GR

Chapter 7

What is thinking

Cognitive psychology was originally based on two ideas about thinking:

  1.  Knowledge about the world is stored in the brain in representations

  2. Thinking is the mental manipulation of these representations

We use representations and thinking to take information, build models of the world, set goals, and plan accordingly based on those models.

 

Mental representations

In thinking, we use two basic types of mental representations:

•        Analogical representations: Mental representations that have some of the physical characteristics of what they represent (usually images)

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

 

Two leading models of concepts

·       Prototype model: Within each category, there is a best example - a “prototype” - for that category

·       Exemplar model: All members of a category are examples (exemplars); together they form the concept and determine category membership

 

Scripts and Schemas

·       Schemas help us perceive, organize, understand, and process information

·       Scripts are schemas that direct behavior over time within a situation

 

Decision making

Heuristics: mental shortcuts (rules of thumb or informal guidelines) used to reduce the amount of thinking that is needed to make decisions

Classic types:

•        Availability: how easily it comes to mind

•        Representative: comparing something to our mental prototype

•        Anchoring: decisions are influenced by the first piece of information we encounter

Emotions influence decision making

Emotions can influence decisions in several ways

•        We may anticipate that a decision may result in a negative emotional state (affective forecasting)

⚬       We are generally bad at this, but don’t realize that

•        Affect-as-information theory: our current emotion may influence our decisions

•        Somatic marker theory: We may experience ‘gut feelings’ about decisions

 

Measuring intelligence

•        Psychometric approach: measuring intelligence by focusing on how people perform on standardized tests that assess mental abilities

•        Achievement tests assess people’s current levels of skill and knowledge

•        Aptitude tests seek to predict what tasks, and sometimes what jobs, people will be good at in the future

General intelligence

•        Charles Spearman acknowledged that people could differ in the specific skills (s) that enable them to perform better on some tasks than others

•        In this cluster of overlapping shapes, g is viewed as a general, underlying factor of intelligence that influences one’s specific abilities

 

Fluid vs Crystalized Intelligence

•        Fluid intelligence: reflects the ability to process information, understand relationships, and think logically, particularly in novel or complex circumstances

•        Crystallized intelligence: reflects both the knowledge acquired through experience and the ability to use that knowledge

 

 

Triarchic Theory of intelligence

•        Analytical Intelligence: similar to intelligence measured by psychometric tests - being good at problem solving, completing analogies, completing puzzles, and other academic challenges

•        Practical intelligence: refers to dealing with everyday tasks, like knowing whether a parking space is big enough, being an effective leader, etc.

•        Creative intelligence: the ability to gain insight and solve novel problems - to think in new and interesting ways

Emotional Intelligence

•        A form of social intelligence that emphasizes managing, recognizing, and understanding emotions and using them to guide appropriate thought and action

§  Consists of 4 main abilities

·       Managing ones emotions

·       Using ones owns emotions to guide thoughts and actions

·       Recognizing other people’s emotions

·       Understanding Emotional language

Language

•        A system of communication using sounds and symbols according to grammatical rules

•        Each word consists of one or more morphemes

§  Morphemes: the smallest units of language that have meaning, including suffixes and prefixes

•        Each morpheme consists of one or more phonemes

§  Phonemes: the basic sounds of speech, the building blocks of language

•        1. Word: Dogs

•        Morphemes: dog (root), -s (plural) → 2 morphemes

•        Phonemes: /d/ /ɔ/ /g/ /z/ → 4 phonemes

•        2. Word: Unhappiness

•        Morphemes: un- (prefix = “not”), happy (root), -ness (suffix = “state of”) → 3 morphemes

•        Phonemes: /ʌ/ /n/ /h/ /æ/ /p/ /i/ /n/ /ɛ/ /s/ → 9 phonemes

•        3. Word: Jumped

•        Morphemes: jump (root), -ed (past tense) → 2 morphemes

•        Phonemes: /ʤ/ /ʌ/ /m/ /p/ /t/ → 5 phonemes

 

Phonology and morphology

•        Phonology: is the sounds (consonants and vowels) that make up a spoken language

•        Phoneme: smallest unit of distinguishable sound

•        Phonotactics: rules that govern which sounds can go together

•        Children learn phonology from reflexing crying to cooing/laughter

•        Role of adult interactions and child-directed speech

•        Morphology: word formation and the relationship between words in a language

•        Morepheme: smallest units of meaning in a language, including affixes

 

Language Development

•        Joint attention: infants and caregivers attend to objects in their environment together, this promotes learning to speak

•        Telegraphic speech: the way toddlers speak, using rudimentary sentences that are missing words and grammatical markings but follow a logical syntax and convey meaning