Cognition- another term for thinking, knowing, and remembering
Concepts- mental grouping of similar objects, events, ideas or people; similar to Piaget’s idea of schemas
Prototypes- A mental image or best example of a category
Solving Problems
Algorithms- A methodical, logical rule or procedure that guarantees solving a particular problem
Heuristics- rule-of-thumb strategy that often allows us to make judgments and solve problems efficiently; short cut
Insight- sudden and often novel realization of the solution to a problem; no real strategy
Obstacles to problem solving
Confirmation Bias- tendency to search for information that confirms one’s preconceptions
Fixation- inability to see a problem from a new perspective
Mental set- tendency to approach a problem in a particular way, especially if it has worked in the past
Functional Fixedness- tendency to think of things only in terms of their usual functions
Types of Heuristics
Representativeness Heuristic- rule of thumb for judging the likelihood of things in terms of how well they match our prototype; might cause us to ignore important information
Availability Heuristic- estimating the likelihood of events based on their availability in our memory
Overconfidence- tendency to be more confident than correct; overestimate the accuracy of your beliefs and judgments
Framing- The way an issued is posed
Belief Bias- tendency for one’s preexisting beliefs to distort logical reasoning; making invalid conclusions valid or vice versa
Belief Perseverance- Clinging to initial conceptions after the basis on which they were formed has been discredited
Language and Thought
Language- spoken, written, or gestured words and the way we combine them to communicate meaning
Phonemes- the smallest distinctive sound unit in a spoken language
Morphemes- the smallest unit that carries meaning in a language; can be a word or part of a word
Grammar- system of rules in a language that enables us to communicate and understand others
Semantics- set of rules by which we derive meaning in a language
Syntax- rules for combining words into grammatically sensible sentences
Language Development
Babbling Stage- the infant makes spontaneous sounds starting at 3-4 months
One-word stage- uses one word to communicate big meanings at 1-2 years old
Two word stage- uses two words to communicate meanings- called telegraphic speech at age 2
Skinner- thought that we can explain language development through social learning theory
Chomsky- we acquire language too quickly for it to be learned; we have this “learning box” inside our heads that enable us to learn any human language
Thought
Whorf’s Linguistic Relativity- idea that language determines the way we think
Thinking without Language- we can think in words, but more often we think in mental pictures
Kohler’s Chimpanzees- exhibited that Chimps can problem solve
Intelligence
Intelligence- ability to learn from experience, solve problems, and use knowledge to adapt to new situations
Factor analysis- statistical procedure that identifies clusters of related items on a test
Charles Spearman used factor analysis to discovery his g or general intelligence
Multiple Intelligences- Howard Gardner disagreed with Spearman’s g and instead came up with the concept; came up with the idea by studying savants
Sternberg’s Three Aspects of Intelligence- Analytical (academic problem solving), Creative (generating novel ideas), Practical (required for everyday tasks where multiple solutions exist)
Emotional Intelligence- ability to perceive, express, understand, and regulate emotions; first called social intelligence
Brain Size and Intelligence- Small +.15 correlation between head size and intelligence scores; using an MRI we found +.44 correlation with brain size and IQ score
Brain Function and Intelligence- Higher performing brains use less glucose than lower performing brains
Alfred Binet and Theodore Simon set out to figure out a concept called a mental age (what a person of a particular age should know)
Modern Tests of Mental Abilities
Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale- consists of 11 subtests and cues us in to strengths by using factor analysis
Aptitude- test designed to predict a person’s future performance; ability for that person to learn
Achievement- test designed to assess what a person has learned
Tests must be- Standardized, reliable, valid
Standardization- test must be pre-tested to a representative sample of people and form a normal distribution or bell curve
Reliability- extent which a test yields consistent results over time
Validity- The extent to which a test measures what it is supposed to measure
A good example of algorithms is recipes for food and desserts.
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