Chapter 7 - Thinking and Intelligence

Cues

  • What is cognition?

  • How does the brain organize thoughts?

  • What are concepts and prototypes?

  • Types of concepts?

  • What are schemata, and their types?

  • Components of language?

  • How does language develop?

  • The language-thought debate?

  • Problem-solving strategies?

  • Factors hindering problem-solving?

  • Common decision biases?

  • Major theories of intelligence?

  • How is intelligence measured?

  • What is the bell curve in IQ?

  • Nature vs. Nurture in intelligence?

  • What are learning disabilities?

  • Examples of learning disabilities?

Notes

Cognition is thinking, involving perception, knowledge, problem-solving, judgment, language, and memory. Cognitive psychology studies these processes and their interactions.

Concepts and Prototypes

  • Concepts: Mental categories or groupings of information, images, ideas, or memories used to organize vast amounts of sensory input.

  • Prototype: The best example or representation of a concept (e.g., Rosa Parks for civil disobedience).

  • Natural concepts: Formed through direct or indirect experiences (e.g., understanding snow).

  • Artificial concepts: Defined by specific characteristics or rules (e.g., geometric shapes, mathematical formulas).

Schemata

  • Schema: A mental construct—a cluster of related concepts—used for efficient information organization.

    • Role schema: Assumptions about how people in certain roles will behave (e.g., a firefighter is brave).

    • Event schema (cognitive script): A set of routine behaviors in specific situations (e.g., actions in an elevator). These are automatic and often difficult to change (e.g., texting while driving).

Language

  • A communication system using words and systematic rules to transmit information.

  • Components:

    • Lexicon: A language's vocabulary.

    • Grammar: Rules for conveying meaning; includes:

    • Phoneme: Basic sound unit (e.g., “ah” vs. “eh”).

    • Morpheme: Smallest unit of language conveying meaning (e.g., “I”).

    • Semantics: Deriving meaning from morphemes and words.

    • Syntax: Organizing words into sentences.

  • Language Development:

    • Children show a biological predisposition to acquire language, following a similar pattern across cultures.

    • There's a critical period for language acquisition, maximal early in life.

    • Stages: Reflexive communication (0-3 months), babbling (after a few months), first words (12-18 months), simple two-word sentences (18-24 months), and complex sentences (3-5 years).

    • Overgeneralization: Applying a language rule to an exception (e.g., "two gooses").

  • Language and Thought:

    • Linguistic determinism (Sapir and Whorf): Language shapes thought; highly debated.

    • Research suggests language may influence perception (especially in the left hemisphere) but doesn't necessarily limit conceptual understanding (e.g., Dani people's color perception).

Problem-Solving Strategies

  • Problem-solving strategy: A plan of action to find a solution.

    • Trial and error: Repeatedly trying different solutions until one works.

    • Algorithm: A step-by-step problem-solving formula that guarantees a correct result (e.g., recipes, computer search engines).

    • Heuristic: A general problem-solving framework or mental shortcut (e.g., “rule of thumb”). Used when information is limited, time is short, decision is unimportant, or a heuristic comes to mind.

    • Working backwards: Starting from the end result and planning steps from there.

    • Breaking tasks into smaller steps: Dividing a large goal into manageable parts to reduce overwhelm.

Pitfalls to Problem Solving

  • Mental set: Persisting with an approach that worked in the past but is ineffective in the current situation.

  • Functional fixedness: Inability to perceive an object being used for a purpose other than its original design (e.g., NASA engineers making a makeshift air filter during Apollo 13).

Decision Biases

  • Anchoring bias: Focusing excessively on one piece of information.

  • Confirmation bias: Seeking information that confirms existing beliefs.

  • Hindsight bias: Believing past events were predictable after they occurred.

  • Representative bias: Unintentionally stereotyping someone or something.

  • Availability heuristic: Making decisions based on readily available (but potentially unrepresentative) examples or experiences.

Classifying Intelligence

  • Charles Spearman: Proposed a single general intelligence factor, (g)(g).

  • Raymond Cattell:

    • Crystallized intelligence: Acquired knowledge and retrieval ability.

    • Fluid intelligence: Ability to see complex relationships and solve new problems.

  • Robert Sternberg’s Triarchic Theory:

    • Practical intelligence: “Street smarts,” finding everyday solutions.

    • Analytical intelligence: Academic problem-solving and computation.

    • Creative intelligence: Inventing or imagining novel solutions.

  • Howard Gardner’s Multiple Intelligences Theory:

    • Proposes at least eight distinct intelligences (linguistic, logical-mathematical, musical, bodily-kinesthetic, spatial, interpersonal, intrapersonal, naturalist).

  • Emotional intelligence: Ability to understand one's own and others' emotions, show empathy, and regulate emotions.

Creativity

  • The ability to generate, create, or discover new ideas, solutions, and possibilities.

  • Divergent thinking: Thinking “outside the box” to produce multiple, unique solutions.

  • Convergent thinking: Providing a single, correct, or well-established answer.

Measuring Intelligence

  • IQ (Intelligence Quotient): A score earned on a test designed to measure intelligence.

  • Alfred Binet: Developed early intelligence tests in France.

  • Louis Terman: Standardized and normed Binet's work, creating the Stanford-Binet Intelligence Scale.

    • Standardization: Consistent administration, scoring, and interpretation.

    • Norming: Testing a large population to establish referential scores (norms).

  • David Wechsler: Developed the Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale (WAIS), Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children (WISC-V), and Wechsler Preschool and Primary Scale of Intelligence (WPPSI-IV), incorporating verbal and nonverbal skills.

  • Flynn effect: The observation that each generation has significantly higher IQ scores than the last.

The Bell Curve

  • Intelligence test scores typically follow a bell curve, showing a normal distribution in the population.

  • Average IQ: 100100. Standard deviation: 1515 points.

  • 68%68\% of the population scores between 8585 and 115115.

  • Intellectual disability: Diagnosed with an IQ score of 7070 or below, combined with significant deficits in adaptive functioning (formerly mental retardation). Subtypes: mild, moderate, severe, profound.

  • Gifted: IQ score of 130130 or higher, or superior intelligence in a specific area.

High Intelligence: Nature or Nurture?

  • Genetic component: Twin studies (e.g., Minnesota Study of Twins Reared Apart) show higher IQ correlations in identical twins, suggesting a significant genetic influence.

  • Environmental influences:

    • Stimulating environments can enhance intellectual development.

    • Range of Reaction: Genetic potential is fixed, but environmental stimulation (especially in childhood) determines how much of that potential is achieved.

    • Socioeconomic status and poverty can negatively impact brain function and IQ scores.

    • Historical debates, like Arthur Jensen's claims of racial differences in intelligence and legal cases like Larry P. v. Riles, highlight the complexities and biases in intelligence testing and interpretation.

Learning Disabilities

  • Cognitive disorders affecting specific areas of cognition (e.g., language, reading); distinct from intellectual disabilities.

  • Often co-occur with ADHD (30−70%30-70\% comorbidity).

  • Dysgraphia: Difficulty with legible writing and putting thoughts on paper, inconsistent with a person's overall IQ.

  • Dyslexia: Most common learning disability; characterized by an inability to correctly process letters, leading to difficulties in reading and spelling due to neurological sound processing issues.

Summary

This note provides an overview of cognition, detailing how the brain processes and organizes information using concepts and schemata. It examines language, its components, development, and complex relationship with thought. The discussion extends to problem-solving strategies, common cognitive biases that affect decision-making, and various theories of intelligence (e.g., Spearman, Cattell, Sternberg, Gardner). The measurement of intelligence through standardized IQ tests and their results on the bell curve is covered, along with the interplay of genetics and environment in shaping intelligence. Finally, the note addresses specific learning disabilities like dysgraphia and dyslexia, differentiating them from intellectual disabilities and highlighting their impact on learning.