Chapter 8: Thinking, Language and Intelligence

Question 1

What is cognitive psychology?

Answer 1

The study of mental functions such as intelligence, thinking, language, memory, and decision making

Question 2

What is cognition ?

Answer 2

The mental activity that includes thinking and the understandings that result from thinking

Question 3

Cognitive psychology is based on two ideas. What are those ?

Answer 3

1) Knowledge : about the world is stored in the brain in representations
2) Thinking : is the mental manipulation of these representations

Question 4

In thinking, we use two basic types of mental representations. What are they ?

Answer 4

1) Analogical and symbolic

Question 5

What are analogical representations? Give an example.

Answer 5

Representation that have some characteristics of the objects they represent

Clock represent time, a map represents the geographical layout

Question 6

What are symbolic representations? Give an example.

Answer 6

These representations are usually words, numbers, or ideas. They do not have relationships to physical qualities of objects in the world

The word violon, stands for a musical instrument. You cannot “see” any part of a violin in the shape of the word.

Question 7

What is categorization? Why does this mental activity takes place?

Answer 7

Grouping things based on shared properties

This mental activity reduces the amount of knowledge we must hold in memory and is therefore an efficient way of thinking

Question 8

What is a concept ?

Answer 8

It is a category, or class, of related items. enabling us to organize mental representations around a common theme

Question 9

What is the prototype model of concepts?

Answer 9

When you think about a category, you tend to look for a best example, or prototype, for that category. Once you have the prototype, you categorize new objects based on how similar they are to the prototype

Question 10

What is the exemplar model of concepts?

Answer 10

It proposes that any concept has no single best representation. All the examples, or exemplars, of category members that you have actually encountered form the concept

Question 11

In cognition, we can use schemas for two reasons. What are those reasons ? Give an example.

Answer 11

1) Common situations have consistent rules
2) People have specific roles within situational contexts

1) If you go see theater, you have to stay quiet
2) Actors, staff and spectators don’t act the same

Question 12

What is the unintended consequences of schemas or prototypes?

Answer 12

stereotypes

Question 13

On a cognitive level, what are gender roles ?

Answer 13

A type of schema that operates at the unconscious level

Question 14

What is a script? Give an example

Answer 14

A schema that directs behavior over time within a situation

Going to the restaurant. You know you’re gonna arrive, wait for a table, sit down, look at the menu, order food, eat and leave.

Question 15

If schemas and scripts are potentially problematic, why do they persist?

Answer 15

Because they have an adaptative value. These shortcuts minimize the amounts of attention required to navigate familiar environments

Question 16

What is happening during the process of decision making?

Answer 16

We select among alternatives. We identify important criteria and determine how well each alternative satisfies these criteria

Question 17

What happens during the process of problem solving?

Answer 17

We overcome obstacles to move from a present state to a desired goal state

Question 18

True or false. Decision makers are biased, use irrelevant criteria, and are unduly influenced by their emotions

Answer 18

True.

Question 19

What are heuristics?

Answer 19

Shortcuts in thinking that are fast and efficient strategies that people typically use to make decisions

Question 20

What is an hindsight bias?

Answer 20

An error in reasoning created by the after-the-fact explanations

Question 21

What is anchoring ? Give an example.

Answer 21

It occurs when, in making judgments, people rely on the first piece of information they encounter or on information that comes most quickly to mind.

An anchor serves as a reference point in decision making.

For example, if I ask someone if cougars are dangerous vs if I ask them to describe cougars characterics, the answers would not be the same based on the question.

Question 22

What is anchoring ? Give an example.

Answer 22

It occurs when, in making judgments, people rely on the first piece of information they encounter or on information that comes most quickly to mind.

An anchor serves as a reference point in decision making.

For example, if I ask someone if cougars are dangerous vs if I ask them to describe cougars characterics, the answers would not be the same based on the question.

Question 23

What is framing ? Give an example.

Answer 23

It refers to the tendency to emphasize the potential losses or potential gains from at least one alternative in decision making

I wanna buy a computer. I could spend 3000$ on one that is very powerful or 800$ on a good one. I might choose the 800$, but it’s gonna have a shorter life span than the 3000$ one.

Question 24

Within framing, what is the loss aversion effect?

Answer 24

People are generally much more concerned with costs than with benefits

Question 25

What are the two types of relative comparisons heuristic ?

Answer 25

Anchoring and framing

Question 26

What is the availability heuristic? Give an example.

Answer 26

The general tendency to make a decision based on the answer that comes most easily to mind If you are part of the LGBTQ+ community, you might think there is more queer people than the reality, while if you come from a conservative environnement, you might think there is less than reality.

Question 27

What is the representativeness heuristic? Give an example.

Answer 27

The tendency to place a person or an object in a category if the person or object is similar to our prototype for that category Max is very well educated, loves to read and love going to the theater. You're surprise to learn that he works in construction, because it doesn't fit your prototype of someone that workds in this field.

Question 28

What is the base rate effect when it comes to faulty thinking with representativeness heuristic? Give an example.

Answer 28

How frequently an event occurs With the last example of Max, there are so many construction workers, that there is a good chance that a lot of them are educated, loves reading and loves going to theater.

Question 29

True or false. When people are in good moods, they tend to be persistent and to find creative, elaborate responses to challenging problems

Answer 29

True

Question 30

What is the cognitive purpose of anticipating future emotional states?

Answer 30

It serve as a source of information and a guide in decision making

Question 31

emotions serve as (...) : They provide feedback for making quick decisions

Answer 31

Heuristic

Question 32

When emotions and cognitions are in conflict, (...) typically have the stronger impact on decisions

Answer 32

Emotions

Question 33

What is the affect-as-information theory? Give an example.

Answer 33

People use current moods to make judgments and appraisals. They rely on their moods even if they are unaware of a mood’s source I'm a critic, I go see a play and I'm in a bad mood. I might give a negative critic

Question 34

What is Damasio's somatic marker theory? Give an example.

Answer 34

Most decisions are influenced by bodily reactions, that arise from emotional evaluation of an action’s consequences (called somatic markers). The action is based on past history to future outcomes I have a gut feeling that someone is following me, I hurry up even if the person is not a threat at the end

Question 35

What part of the brain, when damage, make people insensitive to somatic markers?

Answer 35

The middle of the prefrontal region

Question 36

What is affective forecasting? Give an example of common poor affective forecasting

Answer 36

Predicting how they will feel about things in the future People overestimate how happy they will be for positive events, such as getting married, having children

Question 37

One study found that people who had been paralyzed were more optimistic about their futures than were people who had won lotteries. Why ?

Answer 37

After a negative event, people engage in strategies that help them feel better . Making sense of an event helps reduce its negative emotional consequences.

Question 38

Framing is poweful in marketing. Why ? Give an example

Answer 38

The point is that positively framed information is more influential in changing behavior than negatively framed information It helps to frame it as discount instead of a surcharge. It also helps with low-sugar product that are already high in sugar

Question 39

If you were had a buisiness selling technologies, how would you anchor your price ?

Answer 39

I would start with overpriced product and virtually lowering those prices as discounts, so the consumers would see it as a great deal considering the product they just buy and be more impressed by it.

Question 40

Give strategies for problem solving.

Answer 40

1) Fixing and organising subgoals 2) Restructuring the problem 3) Persist with previous strategies, or mental sets ( A mental set) 4) Using an algorithm 5) Finding an appropriate analogy

Question 41

What is functional fixedness?

Answer 41

In problem solving, having a fixed idea of the properties of object.

Question 42

What is an algorithm ?

Answer 42

An algorithm is a guideline (formula) that if followed correctly will always yield the correct answer

Question 43

What is analogical problem solving?

Answer 43

It means using a strategy that works in one context to solve a problem that is structurally similar. To accomplish this kind of transfer, we must pay attention to the structure of each problem

Question 44

What is Insight, in problem solving ?

Answer 44

The sudden realization for a solution to a problem

Question 45

When too many options are available, why people experience conflict and indecision?

Answer 45

Cause all of them are attractive, which results in indecision.

Question 46

What are the two approachs is decision making? What is the difference between the two?

Answer 46

Maximizing and satisficing Maximizers seek to identify the perfect choice among a set of options, whereas satisficers seek to find a “good enough” choice that meets their minimum requirements

Question 47

It turns out that maximizers, compared with satisficers, tend to select the objectively best choice, but...

Answer 47

those choices bring them less happiness

Question 48

Does maximizers or satisficers have more tendancies of engaging in more upward counterfactual thinking than satisficers (regrets) ?

Answer 48

Maximizers, cause they want the best option and second guess all the time

Question 49

What are some advice of The Paradox of Choice (2004) by Schwartz?

Answer 49

1) Approach the decision with the mindset of a satisficer. Try to articulate your minimum requirements for a good major 2) Promise yourself that you will stick with your decision (irreversibility) 3) Have realistic expectations 4) Practice an attitude of gratitude

Question 50

What is Language ?

Answer 50

A system of communication using sounds and symbols according to grammatical rules

Question 51

What is the hierarchy of language, from bottom-up?

Answer 51

0) Phonemes 1) Morphemes 2) Word 3) Phrases 4) Sentences

Question 52

What are morphemes ? What are they made of ?

Answer 52

1) Morphemes are the smallest units that have MEANING | 2) Phonemes.

Question 53

What are phonemes?

Answer 53

The basic sounds of speech, the building blocks of language

Question 54

What is syntax ?

Answer 54

The system of rules that govern how words are combined into phrases and how phrases are combined to make sentences

Question 55

What is Semantics ?

Answer 55

The study of the system of meanings that underlie words, phrases, and sentences

Question 56

What is aphasia ? What is expressive aphasia?

Answer 56

1) A language disorder which results in deficits in language comprehension and production 2) It interrupts their ability to speak

Question 57

Where is Wernicke’s area? What happens when it's damaged ?

Answer 57

1) Region of the left hemisphere where the temporal and parietal lobes meet 2) Patients develop receptive aphasia. They have trouble understanding the meaning of words

Question 58

What happens with people with receptive aphasia?

Answer 58

Those with receptive aphasia are often highly verbal, but what they say does not follow the rules of grammar or make sense

Question 59

What is global aphasia ?

Answer 59

Where the person cannot produce or comprehend language

Question 60

What is the role of right hemisphere in language ?

Answer 60

Processing the rythm of speech and understanding metaphors

Question 61

What is the linguistic relativity theory?

Answer 61

The claim that language determines thought

Question 62

How does culture influence language and cognition ? Give an example

Answer 62

The usage of certain words can activate schemas that differ from culture to culture because of language. For example, if a culture use more sexist terms, maybe there will be more tendencies for machism.

Question 63

True or false. Up to six months of age, a baby can discriminate all the phonemes that occur in all languages, even if the sounds do not occur in the language spoken in the baby’s home

Answer 63

True.

Question 64

From five to seven months, they begin... What is does this language form use as components ?

Answer 64

Babbling ! Consonants and vowels

Question 65

From seven to eight months, they... What are the components of this form of language?

Answer 65

Babbles Continuous syllables

Question 66

When are the first words of infants ?

Answer 66

By the end of their first year

Question 67

What is telegraphic speech?

Answer 67

A rudimentary speech used by toddlers, with logic and syntax, with missing words and no grammatical marking.

Question 68

Why are children overgeneralizing grammatical rules ?

Answer 68

Because they can't discriminate yet when it is appropriate to use it, and use it at every occasion.

Question 69

Before 18 months of age, how does an infant typically speak?

Answer 69

In single words. It is not until after this age that children begin to string words together.

Question 70

What is Chomsky's universal grammar ?

Answer 70

All languages are based on humans’ innate knowledge of a set of universal and specifically linguistic elements and relationships. All languages include similar elements, such as nouns and verbs, but how those elements are arranged varies considerably across languages.

Question 71

What is surface structure and deep structure? Give an example

Answer 71

1) surface structure: the sound and order of words. 2) deep structure: the implicit meanings of sentences ''The boy eat the candy'' and ''The candy, eaten by the boy'' have the same deep structure but not the safe surface structure

Question 72

True or false. Chomsky thinks that humans are not born with a language acquisition device, which contains universal grammar

Answer 72

False. Chomsky, humans are born with a language acquisition device,

Question 73

True or false. Deaf babies exposed to signed languages from birth acquire these languages on an identical maturational timetable as hearing babies acquire spoken languages

Answer 73

True

Question 74

What are phonics ?

Answer 74

An association between letters and their phonemes

Question 75

What are the whole language approaches?

Answer 75

These approaches emphasize learning the meanings of words and understanding how words are connected in sentences

Question 76

How is the whole language approach to teaching reading better or worse than the phonics approach?

Answer 76

Whole language may be better at motivating students to read, but phonics reliably produces better reading

Question 77

What is intelligence?

Answer 77

The ability to use knowledge to reason, make decisions, make sense of events, solve problems, understand complex ideas, learn quickly, and adapt to environmental challenges.

Question 78

What is the psychometric approach to mesure intelligence ?

Answer 78

On how people perform on standardized tests that assess mental abilities

Question 79

What are Achievement tests ?

Answer 79

It assess people’s current levels of skill and of knowledge

Question 80

What are Aptitude tests?

Answer 80

Tests that seek to predict what tasks, and perhaps even what jobs, people will be good at in the future

Question 81

What is the Stanford-Binet test ?

Answer 81

A test to measure children normative score

Question 82

The Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale (WAIS) ?

Answer 82

The same thing as Stanford-Binet, but for adults

Question 83

What is Binet's concept of mental age ?

Answer 83

This measure is determined by comparing the child’s test score with the average score for children of each chronological age

Question 84

How do you calculate an IQ for children ?

Answer 84

IQ is computed by dividing a child’s estimated mental age by the child’s chronological age and multiplying the result by 100

Question 85

Why does the IQ calculation for adults different than for children ?

Answer 85

Instead, IQ in the adult range is measured in comparison with the average adult and not with adults at different ages

Question 86

True or false. IQ test is good to determine someone's intelligence.

Answer 86

It depends what kind of intelligence, but the overall evidence indicates that IQ is a fairly good predictor of such life outcomes

Question 87

True or false. One study found that children’s self-control, assessed through teacher and parent reports as well as laboratory tasks, was much better than IQ in predicting final grades

Answer 87

True

Question 88

True or false ? People from privileged backgrounds tend to have higher IQs

Answer 88

True, but it is explained by a lot of advantages too

Question 89

What is factor analysis in measuring intelligence ?

Answer 89

In this statistical technique, items similar to one another are clustered. The clusters are called factors. Most intelligence test items tended to cluster as one factor

Question 90

What is Spearman view on ''general intelligence''

Answer 90

Spearman viewed general intelligence as a factor that contributes to performance on any intellectual task

Question 91

What is Spearman ''specific skills'' ?

Answer 91

The fact that you perform better on some tasks than on others

Question 92

What are Cattel's two types of Intelligence ?

Answer 92

1) Fluid intelligence: is being able to understand abstract relationships and think logically WITHOUT prior knowledge 2) Crystallized intelligence: involves knowledge acquired through experience, such as vocabulary and cultural information, and the ability to use this knowledge to solve problems

Question 93

Robert Sternberg (1999) has theorized that there are three types of intelligence:

Answer 93

1) Practical 2) Creative 3) Analytical

Question 94

What is Emotional intelligence consisted of (EI) ?

Answer 94

1) managing one’s emotions, 2) using one’s own emotions to guide thoughts and actions 3)recognizing other people’s emotions 4) understanding emotional language

Question 95

What is the relation between IQ and speed of processing?

Answer 95

Those with high IQs tend to have quicker reaction times, especially on choice reaction time tests.

Question 96

How does stereotype threat sometimes interfere with minority students’ performance on intelligence tests?

Answer 96

hen minority students focus on stereotypes about their groups, they may become anxious about confirming such stereotypes through their test results. This distraction makes them less likely to do well on the tests.