Chapter Seven THINKING LANGUAGE AND INTELLIGENCE Thinking Language

Chapter Seven THINKING, LANGUAGE, AND INTELLIGENCE

Thinking, Language, and Intelligence: Basic Terms • Cognition: Mental activities involved in acquiring, retaining, and using knowledge. • Thinking: Manipulation of mental representations of information in order to draw inferences and conclusions. • Mental image: Mental representation of objects or events that are not physically present.

The Building Blocks of Thought • Thinking often involves the manipulation of two forms of mental representations: Mental images and mental concepts. • Mental representations are manipulated in the same way as an actual image, using all the senses. What types of cognitive activities might be required to plan and implement a new clothing line?

The Building Blocks of Thought Concepts Mental category of objects or ideas based on shared properties Formal concept Mental category formed by learning rules Natural concept Mental category formed by everyday experience Prototype Best, or most typical, example of a particular concept Exemplars Individual instances Boundaries are “fuzzy” and not always sharply defined

The Building Blocks of Thought • Concepts – Provide a mental shorthand by economizing cognitive effort – Formed by learning defined rule or features (formal concept) • Simple • Complex – Formed as result of everyday experience (natural concept) • Prototypes • Exemplars

Solving Problems and Making Decisions • Problem-solving strategies – – Trial and error Algorithms Heuristics Useful heuristics Recipes are often developed through a process of trial and error.

Insight and Intuition Insight Intuition • Involves sudden realization of how a problem can be solved • Involves reaching conclusion or making a judgment without conscious awareness of the thought processes involved • Guiding stage • Integrative stage • Only rarely occurs through conscious manipulation of concepts or information

Obstacles to Solving Problems: Thinking Outside the Box • Functional fixedness – Involves tendency to view objects as functioning only in their usual or customary way • Mental set – Refers to the tendency to persist in solving problems with solutions that have worked in the past – May prevent seeing other possible solutions, especially in areas in which one is knowledgeable or well trained. – Can sometimes suggest a useful heuristic

Overcoming Functional Fixedness • Here’s a classic problem for you to solve. You have two candles, some thumbtacks, and a box of matches. Using just these objects, try to figure out how to mount the candles on a wall.

Estimating the Probability of Events: Decisions Involving Uncertainty The Availability Heuristic • Probability of an event is judged by how easily previous occurrences of that event can be recalled. • The less accurately our memory of an event reflects the actual frequency of the event, the less accurate our estimate of the event’s likelihood will be. • The availability heuristic is more likely to be used when people rely on information held in their longterm memory to determine the likelihood of events occurring.

The Persistence of Unwarranted Beliefs: Obstacles to Logical Thinking Obstacle 1: Belief-bias effect Obstacle 2: Confirmation bias Obstacle 3: Fallacy of positive instances Obstacle 4: Overestimation effect

Animal Communication and Cognition • Animals communicate with one another, but are they capable of mastering language? – Bonobos, dolphins, and parrots can respond to spoken commands and questions but not nearly as well as humans. – Birds and elephants can demonstrate cooperation, social status, and complex memories of the past. • Researchers are interested in specific cognitive capabilities that have evolved in different species to help them best adapt to their ecological niche. Do you know how prairie dogs communicate?

Measuring Intelligence • Intelligence – Global capacity to think rationally, act purposefully, and deal effectively with the environment – Reflected in effective, rational, and goal-directed behavior

Development of Intelligence Tests Alfred Binet (1857– 1911) • Devised a series of tests, for the French government, to measure different mental abilities in schoolchildren • Focused on elementary mental abilities, such as memory, attention, and the ability to understand similarities and differences • Developed goal to help identify “slow” children who could benefit from special help • Invented concept of mental age based on the average at which questions were answered correctly Alfred Binet (1857– 1911)

An Interesting Irony • Alfred Binet – Did not believe that he was measuring an inborn or permanent level of intelligence – Believed that intelligence was too complex a quality to describe with a single number – Noted that an individual’s score could vary from time to time What do you think?

Lewis Terman and the Stanford-Binet Intelligence Test • Terman developed the Stanford-Binet Intelligence Scales at Stanford University • His test a revision of Binet’s test • Developed the concept of IQ: IQ formula = MA/CA × 100 Example: A bright child of a chronological age (CA) of 8 scores at a mental age (MA) of 12 for an IQ of 150. 12/8 x 100 = 150

World War I and Group Intelligence Testing • U. S. Army needed to develop mass testing option for millions of recruits. • Two versions – Army Alpha test was administered in writing. – Army Beta test was administered orally to recruits and draftees who could not read. • May have led to overuse of tests and discrimination

David Wechsler and Wechsler Intelligence Scales • Developed for adults: Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale (WAIS). Its several components included a verbal score and performance score. • IQ calculated by comparing an individual’s score with scores of others in same general age group • Developed for kids: Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children (WISC) and the Wechsler Preschool and Primary Scale of Intelligence (WPPSI) David Wechsler (1896– 1981)

Does a High IQ Score Predict Success in Life? Terman followed children with IQs above 140 • After few years: Children socially well-adjusted, stronger, healthier, successful in school • Later, personality factors seemed to account for subgroup differences “[W]ith the exception of moral character, there is nothing as significant for a child’s future as his grade of intelligence. ” —Lewis M. Terman (1916) – The A group most successful; more goal-oriented, had greater perseverance, had greater selfconfidence – The C group less successful

Principles of Test Construction: What Makes a Good Test? • Many kinds of psychological tests measure various aspects of intelligence or mental ability. – Achievement test: Test designed to measure a person’s level of knowledge, skill, or accomplishment in a particular area. – Aptitude test: Test designed to assess a person’s capacity to benefit from education or training.

Basic Requirements of Good Test Design Standardization Norms Reliability Validity • Administration of a test to a large, representative sample of people under uniform conditions for the purpose of establishing norms • Typically closely follow a pattern of individual differences called a normal curve, or normal distribution • Ability of a test to produce consistent results when administered on repeated occasions under similar conditions • Ability of a test to measure what it is intended to measure

The Normal Curve of Distribution of IQ Scores

The Nature of Intelligence Psychologists do not agree about the basic nature of intelligence, including whether it is a single, general ability, and whether it includes skills and talents, as well as mental aptitude.

Twin Studies • Identical twins – Identical twins raised together have very similar IQ scores. – Identical twins raised in separate homes have IQs that are slightly less similar than identical twins raised together, indicating the effect of different environments. • Fraternal twins – Fraternal twins raised together have IQs that are less similar than identical twins raised together, but they show more similarity in IQ scores than non-twin siblings raised together.

Genetics, Environment, and IQ Scores

Heredity and Environment Heritability • Degree to which variation in traits stems from genetic—rather than environmental— differences among individuals • Currently accepted heritability estimate is about 50% for the general population Environment • Degree to which variation is due to environmental—rather than genetic— differences.

The Two Pots Analogy

Remember… Unless the environmental conditions of two racial groups are virtually identical, it is impossible to estimate the overall genetic differences between two groups.

Differences Within Groups Versus Differences Between Groups • Other evidence for the importance of environment in determining IQ scores – Improvement in average IQ scores has occurred in several cultures and countries during the past few generations. – 14 nations have shown significant gains in average IQ scores in just one generation. – Average IQ score in the U. S. has also steadily increased over the past century. – Such changes in a population can be accounted for only by environmental changes.

Are IQ Tests Culturally Biased? • Challenges – Rely on white, middle-class cultural knowledge and values – Other cultures unfamiliar with the white, middle-class culture – Impossible to design completely culture-free test – Differences in cultural test-taking behavior – Differences in motivation, attitudes toward test taking, and previous experiences with tests