Ap Psych Intelligence & Achievement Review

Cognition

all the mental activities associated with thinking, knowing, remembering, and communicating

metacognition

awareness and understanding of one's own thought processes.

concept

a mental grouping of similar objects, events, ideas, or people

prototype

A full-scale working model used to test a design concept by making actual observations and necessary adjustments.

Algorithm

A methodical, logical rule or procedure that guarantees solving a particular problem.

Heuristic

a simple thinking strategy that often allows us to make judgments and solve problems efficiently; usually speedier but also more error-prone than algorithms

representativeness heuristic

judging the likelihood of things in terms of how well they seem to represent, or match, particular prototypes, may lead us to ignore other relevant information

availability heuristic

estimating the 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

mental set

a tendency to approach a problem in one particular way, often a way that has been successful in the past

Framing

the way an issue is posed; how an issue is framed can significantly affect decisions and judgments.

nudge

framing choices in a way that encourages people to make beneficial decisions

Gambler's Fallacy

Believing that 'runs' occur to statistically independent phenomena such as roulette wheel spins.

sunk cost fallacy

a framing effect in which people make decisions about a current situation based on what they have previously invested in the situation

functional fixedness

the tendency to think of things only in terms of their usual functions; an impediment to problem solving

Fixation

according to Freud, a lingering focus of pleasure-seeking energies at an earlier psychosexual stage, in which conflicts were unresolved

intuition

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

Overconfidence

the tendency to be more confident than correct—to overestimate the accuracy of our beliefs and judgments.

belief perseverance

clinging to one's initial conceptions after the basis on which they were formed has been discredited

creativity

the ability to produce novel and valuable ideas

divergent thinking

expands the number of possible problem solutions (creative thinking that diverges in different directions)

convergent thinking

narrows the available problem solutions to determine the single best solution

intelligence

the ability to learn from experience, solve problems, and use knowledge to adapt to new situations

general intelligence

underlies specific mental abilities and is therefore measured by every task on an intelligence test

factor analysis

a statistical procedure that identifies clusters of related items (called factors) on a test; used to identify different dimensions of performance that underlie a person's total score.

Cattell-Horn-Carroll (CHC) Theory

The theory that our intelligence is based on g as well as specific abilities, bridged by Gf and Gc

Multiple Intelligences

idea that people vary in their ability levels across different domains of intellectual skill

savant syndrome

a condition in which a person otherwise limited in mental ability has an exceptional specific skill, such as in computation or drawing

grit

Graduated and Reciprocated Initiatives in Tension-Reduction - a strategy designed to decrease international tensions

emotional intelligence

the ability to perceive, understand, manage, and use emotions

stanford - binet

The widely used American revision of Binet's original intelligence test

intelligence quotient (IQ)

defined originally as the ratio of mental age to chronological age multiplied by 100

mental age

a measure of intelligence test performance devised by Binet; the chronological age that most typically corresponds to a given level of performance

Weschler Adult Intelligence Scale (WAIS)

most widely used intelligence test; contains verbal and performance subtests

Psychometrics

the scientific study of the measurement of human abilities, attitudes, and traits

Standardization

defining meaningful scores by comparison with the performance of a pretested group

normal curve

A symmetrical, bell-shape that describes the distribution of many types of data; most scores fall near the mean (68 percent fall within one standard deviation of it) and fewer and fewer near the extremes.

Validity

the extent to which a test measures or predicts what it is supposed to

content validity

the extent to which a test samples the behavior that is of interest

construct validity

the extent to which variables measure what they are supposed to measure

predictive validity

Refers to the function of a test in predicting a particular behavior or trait.

Reliability

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

test-retest reliability

a method for determining the reliability of a test by comparing a test taker's scores on the same test taken on separate occasions

split-half reliability

A measure of reliability in which a test is split into two parts and an individual's scores on both halves are compared.

stereotype threat

a self-confirming concern that one will be evaluated based on a negative stereotype

Stereotype Lift

awareness of positive expectations can actually improve performance on tasks

flynn effect

The rise in average IQ scores that has occurred over the decades in many nations

Achievement Tests

tests designed to assess what a person has learned.

Aptitude Tests

tests designed to predict a person's future performance; aptitude is the capacity to learn

Growth Mindset

the idea that our abilities are malleable qualities that we can cultivate and grow