Chap 7 - Cognition

• Cognition


  • How People Think
  • Language
  • Creativity
  • Problem-solving and decision-making strategies
  • Concepts and prototypes
  • Mental imagery
  • Intelligence
• Thinking (cognition)


  Mental activity that goes on in brain when a person is processing information
• Processing


  1. Organizing

  2. Understanding

  3. Communicating information to others
• Thinking is more than a stream of consciousness; words and images are often involved
• Mental imagery


  Mental representations that stand for objects or events and have a picture-like quality
• In Kosslyn's 1978 study, participants were asked to push a button when they had imagined themselves moving from one place on the island to another


  Participants took longer times to complete the task when the locations on the image were farther apart
• Concepts


  Ideas that represent a class or category of objects, events, or activities
• Formal concepts


  Concepts that are defined by specific rules or features
• Natural concepts


  Concepts people form as a result of their experiences in the real world
• Prototype


  A concept that closely matches the defining characteristics of that concept
• Prototypes develop according to exposure a person has to objects in that category
• Schemas


  Mental generalizations about objects, places, events, and people
• Scripts


  A kind of schema that involves a familiar sequence of activities
• Problem solving


  Occurs when a goal must be reached by thinking and behaving in certain ways
• Decision making


  Identifying, evaluating, and choosing between alternatives
• Ways to solve problems

  • If a fire alarm rings, people know to run to the assembly point and cover their nose with a wet cloth
• Functional Fixedness


  The inability to see an object as anything other than its typical function
• The String Problem: How do you tie the two strings together if you cannot reach them both at the same time?
• The Dot Problem: Can you draw four straight lines so that they pass through all nine dots without lifting your pencil from the page and without touching any dot more than once?
• Creativity


  The process of solving problems by combining ideas or behavior in new ways
• Stimulating Divergent Thinking


  • Brainstorming
  • Keeping a Journal
  • Freewriting
  • Mind or Subject Mapping
• Cognition


  • How People Think
  • Language
  • Creativity
  • Problem-solving and decision-making strategies
  • Concepts and prototypes
  • Mental imagery
  • Intelligence
• Theories of Intelligence


  • Spearman's Theory
  • Gardner's Multiple Intelligences
  • Sternberg's triarchic theory
  • Cattell-Horn-Carroll (CHC) theory
• Intelligence


  The ability to learn from one's experiences, acquire knowledge, and use resources effectively in adapting to new situations or solving problems
• g factor


  The ability to reason and solve problems; general intelligence
• s factor


  The ability to excel in certain areas; specific intelligence
• Gardner's Nine Intelligences


  • Verbal / Linguistic
  • Musical
  • Logical / mathematical
  • Visual / Spatial
  • Movement
  • Interpersonal
  • Intrapersonal
  • Naturalist
  • Existentialist (a candidate intelligence)
• Cattell-Horn-Carroll (CHC) theory is the most researched, empirically supported, and comprehensive theory of intelligence
• Parieto-Frontal Integration Theory


  Frontal and parietal brain areas play the most important roles with regard to brain area and function
• Stanford-Binet Intelligence Scales


  Originally used intelligence quotient, comparing mental age and chronological age
• Wechsler Tests


  Designed to measure intelligence in adults and children
• Wechsler Tests


  • Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale (WAIS)
  • Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children (WISC)
  • Wechsler Preschool and Primary Scale of Intelligence (WPPSI)
• Wechsler Tests Assessments


  • Verbal comprehension
  • Perceptual reasoning
  • Working memory
  • Processing speed
• Standardization


  The process of giving a test to a large group of people that represents the kind of people for whom the test is designed
• Deviation IQ scores


  A measure of intelligence that assumes IQ is normally distributed around a mean of 100 with a standard deviation of about 15
• Cultural bias


  Tendency for IQ tests to reflect in language, dialect, and content, the culture of the test designer(s)
• IQ tests are generally valid for predicting academic success and job performance
• Intellectual disability (intellectual developmental disorder)


  A person exhibits deficits in mental ability and adaptive behavior, with IQ falling below 70
• Causes of intellectual disability

  • Deprived environments
  • Chromosome and genetic disorders
  • Alcohol
  • Dietary deficiencies
  • Toxins in environment
• Gifted


  The 2 percent of the population falling on the upper end of the normal curve and typically possessing an IQ of 130 or above