Cognitive Psych - Thinking, language and intelligence

Question 1

Nature vs Nurture

Answer 1

• Chomsky
  ○ Language is innate
  Language acquisition device (LAD)
• Skinner
  ○ Language is learned
  Operant conditioning (reinforcement and punishment)

Question 2

Emergentist view of language acquisition

Answer 2

• Language as an emergent behaviour
  A complex phenomena that arises from the interactions of underlying processes but cannot be deduced or explained from the nature and logic of these properties

Question 3

Multilingualism and cognition a century ago

Answer 3

○ View was extremely negative (believed that bilingualism would impair intelligence)

Question 4

Multilingualism and cognition in the past 50 years

Answer 4

• Have accumulated evidence to the contrary
  “Mental flexibility” (Pearl and Lambert)
• Advantages in executive control
  Mixed evidence -> bilingual advantage now being questioned
• May contribute to “cognitive reserve”
  Ex. studies examining the onset of dementia in Toronto hospital patients

Question 5

Aphasia

Answer 5

• Language impairment affecting the production and/or comprehension of speech

Question 6

The Sapir-Whorf Hypothesis

Answer 6

Linguistic determinism (strong form) vs. linguistic relativism (weak form)

Question 7

Boroditsky et al

Answer 7

• People that speak languages that use arbitrary gender classification (french, spanish, italian…) vs people that do not (english)
• Asking how they would describe words

Question 8

Knowledge representation

Answer 8

• A representation is anything that stands in for, or corresponds to, something else
• Ex. a map is a representation of city streets, a portrait is a representation of a person

Question 9

Mental representation

Answer 9

A hypothetical “internal” cognitive symbol that represents external reality

Question 10

Analogical representations

Answer 10

• Representations which maintain some of the physical characteristics of the actual object
  Ex. an image of a princess

Question 11

Symbolic representations

Answer 11

• Representations which do not correspond to the physical characteristics of actual objects
  Ex. the word princes

Question 12

Mental images

Answer 12

○ They allow us to answer questions about objects that are not in our presence
○ Also allows us to solve problems
○ We can manipulate these mental images
Ex. is this letter a mirror image or not

Question 13

Categorization

Answer 13

The process of grouping things based on shared information

Question 14

Classical categorization

Answer 14

• Objects are categorized according to a certain set of rules or specific set of features
• AKA the defining attribute model
• Membership within a category determined on an all-or-none basis
  Ex. “A triangle is a figure with three angles and three sides”

Question 15

Problems with classical categorization

Answer 15

• We often make exceptions to our rules
• Some attributes are more important for defining category membership than others
• Some concepts appear to be better category members than others

Question 16

Concept

Answer 16

• A mental representation that groups objects, events, or relations around common themes

Question 17

Prototype model

Answer 17

• Objects are categorized according to how closely they resemble the “prototype” (or best example) of the category
  Ex. pigeons vs ostriches as the “average bird”

Question 18

Exemplar model

Answer 18

• Instead of a single prototype, all members of the category that we have encountered form the concept; we choose a specific example
• Individuals may rely on either rule-based (defining attribute) or resemblance-based (prototype or exemplar) approaches depending on the situation

Question 19

cultural differences in thinking styles

Answer 19

○ Analytic thinking (Western)
- Rule based
○ Holistic thinking (Eastern)
- Family resemblance

Question 20

cultural differences in categorization strategies

Answer 20

○ Taxonomic (Western)
- Cat and dog go together
- Squirrel and the rabbit go together
○ Thematic (Eastern)
- Dog and bone go together
- Rabbit and the carrot go together

Question 21

Heuristics

Answer 21

§ Shortcuts or “rules of thumb” used to deduce the amount of thinking that is needed to make a decision

Question 22

Deductive reasoning

Answer 22

if the premises are true, then the conclusion must be true

Question 23

Inductive reasoning

Answer 23

when you start with specific observations or facts, and infer a general rule or conclusion from them.

Question 24

Benefits of heuristics

Answer 24

• Require minimal cognitive resources
• Allows us to decide quickly
• Often lead to reasonably good decisions
• But can lead to errors and biases

Question 25

Maximizing vs satisfying

Answer 25

“Good enough” vs “Best possible outcome”

Question 26

Availability heuristic

Answer 26

Estimating the frequency of an event based on how easily examples of it come to mind

Question 27

Representativeness heuristic

Answer 27

Making judgements of likelihood based on how similar the person or object is to our prototype for that category

Question 28

problem solving strategies

Answer 28

• Subgoals
• Working backward
• Restructuring

Question 28

framing effects

Answer 28

• Refer to changes in the way information is perceives as a result of the way in which the information was presented
• Ex. framing a decision to emphasize either the potential losses or the potential gains of a decision alternative
• Often used in media and politics
  Ex. Kahneman & Tversky’s Asian disease study

Question 28

functional fixedness

Answer 28

• Example of a mental state
• Getting ‘stuck’ or ‘fixed’ in a particular approach to solving a problem or completing a task

Question 28

Francis Galton

Answer 28

Believed in intellectual superiority in white people

Question 28

Binet and Simon

Answer 28

○ Focus on cognition; notion of “mental age”
- Direction: ability to know what to do and how to do it
- Adaptation: ability to create strategies for implementing this knowledge and monitoring its progress
- Criticism: ability to step back and find error in one’s thinking

Question 28

Intelligence Quotient (IQ)

Answer 28

• A score on a normed test of intelligence (how your score compares to other people who have taken the test before you)
  ○ Average IQ is 100, standard deviation of 15
• Scores help predict how successful someone will be at school or in a complex career
• However, it is only one of many factors that predict success
• Many other factors (motivation, work ethic, etc.) are just as important

Question 28

Lewis Terman

Answer 28

IQ= (mental age/chronological age) x100

Question 30

General intelligence

Answer 30

Information processing in novel or complex circumstances; thinking logically without the need to use learned knowledge

Question 31

Spearman’s two factor theory of intelligence

Answer 31

• g factor and s factor
• “g” factor is linked to the general ability, while the “s” factor is linked to the specific ability

Question 32

Fluid intelligence vs crystallized intelligence

Answer 32

• Cattell divided general intelligence into 2 types
  ○ Fluid intelligence
  Information processing in novel or complex circumstances; thinking logically without the need to use learned knowledge
  ○ Crystallized intelligence
  Knowledge acquired through experience, and the ability to use this knowledge to solve problems

Question 33

WAIS

Answer 33

Weschler adult intelligence scale
- IQ test

Question 34

Factor analysis

Answer 34

A statistical method that looks at how lots of different observations correlate and determines how many theoretical constructs could most simply explain what you see

Question 35

Stanovich’s notion of “dysrationalia”

Answer 35

The inability to think and behave rationally despite having adequate intelligence

Question 36

The cognitive reflection test

Answer 36

• Better predictor of performance on heuristics and biases problems than IQ-type measures

Question 37

Triarchic theory of intelligence

Answer 37

Robert Sternberg
- Analytical
- Creative
- Practical

Question 38

Successful intelligence

Answer 38

○ Capitalizing on strengths
○ Compensating for weaknesses
○ Critical importance of adaptivity

Question 39

Augmented theory of successful intelligence

Answer 39

○ Wisdom -> using skills and knowledge toward a common goa

Question 40

Theory of multiple intelligences

Answer 40

• Howard Gardner
• Promoted the idea that people can show different skills in a variety of different domains
• Related to the notion of learning styles
• That a “visual learner” will learn best if provided with visual (vs verbal) information
• Is an intuitive theory, but not supported by scientific evidence

Question 41

Emotional intelligence (EQ)

Answer 41

• A social intelligence that emphasizes the ability to manage one’s emotions, recognize emotions in others, understand emotional language, and use emotions to guide thoughts and actions
• Is also predictive of grades, ability to deal with challenges of university exams

Question 42

Incremental theory as a buffer

Answer 42

• Academic failure + high academic contingent self-worth + entity theory of intelligence = bad news (lower self-esteem, increased anxiety, etc.)
• However, students who were primed with an incremental theory of intelligence were protected from the negative effects of the failure

Question 43

Mindset theory

Answer 43

Fixed vs growth mindset by Carol Dweck