Psych 2000- Chapter 7 Thinking and Intelligence Terms

Cognition

All forms of knowing and awareness, such as perceiving, conceiving, remembering, reasoning, judging, imagining, and problem solving.

Cognitive Psychology

The branch of psychology that explores mental processes related to perceiving, attending, thinking, language, and memory via behavioral inferences.

Concepts

Categories or groupings of information, images, ideas, or memories that share common features, helping organize complex information.

Prototype

The best, ideal, or most typical representative example of a concept (e.g., a robin for the concept "bird").

Natural Concepts

Mental categories formed organically through direct or indirect worldly experience without rigid rules.

Artificial Concepts

Categories defined by strict, specific sets of characteristics or rules (e.g., a geometric triangle).

Schema

A mental framework composed of a cluster of related concepts that organizes knowledge and guides expectations.

Role Schema

Assumptions and behavioral expectations associated with an individual in a specific social or occupational position.

Event Schema (Script)

A cognitive script outlining the expected sequential order of behaviors in a familiar situation (e.g., dining at a restaurant).

Language

A structured communication system of speech sounds or written symbols governed by grammatical rules.

Lexicon

The complete vocabulary of a language, representing an individual's internal mental dictionary.

Grammar

The structural rules of language, encompassing phonology, morphology, and syntax.

Phonemes

The smallest units of sound in a spoken language that distinguish words (approx. 40 in English).

Morphemes

The smallest units of language that convey distinct meaning (whole words, prefixes, suffixes).

Semantics

The extraction of meaning from morphemes, words, and sentence context.

Syntax

The grammatical rules dictating the arrangement and sequence of words into meaningful sentences.

Infinite Generativity

The ability to combine a finite vocabulary and grammatical rules into an endless variety of new sentences.

Universal Grammar

Chomsky's theory that all human languages share an underlying structural architecture.

Language Acquisition Device (LAD)

A hypothesized innate biological brain mechanism permitting children to rapidly acquire and process language.

Prelinguistic Communication

Communication occurring before formal speech, including crying, vocal tones, facial expressions, and pointing.

Crying

The earliest infant vocalization present at birth, serving as a distress signal with varying acoustic patterns.

Cooing

Pleasurable, gurgling vowel-like sounds produced at the back of the throat beginning around 1 to 2 months.

Babbling

Rhythmic consonant-vowel repetitions (e.g., "ba-ba") starting around 2 to 3 months, spanning sounds of all languages.

Gestures

Intentional physical signals (pointing, waving, showing) appearing around 8 to 12 months.

First Words

Spoken single words produced between 10 and 18 months to identify caregivers, food, familiar objects, or greetings.

Two-Word Utterances

Telegraphic speech emerging between 18 and 24 months communicating meaning through two words (e.g., "Mama walk").

Overgeneralization

Extending a regular grammatical rule to irregular exceptions (e.g., saying "mouses" or "gooses").

Problem-Solving Strategy

A structured plan of action utilized to discover a solution to an impasse or goal.

Trial and Error

A problem-solving strategy testing different potential solutions repeatedly until success is reached.

Algorithm

A methodical, step-by-step problem-solving formula that guarantees a correct solution if followed.

Heuristic

A cognitive mental shortcut or rule of thumb used to make rapid, efficient decisions.

Working Backwards

A heuristic where one begins problem-solving by focusing on the end goal and retracing steps in reverse.

Mental Set

The tendency to approach a problem using strategies that worked previously, even if simpler solutions exist.

Functional Fixedness

A cognitive roadblock where one cannot perceive an object serving any role beyond its intended purpose.

Anchoring Bias

Fixating disproportionately on a single initial piece of information when evaluating choices or values.

Confirmation Bias

The inclination to favor and recall evidence that verifies existing beliefs while discounting opposing data.

Hindsight Bias

The false belief after an outcome has occurred that one could have accurately predicted it ("knew it all along").

Representativeness Bias

Judging the likelihood of an event or identity based purely on its resemblance to a mental prototype.

Availability Heuristic

Estimating the frequency or probability of an event based on how easily memorable examples come to mind.

Spearman's g

The theory that intelligence consists of a single general cognitive factor that can be measured and compared.

Fluid Intelligence

The innate capacity to solve novel problems, recognize unfamiliar patterns, and think abstractly.

Crystallized Intelligence

The accumulated store of knowledge, facts, and verbal skills acquired through education and prior experience.

Analytical Intelligence

Sternberg's triarchic component involving processing, evaluating, and solving problems (measured by IQ tests).

Creative Intelligence

Sternberg's triarchic component involving insightful adaptation to novelty and combining ideas uniquely.

Practical Intelligence

Sternberg's triarchic component involving handling the challenges and tasks of everyday street-smart living.

Multiple Intelligences Theory

Gardner's model proposing distinct, autonomous modalities of intelligence (8 established, 1 proposed).

Verbal-Linguistic Intelligence

Sensitivity to spoken and written language, word rhythm, and syntax.

Logical-Mathematical Intelligence

Ability to analyze abstract problems, compute equations, and discern logical relationships.

Spatial-Visual Intelligence

Capacity to perceive, manipulate, and mentally orient visual imagery and physical spaces.

Bodily-Kinesthetic Intelligence

Precise physical control over bodily movements and skilled handling of physical objects.

Musical Intelligence

Facility in producing, performing, and appreciating acoustic rhythm, pitch, and timbre.

Interpersonal Intelligence

Ability to understand, interpret, and respond effectively to the feelings and motives of others.

Intrapersonal Intelligence

High self-awareness regarding one's own inner values, emotional states, and cognitive goals.

Naturalist Intelligence

Skill in identifying, recognizing, and cataloging species and features within the natural environment.

Existential Intelligence

Philosophical capacity to grapple with deep dilemmas concerning human existence and purpose.

Emotional Intelligence

Accurate perception, assessment, expression, and regulation of emotions in oneself and others.

Cultural Intelligence

Cultural competence reflecting how effectively an individual navigates the values of different cultures.

Creativity

The ability to generate, discover, or produce novel, valuable, and contextually appropriate ideas.

Divergent Thinking

Out-of-the-box cognitive processing aimed at generating multiple unique solutions to a problem.

Convergent Thinking

Linear cognitive processing focused on providing the single correct established answer to a problem.

Binet-Simon Scale

The 1905 French assessment created to identify schoolchildren needing special educational assistance.

Stanford-Binet Test

Terman's American adaptation of Binet's measure, standardizing the concept of the Intelligence Quotient (IQ).

Wechsler Scales (WAIS/WISC)

Intelligence tests providing differentiated verbal and performance scores alongside a full-scale composite score.

Standardization

Consistent administration, scoring criteria, and interpretation procedures across all testing conditions.

Norming

Administering a test to a large representative sample to establish comparative reference baselines.

Mental Age

The chronological age tier reflecting a person's measured intellectual score on an assessment.

Chronological Age

An individual's actual physical age measured in years and months.

Historical Ratio IQ Formula

Mental Age divided by Chronological Age multiplied by 100 ($IQ = \frac{MA}{CA} \times 100$).

Deviation IQ Score

Contemporary IQ scoring based on statistical deviation from a standardized peer group mean of 100.

Giftedness Benchmark

An IQ score at or above 130 on a standardized bell-curve distribution.

Developmental Delay Benchmark

An IQ score below 70 accompanied by verified deficits in adaptive daily living activities.

Brain Volume-IQ Correlation

Structural MRI findings showing a 0.3 to 0.4 positive correlation between brain volume and general intelligence.

Range of Reaction

The genetic principle that genetics dictates an intellectual range, while environment sets the realization point.

Learning Disability

Neurologically based impairment affecting specific academic skills in people with average or above IQ.

Dysgraphia

A specific learning disability causing marked difficulty producing legible physical handwriting.

Dyslexia

A learning disability involving neurological difficulty in accurately processing and decoding written letters.

Dyscalculia

A learning disability resulting in pronounced impairment in learning and processing mathematical concepts.