8: cognition and intelligence

how do children learn language according to B.F skinner

imitation, reinforcement and other established principles of conditioning

The process of conditioning in shaping children’s language acquisition

• vocalizations are shaped with reinforcers until they are correct

• remaining vocalizations that are not reinforced declines in frequency

What are nativists theories in the language acquisition

humans are equipped with a LAD (an innate mechanism or process that facilitates the learning of language) → essentially biologically equipped with an innate capacity for language learning

Interactionist theories in the acquisition of language

human brains are hard-wired to readily recognize the sound patterns that make up the human language

Bilingualism

acquisition of 2 languages that use different speech sound, vocab, grammatical rules

problem solving

active efforts to discover what must be done to achieve a goal that is not readily attainable

Jim Greeno’s proposal that problems can be categorized into 3 basic structures

1. Problems of inducing structure → person must discover the relations among the parts to the problem

2. problem of arrangements → the person must arrange the parts in a way that satisfies some criterion (only one of the few arrangements form a solution)

3. problems of transformation → person must carry out a sequence of transformations in order to reach a specific goal

functional fixedness

the tendency to perceive an item only in therms of its most common use

(in the string problem where they only think of the screwdriver as using in its usual functions, as a tool, rather than to use it as a weight)

mental set

exists when people persist in using problem-solving strategies that have worked in the past

reliance on the “tried and true” strategy in the water jar problem

unnecessary constraints

effective problem solving requires specifying all the constraints of the problem, without assuming any constraints that doesn’t exist

(9-dot problem where you re required to draw lines outside of the imaginary boundary)

the 9 dot problem is a classic __ problem

insight; insight occurs when people suddenly discover the correct solution to a problem after struggling with it for awhile → based primarily on trial and error

trial and error involves

trying possible solutions sequentially and discarding those that are in error until one works

a heuristic

a guiding principle or “rule of thumb” used in solving problems or making decisions

forming subgoals

forming intermediate steps towards a solution

spotting an analogy

by spotting an analogy between problems, you may be able to use the solution to a previous problem to solve a current one

incubation effect

occurs when new solutions surface for a previous unsolved problem after a period of not consciously thinking about the problem

cognitive style of east asian cultures

holistic cognitive style which focusses on context and the relationship among elements (see wholes)

cognitive style of western cultures

analytic cognitive style which focuses on objects and their properties rather than context (see parts)

theory of bounded rationality

people tend to use simple strategies in decision making that focus on only a few facets of available options and often result in “irrational” decisions that are less than optimal

choice overload

increases the potential for rumination and post-decision regret

deliberation-without-attention effect

when faced with complex decisions, decisions made after a period of distraction tend to be better

Availability heuristic

involves basing the estimated probability of an event on the ease with which relevant instances come to mind (e.g: basing divorce rates on how many of your friend’s parents are divorced)

Representative heuristic

involves basing the estimated probability of an event on how similar it is to the typical prototype of that event

the conjunction fallacy

occurs when people estimate that the odds of 2 uncertain events happening together are greater than the odds of either event happening alone

recognition heuristic

when presented with 2 options where one is recognized and the other is not, people assume that the recognized option has the higher value (or is correct)

mental age

indicates that the child displayed the mental ability typical of a child that actual age

Intelligence quotient (IQ)

MA/CA x100

WAIS

separate scores for verbal, performance ,and full-scale (total) IQ

aptitude tests

measure specific types of mental abilities, measures potential

breaks mental ability into separate components

achievement tests

measure an individual’s mastery of knowledge on various subjects

measure previous learning rather than potential

normal distribution graph

a symmetrical, bell-shaped curve that represents the pattern in which many characteristics are dispersed in the population

reliability

refers to the measurement consistency of a test

validity

the ability of a test to measure what it was designed to measure

hereditary influence on intelligence

inheritable to a considerable degree, through the findings of twin studies, and adoption studies

heritability ratio

an estimate of the proportion of train variability in a population that is determined by variations in genetic inheritance

The flynn effect

intelligence has steadily been increasing over generations, since the 1930s, attributed to environmental factors

reaction range

a term used to refer to genetically determined limits on IQ (or other traits)

Triarchic theory of successful intelligence

1. analytical intelligence → abstract reasoning, evaluation and judgement (crucial to schoolwork)

2. creative intelligence → ability to generate new ideas and to be inventive in dealing with novel problems

3. practical intelligence → ability to deal effectively with the kinds of problems people encounter in everyday life, (such as at one’s jobs, or at home)

Howard Gardner, the existence of a namer of relatively independent human intelligences, not assessed by conventional IQ tests

• logical-mathematical

• linguistic

• musical

• spatial

• bodily-kinesthetic

• interpersonal

• intrapersonal

• naturalist