8-1

Thinking, Language, and Intelligence

Chapter 8

8-2

I. Thinking

A. Cognitive psychology– Thinking: manipulation of information that

can take the form of images or concepts.

• Visual imagery

• Concepts: Mental categories sharing common characteristics

8-3

Thinking

• We usually identify specific examples as members of a concept by judging their degree of similarity to a prototype, or best example, of the concept.

8-4

Thinking

• Algorithms – Anagram for APHYP– Formulae for solving

math problems– Sudoku

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8-5

Thinking

• Heuristics: educated guessesŠDecenteringŠ

PiagetÕs Matchstick Problem

Make 6 equilateral triangles out of six matchsticks.

8-6

Thinking

• Try the nine dot problem!

• With no more than four lines, connect nine dots on the paper without lifting your pencil.

8-7

Luchins’ Water Jar Problem

Problem Jar A Jar B Jar C Goal

1 24 130 3 100

2 9 44 7 21

3 21 58 4 29

4 12 160 25 98

5 19 75 5 46

6 23 49 3 20

7 18 48 4 22

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Luchins’ Water Jar Problem

20 31 2 7

20 57 331

5 48 827

20 100 1158

4 17 3 7

TotalA B C

8-9

Thinking

• Rigidity– functional fixedness: inability to use familiar

objects in new ways– set effect predicts that we will attempt to use

solutions that have been successful in the past.

8-10

Lateral Thinking

• If you put a small coin into an empty wine bottle and replace the cork, how would you get the coin out of the bottle without taking out the cork or breaking the bottle?

• A man and his sister were out walking together one Saturday morning. The man pointed across the street to a boy and said: ‘That boy is my nephew.’ The woman replied: ‘He is not my nephew.’ Can you explain this.

• Two Russians walk down a street in Moscow. One Russian is the father of the other Russian’s son. How are they related?

8-11

Lateral Thinking

• Three switches outside a windowless room are connected to three light bulbs inside the room. How can you determine which switch is connected to which bulb if you are only allowed to enter the room once?

• If it takes twelve 1c stamps to make a dozen, how many 3c stamps are needed?

• A blind beggar had a brother who died. What relation was the blind beggar to the brother who died? (Brother is not the answer)

• What is the product (ie. Multiplying all the numbers together) of the following series: (x-a),(x-b),(x-c),.....(x-z)? (A bit harder but really nothing for math-oriented minds)

• Is it correct to say;"The herd of sheep is eating grass in the field” or"The herd of sheep are eating grass in the field"?

8-12

Thinking

• representativeness heuristic: decisions are based on the similarity of characteristics of the situation to previously established concepts.

H H H T T T H T H T T H Availability Heuristic:

http://oldweb.uwp.edu/academic/psychology/demos/UTICdemo/UTICdemo.html

8-13

The Conjunction Fallacy

Steven is articulate, outgoing, artistic, and politically liberal. Is it more likely that he:

(a) is an engineering major, or

(b) started out as an engineering major and switched to journalism?

8-14

Framing

• The way in which information is presented can dramatically alter our decision making

Most opt for surgery

Barely half opt for surgery

8-15

Creativity

8-16

Creativity

• Depends on divergent thinking (rather than the convergent thinking associated with intelligence testing)

• Creative people have a high capacity for hard work, a willingness to take risks, and a high tolerance for ambiguity and disorder.

• NO defined standard!

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What distinguishes creative thought from other types of problem solving?

1. Shake cow carton2. Ball home naval3. Stream goose town4. Dance ladder door5. Dog pepper rod6. Sand mouse door7. Ball shake lotion8. Puff whipped ice

8-18

Language

• There are two major theories of language acquisition: – A learned response (acquired like any other

behavior)– Children are hard-wired (LAD)

How is language related to memory?

8-19

Linguistic Relativity Hypothesis

• The use of words (and syntax) can influence and guide thought processes.

P. 331

8-20

Language

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Illustrates the acquisition of some of the rules of language and supports Chomsky's claims of an inborn ability to find grammatical structure.

8-21

Differential Language Exposure

8-22

Sexist Language

• What happens when the child does not care if his hair is not combed?

• The child sometimes does not know why they are being spanked.

• It was possible for the child to learn from the consequences of their behavior.

8-23

Intelligence

• Francis Galton

• Binet (and Simon)

• Terman

• Wechsler

8-24

Principles of Psychological Tests

• Reliability

• Validity

• Standardization

8-25

Intelligence

The majority of the scores are clustered around the middle, with fewer scores found at either extreme

[Note: text says gifted at 140]

8-26

Intelligence

• Charles Spearman = g

• Howard Gardner = The Theory of Multiple Intelligences

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8-27

Heritability of Intelligence

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8-28

Heritability of Intelligence