Thinking, Decisions, Intelligence

Thinking, Decisions, Intelligence

What Is Thought?

• Learning Objectives:

  • Distinguish between analogical and symbolic representations.

  • Describe the prototype and exemplar models of concepts.

  • Discuss the positive and negative consequences of using schemas and scripts.

• Cognition:

  • Defined as the mental activity that includes thinking and the understandings that result from thinking.

• Thinking:

  • The mental manipulation of representations of knowledge about the world.

  • Allows us to take information, consider it, and use it to build models of the world, set goals, and plan our actions accordingly.

Types of Mental Representations

• Challenge for Cognitive Psychologists:

  • To understand the nature of everyday mental representations.

• Two Basic Types of Mental Representations:

  • Analogical Representations:

  • Mental representations that have some of the physical characteristics of objects; they are analogous to the objects.

  • Symbolic Representations:

  • Abstract mental representations that do not correspond to the physical features of objects or ideas.

• Mental Maps:

  • Rely on both analogical and symbolic representations.

  • Symbolic representations can lead to errors, as we can represent only a limited range of knowledge analogically.

  • Example Question: Which is farther east: San Diego, California, or Reno, Nevada?

Concepts as Symbolic Representations

• Categorization:

  • Grouping things based on shared properties reduces the amount of knowledge we must hold in memory, making it an efficient way of thinking.

• Concept:

  • A category or class of related items; it consists of mental representations of those items.

• Prototype Model:

  • A way of thinking about concepts where within each category, there is a best example (prototype).

• Exemplar Model:

  • Suggests all members of a category are examples (exemplars); collectively they form the concept and determine category membership.

  • Assumes individuals form a fuzzy representation of a concept through experience.

Conceptual Thinking in the Brain

• Imaging Studies:

  • Show that different categories of objects, such as animals or tools, are represented in distinct brain regions based on our perception of those objects.

Schemas and Scripts

• Schemas:

  • Cognitive structures that help us perceive, organize, and process information.

  • Knowledge of how to behave in different settings relies on schemas (e.g., how to behave in a library vs. at a party).

• Script:

  • A schema that directs behavior over time within a situation.

  • Schemas and scripts enable quick judgments with little effort.

• Consequences of Schemas and Scripts:

  • May lead to stereotypical thinking and actions.

  • Stereotypes: Cognitive schemas that simplify processing of information about people based on group membership.

  • Gender roles can operate at an unconscious level as schemas.

  • Schemas and scripts learned during childhood can impact behavior later in life.

Decision Making and Problem Solving

• Learning Objectives:

  • Describe common heuristics and their influence on decision-making.

  • Discuss the role of emotions in decision-making.

• Thinking:

  • Enables decision-making:

  • Attempting to select the best alternative among several options.

  • Problem-solving:

  • Finding a way around obstacles to reach goals.

Heuristics in Decision Making

• Historical Perspective:

  • Early theories posited that people are rational decision-makers.

  • Daniel Kahneman and Amos Tversky challenged this notion, demonstrating that people often act irrationally.

• Heuristics:

  • Shortcuts or informal guidelines to reduce the amount of thinking required for decision-making.

  • Often occur unconsciously, freeing cognitive resources.

  • Can be adaptive but may also result in biases, leading to mistakes.

Relative Comparisons

• Anchoring:

  • The tendency to rely on the first piece of information encountered when making judgments.

  • Example: Asking participants if the telephone was invented before or after 1850 or 1920 led to different guesses about the actual year.

• Framing:

  • Emphasizes potential losses or gains from alternatives in decision-making.

  • Example: Preference for a course with a “70 percent pass rate” over one with a “30 percent fail rate.”

• Loss Aversion:

  • The tendency for people to be more affected by losses than equivalent gains.

Availability Heuristic

• Definition:

  • A decision-making process based on the information that is easiest to retrieve.

  • Example Question: Are there more 5-letter words that start with R or that have R as the third letter?

Representativeness Heuristic

• Definition:

  • Placing a person or object into a category based on similarity to one's prototype for that category.

  • Risk of faulty reasoning if base rates are ignored.

Emotions and Decision Making

• Influence of Emotions:

  • Provide internal signals about the value of different choices.

  • Fuel loss aversion; losses feel worse than equivalent gains feel good.

Affective Heuristic

• Affective Forecasting:

  • The tendency to overestimate future emotional reactions to events.

  • People often engage in strategies to enhance feelings after negative events, demonstrating a capacity for happiness.

Incidental Affective States

• Bias Decisions:

  • Incidental feelings unrelated to choices can influence decisions.

  • Endowment Effect:

  • The tendency to value owned items higher than equivalent unowned items; stronger when feeling happy, reversed when feeling sad.

Understanding Intelligence

• Learning Objectives:

  • Identify common measures of intelligence and their validity.

  • Review theories and research related to general intelligence, fluid intelligence, crystallized intelligence, and multiple intelligences.

• Intelligence Defined:

  • The ability to use knowledge to reason, make decisions, make sense of events, solve problems, understand complex ideas, learn quickly, and adapt to environments.

• Key Questions in Intelligence Measurement:

  • How do applications of knowledge translate into intelligence?

  • How much is intelligence influenced by genetics versus environment?

Measurement of Intelligence

• Psychometric Approach:

  • Focuses on performance on standardized tests, differentiating between achievement and aptitude.

  • Binet's perspective: Intelligence is best seen as high-level mental processes.

• Key Tests:

  • Stanford-Binet test: measures intelligence through the IQ score.

  • Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale: Differentiates between verbal and performance-based intelligence.

Intelligence Quotient (IQ)

• Mental Age:

  • Assessment of a child's intellectual standing compared against same-age peers.

• IQ Calculation:

  • Determined by dividing mental age by chronological age and multiplying by 100.

• Distribution of IQ Scores:

  • Forms a bell curve (normal distribution) around a mean IQ of 100.

Validity of Testing

• Predictive Outcomes:

  • IQ scores correlate with school performance and other life outcomes, but account for only about 25% of outcomes.

General Intelligence Factors

• Spearman's Research:

  • Proposed that intelligence consists of a singular factor, referred to as g (general intelligence), common across different intellectual tasks.

Fluid vs. Crystallized Intelligence

• Cattell's Proposition:

  • Fluid intelligence: ability to process information and think logically in new situations.

  • Crystallized intelligence: knowledge from experience, and the ability to utilize that knowledge.

• Development Over Time:

  • Crystallized intelligence increases throughout adulthood, while fluid intelligence declines.

Importance of General Intelligence

• Life Outcomes:

  • A strong indicator of performance in academic and job settings; associated with longer life expectancy.

Multiple Intelligences

• Concept Overview:

  • Proposes that multiple types of intelligence exist independently.

• Gardner's Theory:

  • Individuals can excel in various intelligences (e.g., musical or athletic abilities).

• Sternberg's Theory:

  • Three types of intelligence:

  • Analytical: Similar to psychometric tests, problem-solving capabilities.

  • Creative: Insight and novel problem-solving.

  • Practical: Day-to-day tasks and decision-making.

Example of Multiple Intelligences

• Sheldon Cooper from The Big Bang Theory:

  • Highly intelligent in theory but lacks practical and social skills, illustrating the disparity between academic intelligence and real-world abilities.

Emotional Intelligence (EI)

• Definition:

  • Social intelligence focusing on managing, recognizing, and understanding emotions to guide thought and action effectively.

  • Important components include mood regulation, impulse control, and behavioral management.

  • Correlated positively with quality of social relationships.

• Criticism:

  • Some argue that EI may stretch the definition of intelligence too broadly instead of being a distinct intelligence itself.