Chapter 8: Language, Thinking, and Intelligence

1. Chapter 8: Language, Thinking, and Intelligence

2. Chapter Outline • Language • Thinking • Intelligence and Intelligence Testing • Neurological, Heredity, and Environmental Influences

3. Learning Objectives • Understand how language evolution impacted humans socially and cognitively. • Understand how language development occurs in stages. • Understand how problem solving can be impeded. • Understand the different theories of intelligence. • Understand how both genes and the environment influence intelligence.

4. Language • Communication is the sending and receiving of information. • Language is a systematic way of communicating information using symbols and rules. • Speech is the oral expression of language.

5. Neural Mechanisms for Language • Broca’sarea:a small clump of neurons in the left frontal lobe; damage to this areas disrupts language production • Wernicke’s area:located in the back of the the left temporal lobe; damage to this area disrupts language comprehension • Aphasia:the disruption of language caused by brain damage

6. Figure 8-1: Broca’s and Wernicke’s Areas of the Cerebral Cortex

7. Why did Language Evolve? • Social significance • Cognitive significance • Both?

8. Human Languages Have a Hierarchical Structure • Grammar: a system of rules that determines proper use and combination of language symbols • Three components to grammar: • Phonology: rules used in language to combine basic sounds into words • Syntax: rules used in language to combine words into sentences • Semantics: rules used in language to communicate the meaning of words, phrases, and sentences • Phonemes: smallest significant units of speech • Morphemes: smallest units of language that carry meaning

9. Infants and Speech • Behaviorists believed that people learn to speak because they are reinforced. • However, this view does not fit the evidence. • Nativist theory: We are biologically equipped. • Language acquisition device: specialized brain structures • Remains unconfirmed • Interactionists: Environmental and biological factors interact to affect language development. • Sensitive periods: Language development after these periods are difficult. • Supported by research

10. Language Developmental Stages • Newborns vocalize by 2 months of age. • By 1 year, many children understand 50 words. • By 1 year, most children use morpheme sounds. (e.g., mama). • Telegraphic speech:short, multiple-word sentences that leave out all but essential words (e.g., want outside) • Child-directed speech:includes exaggerated intonations, high pitch, clear enunciation, short sentences, repetition, and slow speech

11. Language Can Influence Thought • Whorf-Sapir hypothesis:proposed that the structure of language determines the structure of thought • Linguistic relativism:the idea that language can influence thinking • Generic masculine:the use of masculine nouns and pronouns to refer to all people

12. Concept Formation • Concept is a mental grouping of objects, ideas, or events that share common properties. • Categorization isthe primary means of coding experience through the process of forming concepts. • Prototypes are the most representative member of a concept (e.g., golden retriever for a dog).

13. Problem-Solving Strategies • Trial and error is a strategy that involves trying one possible solution after another. • Algorithm is a strategy that involves following a specific rule or step-by-step procedure. • Heuristic is a strategy that involves following a general rule of thumb. • Can you provide an example of each type of strategy?

14. Internal Obstacles Can Impede Problem Solving • Confirmation bias: tendency to seek information that supports one’s own beliefs while ignoring disconfirming information • Mental set: tendency to continue using solutions that have worked in the past, even though a better alternative may exist • Functional fixednessidentifies our tendency to think of objects as functioning in fixed and unchanging ways

15. Closer Look 8-1: Can You Solve the Nine-Dot Problem?

16. Closer Look 8-1: Can You Solve the Nine-Dot Problem? (Solution)

17. Decision Making • Decision making: process of weighing the pros and cons of different alternatives in order to make a choice • Framing:the way in which choices are structured • Need for cognition:a person’s preference for and tendency to engage in effortful cognitive activities • Representativeness heuristic:tendency to make decisions based on how closely an alternative matches a prototype • Availability heuristic:tendency to judge the probability of an event in terms of how easy it is to think of examples of that event

18. Measuring Intelligence • Intelligence: the mental ability necessary to adapt to and shape the environment. • Sir Francis Galton (1822-1911) applied natural selection to intelligence. • Founded eugenics (the practice of encouraging supposedly superior people to reproduce, and discouraging supposedly inferior people from reproducing).

19. Alfred Binet • Alfred Binet(1857-1911): French psychologist • Believed cognitive development follows the same course in all children, but some learn faster and more easily than others • Binet-Simon test:measured general mental ability and emphasized abstract reasoning • General mental ability compares mental age and chronological age

20. Stanford-Binet Intelligence Test • Stanford-Binet Intelligence Test: designed by Lewis Terman (Stanford University)and revised by a version of the Binet-Simon test • Intelligent quotient (IQ)

21. Wechsler Intelligence Scales • Wechsler Intelligence Scales: contains verbal, performance and overall scores • Performance tests are less likely to be affected by education or cultural experience. • Significant differences found between verbal and performance; could mean learning problems

22. Figure 8-5: Sample Items from the Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale (WAIS)

23. Standardization of Tests • Standardization: uniform procedures for administering a test and interpreting scores • Normal distribution: bell shaped appearance of a score distribution • Flynn effect:IQ performance improves from one generation to the next.

24. Multiple Intelligences • Multiple intelligences: believes that there are at least eight distinct and relatively independent intelligences • Prodigies: individuals who easily master skills in a particular area • Savantsintellectually disabled individuals who demonstrate exceptional ability in one area

25. Sternberg’s Triarchic Theory • Triarchic theory of intelligence: three sets of mental abilities that make up human intelligence • Analytical intelligence • Creative intelligence • Practical intelligence • Can you give examples of each type of intelligence?

26. Intellectual Disability • Intellectual disability: not only an IQ score below 70 but also difficulty adapting to the routine demands of independent living • 75% of intellectual disability cases cannot be linked to organic causes. • Organic causes: • Infections • Poisoning • Premature birth • Head trauma

27. Group Differences in IQ • Gender differences: almost identical. • Females tend to do better on verbal aptitude. • Males tend to do better on math tests. • Why? • Racial differences: Black/white differences in IQ are affected by environmental factors. • Genetic differences: environmental factors play a role. • Family and societal support matter.