Cognition, Language, and Intelligence

Cognition

mental activities associated with thinking, knowing, remembering, and communicating

Metacognition

cognition about our cognition; keeping track of and evaluating our mental processes

Concepts

mental grouping of similar objects, events, ideas or people

Prototype

mental image or best example of a category

Algorithms

methodical, logical rule or procedure that guarantees solving a particular problem

Heuristics

simple thinking strategy that often allows us to make judgments and solve problems efficiently

Insight

sudden realization of a problem's solution

Confirmation Bias

tendency to search for information that supports our preconceptions and ignore contradictory evidence

Fixation

inability to see a problem from a new perspective; an obstacle to problem solving

Intuition

effortless, immediate, automatic feeling or thought

Representativeness Heuristic

judging the likelihood of events based on how well they seem to represent particular prototypes

Availability Heuristic

judging the likelihood of events based on their availability in memory

Overconfidence

tendency to be more confident than correct

Belief Perseverance

persistence of one's initial conceptions even after they have been discredited

Framing

way an issue is posed; can significantly affect decisions and judgments

Nudge

framing choices in a way that encourages beneficial decisions

Creativity

ability to produce new and valuable ideas

Convergent Thinking

narrowing available problem solutions to determine the single best solution

Divergent Thinking

expanding the number of possible problem solutions

Language

our spoken, written, or signed words, and the ways we combine them to communicate meaning

Phonemes

smallest distinctive sound unit in a language

Morphemes

smallest unit that carries meaning in a language

Grammar

system of rules that enables us to communicate with and understand others

Babbling Stage

stage in speech development, beginning around 4 months, during which an infant utters various sounds

One-word Stage

stage in speech development, from about age 1 to 2, during which a child speaks mostly in single words

Two-word Stage

stage in speech development, beginning about age 2, during which a child speaks mostly in two-word sentences

Telegraphic Speech

early speech stage in which a child speaks like a telegram, using mostly nouns and verbs

Aphasia

impairment of language caused by left hemisphere damage

Broca's Area

frontal lobe brain area that helps control language expression

Wernicke's Area

brain area involved in language comprehension and expression

Linguistic Determinism

Whorf's hypothesis that language determines the way we think

Linguistic Relativism

idea that language influences the way we think

Intelligence

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

General Intelligence

underlies all mental abilities and is measured by every task on an intelligence test

Fluid Intelligence

ability to reason speedily and abstractly

Crystalized Intelligence

accumulated knowledge and verbal skills

CHC Theory

theory that intelligence is based on general intelligence as well as specific abilities

Savant Syndrome

condition in which a person limited in mental ability has an exceptional specific skill

Emotional Intelligence

ability to perceive, understand, manage, and use emotions

Intelligence Test

method for assessing an individual's mental aptitudes and comparing them with others

Achievement Tests

test designed to assess what a person has learned

Aptitude Tests

test designed to predict a person's future performance

Mental Age

measure of intelligence test performance based on chronological age

Stanford-Binet

American revision of Binet's original intelligence test (

IQ

ratio of mental age to chronological age multiplied by 100

WAIS

widely used intelligence test

Standardization

defining uniform testing procedures and meaningful scores

Normal Curve

symmetrical, bell-shaped curve that describes the distribution of many types of data

Reliability

extent to which a test yields consistent results

Validity

extent to which a test measures or predicts what it is supposed to

Predictive Validity

success with which a test predicts the behavior it is designed to predict

Cohort

group of people sharing a common characteristic

Heritability

proportion of variation among individuals in a group that we can attribute to genes

Growth Mindset

focus on learning and growing rather than viewing abilities as fixed

Stereotype Threat

self-confirming concern that one will be evaluated based on a negative stereotype