Thinking & Intelligence

Question 1

Cognitive psychology is based on 2 ideas

Answer 1

the brain represents information

thinking is the mental manipulation of these representations

Question 2

Symbolic representations

Answer 2

abstract mental representations that don’t have relationships to physical objects

ex: english words such as a violin

Question 3

analogical representations

Answer 3

mental representations that have some characteristics of actual objects

ex: maps and family trees

Question 4

mental maps

Answer 4

how we represent space and can include both analogical and symbolic representations

ex: which is farther east: San Diego, CA, or Reno

Question 5

Categorization

Answer 5

grouping things based on shared properties; reduces the amount of knowledge we have to hold in memory

ex: musical instruments

Question 6

Defining attribute model

Answer 6

a category is characterized by a list of features that determine if an object is a member

ex: “bachelor” is characterized by being unmarried and male

Question 7

what does Defining attribute model suggest?

Answer 7

membership within a category is an all-or-none basis (we include even if they dont have all or exclude even if they do)

ex: flying is an attribute of birds but not all birds can fly

all of a given category’s attributes are equally important in defining that category

ex: some attributes are more important than other (can fly beats warm blooded for birds)

all members of a category are equal in category membership

ex: a 16 year old boy, a man who has been in a committed relationship but never married, and a man in his 30s who goes on a few dates a week

Question 8

prototype model

Answer 8

within each category, there is a best example for that category; allows for more flexibility in concept formation

Question 9

exemplar model

Answer 9

all members of a category are examples and together they form the concept and determine category membership

Question 10

thinking enables us to do the following

Answer 10

reasoning
decision making
problem solving

Question 11

reasoning

Answer 11

using info to determine if a conclusion is valid or reasonable and when drawing these conclusions, we engage in deductive and inductive reasoning

Question 12

deductive reasoning

Answer 12

using general rules to draw conclusions about specific instances

ex: bachelors are unmarried men. bill is a man and is unmarried. therefore bill is a bachelor

Question 13

valid but incorrect conclusion if premises use terms inconsistently or ambiguously

(deductive)

Answer 13

nothing is better than a piece of warm apple pie

a few crumbs of bread are better than nothing

therefore a few crumbs of bread are better than warm apple pie

Question 14

inductive reasoning

Answer 14

using specific instances to draw conclusions about general rules

ex: your dogs likes hot dogs. therefore all dogs like hot dogs

Question 15

decision making

Answer 15

attempting to select the best alternative among several options

our decision making is often guided by heuristics

Question 16

heuristics

Answer 16

shortcuts used to reduce the amount of thinking that is needed to make decisions

can also result in biases like racial stereotypes

Question 17

framing

Answer 17

the effect of presentation on how info is perceived

Question 18

prospect theory (framing’s effects)

Answer 18

kahneman and tversky

1) a person’s wealth affects his or her choices
2) loss aversion: bc losses feel much worse than gains that feel good, a person will try to avoid situations that involve losses
ex: would you pick a 20% chance of winning 1000 with an 80% of winning $0 vs a 100% chance of winning $200

Question 19

paradox choice

Answer 19

having many possibilities can make it difficult to choose one item

been suggested to make people miserable and increase depression

Question 20

satisficers

Answer 20

look around until they find something that most closely matches what they want and buy it, without worrying about whether better or cheaper products are available

Question 21

maximizers

Answer 21

always seek to make the best possible choices; hesitate in making decisions and feel paralyzed by indecision when they have to select btw equally attractive choices
result: are more disappointed and more likely to experience regret

Question 22

problem solving

Answer 22

break down a problem into subgoals

Question 23

insight

Answer 23

sudden realization of a solution to a problem

“think outside the box”

Question 24

restructuring

Answer 24

a new way of thinking about a problem that aids its solution

Question 25

mental sets

Answer 25

problem solving strategies that have worked in the past

Question 26

functional fixedness

Answer 26

mental representations about the typical functions of particular objects; can create difficulties in problem solving

to overcome this, the problem solver needs to reinterpret the object’s potential function

Question 27

intelligence

Answer 27

the ability to use knowledge to reason, make decisions, make sense of events, solve problems

Question 28

psychometric approach

Answer 28

focuses on how people perform on standardized tests

ex: IQ score

Question 29

mental age

Answer 29

assessment of a child’s intellectual standing compared with that of same-age peers

determined by comparing the child’s test score with the average score for children of each chronological age

Question 30

intelligence quotient (IQ)

Answer 30

an index of intelligence computed by dividing a child’s estimated mental age by the child’s chronological age and then multiplying this number by 100

Question 31

IQ in the adult range

Answer 31

measured in comparison with the average adult and not with adults at different ages

Question 32

how valid is the IQ test?

Answer 32

fairly good predictor of life outcomes

Question 33

Criticism of intelligence tests

Answer 33

may penalize people for belonging to particular cultures or particular groups

Question 34

General intelligence (g)

Answer 34

idea that one general factor underlies intelligence

g is a factor that contributes to performance on any intellectual task

Question 35

what does g influence

Answer 35

important life outcomes like predicting performance in school and work

low g: early death from causes such as heart disease, diabetes, stroke
(socioeconomic status is the most important predictor)

Question 36

g main value

Answer 36

allowing people to adapt quickly to environmental challenges

Question 37

g consists of 2 two types of intelligene

Answer 37

fluid and crystallized

Question 38

fluid intelligence

Answer 38

intelligence that reflects the ability to process information, such as reasoning

Question 39

crystallized intelligence

Answer 39

intelligence that reflects both the knowledge one acquires through experience and the ability to use that knowledge

Question 40

fluid vs crystallized

Answer 40

working memory vs long term memory

crystallized intelligence grows steadily throughout the adult years and fluid intelligence declines steadily

Question 41

multiple intelligences

Answer 41

the idea that there are different types of intelligence that are independent of one another

ex: musical, linguistic, mathematical/logical

Question 42

analytical intelligence

Answer 42

being good at problem solving and other academic challenges

similar to intelligence tests

Question 43

creative intelligence

Answer 43

involves the ability to gain insight and solve novel problems

to think in new and interesting ways

Question 44

practical intelligence

Answer 44

refers to dealing with everyday tasks, such as knowing whether a parking space is large enough for your vehicle