III. Thinking, Intelligence, and Language (Chapter 8) 

A. The Cognitive Revolution 

• Artificial Intelligence (AI): Machines mimicking human cognitive processes. 

• Cognition: How information is processed and manipulated when remembering, thinking, and knowing  

• Cognitive Psychology: Study of consciousness.   Focuses on mental processes like inteligence, language, thinking, memory, and problem-solving. 

B. Thinking 

1. Concepts: Mental categories used to group objects, events, characteristics or ideas. 

1. Prototypes: Best example of a concept. 

2. Problem Solving: 

1. Steps:1. Find the frame and problem, develop good problem-solving strategies (subgoals,algortihim), evaluate solutions, rethink & redefine problems and solutions over time. 

2. Obstacles: 

1. Fixation: Inability to see the problem from a new perspective.  

2. Functional Fixedness: Inability to see alternative uses for an object. (Neglecting unusual usages) 

C. Reasoning and Decision Making 

• Inductive vs. Deductive Reasoning: 

• Inductive: Generalizing from specific data, bottom up begin with specific data ------ general conclusions  

EX: Most of the men in Bills family live past 90 years old... We can be confident that Bill with this data will live a long life. 

• Deductive: Driven by logic begin with a general premise and specific conclusions (top down) 

• EX:  All apples are fruit. The fuji is a type of apple. So, the fuji is a fruit. 

• Heuristics: Mental shortcuts for problem-solving. 

• Algorithm: Methodical procedure or formula that guarantees a solution, often associated with math 

• Availability Heuristic: Judging the likelihood of events based on memory availability. 

• Representativeness Heuristic: Judging likelihood based on how similar something is to a prototype. 

• Biases: 

• Confirmation Bias: Seeking info that confirms one’s beliefs. 

• EX: Noticing instances in which you were thinking about mom and 
  mom called and not noticing the far more frequent instances in which 
  you were thinking about mom and mom didn’t call 

• Loss Aversion: Tendency to prefer avoiding losses over acquiring gains. 

• Hindsight Bias: The false belief (after the fact) that one could have predicted the outcome of a decision or 173 consequences even before the decision was made.  

EX: I knew she was no good for you..! 

D. Intelligence: Definitions may vary but “intelligence” involves... Learning from experience, solving problems, using knowledge to adapt to new situations.  

1. Crystallized vs. Fluid Intelligence: 

1. Crystallized: Accumulated knowledge and verbal skills increased up to old age.  

2. Fluid: Ability to reason and solve novel logic problems 

2. Intelligence Tests (e.g., WISC): 

1. Heritability: The genetic contribution to intelligence. 

2. Reliability: Consistency of test results. 

3. Validity: How well a test measures what it intends to. 

4. Standardization:  Allows an individual’s performance on a 
   psychological test to be compared to that of a reference 
   group (standardization sample) that represents the 
   population with whom the test will be used 

5. The Normal Curve: Symmetrical bell-shaped curve describes the distribution of many physical and psychological attributes such as height, intelligence, personality (e.g.,extraversion) 

6. Flynn Effect: The rise in IQ scores over time, requiring re-standardization. 

7. Giftedness: Refers to individuals with exceptionally high intellectual abilities. Often, individuals with an IQ score above 130are considered gifted. 

8. Intellectual disability:  refers to individuals who have significantly below-average intellectual functioning and limitations in adaptive behavior. 

It is typically characterized by an IQ score below 70 and occurs before the age of 18. 

Characteristics: Difficulty with communication, social interactions, and independent living, Developmental delays 

• Re-standardization  is the process of updating intelligence tests to account for shifts in the population's average IQ scores over time. This is done to ensure that the mean IQ score remains at 100, and that the distribution of scores is consistent with the normal curve. Since the Flynn Effect shows that IQ scores are increasing, older intelligence tests would no longer provide an accurate representation of the population's abilities. 

E. Language 

1. Basic Properties: Phonology, morphology, syntax, semantics. 

2. Whorf’s Linguistic Relativity Hypothesis: Language shapes thought. 

3. Language Universals (Chomsky): All humans share an innate ability to acquire language. 

4. Environmental Influences: Social and cultural factors shaping language acquisition.