Psychology Chapter 7 Thinking, Language and intelligence

culture-fair tests

Tests designed to eliminate cultural biases.

Divergent thinking

The ability to conceive of new ways of viewing situations and new uses for familiar objects.

convergent thinking

The attempt to narrow down a range of alternatives to converge on the one correct answer to a problem.

phonemes

The basic units of sound in a language. English has about 40 phonemes to sound out the 500,000 or words found in modern unabridged English dictionaries.

cognitive psychology

The branch of psychology that focuses on such mental processes as thinking, problem solving, decision making, and use of language.

intelligence

The capacity to think and reason clearly and to act purposefully and effectively in adapting to the environment and pursuing one's goals.

Validity

The degree to which a test measures what it purports to measure. One type is predictive validity, the degree to which test score accurately predict future behavior or performance.

heritability

The degree to which heredity accounts for variations on a given trait within a population.

mainstreaming

The practice of placing children with special needs in a regular classroom environment.

Standardization

The process of establishing norms for a test by administering the test to large numbers of people who constitute a standardization sample.

thinking

The process of mentally representing and manipulating information.

linguistic relativity hypothesis

The proposition that the language we use determines how we think and how we perceive the world (also called the Whorfian hypothesis).

syntax

The rules of grammar that determine how words are ordered within sentences or phrases to form meaningful expressions.

grammar

The set of rules governing how symbols in a given language are used to form meaningful expressions.

semantics

The set of rules governing the meaning of words.

morphemes

The smallest units of meaning in a language.

Reliability

The stability of test scores over time.

availability heuristic

The tendency to judge events as more likely to occur when information pertaining to them comes readily to mind.

confirmation bias

The tendency to maintain allegiance to an initial hypothesis despite strong evidence to the contrary.

functional fixedness

The tendency to perceive objects as limited to the customary functions they serve. The inability to see how familiar objects can be used in new ways. The two-string problem and the box-candle problem are classic examples of functional fixedness

mental set

The tendency to rely on strategies that worked in similar situations in the past but that may not be appropriate to the present situation.

Abstract concepts

concepts such as justice, honor and freedom are classified as natural concepts because people typically use the without employing a strict set of rules to determine how the concepts are to be applied.

Decision making

A form of problem solving in which we must select a course of action from among the available alternatives.

Problem solving

A form of thinking focused on finding a solution to a particular problem.

intellectual disability

A generalized deficit or impairment in intellectual and social skills.

dyslexia

A learning disorder characterized by impaired ability to read.

intelligence quotient (IQ)

A measure of intelligence based on performance on tests of mental abilities, expressed as a ratio between one's mental age and chronological age or derived from the deviation of one's scores from the norms for those of one's age group. IQ=MA/CAx100

mental image

A mental picture or representation of an object or event. Mental imaging can also lead to creative solutions to puzzling problems. Many of Albert Einstein's creative insights arose from personal thought experiments.

Brainstorming

A method of promoting divergent thinking by encouraging people to propose as many solutions to a problem as possible without fear of being judged negatively by others, no matter how far-fetched their proposals may be.

mental age

A representation of a person's intelligence based on the age of people who are capable of performing at the same level of ability.

representativeness heuristic

A rule of thumb for making a judgment that assumes a given sample is representative of the larger population from which it is drawn.

heuristic

A rule of thumb for solving problems or making judgments or decisions. Heuristics do not guarantee a solution, but they may help you arrive at on more quickly.

algorithm

A step-by-step set of rules that will always lead to a correct solution to a problem. Drawback to using algorithms in soling life problems is finding one that precisely fits the particular problem.

language

A system of communication composed of symbols (words, hand signs, and so on) that are arranged according to a set of rules (grammar) to form meaningful expressions.

deviation IQ

An IQ score based on the deviation, or difference, of a person's test score from the norms for the person's age group, rather than on the ration of mental age to chronological age.

language acquisition device

Chomsky's concept of an innate, prewired mechanism in the brain that allows children to acquire language naturally.

conceptual combinations

Combinations of two or more concepts into one concept, resulting in the creation of a novel idea or application.

Logical concepts

Concepts with clearly defined rules for membership.

natural concepts

Concepts with poorly defined or fuzzy rules for membership.

Creativity

Creativity is thinking that leads to original, practical, and meaningful solutions to problem or that generates new ideas or artistic expressions.

conceptual expansion

Expanding familiar concepts by applying them to new uses.

multiple intelligences

Gardner's term for the distinct types of intelligence that characterize different forms of intelligent behavior.

concepts

Mental categories for classifying events, objects, and ideas on the basis of their common features or properties.

Thinking

Psychologist generally define thinking as the mental representation and manipulation of information.

primary mental abilities

Seven basic mental abilities that Thurstone believed constitute intelligence.

triarchic theory of intelligence

Sternberg's theory of intelligence that posits three aspects of intelligence: analytic, creative, and practical.