discussions
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Thinking, Language, and Intelligence
Chapter 9
EXPLORING PSYCHOLOGY DAVID G. MYERS | C. NATHAN DEWALL
Chapter Overview
• Thinking
• Language and Thought
• Intelligence and Its Assessment
• Genetic and Environmental Influences on Intelligence
Thinking (part 1)
• Cognition • All mental activities associated with thinking, knowing,
remembering, and communicating
• Concept • Mental grouping of similar objects, events, ideas, or
people • Simplifies thinking
• Prototype • Mental image or best example of a category • Matching new items to a prototype provides a quick and
easy method for sorting items into categories
Thinking (part 2)
Thinking (part 3)
• Problem solving: strategies • Trial and error
• Algorithm: Methodical, logical rule or procedure that guarantees solving a particular problem
• Heuristic: Simple thinking strategy that often allows efficient judgments and problem solving
Thinking (part 4)
• Insight • Sudden realization
of a problem’s solution
• Contrasts with strategy-based solutions
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Thinking (part 5)
• Problem solving: obstacles • Confirmation bias: Tendency to search for
information that supports our preconceptions and to ignore or distort contradictory evidence
• Fixation: Inability to adopt to a fresh perspective
• Mental set: Tendency to approach problems with a mindset of what has worked previously
Thinking (part 6)
• Forming good (and bad) decisions and judgments • Intuition: Effortless, immediate, automatic feeling or
thought, as contrasted with explicit, conscious reasoning • Representativeness heuristic
• Estimating likelihood of events in terms of how well they seem to represent, or match, particular prototypes
• May lead us to ignore other relevant information
• Availability heuristic • Estimating likelihood of events based on their availability in
memory • If instances come readily to mind (perhaps because of their
vividness), we presume such events are common
Thinking (part 7)
• The fear factor • Humans fear
• What ancestral history has prepared us to fear
• What cannot be controlled
• What is immediate
• What is most readily available in memory (availability) heuristic
• We often fear the wrong things!
Thinking (part 8)
• Overconfidence • Challenging
• Tendency to overestimate accuracy of personal knowledge and judgments
• Leads to overestimation of future leisure time and income (planning fallacy)
• Can encourage political views, and lead to inflexibility and closed-mindedness
• Adaptive • May boost self-confidence, make difficult decisions more
easily, and seem competent
Thinking (part 9)
• Belief perseverance • Tendency to cling to beliefs in the face of contrary
evidence
• Often uses motivated reasoning
• Framing • Presentation of an issue
• Can nudge attitudes and decisions
Thinking (part 10)
• Smart intuition • Recognition born of
experience • Usually adaptive,
enabling quick reactions • Plays a huge role
• Smart thinkers • Are deliberate and
aware of intuitive option, but know when to override it.
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Thinking (part 11)
• Thinking creatively • Creativity: Ability to produce new and valuable ideas
• Convergent thinking: Narrowing the available problem solutions to determine the single best solution
• Divergent thinking: Expanding the number of possible problem solutions; creative thinking that diverges in different directions
Thinking (part 12)
• Components of creativity (Sternberg and colleagues) • Expertise
• Imaginative thinking skills
• Venturesome personality
• Intrinsic motivation
• Creative environment
• Strategies for boosting the creative process • Allow incubation time
• Set aside time for the mind to roam freely
• Experience other cultures and ways of thinking
Do Other Species Share Our Cognitive Skills?
• Nonhuman animals, including all mammals and birds, have neural networks that generate consciousness (Low et al.) • Using concepts and numbers • Displaying insight • Transmitting culture • Other cognitive skills
Language and Thought (part 1)
• Language structure • Language
• Phoneme
• Morpheme
• Grammar
• Semantics
• Syntax
Language and Thought (part 2)
• Language acquisition and development • Chomsky
• Unlearned human trait
• Universal grammar
• Ibbotson and Tomasello (and others) • World languages are more structurally diverse than the
universal grammar system
• Grammar is learned from the distinct patterns heard
Language and Thought (part 3)
• Brought together as if on a desert island (actually a school), Nicaragua’s young deaf children over time drew upon sign gestures from home to create their own Nicaraguan Sign Language, complete with words and intricate grammar.
• What does this tell us about language?
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Language and Thought (part 4)
• Receptive language • Recognition of
differences in speech sounds
• Preference for face– sound match
Language and Thought (part 5)
• Productive language • Babbling stage
• One-word stage
• Two-word stage
• Telegraphic speech
Language and Thought (part 6)
Month (approximate) Stage
4 Babbles many speech sounds (“ah-goo”)
10 Babbling resembles household language (“ma-ma”)
12 One-word speech (“Kitty!”)
24 Two-word speech (“Get ball.”)
24+ Rapid development into complete sentences
Language and Thought (part 7)
• Critical periods • Language development follows a sequence
• Childhood represents a sensitive period for mastering certain language aspects
• The ability to master any language is lost around age 7, if exposure to spoken or signed language does not occur
• Prelingually deaf children born to hearing– nonsigning parents typically become linguistically stunted
Language and Thought (part 8)
Our Ability to Learn a New Language Diminishes with Age
Language and Thought (part 9)
• The brain and language • The brain divides mental functions into subfunctions
to process language; parallel processing occurs.
• Damage to any of several cortical areas can produce aphasia.
• Damage to left frontal lobe (Broca’s area): Can sing familiar songs and comprehend speech; struggle with speech production
• Damage to left temporal lobe (Wernicke’s area): Can speak only meaningless words; unable to understand speech of others
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Language and Thought (part 10) Language and Thought (part 11)
• Do other species have language? • Some animals display basic language processing
• Gardner and Gardner (Washoe) (1960s)
• Savage-Rumbaugh and colleagues (Kanzi) (1993; 2009)
• Skeptics • Simple, ape vocabularies are limited
• Learning may be mimicry, not language
• Perceptual sets are not clearly seen
• Rules of syntax are not evident
Language and Thought (part 12)
• Linguistic determinism • Whorf’s hypothesis that language determines the
way we think
• Linguistic relativism • Language has influence on the way we think
• Words define mental categories
• Perceived differences grow and change with different assigned names (colors)
• Different personality profiles may exist in bilingual individuals; bilingual advantage
Language and Thought (part 13)
Intelligence and Its Assessment (part 1)
• What is intelligence? • Intelligence: Ability to learn from experience, solve
problems, and use knowledge to adapt to new situations
• General intelligence (g): According to Spearman and others, underlies all mental abilities and is therefore measured by every task on an intelligence test
Intelligence and Its Assessment (part 2)
• Theories of multiple intelligence • Gardner’s multiple intelligences
• Eight (later nine) relatively independent intelligences
• Intelligence domains include multiple abilities that come in various configurations
• Savant syndrome
• Sternberg’s three intelligences • Analytical (academic problem-solving) intelligence
• Creative intelligence
• Practical intelligence
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Intelligence and Its Assessment (part 3) Intelligence and Its Assessment (part 4)
• Criticisms of multiple intelligence theories • Factor analysis confirms the existence of the general
intelligence factor (g)
• Extremely high cognitive-ability scores predict exceptional achievements
• Expert performance and the 10-year rule
Intelligence and Its Assessment (part 5)
• Emotional Intelligence • Critical part of social intelligence
• Includes four abilities • Perceiving emotions
• Understanding emotions
• Managing emotions
• Using emotions
• Gardner includes interpersonal and intrapersonal intelligence
Intelligence and Its Assessment (part 6)
Theory Summary Strengths Other Considerations
Spearman’s general intelligence (g)
A basic intelligence predicts our abilities in varied academic areas.
Different abilities, such as verbal and spatial, do have some tendency to correlate.
Human abilities are too diverse to be encapsulated by a single general intelligence factor.
Gardner’s multiple intelligences
Our abilities are best classified into eight or nine independent intelligences, which include a broad range of skills beyond traditional school smarts.
Intelligence is more than just verbal and mathematical skills. Other abilities are equally important to our human adaptability.
Should all our abilities be considered intelligences? Shouldn’t some be called less vital talents?
Sternberg’s triarchic theory
Our intelligence is best classified into three areas that predict real- world success: analytical, creative, and practical.
These three domains can be reliably measured.
These three domains may be less independent than Sternberg thought and may actually share an underlying g factor.
Emotional intelligence Social intelligence is an important indicator of life success. Emotional intelligence is a key aspect, consisting of perceiving, understanding, managing, and using emotions.
These four components predict social success and emotional well- being.
Does this stretch the concept of intelligence too far?
Intelligence and Its Assessment (part 7)
• Assessing intelligence • Intelligence tests: Assess mental aptitudes and
compare them with those of others, using numerical scores
• Achievement tests: Intended to reflect what is learned
• Aptitude tests: Intended to predict ability to learn some new skill
Intelligence and Its Assessment (part 8)
• What do intelligence tests take? • Binet: Predicting school achievement
• Same course of intellectual development; rate differs
• Mental age
• Terman: Measuring innate intelligence • Numerical measure of intelligence (Standard–Binet);
relative to average performance
• Intelligence quotient (IQ)
10 8 100 125
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Intelligence and Its Assessment (part 9)
• What do intelligence tests take? • Wechsler: Tests separate strengths
• Yields overall intelligence score and separate scores for verbal comprehension, perceptual reasoning, working memory, and processing speed
• Versions • Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale (WAIS) • Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children (WISCI); preschool
version • 2008 WAIS subsets
• Similarities • Vocabulary • Block design • Letter–number sequencing
Intelligence and Its Assessment (part 10)
• Three tests of a “good” test • Standardized
• Normal curve
• Reliable • Split-half
• Test-retest
• Correlation
• Valid • Predictive validity
Intelligence and Its Assessment (part 11)
• Extremes of intelligence • Low extreme (Intellectual disability)
• Apparent before age 18
• Criteria for diagnosis • Intelligence test score indicating performance in lowest 3
percent of general population, or about 70 or below
• Difficulty adapting to normal demands of independent living • Conceptual
• Social
• Practical
Intelligence and Its Assessment (part 12)
• Extremes of intelligence • High extreme
• Terman’s high-scoring children; IQ over 135; high levels of education attained
• Lubinski’s high math SAT scores at age 13; top 1 percent; 1650 patents by age 50
• Kell and others high verbal aptitude 13-year-old; professors or doctorates at age 38
Intelligence and Its Assessment (part 13)
• Intelligence across the life span • Before age 3: Modest prediction of future aptitudes
from casual observation and intelligence tests
• By age 4: Intelligence tests begin to predict adolescent and adult score
• By ages 11 to 70: Impressive stability, independent of life circumstances
Intelligence and Its Assessment (part 14)
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Intelligence and Its Assessment (part 15)
• Why do children and adults who are more intelligent tend to live healthier and longer lives? • Intelligence facilitates more education, better jobs,
and a healthier environment. • Intelligence encourages healthy living: less smoking,
better diet, more exercise. • Prenatal events or early childhood illnesses can
influence both intelligence and health. • A “well-wired body,” as evidenced by fast reaction
speeds, may foster both intelligence and longevity.
Thinking Critically About Cross-Sectional and Longitudinal Studies
• Researchers using the cross-sectional method study different groups at one time. They have found that mental ability declines with age.
• Researchers using the longitudinal method study and restudy the same group at different times in their life span. They have found that intelligence remains stable, and on some tests it even increases.
Intelligence and Its Assessment (part 16)
• Aging and Intelligence • Cohort
• Crystallized intelligence
• Fluid intelligence
Intelligence and Its Assessment (part 17)
Genetic and Environmental Influences on Intelligence (part 1)
• Heredity and intelligence • Heritability: Portion of variation among people in
group that is attributed to genes
• Heritability of intelligence: Varies from study to study
Genetic and Environmental Influences on Intelligence (part 2)
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Genetic and Environmental Influences on Intelligence (part 3)
• Environment and intelligence • Several studies suggest that a shared environment
exerts a modest influence on intelligence test scores. • Adoption from poverty into middle-class homes
• Adoption of mistreated or neglected children
• Intelligence scores of “virtual twins”
• Genetic influences become more apparent as life experience is accumulated.
Genetic and Environmental Influences on Intelligence (part 4)
Genetic and Environmental Influences on Intelligence (part 5)
• Gene–environment interactions • Epigenetics: Microbiology study of nature–nurture
nexus
• Genes shape experiences that can shape us in positive and negative ways
• Severe deprivation and brain development
• Impact of early intervention
• Growth mindset • Focus on learning and growing; belief that intelligence is
changeable
• Ability + opportunity + motivation = success
Genetic and Environmental Influences on Intelligence (part 6)
• Group differences in intelligence test scores • Gender similarities and differences
• Men estimate own intelligence as higher than do women • Actual differences are minor; influence may be related to
social expectations and opportunities
• During school • Girls outpace boys in spelling, verbal fluency, and locating
objects; increased sensitivity to emotions, touch, taste, and color
• Boys outperform girls on complex math problems, spatial ability tests; more low and high extremes
• Little gender difference in math computation and overall math
Genetic and Environmental Influences on Intelligence (part 7)
• Racial and ethnic similarities and differences: Scientifically agreed-upon facts • Racial and ethnic groups IQ test score differences
• High-scoring people (and groups) are more likely to attain higher education and income levels
• Group differences provide little basis for judging individuals
• Might racial and ethnic gaps be environmental?
Genetic and Environmental Influences on Intelligence (part 8)
• Are intelligence tests biased? • Depends on which
definition of bias is used • Scientific meaning based
on test validity
• Everyday language considers fairness or unfairness of a test
• Test-taker expectations • Stereotype threat