Cognitive Psychology (13%-17%) Flashcards
Prototype
Mental image or the best example of a specific concept
Convergent thinking
Focuses on coming up with the single well-established answer to a problem
Divergent thinking
Exploring many possible solutions
Trial and error
Trying a number of different solutions in ruling out those that do not work
Algorithms
Set of step by step procedures that provide the correct answer to a particular problem
Heuristic
Educated guess based on prior experiences, mental shortcut
Representative heuristic
Comparing present situation to most representative mental prototype
Availability heuristic
Decisions on examples and information that immediately spring to mind
Mental set
People use solutions that have worked in the past
Functional fixedness
View problems only in their usual manner
Overconfidence
Tendency to overestimate our own knowledge, skill or judgment
Hindsight bias
I knew it all along, view events as more predictable than they really are
Framing
The acquired response to a formally neutral stimulus
Alfred Binet
French psychologist invented the first practical IQ test
G factor
General intelligence factor that underlies all intelligent activity
Charles Spearman
Fluid intelligence
Ability to reason think flexible, diminishes with adult aging
Crystallized intelligence
Accumulation of knowledge, fax/skills, increases with age
Howard Gardner
Theory of multiple intelligences, eight distinct types
Wechsler intelligence scales
Intelligence was made up of a number of different mental abilities rather than a single general intelligence factor
Flynn affect
IQ scores have been rising worldwide
Achievement test
Measures a persons level of skill/knowledge in a specific area
Aptitude test
Assesses what a person is capable of doing or to predict
Reliability
Tendency of a test to produce the same scores again and again each time is given to the same people
Test retest reliability
Best for intelligence, administering a test twice at two different points in time
Split half reliability
Comparing results of 1/2 of a test with results from the other half
Validity
The degree in which a test actually measures what it supposed to measure