Cognition Flashcards
(170 cards)
1
Q
How are computers used to study how we think? (3)
A
- In brain imaging studies
- Computer simulations that attempt to model human thought processes
- Adopted the computer as a metaphor for the brain, as a processor of information
2
Q
What is thinking?
A
Thinking is a cognitive process in which the brain uses information from the senses, emotions, and memory to create and manipulate mental representations such as concepts, images, schemas and scripts
3
Q
The cognitive perspective focuses on _______ as the primary key to human behaviour
A
mental processes
4
Q
What is cognition?
A
Information processing in the brain
5
Q
What is deja vu?
A
Strange sense that your present experience matches a previous experience, even though you cannot retrieve the explicit memory
(The odd feeling of recognition you get when you visit a new place)
6
Q
What does deja vu tell us?
A
The brain has the ability to treat new stimuli as instances of familiar categories, even if the stimuli are slightly different from anything it has encountered before
7
Q
What is the basic attribute of thinking organisms?
A
The ability to assimilate experiences, objects, or ideas into familiar mental categories
and take the same action toward them or give them the same label
8
Q
What are concepts?
A
Mental groupings of similar objects, ideas or experiences
Can be objects (‘food’, ‘birds’) properties (‘red’, ‘large’), abstractions (‘truth’, ‘love’), relations (‘smarter than’), procedures or intentions
9
Q
The 2 types of concepts are
A
Natural and artificial
10
Q
What are natural concepts?
A
Imprecise mental representations of objects and events drawn from our direct everyday experience in the world
11
Q
What is a prototype?
A
An ideal or most representative example of a conceptual category
12
Q
What is another name for natural concepts?
A
Fuzzy concepts
because of their imprecision
13
Q
What are artificial concepts?
A
Concepts defined by a set of rules or characteristics
Represent precisely defined ideas or abstractions rather than actual objects in the real world
such as word definitions and mathematical formalas
14
Q
What are concept hierarchies?
A
Levels of concepts, from most general to most specific, in which a more general level includes more specific concepts
Eg concept of “animal” includes “dog”, “giraffe” and “butterfly”
15
Q
The prototype approach suggests that a concept is classified as a member of the category if
A
it is similar to an ideal or most representative example of the category
16
Q
What is common sense?
A
Thinking based on experience rather than on logic
17
Q
What is a cognitive map?
A
A cognitive representation (mental image) of physical space
18
Q
What are 2 broad conclusions that have come from trying to identify brain regions that become alive during various mental tasks?
A
- Thinking is an activity involving widely distributed areas of the brain — not just a single “thinking centre”
- Neuroscientists now see the brain as a community of highly specialised modules, each of which deals with different components of thought
19
Q
Visual imagery drawn from memory activates the ________ and auditory memories engage the _______
A
visual cortex; auditory cortex
(the brain generate many images used in thought with the same circuitry it uses for sensation)
20
Q
The ________ of the brain play an especially important role in coordinating mental activity as we make decisions and solve problems
A
frontal lobes
21
Q
To make decisions and solve problems, the ________ performs 3 different tasks:
A
prefrontal cortex (in the frontal lobes, just above the eyes)
- keeping track of the episode (the situation in which we find ourselves)
- understanding the context (the meaning of the situation)
- responding to a specific stimulus in the situation
22
Q
What is intuition?
A
The ability to make judgments without consciously reasoning
23
Q
Intuition (emotional component of thinking) involves the __________
A
prefrontal cortex
24
Q
How do we have intuition?
A
The prefrontal cortex unconsciously factors emotional “hunches” into our decisions in the form of information about past rewards and punishment
25
Individuals with severe damage to the prefrontal cortex may display ________ or have impairments in ________
little emotion/response to a particular stimulus; intuition
26
Sometimes our intuition is not always right because our quick intuitive judgments are merely our ________
prejudices and biases
27
Daniel Kahneman suggests that
intuition is an evolutionary invention that helped our ancestors make snap judgments in difficult and dangerous situations
28
The accuracy of our intuition may depend on the _______ in which we use it
context
Usually, higher rate of success in natural concepts eg personality
But lower rate of success in artificial concepts like statistical or numerical judgments
29
Our intuition may be a better guide than an incomplete attempt at logical analysis in situations involving ________ or ________
time pressures; distractions
30
With regards to expertise vs intuition, researchers theorize that
when a person has the expertise necessary to analyze a situation, intuition may impede clear thinking
in the absence of experience, though, intuition trumps a clumsy attempt at analysis
31
It is important to recognise when we are making intuitive judgments and to consider the ______, the _______ and our ______ in that area
context; time available; expertise
32
What are schemas?
Clusters of related concepts that provide general conceptual framework for thinking about objects, events, ideas, emotions
They provide context and expectations about the features likely to be found when you encounter familiar people, situations, images and ideas
33
What is the function of a schema?
They enable us to make inferences about missing information, adding meaning to statements
34
What is a script?
A cluster of knowledge about sequences of interrelated, specific events and actions expected to occur in a certain way in particular settings
35
What is another name for script?
Event schema
(since scripts are schemas that help us decide what to expect or how to behave in specific circumstances)
36
Give an example of a concept hierarchy
Animal, mammal, dog, cocker spaniel
Anything like this works
37
Give an example of a script
Knowing how to check out a book at the library is an example of a script. So is any other procedure, such as knowing how to study for a test or how to boil an egg
38
What are advantages of departing from logic? (6)
1. Fantasize
2. Daydream
3. Act creatively
4. React unconsciously
5. Respond emotionally
6. Generate new ideas
39
What are attributes that "good thinkers" possess? (4)
1. Capable of careful reasoning
2. Make use of effective thinking strategies
3. Avoid ineffective thinking strategies
4. Avoid misleading thinking strategies
40
Good thinkers not only have a repertoire of effective strategies, called ___________, they also know how to avoid common impediments to ____________
algorithms and heuristics; problem solving and decision making
41
What are characteristics of effective problem solvers? (4)
1. Possess the requisite knowledge for solving the problems they face
2. Skilled at identifying the problem
3. Skilled at selecting a strategy
4. Applying the most common algorithms and heuristic strategies
42
In identifying the problem, a good problem solver
learns to consider all relevant possibilities without leaping to conclusions prematurely
43
What are 3 types of problem solving strategies?
1. Trial and error
- only works for simple problems
2. Algorithm
- special problem-solving procedure/formula that guarantees a correct outcome
3. Heuristic
- simple "rule of thumb" used as a cognitive shortcut, trying things based on what has worked before for a similar situation
- does not guarantee a correct solution because it is not tailor-made to the current problem
44
What are algorithms?
Problem-solving procedures or formulas that guarantee a correct outcome, if correctly applied
45
What are some problems that algorithms cannot solve? (3)
1. Problems involving subjective values
2. Problems involving too many unknowns
3. Problems that are just too complex for a formula
46
What are heuristics?
Cognitive strategies or "rules of thumb" used as shortcuts to solve complex mental tasks.
Unlike algorithms, heuristics do not guarantee a correct solution
47
What are 3 useful heuristic strategies?
1. Working backward
- good for problems in which the goal is clearly specified
2. Searching for analogies
- if a new problem is similar to one you have faced before
3. Breaking a big problem into smaller problems (subgoals)
48
What are 3 obstacles to problem solving?
1. Mental set
2. Functional fixedness
3. Self-imposed limitations
49
What is a mental set?
The tendency to respond to a new problem in the manner used for a previous problem
50
What problem-solving strategy did the Wright brothers use to solve the challenge of powered human flight?
Breaking the problem into its component parts
51
What is functional fixedness?
The inability to perceive a new use for an object associated with a different purpose; a form of mental set
52
What is the common element shared by all 3 heuristic strategies?
Approaching the problem from a different perspective
53
What are self-imposed limitations?
Using necessary restrictions, not thinking "outside the box
54
What are some other obstacles to problem solving? (6)
1. Lack of specific knowledge required by the problem
2. Lack of interest
3. Low self-esteem
4. Fatigue
5. Drugs (even legal ones)
6. Arousal and its accompanying stress
55
What is operant conditioning?
When our behaviours (eg problem-solving efforts) draw on past experience to make predictions about future rewards or punishments
56
Many of the "flaws" in our reasoning abilities caused by our use of heuristics are the by-product of __________
an adaptive strategy
57
What are biases in judging and making decisions? (6)
1. Confirmation bias
2. Hindsight bias
3. Anchoring bias
4. Representative bias
5. Availability bias
6. Tyranny of choice
58
What is confirmation bias?
A way of thinking that ignores or overlooks information that disagrees with people's beliefs, only paying attention to events that confirm their beliefs
59
What is the hindsight bias?
The tendency, after learning about a event, to "second guess" or belief that one could have predicted the event in advance
60
What is another name for the hindsight bias?
I-knew-it-all-along effect
61
What is the problem of hindsight bias?
It impedes our ability to learn from our mistakes
We ignore an opportunity to improve our judgment next time by recognising our errors this time
It increases our chances of repeating the same mistake
62
What is anchoring bias?
A faulty heuristic caused by basing (anchoring) an estimate on a completely irrelevant quantity
63
What is representative bias?
A faulty heuristics strategy based on the presumption that, once people or events are categorised, they share all the features of other members in that category
64
Why do people have representative bias?
It simplifies the task of social judgment
65
What is the base rate information?
The probability of a characteristic occurring in the general population
66
What is availability bias?
A faulty heuristic strategy that estimates probabilities based on the availability of vivid mental images of the event
67
What is the tyranny of choice?
The impairment of effective decision making when confronted with an overwhelming number of choices
68
What is the antidote to the tyranny of choice?
Satisficing (taking the "good enough") instead of maximising
69
What is analysis paralysis?
The inability to make a decision due to overthinking a problem
70
What is creativity?
A mental process that produces novel responses that contribute to the solutions of problems
71
What is a genius?
Someone whose insight and creativity are greater than those of ordinary people
72
What is Robert Weisberg's definition of a genius?
Good problem solver who also possess certain helpful but entirely human characteristics
73
What is an expert?
Individuals who possess well-organised funds of knowledge, including the effective problem-solving strategies, in a field
74
What are factors that can suppress creative flow? (2)
1. Time pressures
2. Overly critical authority figure
75
What are aptitudes?
Innate potentialities (as contrasted with abilities acquired by learning)
76
What are common personality traits that creative people usually possess? (5)
1. Independence
2. Intense interest in a problem
3. Willingness to restructure the problem
4. Preference for complexity
5. A need for stimulating interaction
77
What are the 2 things needed to become a creative genius?
1. Well- developed knowledge (often growing out of aptitude) in the field in which the creative contribution will be made
2. Certain personal characteristics
78
What are savants?
People who have a highly developed skill despite their mental handicaps
79
What is intelligence?
The mental capacity to acquire knowledge, reason, and solve problems effectively
80
What is a hypothetical construct?
A characteristic that is not directly observable or quantifiably measured, but must be inferred from behaviour
81
The idea of measuring intelligence by testing came from ______
France
82
The founders of intelligence testing are ________ and ________
Alfred Binet and Theodore Simon
83
People began measuring intelligence through tests in _______
1904
84
The purpose of the Binet-Simon approach was to
determine which children needed remedial help
85
Four important features of the Binet-Simon approach were
1. They interpret scores as an estimate of current performance and not as a measure of innate intelligence
2. They wanted test scores used to identify children who needed special help, not merely to categorize or label them as bright or dull
3. They emphasised that training and opportunity could affect intelligence and wanted to pinpoint areas of performance in which special education could help certain children identified by their test
4. They constructed the test empirically - based on how children were observed to perform - rather than tying the test to a particular theory of intelligence
86
What is mental age (MA)?
The average age at which normal (average) individuals achieve a particular score
87
What is chronological age (CA)?
The number of years since the individual's birth
88
Who adapted the Binet-Simon test into the Stanford-Binet intelligence scale?
Lewis Terman
89
__________ led to mass intelligence testing in the U.S.
World War I
90
Because it had to be administered ___________, the Stanford-Binet Intelligence Scale was not as ___________ as other intelligence tests
individually; economical
91
How was the Stanford-Binet Intelligence Scale better than other intelligence tests? (2)
1. Better suited for spotting learning problems
2. Was designed for both children and adults
92
What is the intelligence quotient (IQ)?
A numerical score on an intelligence test, originally computed by dividing the person's mental age by chronological age and multiplying by 1000
MA/CA * 100
93
Terman believed that intelligence is largely _______ and _______
innate; measurable
94
The message was that an IQ score reflected something ________ and ________ about people
fundamental; unchanging
95
Problem with the IQ formula: gains in mental age scores usually _______ as people develop mentally in _______
level off; different directions
96
Most standardised tests of intelligence have a distribution of scores that __________
follows the normal curve/is normally distributed
97
What is the normal distribution?
A bell-shaped curve describing the spread of a characteristic throughout a population
98
What is the normal range of IQ scores?
90-110
Includes about 50% of the population
99
Mental retardation is defined (at least partially) as having an IQ _________, while giftedness is defined as having an IQ _________
below 70; above 130
100
What is the Flynn effect?
The average IQ score is gradually increasing (at about 3 points per decade), ever since the tests were invented
This means a person in the average range in olden times might be considered to have mental retardation today
101
What are 4 reasons for the Flynn effect?
1. Better test-taking skills
2. Greater complexity and mental stimulation in society (eg movies/games/computers/phones)
3. More schooling
4. Better nutrition
102
The Flynn effect may be slowing down in _________ but is still prominent in ________
developed countries; lesser-developed countries
103
The Flynn effect (average rise in IQ score) is generally a result of significant increases in the ___________, but little or no increase in the ___________ of scores
lower-end scores; upper range
104
The Flynn effect may be a mark of better ______ in access to education, nutrition and cognitive stimulation
equality
105
The WAIS, WISC and WPPSI are tests of ________ that were created by ________
intelligence; David Wechsler
106
_________ is developing tests that place less emphasis on a single IQ number and more on classifying people in ways that suggest helping strategies
Jack Naglieri
107
According to IQ standards, mental retardation and giftedness occupy _____ of the population _____
2%, each
108
According to the American Association of Mental Retardation, mental retardation involves
significantly subaverage intellectual functioning that becomes apparent before age 18
It also involves limitations in at least 2 of the following areas:
- communication
- self-care
- home living
- social skills
- community use
- self-direction
- health and safety
- functional academics
- leisure and work
109
Down syndrome is _______
genetic
110
3 environmental causes of mental retardation are
Fetal alcohol syndrome
- maternal abuse of alcohol during pregnancy
- causes brain damage before birth
Postnatal accidents
- damage cognitive regions of the brain
Conditions of deprivation or neglect
- that fail to give the developing child experiences needed for intellectual growth
111
Some preventive strategies for mental retardation are (4)
1. Genetic counselling
2. Pregnancy care services
3. Education of new parents
4. Special diets (in some cases)
112
In ______, _______ began an extensive project to study ______ individuals
1921; Lewis Terman; gifted
113
What are findings of Lewis Terman's study of gifted kids?
They were
1. socially well-adjusted
2. more resistant to mental illness
3. above average in weight, height and physical attractiveness
4. more likely to be skilled leaders
114
What is savant syndrome?
A syndrome found in individuals having a remarkable talent even though they are mentally slow in other domains
115
What are psychometrics?
An area of psychology that specialises in mental testing to measure intelligence
116
The concept of general intelligence (denoted by the symbol "g") was proposed by _________
Charles Spearman
117
Charles Spearman was best known for his work suggesting that intelligence is _________
a general ability/single factor
118
What is the g factor?
A general ability as the main factor underlying all intelligent mental activity
119
The concept that general intelligence can be broken down into crystallized and fluid intelligence was proposed by _________
Raymond Cattell
120
Raymond Cattel determined that general intelligence can be broken down into _______ and _______ intelligence
crystallized; fluid
121
What is crystallized knowledge?
The knowledge that a person has acquired, plus the ability to access that knowledge
Measured by tests of vocabulary, arithmetic and general information
122
What is fluid intelligence?
The ability to see complex relationships and solve problems
Measured by tests of block design and spatial visualisation (aka don't need crystallized background info to solve a problem)
123
What 2 theories are psychometric (using tests) theories of intelligence?
Spearman's g factor and Cattel's fluid and crystallized intelligence
124
What 2 theories are from the viewpoint of cognitive psychologists?
Sternberg's triarchic theory and Gardner's multiple intelligence theory
125
What are the 3 types of intelligence Sternberg outlines in the Sternberg Triarchic Theory?
1. Practical
2. Analytical
3. Creative
126
What is practical intelligence?
The ability to cope with
and adapt to people and events in the environment
Aka "street smarts"
126
The Triarchic Theory to determine how people are smart is proposed by ________
Sternberg
127
What intelligence theory is proposed by Sternberg?
Sternberg's Triarchic Theory
128
___________ is an important component of practical intelligence
Self-awareness
129
What is analytical intelligence?
The ability measured by most IQ tests; includes the ability to analyse problems and find correct answers
130
What is creative intelligence?
The form of intelligence that helps people see new relationships among concepts
Involves insight and creativity
131
What is the Triarchic Theory?
Sternberg's theory of intelligence
So called because it combines three main forms of intelligence
132
In the triarchic theory, each type of intelligence is _________ of the others
relatively independent
133
In 2003, Sternberg put forth an additional element of intelligence called ________
wisdom
134
What is wisdom?
Using one's intelligence toward a common good rather than a selfish pursuit
135
________ argues that we have multiple intelligences, at least 8 separate mental abilities
Gardner
136
Gardner claims that people may have as many as ____ separate mental abilities, which he calls ________
8; multiple intelligences
137
What is the multiple intelligences theory?
Gardner's theory, which proposes that there are 8 or more forms of intelligence
138
According to Gardner's Multiple Intelligences, what are the 8 forms of intelligence?
1. Linguistic
2. Logical-mathematical
3. Spatial
4. Musical
5. Bodily-kinesthetic
6. Naturalistic
7. Interpersonal
8. Intrapersonal
139
Gardner claims that each intelligence arises from a ________ module in the brain
separate
140
Interpersonal and intrapersonal intelligence are similar to a capacity called ___________
emotional intelligence
141
What is emotional intelligence?
The ability to understand and use emotions effectively
142
John Berry found that the explanation of intelligence by members of the Cree culture focuses on ______
respect
143
What is theory of mind?
An awareness that other people's behaviour may be influenced by beliefs, desires and emotions that differ from one's own
144
What is the self-fulfilling prophecy?
Observations or behaviours that result primarily from expectations
145
Who coined the effect of self-fulfilling prophecy?
Rosenthal and Jacobson
146
What effect did Rosenthal and Jacobson discover?
The self-fulfilling prophecy
147
Why does a self-fulfilling prophecy come true?
Expectations
We frequently observe what we expect to see, even when our expectations are erroneous. So if we expect someone to be smart (or any other trait), the chances are good that this "prophecy" will fulfill itself
148
While each individual's intelligence is determined, in part, by heredity, this fact does not mean that IQ differences among groups have some ________ basis. Instead, many argue that these differences are ________
biological; environmental
149
_______ believed that intelligence is hereditary and supported the English-based use of intelligence tests to screen immigrants to the US
Henry Goddard
150
The closer the _________ relationship, the ________ the relationship of IQ scores
genetic; closer
151
A stimulating environment was strongly associated with ___________
language ability
152
A nurturing environment was associated with ________
memory
(by reducing stress)
153
What is heritability?
The amount of trait variation within a group that can be attributed to genetic differences
154
We can speak of heritable differences only within a group of individuals who have shared essentially the ___________
same environment
155
___________ argued that racial differences in IQ scores have a genetic basis
Arthur Jensen
156
Heritability refers to ___________ differences, not ___________ differences
within-group, between-group
157
What are factors that Jensen minimized or ignored in his research? (5)
1. Effects of racism
2. Lower teacher expectations
3. Lack of opportunity
4. Low self-esteem
5. White, middle-class bias built into IQ tests
158
Scarr and Weinberg did a study on
How adoption at birth affects IQ scores
159
Affluence is associated with _________ IQ scores
higher
160
What is a problem with the Head Start enrichment programme?
It may not start early enough
161
A source of bias that may explain racial IQ differences is the fact that most IQ tests rely heavily on _________
vocabulary level
162
Culture-fair tests attempt to measure
the intelligence of people coming from outside the culture in which the test was devised
through nonverbal intelligence tests to overcome test bias
163
Many items on a culture-fair test require the use of _________ abilities such as rotating object and ________ or ________ the use of _________
non-verbal
minimise; eliminate; language
164
What is a stereotype threat?
An expectation of being judged by the standard of a negative stereotype
165
What is cognition?
Cognition refers to the mental processes involved in thinking and intelligence
166
What is the position taken by most modern psychologists with regard to intelligence and the heredity-environment issue?
Intelligence involves an interaction of hereditary and environmental factors
167
Although everyone agrees that heredity produces differences in intelligence among individuals, there is no evidence that it accounts for differences among __________
racial or ethnic groups
168
Which brain-scan methods are used to study thought processing with specific brain areas?
PET, MRI and fMRI scans
169
