Intelligence and Thinking

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Intelligence and Thinking

• Theories and testing of intelligence
• Social issues about intelligence
• Thinking and problem solving

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Intelligence

• The capacity to learn and remember, and to adapt
  to the demands of the physical and cultural
  environment.
• Three approaches to the study of intelligence
• Differential approach (Galton and Binet)
• Developmental approach (Piaget)
• Information processing approach

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Theories of intelligence

• Pearsons G theory All abilities correlate
• Spearmans 2-factor theory
• g Correlations among abilities
• Apprehension of experience
• Eduction of relations
• Eduction of correlates
• s The part of a tested ability that does not
  correlate with other abilities

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Analogies

• manwomanboy_______
• carthorse_____truck
• carthorserun_____
• kingqueenprince_______
• kingqueenmarquis_______

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Factor analysis results

• Labelling factors is an art
• Three factors Birren and Morrison, 1961
• General or verbal ability
• Working memory words and numbers
• Spatial ability

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Thurstones 7 factors (1938)

• Verbal comprehension
• Verbal fluency
• Number
• Spatial visualization
• Memory
• Reasoning
• Perceptual speed

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Cattells second-order analysis (1966)

• Fluid intelligence Innate
• Crystallized intelligence Acquired

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Sternbergs Triarchic theory

• Componential intelligence Mental mechanisms
• Metacomponents
• Performance components
• Knowledge acquisition components
• Experiential intelligence (crystallized)
• Contextual intelligence
• Adaptation, selection, and shaping

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Gardners neuropsychological theory

• Seven intelligences Democratic appeal
• Remember Thurstone?
• Gardner keeps adding to his list
• Traditional Linguistic, spatial, musical, and
  logical mathematical
• Novel Bodily-kinesthetic, intrapersonal,
  interpersonal
• All intercorrelate

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Intelligence testing

• Binet-Simon scale MA
• Stanford-Binet scale IQ MA/CA
• Wechsler and the deviation IQ
• Verbal and performance IQ
• Reliability and validity
• The SAT and ACT as intelligence tests

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Potential problems with IQ tests

• Culture bias
• Gender bias
• Learning disabilities

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Mental retardation

• Mild 52-67
• Moderate 36-51
• Severe 20-35
• Profound

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Thinking and language

• Sensation...Perception...
• Learning...Memory...
• Thought...Language

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• Which of these are fruit?
• apple
• pear
• banana
• cherry
• tomato
• strawberry

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Components of cognition

• Concept formation
• Groups
• Prototypes
• Stereotypes
• Problem solving
• Trial and error
• Algorithms
• Heuristics
• Insight
• Mental models

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Mental models

• Although the four craftsmen were brothers, they
  varied enormously in height. The electrician was
  the very tallest, and the plumber was shorter
  than him. The plumber was taller than the
  carpenter, who, in turn, was taller than the
  painter.
• Was the plumber taller than the carpenter?
• Was the plumber taller than the electrician?
• Was the electrician taller than the painter?

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Obstacles to problem solving

• Confirmation bias
• In logical analysis Wason (1960) 2 - 4 - 6
• In social relations
• Fixation
• Mental set
• Luchins water jars
• Functional fixedness
• Candle mounting

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Help and harm by heuristics

• The representativeness heuristic
• The conjunction fallacy
• Bill plays jazz for a hobby
• Bill is an accountant who plays jazz for a hobby
• Critical thinking The probability of two events
  occurring together (conjunction) cannot exceed
  the probability of either event alone.

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Misleading heuristics

• The availability heuristic
• Information that is more readily recalled is
  judged to be more likely k first or third?
• Vivid memories of accidents and safety
• Mass media and stereotypes I love Lucy?
• Imagery, persuasion, and sales

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• Who is more likely to believe in UFOs...a
  40-year-old member of a cult or a recent college
  graduate?

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Heuristics and rationality

• Overconfidence Remember how long the Mississippi
  River is?
• Overconfidence and error vs. willingness to
  decide
• Who predicts performance more accurately
  depressed people or non-depressed people?

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Framing effects

• Remember the effect of survey wording from
  chapter 1?
• 95 fat free! vs. Contains 5 fat.
• You earned a B when your friends got a C vs You
  earned a B when your friends got an A.

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Beliefs bias our use of reason Form and content
concordant

• People who love live in God.
• Christians love.
• Therefore, Christians live in God.

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Belief bias Form and content discordant

• People who love live in God.
• Hateful people do not love.
• Therefore, hateful people do not live in God.

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Belief bias observed Form and content concordant

• People who love eat food.
• Hateful people do not love.
• Therefore, hateful people do not eat food.

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Belief perseverance

• Developed beliefs persist in the face of
  contradictory evidence.
• Explanations we develop to explain our
  experiences become fixed beliefs, even when they
  are shown to be based on wrong evidence
• Damaging influence of early failure

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What can we do?

• Consider the opposite Cromwell
• Delay your attribution
• Remember the research
• Muddle along most of the time, but think
  carefully about your influence on others.

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The Luchins water jar problem

• Given a 21-cup jar, a 127-cup jar, and a 3-cup
  jar, measure out exactly 100 cups
• Given a 14-cup jar, a 46-cup jar, and a 5-cup
  jar, measure out exactly 22 cups
• Given an 18-cup jar, a 43-cup jar, and a 10-cup
  jar, measure out exactly 5 cups
• Given a 15-cup jar, a 39-cup jar, and a 3-cup
  jar, measure out exactly 18 cups