Franzoi lite6e pp_ch08edited Newbill, A

Essentials of Psychology, Sixth Edition
© 2018 BVT Publishing. All rights reserved.
S-1
Chapter 8: Language,
Thinking, and Intelligence
(Shutterstock)

S-2
Learning Objectives(Slide 1 of 3)
• Examine how we learn language.
• Explore the relationship between
language and cognition.

S-3
• Describe what concepts are and
why they are important.
• Describe some of the common
problem-solving strategies and
some common obstacles to
problem solving.
• Critique the early views of
intelligence testing.

S-4
• Discuss the modern intelligence tests
and the characteristics of good
intelligence tests.
• Compare and contrast the theories
of intelligence.
• Discuss the neurological, hereditary,
and environmental influences on
intelligence.

S-5
8.1 Language
• Communication
• The sending and receiving of information
• Language
• Systematic way of communicating using
symbols and rules for combining them
• Speech
• Oral expression of language

S-6
8.1a Human Language
Evolution
Two theories:
• Gradual increase theory: Language is
product of a very long period of
biological evolution
• Threshold theory: Language is
product of sudden cultural evolution

S-7
Txtng Is Killing Language.
JK!!!
http://bvtlab.com/a7msS
(~14 minutes)
In this video, linguist John McWhorter
discusses the impact of texting on
language.

S-8
8.2 What Is Thinking?
Thinking, or cognition, is the mental
activity of knowing and the processes
through which knowledge is acquired
and problems are solved

S-9
8.2a Concept Formation Is a
Basic Element of Cognition
• Concept
– A mental grouping of objects, ideas, or
events that share common properties
• Categorization
– Primary means of coding experience through
forming concepts
– Saves times and helps make predictions
– Identify defining features, those that
characterize the typical member of a group,
aka prototype (robin vs a penguin)
– Errors in decision-making occur when things
don’t make protype (flu symptoms)

S-10
8.2b We Employ Problem-
Solving Strategies
• thought process used to overcome the obstacles to
reaching a goal
• Trial and error
– Time-consuming, does not guarantee success
• Algorithm
– Following specific rule or step-by-step procedure
• Heuristic
– A problem-solving strategy that involves following a
general rule of thumb to reduce the number of possible
solutions (ex. People search)
• Insight
– Sudden realization of how to solve a problem.

S-11
8.2c What Can Impede
Problem-Solving?
• Confirmation bias
– Tendency to seek out information that only
confirms our beliefs
• Mental set
– The tendency to continue using solutions that have
worked in the past, even though a better alternative
may exist (opening a box)
• Functional fixedness
– The tendency to think of objects as functioning in
fixed and unchanging ways and ignoring other less
obvious ways in which they might be used (e.g., using
“hacks”)

S-12
8.2d What Are Decision-
Making Heuristics?
• Time saving mental shortcuts
• The representativeness heuristic
– The tendency to make decisions based on how closely an
alternative matches a particular prototype
• The availability heuristic
– The tendency to judge the frequency or probability of an
event in terms of how easy it is to think of examples of
that event
– We often overestimate the commonness of personal
behaviors or views (false consensus effect)
• When do we use heuristics?
– When we don’t have time, overloaded with info,
consider issues not very important, little other
knowledge

S-13
Problem Solving Worksheet

S-14
8.3 What Is Intelligence?
The mental abilities necessary to adapt
to and shape the environment

S-15
8.3a Early Intelligence Testing
• Psychometrics
– The measurement of intelligence, personality, and other
mental processes
• Sir Francis Galton
• Eugenics
– The practice of encouraging supposedly superior people to
reproduce, while discouraging or even preventing those judged
to be inferior from doing so
– All his testing was a failure
• Binet-Simon test
– Developed in France to identify children in need of special
education
– Test was developed by identifying questions average
children got right at specific ages (MA vs. CA)
– Believed intelligence could be learned, did not measure all
aspects, test was not generalizable

S-16
8.3b Modern Intelligence
Testing
• Aptitude versus achievement tests
– Tests designed to predict a person’s capacity for
learning vs. Tests designed to assess what a
person has learned
• Stanford-Binet Intelligence Test
– Intelligence quotient (IQ)= MA/CA x100
• Wechsler Intelligence Scales
– Deviation IQ (from average) for Adults
• Group-administered tests
– Scholastic Assessment Test, American
College Test, GRE, MCAT, GMAT, LSAT

S-17
8.3b Items from the Wechsler
Adult Intelligence Scale
(Pearson)

S-18
8.3c Psychological Testing
• Standardization
– Establishing uniform procedures for administering a test
and for interpreting its scores
– Bell curve (normal distribution)
– Flynn Effect: The tendency IQ test scores to improve from
one generation to the next
• Reliability
– The degree to which a test yields consistent results (e.g.
test-retest)
• Validity (content and predictive)
– Content validity refers to the degree to which the items on
a test are related to the characteristic the test supposedly
measures.
– predictive validity (aka criterion validity)-the degree to
which the test results predict other observable behavior
related to the characteristic the test supposedly measures.
• Cultural bias
– Simply translating a test is not sufficient

S-19
8.3c The Normal Distribution
(BVT Publishing)

S-20
8.3d Four Theories of
Intelligence
• Spearman’s general intelligence
(g factor)
– Intelligence factor that underlies all mental
abilities
• Thurstone’s primary mental abilities
• Gardner’s multiple intelligences
• Sternberg’s triarchic theory of intelligence
• Evidence for both general intelligence and
distinct mental abilities

S-21
8.3d Thurstone’s Primary
Mental Abilities
• Reasoning
• Verbal fluency
• Verbal
comprehension
• Perceptual speed
• Spatial skills
• Numerical
comprehension
• Memory

S-22
8.3d Gardner’s Multiple
Intelligences
• Linguistic
• Logical-
mathematical
• Spatial
• Musical
• Bodily-kinesthetic
• Naturalist
• Interpersonal
• Intrapersonal
• A possible ninth
intelligence:
Existential

S-23
8.3d Sternberg’s Triarchic
Theory of Intelligence
• Analytical intelligence
• required to solve familiar problems and to judge the
quality of ideas.
• valued on tests and in the classroom
• people who are high in analytical intelligence tend to
score high in general intelligence.
• Creative intelligence
• required to develop new ways of solving problems
• ability to find connections between old and new
information, combine facts that appear unrelated, and
see the “big picture.”
• Practical intelligence
• required to apply, utilize, and implement ideas in
everyday situations
• “street smarts”
• quick to size up new situations, figure out the unwritten
rules of conduct, and do what is necessary to adapt
to—and shape—their surroundings

S-24
8.4a Extremes of Intelligence
• Intellectual disability
• Down syndrome
• Gifted

S-25
8.4a Degrees of Intellectual
Disability(Slide 1 of 2)
• Mild: IQ typically 50-70
–85% of the disabled
–May learn academic skills up to
sixth-grade level
• Moderate: IQ typically 35-49
–10% of the disabled
–May progress to second-grade level

S-26
8.4a Degrees of Intellectual
Disability(Slide 2 of 2)
• Severe: IQ typically 20-34
–Less than 4% of the disabled
–May learn to talk and perform simple
work tasks under supervision
• Profound: IQ typically <20
–<2% of the disabled
–Limited motor development; little or
no speech; constant supervision

S-27
8.4b What Influences
Intelligence?
• Heritability coefficient
• Twin studies
– Identical r=.86
– Fraternal r=.6
– Non siblings raised together r=.47
– Siblings raised apart r=.24
• Adoption studies
– Best estimate is 50/50 nature/nurture

S-28
8.4c Are There Group
Differences in IQ Scores?
• Gender differences
– Identical
– Women do better on verbal, men tend to do better on
visual-spatial
• Racial differences
– Differences in test score in US
– researchers concluded that these findings suggest
that black-white IQ differences in the general
population are substantially affected by environmental
factors, such as unequal economic and educational
conditions
– Highly unlikely due to genetics
– Differences within group may be due to genetics while
differences between groups are not

S-29
8.4d What Other Factors
Impact IQ Scores?
• Voluntary versus involuntary minorities
– Native American, African-American, Alaskan,
Hawaiian, P.R.
• Oppositional identities
– Rejection of the values of the dominant
culture
• Stereotype threat
– The apprehension people feel when preforming a
task in which their group is stereotyped to lack
ability
• Valuing academic achievement

S-30
8.4d Stereotype Threat
How are
these findings
consistent
with the
stereotype
threat
hypothesis?
(BVT Publishing)

S-31
8.4e Intellectual Ability and
Self-Fulfilling Prophecies
• Academic achievement and the self-
fulfilling prophecy
• Your beliefs affect your intellectual
potential
• Entity versus incremental theorists

S-32
The Power of Believing that
You Can Improve
http://bvtlab.com/akUp2
(~10 minutes)
In this video, psychologist Carol Dweck
discusses her research on growth
mindset.

S-33
Chapter Summary
• Language is a systematic way of
communicating information using
symbols and rules for combining them.
• Cognition is the mental activity of
knowing and the processes through
which knowledge is acquired and
problems are solved.
• Intelligence consists of the mental
activities necessary to adapt to and
shape the environment.

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