Chapter 7 Psychology Terms (Thought, Language and Intelligence)

Origins of intelligence

1904, Done by a French Psychologist, Alfred Binet, in order to study special education programs.

Prototype

A member of a natural concept that posses all or most of its characteristic features.

Proposition

A mental representation that expresses a relationship between concepts.

Representativeness Heuristic

A mental shortcut that involves judging whether something belongs in a given class on the basis of its similarity to other members of the class.

Availability Heuristic

A mental shortcut through which judgments are based on information that is most easily brought to mind.

Intelligence Quotient (IQ)

A number that was originally determined by dividing mental age by chronical age and

Formal Reasoning

A set of rigorous procedures for researching valid conclusions.

Grammar

A set of rules for combining the symbols, used in a given language.

Anchoring Bias (Anchoring heuristic)

A shortcut in the thought process that involves adding new information to existing information to reach a judgement.

One-Word Stage

A stage of language development during which children tend to use one word at a time.

Logic

A system of formulas for drawing valid conclusions.

Formal Concepts

Clearly define objects or events by a set of rules and properties.

Deductive vs. Inductive Reasoning

Deductive: Arguments that lead to necessary conclusions when their reasons are true. Inductive: Arguments whose reasons lead to probable conclusions.

Natural Concepts

Don't have fixed or set definitions, have typical or characteristics features.

Infant Vocalizations ("Babblings")

Early sounds made by babies.

Theories of intelligence: General, Triarchic, and multiple

General:

Schemas

Generalizations about categories of objects, places, events and people.

Utility

In decision making, any subjective measure of value.

Information-processing system

Mechanisms for receiving information, representing it with symbols and manipulating it.

Scripts (a type of schema)

Mental representations of familiar sequences of activity.

Heuristics

Mental shortcuts or rules of thumb.

Unusual intelligence

People whose cognitive abilities are unusual, usually the gifted and mentally retarded.

Mental Models

Sets of propositions that represent people's understanding of how things look and work.

Language

Symbols that are used as a means of communicating.

Algorithms

Systematic procedures that cannot fail to produce a correct solution to a problem.

Confirmation Bias

Tendency to only pay attention to evidence that supports you argument.

Convergent Thinking

The ability to apply the rules of logic and what one knows about the world to narrow down the possible solutions to a problem.

Divergent Thinking

The ability to generate many different solutions to a problem.

Creativity

The capacity to produce original solutions or novel compositions.

Thinking

The manipulation of mental representations.

Intelligence

The possession of knowledge, the ability to effectively use that knowledge to reason about the world and the ability to reason in different environments.

Language acquisition (Conditioning, Imitation, & Rules)

The process children undergo to learn a language, usually through their parents.

Informal Reasoning

The process of evaluating a conclusion based on the evidence available to support it.

Mental Set

The tendency for old patterns of problem solving to persist.

Functional Fixedness

The tendency to think about familiar objects in familiar ways.

Expected Value

The total benefit to be expected of a decision if it were repeated on several occasions.

Intelligence Testing and Race/Culture

There are shifts in the bell curves based on African Americans and Hispanics, European Americans, and Asian Americans