Thinking and Intelligence

1
Thinking and Intelligence

• Chapter 8
• George S. Robinson, Jr., Ph.D.
• Department of Psychology
• North Carolina AT State University

2
Cognitive Psychology

• Cognitive psychology
• the subfield of psychology concerned with the
  study of higher mental processes such as
  thinking, knowing, and deciding.
• Thinking
• manipulation of information in the form of mental
  images or concepts

3
Cognitive Psychology - cont.

• Visual Imagery
• rotation experiments
• concepts
• mental categories that share common
  characteristics
• prototypes
• a specific example of a particular concept that
  is readily brought to mind

4
Problem Solving

• Complete the sequence
• 1, 3, 4, 7, 11, _____
• Form words
• NAGMARA
• BOLMPER
• SLEVO
• STIGNIH
• TOLUSONI

• Complete the sequence
• 1, 3, 4, 7, 11, 18
• Form words
• ANAGRAM
• PROBLEM
• SOLVE
• INSIGHT
• SOLUTION

5
Problem Solving

• Three features of a well-defined problem
• the starting point - the initial (original) state
• the needed operations - techniques for finding
  the solution
• the final product - specified solution state

6
Problem Solving Methods

• Algorithm
• systematic procedure for solving a problem by
  evaluating all possible solutions until the
  correct one is found
• Heuristic
• educated guesses or rules of thumb for solving
  problems

7
Obstacles and Aids to Problem Solving

• setting subgoals
• break the problem down into several subgoals
• methods of representing the problem
• symbols, lists, graphs, visual images, etc.
• rigidity
• tendency to rely too heavily on past experiences
  in solving problems (i.e., functional fixedness)
• functional fixedness
• inability to see new uses for familiar object
• set effect bias
• bias toward the use of certain problem solving
  approaches because of past experiences

8
Higher Level Problem

• DONALD GERALD ROBERT
• D 5, T 0, What are the other letters?
• Use the numbers from 0 to 9 to solve the problem
• D O N A L D
• G E R A L D
• _____________
• R O B E R T

9
Making Decisions

• confirmation bias
• committing to one hypothesis without adequately
  testing other possibilities
• representativeness heuristic
• heuristic in which one determines whether a
  particular instance represents a certain class or
  category
• availability heuristic
• heuristic in which the probability of an event is
  determined by how readily it comes to mind
• comparison
• we make decisions by comparing things to one
  another or a standard
• framing
• the tendency for making decisions to be
  influenced by the presentation of negative or
  positive outcomes

10
Creativity

• creativity
• the ability to produce work that is both novel
  and appropriate
• measuring creativity
• no strong relationship with intelligence
• divergent thinking
• Remote Associates Test
• Unusual Usage Test
• Consequences Test

11
Creativity - cont

• personal factors in creativity
• capacity for hard word
• willingness to take risks
• tolerance for disorder, chaos, complexity or lack
  of symmetry
• situational factors in creativity
• a good positive relaxed stress free mood
• intrinsic motivation

12
Intelligence

• Intelligence
• the ability to to excel at a variety of task,
  especially those related to academic success
• History of intelligence
• Francis Galton (1822-1911)
• Alfred Binet (1857-1911)
• Binet-Simon Scale
• mental age
• Stanford-Binet Intelligence Scale
• intelligence quotient (IQ)
• Wechsler Scales - WAIS, WISC, WPPSI

13
Principles of Psychological Testing

• reliability
• degree to which repeated administrations of a
  psychological test yield consistent scores
• validity
• degree to which a psychological test measures
  what it intends to measure
• standardization
• procedures for administering psychological test
  and collecting norms
• norms
• distribution of scores obtained by a large sample
  of people who have taken a particular
  psychological test
• normal distribution
• symmetrical bell-shaped distribution, half of the
  scores fall above the mean, and half below

14
IQ
15
Intelligence Test Examples
16
Intelligence Test Examples cont.
17
Normal Distribution
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Extremes of Intelligence

• Exceptional
• IQ score below 70 or above 130
• mental retardation
• mild IQ 50 - 70 (85 of the total group)
• moderate IQ 30 - 50 (10 of the total group)
• severe IQ 20 - 40 (3 of the total group)
• profound IQ below 20 (1 of the total group)
• IQ above 130-140 considered gifted
• Savant syndrome

19
Kinds of Intelligence

• Spearmans Model
• general intelligence (g), specific intelligence
  (s)
• Strenbergs Model
• triarchic theory of intelligence
• analytical, creative, and practical
• Gardners Multiple Intelligences
• linguistic, musical, logical-mathematical,
  spatial, bodily kinesthetic, interpersonal,
  intrapersonal, naturalists or the ability to
  recognize patterns and how things are organized

20
Misuse of Intelligence Tests

• Eugenics
• Sterilization laws in the U.S.
• in North Carolina
• http//againsttheirwill.journalnow.com/
• more than 7600 people sterilized in North
  Carolina from 1933 to 1974
• Immigrant testing

21
Hereditary and Environmental Determinants of
Intelligence

• Heritability
• percentage of differences among a group of people
  in a characteristic, such as intelligence, that
  is believed to be due to inherited factors
• Heritability for intelligence probably around
  50, according to research
• Identical and fraternal twins, and adoptees used
  in studies
• Stimulating or rich environments
• Racial differences in IQ