psychology ch. nine vocabulary

Cognition

• Thinking

• Mental processes associated with knowledge,
  communication, problem-solving and decision-making

• Manipulation of knowledge and mental representations;
  doing something with information after learning and
  remembering

Metacognition

Thinking about thinking; an awareness of our own thought processes and what we do and don’t know

Concepts

• Abstract ideas; collective knowledge of a topic

• Mental categories of related information (groupings of
  objects or ideas)

Prototype

• In order to identify and categorize objects, we compare to
  an averaged (most typical) representation of that category
  or concept

• Grouping items by “family resemblance”

Problem-Solving

• Transformation of information or knowledge to arrive at a
  correct solution

• Restructuring of information; re-organization from how it
  was originally encoded

Algorithms

Strategic, systematic set of rules followed to solve a problem

Heuristics

• Unconscious mental short-cuts

• Predisposed built-in cognitive rules that guide our thinking
  to be more efficient (faster)

• Biases in our problem-solving and decision-making that are
  helpful the majority of times but are NOT always correct

• Cognitively “efficient” in arriving at conclusions or solutions
  quickly (but not correct 100% of times)

Insight

• Sudden realization of a problem’s solution without a
  strategy-based approach

• Aha! moment

Problem-Solving Obstacles

-

Framing

The way we present an issue or the way we ask a question
(can have either positive or negative connotations)

Fixation

Inability to see a problem from a new perspective

Mental Set

Approaching problems from conventional, well-practiced,
ways (but not always beneficial or correct – often impedes
problem-solving)

Intuition

Lacking explicit, conscious reasoning; effortless immediate
feeling or thought not based in objective logic

Confirmation Bias

Seeking out, remembering and believing what we already
think is true and ignoring any information that is
contradictory

Availability Heuristic

Being influenced by whatever information most easily comes
to mind; most common or most recent knowledge is most
easily activated

Representativeness Heuristic

Placing something/someone into a category (or estimating
the likelihood of events) based on how much it sounds like it
should fit into that group on the surface (stereotyping)

Overconfidence Bias

• Tendency to overestimate the accuracy of our knowledge

• Leads to being more confident than being correct

Belief Perseverance

Tendency to hold onto current beliefs when confronted with
contradictory evidence; not ignoring contradictory evidence
but valuing current beliefs because they are our own

Thinking Creatively

-

Convergent Thinking

• Seeking a single correct answer

• Thinking that produces a best solution to a problem

Divergent Thinking

• Allowing for a number of possible solutions; expanding the
  number of possible solutions

• Creativity: ability to think about something in a novel or
  unusual way and/or devising unconventional ways to solve
  problems

Intelligence

The ability to learn from experience, solve problems and
adapt to new situations

General Intelligence (g)

Averaging all cognitive processes/abilities and achievements
together into ONE factor – all skills would be correlated such
that strengths in one area are predictive of strengths in
others and across all abilities

Crystallized Intelligence (Gc)

• Our accumulated knowledge of facts and verbal skills
  (vocabulary)

• Factual accumulation

Fluid Intelligence (Gf)

Ability to reason and apply knowledge; efficiency in cognitive
processing

Gardner’s Multiple (8-9) Intelligences

• Several completely independent (uncorrelated) types of
  cognitive processes and abilities that do not need to
  correlate; one can excel in some types of intelligence and
  not in others

• Types: linguistic, logical, musical, spatial, bodily,
  interpersonal, intrapersonal, naturalistic and possibly
  existential

Sternberg’s 3 Intelligences

Defines intelligence by 3 areas of application: creative,
analytical and practical intelligence

Emotional Intelligence

Perceiving, understanding, managing and using emotion
appropriately in problem-solving

Assessing Intelligence

-

Achievement Test

• Testing what one has already learned

• e.g. most quizzes and exams in courses like this

Aptitude Test

• Testing what one is capable of learning

• e.g. college or graduate school entrance exam

Intelligence Quotient (IQ)

• A standardized ratio of mental age to actual age designed as a measure of intelligence

• Reliability = consistency; IQ scores show good reliability over time

• Validity: accuracy in measurement; IQ measures accurately
  but is dependent upon one’s definition of what skills are
  accepted to be “intelligent”

Weschler Adult Intelligence Scale (WAIS)

Standardized IQ test assessing vocabulary, spatial reasoning,
relationships and similarities between concepts, pattern
recognition and abstract reasoning

Stereotype Threat

Self-confirming concern that you will be judged based on a
negative stereotype; creates anxiety in test-taking

Heritability

• The degree to which genes account for variability in traits

• For IQ, heritability = 50-70%

Group Differences in Intelligence

• Variation within a group = genetic difference; these
  differences are much greater than any between-group
  differences in intelligence

• Variation between groups = environmental differences

• When variation within a group surpasses between-group
  differences (which is usually the case for IQ) there are NO
  REAL differences because of group identification

Growth Mindset

• A belief that intelligence (including your own) is changeable;
  a focus on learning and growing that fosters improvement

• In contrast, a Fixed Mindset is a belief that intelligence is set
  and your mental abilities cannot change

• One should attempt to adopt a Growth Mindset for life
  success