General Psychology

1
General Psychology

• Chapter 7
• Higher Cognitive Processes

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Some Thoughts about Thinking

• Thinking general term encompasses cognitive
  processes, such as reasoning and problem-solving
• Lower cognitive processes
• Higher cognitive processes

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Some Thoughts about Thinking

• Concepts mental representations of classes of
  events or objects of experience
• Concepts are ideas
• Usually represent a set of events or objects
• Most are fuzzy
• Prototype best example of a concept

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Some Thoughts about Thinking

• Reasoning one comes to a conclusion based on
  set of principles or accumulated facts and
  observations
• Inductive reasoning
• Deductive reasoning

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Problem-Solving

• Problem discrepancy between ones present state
  and ones perceived goal state
• No readily apparent way to get from one to the
  other

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Problem-Solving

• Problem
• Initial state the situation as it is, or is
  perceived to exist at the moment
• A goal state, or end product
• Possible routes or strategies for getting from
  the initial to the goal state

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Problem Representation

• Understand nature of problem
• Try to make it meaningful
• Sort out what is important from what isnt

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Problem-Solving Strategies

• Strategy systematic plan for generating
  possible solutions that can be tested
• Algorithm strategy that guarantees everyone
  will arrive at a solution if the strategy is
  applied
• All possible solutions explored
• Generate-test strategy

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Problem-Solving Strategies

• Heuristic informal, rule-of-thumb strategy of
  generating and testing problem solutions
• More economical than algorithms
• Unlike algorithms, no guarantee of success
• Sub-goals are used and final goal is kept in mind

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Barriers to Effective Problem-Solving

• Mental set tendency to perceive or respond to
  something in a given, set way
• Functional fixedness inability to find a new
  use for an object because of previous experience
  of using that object for another function

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Figure 7.1 Demonstration of mental set.
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Figure 7.3 A possible solution to the nine-dot
problem.
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Barriers to Effective Problem-Solving

• Availability heuristic assumption that whatever
  comes to mind is more common or probable than
  things difficult to recall
• Representativeness heuristic assumption that
  any judgments made about the most prototypic
  member of a category will hold for any member of
  that category

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Barriers to Effective Problem-Solving

• Positive test strategy if something works,
  dont drop it to try something else

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Creativity

• The potential to produce novel ideas that are
  task-appropriate and of high quality
• Unique ? creative
• Creative is seldom correlated with general
  intelligence

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Creativity

• Divergent thinking creation of many ideas or
  possible solutions from one idea
• Convergent thinking taking many ideas or bits
  of information and reducing them to just one
  solution

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Figure 7.2 A schematic representation of
convergent and divergent thinking in the context
of problem-solving.
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Creativity

• Creative problem-solving
• Preparation
• Incubation
• Illumination
• Verification

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Lets Talk What is Language?

• A large collection of arbitrary symbols that have
  a shared significance for a language-using
  community and that follow certain rules of
  combination (Morris, 1946)
• Arbitrary symbolic reference

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Lets Talk What is Language?

• Semanticity meaning of words in language
• Productivity with a limited number of symbols,
  we can express an infinite number of ideas
• Displacement ability to communicate about the
  not here and not now

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Describing the Structure in Language

• Psycholinguistics the psychology of language
• Phonemes smallest unit of speech
• Morpheme smallest meaningful unit

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Describing the Structure in Language

• Semantics study of meaning
• Syntax rules that govern how sentences are
  formed
• Pragmatics study of how social contexts affect
  the meaning of linguistic events

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Just What is Intelligence?

• Weschler (1975) The capacity of an individual
  to understand the world about him (or her) and
  his (or her) resourcefulness to cope with its
  challenges

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Just What is Intelligence?

• Boring (1923) Intelligence is what the
  intelligence tests measure

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Spearmans Intelligence

• g-factor intelligence consists of general
  intelligence
• s-factors intelligence consists of specific,
  cognitive skills

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Intelligence Models

• Thurstone Primary Mental Abilities
• Spatial
• Perceptual Speed
• Number
• Verbal Meaning
• Word Fluency
• Memory
• Inductive Reasoning

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Contemporary Models

• Gardners Types of Intelligence
• Linguistic
• Logical-Mathematical
• Musical
• Spatial
• Kinesthetic
• Interpersonal
• Intrapersonal

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Contemporary Models

• Sternbergs Triarchic Theory of Intelligence
• Analytic
• Practical
• Creative
• John Mayer and Peter Salovey introduced emotional
  intelligence the ability to perceive, generate,
  and regulate emotions in order to promote better
  emotional reactions and thoughts

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Intelligence Across Cultures

• Differences reflect what is valued by a culture
• For example, Native Americans are more likely
  than European Americans to think of intellectual
  giftedness in terms of those individuals who
  contribute most to the welfare of the group

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Characteristics of Psychological Tests

• A psychological test is an objective standardized
  measure of a sample of behavior
• Reliability tests ability to produce the same
  or highly similar results across similar resting
  situations
• Validity test measuring what it claims to be
  measuring.
• Norms comparison group representing a large
  number of scores by test takers

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Types of Intelligence Tests

• Stanford-Binet
• Follows a 3-level, hierarchical model of
  cognitive ability
• Yields an overall g score general intellectual
  ability. Under g there are 3 second-level
  factors
• Crystallized abilities (verbal and quantitative
  reasoning)
• Fluid-analytic abilities (abstract and visual
  reasoning)
• Short-term memory

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What is IQ?

• IQ is an abbreviation for intelligence quotient,
  which was formerly calculated by
• Mental Age
• Chronological Age

X 100
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Figure 7.4 An idealized curve that shows the
distribution of scores on the Stanford-Binet
Intelligence Scale taken by a very large sample
of the general population.
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Wechsler Tests of Intelligence

• David Wechsler First test in 1939. Each test
  yields a verbal score, a quantitative score, and
  a performance score
• WAIS-III for persons between 16 74
• WISC-III for children between 6 16
• WPPSI-R designed for 4-6 year olds

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Table 7.1 The subtests of the Wechsler Adult
Intelligence Scale, Third Edition, WAIS-III.
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Group Tests of Intelligence

• Generally, paper-and-pencil tests that can be
  administered to large groups at one time
• Army Tests
• Alpha Test
• Beta Test
• Armed Forces Qualifications Test
• Aptitude Tests
• SAT or ACT

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Group Difference in IQ

• IQ scores reflect a particular measure of
  intelligence and do not equal ones intelligence

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Figure 7.5 Hypothetical distributions of IQ
scores for two groups (Alphas and Thetas).
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Gender Differences in IQ

• There are few studies that report any differences
  in IQ between men and women on any test of
  general intelligence
• There may be no differences because the tests are
  constructed to minimize differences!
• Small gender differences on subtests

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Age Differences in IQ

• Cross-sectional study overall IQ peaks in the
  early 20s, remains stable for about 20 years,
  then declines steadily!
• Longitudinal study IQ scores rise until the
  late 30s or early 40s, stabilizing for about 20
  years, then falling after age 60

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Types of Intelligence

• Fluid Intelligence abilities related to speed,
  adaptation, flexibility, and abstract reasoning.
  Shows greatest decline with age!

• Crystallized intelligence
• abilities depending on acquired knowledge,
  accumulated experience, and general information.
  These skills remain constant or increase!

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Racial and Ethnic Differences in IQ

• On average, Caucasians score 15 points higher on
  general intelligence tests than do African
  Americans.
• Japanese children between 6 16 score higher on
  IQ tests than do American children of the same
  age.
• Stereotype threat

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Extremes of Intelligence

• The average (and most frequently occurring) score
  is 100
• 95 of all scores fall between 70 and 130
• However, there are people who are considered
  mentally gifted and mentally retarded

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Mental Giftedness

• According the the U.S. Office of Education,
  individuals can be described as gifted who excel
  in any of the following areas
• Psychomotor ability
• Visual and performing arts
• Leadership ability
• Creative or productive thinking
• Specific academic aptitude
• Intellectually gifted

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Mental Retardation

• Sub-average general intellectual functioning,
  which originated during the developmental period
  and is associated with impairment in adaptive
  behavior
• IQ scores from 70-85 borderline
• IQ scores from 50-69 mildly retarded range
• IQ scores from 35-49 moderately retarded
• IQ scores from 20-34 severe mental retardation
• IQ scores lt19 profound mental impairment

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Downs Syndrome

• Occurs when a fetus develops with 47 chromosomes,
  instead of the usual 23 pairs
• More likely to occur as the age of either parent
  increases
• A person with Downs Syndrome may fall into any
  level of retardation

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Other Causes of Retardation

• Fragile X Syndrome variety of mental
  retardation with a genetic basis that was
  discovered in late 1960s
• Phenylketonuria (PKU) genetic disorder that can
  be detected with a blood test at birth and
  treated with a prescribed diet during childhood