Chapter 4: Problem Solving and Intelligence

Intelligence

 “The cognitive ability of an individual to learn from experience, to reason well, to remember important information, and to cope with the demands of daily living” - Robert Sternberg

• Requires an operational definition: Allows for it to be measured and tested 

Three Aspects of Intelligence

1. Analytic Intelligence

2. Creative Intelligence

3. Practical Intelligence

Analytic Intelligence

consists of analyzing, evaluating, and judgement

“Book smart” - academic problem solving

“To remember important information”

Creative Intelligence

consists of new ways to approach problems

• Requires the use of existing knowledge and experiences 

• Functional fixedness is a good example of this

Practical Intelligence

involves individuals applying their abilities to the sorts of problems that face them in every-day life

• “Street Smart”

• “Cope with the demands of daily living”

Types of Biases

• Functional Fixedness

• Anchoring

• Bounded Rationality

• Framing

• Confirmation Bias

• Status Quo Bias / Stay Bias

Functional Fixedness

A bias where people only see an object working in its own particular way

Anchoring

A bias where People rely too heavily on the first piece of information (the “anchor”) when making decisions or estimates.

Even when the anchor is random or irrelevant, it pulls judgments toward it.

Bounded Rationality

• A bias toward simplicity or convenience rather than full rational analysis

  • Shows that our decision-making is limited by the information we have, our cognitive ability, and time constraints.

  • where we often settle for “good enough” (satisficing) instead of making the perfect choice

Framing

• A bias where People’s decisions are influenced by how information is presented (framed) rather than by the facts themselves

  • Eg 90% survival rate vs 10% death rate 

Confirmation Bias

tendency to seek out information that supports our hypothesis

Status Quo Bias / Stay Bias

People prefer to stick with their initial choice rather than change it, even when switching is objectively better.

Modern Intelligence Testing

•  Wechsler Intelligence Scale, Common IQ test

  • Weschler Intelligence Scale for Children (WISC) and the Weschler Intelligence Adult Scale (WAIS)

    • Test: Short-term memory, verbal comprehension, processing speed and perceptual reasoning
      Scores given for both specific intelligence

• Standardized scale: With a mean of 100 and Standard Deviation of 15, average IQ regardless of how many people are achieving more or less

The Flynn Effect

• the substantial and long-sustained increase in both fluid and crystallized intelligence test scores that were measured in many parts of the world over the 20th century

  • the phenomenon by which raw scores are increasing by roughly 3 points every 10 years

  • Reasoning: better access to nutrition, better healthcare, and better schooling

Myers Briggs Personality Testing

A personality test designed to identify how people perceive the world and make decisions.

• Using four personality domains: 

1. Extraversion (E) ↔ Introversion (I)

• → Where you get your energy (from others vs. from within).

2. Sensing (S) ↔ Intuition (N)

• → How you take in information (through facts/details vs. patterns/ideas).

3. Thinking (T) ↔ Feeling (F)

• → How you make decisions (logic vs. values/emotions).

4. Judging (J) ↔ Perceiving (P)

• → How you organize your life (structured/planned vs. flexible/spontaneous).

Intelligence Development

• NAture: Environment plays a role on intelligence 

• Nurture: Genetics play a role on intelligence 

Twin Studies:

•  involving comparing the similarity between monozygotic twins on a trait to dizygotic twins on a trait. 

• If monozygotic twins are more similar than dizygotic twins, we can assume that this trait is largely influenced by genetics.

Adoption Studies:

• involve comparing a child to their biological parents and their adoptive parents on a trait.

  • If the child is more similar to their biological parents, we can assume that this trait is largely influenced by genetics

• Confounding Factors: Increase difficulty to draw strong conclusions

Types of Problems

Distinguished by how defined they are → Some problems require overcoming functional fixedness

Well-Defined Problem

Aware of initial state, the allowable rules, and the desired end goal

Ill-defined problems

With unclear goals and ways to achieve it with a lack of specific rules, also an unclear start 

• Must be broken down into smaller more manageable sub goals to create well-defined problem to eventually fix the bigger one

Reasoning Styles

• Deductive Reasoning: 

• Inductive Reasoning:

Deductive Reasoning:

• A larger idea that is used to make smaller more specific conclusions

  • BIG TO SMALL

• “using a theory—a general idea about how the world works—to arrive at a specific conclusion”

Inductive Reasoning:

• Using small facts to form broader generalizations

  • SMALL TO BIG 

• “use specific observations to formulate a general theory or conclusion”

Arch of Knowledge

• Works by using both inductive and deductive reasoning → USed in the scientific method 

  • Deductive reasoning: allows the use of our current theories to generate specific hypotheses

  • Inductive reasoning: Then analyses collected data to update and revise current theories

Heuristics

• mental shortcuts that we use to help us make decisions fast and reduce our cognitive load (can be incorrect) → Instead of the scientific method 

Availability Heuristics

Tendency to make decision about the frequency of an event based on information most easily available 

• Your judgment based on tendencies that are more available in your mind

Representative Heuristics

 The tendency to make decisions about the probability of an event based on information most easily available

• Comparing an event to the “prototype” event in our mind 

• So like what we think is likely rather than what is actually likely based on probability 

Reliability

The degree to which a test produces consistent results

Test-Retest Method

• the participant takes the same test multiple times, and researchers examine whether the results are the same each time 

  • Consistent results = reliable 

  • Disadvantage: Hard to test reliability since scores can increase with the participant getting better with practice

Interrater Reliability

The degree of agreement between multiple observers witnessing the same event - higher degree of agreement the more reliable

Validity

The degree to which a test measures the construct it intends to measure

Predictive Validity

•  The extent to which a score on a test can be used to predict future behaviours

Francis Galton

Reaction time  test for IQ

• High reliability, poor validity

Alfred Binet

Binet’s test was meant to identify children with learning disabilities and assumed that intelligence develops with age

• focussed on judgement, reasoning, and attention

Stanford-Binet Intelligence test:

computes a child’s mental age, and then compares this age to their true age

• Ratio/Quotient: between the child’s mental age and their true age made up the final score for this test

“G”

MEasure of general intelligences that underlies specific types of intelligence → Coined by Spearman

• People who do well in a certain test of intelligence are better at others 

• Eugenics…..Beleived only people with a minimum g level should vote or reproduce 

HIerarchical Model of Intelligence

recognizes that there are specific types of intelligence, but also recognizes that these types of intelligences is related to a general, underlying intelligence (“g”)

• Short term memory

• Verbal Comprehension

• Processing Speed

• Perceptual Reasoning 

Gardner’s Definition

Argued that there are multiple types of intelligence that are all independent from one another 

1. Verbal

2. Mathematical

3. Musical

4. Spatial

5. Kinesthetic

6. Interpersonal

7. intrapersonal 

8. Naturalistic

Piaget

•  Determined that Kids are active learners:

Schema

a mental framework for interpreting the world around us

Assimilation

incorporating new information into existing scheme

Accommodation

modifying existing schema to fit incompatible information

Cognitive Development

• Children must develop their schema and overcome each level before they can go to the next stage

  • Declage: Some kids developing their skills out of order

1. Sensorimotor stage 0-2

2. Preoperational stage 2-7

3. Concrete operational stage 7-12

4. Formal operational stage 12+

Sensorimotor stage 0-2

Learn object permanence

Preoperational stage 2-7

1. Egocentrism: They are egocentric 

2. Seriation: Logically order stuff 

3. Reversible relationships: Can’t understand the other way around

4. Conservation task: Even if they watch they don’t get it 

Concrete operational stage 7-12

Abstract terms

Formal operational stage 12+

Fully operational now!