Psychology Ch. 8
concept
A mental representation of objects, events, or relations around common themes
heuristic
A shortcut (rule of thumb or informal guideline) used to reduce the amount of thinking that is needed to make decisions is called a
functional fixedness
A tendency to think of things based on their usual functions, which may make it harder to solve a problem
IQ
An index of intelligence originally computed by dividing a child's estimated mental age by the child's chronological age, then multiplying this number by 100
decision making
Attempting to select the best alternative among several options is called
Binet-Simon intelligence scale
Binet proposed that intelligence is best understood as a collection of high-level mental processes; the intelligence test was used to measure vocabulary, skill with #'s, and other mental abilities; this became known as the
problem solving
Finding a way around an obstacle to reach a goal is called
Charles Spearman
General intelligence: The idea that one general factor underlies intelligence
Binet
He developed the IQ and said that intelligence is due to one general factor.
reliability
How consistently a psychometric test produces similar results each time it is used
framing
How information is presented affects how that information is perceived and influences decisions
validity
How well a psychometric test measures what it is intended to measure
work backward
One problem solving technique is to begin from the goal state and _____ _________ to the current state
insight
One problem solving technique is to take a break from actively thinking about a problem, called
subgoals
One problem solving technique is using _________ to identify the goal state and several of these to be achieved.
intelligence
The ability to use knowledge to reason, make decisions, make sense of events, solve problems, understand complex ideas, learn quickly, and adapt to environmental challenges
stereotypes
These cognitive schemas that allow for quick, easy processing of information about people, events, or groups, based on their membership in that group
mental maps
These include a combination of analogical and symbolical representations.
schemas
These include prior knowledge and experiences and are related to the organization of analogical and symbolic representations in our minds
restructuring
Thinking about a problem in a new way in order to solve it is called
mental manipulation; information; environments
Thinking is the _______ __________ of representations of ___________ we encounter in our ____________.
emotional intelligence
This form of intelligence consists of four abilities: managing our own emotions, using our emotions to guide our thoughts and actions, recognizing other people's emotions, and understanding emotional language
analogical
This is the mental representation that has some of the physical characteristics of objects.
Symbolical
This is the mental representation that is abstract and consists of words or ideas.
availability heuristic
This is the tendency to make a decision based on information that comes most easily to mind
representativeness heuristic
This is the tendency to place people or objects in a category if they are similar to the concept that is the prototype
defining attribute
This is what characterizes something to make it a member of that category
reasoning
Using information to determine if a conclusion is valid or reasonable is called
category; concept
When we use a schema to group things based on shared properties, we create a ________ and a ________.
exemplar
_________ model: all concepts in a category are examples together; ie, if an animal represents a cat, all of your memories, experiences with cats help to identify it as a cat; no single concept is the best member of a category.
prototype
__________ model: "most typical member"; has certain characteristics; more representative of that category; ie an orange is a ___________ of fruit - has seeds, edible, sweet, so items that share these characteristics are also considered fruits
category
a group based on knowledge of shared properties
analogy
identify a previously solved problem that is similar to the current problem
aptitude test
this is designed to test a person's ability to learn—that is, the person's future performance
achievement test
this is designed to test what knowledge and skills a person has learned
intelligence test
this measures general intellectual ability