AP Psychology: Cognition: Thinking, Language and Individual Differences
How is a test standardized?
a test can be standardized by administering the test to a representative sample of future test takers in order to establish a basis for meaningful comparison.
Explain the meanings of reliability and validity in terms of test construction
a test is reliable when it yields consistent results. a test is deemed valid if it measures or predicts what it is supposed to.
belief perseverance
clinging to one's initial conceptions after the basis on which they were formed has been discredited
What is cognition?
cognition is defined as any and all mental activity associated with processing, understanding, and communicating information.
How does overconfidence stop us from making good decisions?
overconfidence stops us from making good decisions because we overlook what is correct and do not question our actions.
longitudinal study
research that follows and retests the same people over time.
achievement tests
tests designed to assess what a person has learned.
aptitude tests
tests designed to predict a person's future performance; aptitude is the capacity to learn
creativity
the ability to produce novel new and valuable ideas
What is happening during an insight?
brain scans show that during an insight, bursts of activity associated with sudden flashes of such occur.
Morphemes
the smallest units of meaning within a language
one-word stage
the stage in speech development, from about age 1 to 2, during which a child speaks mostly in single words
normal curve
A symmetrical, bell-shape that describes the distribution of many types of data; most scores fall near the mean (68 percent fall within one standard deviation of it) and fewer and fewer near the extremes.
two-word stage (telegraphic speech)
Child speaks in two word statements, usually consisting of verbs, nouns, and adjectives and devoid of non essential words. child speaks like a telegram.
Describe Robert Sternberg's five components of creativity.
ONE expertise: well developed knowledge that furnishes ideas, images, and phrases we use as a mental building blocks. TWO imaginative thinking skills: provide the ability to see things in novel ways, to recognize patterns, and to make connections. THREE a venturesome personality: seeks new experiences, tolerates ambiguity and risk, and perseveres in overcoming obstacles. FOUR instrinsic motivation: the quality of being driven more by interest, satisfaction, and challenge than by external pressures. FIVE a creative environment: sparks, supports, and refines creative ideas.
Unit 5, Module 35
Problem Solving and Making Decisions
heuristics
Sets of strategies, rather than strict rules, that act as guidelines for discovery-oriented problem solving.
predictive validity
The success with which a test predicts the behavior it is designed to predict; it is assessed by computing the correlation between test scores and the criterion behavior.
Unit 5,Module 34
Thinking, Concepts and Creativity
Unit 5,Module 36
Unit 5,Module 36
linguistic determinism
Whorf's hypothesis that language determines the way we think
What is a concept? Describe the roles of categories, hierarchies, definitions, and prototypes in concept formation.
a concept is a mental grouping of similar objects, events, or people. hierarchies simplify these things further into sub-categories. categories are often created to group things based on a specific purpose. prototypes are typical examples of concepts.
Schema
a concept or framework that organizes and interprets information
savant syndrome
a condition in which a person otherwise limited in mental ability has an exceptional specific skill, such as in computation or drawing
intellectual disability
a condition of limited mental ability, indicated by an intelligence score of 70 or below and difficulty in adapting to the demands of life; varies from mild to profound
Down Syndrome
a condition of mild to severe intellectual disability and associated physical disorders caused by an extra copy of chromosome 21
general intelligence (g factor)
a general intelligence factor that, according to Spearman and others, underlies specific mental abilities and is therefore measured by every task on an intelligence test
cohort
a group of people from a given time period
mental age
a measure of intelligence test performance devised by Binet; the chronological age that most typically corresponds to a given level of performance.
Specific Intelligence (s factor)
a measure of specific skills in narrow areas
concept
a mental grouping of similar objects, events, ideas, or people
prototype
a mental image or best example of a category. Matching new items to a prototype provides a quick and easy method for sorting items into categories (as when comparing feathered creatures to a prototypical bird, such as a robin).
mental image
a mental picture or representation of an object or event
intelligence test
a method for assessing an individual's mental aptitudes and comparing them with those of others, using numerical scores
factor analysis
a statistical procedure that identifies clusters of related items (called factors) on a test; used to identify different dimensions of performance that underlie a person's total score.
cross-sectional study
a study in which people of different ages are compared with one another
insight
a sudden and often novel realization of the solution to a problem
mental set
a tendency to approach a problem in one particular way, often a way that has been successful in the past.
confirmation bias
a tendency to search for information that supports our preconceptions and to ignore or distort contradictory evidence
functional fixedness
a type of mental set; our tendency to perceive the functions of objects as fixed and unchanging.
Trace the course of language acquisition from the babbling stage through the two-wordstage.
a) during the babbling stage, language is limited to spontaneous utterances of sounds completely unrelated to the house hold language. b) the one-word stage presents language as one word outcries or phrases. c) during the two-word stage, language presents itself in two-word statements.
What are some mistaken beliefs about people who are 'gifted'?
according to the national association for gifted children, "gifted students dont need help; they will do fine on their own.", "teachers challenge all the students, so gifted kids will be fine in the regular classroom."
Discuss the history of intelligence testing.(Binet) Describe modern tests of mental abilities such as the WAIS.
alfred binet developed the first workable intelligence test in france in the early 1900s, which was commissioned by the french government, as a means of predicting a child's future progress in the paris school system. in america, psychologist david weshcler developed the wechsler adult intelligence scale (WAIS) and later the wechsler intelligence scale for children (WISC).
intuition
an effortless, immediate, automatic feeling or thought, as contrasted with explicit, conscious reasoning
How do we define an intellectual disability?
an intellectual disability is defined as a condition of limited mental ability, indicated by an intelligence score of 70 or below and difficulty in adapting to the demands of life.
cognition
any and all mental activities that are associated with thinking, knowing, remembering, and communication.
Distinguish between aptitude and achievement tests.
aptitude tests predict the test taker's future performance while achievement tests measure what you have accomplished or learned, usually as a result of planned instruction or training and are usually confined to one subject matter.
Explain how the representativeness heuristic and the availability heuristic can cause us to underestimate or ignore important information.
availability and representative heuristics may cause us to ignore important information because we can readily recall a tragic accident and thus we believe that they are more common than they actually are.
babbling stage
beginning at about 4 months, the stage of speech development in which the infant spontaneously utters various sounds at first unrelated to the household language
Describe the effects that belief perseverance and framing can have on our judgments and decision-making.
belief perseverance causes us to continue believing false ideas and thus make poor decisions. framing can cause us to view a question positively or negatively.
language acquisition device (LAD)
biological ability to acquire language
What are some causes of intellectual disabilities?
causes of intellectual disabilities include genetics, environmental factors, complications during pregnancy or childbirth, and illness or injury, etc.
Explain how the confirmation bias can interfere with effective problem solving.
confirmation bias can cause us to specifically seek out information that is not condusive to problem solving because it validates our preconceptions.
What is creativity?
creativity is the development of ideas that are both original and valuable.
Compare and contrast longitudinal studies to cross sectional studies
cross-sectional studies compare people of different ages at the same point in time. longitudinal studies follow and retest the same cohort over a period of years.
intelligence quotient (IQ)
defined originally as the ratio of mental age (ma) to chronological age (ca) multiplied by 100 [thus, IQ = (ma/ca) x 100]. On contemporary intelligence tests, the average performance for a given age is assigned a score of 100.
Standardization
defining uniform testing procedures and meaningful scores by comparison with the performance of a pretested group
split-half reliability
dividing the test into two equal halves and assessing how consistent the scores are
Discuss the evidence for environmental influences on individual intelligence.
environmentally, early neglect from a caregivers leads children to develop a lack of personal control over their space, which impoverishes their intelligence. increased education, in contrast, correlates with higher intelligence scores.
availability heuristic
estimating the likelihood of events based on their availability in memory; if instances come readily to mind (perhaps because of their vividness), we presume such events are common
representativeness heuristic
estimating the likelihood of events in terms of how well they seem to represent, or match, particular prototypes; may lead us to ignore other relevant information.
divergent thinking
expands the number of possible problem solutions (creative thinking that diverges in different directions)
What is functional fixedness and how does it relate to a mental set
functional fixedness is a type of mental set. it is our tendency to perceive the functions of objects as fized and unchanging.
aphasia
impairment of language, usually caused by left hemisphere damage either to Broca's area (impairing speaking) or to Wernicke's area (impairing understanding).
grammar
in a language, a system of rules that enables us to communicate with and understand others
Phonemes
in language, the smallest distinctive sound unit
Discuss how intelligence tests and statistics have been used in a racist manner.
in many IQ tests, stereotype threats are used to intimidate minority groups by evaluating them based on negative stereotypes. this makes IQ tests inherently racist.
Discuss the difficulty of defining intelligence.Present arguments for g and s
intelligence is difficult to define because it is not a quality like height or weight, but rather the ability to learn from experience, solve problems, and use knowledge to adapt to new situations. arguments for general intelligence include the fact that people often have special outstanding abilities in one area score higher in similar areas as well. IQ measures general intelligence with a single score. specific intelligence (multiple intelligences) is defended by their measure through standardized testing.
Compare and contrast divergent and convergent thinking.
it solves problems by bringing together different ideas to find the best solution while divergent thinking proposes multiple possible solutions in an attempt to find the one that works.
intelligence
mental quality consisting of the ability to learn from experience, solve problems, and use knowledge to adapt to new situations
convergent thinking
narrows the available problem solutions to determine the single best solution
Describe the distribution of test scores in a normal curve.
on a normal curve, 100 is an average value. a performance greater than 97.5% of scores earns an intelligence score of 130, while a performance less than 97.5% of scores earns an intelligence score of 70.
fluid intelligence
our ability to reason speedily and abstractly; tends to decrease during late adulthood
crystallized intelligence
our accumulated knowledge and verbal skills; tends to increase with age
Why might neural processing speed correlate with intelligence?
people who score high on intelligence tests are said to have faster neural processing. there is also a correlation between intelligence scores and the speed of taking in perceptual information.
Describe two aspects of validity.
predictive validity is the success with which a test predicts the behavior it is designed to predict. while content validity is the extent to which a test samples the behavior that is of interest.
trial and error (mechanical solution)
problem-solving method in which one possible solution after another is tried until a successful one is found
Does school usually require divergent or convergent thinking? Give an example of each.
school requires both aptitude tests like the SAT require convergent thinking. on the other hand, creativity tests require divergent thinking.
Discuss Skinner's and Chomsky's contributions to the nature/nurture debate over how children acquire language.
skinner represented the nurture side of the debate, arguing that we learn language by association, imitation, and reinforcement. chomsky represents the nature side of the debate and suggests that children are biologically prepared to learn words and learn grammar.
Compare Gardner's and Sternberg's theories of intelligence.
spearman theorized that we have one generalized intelligence that is at the heart of all of our intelligent behavior; it could be measure by an IQ test. Gardner theorized that we have eight relatively independent intelligences consisting of linguistic, logical, mathmatical, spatial, bodily-kinesthetic, musical, interpersonal, intrapersonal, and naturalist; they can be measured by a standardized test.
Describe two tests of reliability.
split-half reliability is the practice of dividing the test into two equal halves and assessing how consistent the scores are. test-retest reliability is the practice of using the same test on two occasions to measure consistency.
Discuss the importance of standardizing tests.
standardizing tests also allows them to be susceptible to meaningful comparison and to be accepted by the psychological community.
How does our 'intelligence change as we age?
studies have shown that fluid intelligence declines as we get older while crystallized intelligence increases as we get older.
Unit 5 Modules 38, 39, 40, 41
study bitches
algorithms
systematical, logical rules or procedures that guarantee solving a particular problem.
Discuss the evidence for the genetic contribution to individual intelligence.
the effects of genes on intelligence seem to be constant and apparently are not overidden by the environment.
content validity
the extent to which a test samples the behavior that is of interest
Reliability
the extent to which a test yields consistent results, as assessed by the consistency of scores on two halves of the test, on alternate forms of the test, or on retesting
linguistic influence
the idea that language affects thought
Fixation
the inability to see a problem from a new perspective, by employing a different mental set
Identify the brain areas involved in language processing and speech.
the left hemisphere of the brain, specifically the broca's area and the wernicke's area, are primarily involved in language processing and speech.
Syntax
the rules for combining words into grammatically sensible sentences in a given language
Semantics
the set of rules by which we derive meaning from morphemes, words, and sentences in a given language; also, the study of meaning
Overconfidence
the tendency to be more confident than correct—to overestimate the accuracy of our beliefs and judgments.
Discuss the ways the text gives for developing creativity A.concept B.cognition C.prototype D.creativity E.divergent thinking F.convergent thinking
the text recommends developing expertise and allowing time for incubation to boost/develop your own creativity.
Framing
the way an issue is posed; how an issue is framed can significantly affect decisions and judgments.
Stanford-Binet
the widely used American revision (by Terman at Stanford University) of Binet's original intelligence test.
Discuss the relationship between thinking and language.
thinking and language are linked through linguistic determinism and linguistic influence, through modern psychology agrees the former is too extreme. whorf argues that "language itself shapes a persons basic ideas while linguistic influence emphasizes that our words affect our thinking.
Describe the basic structural units of a language, including the rules that enable us to communicate meaning.
units of language include PHONEMES (small distinct units in spoken languages.) , and MORPHEMES (small units that carry meaning in languages.) the set of rules that derives meaning from words, morphemes, and sentences is called SYNTAX.
Compare and contrast algorithms and heuristics
while both are rules/ systems for solving problems, algorithms are systematic, logical procedures that guarantee solving particular problems and heuristics are strategies that often allow us to make judgements and solve problems more efficiently.
