Week 8: Cognition, Language, and Intelligence

Cognition

The mental activities involved in acquiring, retaining, and using knowledge

Mental image

-A mental representation of objects or events that are not physically present
-What we see through our "minds eye"
Ex. imagery

Concept

A mental category of objects or ideas based on properties they share

Formal concept

-A mental category that is formed by learning the rules or features
-Ex. breakfast burritos and In n Out burgers are in the category of "food"

Natural concept

-A mental category that is formed by learning the rules or features
-Ex. breakfast burritos and In n Out burgers are in the category of "food"

Natural concept

-A mental category that is formed as a result of everyday experience, rather than by logic
-Ex. understanding how to live with natural occurrences, such as snow

Prototype

-The most typical instance of a particular concept
-A point of reference
-Ex. general understanding of dogs

Exemplars

-Individual instances of a concept or category
-Held in memory
-We compare new items to exemplars that are stored in memory
Ex. specific types of dogs

Problem Solving

thinking and behavior directed toward attaining a goal that is not readily available

Trial and error

Attempting different solutions and eliminating those that do not work

Algorithms

-Following a specific rule, procedure, or method that inevitably produces the correct solution
-Created and reinforced following trial and error
-Time consuming, but accuracy is increased
Ex. The streets taken to school, baking a cake

Insight

-The sudden realization of how problems can be solved
"Eureka!" moment
-Ex. child realizing the cabinet door can be used to get a cookie

Intuition

-Coming to a conclusion or making a judgment without conscious awareness of the thought processes involved
-Ex. knowing something is wrong with a friend without them saying so

The Single-Feature Model

-You base your decision on a single feature when deciding between alternatives
- Ex. "What are we going to eat tonight?"

The Additive Model

-Systematically evaluating the important features of each alternative
-Generating a list of factors that are important
-Ex. determining what theme park to get an annual pass to
Disneyland, Universal Studios
Disney: rides: +5, food +5, crowd: -5, cost: -5, discounts: +4= 4
Universal: rides: +2, food: +3, crowd: -2, cost: -2, discounts: +2= 3

The Elimination-by-Aspects Model

-Evaluating all alternatives one characteristic at a time
-Starting with what you feel is most important
- If one alternative does not meet the criterion, you cross it out
-Continue to compare alternatives through process of elimination
-Ex. determining what car you want
Need one to pull a boat, enough room for kids, etc.

Heuristic

-Following a general rule of thumb to reduce the number of possible solutions
-Mental shortcut to make quick decisions

Availability heuristic

-The likelihood of an event is based on the basis of how readily available other instances of the event are in memory
-Ex. after seeing reports of children being abducted, you don't let your child play outside anymore

Representative heuristic

-The likelihood of an event is based on comparing how similar it is to the prototype of the event
-Ex. stereotypes

Confirmation bias

-The tendency to seek out evidence that confirms an existing belief
-Ignoring evidence that might contradict or undermine that belief
-Ex. Preferences of presidential candidates or stereotypes

Five Characteristics of Language

- required symbols
-shared meaning of symbols
-syntax
- creative or generative
- displacement

Requires symbols

Sounds, written words, formalized gestures (sign language)

Shared meaning of symbols

Foreign language sounds meaningless because of non-shared symbols

Syntax

-Set of rules for combining words
-Ex. word order "Double-Double ate Dr. Pueblos last night"

Creative or generative

You can generate an infinite number of new and different phrases

Displacement

-Ability to communicate meaningfully about ideas, activities, and objects that are not physically present

Behaviorist View

-B.F. Skinner
-Starts with babbling
-Babbling to them sounds like parents' words
reinforcement

Nativist View

-Language acquisition device (LAD)
-An innate language processor that contains the basic grammatical structure of all human language
- Babies are preprogrammed to pay attention to beginnings and endings of sounds and stressed sounds

Interactionist View

Babies are born with some kind of biological preparedness to pay attention to language than any other types of information

Influences on language development

-Environment impact
-Caregiver importance

Sounds and gestures

Cooing to babbling

Word recognition

Receptive language

First words and sentences

Expressive Language and Holophrases

Expressive language

Ability to produce and understand meaningful words (12-13 months)

Holophrases

-Combination of gestures and single words
-"Milk" vs. "I want milk"

Intelligence

The global capacity to think rationally, act purposefully, and deal effectively with the environment

Three basic requirements of good test design

Standardization, Reliability, Validity

Standardization

Administration of a test to a large representative sample of people under uniform conditions for the purpose of establishing norms

Reliability

Ability of a test to produce consistent results when administered on repeated occasions under similar conditions

Validity

The ability of a test to measure what it is intended to measure

Alfred Binet

-Created series of tests to measure different mental abilities
-Focused on elementary mental abilities
-Memory, attention, ability to understand similarities and differences
-Established "mental age"
-Expressed in terms of average abilities of a given age group
-Chronological age vs. mental age
-Believed his tests helped identify "slow" children who could benefit from special attention/help
-Believed that intelligence was too complex to describe with a single number
-Refused to rank children since they were "unfair"
-Acknowledged multitude of factors, such as motivation, that could influence child's score

Lewis Terman

Revised Binet's test at Stanford University
Named "The Stanford-Binet Intelligence Test"
Established Intelligence quotient (IQ)
Comparing an individual's score with those of others in the same age group
Mental age/ chronological age X 100
Originated from William Stern's "mental quotient"
Child with average intelligence (same mental/chronological age) would have an IQ score of 100
A "bright" 10 year old with a mental age of 13 would have an IQ of 130
A "slow" child with chrono age of 7 would be 70

David Wechsler

Responsible for testing adults from different cultures and socioeconomic backgrounds
Developed "Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale (WAIS)" in 1955
Two advantages over Stanford-Binet
WAIS specifically designed for adults rather than for children
WAIS provided scores on 11 subtests measuring different abilities
Subtests scores grouped to provide an overall verbal score and performance score
Verbal: vocabulary, comprehension
Performance: identifying missing part of incomplete pictures, arranging images

Charles Spearman

British psychologist
People who did well or poorly on a test of one mental ability, such as verbal ability, tended to do well or poorly on the other tests
G factor
Aka general intelligence
Responsible for a person's overall performance on tests of mental ability

Louis L. Thurstone

Disagreed with Spearman and believed there were seven different "primary mental abilities"
Verbal comprehension, word fluency, number facility, spatial visualization, associative memory, perceptual speed, and reasoning.
Emphasized the pattern of mental abilities, instead of one score (i.e., G factor)

Howard Gardner

Expanded on Thurstone's focus on different mental abilities
Stated that mental abilities are independent of each other and cannot be accurately reflected in a single measure of intelligence
Analyzed the kinds of skills and products that are valued in different cultures
Looked at individuals with brain damage
Says that different mental abilities are biologically distinct and controlled by different parts of the brain

Robert Sternberg

Agrees with Gardner in how intelligence should be more broad
Did not agree with Gardner's multiple intelligences
Said that some intelligences are more specialized talents
Established the triarchic theory of intelligence
States that there are three distinct forms of intelligence
Analytic, creative, and practical

Genetics and Environment

-Generally accepted that both heredity and environment are impactful in determining intelligence level
-Many disagree on how much each one is impactful

Twin studies (Same upbringing)

-Identical twins in same environment showed very similar IQ scores
-Fraternal twins were less similar

Twin studies (different upbringing)

Identical twins showed IQ scores that were less similar

Group intelligence testing

-Designed to test virtually all ages and types of people
-Preschool children, prisoners, immigrants
-Immigrants screened at Ellis Island
-Taken Binet's tests to measure their IQ
-Away from his original intention of helping children in special needs
-Measuring what is "normal" in the U.S.
-Led to lower IQ scores from immigrants
-Overgeneralization

Achievement tests

-A test designed to measure a person's level of knowledge, skill, or accomplishment in a certain area
-Measuring what someone has learned
Ex. In-class exam, cert./license test, AP test

Aptitude tests

-A test designed to assess a person's capacity to benefit from education or training
-Analyze one's ability to learn and perform in the future
Ex. SAT, GRE

Factors with I.Q. Testing

Are I.Q. tests culturally biased?
Test taking behaviors are different across cultures
Differences in problem solving
Motivation, attitudes toward test taking, and previous test experience can affect performance on assessments
Impact on decisions of universities