Thinking, Language, and Intelligence Summary

Cognition & Thinking

  • Cognition: acquiring, retaining, using knowledge.
  • Thinking: manipulating mental representations to draw conclusions.
  • Mental representations:
    • Mental images (visual & other senses; manipulated like real objects).
    • Concepts: mental categories; mental shorthand.
    • Prototype: most typical example.
    • Exemplars: stored individual instances.

Brain & Imagery

  • Same areas used for perception & imagination.
    • Faces → fusiform face area (FFA).
    • Places → parahippocampal place area (PPA).

Problem Solving

  • Strategies:
    • Trial & error.
    • Algorithms: rule/procedure guaranteeing solution.
    • Heuristics: general rule that narrows options.
    • Insight: sudden solution.
  • Barriers:
    • Functional fixedness: view object by customary use only.
    • Mental set: stick with previous successful solutions.

Decision Making

  • Models:
    • Single-Feature.
    • Additive.
    • Elimination-by-Aspects.
  • Heuristics under uncertainty:
    • Availability: probability judged by ease of recall → memory distortions.
    • Representativeness: judged by similarity to prototype → ignore base rates/variation.
  • Belief obstacles: belief-bias, confirmation bias, positive-instance fallacy, overestimation.

Language

  • Features: symbolic, rule-based, generative, displacement (talk about non-present events).
  • ASL meets all criteria; engages same brain regions as spoken language.
  • Linguistic relativity: language & thought interact; language does not rigidly determine cognition.
  • Development timeline:
    • Cooing (~3 mo), Babbling (~5 mo), One-word (~12 mo), Two-word (~2 yr), Language spurt (~2.5 yr), reduced new-language learning (~6–7 yr).
    • Comprehension vocabulary > production vocabulary.
  • Chomsky: innate language capacity.
  • Bilingual (balanced) advantages: attention control, flexibility, cognitive reserve.
  • Animal communication: complex signals, but limited language-like mastery.

Intelligence Measurement

  • Intelligence: ability to think rationally, act purposefully, adapt effectively.
  • Binet: mental age concept.
  • Terman: Stanford–Binet; IQ formula IQ=MACA×100\text{IQ}= \frac{MA}{CA}\times 100.
  • Army Alpha/Beta: first mass group tests; misuse led to bias.
  • Wechsler (WAIS, WISC, WPPSI): adult & child scales; verbal & performance subtests; age-based norms.
  • Good test qualities: Standardization (normal distribution), Reliability, Validity.
  • Test types: Achievement (knowledge/skill), Aptitude (capacity to learn).

Nature of Intelligence

  • Spearman: single general factor gg underlies abilities.
  • Gardner: eight independent intelligences (culture-valued skills).
  • Sternberg: triarchic—analytic, creative, practical.
  • CHC model: 3 strata—general gg, broad abilities (e.g., reading), narrow specific skills.

Extremes of Intelligence

  • Intellectual disability: deficits impair independence.
  • Giftedness: IQ≥130\text{IQ}\ge 130; education & environment crucial (Hollingworth).

Genetics & Environment

  • Heritability of IQ ≈ 50%50\% in general population.
  • Twin evidence: IQ similarity rises with genetic overlap & shared environment.
  • Flynn effect: generational IQ gains → environmental improvement.
  • Cultural/Group factors: test bias, discrimination (e.g., Burakumin), stereotype threat lowers performance via anxiety.

Creativity Enhancement

  • Set creativity as goal; reinforce creative acts.
  • Engage in problem finding; build knowledge.
  • Use varied approaches; persist through setbacks.