Speeches

Chapter 9 Thinking and Intelligence
Elements of cognition
Concept
Mental category that groups objects, relations, activities, abstractions, or qualities having common properties Basic concepts have a moderate number of instances and are easier to acquire.
Prototype is an especially representative example.
Proposition
A meaningful unit, built of concepts, expressing a single idea
Schema
An integrated mental network of knowledge, beliefs, and expectations concerning a particular topic Image
A mental representation that resembles what it represents
Types of conscious processes
Implicit learning
When you have acquired knowledge about something without being aware how you did so, and without being able to state exactly what you have learned
Mindlessness
Mental inflexibility, inertia, and obliviousness in the present context
Reasoning
The drawing of conclusions or inferences from observations, facts, or assumptions
Algorithms and logic
Deductive Reasoning
A tool of formal logic in which a conclusion necessarily follows from a set of premises
Inductive Reasoning
A tool of formal logic in which a conclusion probably follows from a set of premises
Heuristics and dialectical thinking
Heuristic
A rule of thumb that suggests a course of action or guides problem solving but does not guarantee an optimal solution
Dialectical reasoning
A process in which opposing facts or ideas are weighed and compared, with a view to determining the best solution or resolving differences
Affect heuristic
The tendency to consult one’s emotions instead of estimating probabilities objectively.
Availability heuristic
The tendency to judge the probability of a type of event by how easy it is to think of examples or instances. Representative Heuristic
Heuristic in which one determines whether a particular instance represents a certain class or category Avoiding loss
Framing effect
The tendency for people’s choices to be affected by how a choice is presented, or framed; for example, whether it is worded in terms of potential losses or gains.
The fairness bias
The Ultimatum Game: Your partner gets $10 and must decide how much to share with you. You can accept or reject the offer, but if you reject it, neither of you get any money.
The hindsight bias

The tendency to overestimate one’s ability to have predicted an event once the outcome is known.
The “I knew it all along” phenomenon
The confirmation bias
Biases due to mental set
Mental set
Tendency to solve problems using procedures that worked before on similar problems
Mental sets make learning and problem solving more efficient.
Not helpful when problem calls for new approach
The nine-dot problem
Need for cognitive consistency
Cognitive dissonance
A state of tension produced when a person holds two contradictory cognitions or when a person’s belief is inconsistent with behavior
You try especially hard to reduce dissonance
When you need to justify a choice or decision you freely made
When you need to justify behavior that conflicts with your view of yourself
When you need to justify the effort put into a decision or choice
Justification of effort
The tendency of people to increase their liking for something they have worked hard for or suffered to attain
Defining intelligence
Intelligence
An inferred characteristic of an individual, usually defined as the ability to profit from experience, acquire knowledge, think abstractly, act purposefully, or adapt to changes in the environment g factor
A general intellectual ability assumed by many theorists to underlie specific mental abilities and talents Psychometrics
The measurement of mental abilities, traits, and processes
Factor analysis
A statistical method for analyzing the intercorrelations among various measures or test scores; clusters of measures or scores that are highly correlated are assumed to measure the same underlying trait, ability, or aptitude (factor).
The invention of IQ tests
Binet believed we should measure a child’s mental age.
Binet and Simon developed a test which measured memory, vocabulary, and perceptual discrimination.
Mental age was divided by chronological age and multiplied by 100 to get an intelligence quotient.
Now IQ scores are derived from norms provided for standardized intelligence tests.
The psychometric approach
IQ scores distributed normally
Bell-shaped curve
Very high and very low scores are rare.
68% of people have IQ scores between 85 and 115.
99.7% between 55 and 145
Wechsler tests performance tasks
Can IQ tests be culture free?
Attempts to make IQ tests culture fair or culture free have backfired because different cultures have different problem-solving strategies.
Culture affects a person’s. . .
Attitude toward exams

Comfort in settings required for testing
Motivation
Rapport with test provider
Competitiveness
Ease of independent problem solving
Expectations and IQ
Scores are affected by expectations for performance
Expectations are shaped by stereotypes
Stereotype threat
Burden of doubt one feels about his or her performance due to negative stereotypes about his or her group
Stereotype threat affects African-Americans, Latinos/Latinas, low-income people, women, and the elderly. Sternberg’s triarchic theory
Componential (analytic)
Comparing, analyzing, and evaluating
This type of process correlates best with IQ
Experiential (creative)
Inventing solution to new problems
Transfer skills to new situations
Contextual (practical)
Applying the things you know to everyday contexts
Emotional intelligence
Ability to identify your own and other people’s emotions accurately
Ability to express your emotions clearly
Ability to manage emotions in self and others
Appears to be biologically based (Damasio, 1994)
Gardner’s model
1) Linguistic
2) Logical-mathematical
3) Musical
4) Spatial
5) Body-Kinesthetic
6) Interpersonal (Social-understanding)
7) Intrapersonal (self-understanding)
8) Naturalistic
Motivation and intelligence
Comparing 100 most successful men with 100 least successful, researchers found that motivation, not IQ, made the difference.
Motivation to work hard at intellectual tasks differs as a function of culture.
American children are as knowledgeable as Asian children on general skills. Grades, IQ, and self-discipline
Beliefs about intelligence