Chapter 8 - Cognition and Intelligence

Question 1

Cognition

Answer 1

all mental activities associated with thinking, knowing, remembering and communicating.

Question 2

Concepts

Answer 2

mental grouping of similar objects events, ideas or people
- Simplifies ones thinking

Question 3

3 ways concepts are formed

Answer 3

• Natural: forming a concept based off experience
  ○ E.g. knowing the difference between school bus, metro bus, ride on, and metro because we have seen them
  • Formal: forming a concept based on rules, features, definitions
    ○ E.g. a shape that has 3 sides we know is a triangle
    ○ E.g. an organism that has feathers, wings, claws we know is a bird
  • Prototype: a mental image or best example of a category
    ○ Provides a quick and easy method to sorting items

Question 4

Strategies to problem solve: algorithm

Answer 4

a methodical, logical rule or procedure that guarantees a solution for a problem
○ Guarantees a solution but Is time consuming
○ E.g. in a grocery store looking for tomatoe paste would look like walking through every aisle from left to right until you find it

Question 5

Strategies to problem solve: heuristic

Answer 5

a simple thinking strategy or rule of thumb that allows one to make judgement and solve problems efficiently
○ Speedier but more prone to errors than algorithms
○ E.g. in a grocery store looking for can of tomatoe paste would involve looking for the aisle that has cans

Question 6

Strategies to problem solve: insight

Answer 6

a sudden realization of the solution to the problem
○ Contrasts with strategy based solutions

Question 7

Strategies to problem solve: Trial and Error

Answer 7

trying ways and eliminating the ways that don’t work
○ Time consuming

Question 8

Obstacles to problem solving: Confirmation Bias:

Answer 8

• the tendency to seek evidence for ones ideas or view more eagerly than for evidence against them those views
  
  • Same as pre-existing beliefs

Question 9

Obstacles to problem solving: Fixation

Answer 9

the inability to see a problem from a new perspective

Question 10

Obstacles to problem solving: Pre-existing beliefs

Answer 10

the tendency to search for solutions that solve the problem in the way you view it

  - Same as confirmation bias

Question 11

Obstacles to Problem Solving: Functional Fixedness

Answer 11

the tendency to view objects as functioning only in their usual or customary way
- E.g. a person not being able to see a pen being used for anything else but a pen like a paperweight

Question 12

Obstacles to problem solving: Mental set

Answer 12

the tendency to persist in solving mental problems with solutions that have worked in the past despite the fact there may be more effective ways

Question 13

Intelligence:

Answer 13

The mental abilities that enable one to adapt to, shape or select ones environment

• Believing that intelligence is changeable can foster a growth mindset

Question 14

Factors making up intelligence

Answer 14

• The ability to judge comprehend and reason
• The ability to understand and deal with people, objects, and symbols
• The ability to act purposefully, think rationally and deal effectively with the environment

Question 15

Mental Age

Answer 15

the level of performance typically associated with children of a certain chronological age

Question 16

The first person to test IQ

Answer 16

• Alfred Binet first attempted to identify special education students by measured intelligence
  
  • He did this by measuring each child’s mental age through simple tasks - Predicting Schools Achievement
  • Binet Assumes each kid follows the same course of intellectual development but not at the same rate.
  • Tested each kids problem solving and reasoning

Question 17

Binet Standards of test Items per chronological age

Answer 17

• 4 yr: Name objects from memory(fire is hot; ice is__)
  
  • 6 yr: Define simple words or explain differences(between fish and horse)
  • 8 yr: Answer questions about a simple story
  • 10 yr: Define more complex words and explain reasons for behaviors(why are people quiet in a library)
  • 12 yr: Identify more difficult picture and verbal absurdities
    
    • Adult: Supply several missing words for incomplete sentences

Question 18

IQ

Answer 18

an intelligence quotient found by mental age/chronological age x 100

Question 19

IQ standards

Answer 19

• At any age, children who are average will have an IQ of 100 because their mental age will equal their chronological age
  • Roughly 2/3’s of children will have an IQ score between 85-115

Roughly 95% of children will have an IQ score between 70 - 130

Question 20

Stanford-Binet IQ test

Answer 20

measures things that are necessary for school success which is a revised version of Simon and Binets original test
- Lewis Terman took this original test and tweaks it so it can be administered to adults as well
- E.g. understanding and using language, memory, the ability to follow instructions and computational skills

Question 21

Adaptive Testing

Answer 21

determines a child’s mental age by seeing at what age level the most advanced items that a child can consistently answer correctly
- Children whose mental age equaled their actual or chronological age were considered to be of regular intelligence

Question 22

Spearmans General Intelligence

Answer 22

• There is one general intelligence the G factor which is the basis of intelligence
• Composed of overlaping areas of arithmetic, spatial, mechanical and logical intelligence

Question 23

General Intelligence

Answer 23

the general intelligence factor which underlies specific mental abilities
- Measured by every task on an intelligence test
- Mental abilities are similar to physical abilities

Question 24

Gardners Multiple Intelligences

Answer 24

suggests there are 8 relatively different intelligences that come with different abilities

• People can fall anywhere on the continuum

Question 25

Garners Type of Intelligences :(8)

Answer 25

• Linguistics: sensitivity to the meaning and sounds of words and the appreciation of the ways language can be used
• Logical-Mathematics: understanding of objects, symbols and the ability to identify problems and seek explanations
• Spatial: the capacity to perceive the visual world accurately, to perform transformations upon perceptions and to recreate aspects of visual experience in the absence of physical stimuli
• Musical: sensitivity to individual tones and phrases of music, understanding of ways to combine tones and phrases and awareness of emotional aspects of music
• Bodily-Kinesthetic: the use of ones body in highly skilled ways for expressive or goal directed purposes and the capacity to handle objects skillfully
• Interpersonal: the ability to notice and make distinctions among moods, temperaments, intentions and motivations of other people and potentially to act on this knowledge
• Intrapersonal: access to one’s own feelings, the ability to draw on ones emotions to guide and understand ones behavior, recognition of personal strengths and weaknesses
• Naturalistic: sensitivity and understanding of plants, animals and other aspects of nature

Question 26

Sternbergs 3 seperate Intelligences

Answer 26

Intelligence that is best classified into 3 areas which predict real world success:

Analytical Intelligence: school smarts, the traditional academic problem solving

Creative Intelligence: trailblazing smarts, the ability to generate novel ideas

Practical Intelligence: street smarts, the skill at handling everyday tasks

Question 27

Sternbergs Ingredients/elements of Creativity:

Answer 27

• Expertise
• Imaginative thinking skills
• Venturesome personality
• Intrinsic motivation
  Creative environment

Question 28

Emotional Intelligence Abilities:

Answer 28

contributes to life success by helping us to perceive, understand, manage and use emotions

Question 29

Characteristics of Emotionally Intelligent People

Answer 29

• Socially aware of themselves and others
• Can read others emotions and provide appropriate feedback
• Delay gratification in favor of long term rewards
• Are emotionally happy and physically heathy
• Often successful in career, marriage and parenting situations where academic people may fail

Question 30

Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale(WAIS)

Answer 30

a test which contains verbal and nonverbal(performance) subtests which yields an overall intelligence score and separate scores for verbal comprehension, perceptual organisation, working memory and processing speed

• Created by David Wechsler
• Comes in forms suited for children and adults

Question 31

Intellectual Disability

Answer 31

conditions of limited mental ability, and difficulty adapting to the demands of life

• AKA mental retardation
• Indicated by a score lower than 70

Question 32

Crystal and Fluid Intelligence

Answer 32

• Crystallized intelligence: accumulated knowledge and verbal skills which increases with age

Fluid Intelligence: ability to reason speedily and abstractly which decreases with age

Question 33

Stereotype Threat

Answer 33

self-confirming concern that a judgement is based on a negative stereotype
- Can affect a persons performance

Question 34

Goals for Mental ability Tests

Answer 34

• To enable schools to recognize who might profit most from early intervention
• To be alert to misinterpretation of test scores as measures of a person’s worth and potential
• Remember that the competence that general intelligence tests sample is important