Cognition, Thinking, Intelligence, and Language Vocabulary

Flashcards covering key vocabulary terms from Chapter 7: Cognition, Thinking, Intelligence, and Language.

Thinking (cognition)

Mental activity that goes on in brain when a person is processing information, including organizing, understanding, and communicating information to others.

Mental images

Mental representations that stand for objects or events and have a picture-like quality.

Concepts

Ideas that represent a class or category of objects, events, or activities.

Formal concepts

Concepts that are defined by specific rules or features.

Natural concepts

Concepts people form as a result of their experiences in the real world.

Prototype

A concept that closely matches the defining characteristics of that concept.

Schemas

Mental generalizations about objects, places, events, and people.

Scripts

A kind of schema that involves a familiar sequence of activities.

Problem solving

Occurs when a goal must be reached by thinking and behaving in certain ways.

Decision making

Identifying, evaluating, and choosing between alternatives.

Trial and error (mechanical solution)

Problem-solving method in which one possible solution after another is tried until a successful one is found.

Algorithms

Very specific, step-by-step procedures for solving certain types of problems; will always result in a correct solution if one exists to be found.

Heuristic

Educated guess based on prior experiences that helps narrow down possible solutions for a problem; also known as a 'rule of thumb'.

Insight

Sudden perception of a solution to a problem.

Functional fixedness

A block to problem solving that comes from thinking about objects only in terms of their typical functions.

Mental set

The tendency for people to persist in using problem-solving patterns that have worked for them in the past.

Confirmation bias

The tendency to search for evidence that fits one’s beliefs while ignoring any evidence that does not fit those beliefs.

Creativity

The process of solving problems by combining ideas or behavior in new ways.

Convergent thinking

A problem is seen as having only one answer, and all lines of thinking will eventually lead to (converge on) that single answer, using previous knowledge and logic.

Divergent thinking

A person starts from one point and comes up with many different ideas or possibilities based on that point (a kind of creativity).

Intelligence

The ability to learn from one’s experiences, acquire knowledge, and use resources effectively in adapting to new situations or solving problems.

g factor

The ability to reason and solve problems; general intelligence.

s factor

The ability to excel in certain areas; specific intelligence.

Analytical intelligence

The ability to break problems down into component parts, or analysis, for problem solving.

Creative intelligence

The ability to deal with new and different concepts and to come up with new ways of solving problems.

Practical intelligence

The ability to use information to get along in life and become successful; 'street smarts'.

Crystalized intelligence

Represents acquired knowledge and skills.

Fluid intelligence

Problem solving and adaptability in unfamiliar situations.

Stanford-Binet Intelligence Scales

Originally used intelligence quotient, comparing mental age and chronological age.

Wechsler Tests

Devised series of tests for specific age groups, including WAIS, WISC, and WPPSI; assessments include both verbal and nonverbal subtests.

Reliability

The tendency of a test to produce the same scores again and again each time it is given to the same people.

Validity

The degree to which a test actually measures what it’s supposed to measure.

Standardization

The process of giving test to a large group of people that represents kind of people for whom the test is designed.

Deviation IQ scores

A measure of intelligence that assumes that IQ is normally distributed around a mean of 100 with a standard deviation of about 15.

Cultural bias

Tendency for IQ tests to reflect in language, dialect, and content, the culture of the test designer(s).

Intellectual disability (intellectual developmental disorder)

A person exhibits deficits in mental ability and adaptive behavior; IQ falls below 70.

Gifted

The 2 percent of the population falling on the upper end of the normal curve and typically possessing an IQ of 130 or above.

Emotional intelligence

Awareness of and ability to manage one’s own emotions, as well as the ability to be self-motivated, to feel what others feel, and to be socially skilled.

Heritability of IQ

Estimated at 0.50.

Language

A system for combining symbols (such as words) so that an unlimited number of meaningful statements can be made for the purpose of communicating with others.

Grammar

The system of rules governing the structure and use of a language.

Phonemes

The basic units of sound in a language.

Morphemes

The smallest units of meaning within a language.

Syntax

The system of rules for combining words and phrases to form grammatically correct sentences.

Semantics

Rules for determining the meaning of words and sentences.

Pragmatics

Aspects of language involving the practical ways of communicating with others, or the social niceties of language.

Child-directed speech

The way adults and older children talk to infants and very young children, with higher-pitched, repetitious, sing-song speech patterns.

Linguistic relativity hypothesis

The theory that thought processes and concepts are controlled by language.

Cognitive universalism

Theory that concepts are universal and influence the development of language.