thinking and intelligence (7) Flashcards
cognition
thinking
encompasses how we integrate, organize, and use our conscious cognitive experiences
cognitive psychology
field dedicated to examining how people think
explains how and why we think the way we do
how we organize thoughts and information
how people think
the nature of thought or the processes involved in thinking
how well people think
variations among people in thinking ability
how does the brain organize information?
senses pull information from environment
brain synthesizes info to create thoughts
thoughts are filtered through
emotions and memories
thoughts are expressed through
language or are stored as memories
concepts
sorting of information
categories of information, ideas, images, experiences that share common characteristics or attributes
grouping of similar information
compares relationships among different experiences
prototypes
a strong example or representation of a concept
influenced by culture, experience, and knowledge
natural concept
Formed through direct & indirect experiences
Most concepts we form
Defined by a general set of features, not all of which must be present for an object to be considered part of the concept
Ex.) Snow, birds, fruit
artificial concept
Formed by learning specific rules that define it
Many acquire in school
Defined by a specific set of features; the concept must meet a set of rules/have certain defining properties
Crucial to complex thought
Ex.) Geometry
schema
mental collection of related concepts that organizes information and allows brain to work more efficiently
(brain makes assumptions of known information)
role schema
mental collection of information about how individuals in certain roles behave (he’s a firefighter so he must be brave)
event schema
mental collection about a set of behaviors (how to greet someone)
language
communication system between 2 or more people using words and systematic rules to organize those words to transmit information
lexicon
words of a given language (vocabulary)
grammar
set of rules for organizing words to convey meaning
linguistic determinism
theory that the language a person speaks largely determines the nature of that person’s thoughts
phonology
words created by combining various phonemes
phonemes
basic sound unit
building block of speech sounds
combine to create morphemes
chat has 3 phonemes (ch-a-t)
morphemes
smallest unit of language that convey some type if meaning
semantics
process by which we derive meaning from words/morphemes
(adding -ed to a word means it happened in the past)
syntax
the way words are organized into a sentence
pragmatics
practical aspects of communicating with others, or social “niceties” or “norms” of language
(talking to a friend vs. parent)
knowing what rhythm to use when communicating (oh… or oh!)
noam chomsky
proposed that we are born with a biological predisposition to acquire language
what is the critical period for language acquisition?
early in life
being deprived of learning it in early life will impede ability to fully acquire and use language
problem-solving
thoughts and actions required to achieve a certain goal; a process for finding a solution
decision-making
process of evaluating alternatives and choosing among them
trial and error problem solving
continuously trying different solutions until problem is solved
algorithm
step-by-step problem solving formula
heuristic
general problem-solving framework; mental shortcut
mental set problem
tendency to persist in using problem-solving patterns that worked in the past
a set way of looking at a problem
functional fixedness
thinking about objects only in terms of what they were designed for
cannot think outside of the box
biases
knowledge and reasoning are used to make decisions
anchoring bias
tendency to focus on one piece if information when making a decision or solving a problem
hindsight bias
leads you to believe that the event you just experiences was predictable, even though it wasn’t
(mendoza should not have put diaz in to pitch bc now we lost the game, butif we won we would be cheering for diaz)
confirmation bias
tendency to focus on information that confirms your existing beliefs while ignoring any evidence that does not fit those beliefs
representiative bias
tendency to judge an event by the extent to which it resembles the typical case
(unintentionally stereotype someone or something)
(ex. someone wearing red to target)
availability heuristic
tendency to make a decision based on an example, information, or recent experience that is readily available to you even though it may not be the best example to inform your decision
(voting for someone bc grandpa tell you to)
creativity
the ability to generate, create, or discover new ideas, solutions and possibilities
divergent thinking
thinking outside the box (seeking different possibilities)
convergent thinking
ability to provide a correct or well-established solution to a problem
(a problem only has one answer)
intelligence
the ability to learn from experience, acquire knowledge, and use resources to adapt to new situations or solve problems
(isn’t fully measurable)
spearman
believed intelligence consisted of one general factor
G-Factor
G-Factor
general intelligence; the ability to reason and solve problems
focused on commonalities amongst various intellectual abilities
cattell
divided intelligence into two components
1.) crystallized intelligence
2.) fluid intelligence
crystallized intelligence
facts (semantic memory)
knowledge and abilities acquired through experience (vocabulary)
fluid intelligence
knowing how to do something
natural problem-solving ability
stienbergs triarchic theory
identifies three types of intelligence
1.) creative intelligence
2.) analytical intelligence
3.) practical intelligence
creative intelligence
imagining and innovative problem solving
analytical intelligence
academic problem solving and computation
practical intelligence
street smarts and common sense
gardners multiple intelligences theory
each person possesses at least 8 intelligences
interpersonal intelligence
ability to understand and be sensitive to the various emotional states of others
intrapersonal intelligence
ability to access personal feelings and motivations, and use them to direct behavior and reach personal goals
interpersonal and intrapersonal intelligences are paired together to create
emotional intelligence
emotional intelligence
ability to understand the emotions of self and others, show empathy, understand social relationships and cues, and regulate own emotions and respond in culturally appropriate ways
intelligence quotient (IQ)
score earned on a test designed to measure intelligence
reliability
produce similar scores from one test to the next
validity
how well a test measures what it is supposed to measure
standardization
manner of administration, scoring, and interpretation of results is consistent so scores can be compared for future test takers
norming
giving a test to a large population so data can be collected comparing groups, such as age groups
flynn effet
observation that each generation has a significantly higher IQ than the last because environmental factors have changed
nature persepective
intelligence is inherited from a person’s parents
nurture perspective
intelligence is shaped by a child’s developmental envoirnment
critiques of IQ testing
1.) historical devlopment
2.) racial, cultural and language impacts
3.) healthcare
4.) test taking ability
5.) motivations
6.) only tests certain types of intelligence
