Introduction to Psychology

 Professor Christine Mihal Vasapoli

 Chapter 7- Thinking, Language, Intelligence
and Reasoning
 Chapter 7

Thinking, Language and

Intelligence and Reasoning
• Cognitive psychology
• Problem solving
• Language
 Thinking and Reasoning
Cognitive Psychology: The branch of
psychology that focuses on the study of
higher mental processes.
Thinking
The manipulation of mental
representations of information
Mental images
Representations in the mind in the form
of object or event being represented
 Categorizing the World
 Concepts
Categorizations of objects, events, or people that
share common properties that enable us to
organize complex phenomena into simpler
cognitive categories
 Prototypes
Typical, highly representative examples of a
concept
 Reasoning: Algorithms

 Algorithm
A rule which, if applied
appropriately,
guarantees a
solution to a
problem
Reasoning: Heuristics

 Heuristic
A cognitive shortcut that
may lead to a solution
 Availability heuristic
X Involves judging the
probability of an event by
how easily the event can
be recalled from memory
 Preparation: Understanding and
Diagnosing Problems
 Well-defined problem
Both the nature of the problem
itself and the information needed 2+2=?
to solve it are available and clear

 Ill-defined problem
Both the specific nature of the
problem and the information
to solve it are unclear
 Kinds of Problems
 Arrangement problems
Require that a group of
elements be rearranged
or recombined in a way
that will satisfy a  Problems of inducing
certain criterion structure
Identify the relationships that
exist among the elements
14-24-34-44-54-64-? presented and construct a
new relationship among
them
 Kinds of Problems
 Transformation problem
Consist of an initial state, a goal state, and a series
of methods for changing the initial state into the
goal state
Representing and Organizing the
Problem

 Our ability to represent the problem and the

kind of solution we eventually come to is
affected by the way a problem is phrased, or
framed
Production: Generating Solutions

 Trial and Error

– Most primitive means
of seeking a solution

 Means-end analysis
– Repeated testing for
differences between the
desired outcome and
what currently exists
Production: Generating Solutions
 Subgoals
– Dividing a problem into intermediate steps,
and solving each of those steps

 Insight
– A sudden awareness of the relationships
among various elements that had previously
appeared to be unrelated to one another
 Impediments to Solutions

 Functional fixedness  Mental set

The tendency to think of The tendency for old
an object only in patterns of problem
terms of its typical solving to persist
use
 Impediments to Solutions
 Inaccurate evaluation of solutions
 Confirmation bias
Initial hypotheses are favored and
contradictory information supporting
alternative hypothesis or solutions is
ignored
 Creativity and Problem Solving
 Creativity
The combining of responses
or ideas in novel ways
 Divergent thinking
The ability to generate
unusual, yet nonetheless
appropriate, responses to
problems or questions
 Convergent thinking
Responses that are based
primarily on knowledge
and logic
 Language

The communication of information through

symbols arranged according to
systematic rules
Grammar: Language’s Language
 Grammar
The system of rules that determine how our
thoughts can be expressed
 Phonology
The study of the smallest basic sound units,
called phonemes that affect the
meaning of speech
Grammar: Language’s Language
 Syntax
The rules that indicate how words and
phrases can be combined to form
sentences
 Semantics
The rules governing the meaning of words
and sentences
 Language Development

 Babble  Telegraphic
Speechlike but meaningless speech
sounds made by children from Sentences that
the ages of around 3 months sound as if they
through 1 year were part of a
 Overgeneralization telegram, in
which words not
– When children apply language
critical to the
rules when unneeded
message are left
out
 Understanding
Language Acquisition
 Learning-theory  Language-acquisition
approach device
Language acquisition Neural system that permits
follows the principles the understanding of
of reinforcement and language
conditioning
 Universal grammar
All the world’s
languages share a
similar underlying
structure
The Influence of Language on Thinking
 Linguistic-relativity hypothesis
The notion that language shapes and, in
fact, may determine the way people of
a particular culture perceive and
understand the world
 Defining Intelligent Behavior
 Intelligence
The capacity to understand the world, think rationally,
and use resources effectively when faced with
challenges

– Intelligence tests
Tests that are developed in order to identify a person’s
level of intelligence
 Howard Gardner’s Multiple
Intelligences Theory
 Musical Intelligence
 Bodily Kinesthetic Intelligence
 Logical-Mathematical Intelligence
 Linguistic Intelligence
 Spatial Intelligence
 Interpersonal Intelligence
 Intrapersonal Intelligence
 Naturalist Intelligence
 Practical and Emotional
Intelligence

 Practical intelligence
 Analytical intelligence
 Emotional intelligence
 Measuring Intelligence
 Mental age
The average age of individuals who achieve a
particular level of performance on a test

 Chronological age
Physical age
Measuring Intelligence

MA
IQ = X 100
CA
IQ Tests: Gauging Intelligence

 Stanford-Binet V
 Wechsler Adult Intelligence
Scale – IV (WAIS-IV)
 Wechsler Intelligence Scale
for Children - IV (WISC-IV)
Achievement and Aptitude Tests
 Achievement test
A test designed to determine a person’s
level of knowledge in a given subject
area
 Aptitude test
A test designed to predict a person’s
ability in a particular area or line of
work
Reliability and Validity: Taking the
Measure of a Test
 Reliability
A tests ability to consistently measure what they are
trying to measure.
 Validity
The tests ability to measure what it is supposed to
measure.
 Norms
Standards of test performance.
 Variations in Intellectual Ability

 Intellectual Disability
 Significantly below-average
intellectual functioning, plus
limitations in at least two areas
of adaptive functioning
 Identifying Roots of
Intellectual Disability
 Biological causes
Down syndrome
 Familial intellectual disability
 Care and treatment
– Least restrictive environment
– Mainstreaming
– Full inclusion
 Intellectually Gifted

 2 to 4 % of the population have IQ

scores greater than 130

 Most often are well adjusted,

popular, and outgoing
 Individual Differences in
Intelligence

Culture-fair IQ test
A test that does not discriminate
against members of any minority
group
 Individual Differences
in Intelligence
 Heritability “The Bell Curve”
A measure of the A widely debated
degree to which study that suggested
a characteristic that there was an
is related to inherent difference in
genetic, the ability levels of
inherited factors African American and
Caucasian subjects.
1994
 Bonus Information

 What makes a good intelligence test?

 Alfred Binet
 Robert Sternberg