Cognition Lecture – Intelligence, Testing & Language

• Standardization

  • establishes norms and uniform procedures for giving and scoring tests

• Reliability (consistency)

  • measure of the consistency and stability of test scored over time

• Validity (measures what it purports to measure)

  • ability of a test to measure what it is designed to measure

Key Controversies & Limitations

• Intelligence as a hypothetical construct—definition varies (academic, practical, creative, social etc.).

• Cultural & linguistic bias

• Nature vs. nurture?

• Stereotype Threat

  • Fear of confirming a negative (or failing a positive) stereotype.

  • Example: Asian child warns teacher, “I’m Asian but not good at math,” showing pressure from a "positive" stereotype.

Language: Definitions & Building Blocks

• Language = a form of spoken, written, or signed communication based on symbols

  • Syntax (word order)- putting words in the correct order Ex: “i am happy” vs “happy i am”

  • Semantics- using words to create meaning Ex: “went out on a limb” vs “humans have four limbs”

  • Extra-linguistic cues: components of language other than the meaning of literal words Ex: pitch, rate, facial expression, gesture, context, emojis.

Nature & Nurture in Language Acquisition

• Nature (Chomsky’s)

  • suggests that children are “prewired” to learn language

• Nurture (Skinner)

  • language learned through imitation, reinforcement, punishment. imitation example: “where’d he learn that curse word from”

Critical Periods

• it is important to begin appropriate language exposure/ education early so that language center of the brain and continue to develop.

• Language might never develop if not begun by age seven