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Thinking, Language, and IntelligenceThinking
Language
Intelligence
Thinking
Concepts
Solving problems
Making good (and bad) decisions and judgments
Thinking critically about: The fear factor—why we fear the wrong things
Thinking creatively
Close-up: Fostering your own creativity
Do other species share our cognitive skills?
Thinking
Cognition All the mental activities associated with thinking, knowing, remembering, and communicating
ConceptsMental grouping of similar objects, events, ideas, and people
PrototypesMental image or best example of a category
Solving Problems: Trial and ErrorAlgorithm
Methodical, logical rule or procedure that guarantees you will solve a particular problem
Contrasts with the usually speedier—but also more error-prone—use of heuristics
Heuristic Simple thinking strategy that often allows one to make judgments and solve problems efficiently; usually speedier but also more error prone than algorithms
Insight Involves sudden realization of the solution to a problem; it contrasts with strategy-based solutions
THE AHA! MOMENT
A burst of right temporal lobe EEG activity (yellow area) accompanied insight solutions to word problems (Jung-Beeman et al., 2004).
The red dots show placement of the EEG electrodes. The light gray lines show patterns of brain activity during insight. Fr
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Solving Problems
Wason’s classic study Involves guessing the rule for three-number sets
Confirmation biasThe tendency to seek evidence for our ideas more eagerly than we seek evidence against them
Is this fixation?
FixationInability to see a problem from a new perspective
Obstacle to problem solving
THE MATCHSTICKPROBLEM
How would you arrange six matches to form four equilateral triangles?
Making Good (and Bad) Decisions and Judgments
Life is full of judgmentsHow many of these judgment related terms can you define?
Intuition
Heuristics
Quick-thinking heuristics
Availability heuristics
IntuitionAn effortless, immediate, automatic feeling or thought, as contrasted with explicit, conscious reasoning
HeuristicA simple thinking strategy that often allows you to make judgments and solve problems efficiently; usually speedier but also more error prone than algorithms
Quick-thinking heuristicA simple thinking strategy that often allows you to make judgments more error prone than algorithms
Availability heuristicInvolves judging the likelihood of an event based on its availability in memory; if an event comes readily to mind, we assume it must be common
Did you get the correct answer?
Solution to the matchstick problem Were you, by chance, fixated on two-dimensional solutions? Solving problems often requires taking a new angle on the situation.
The Fear Factor—Why We Fear the Wrong Things1. We fear what our ancestral
history has prepared us to fear.
2. We fear what we cannot control.
3. We fear what is immediate.
4. We fear what is most readily available in memory.
SCARING US ONTO DEADLY HIGHWAYS In the three months after 9/11, those faulty perceptions led more Americans to travel, and some to die, by car. (Adapted from Gigerenzer, 2004.)
Solving Problems
More confident than correctOverconfidence is the tendency to overestimate the accuracy of our beliefs and judgments
Belief beyond evidenceBelief perseverance occurs when we cling to beliefs and ignore evidence that proves these are wrong
Solving Problems
Let me put it this wayFraming involves the way an issue is posed
It can be a powerfully persuasive tool
Framing can influence beneficial decisions
Can you think of any such decisions?
Perils and Powers of Intuition
Intuition is analysis “frozen into habit”Intuition is implicit knowledge
Intuition is usually adaptiveLearned associations surface as “gut” feelings
Intuition is hugeCritical thinkers are often guided by intuition
Thinking Creatively
Divergent thinking• Expands the number of possible
problem solutions (creative thinking that diverges in different directions)
Convergent thinking• Narrows the available problem
solutions to determine the single best solution
Thinking Creatively
Robert Sternberg and his colleagues: Five ingredients of creativity
Expertise
Imaginative thinking skills
Venturesome personality
Intrinsic motivation
Creative environment
Comparing Cognitive Processes and Strategies
Do Other Species Share Our Cognitive Skills?
Using concepts and numbersSeveral species demonstrate the ability to sort (e.g., pigeons and other birds; great apes; humans)
Displaying insightHumans are not the only species to display insight (e.g., Chimpanzees)
Using tools and transmitting cultureVarious species have displayed creative tool use (e.g., forest-dwelling chimpanzees; elephants; humans)
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Language
Language development
The brain and language
Thinking without language
Do other species have language?
Language
LanguageInvolves our spoken, written, or signed words and the ways we combine them to communicate meaning
Used to transmit civilization’s knowledge from one generation to the next
Connects humans
Language Development
When do we learn language?Receptive language: Infant ability to understand what is said to them around 4 months
Production language: Infant ability to produce words beginning around 10 months
What is the difference between receptive and productive language, and when do children normally hit these milestones in language
development?
HOW DO WE LEARN GRAMMAR?
CREATING A LANGUAGE Young deaf children in Nicaragua were brought together as if on a desert island (actually a school). They drew upon sign gestures from their own home to create their own Nicaraguan Sign Language, complete with words and intricate grammar.
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How Do We Learn Grammar?
Language diversity700+ languages worldwide; structurally very different
ChomskyArgued all languages share basic elements called a universal grammar
Theorized humans are born with a predisposition to learn grammar rules; not a built-in specific language
Critical periodSuggests childhood represents a critical period for mastering certain aspects of language
Language
NEW LANGUAGE LEARNING GETS HARDER WITH AGE Young children have a readiness to learn language. Ten years after coming to the United States, Asian immigrants took a grammar test. Those who arrived before age 8 understood American English grammar as well as native speakersdid. Those who arrived later did not. (From Johnson & Newport, 1991.)
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What was Noam Chomsky’s explanation of language development?
Why is it so difficult to learn a new language in adulthood?
Broca’s area
Wernicke’s area
BRAIN ACTIVITY WHEN HEARING AND SPEAKING WORDS
The Brain and Language
Damage to any one of several areas of the brain’s cortex can impair language
Today’s neuroscience has confirmed brain activity in Broca’s and Wernicke’s areas during language processing
In processing language, the brain operates by dividing its mental functions into smaller tasks
________ is the part of the brain that, if damaged, might impair your ability to speak words.
If you damage ________ you might impair
your ability to understand language.
Thinking Without Language
Mental practice relies on thinking in images
Just imagining a physical experience can have similar results
Mental rehearsal can aid in the achievement of academic goals
What is mental practice, and how can it help you to prepare for an upcoming event?
Language Development
Other species have languageVelvet monkeys sound different alarms for different predators
Chimpanzee (named Washoe) was taught sign language by the Garders
Critics noted that ape vocabularies and sentences were simple; vocabulary was gained with great difficulties
Most psychologists agree that humans alone possess language
If your dog barks at a stranger at the front door, does this qualify as language? What if the dog yips in a telltale way to let you know that she needs to go out?
Intelligence
What is intelligence?
Assessing intelligence
Close-up: Extremes of intelligence
The nature and nurture of intelligence
Close-up: What is heritability?
Intelligence across the life span: Stability or change?
Group differences in intelligence test scores
What Is Intelligence?
Spearman’s General Intelligence (g)Humans have one general intelligence that is at the heart of everything a person does
Mental abilities are like physical abilities
Intelligence involves distinct abilities, which correlate enough to define a small general intelligence factor
Gardner and Sternberg discount this theory and propose several different kinds of intelligence
Theories of Multiple Intelligences
Gardner’s eight intelligencesIntelligence consists of multiple abilities that come in different packages
Eight relatively independent intelligences exist, including the verbal and mathematical aptitudes assessed by standard tests
Evidence of multiple intelligence is found in people with savant syndrome
Gardner’s Eight Intelligences
ISLAND OF GENIUS: SAVANT SYNDROME
Matt Savage, an award-winningjazz musician, is a Berklee College of Music graduate who has released many albums.
His success has been hard-won given his early childhood diagnosis of what is now called autism spectrum disorder, which came with struggles to communicate and an initial inability to tolerate sounds of any kind.
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Theories of Multiple Intelligence
Sternberg’s three intelligencesAnalytical intelligence (School smarts: Traditional academic problem solving)
Creative intelligence (Trailblazing smarts: Ability to generate novel ideas)
Practical intelligence (Street smarts: Skill at handling everyday tasks)
Theories of Multiple Intelligence
Findings and criticismsRecent research, using factor analysis, has confirmed that there is a general intelligence factor that predicts performance on various complex tasks and in various jobs
Researchers report a 10-year rule: Expert performers spend about a decade in intense, daily practice
How does the existence of savant syndrome support Gardner’s theory of multiple intelligences?
How do Gardner’s and Sternberg’s theories of multiple intelligences differ?
Emotional Intelligence
AbilitiesPerceiving emotions (recognizing them in faces, music, and stories)
Understanding emotions (predicting them and how they may change and blend)
Managing emotions (knowing how to express them in varied situations)
Using emotions to enable adaptive or creative thinking
Emotional Intelligence
Emotionally intelligent peopleAre socially aware and self-aware
Delay gratification in favor of long-term rewards
Read others’ emotions and provide appropriate feedback
Perform well on the job
Are often successful in career, marriage, and parenting situations where academically smarter people fail
Comparing Theories of Intelligence
Intelligence test Method for assessing an individual’s mental aptitudes and comparing them with those of others, using numerical scores
Aptitude testTest designed to predict a person’s future performance; aptitude is the capacity to learn
Achievement test Test designed to assess what a person has learned
First…A Few Definitions of Tests
Assessing Intelligence: Intelligence Tests
Alfred Binet: Predicting School AchievementAssumed all children follow the same course, but not the same rate, of intellectual development
Measured each child’s mental age
Tested a variety of reasoning and problem-solving questions that predicted how well French children would succeed in school
Assessing Intelligence: Intelligence Tests
Lewis Terman: The innate IQAdapted Binet’s test for wider use
Extended upper end of test’s range
Named this revision the Stanford-BinetTheorized intelligence tests reveal intelligence with which a person is born
William SternDeveloped IQ formula:
IQ no longer computed; now the average performance of others of the same age computed
Assessing Intelligence
David Wechsler: Separate scores for separate skillsCreated most widely used intelligence test today
Yields overall intelligence score and separate scores for verbal comprehension, perceptual organization, working memory, and processing speed
Contains preschool and school-age child versions
Provides clues to strengths or weaknesses
Assessing Intelligence
David Wechsler: Separate scores for separate skills
A block design puzzle like this one can test children’s visual abstract processing ability.
Wechsler’s individuallyadministered intelligence test comes in forms suited for adults and children.
MATCHING PATTERNS
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What did Binet hope to achieve by establishing a child’s mental age?
An employer with a pool of applicants for a single available position is interested in testing each applicant’s potential. She should use an ________ (achievement/aptitude) test. That same employer wishing to test the effectiveness of a new, on-the-job training program would be wise to use an _______ (achievement/aptitude) test.
What is the IQ of a 4-year-old with a mental age of 5?
Intelligence Tests
Three tests of a “good” testWas the test standardized?
Is the test reliable?
Is the test valid?
THE NORMAL CURVE
Scores on aptitude tests tend to form a normal, or bell-shaped, curve around an average score. For the Wechsler scale, for example, the average score is 100.
What are the three requirements that a psychological test must meet in order to be widely accepted? Explain.
The Nature and Nurture of Intelligence
Twin and adoption studiesIdentical twins raised together have nearly the same intelligence test score and specific talents
Fraternal twins are much less similar, but more similar than other siblings
Separated, adoptive twin scores remain very similar
Adoption of mistreated or neglected children or adoption from poverty into middle class enhances intelligence score
IN VERBAL ABILITY, ADOPTED CHILDREN RESEMBLE THEIR BIRTH PARENTS
INTELLIGENCE: NATURE AND NURTURE The most genetically similar people have the most similar intelligence scores. Remember: 1.0 indicatesa perfect correlation; zero indicates no correlation at all. (Data from McGue et al., 1993.)
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Validity and significance of any test is to compare people who score at the two extremes of the normal curve
The low extremeIntelligence score of 70 or below
Difficulty adapting to life demands
The high extremeChildren with IQ scores over 135
Healthy, well-adjusted, and usually successful academically
Extremes of Intelligence
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Intelligence Tests
How does environment influence intelligence?Slowing normal development
McVicker Hunt (1982): Iranian orphanage study found dire, negative effects of extreme deprivation
Malnutrition, sensory deprivation, and social isolation slowed normal brain development
Enhancing normal developmentThere is no environmental recipe for fast-forwarding a normal infant into a genius
What Is Heritability?
Intelligence across the life span: Stability or change?
Cross-sectionalStudy in which people of different ages are compared with one another
Longitudinal studyResearch in which the same people are restudied and retested over a long period
Intelligence across the life span: Stability or change?
Deary and colleagues studyAfter nearly 70 years of varied life experiences, the test-takers’ two sets of scores showed a striking correlation of +.66
Johnson studyScots born in 1936 from ages 11 to 70 confirmed the remarkable stability of intelligence, independent of life circumstanceWhen 207 survivors were again retested at age 87, the correlation with their age 11 scores was +.51
INTELLIGENCE ENDURESWhen Ian Deary and his colleagues (2004) retested 80-year-old Scots, using an intelligence test they had taken as 11-year-olds, their scores across seven decades correlated +.66. (When 207 survivors were again retested at age 87, the correlation with their age 11 scores was +.51 [Gow et al., 2011].)
Why Do Intelligent People Live Longer?
Deary (2008)Intelligence provides better access to resources
Intelligence encourages healthy lifestyles
Prenatal events or early childhood illnesses could influence both intelligence and health
A “well-wired body” as evidenced by fast reaction speeds, may foster both intelligence and longer life
Crystal and Fluid Intelligence
Crystallized intelligence: Accumulated knowledge, as reflected in vocabulary and word-power tests
Increases as we age, into middle age
Fluid intelligence: Ability to reason speedily and abstractly, as when solving unfamiliar logic problems
Decreases with age; declines gradually until age 75 and then more rapidly after age 85
With Age We Lose And We Win
WITH AGE WE LOSE AND WE WIN Studies reveal that word power grows with age, while fluid intelligence declines.
Group Differences in Intelligence Test Scores
Gender similarities and differencesCompared to similarities, gender differences are fairly minor
GirlsOutpace boys in spelling, verbal fluency, and locating objects
Are better emotion detectors and are more sensitive to touch, taste, and color
Group Differences in Intelligence Test Scores
BoysOutperform girls in tests of spatial ability and complex math problems
Vary in their mental ability scores more than girls do
Effects of cultureSocial expectations and opportunities matter.
Little gender math gap found in gender-equal cultures.
This is a test of spatial abilities. (From Vandenberg & Kuse, 1978.)
Do the know the answer?
THE MENTAL ROTATION TEST
Racial and Ethnic Similarities and Differences
Agreed-upon factsRacial and ethnic groups differ in their average intelligence test scores
High-scoring people and groups are more likely to achieve high levels of education and income
Group differences provide poor basis for judging individuals
Racial and Ethnic Similarities and Differences
Consider…Genetics research reveals races are alike
Race is not a clearly defined biological category
Within the same population, there are generation-to-generation differences in test scores
Given the same information, Blacks and Whites show similar information-processing skills
In different eras, different ethnic groups have experienced golden ages—periods of remarkable achievement
GROUP DIFFERENCES AND ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT
Even if the variation between members within a group reflects genetic differences, the average difference between groups may be wholly due to the environment. Imagine that seeds from the same mixture are sown in different soils. Although height differences within each window box of flowers will be genetic, the height difference between the two groups will be environmental. (From Lewontin, 1976.)
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WHAT DO YOU THINK?
Might racial and ethnic gaps be similarlyenvironmental?
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The heritability of intelligence scores will be greater in a society marked by equal opportunity than in a society of poor peasants and wealthy aristocrats. Why?
Are Test Questions Biased?
The scientific meaning of bias hinges on a test’s validity
Stereotype threat involves a self-confirming concern that a judgment is based on a negative stereotype
Goals for mental abilities tests: Realize the benefits of testing; guard against misinterpretation; and remember the competence general intelligence tests sample
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