PSYC 1001: Module 1

• Algorithm - problem-solving strategy characterized by a specific set of instructions.
• Analytical intelligence - aligned with academic problem solving and computations
• Anchoring bias - faulty heuristic in which you fixate on a single aspect of a problem to find a solution
• Artificial concept - concept that is defined by a very specific set of characteristics
• Availability Heuristic - faulty heuristic in which you make a decision based on information readily available to you
• Cognition - thinking, including perception, learning, problem solving, judgement, and memory
• Cognitive psychology - field of psychology dedicated to studying every aspect of how people think
• Cognitive script - set of behaviours that are performed the same way each time; also referred to as an event schema
• Concept - category or grouping of linguistic information, objects, ideas, or life experiences
• Confirmation bias - faulty heuristic in which you focus on information that confirms your beliefs
• Convergent thinking - providing correct or established answers to problems
• Creative intelligence - ability to produce new products, ideas, or inventing a new, novel solution to a problem
• Creativity - ability to generate, create, or discover new ideas, solutions, and possibilities
• Crystallized intelligence - characterized by acquired knowledge and the ability to retrieve it
• Cultural intelligence - ability with which people can understand and relate to those in another culture
• Deductive reasoning - applying general rules to specific observations (the opposite of inductive reasoning)
• Divergent thinking - ability to think “outside the box” to arrive at novel solutions to a problem
• Emotional intelligence - ability to understand emotions and motivations in yourself and others
• Event schema - set of behaviours that are performed the same way each time; also referred to as a cognitive script
• Fluid intelligence - ability to see complex relationships and solve problems
• Flynn effect - observation that each generation has a significantly higher IQ than the previous generation
• Functional fixedness - inability to see an object as useful for any other use other than the one for which it was intended
• Grammar - set of rules that are used to convey meaning through the use of a lexicon
• Heuristic - mental shortcut that saves time when solving a problem
• Hindsight bias - belief that the event just experienced was predictable, even though it really wasn’t
• Inductive reasoning - drawing general conclusions from specific observations
• Intelligence quotient - (also, IQ) score on a test designed to measure intelligence
• Language - communication system that involves using words to transmit information from one individual to another
• Lexicon - the words of a given language
• Mental set - continually using an old solution to a problem without results
• Morpheme - smallest unit of language that conveys some type of meaning
• Multiple Intelligences Theory - Gardner’s theory that each person possesses at least eight types of intelligence
• Natural concept - mental groupings that are created “naturally” through your experiences
• Norming - administering a test to a large population so data can be collected to reference the normal scores for a population and its groups
• Overgeneralization - extension of a rule that exists in a given language to an exception to the rule
• Phoneme- basic sound unit of a given language
• Practical intelligence - aka “street smarts”
• Problem-solving strategy - method for solving problems
• Prototype - best representation of a concept
• Range of reaction - each person’s response to the environment is unique based on his or her genetic make-up