EXPLORING PSYCHOLOGY

(8th Edition) David Myers

PowerPoint Slides Aneeq Ahmad Henderson State University

Worth Publishers, 2011

Thinking, Language, and Intelligence

Chapter 9
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Thinking, Language, and Intelligence

Thinking
Concepts Solving Problems

Making Decisions and Forming Judgments

THINKING CRITICALLY ABOUT: The Fear FactorDo We Fear the Right Things?
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Language
Language Development Thinking in Images Animal Thinking and Language

Intelligence
What is Intelligence?
Assessing Intelligence

CLOSE-UP: Extremes of Intelligence

Genetic and Environmental Influence on Intelligence Group Differences in Intelligence Test Scores
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Thinking
Thinking, or cognition, refers to a process that involves knowing, understanding, remembering, and communicating.

Cognitive Psychologists
Thinking involves a number of mental activities, which are listed below. Cognitive psychologists study these in great detail.

1. 2. 3. 4.

Concepts Problem solving Decision making Judgment formation

Concepts
The mental grouping of similar objects, events, ideas, or people. There are a variety of chairs but their common features define the concept of a chair.

Category Hierarchies
We organize concepts into category hierarchies.

Courtesy of Christine Brune

Development of Concepts
We form some concepts with definitions. For example, a triangle has three sides. Mostly, we form concepts with mental images or typical examples (prototypes). For example, a robin is a prototype of a bird, but a penguin is not.
J. Messerschmidt/ The Picture Cube

Daniel J. Cox/ Getty Images

Triangle (definition)

Bird (mental image)

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Problem Solving
Problem solving strategies include:
1. 2. 3. 4. Trial and Error Algorithms Heuristics Insight

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Algorithms
Algorithms, which are very time consuming, exhaust all possibilities before arriving at a solution. Computers use algorithms.

SPLOYOCHYG
If we were to unscramble these letters to form a word using an algorithmic approach, we would face 907,200 possibilities.
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Heuristics
Heuristics are simple, thinking strategies that allow us to make judgments and solve problems efficiently. Heuristics are less time consuming, but more error-prone than algorithms.

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B2M Productions/Digital Version/Getty Images

Heuristics
Heuristics make it easier for us to use simple principles to arrive at solutions to problems.

SPLOYOCHYG S P L O HO C H G Y PSYCY OLO

Put a Y at the end, and see if the word begins to make sense.
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Insight
Insight involves a sudden novel realization of a solution to a problem. Humans and animals have insight.

Grande using boxes to obtain food

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Insight
Brain imaging and EEG studies suggest that when an insight strikes (the Aha experience), it activates the right temporal cortex (JungBeeman & others, 2004). The time between not knowing the solution and realizing it is about 0.3 seconds.
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From Mark Jung-Beekman, Northwestern University and John Kounios, Drexel University

Obstacles in Solving Problems

Confirmation Bias: A tendency to search for information that confirms a personal bias.

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Rule: Any ascending series of numbers. 1 2 3 would comply. Wasons students had difficulty figuring out the rule due to a confirmation bias (Wason, 1960).
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Fixation
Fixation: An inability to see a problem from a fresh perspective. This impedes problem solving. An example of fixation is functional fixedness.
From Problem Solving by M. Scheerer. Copyright 1963 by Scientific American, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

The Matchstick Problem: How would you arrange six matches to form four equilateral triangles?
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Using these materials, how would you mount the candle on a bulletin board?

Candle-Mounting Problem

From Problem Solving by M. Scheerer. Copyright 1963 by Scientific American, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

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The Matchstick Problem: Solution

From Problem Solving by M. Scheerer. Copyright 1963 by Scientific American, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

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Candle-Mounting Problem: Solution

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Making Decision & Forming Judgments

Each day we make hundreds of judgments and decisions based on our intuition, seldom using systematic reasoning.

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Using and Misusing Heuristics

Two kinds of heuristics, representative heuristics and availability heuristics, have been identified by cognitive psychologists.

Courtesy of Greymeyer Award, University of Louisville and the Tversky family

Courtesy of Greymeyer Award, University of Louisville and Daniel Kahneman

Amos Tversky

Daniel Kahneman

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Representativeness Heuristic
Judging the likelihood of things or objects in terms of how well they seem to represent, or match, a particular prototype.

If you meet a slim, short, man who wears glasses Probability that that do you think his profession and likes poetry, whatperson is a truck driver is far greater than an ivy league professor just because would be? there are more truck drivers than such professors. An Ivy league professor or a truck driver?
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Availability Heuristic
Why does our availability heuristic lead us astray? Whatever increases the ease of retrieving information increases its perceived availability. How is retrieval facilitated? 1. How recently we have heard about the event. 2. How distinct it is. 3. How correct it is.
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Overconfidence
Intuitive heuristics, confirmation of beliefs, and the inclination to explain failures increase our overconfidence. Overconfidence is a tendency to overestimate the accuracy of our beliefs and judgments.
In the stock market, both the seller and the buyer may be confident about their decisions on a stock.
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Exaggerated Fear
The opposite of having overconfidence is having an exaggerated fear about what may happen. Such fears may be unfounded.
AP/ Wide World Photos

The 9/11 attacks led to a decline in air travel due to fear.

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The Effects of Framing

Decisions and judgments may be significantly affected depending upon how an issue is framed.

Example: What is the best way to market ground beef as 25% fat or 75% lean?

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The Belief Perseverance Phenomenon

Belief perseverance is the tendency to cling to our beliefs in the face of contrary evidence.

If you see that a country is hostile, you are likely to interpret their ambiguous actions as a sign of hostility (Jervis, 1985).

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Perils & Powers of Intuition

Intuition may be perilous if unchecked, but may also be extremely efficient and adaptive.

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Language
Language, our spoken, written, or gestured work, is the way we communicate meaning to ourselves and others.

M. & E. Bernheim/ Woodfin Camp & Associates

Language transmits culture.

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Language Development
Children learn their native languages much before learning to add 2+2. We learn, on average (after age 1), 3,500 words a year, amassing 60,000 words by the time we graduate from high school.

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Time Life Pictures/ Getty Images

When do we learn language?

Babbling Stage: Beginning at 4 months, the infant spontaneously utters various sounds, like ahgoo. Babbling is not imitation of adult speech.

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When do we learn language?

One-Word Stage: Beginning at or around his first birthday, a child starts to speak one word at a time and is able to make family members understand him. The word doggy may mean look at the dog out there.

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When do we learn language?

Two-Word Stage: Before the 2nd year, a child starts to speak in two-word sentences. This form of speech is called telegraphic speech because the child speaks like a telegram: Go car, means I would like to go for a ride in the car.

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When do we learn language?

Longer phrases: After telegraphic speech, children begin uttering longer phrases (Mommy get ball) with syntactical sense, and by early elementary school they are employing humor. You never starve in the desert because of all the sand-which-is there.

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When do we learn language?

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Explaining Language Development

1. Operant Learning: Skinner (1957, 1985) believed that language development may be explained on the basis of learning principles such as association, imitation, and reinforcement.

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Explaining Language Development

2. Inborn Universal Grammar: Chomsky (1959, 1987) opposed Skinners ideas and suggested that the rate of language acquisition is so fast that it cannot be explained through learning principles, and thus most of it is inborn.

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Explaining Language Development

Childhood is a critical period for fully developing certain aspects of language. Children never exposed to any language (spoken or signed) by about age 7 gradually lose their ability to master any language.

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Eye of Science/ Photo Researchers, Inc.

Michael Newman/ Photo Edit, Inc.

Genes, Brain, & Language

Genes design the mechanisms for a language, and experience modifies the brain.
David Hume Kennerly/ Getty Images

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Critical Period
Learning new languages gets harder with age.

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Thinking & Language

Language and thinking intricately intertwine.

Rubber Ball/ Almay

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Language Influences Thinking

Linguistic Determinism: Whorf (1956) suggested that language determines the way we think. For example, he noted that the Hopi people do not have the past tense for verbs. Therefore, the Hopi cannot think readily about the past.

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Language Influences Thinking

When a language provides words for objects or events, we can think about these objects more clearly and remember them. It is easier to think about two colors with two different names (A) than colors with the same name (B) (zgen, 2004).

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Word Power
Increasing word power pays its dividends. It helps explain the bilingual advantage of bilingual children to inhibit one language while using another.

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Thinking in Images
To a large extent thinking is language-based. When alone, we may talk to ourselves. However, we also think in images.

We dont think in words, when: 1. When we open the hot water tap. 2. When we are riding our bicycle.
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Images and Brain

Imagining a physical activity activates the same brain regions as when actually performing the activity.

Jean Duffy Decety, September 2003

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Language and Thinking

Traffic runs both ways between language and thinking.

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Animal Thinking & Language

Do animals have a language?

Honey bees communicate by dancing. The dance moves clearly indicate the direction of the nectar.

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Do Animals Think?
Common cognitive skills in humans and apes include the following:

1. 2. 3. 4.

Concept Formation Insight Problem Solving Culture

William Munoz

African grey parrot assorts red blocks from green balls.

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Insight
Chimpanzees show insightful behavior when solving problems.

Sultan uses sticks to get food.

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Problem Solving

Apes are, much like us, shaped by reinforcement when solving problems.

Chimpanzee fishing for ants.

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Courtesy of Jennifer Byrne, c/o Richard Byrne, Department of Psychology, University of St. Andrews, Scotland

Animal Culture
Animals display customs and culture that are learned and transmitted over generations.
Michael Nichols/ National Geographic Society

Copyright Amanda K Coakes

Dolphins using sponges as forging tools.

Chimpanzee mother using and teaching a young how to use a stone hammer. 54

Do Animals Exhibit Language?

There is no doubt that animals communicate. Vervet monkeys, whales and even honey bees communicate with members of their species and other species.
Rico (collie) has a 200-word vocabulary

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Copyright Baus/ Kreslowski

The Case of Apes

Gardner and Gardner (1969) used American Sign Language (ASL) to train Washoe, a chimp, who learned 181 signs by the age of 32.

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Gestured Communication
Animals, like humans, exhibit communication through gestures. It is possible that vocal speech developed from gestures during the course of evolution.

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But Can Apes Really Talk?

1. 2. Apes acquire their limited vocabularies with a great deal of difficulty, unlike children who develop vocabularies at amazing rates. Chimpanzees can make signs to receive a reward, just as a pigeon who pecks at the key receives a reward. However, pigeons have not learned a language. Chimpanzees use signs meaningfully but lack human syntax. Presented with ambiguous information, people tend to see what they want to see (perceptual set).
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3. 4.

Sign Language
American Sign Language (ASL) is instrumental in teaching chimpanzees a form of communication.

When asked, this chimpanzee uses a sign to say it is a baby.

Paul Fusco/ Magnum Photos

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Syntax Comprehension
Others have shown that pygmy chimpanzees can develop even greater vocabularies and perhaps semantic nuances in learning a language (Savage-Rumbaugh, 1993). Kanzi (shown below) developed vocabulary for hundreds of words and phrases.

Copyright of Great Ape Trust of Iowa

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Conclusions
If we say that animals can use meaningful sequences of signs to communicate a capability for language, our understanding would be naive Steven Pinker (1995) concludes, chimps do not develop language.

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Intelligence
Do we have an inborn general mental capacity (intelligence)? If so, can we quantify this capacity as a meaningful number?

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What is Intelligence?
Intelligence (in all cultures) is the ability to learn from experience, solve problems, and use our knowledge to adapt to new situations.

In research studies, intelligence is whatever the intelligence test measures. This tends to be school smarts.

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Intelligence: Ability or Abilities?

Have you ever thought that since peoples mental abilities are so diverse, it may not be justifiable to label those abilities with only one word, intelligence?

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General Intelligence
The idea that general intelligence (g) exists comes from the work of Charles Spearman (1863-1945) who helped develop the factor analysis approach in statistics.

Athleticism, like intelligence, is many things

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General Intelligence
Spearman proposed that general intelligence (g) is linked to many clusters that can be analyzed by factor analysis.

For example, people who do well on vocabulary examinations do well on paragraph comprehension examinations, a cluster that helps define verbal intelligence. Other factors include a spatial ability factor, or a reasoning ability factor.
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Contemporary Intelligence Theories

Howard Gardner (1983, 1999) supports the idea that intelligence comes in multiple forms. Gardner notes that brain damage may diminish one type of ability but not others.

People with savant syndrome excel in abilities unrelated to general intelligence.

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Howard Gardner
Gardner proposes eight types of intelligences and speculates about a ninth one existential intelligence. Existential intelligence is the ability to think about the question of life, death and existence.

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Robert Sternberg
Sternberg (1985, 1999, 2003) also agrees with Gardner, but suggests three intelligences rather than eight.
1. 2. Analytical Intelligence: Intelligence that is assessed by intelligence tests. Creative Intelligence: Intelligence that makes us adapt to novel situations, generating novel ideas. Practical Intelligence: Intelligence that is required for everyday tasks (e.g. street smarts).
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3.

Intelligence and Creativity

Creativity is the ability to produce ideas that are both novel and valuable. It correlates somewhat with intelligence.
1. 2. 3. Expertise: A well-developed knowledge base. Imaginative Thinking: The ability to see things in novel ways. A Venturesome Personality: A personality that seeks new experiences rather than following the pack. Intrinsic Motivation: A motivation to be creative from within. A Creative Environment: A creative and supportive 70 environment allows creativity to bloom.

4.
5.

Emotional Intelligence
Emotional intelligence is the ability to perceive, understand, and use emotions (Salovey and others, 2005). The test of emotional intelligence measures overall emotional intelligence and its four components.

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Emotional Intelligence: Components

Component
Perceive emotion Understand emotion Manage emotion Use emotion

Description
Recognize emotions in faces, music and stories Predict emotions, how they change and blend Express emotions in different situations Utilize emotions to adapt or be creative

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Emotional Intelligence: Criticism

Gardner and others criticize the idea of emotional intelligence and question whether we stretch this idea of intelligence too far when we apply it to our emotions.

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Assessing Intelligence
Psychologists define intelligence testing as a method for assessing an individuals mental aptitudes and comparing them with others using numerical scores.

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Alfred Binet
Alfred Binet and his colleague Thodore Simon practiced a more modern form of intelligence testing by developing questions that would predict childrens future progress in the Paris school system.
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Lewis Terman
In the US, Lewis Terman adapted Binets test for American school children and named the test the Stanford-Binet Test. The following is the formula of Intelligence Quotient (IQ), introduced by William Stern:
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David Wechsler
Wechsler developed the Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale (WAIS) and later the Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children (WISC), an intelligence test for school-aged children.

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WAIS
WAIS measures overall intelligence and 11 other aspects related to intelligence that are designed to assess clinical and educational problems.

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Principles of Test Construction

For a psychological test to be acceptable it must fulfill the following three criteria: 1. Standardization 2. Reliability 3. Validity

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Standardization
Standardizing a test involves administering the test to a representative sample of future test takers in order to establish a basis for meaningful comparison.

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Normal Curve
Standardized tests establish a normal distribution of scores on a tested population in a bell-shaped pattern called the normal curve.

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Reliability
A test is reliable when it yields consistent results. To establish reliability researchers establish different procedures:
1. Split-half Reliability: Dividing the test into two equal halves and assessing how consistent the scores are. Test-Retest Reliability: Using the same test on two occasions to measure consistency.

2.

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Validity
Reliability of a test does not ensure validity. Validity of a test refers to what the test is supposed to measure or predict.
1.
2.

Content Validity: Refers to the extent a test measures a particular behavior or trait. Predictive Validity: Refers to the function of a test in predicting a particular behavior or trait.

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Extremes of Intelligence
A valid intelligence test divides two groups of people into two extremes: the mentally retarded (IQ 70) and individuals with high intelligence (IQ 135). These two groups are significantly different.

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High Intelligence
Contrary to popular belief, people with high intelligence test scores tend to be healthy, well adjusted, and unusually successful academically.

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Mental Retardation
Mentally retarded individuals required constant supervision a few decades ago, but with a supportive family environment and special education they can now care for themselves.

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Flynn Effect
In the past 60 years, intelligence scores have risen steadily by an average of 27 points. This phenomenon is known as the Flynn effect.

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Genetic and Environmental Influences on Intelligence

No other topic in psychology is so passionately followed as the one that asks the question, Is intelligence due to genetics or environment?

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Genetic Influences
Studies of twins, family members, and adopted children together support the idea that there is a significant genetic contribution to intelligence.

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Adoption Studies
Adopted children show a marginal correlation in verbal ability to their adopted parents.

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Heritability
The variation in intelligence test scores attributable to genetics. We credit heredity with 50% of the variation in intelligence.

It pertains only to why people differ from one another, not to the individual.

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Environmental Influences
Studies of twins and adopted children also show the following: 1. Fraternal twins raised together tend to show similarity in intelligence scores. 2. Identical twins raised apart show slightly less similarity in their intelligence scores.

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Early Intervention Effects

Early neglect from caregivers leads children to develop a lack of personal control over the environment, and it impoverishes their intelligence.

Romanian orphans with minimal human interaction are delayed in their development.

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Schooling Effects
Schooling is an experience that pays dividends, which is reflected in intelligence scores. Increased schooling correlates with higher intelligence scores.

To increase readiness for schoolwork, projects like Head Start facilitate leaning.

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Group Differences in Intelligence Test Scores

Why do groups differ in intelligence? How can we make sense of these differences?

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Ethnic Similarities and Differences

To discuss this issue we begin with two disturbing but agreed upon facts: 1. Racial groups differ in their average intelligence scores. 2. High-scoring people (and groups) are more likely to attain high levels of education and income.

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Racial (Group) Differences

If we look at racial differences, white Americans score higher in average intelligence than black Americans (Avery and others, 1994). European New Zealanders score higher than native New Zealanders (Braden, 1994).
White-Americans
Average IQ = 100

Black-Americans
Average IQ = 85

Hispanic Americans

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Environmental Effects
Differences in intelligence among these groups are largely environmental, as if one environment is more fertile in developing these abilities than the other.

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Reasons Why Environment Affects Intelligence

1. 2. 3. 4. Races are remarkably alike genetically. Race is a social category. Asian students outperform North American students on math achievement and aptitude tests. Todays better prepared populations would outperform populations of the 1930s on intelligence tests. White and black infants tend to score equally well on tests predicting future intelligence. Different ethnic groups have experienced periods of remarkable achievement in different eras.
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5. 6.

Gender Similarities and Differences

There are seven ways in which males and females differ in various abilities.
1. Girls are better spellers

2. Girls are verbally fluent and have large vocabularies

3. Girls are better at locating objects

4. Girls are more sensitive to touch, taste, and color

5. Boys outnumber girls in counts of underachievement

6. Boys outperform girls at math problem solving, but under perform at math computation
7. Women detect emotions more easily than men do
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The Question of Bias

Aptitude tests are necessarily biased in the sense that they are sensitive to performance differences caused by cultural differences.

However, aptitude tests are not biased in the sense that they accurately predict performance of one group over the other.

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Test-Takers Expectations
A stereotype threat is a self-confirming concern that one will be evaluated based on a negative stereotype. This phenomenon appears in some instances in intelligence testing among African-Americans and among women of all colors.

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