Chapter 8 - Thinking, Language, & Intelligence
Several ways we approach or find solutions to problems:
Trial and Error - Attempting various solutions until stumbling upon one that works
Algorithms - “Methodical…rule”; “step-by-step procedures” (pg. 214-215)
Heuristics - “Simple thinking strategies” (pg. 215); allow us to solve problems quickly (shortcuts)
Insight - “Sudden realization of a solution” (pg. 215); Lightbulb moment
Intuition - “Effortless, immediate, automatic feeling or thought” (pg. 215)
Confirmation Bias - “tendency to search for information that supports your preconceptions” (pg. 215)
Examples
Similar to belief perseverance
Belief Perseverance - clinging to our ideas in the face of contrary evidence
Availability Heuristic - basing our judgements on the availability of information in our memories
Availability Heuristic - basing on information that is - vivid, recent, distinctive
Overconfidence - tendency to overestimate the accuracy of our knowledge and judgments
Creativity - “the ability to produce new and valuable ideas” (pg. 221)
Five components of creativity - Expertise, Imaginative thinking skills, Venturesome personality, Intrinsic motivation, Creative environment
Even the best measure of intelligence may account for only small amounts of real-world performance
Intelligence - “the ability to learn from experience, solve problems, and use knowledge to adapt to new situations” (pg. 229)
General Intelligence - G; “… underlies all mental abilities…” (pg. 229)
Two types of intellectual performance:
Crystallized Intelligence - “accumulated knowledge” (pg. 239)
Tends to increase with age
Fluid Intelligence - “ability to reason speedily and abstractly” (pg. 239)
Tends to decrease with age
Analytical - academic problem solving
Creativity - “ability to adapt to new situations and generate novel ideas” (pg. 230)
Practical - Street smarts
Social Intelligence - knowing how to manage one’s self in social situations
one aspect is emotional intelligence
Emotional Intelligence - “the ability to perceive, understand, manage, and use emotions” (pg.231)
Four Abilities
Perceive emotions
Understand emotions
Manage emotions
Use emotions to enable adaptive or creative thinking
Key component is the ability to recognize emotion in others’ faces.
Difficult for folks with ASD
Assesses Empathy
Fostered by active listening, assuming other people’s perspective
Research findings regarding emotional intelligence…
Higher Well-Being
More Supportive and Less Conflict in Relationships
Happier in Romantic Relationships
More Merit Pay Increases, More Leadership Potential, and More Leadership Effectiveness in Work
Criticism - Stretches idea of intelligence too far?
Preferred: “Measure” or “Assessment”
Best known:
Wechsler scales (e.g., Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale)
Stanford-Binet
Standardization - “Defining uniform testing procedures and meaningful scores by comparison with the performance of a pretested group” (pg. 233)
Scores are typically distributes in a normal curve
Normal Curve - a bell-shaped pattern of scores
Reliability - Consistency
Reliability - Change in scores related to a construct being measured and not related to other aspects
Reliability - Scores due to systematic rather than chance factors
Validity - Accuracy
Validity - How well something measures what it is intended or assumed to measure
Reliability is a prerequisite for validity
Intelligence Quotient (IQ)
IQ = a respondent’s performance on a measure of intelligence related to the performance of same-age others
Average score - 100
The Shoe-Size Intelligence Measure
For the SSIM, IQ = shoe size * 10
The world’s first mass administration of an IQ measure occurred during World War I
“There is nothing about an individual as important as his IQ” - Lewis Terman
Two meanings of bias in measurement:
Whether it predicts future behavior only for some groups of test-takers.
Whether it is sensitive to performance difference caused by cultural experiences.
Bias - “A self-confirming concern that you will be judged based on a negative stereotype” (pg. 234)
Several ways we approach or find solutions to problems:
Trial and Error - Attempting various solutions until stumbling upon one that works
Algorithms - “Methodical…rule”; “step-by-step procedures” (pg. 214-215)
Heuristics - “Simple thinking strategies” (pg. 215); allow us to solve problems quickly (shortcuts)
Insight - “Sudden realization of a solution” (pg. 215); Lightbulb moment
Intuition - “Effortless, immediate, automatic feeling or thought” (pg. 215)
Confirmation Bias - “tendency to search for information that supports your preconceptions” (pg. 215)
Examples
Similar to belief perseverance
Belief Perseverance - clinging to our ideas in the face of contrary evidence
Availability Heuristic - basing our judgements on the availability of information in our memories
Availability Heuristic - basing on information that is - vivid, recent, distinctive
Overconfidence - tendency to overestimate the accuracy of our knowledge and judgments
Creativity - “the ability to produce new and valuable ideas” (pg. 221)
Five components of creativity - Expertise, Imaginative thinking skills, Venturesome personality, Intrinsic motivation, Creative environment
Even the best measure of intelligence may account for only small amounts of real-world performance
Intelligence - “the ability to learn from experience, solve problems, and use knowledge to adapt to new situations” (pg. 229)
General Intelligence - G; “… underlies all mental abilities…” (pg. 229)
Two types of intellectual performance:
Crystallized Intelligence - “accumulated knowledge” (pg. 239)
Tends to increase with age
Fluid Intelligence - “ability to reason speedily and abstractly” (pg. 239)
Tends to decrease with age
Analytical - academic problem solving
Creativity - “ability to adapt to new situations and generate novel ideas” (pg. 230)
Practical - Street smarts
Social Intelligence - knowing how to manage one’s self in social situations
one aspect is emotional intelligence
Emotional Intelligence - “the ability to perceive, understand, manage, and use emotions” (pg.231)
Four Abilities
Perceive emotions
Understand emotions
Manage emotions
Use emotions to enable adaptive or creative thinking
Key component is the ability to recognize emotion in others’ faces.
Difficult for folks with ASD
Assesses Empathy
Fostered by active listening, assuming other people’s perspective
Research findings regarding emotional intelligence…
Higher Well-Being
More Supportive and Less Conflict in Relationships
Happier in Romantic Relationships
More Merit Pay Increases, More Leadership Potential, and More Leadership Effectiveness in Work
Criticism - Stretches idea of intelligence too far?
Preferred: “Measure” or “Assessment”
Best known:
Wechsler scales (e.g., Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale)
Stanford-Binet
Standardization - “Defining uniform testing procedures and meaningful scores by comparison with the performance of a pretested group” (pg. 233)
Scores are typically distributes in a normal curve
Normal Curve - a bell-shaped pattern of scores
Reliability - Consistency
Reliability - Change in scores related to a construct being measured and not related to other aspects
Reliability - Scores due to systematic rather than chance factors
Validity - Accuracy
Validity - How well something measures what it is intended or assumed to measure
Reliability is a prerequisite for validity
Intelligence Quotient (IQ)
IQ = a respondent’s performance on a measure of intelligence related to the performance of same-age others
Average score - 100
The Shoe-Size Intelligence Measure
For the SSIM, IQ = shoe size * 10
The world’s first mass administration of an IQ measure occurred during World War I
“There is nothing about an individual as important as his IQ” - Lewis Terman
Two meanings of bias in measurement:
Whether it predicts future behavior only for some groups of test-takers.
Whether it is sensitive to performance difference caused by cultural experiences.
Bias - “A self-confirming concern that you will be judged based on a negative stereotype” (pg. 234)
