Chapter 7 Overview Flashcards
(20 cards)
Discriminate between cognition and thinking
Cognition: a general term for mental activities involving knowledge, including acquiring, retaining it and using it.
Thinking : manipulating mental representations of information in order to make inferences and reach conclusions
Identify and/or describe how mental images are involved in thought processes
Mental images: usually visual representations, but can also involve other senses
Define concept and describe how concepts are formed and organized
Concept: mental categories that group together, things, events, or situations that have similar defining characteristics
-Mental “ shorthand” to make cognition more efficient
- Formed through learning, defining characteristics
- Organized and hierarchies
Define prototype and exemplar and explain how each contributes to the structure of a concept
Prototype: most typical instances of a particular concept
Exemplar: individual instances of concepts, categories that particularly stand out in memory
Describe and identify examples of the three major problem-solving strategies
Trial and error: Trying a variety of solutions, adjusting or eliminating what doesn’t work, common among animals and young children.
Algorithms : using a specific rule, procedure, or method. Like a mathematical formula, will inevitably produce the correct solution.
Heuristic: a “ rule of thumb” for a particular situation. A middle ground between trial and error and an algorithm. general idea of what kind of approach your solution usually works reduces the number of possible solutions considered
Describe the mental processes involved in insight
Insight: sudden, complete realization of how a problem can be solved.
- Without conscious awareness of the thought process
- first stage: pattern of information being unconsciously perceived
- second stage: becoming conscious of a pattern
- Potential solution usually realized as a hunch or hypothesis
How do functional fixedness and mental sets create obstacles to problem-solving
Functional fixedness: tendency to see objects as only doing their usual function. Often prevents seeing other possibilities or potentials. Can be overcome by repurposing a strategy that seeks new uses for familiar objects.
Mental set: tenancy to focus on or persist in using solutions that have worked in the past. May prevent seeing other possible solutions. often happens to experts.
Explain the three major decision-making strategies
Single feature- fixate attention on only one feature
The additive model: identify priority features, rate each alternative for each feature, combine ratings to determine overall preference
The elimination by aspect model: choices based on a desired feature, eliminate choices that are least desirable for that feature
Explain how the availability heuristic affects peoples estimates of the likelihood of an event or outcome
Availability heuristic: judging the likelihood, an event or outcome based on how easily a previous instance can be called to mind
- Relies on information held in long-term memory
- Easy to recall previous example-outcomes seems more probable
Explain how the representativeness heuristic uses prototypes to estimate the probability of uncertain events
Estimates how likely something is by how well it fits into a prototype.
Example: Sally is a shy, sensitive woman. She has a very strong verbal skills and enjoys using descriptive language when telling stories she doesn’t always speak up in a group, but when she does, she expresses herself very clearly she enjoys spending time alone with her pets is it more likely that she is a professional writer or a nurse ?
Define language and explain how it relates to symbol
Language: system for combining arbitrary symbols to produce an infinite number of meaningful statements.
Symbols include sound or visual representation
Identify the influence of Alfred Benet and Charles Spearman on psychological views of intelligence and intelligence testing
Alfred Binet (1857 to 1911) device test to measure several basic mental abilities: memory, attention, identifying similarities, and differences.
- Avoided testing skills that need to be taught
- Invented the concept of mental age
- compares individuals to average abilities of a given age group
- Eventually became the concept of IQ
Charles Spearman (1863 to 1945): a single factor under lies many if not all mental abilities
- “g factor” general intelligence determines a overall performance on test of mental ability
- Intelligence level equals level of mental energy
- evidence: an individual scores test of different mental abilities are usually similar
Identify examples of language, being generative and enabling displacement
Displacement:
– Can communicate about ideas, objects, and activities that are not physically present
– Can refer to the past and future
- Goes beyond the range of our senses
Generativity :
- Combinations of words can make an infinite number of statements
– New symbols can always be produced
Summarize Chomsky‘s theory of language
Humans are born with a universal grammar.
– Pre-existing capacity for learning any language
– Enables children to automatically absorb the specific grammar of whatever language they encounter
– Language is learned without being taught
- Sequence of steps is universal
What are the steps in the universal sequence of language develop
– cooing (three months) repeating vowel sounds (ahh or oooo)
– Babbling (five months) add consonants, repeat single syllables (ba-ba-ba)
– Single words (12 months) mama, dog, milk, no
– Two word phrases (two years) no broccoli
– Language spurt (around 2 1/2) extremely rapid vocabulary increase(up to 10 words a day), use of full sentences (syntax)
Define intelligence
The global capacity to think rationally, act purposefully, and deal effectively with the environment
Describe the main idea of gardeners theory of multiple intelligences
Many distinct mental abilities exist independently
– Intelligence cannot be assessed by a single measure
– Eight distinct forms can be measured and assessed
– Different skills and products are valued in different cultures
Evidenced by brain damage not destroying all capabilities
Describe the three intelligences of the triarchic theory of intelligence
Analytic: Learning how to solve problems
Creative: ability to deal with novel situations
Practical: the ability to adapt to the environment, street Smart
Define stereotype threat
People are made aware of negative stereotypes about them related to the task they are doing
– Women perform more poorly, and advanced math , this can actually cause them to perform more poorly
Describe the role of cultural bias and intelligence testing
– Standardized test typically reflect white, middle-class, cultural knowledge, and values.
The way questions are phrased, vocabulary used, requires instrumental effort for minority test takers
– Performance affected by cultural variation, in test, motivation, attitudes toward taking test, previous experience with tests
