer 18

tendency for peoples choices to be affected by how a choice is presented or framed

Question 19

hindsight bias

Answer 19

tendency to overestimate ones ability to have predicted an event once the outcome is known

Question 20

confirmation bias

Answer 20

tendency to look for or pay attention to only info that confirms ones own belief

Question 21

mental set

Answer 21

tendency to solve problems using procedures that worked before on similar problems

Question 22

post-decision dissonance

Answer 22

in the theory of cognitive dissonance, tension that occurs when you believe you may have made a bad decision

Question 23

justification of effort

Answer 23

tendency of individuals to increase their liking for something that they have worked hard or suffered to attain; a common form of dissonance reduction

Question 24

intelligence

Answer 24

an inferred characteristic of an individual usually defined as the ability to profit from experience, acquire knowledge, think abstractly, act purposefully, or adapt to changes in the environment

Question 25

psychometrics

Answer 25

measurement of mental abilities, traits and processes

Question 26

factor analysis

Answer 26

a statistical method for analyzing the intercorrelations among various measures or test scores; clusters of measures or scores that are highly correlated are assumed to measure the same underlying trait, ability, or aptitude (factor)

Question 27

g factor

Answer 27

a general intellectual ability assumed by many theorists to underlie specific mental abilities/talents

Question 28

mental age (MA)

Answer 28

measure of mental development expressed in terms of the average mental ability at a given age

Question 29

intelligence quotient (IQ)

Answer 29

a measure of intelligence originally computed by dividing a persons mental age by their chronological age and multiplying by 100; now derived by norms provided for standardized intelligence tests.

Question 30

stereotype threat

Answer 30

a burden of doubt a person feels about their performance due to negative stereotypes about their groups abilities

Question 31

triarchic theory of intelligence

Answer 31

a theory of intelligence that emphasizes info processing strategies, the ability to creatively transfer skills to new situations and the practical application of intelligence.

Question 32

metacognition

Answer 32

knowledge or awareness of ones own cognitive processes, ability to monitor and control them

Question 33

tacit knowledge

Answer 33

strategies for success that are not explicitly taught but but instead must be inferred

Question 34

emotional intelligence

Answer 34

ability to identify your own and other peoples emotions accurately, express your emotions clearly, and regulate emotions in yourself and others (EQ)

Question 35

cognitive ethology

Answer 35

study of cognitive processes in nonhuman animals

Question 36

theory of minds

Answer 36

a system of beliefs about the way ones own mind and the mind of others work and how individuals are affected by their beliefs and feelings