Thinking, Language and Intelligence (Chapter 9)

Cognition

All mental activities associated with thinking, knowing, remembering, and communicating information

Metacognition

Cognition about our cognition; keeping track of and evaluating our mental processes

Concept

Mental grouping of similar objects, events, ideas, or people

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

Algorithm

Methodical, logical rule or procedure that guarantees a solution to a

problem

Heuristic

Simpler thinking strategy that is usually speedier than an algorithm,

but also more error-prone

Insight

Abrupt, true-seeming, and often satisfying solution. Not strategy-based solution, but rather a sudden flash of inspiration that solves a problem

Confirmation Bias

Predisposes us to verify rather than challenge our hypotheses

Fixation

Such as mental set, may prevent us from taking a fresh perspective that would lead to a solution

Mental Set

Is the tendency to approach a problem with a previously successful

mindset; example of fixation

Intuition

Effortless, immediate, automatic feeling or thought, as contrasted with explicit, conscious reasoning

Representativeness Heuristic

Judging the 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

Judging the likelihood of events based on their mental availability in memory; if instances come readily to mind, we presume such events are commonplace.

Overconfidence

Tendency to be more confident than correct; to overestimate accuracy of our beliefs and judgments

Belief Perseverance

Occurs when we cling to beliefs and ignore evidence that proves these

beliefs are wrong

Motivated Reasoning

Rather than using evidence to draw conclusions, conclusions are used to assess evidence.

Framing

Sways decisions and judgments by the way an issue is posed; can nudge people towards beneficial decisions

Language

Involves spoken, written, or signed words and the ways these are combined to communicate meaning

Phoneme

Smallest distinctive sound unit in language

Morpheme

Smallest language unit that carries meaning

Grammar

System of rules that enables humans to communicate with one anothereS

Semantics

Deriving meaning from sounds

Syntax

Ordering words into sentences

Telegraphic Speech

It is the early speech stage in which a child speaks like a telegram, using mostly nouns and verbs.

Aphasia

Damage to any one of several areas of brain’s cortex can impair language

Intelligence

Is the ability to learn from experience, solve problems, and use knowledge to adapt to new situations; describes the qualities that enable people to achieve success in their own time and place

Intelligence Test

Method for assessing individual’s mental aptitudes and comparing them with those of others using numerical scores

Aptitude Test

Designed to predict person’s future performance

Achievement Test

Designed to assess what person has learned

CHC Theory

Intelligence is based on general intelligence (g) as well as specific abilities (fluid intelligence and crystallized intelligence)

Fluid Intelligence

Ability to reason speedily and abstractly; tends to decrease with age, especially during late adulthood

Crystallized Intelligence

Accumulated knowledge and verbal skills; tend to increase with age

Standardization

Defining uniform testing procedures and meaningful scores by comparison with performance of pretested group

Reliability

Extent to which test yields consistent results, as assessed by the consistency of scores on two halves of test, on alternative forms of test, or retesting

Validity

Extent to which test measures or predicts what it is supposed to measure or predict