Thinking, Language, & Intelligence

Thinking uses knowledge to analyze problems, decide things, and solve issues.

Cognition is the set of mental actions that help us gain, keep, and use knowledge.

Problem Solving Methods:

  • Trial and Error: Trying different solutions until one works.

  • Algorithms: Following specific steps to reach the correct answer, like a recipe.

  • Heuristics: Using simple rules to find answers faster.

  • Insight: Having a sudden understanding of how to solve a problem.

Challenges in Problem Solving:

  • Functional Fixedness: Seeing objects only in their usual way limits our creativity in solving problems.

  • Mental Set: Sticking to methods we’ve used before can make us ignore new solutions.

Decision-Making Techniques:

  • Single-Feature Model: Making choices based on one key factor.

  • Additive Model: Looking at all important factors when making a choice.

  • Elimination-by-Aspects Model: Dismissing options that don’t meet critical criteria, even if they have some good aspects.

Decisions with Uncertainty:

  • Availability Heuristic: Judging how likely something is based on examples we remember easily.

  • Representativeness Heuristic: Estimating how likely something is by comparing it to a typical case.

History of Intelligence Testing:

  • Alfred Binet: Created tests for the French government to see mental abilities, introducing the idea of mental age.

  • Lewis Terman: Adapted Binet's tests and created the Intelligence Quotient (IQ).

  • David Wechsler: Made intelligence tests for adults, like the WAIS (Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale).

Features of a Good Test:

  • Standardized: Administered consistently to establish norms.

  • Validity: Measures what it is supposed to measure.

  • Reliability: Produces consistent results over time.

Views on Intelligence:

  • Charles Spearman: Suggested there is a general intelligence (g).

  • Howard Gardner: Proposed there are multiple intelligences.

  • Robert Sternberg: Identified analytical, creative, and practical intelligence, asserting that both genetics and environment play a role.

  • Robert Williams: Created the Afrocentric Intelligence Test to address cultural biases in traditional IQ tests.