Course

Introduction to Psychology

Cognition, Language, Creativity, and Intelligence

• Prof. BARAKAT• Summer Term

Cognition: Definition of Terms

• Cognition: Mentally processing information (images, concepts, etc.); thinking

• Concept: Generalized idea representing a category of related objects or events

• Language: Words or symbols, and rules for combining them, which are used for thinking and communication

More Types of Mental Images

• Created imagery : Imagery that has been assembled or invented rather than remembered (example: people’s faces, picturing a work of art prior to creating it)

• Kinesthetic imagery : Created from muscular sensations (help us to think about movements and actions). Especially important in music, sports, dance and martial arts

Concept Formation

• Concept formation: Process of classifying information into meaningful categories

• Positive instance: Object or event that belongs to the concept class

• Negative instance: Object or event that does not belong to the concept class

Social Stereotypes

• Oversimplified concepts based on gender or ethnicity

• Can you bring to mind any social stereotypes that exist in our dominant culture? How about in your own experience? What are they?

Types of Concept Formations

• Conjunctive concept (“and” concepts): Class of objects that are defined by the presence of two or more features (e.g., rabbit is white and furry)

• Relational concept: Based on how an object relates to something else or how its features relate to one another (e.g., larger, north)

• Disjunctive concept (“either/or”): Objects that have at least one of several possible features; either-or concept (strike in baseball)

More Concept Issues and Terms

• Prototypes: Ideal model used as a prime example of a concept

• Denotative meaning: Exact dictionary definition of a word or concept; its objective meaning

• Connotative meaning: Emotional or personal meaning of a concept

e.g.: vehicle; reflect from the perspective of prototype, denotative and connotative meaning

Language

• Semantics: Study of meanings in language and words

• Bilingualism: the ability to speak two languages

– Creates more flexibility and problem-solving strategies

– Creates better general language skills– Creates better ability to control one’s

attention

Heuristics

• Heuristics: Strategy for identifying and evaluating problem solutions. – Heuristics are particularly used to rapidly

come to a solution that is hoped to be close to the best possible answer, or 'optimal solution'. Heuristics are "rules of thumb", educated guesses, intuitive judgments or simply common sense. A heuristic is a general way of solving a problem. Example: trial and error

• Representativeness heuristic: Giving a choice greater weight if it seems to be representative of what we already know

• Random search strategy: All possibilities are tried, more or less randomly

Problem Solving

• Mechanical solution: Achieved by trial and error or by a fixed procedure

• Algorithm: Learned set of rules that always leads to a correct solution of a problem (think math)

• General solution: States the requirements for success but not in enough detail for further action

Insight

• Insight: Sudden mental reorganization of a problem that makes the solution obvious

• Involves three abilities:– Selective encoding: Selecting

information that is relevant to a problem while ignoring distractions

– Selective combination: Connecting seemingly unrelated bits of useful information

– Selective comparison: Comparing new problems with old information or with problems already solved (Sternberg & Davidson, 1982)

What are the barriers to problem solving?

Barriers to Problem Solving

• Emotional barriers: Inhibition and fear of making a fool of oneself or of making a mistake

• Cultural barriers: Belief that fantasy is a waste, and feelings and humor have no place in problem solving

Barriers to Problem Solving (cont.)

• Learned barriers: Taboos; staying with conventional uses

• Perceptual barriers: Habits leading to a failure to identify important elements of a problem

Fixations

• Tendency to repeat wrong solutions or faulty responses and to “fixate” on them, or to become blind to alternatives

• Functional fixedness: Inability to see new uses (functions) for familiar objects or for things that were used in a particular way

Creativity: How to “Rate” Creative Thoughts

• Fluency: Total number of suggestions you can make

• Flexibility: Number of times you shift from one class of possible uses to another

• Originality: How novel or unusual your solutions are

• Think of how you have been creative in your life. Discuss with neighbor!

Thinking Styles

• Convergent thinking: Lines of thought converge on an answer; conventional thinking

• Divergent thinking: Many possibilities are

developed from one starting point (especially used in creative thought)

Tests of Creativity

Unusual Uses Test

• Find as many uses for an object as possible

– Write all the things you can do with a spatula?

– Time: 1 minute

Testing and Expanding Creativity: Consequences Test

• List all the consequences that would follow if a basic change were made in the world ?

– (What would happen if the resources were distributed equally in the world?)

Testing and Expanding Creativity: Anagrams Test

• Make as many new words as possible from the letters in a given word

– RAMBUNCTIOUS

Stages of Creative Thought

• Orientation: Defining the problem• Preparation: Gaining as much information

as possible• Incubation: The problem, while not

appearing to be actively worked on, is still “cooking” in the background

• Illumination: The “a-ha” experience; rapid insight into the solution

• Verification: Testing and critically evaluating the solution

Creative Personality

• Smarter people have a slight tendency to be more creative

• Creative people usually have a greater than average range of knowledge and interests

• Creative people have openness to experience

Do you want to become more creative?

• Psychologist Mihalyi Csikszentmihalyi (sik-sent-me-HALE-yee) suggests:

– Find something that surprises you daily– Try to surprise at least one person daily– If something sparks your interest, follow it– Make a commitment to doing things well– Seek challenges– Take time for thinking and relaxing– Start doing more of what you really enjoy, and

less of what you dislike– Try to look at problems from as many

viewpoints as you can

Logic and Intuition

• Intuition: Quick, impulsive thought that does not make use of clear reasoning or formal logic

Intelligence

• Global capacity to act purposefully, think rationally, and deal effectively with the environment

• Consider how intelligence differs among various cultures?

• Consider how you feel intelligent?

Intelligence

• What is your operational definition of intelligence?

• How could this be controversial?

g-Factor

• General ability factor, or core of general intelligence that involves reasoning, problem-solving ability, knowledge, memory, and successful adaptation to one’s surroundings

• The relationship of g to intelligence tests may be more readily understood with an analogy. Irregular objects, such as the human body, are said to vary in "size". Yet no single measurement of a human body is obviously preferred to measure its "size". Instead, many and various measurements, such as those taken by a tailor, may be made. All of these measurements will be positively correlated with each other, and if one were to "add up" or combine all of the measurements, the aggregate would give a better description of an individual's size than any single measurement.

End of the First Part

Second Part

Testing Intelligence

• Stanford-Binet Intelligence Scale, Fifth Edition (SB5): Widely used individual intelligence test, derived directly from Alfred Binet’s first intelligence test; items are age-ranked

Stanford-Binet

“Ages”

• Chronological age: Person’s age in years

• Mental age: Average intellectual performance

Intelligence Quotient (IQ)

• Intelligence index; mental age divided by chronological age, then multiplied by 100

– Average IQ in the USA is 100

– Average IQs in other countries (care to do a research paper?)

– Does a high IQ guarantee success?

Fig. 9-22, p. 308

Normal (Bell-Shaped) Curve

• Most scores fall close to the average, and very few are found at the extremes

More IQ Terms

• Deviation IQ: Scores based on a person’s relative standing in his or her age group; how far above or below average a person’s score is, relative to other scores

• IQ scores are not very dependable until a child reaches age 6

• Terminal decline: Abrupt decline in measured IQ about 5 years before death

Wechsler Tests

• Wechsler Adult Intelligence Test, 3rd Edition (WAIS-III): Adult intelligence test that rates verbal and performance intelligence and abilities

– Replaced by WAIS-IV in 2008

• Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children, 4th Edition (WISC-IV): Downscaled version of the WAIS-III/IV; for children from 6 years to 16 years, 11 months, 30 days

IQ Research

• Men and women do not appear to differ in overall intelligence

– Who has the highest recorded IQ to date?

• A strong correlation (about .50) exists between IQ and school grades

Intellectual Determinism

• A desire to know, to excel, and to persevere

Intellectual Disability

• Presence of a developmental disability and an IQ score below 70; a significant impairment of adaptive behavior also figures into the definition

– Adaptive behavior: Basic skills such as dressing, eating, working, hygiene; necessary for self-care

Table 9-6, p. 310

p. 310

Familial Intellectual Disability

• Mild intellectual disability that occurs in homes that have:

Inadequate nutrition Intellectual stimulation Medical care Emotional support

Causes of Intellectual Disabilities

• Consider the causes- what are they?

Organic (Physical) Causes of Intellectual Disabilities

• Birth injuries: Lack of oxygen during delivery

• Fetal damage: Prenatal damage from disease, infection, or drug use

• Metabolic disorders: Affects energy use and production in the body

• Genetic abnormalities: Such as missing genes, extra genes, or defective genes

Conclusion

• Many researchers believe that intelligence is a combination of heredity (genes) and environment (upbringing); contributing percentage of each is not known yet

Gardner’s Theory of Intelligence: Some Concepts

• Multiple intelligences: Theory posed by Howard Gardner that states we have several specialized types of intellectual ability

Gardner’s Theory of Eight Multiple Intelligences

• Language: Used for thinking by lawyers, writers, comedians

• Logic and math: Used by scientists, accountants, programmers

• Visual and spatial thinking: Used by engineers, inventors, aviators

• Music: Used by composers, musicians, music critics

Gardner’s Theory of Eight Multiple Intelligences (cont)

• Bodily-kinesthetic skills: Used by dancers, athletes, surgeons

• Intrapersonal skills (self-knowledge): Used by poets, actors, ministers

• Interpersonal skills (social abilities): Used by psychologists, teachers, politicians

• Naturalistic skills (ability to understand natural environment): Used by biologists, organic farmers

Twin Study

• Comparison of characteristics of twins who were raised together or separated at birth; used to identify relative impact of heredity and environment

Fig. 9-23, p. 312

Fig. 9-24, p. 313

A Different Type of Intelligence Test

• Culture-fair test: Test designed to minimize importance of skills and knowledge that may be more common in some cultures than in others

Means-End Analysis

• How to reduce the difference between the present state of affairs and a desired goal

• How to build a piece of furniture, complete a computer program, get from one city to another, to complete this term with an A, and so on . . .

THANK YOU FOR YOUR ATTENTION