ch 8 thinking and intelligence

7/27/2019 Ch 8 Thinking and Intelligence

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Ch 8 Thinking and Intelligence

How Does the Mind Represent Information?

Some thoughts, generate images in our heads, others wordsspoken, some pulled fully formed without any conscious

awareness of where they came from The brain represents information and that the act of thinking-

cognition-is directly associated with manipulating theserepresentations

Analogical representations: have some characteristics of (andare therefore analogous to) actual objects-includes maps whichcorrespond to geographical layouts and family trees, whichdepict relationships between relatives

Symbolic representations: words or ideas are abstract and donot have relationships to physical qualities of objects in the world

A. Mental Images Are Analogical Representations

Cooper and Shepard: participants shown lettes and numbers,asked to determine whether each object was in its normalorientation or mirror image, longest reaction time is fully upsidedown

Participants had mentally rotated representations of the objectsor view the objects in their upright positions

Stephen Kosslyn and his colleagues, visual imagery is associatedwith activity in visual perception (primary visual cortex), thesame brain areas activatd hen we view something are activewhen we think in images

The representation of that picture in your minds eye parallelsthe representation in your brain the first time you saw thepicture

The mental image is not perfectly accurate: correspondsgenerally to the physical object it represents

1) Limits of Analogical Representation

The regularization of irregular shapes in memory is ashortcut we use unconsciously for keepinginformation in memory

While generally useful such shortcuts can lead toerrors

B. Concepts are Symbolic Representations Our symbolic representations consists of words, which can

represent abstract ideas in a succinct verbal form

Grouping things based on shred properties, categorization,reduces the amount of knowledge we must hold in memory andis therefore an efficient way of thinking


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Concept: a mental representation that groups/categorizesobjects, events, or relations around common themes

a concept ensuresthat we do not have to store every instance ofan object, a relation, or a quality or dimension individually-instead we store an abstract representation based on the

properties that particular items or particular ideas share defining attribute model: the idea that a concept is

characterized by a list of features that are necessary todetermine if an object is a member of the category, fails tocapture many key aspects of how we organize things in ourheads

1)suggests that membership within a category is on al all ornone basis, but in reality we often make exceptions in ourcategorization ex: birds can fly, penguins are birds

2) also states that all of the given categorys attributes areequally salient in terms of defining that category, however some

attributes are more important for defining membership thanothers but that the boundaries between categories are muchfuzzier than the defining attribute model suggests

3) all members of a category are equal in categorymembership-no one item is a better fit than any other

prototype model: best example an approach to objectcategorization that is based on the premise that within eachcategory. Some members are more representative than others

+ allows for flexibility in the representation of concepts

- particular prototype can be chosen for different reasons

Exemplar model: information stored about the members of acategory is used to determine category membership-allexamples of exemplars of category members form the concept

the exemplar model assumes that through experience peopleform a fuzzy representation of a concept because there is nosingle representation of any concept, account for the observationthat some category members are more prototypical than others:the prototypes are simply members we have encountered moreoften

C. Schemas Organize Useful Information about Enviornments

different class of knowledge called schemas, enables us to

interact with the complex realities of our daily environments schemas help us perceive, organize and process information

Roger Schank and Robet Abelson have referred to theseschemas about sequences as scripts

Gender roles, the prescribed behaviors for females and males,are one type of schema, operate at the unconscious level


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We employ schemas because (a) common situations haveconsistent attributes (b) people have specific roles withinsituational contexts

Unintended consequences: reinforcing sexist/racist beliefs,scripts dictate appropriate behaviors and what we ciew as

appropriate is shaped by culture Adaptive value: minimize the mounts of attention required to

navigate familiar environments, recognize and avoid unusual ordangerous situations

Mental representations in all forms assist us in using informationabout objects and events in adaptive ways

How Do We Make Decisions and Solve Problems?-reasoning, decision making, and problem solving are usedinterchangeably but there are differences-reasoning: you determine if a conclusion is valid using informationyou belive is true

Decision making: select among alternatives, usually by identifyingimportant criteria and determining how well each alternative satisfiesthese criteriaProblem solving: overcome obstacles to move from a present stateto a desired goal state

A. People Use Deductive and Inductive Reasoning

Deductive reasoning: reason from general to specific

Inductive reasoning: reason from the specific to general1) Deductive Reasoning

You use logic to draw specific conclusions undercertain assumptions or premises

Tasks are often presented as syllogisms, logicalarguments containing premises (stmts) and aconclusion

Syllogisms can be conditional or categorical

Conditional syllogism-the argument takes the form ifA is true then B is true if then reasoning; reasonercan come up with a valid but incorrect conclusion ifthe premises use terms inconsistently orambiguously

categorical syllogism-the logical argument containstwo premises and a conclusion which can bedetermined to be wither valid or invalid, takes formAll A are B, All B are C, therefore all A are C; our priorbeliefs (schemas) about typical events and typicalsituations can influence our performances onreasoning tasks, ideas will influence what conclusionsyou are willing to accept as valid


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difference between valid conclusion and truth, indeductive reasoning a conclusion follows logicallyfrom its premises, it is valid but may or may not betrue

2) Inductive Reasoning

use of scientific method to discover generalprinciples is one example of inductive reasoning

biases in inductive reasoning, often stronglyinfluenced by anecdotal reports, esp when it comesform someone close to us

B. Decision Making Often Involves Heuristics

decision making has been influenced by normative models anddescriptive models, normative models of decision making haveviewed humans as optical decision makers who always select thechoice that yields the largest gain

descriptive models have tried to account for humans; tendencies

to misinterpret and misrepresent the probabilities underlyingmany decision making scenarios and to act irrationally even whythey understand the probabilities

expected utility theory: normative model of how humans shouldmake decisions, views decision making as a computation ofutility, the overall value for each possible outcome in a decisionmaking scenario, we make decision by considering the possiblealternatives and choosing the most desirable one, rankalternatives in order of preference

Tversky and Kahneman identified several common heuristics,the mental shortcuts or rules of thumb that people typically useto make decisions

Availability heuristic: making a decision based on the answerthat most easily comes to mind

Representativeness heuristic: a rule for categorization basedon how similar the person or object is to our prototypes for thatcategory

Algorithm is a procedure that, if followed correctly will alwaysyield the correct answer

Heuristic thinking often occurs unconsciously; not aware oftaking these mental shortcuts-useful partly because it allows us

to focus our attention on other things, since the conscious mindsprocessing capacity is limited

Heuristics require minimal cognitive resources, can be adaptivein that it allowed us to decide quickly rather than weighting althe evidence each time we have to decide

1) Framing Effects

Framing: the effect of presentation on howinformation is perceived


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Kahneman and tversky came up with prospecttheory: two main components (a) the need to takeinto account peoples wealth in predicting theirchoices (b) the fact that because losses feel muchworse than gains feel good, people try to avoid

situations that involved losses expected utility

Loss aversion. The second component of Kahnemanand Tverskys prospect theory, losing is much worsethan gaining is good

2) Affective Forecasting

People overestimate the extent to which negativeevents will affect them in the future

Gilbert and Wilson, after negative event, peopleengage in strategies that help them feel better, suchas rationalizing why it happened and minimizing the

events importance These stragies are generally adaptive in that they

protect the sufferers mental health-making sense ofan event helps reduce its negative emotionalconsequences

People overstate their pain and underestimate howwell they will cope with the event

Affective forecasting can also influence ourperceptions of positive events

3) Good Decision Makers

Participants who performed better on the decisionmaking test reported fewer negative life events thanthose who performed poorly on the test

Applying critical thinking skills can positively affectmultiple areas of a persons life

C. Problem Solving Achieves Goals

Organization of subgoals: requires breaking the task down intosubgoals

Sudden insight: insight is the metaphorical mental lightbulb thatgoes on in someones head when he or she suddenly realizes thesolution to the problem

Kohler, Gestalt psychologist, chimpanzee bananas Normal Maier brought participants, two strings hanging from

ceiling, random objects on table

Problem solving, revise a mental representation to overcome anobstacle

Restructuring, representing in a novel way


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reasoner can come up with a valid but incorrect conclusion fi thepremises use terms inconsistently or ambiguously

Scheere gave participants a sheet of paper that had a a squareof nine dos on it, connect all dots with 4 straight lines

Mental sets: previous strategies that have worked in the past,

useful but often difficult to find the best solution ex: AbrahamLuchins

Our mental representations about objects typical functions canalso create difficulties in problem solving

Functional fixedness requires the problem solver to reinterpretan objects potential function

Common heuristic strategy is working backwards, findingappropriate analogy, transferring a problem solving strategy

Too much choice is unsatisfying, frustrating, and ultimatelydebilitating

Psychological reactance is peoples tendency to respond to beingtold what to do and not to do by wanting to do exactly what isforbidden to them, even if they had no strong preference beforetheir choices were restricted

Satisfiers and maximizers

Satisficers live according to good enough

Maximizers always seek to make the best possible choices,frustrated by the countless options available to them and feelparalyzed by indecision when they have to select betweenequally attractive choices, hesitate in making decisions, continueto analyze and question even after they have made their

selections, often ruminating about those selections negativefeatures-often more disappointed with their decisions and morelikely to experience regret

Pattern emerging in industrialized nations for young adults todelay decisions about these life stages for many years to findideal

Increase in clinical depression, take personal responsibility forthe disappointments, the trivial looms larger and larger and theconclusion is that you cant do anything right becomesdevastating

How Do We Understand Intelligence-intelligence: the human ability to use knowledge to reason, makedecisions, solve problems, understand complex ideas, learn quickly,and adapt to environmental challenges-intelligence related to speed of neural responses and the sensitivity ofthe sensory/perceptual systems (Galton)


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-psychometric approach: focuses on how people perform onstandardized achievement tests, examining what people know andtheir problem solving skills-Cognitive approach: examines the particular mental abilities that allowpeople to operate intelligently: how they process information, the

speed at which they react, the amount of information they can hold inmemory, and the extent to which they can stay focused on tasks-The biological approach: how the brain processes information and theextent to which difference sin brain activity are affected by genes andenvironmentA. Intelligence is Assessed with Psychometric Tests

Psychometric approach has become the most dominant andinfluential

Tests that focus on achievement assess current levels of skill andof knowledge

Aptitude tests examine whether people will be good at various

tasks in the future and may predict what jobs people might begood at

Alfred Binet developed the first method of assessing intelligenceto indentify children in the French school system who neededextra attention and special instruction

Test for measuring each childs vocabulary memory, skill withnumbers, and other mental abilities, the Binet Simon IntelligenceScale

Lewis Terman at Stanford modified the test Stanford Binet

David Wechsler developed the Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale(WAIS), verbal measures comprehension, performance involvesnon verbal tasks such as arranging pictures in proper order,assembling parts to make an object whole, identifying missingfeature

1) Intelligence Quotient

Mental age: an assessment of a childs intellectualstanding compared with that of same age peers

IQ (intelligence quotient) dividing a childsestimated mental age by the childs chronologicalage and multiplying the result by 100, avg is 100

The term IQ continues to be used, but the measured

is conceptualized differently because the formulabreaks down when used with adultls

Intelligence in the adult range is betterconceptualized as what someone knows relative tothe average adult and not to adults at different ages

Normal distribution bell curve2) Validity


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Intelligence is good indicator of doing well at school,complex career, fairly good predictor

IQ here means a score on a normed test ofintelligence, relative to those of a large number ofpeople who already took the test

People from privileged backgrounds tend to havehigher IQs, but other advantages like family contacts,access to internships and acceptance to schools thatcan cater to their need also help

Huge differences in how much people reportedworking as well as how much they were willing towork

3) Cultural Bias

Doing well on the IQ test requires knowing thelanguage and culture of the mainstream

What is adaptive in one society is not necessarilyadapted in others, use items that do not depend onlanguage, such as the performance measures on theWAIS, also patterns, most the proposed substitutesare also biased

B. General Intelligence Involves Multiple Components-factor analysis: a statistical technique that clusters items similar toone another the clusters are referred to as factors-Charles Spearman found that most intelligence test items tended tocluseter as one factor and that people who scored highly on one typeof item also tended to score highly on other types of items- general intelligence (g): factor that contributes to performance onany intellectual task, providing a single IQ score reflects the idea thatone general factor underlies intelligence

1) Fluid Versus Crystallized Intelligence

Raymond Cattell proposed that g consists of two types ofintelligence

Fluid intelligence involves information processing,especially in novel or complex circumstances, such asreasoning, drawing analogies, and thinking quickly, andflexibly, more like working memory

Often assessed in nonverbal, more culture faire

intelligence tests Crystallized intelligence: involves knowledge we acquire

through experience, such as vocabulary and culturalinformation, and the ability to use this knowledge to solveproblems, more liked LTM

2) Multiple Intelligences


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Gardner proposed a theory ofmultiple intelligences: theidea that people can show different skills in a variety ofdifferent domains

Bodily kinesthetic, linguistic, mathematical logical, spatial,intrapersonal (Self understanding) , and interpersonal

(social understanding) Sternberg proposed theory of three intelligences: (1)

Analytical, similar to that measured by psychometric testssuch as being good at problem sovling, completinganalogies, figuring out puzzles, and other academicchallenges (2) Creative intelligences: ability to gain insightand solve novel problems (3) practical intelligence: dealingwith everyday tasks

3) Emotional Intelligence

Emotional Intelligence (EQ): form of social intelligencethat emphasizes the ability to perceive, understand,

manage, and use emotions to guide thoughts and actions Consists of four abilities: (1) to manage ones own

emotions (2) to use ones own emotions to facilitateactivities (3) to recognize other peoples emotions (4) tounderstand emotional language

People high in EQ recognize emotional experience inthemselves and in others then respond to those emotionsproductively

Regulating ones mood, resisting both impulses andtemptations as appropriate and controlling ones behaviorare all important components of EQ

Emotional intelligence is correlated with the quality ofsocial relationships

The idea of EQ has had a large impact in schools, industry,and programs have been designed to increase studentsworkers EQ

4) Importance of G

G predicts not only performance in school and at work butalso longevity, low g is related to early death from causesincluding heart disease, diabetes, stroke, Alzheimersdisease, traffic accidents, and drowning

General intelligence, esp fluid intelligence seems to predictperformance in jobs that require fast and creative thinking

Gs main value is in allowing people to adapt quickly toenvironmental challenges and that the more complex thechallenge, the greater gs importance

Kanazawa suggests that general intelligence is onlyimportant in novel situations, ones level of intelligence


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does not matter for recurring adaptive challenges, so it haslittle influence over many aspects of daily human life

C. Intelligence is Associated with Cognitive Performance-intelligence is related to our brains efficiency as well as to keenperceptual skills

-Galton speculated that intelligent people have larger, more efficientbrains-intelligence, supported by low level cognitive processes, such asmental processing, working memory, and attention

1) Speed of Mental Processing

Simple reaction time might require a person to press acomuter key as quickly as possible whenever a stimulusappeas on the screen

Scores on IQ test are related even more strongly to thischoice reaction time

Inspection time tests-stimulus is presented and then

covered up how much viewing time does a particularperson require to determine which side A or B is longer

Additional evidence that highly intelligence peoples brainswork faster has been found by measuring brains electricalactivity in response to stimuli presentation

Intelligence and mental speed appears to be involved inthe greater longevity of people with high IQ

2) Working Memory

The link between working memory and intelligence may beattention

Importance of staying focused makes great sense in lightof the relationship between general intelligence and theaccomplishment of novel, complete tasks

Brain regions that support working memory are involved inintelligence

3) Brain Structure and Function

Volume of neuronal cell bodies (grey matter) in frontallobes and in other brain regions that support attentioncontrol is related to fluid intelligence but not to crystallizedintelligence

4) Savants

People who have minimal intellectual capacities in mostdomains but at a very early age show an exceptionalability in some intelligent process, such as related tomath, music, or art

Combination or prodigious memory and the inability tolearn seemingly basic tasks is a mystery

D. Genes and Environment Influence Intelligence-nature/nurture debate


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1) Behavioral Genetics

Genes help determine intelligence-but the extent to whichgenes do so is difficult to determine

Social multiplier: an environmental factor or an entireenvironment that increases what might have started as a

small advantage intelligence gene has eluded researchers because

thousands of genes contribute to intelligence and each hasonly a small effect

Destroying specific genes (knockout genes) or replacingselected genes with other ones (knockin genes)

Mice who were superlearners possibility of designerbabies genetically engineered to be smarter

2) Environmental Factors

Poor nutrition can affect brain development and decreaseintelligence

Prenatal factors and postnatal factors

Firstborns tend to have lightly higher IQs than later bornechildren (environmental probably)

IQ scores have risedn dramatically during the last centuryof intelligence testing: Flyn effect

Genes could not have changed much during this period,increase is due to environmental factors

Every generation need more education that theprecededing one and since work and leisure activitiesrequire more complex cognitive processing than in earlier

years, cognitive abilities escalate within the span of onegeneration

Other explanations include better nutrition, healthcare,refinement of educational methods, longer school yrs,smaller families, exposure to tech

E. Gene Differences in Intelligence have Multiple Determinants

Gender: no evidence for difference between g, but females dotend to underestimate their intelligence compared to males

Race: given the importance of intelligence to educational andcareer attainment, claims that some groups are superior toothers require close scrutiny about us important to discuss

controversial and sensitive topics with an eye to being as fair aspossible

race is a biologically meaningful concept? Most genes areidentical

On avg African Americans have very different life circumstancesthan do white Americans, make less money, more likely to live inpoverty


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Stereotype threat: the apprehension or fear that they wouldconfirm negative stereotypes about their racial groups

Brain basis of stereotype threat expands our understanding ofthe way negative stereotypes decrease performance, even fortalented members of negatively stereotyped groups

ch 8 thinking and intelligence

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