Transcript chapter8

Chapter 8: Intelligence,
Cognition, Language, and
Creativity
Defining Intelligence
• Global capacity to act purposefully, think
rationally, and deal effectively with the
environment
• G-factor: General intellectual abilities that
involve reasoning, problem-solving ability,
knowledge, memory, and successful
adaptation to one’s environment
• Operational Definition: Specifies what
procedures we will use to measure a concept
Testing Intelligence
• Stanford-Binet Intelligence Scale, Fifth Edition
(SB5): Widely used individual intelligence
test, derived directly from Alfred Binet’s first
intelligence test; items are age-ranked
SB5: Cognitive Factors Measured
• Fluid reasoning: Tests reasoning ability
• Knowledge: Assesses person’s knowledge
about a wide range of topics
• Quantitative reasoning: Assesses ability to
solve problems involving numbers
• Visual-spatial processing: Measures ability
to put puzzles together; measures copying
• Working memory: Measures short-term
memory ability
Some Intelligence Quotient (IQ) Terms
• Norm: Average score for a designated group
of people
• Chronological Age: Person’s age in years
• Mental Age: Average intellectual
performance
More Intelligence Quotient (IQ) Terms
• Intelligence Quotient (IQ): Intelligence
index; original definition; mental age divided
by chronological age, then multiplied by 100
• Deviation IQ: Scores based on a person’s
relative standing in his or her age group; how
far above or below average a person’s score
is, relative to other scores
• Average IQ in the U.S.: 100
Wechsler Tests
• Wechsler Adult Intelligence Test, 3rd
Edition (WAIS-III): Adult intelligence test that
rates verbal and performance intelligence and
abilities
• Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children,
4th Edition (WISC-IV): Downscaled version
of the WAIS-III; for children from 6 years to 16
years, 11 months, 30 days
Wechsler Intelligence Types
• Performance Intelligence: Nonverbal
intelligence
• Verbal Intelligence: Language or symboloriented intelligence
Group Tests
• These tests can be given to a large group of
people with little supervision; usually contain
multiple-choice items
• Normal (Bell-shaped) Curve: Most scores
fall close to the average, and very few are
found at the extremes
IQ Research Results, and a Few More
Terms to Know
• A strong correlation (about .50) exists
between IQ and school grades
• IQ is NOT a good predictor of success in art,
music, writing, dramatics, science and
leadership
• Intellectual Determination: Desire to know,
to excel, and to persevere
• Giftedness: Having a high IQ (usually above
130) or special talents or abilities (playing
Mozart at age 5)
Mental Retardation (Developmentally
Disabled)
• Presence of a developmental disability or an
IQ score below 70; a significant impairment of
adaptive behavior also figures into the
definition
– Adaptive Behavior: Basic skills such as
dressing, eating, working, hygiene;
necessary for self-care
• Familial Retardation: Mild retardation that
occurs in homes that have inadequate
nutrition, intellectual stimulation, medical
care, and emotional support
Organic Causes of Mental Retardation
• Related to physical disorders
– Birth Injuries: Lack of oxygen to the brain,
for example
– Fetal Damage: Prenatal damage from
disease, infection, or drug abuse by the
mother
– Metabolic Disorders: Disorder in
metabolism; affects energy use and
production in the body
– Genetic Abnormalities: Abnormality in the
genes, such as missing genes, extra
genes, or defective genes
Gardner’s Theory of Eight Multiple
Intelligences
• Language: Used for thinking by lawyers,
writers, comedians
• Logic and Math: Used by scientists,
accountants, programmers
• Visual and Spatial Thinking: Used by
engineers, inventors, artists
• Music: Used by composers, musicians,
music critics
Gardner’s Theory of Eight Multiple
Intelligences Continued
• Bodily-Kinesthetic Skills: Used by dancers,
athletes, surgeons
• Intrapersonal Skills (Self-Knowledge):
Used by poets, actors, ministers
• Interpersonal Skills (Social Abilities): Used
by psychologists, teachers, politicians
• Naturalistic Skills (Ability to Understand
Natural Environment): Used by biologists,
organic farmers
Artificial Intelligence (AI)
• Any artificial system (Usually computers and
their programs) that perform human-like
problem solving or intelligent responding
(Deep Blue, the chess-playing
supercomputer)
• Computer Simulations: Programs that
attempt to duplicate human behavior,
especially thinking, problem solving, or
decision making
Expert Systems
• Computer programs that respond as a human
expert would
– Responding like a chess Grand Master
Twin Studies
• Comparison of characteristics of twins who
were raised together or separated at birth;
used to identify relative impact of heredity
and environment
Cognition: Definition of Terms
• Cognition: Mentally processing information
(images, concepts, etc.); thinking
• Images: Picture-like mental representations
• Concept: Idea representing a category of
related objects or events
• Language: Words or symbols, and rules for
combining them, that are used for thinking
and communication
Types of Mental Images
• Stored Image: Mental image kept in longterm memory (LTM) and retrieved when
appropriate
• Created Image: Image that has been
assembled or invented rather than
remembered
• Kinesthetic Image: Created from muscular
sensations
Concept Formation
• Process of classifying information into
meaningful categories
– Positive Instance: Object or event that
belongs to the concept class
– Negative Instance: Object or event that
does not belong to the concept class
• Concept: Idea that represents a category of
objects or events
Conceptual Rule
• Guideline for deciding whether objects or
events belong to a concept class
Concept Formation Continued
• Conjunctive Concept: Class of objects that
are defined by the presence of two or more
common features (e.g., object is pink and
soft)
• Relational Concept: Based on how an object
relates to something else or how its features
relate to one another
Disjunctive Concept
• Objects that have at least one of several
possible features; either-or concept (strike in
baseball)
– Hard to learn
More Concept Issues and Terms
• Prototypes: Ideal model used as an example
of a good concept
• Denotative Meaning: Exact definition of a
word or concept
• Connotative Meaning: Emotional or
personal meaning of a concept
Language
• Encoding: Translating information into
symbols that are easy to manipulate and
understand
• Semantics: Study of meanings in language
and words
• Phoneme: Basic speech sounds
• Morpheme: Speech sounds collected into
meaningful units, like syllables or words
Language Continued
• Grammar: Set of rules for making sounds
into words or words into sentences
• Syntax: Rules for word order in sentences
• Transformation Rules: Rules that allow us
to change a declarative sentence into other
voices (passive, active) or forms
• Productivity: Ability of language to generate
new thoughts or ideas
• American Sign Language (ASL): Language
used by deaf and hearing-impaired people
Problem Solving
• Mechanical Solution: Achieved by trial and
error or by rote
• Algorithm: Learned set of rules that always
leads to the correct solution
• General Solution: States the requirements
for success but not in enough detail for
further action
• Random Search Strategy: All possibilities
are tried, more or less randomly
• Heuristic: Strategy for identifying and
evaluating problem solutions
Insight
• When an answer appears suddenly in
problem solving
• Involves three abilities:
Selective Encoding
• Selecting information that is relevant to a
problem while ignoring distractions
Selective Combination
• Connecting seemingly unrelated bits of useful
information
Selective Comparison
• Comparing new problems with old information
or with problems already solved
Fixations
• Fixations: Tendency to repeat wrong
solutions and to “fixate” on them, or to
become blind to alternatives
• Functional Fixedness: Inability to see new
uses (functions) for familiar objects or for
things that were used in a particular way
Creative Thinking
• Inductive Thought: Going from specific facts
or observations to general principles
• Deductive Thought: Going from general
principles to specific situations
• Logical Thought: Going from given
information to new conclusions based on
specific rules
• Illogical Thought: Thought that is intuitive,
associative, or personal
How to “Rate” Creative Thoughts
• Fluency: Total number of suggestions you
can make
• Flexibility: Number of times you shift from
one class of possible uses to another
• Originality: How novel or unusual or unique
your suggestions are
• Convergent Thinking: Many thoughts or
variations converging on a single answer;
conventional thinking
• Divergent Thinking: Many possibilities
developing from one starting point
Tests of Creativity
• Unusual Uses Test: Find as many uses for
an object as possible (Tell me all the things
you can do with this pencil.)
• Consequences Test: List all the
consequences that would follow if a basic
change were made in the world (What would
happen if we were able to read everyone’s
thoughts?)
Anagrams Test
• Make as many new words as possible from
the letters in a given word
– Often seen on puzzle pages in newspapers
Stages of Creative Thought
• Orientation: Defining the problem
• Preparation: Gaining as much information as
possible
• Incubation: The problem, while not
appearing to be actively worked on, is still
“cooking” in the background
• Illumination: The “a-ha” experience; rapid
insight into the solution
• Verification: Testing and critically evaluating
the solution
Creative Personality
• Smarter people have a slight tendency to be
more creative
• Creative people usually have a greater than
average range of knowledge and interests
• Creative people have openness to
experience
• Creative people value independence and
have a preference for complex things
Logic and Intuition
• Intuition: Quick, impulsive thought that does
not make use of formal logic or clear
reasoning
• Representativeness Heuristic: Giving a
choice greater weight if it seems to be
representative of what is already known
• Base Rate: Underlying probability of an event
• Framing: The way a problem is stated or the
way it is structured
Culture Fair Test
• Test (such as an IQ test) designed to
minimize the importance of skills and
knowledge that may be more common in
some cultures than in others