General Psychology

1. Cognition, Thinking,
Language & Intelligence

2. Thought includes mental processes
involving problem solving,
understanding language, memory
retrieval, and perceiving patterns in
sensory inputs.

3.  Functional Fixedness:
1) The inability to see an object for
more than its intended purpose.
2) The inability to see beyond the
obvious solution to a problem
(involves lack of creativity and
becoming too ‘stuck’ in roles)

4. Functional Fixedness problems:
You want to hang something on a wall
but do not have a hammer. What could
you use besides a hammer?
You have dropped an article of clothing
behind the dryer and cannot reach it.
What could you use to reach it for you?

5. Tests for Functional Fixedness
 Look around you for different items.
 What is its ‘intended’ purpose?
 What other things could that object
be used for?
If unable to think of other functions for
an object, you have a degree of
functional fixedness.

6.  Trial & Error: a problem-solving
strategy that involves trying possible
solutions, one by one, to see which one
is correct.
 Heuristics: “rules-of-thumb” strategies
that provide a quick fix to a problem.
Based on past experiences & knowledge
May save time, but can be unreliable

7.  Algorithms: are problem solving
strategies that involve a systematic
exploration of every possible
solution.
If followed precisely, you will reach a
solution to the problem, but it may take
a great deal of time and effort, so these
are sometimes seen as less efficient than
heuristics.

8.  Here is you problem.
You are helping your best friend
prepare for a large dinner party, when
your friend panics because she forgot
to get the ‘capers.’ She asks you to
run to the grocery store to get some
‘capers.’
What do you do?
(no, you don’t tell her to get over it!) ☺

9. First of all, do you know what capers
are?
Capers are the pickled fruit of a
Mediterranean bush that is frequently
used in Italian dishes and on salads.
Ok, now where do you go in Gastonia
to find capers? Which would be a
better option, Food Lion or Harris
Teeter? Why?

10. You could use one of the following heuristics:
 Ask 17-year-old Billy that works there part-time
where they are.
 What if he has no idea what you are talking about or
only knows the produce section?
 You could look in the section with pickles, or
Italian foods, or salad items.
 What if they are kept in a specific place, not in these
areas?
 How do you find these areas? (isle signs?)

11. You could use an algorithm.
You could go down every isle, looking
at every item on every shelf until you
go through the entire store, or find
the capers.
The solution to your problem is
guaranteed, BUT it could take you a
very long time and your friend might
have a conniption before you return.

12.  There are three common obstacles that we often
create for ourselves when solving problems:
mental set, functional fixedness & confirmation
bias.
 Mental Set: a tendency to approach a problem or
situation in a predetermined way, regardless of
the requirements of the specific problem.
 Many of you STUDY using the same process for EVERY
class! It doesn’t always work, but many keep doing it.
 Functional Fixedness: (covered earlier)

13.  Confirmation Bias: the tendency to
seek out evidence that confirms a
hypothesis and to overlook
contradictory evidence
 plays a stronger role when it comes to
those beliefs which are based upon
prejudice, faith, or tradition rather
than on empirical evidence.

14. NEW
TOPIC!!

15.  Psychologists and other professionals
have been unable to agree on a
definition for intelligence. So there
are many different theories for
defining this concept.

16.  There is no one correct definition of
intelligence simply because there are
many types of intelligence.
Academic Intelligence
Social Intelligence
“Street Smarts”
Artistic Intelligence
“Common Sense”

17.  The score that indicates average levels
of intelligence is 100.
 IQ scores of less than 70, are part of
the diagnostic criteria for MR.
 IQ scores above 130, are indicative of
gifted levels of intelligence.

18.  Uniform and consistent procedures
for administering and scoring tests,
such as IQ or personality tests.
To avoid errors in data collection
To avoid errors from changing the results
(making them invalid)
To ensure the testing situation is as
identical as possible (comparisons)

19.  Valid and Reliable IQ tests are NOT
found on the internet, nor are they
part of the assessments given in
public schools.
 Validity: Does a test or assessment tool
measure what it ‘claims’ to measure?
 Reliability: Are the results of a test or an
assessment tool ‘reliable’
 from one attempt to another OR
 From one administrator/rater to another

20.  Predictive Validity: Type of validity
assessed by determining the accuracy
with which tests predict performance in
some future situation.
SAT?
Aptitude Test: designed to predict an
individual’s ability to learn new
information or skills.

21.  Testing in schools are called
achievement tests, which only
assess memory of information
typically taught in schools,
which is NOT what we define
as IQ.

22. NEW
TOPIC!!

23.  Psycholinguistics: field of study that
focuses on how sounds and symbols
are translated to meaning, and of the
cognitive processes that are involved
in the acquisition and use of
language.

24.  Phonemes: the smallest, meaningless
units of language that are then
combined to have meaning.
Basic sounds of letters (phonics?)
 Morphemes: the smallest units of
language that have meaning.
Can include words, prefixes, suffixes, and
single letters such as ‘s’ (used to
pluralize) or ‘a’ (to change to negative).

25.  Syntax: synonymous with grammar,
these are the rules used in a given
language to guide how to combine
words into meaningful phrases and
sentences.
Syntax errors on computers
Different languages have different rules

26. Example of Language Syntax Differences:
In English we say, “The White House”
In Spanish, the same phrase is “La Casa Blanca,”
which says “The House White.
The ordering of the words differs!

27.  Semantics: the meaning of language.
Surface Structure: the apparent meaning
of the words used.
Deep Structure: the underlying or
symbolic meaning of the words used.
If a person responds to your request for a
date by saying, “Yeah, right!” what are
they really saying? (is there sarcasm?)

28.  According to the genetic or nativist
view, the prewiring that gives humans
the innate ability to learn and
understand language.
 Noam Chomsky
 Genetics account more for our understanding of
complex rules and structures.
 Experience (school, parents, enrichment)
determines the depth (or lack of) our vocabulary.