Thinking, Language, & Intelligence

1. Thinking, Language, & Intelligence “The best way to have a good idea is to have lots of ideas.” Linus Pauling

2. Thinking • What is it? • Manipulation of words & images • Cognitive psychology • Studies how the mind • Organizes perceptions • Processes information • Interprets experience

3. Concept Formation • Concept • A mental grouping of persons, places, ideas, events, or objects that share common properties • Priming • When one concept is ‘activated’, others nearby in the network are primed

4. Concept Formation • Prototype • Best representative of a concept • Ex: Sport • Football • Basketball • Golf • Chess • NASCAR

5. Problem Solving Strategies • Trial & error

6. Problem Solving – Trial & Error • Identify problem • Car won’t start • Gather information • Outta gas? Dead battery? • Try a solution • Not outta gas, so I’ll dry off the wires • Evaluate results • Car starts - yeah! • Car doesn’t start - try another solution

7. Problem Solving Strategies • Trial & error • Algorithm • A systematic, step-by-step problem-solving strategy, guaranteed to provide a solution • Heuristic • A rule of thumb that allows one to make judgments that are quick but often in error • L K C C O • Insight

8. Water Problem

9. Problems with Problem Solving • Mental set • The tendency to use a strategy that has worked in the past • Functional Fixedness • A tendency to think of objects only in terms of their usual functions, a limitation that disrupts problem solving

10. Problems with Problem Solving • Confirmation Bias • The inclination to search only for evidence that will verify one’s beliefs • Belief Perseverance • The tendency to cling to beliefs even after they have been discredited • Anderson (1980)

11. Decision Making • Try to make best choice from alternatives • Utility: value of given outcome • Probability: likelihood you’ll achieve it • Representativeness Heuristic • A tendency to estimate the likelihood of an event in terms of how typical (how similar to the prototype) it seems • Availability Heuristic • A tendency to estimate the likelihood of an event in terms of how easily instances of it can be recalled

12. Language • Formal system of communication • Spoken,written, and/or gestures • Between 5,000 and 6,000 languages, worldwide • Most languages also have many dialects

13. Properties of Language • Semantic • There are separate units in a language and these units have meaning • Phoneme: basic building block of spoken language • Morpheme: smallest unit that carries meaning • Generative • Combing language in novel ways • Displacement • The property of language that accounts for the capacity to communicate about matters that are not in the here-and-now

14. Structure of Language • Grammar • The rules of a language • Syntax • Specifies how words can be arranged • Semantics • Specifies how meaning is understood & communicated • Transformational grammar • Any one thought can be expressed in different ways

15. Language Acquisition • Birth • Cooing, crying, gurgling • 4-6 months • Babbling • 12 months • First words • 2 yrs & up • Telegraphic speech • Overextension

16. Language Acquisition • No one disputes the stages of language development • But there are two main questions in terms of what it all means • Is language acquisition a product of nature or nurture? • Which comes first – language or thought?

17. …the answers… • Is it nature or nurture? • Skinner vs. Chomsky • Skinner: Children learn language the way animals learn mazes • Chomsky: The brain is hard-wired for learning lang. • Critical period • During the first few years of life, we are most receptive to language learning • What comes first – thought or language? • Both: sometimes children use words to communicate what they already know and sometimes they form concepts to fit the words they hear

18. Linguistic Relativity • Hyde, 1984 • Wudgemaker story: “he” “she” “he or she” “they” • Males equally good regardless • Females better in “she” stories, worse in “he” version • The hypothesis that language determines, or at least influences, the way we think Eyeglasses Dumbbell

19. Intelligence …the test of a first-rate intelligence is the ability to hold two opposed ideas in the mind at the same time, and still retain the ability to function… F. Scott Fitzgerald

20. Intelligence • What is intelligence? • The capacity to learn from experience and adapt successfully to one’s environment • Reflects how well we function • Francis Galton • Believed that intelligence was inherited • Based intelligence on: • Muscular strength • Size of your head • Speed at reacting to signals • Your ability to detect slight differences

21. Binet-Simon & Stanford-Binet Scales • Binet-Simon scale (1905) • Assigned mental age based on # items correct • Stanford-Binet • Lewis Terman at Stanford (1916) • Added items suitable to adults • Converted scale to a single score • IQ = mental age x 100 chronological age • This doesn’t work for adults & was adjusted

22. The Wechsler Scales • David Weschler • Intelligence is • The global capacity to act purposefully, to think rationally, and to deal effectively with the environment • IQ ratio breaks down as we get older • Deviation IQ • Compares scores to the mean of peer group • WAIS • Measures intelligence for late adolescence through adulthood • Two parts: verbal & performance subtests

23. Issues to Consider in IQ Testing • Standardization • The procedure by which existing norms are used to interpret an individual’s test score

24. Distribution of IQ scores 68% Mental Retardation Mentally Gifted 95% 70 85 100 115 130

25. Issues to Consider in IQ Testing • Standardization • The procedure by which existing norms are used to interpret an individual’s test score • Reliability • Degree to which test gives consistent results • Validity • Does the test measure what it claims to measure

26. Factor Theories of Intelligence • Spearman’s G factor (1904) • Proposed that general intelligence (g) underlies all mental abilities • Factor analysis • A statistical technique used to identify clusters of test items that correlate with another • Thurstone’s Primary Mental Abilities • 7 factors which correlate but not enough to represent 1 underlying factor • Verbal comprehension, word fluency, number facility (math), associative memory, perceptual speed for stimulus recognition, reasoning, and spatial visualization

27. Factor Theories of Intelligence • Triarchic theory of intelligence • Robert Sternberg • Analytical • The mental steps of ‘components’ used to solve problems • This is what traditional IQ tests assess • Creative • Intellectual and motivational processes that lead to novel solutions, ideas, artistic forms, or products • Practical • The ability to size up new situations and adapt to real-life demands

28. Gardner’s ‘Frames of Mind’ • Multiple intelligences • There are seven types of intelligence • Linguistic: verbal aptitude • Logical-mathematical: mathematical aptitude • Spatial: ability to visualize objects • Musical: ability to appreciate the tonal qualities of sound, compose, and play • Bodily-kinesthetic: ability to control movement • Interpersonal: ability to understand people • Intrapersonal: ability to understand oneself

29. The Nature & Nurture Debate • Nature’s influence on IQ • Identical twins reared together are more similar than fraternal twins reared together • Siblings who grow up together are more similar than unrelated individuals who grow up in the same house • Children are more similar to their biological parents than to adoptive parents • Nurture’s influence on IQ • Prenatal care, exposure to alcohol and other toxins, birth complications, malnutrition in the first few months of life, intellectual stimulation at home, stress, high-quality education, the amount of time spent in school • Head Start programs (and those like it)

30. Extremes in Intelligence • Mental retardation • IQ below 70 • Difficulties with: • Self-care • School / work • Social relationships • Four categories • Mild, Moderate, Severe, Profound

31. Causes of Mental Retardation • Cultural-familial • Inadequate mental stimulation • Poor diet, little or no medical care • Genetic defects • Down syndrome • Brain damage • Fetal alcohol syndrome • Hypoxia

32. Mental Giftedness • IQ above 130 • MENSA • Limits membership to top 2% of population • Sidis Fallacy • Contrary to popular belief, geniuses don’t tend to “burn out” at early age