Cognition Flashcards
The tendency to see objects as only functioning in their usual way, like not realizing you can use a shoe as a hammer.
Functional Fixedness
Judging the likelihood of something based on how well it matches a prototype, like assuming someone is a librarian because they are quiet and wear glasses.
Representativeness Heuristic
The ability to produce novel and valuable ideas, like coming up with a new game to play with friends,
Creativity
The age level at which an individual performs intellectually.
Mental Age
Groups or classes of things that share common characteristics, like grouping animals into mammals, birds, and reptiles.
Categories
The extent to which a test measures what it claims to measure.
Validity
Generating multiple, unique solutions to a problem, like thinking of many uses for a paperclip.
Divergent Thinking
The degree to which a test measures the theoretical construct it is intended to measure.
Construct Validity
The actual age of an individual.
Chronological Age
Mental structures that help us organize and interpret information. In a classroom it would include desks and a teacher.
Schemas
Narrowing down multiple ideas to find a single, best solution, like finding the one correct answer to a math problem.
Convergent Thinking
Establishing norms and uniform procedures for administering and scoring a test.
Standardization
The consistency of a test’s results over time.
Reliability
Performance improvement due to awareness of positive stereotypes about one’s group.
Stereotype Lift
The belief that abilities and intelligence can be developed through effort and learning
Growth Mindset
The belief that abilities and intelligence are static and unchangeable.
Fixed Mindset
The observed rise in average IQ scores over time.
Flynn Effect
AKA “G” A factor that underlies specific mental abilities and is measured by every task on an intelligence test.
General Intelligence
The consistency of test results when the test is divided into two halves and both halves are compared.
Split-Half Reliability
Step-by-step procedures that guarantee a solution, like a math formula.
Algorithms
Simple, efficient rules used to make decisions, like guessing the answer on a test based on what seems most familiar.
Heuristics
The risk of confirming negative stereotypes about one’s group.
Stereotype Threat
The ability to learn from experience, solve problems, and use knowledge to adapt to new situations.
Intelligence
Systems of organization in which items are ranked according to levels of importance, like Animal-> Bird -> Sparrow.
Hierarchies
Tests designed to assess what a person has learned.
Achievement Tests
Cognitive processes that manage and regulate other cognitive processes, like planning, decision-making, and self-control.
Executive Functions
Continuing an endeavor due to previously invested resources (time, money, effort), like continuing to watch a boring movie because you already paid for the ticket.
Sunk-Cost Fallacy
Incorporating new information into existing schemas, like calling a zebra a horse because it fits the horse schema.
Assimilation
The best or most typical example of a category, like a robin for birds.
Prototype
A score derived from standardized tests designed to measure human intelligence.
Intelligence Quotient (IQ)
Changing existing schemas or creating new ones to fit new information, like learning that a zebra is different from a horse.
Accommodation
Tests designed to predict a person’s future performance or capacity to learn.
Aptitude Tests
Exposure to one stimulus influences the response to a subsequent, related stimulus, like seeing the word “yellow” makes you think of a banana.
Priming
A tendency to approach problems using a mindset that has worked previously, like using the same method to solve a math problem because it worked before.
Mental Set
Awareness and understanding of one’s own thought processes, like thinking about how you study best.
Metacognition
The way information is presented affects decision-making and judgments, like saying “90% fat-free” sounds better than “10% fat.”
Framing
The belief that past random events affect the likelihood of future random events, like believing a coin flip will land heads after several tails.
Gambler’s Fallacy
Estimating the likelihood of events based on how easily examples come to mind, like thinking shark attacks are common because you saw one on the news.
Availability Heuristic
The consistency of test results when the same test is administered on two different occasions.
Test-Retest Reliability
The extent to which a test predicts future performance.
Predictive Validity
