Decision Making, Language and Intelligence 8.1-8.2

Cognitive Psychology

Study of mental activities (Aka cognition)

Includes thinking, knowing,remembering

But also judgements, decision making

Includes both the conscious and unconscious

Mental representation

internal symbols that stand for things in the world

concepts

Mental categories that have common properties

prototype

most “idealized” representation of the concept

The three tiers of concepts are

Superordinate (furniture) , basic (chair) and subordinate (office chair)

Algorithms

Step by step procedures with guaranteed solutions

Insight

Sudden, conscious change in understanding

Feels spontaneous, built on unconscious work

Dual Process Theory of Decision Making

Two types of thinking

Automatic system → fast, efficient, prone to bias

Controlled system → slow, accurate, requires effort

Select system depending on needs

Heuristics

mental shortcuts that allow for quick decisions

Operate outside conscious awareness

Belong to the automatic system

Representativeness Heuristic

Judge likelihood of something based on how well it represents a category

Availability Heuristic

udge likelihood of something based on how easily examples come to mind

Affect Heuristic

Make decision based on how something makes you feel

Confirmation bias

tendency to gravitate towards information that confirms preexisting beliefs

Overconfidence bias

tendency to overestimate accuracy of knowledge and judgments

Hindsight bias

tendency to see events as predictable after the event has occurred

Experience

 can help, but also hurt

Analogies can help you solve novel problems

Functional fixedness: If you get stuck on how something usually works, you can fail to recognize unusual problem solution

Ex: A book can hammer a nail in a pinch

Framing

How an issue is presented

Critical for which aspects of a situation people focus on

Loss aversion: People make decisions to minimize losses

More likely to choose option to “Save $3 on this coffee” than to “Spend $7 on this coffee”

More likely to stick with default than go against it

Language

Shared system of symbols (spoken, written, or signed) and the set of rules for how to combine them to communicate meaning

“Infinitely generative”: Through a finite number of words, I can convey infinite ideas

You could create sentences the world has never seen before

Phonemes

Smallest distinctive units of speech (syllables and sounds)

Morphemes

Smallest meaningful units (words)

Grammar

Governs how language components are put together to convey meaning

Syntax

Grammatical rules for constructing sentences

Ex: Word order. Subject – verb –object in English

Semantics

Symbolic learning, words and their meanings

Tied to mental representations and internal concepts

Pragmatics

Rules for how context can change meaning

Tone (E.g. sarcasm) Gestures Social rules

Linguistic Determinism Hypothesis

The specifics of our language actually change the way we think by imposing different ways of understanding the world (Ex:Colors and Numbers)

What is the first things infants must learn when learning language, and how do they practice?

Differentiate phonemes, practice in babbling

Parsing

There are no pauses between words! How can we tell where they start and end?

Babies can map statistical regularities: Sounds that co-occur frequently are words

Implicit, unconscious process

Labelling

How can we tell which words refer to which things?

Can use social info (eye gaze, etc.)

Apply some assumed rules (which object has no label yet, which info is most informative, use known words, etc.)

Describe the types of errors infants make when first learning grammar rules

overregularization errors:

Overapply grammar rules and ignore exceptions

Ex: “Run” and “Runned”

Means they’re really learning rules

Language Acquisition Device

Innate and automatic capacity to learn language, activates when exposed to it

Evidence:

All languages have common features (nouns, negation, subjects, etc). Universal Grammar that is innately understood

Children will spontaneously create language when denied language input

Critical period

Window for fast, unconscious language learning

Learned way better in childhood (by 7)

Steep drop-off in learning ability after 12

G-Factor

If intelligence is all of those things, then g should predict performance on all task types

Fluid intelligence, g(F)

Ability to tackle new problems, challenging or novel situations

Crystalized intelligence, g(C)

Accumulated knowledge, facts, skills

Stanford-Binet (IQ) Test

Compare mental age (MA) to chronological age (CA)

Distributed on a bell curve (average IQ: 100)

Average re-calibrated every 10-15 years

Limited generalizability

Standardization

Define relative to group

Reliability

Test-retest: get the same score across testing

Split half: get the same result on either half of the test

Validity

Content: measuring what it’s supposed to

Predictive: predicting application

Variations in IQ

Heritability estimate of 35-50%

Environment is also crucial

-Flynn effect (3-5 pt increase per decade)

-Economic status

Stereotype Threat

-People think I’m supposed to be bad at this

- I hope I don’t confirm that idea

-Anxiety

-Poor performance

Steele and Aronson, 1995

Demonstrated impact of stereotype bias

Sample: African American and European Americans

Took verbal items on GRE

Condition 1: Not asked to indicate race (not primed)

Condition 2: Asked to indicate race (primed)