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Thinking, Language and Intelligence

Psychology 40S C. McMurray

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Thinking

What is Thinking?Can you describe thought using thought?

Thinking, or cognition, refers to a process that involves knowing, understanding,

remembering, and communicating.

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Cognitive Psychologists

Thinking involves a number of mental activities, which are listed below.

Cognitive psychologists study these in great detail.

1. Concepts2. Problem solving3. Decision making4. Judgment

formation

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Concepts

A concept is the mental grouping of similar objects, events, ideas, or people. It is the way we categorize and think about things.

There are a variety of chairs but their common features define the concept of a chair.

Prototype

Prototype is a best example or a representative

example of a concept.

What is your prototype for:

A house?

A sandwich?

A fish?5

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Development of Concepts

We form some concepts with definitions. For example, a triangle has three sides. Mostly, we form concepts with mental

images or typical examples (prototypes). For example, a robin is a prototype of a

bird, but a penguin is not.

Triangle (definition) Bird (mental image)

Daniel J. C

ox/ Getty Im

ages

J. Messerschm

idt/ The Picture C

ube

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Problem Solving

Problem solving strategies include:

1. Trial and Error2. Insight3. Algorithms4. Heuristics

Funny Problem Solving

Trial and Error

For some problems we use trial and error.

This is when we try every possible solution.

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Insight

Insight involves a sudden realization of a solution to a problem. Humans and animals have

insight.

Grande using boxes toobtain food

Problem Solving Strategies

Algorithms are step-by step procedures for solving a problem. Mathematical and scientific formulas are algorithms.

Heuristics are simple, thinking strategies that allow us to make judgments and solve problems efficiently.

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Algorithms

Algorithms, which are very time consuming, exhaust all possibilities

before arriving at a solution. Computers use algorithms.

d r u g a o n i a t

If we were to unscramble these letters to form a word using an algorithmic approach, we would face

thousands of possibilities

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Algorithms

Algorithms, which are very time consuming, exhaust all possibilities

before arriving at a solution. Computers use algorithms.

d r u g a o n i a t

1814400 possibilities10! (According to Jake!)

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Heuristics

Heuristics make it easier for us to use simple principles to arrive at solutions to

problems. d r u g a o n i a tg r u d a o t i a ng r a d u a t i o n

Try a different consonant at the beginning and end

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Heuristics

Heuristics are simple, thinking strategies that

allow us to make judgments and solve problems

efficiently. Heuristics are less time consuming, but more error-

prone than algorithms.

B2M

Productions/D

igital Version/G

etty Images

BIG BANG …Friendship Algorithm

• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jWWOM53Zh20&safe=active

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Obstacles in Solving Problems

Fixation: An inability to see a problem from a fresh perspective. This impedes

problem solving.

The Matchstick Problem: How

would you arrange six matches to form

four equilateral triangles?

From

“Problem

Solving” by M

. Scheerer. C

opyright © 1963 by

Scientific A

merican, Inc. A

ll Rights R

eserved.

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The Matchstick Problem: Solution

From

“Problem

Solving” by M

. Scheerer. C

opyright © 1963 by

Scientific A

merican, Inc. A

ll Rights R

eserved.

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Using these materials, how would you mount the candle on a bulletin board?

An example of fixation:Functional Fixedness

(Candle-Mounting Problem)F

rom “P

roblem S

olving” by M. S

cheerer. Copyright ©

1963 by S

cientific Am

erican, Inc. All R

ights Reserved.

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Candle-Mounting Problem: Solution

Obstacles to Problem Solving

Fixation: An inability to see a problem from a fresh perspective. This impedes problem solving.

Functional Fixedness: the inability to imagine new functions for familiar objects

Mental Set: a habitual strategy or pattern of problem solving 20

Fixation and Mental Set

O T T F F S S E N T

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Fixation and Mental Set

O T T F F S S E N T

ONE TWO THREE FOUR FIVE SIX SEVEN EIGHT NINE TEN

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Fixation and Mental Set

J F M A M J J A S O N D

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Fixation and Mental Set

J F M A M J J A S O N D

JANUARY, FEBRUARY, MARCH, …

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The Monty Hall Problem

• The Monty Hall Problem

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If You Are a Genius Solve This• Solve This!

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Language

Language, our spoken, written, or gestured work, is the way we communicate meaning

to ourselves and others.

Language transmits culture.

M. &

E. B

ernheim/ W

oodfin Cam

p & A

ssociates

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Language Development

Children learn their native languages

much before learning to add 2+2.

We learn, on average (after age 1), 3,500

words a year, amassing 60,000

words by the time we graduate from high

school.

Tim

e Life Pictures/ G

etty Images

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When do we learn language?

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Explaining Language Development

1. Operant Learning: Skinner believed that language development may be explained on the basis of learning principles such as association, imitation, and reinforcement.

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Explaining Language Development

2. Inborn Universal Grammar: Chomsky opposed Skinner’s ideas and suggested that the rate of language acquisition is so fast that it cannot be explained through learning principles, and thus most of it is inborn.

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Explaining Language Development

Childhood is a critical period for fully developing certain aspects of language. Children never exposed to any language (spoken or signed) by about age 7 gradually lose their ability to master any language.

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Critical Period

Learning new languages gets harder with age.

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Thinking and Language:Language Influences

Thinking

Linguistic Determinism: Whorf (1956) suggested that language determines the way we think.

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Do animals have a language?

Animal Thinking & Language

Honey bees communicate by dancing. The dancemoves clearly indicate the direction of the nectar.

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Do Animals Exhibit Language?

There is no doubt that animals

communicate.

Vervet monkeys, whales and even

honey bees communicate with members of their species and other

species.Rico (collie) has a

200-word vocabulary

Copyright B

aus/ Kreslow

ski

Language Development

• Read pages 306-307 in the small yellow textbook (Understanding Psychology.)

• Explain the nature versus nurture debate concerning the development of language?

(Explain Chomsky’s view of development and Skinner’s opposing view. Which view backs up “nature” and which view backs up “nurture”?

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Intelligence

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Intelligence

What is intelligence?

Where does it come from?

How is it measured?

Are there ethnic or gender differences in intelligence?

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Intelligence

Intelligence is the ability to learn from experience, solve problems and use knowledge to adapt to new situations.

We often speak of intelligence as though it were one thing, but it may be more accurate to speak of multiple intelligences.

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Howard Gardner

Howard Gardner argues that there are at least eight independent kinds of intelligence.

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Robert Sternberg

Psychologist Robert Sternberg defines three separate types of intelligences:

1. Analytic: School smarts

2. Practical: Street smarts, common sense

3. Creative: Creating, designing, inventing

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Intelligence Testing

• Roots of standardized intelligence testing can be traced back to 19th century France, and to Alfred Binet.

Mental Age vs Chronological Age

Mental age is the child’s mental ability. Chronological age is your actual age.

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Stanford Binet Intelligence Test

• Lewis Termin revised Binet’s test for American children…The Stanford Binet intelligence test.

IQ = MA

CA

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X 100

Intelligence Tests

Modern intelligence tests all use this same basic technique, comparing a person’s actual age with that person’s level of mental development. Scores are adjusted so that 100 represents average intelligence for one’s age group.

The original formula however is no longer used. The term “IQ” is now a shorthand way of saying “intelligence test score.”

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Intelligence Extremes

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Intelligence Extremes

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