ASSIGNMENT II – PSYCHOLOGY

RIYA SINGH
19FLICDDNO1106

1) SHORT NOTES

a) Algorithms - An algorithm is a problem-solving formula that provides you with step-by-

step instructions used to achieve a desired outcome. An algorithm is a detailed series of
instructions for carrying out an operation or solving a problem. In a non-technical approach,
we use algorithms in everyday tasks, such as a recipe to bake a cake or a do-it-yourself
handbook. Technically, computers use algorithms to list the detailed instructions for carrying
out an operation. For example, to compute an employee’s pay check, the computer uses an
algorithm. To accomplish this task, appropriate data must be entered into the system. In terms
of efficiency, various algorithms are able to accomplish operations or problem solving easily
and quickly. An algorithm is also used to manipulate data in various ways, such as inserting a
new data item, searching for a particular item or sorting an item.

b) Heuristic - A heuristic method is an approach to finding a solution to a problem that

originates from the ancient Greek word ‘eurisko’, meaning to ‘find’, ‘search’ or ‘discover’. It
is about using a practical method that doesn’t necessarily need to be perfect. Heuristic
methods speed up the process of reaching a satisfactory solution. Another useful heuristic is
the practice of accomplishing a large goal or task by breaking it into a series of smaller steps.
Students often use this common method to complete a large research project or long essay for
college. For example, students typically brainstorm, develop a thesis or main topic, research
the chosen topic, organize their information into an outline, write a rough draft, revise and
edit the rough draft, develop a final draft, organize the references list, and proofread their
work before turning in the project. The large task becomes less overwhelming when it is
broken down into a series of small steps.

c) Artificial Intelligence - Artificial intelligence is a branch of computer science that aims

to create intelligent machines. It has become an essential part of the technology industry.
Research associated with artificial intelligence is highly technical and specialized. The core
problems of artificial intelligence include programming computers for certain traits such as:

 Knowledge
 Reasoning
 Problem solving
 Perception
 Learning
 Planning
  Ability to manipulate and move objects

Knowledge engineering is a core part of AI research. Machines can often act and react like
humans only if they have abundant information relating to the world. Artificial intelligence
must have access to objects, categories, properties and relations between all of them to
implement knowledge engineering. Initiating common sense, reasoning and problem-solving
power in machines is a difficult and tedious task. Machine learning is also a core part of AI.
Learning without any kind of supervision requires an ability to identify patterns in streams of
inputs, whereas learning with adequate supervision involves classification and numerical
regressions.

d) Cognition - Cognition is defined as ‘the mental action or process of acquiring knowledge

and understanding through thought, experience, and the senses.’ At Cambridge Cognition we
look at it as the mental processes relating to the input and storage of information and how that
information is then used to guide your behaviour. It is in essence, the ability to perceive and
react, process and understand, store and retrieve information, make decisions and produce
appropriate responses. The modern word ‘cognition’ actually has its roots back to Latin, the
word ‘cognoscere’ which is to ‘get to know’. With that in mind, cognitive functioning is
therefore critical for day-to-day life, governing our thoughts and actions. We need cognition
to help us understand information about the world around us and interact safely with our
environment, as the sensory information we receive is vast and complicated: cognition is
needed to distill all this information down to its essentials.

e) g-factor and s-factor - General intelligence, also known as g factor, refers to the
existence of a broad mental capacity that influences performance on cognitive ability
measures. Charles Spearman first described the existence of general intelligence in 1904.
According to Spearman, this g factor was responsible for overall performance on mental
ability tests. Spearman noted that while people certainly could and often did excel in certain
areas, people who did well in one area tended also to do well in other areas. For example, a
person who does well on a verbal test would probably also do well on other tests.

S Factor: Every individual possess some specific abilities and usually gets success in the
same. Eg, Singing, Painting etc. People can also have more than one special ability in varying
degrees. One form of specific ability may not help in other one. Eg, if you are a very good
painter and you can also sing well, doesn’t mean your painting ability helps you in singing.
These abilities can also be learned, acquired and strengthened.

2) CRITICAL ANALYSIS
a) Triarchic theory - The triarchic theory of intelligence was formulated by
Robert Sternberg in the 1980s. The theory attempts to understand the human
intelligence in terms of distinct components rather than a single ability.
 The tri-archic theory by Sternberg categorized intelligence into three different
aspects.
 Componential – Analytic skills
 Experiential – Creativity
 Practical – Contextual skills
Before Sternberg, general intelligence was the idea that dominated most of the
intelligence theories. However, Sternberg believed intelligence to be a much more
complex subject matter, which leads him to propose a theory dealing with the
cognitive approach to intelligence theory rather than a behaviouristic view point.
He believed that a person’s adaptation to the changing environment and his
contribution of knowledge in shaping the world around them had a significant
importance in determining their intelligence. Sternberg also argued that intelligent
tests were wrong to ignore creativity, and there are always other important
characteristics like cognitive processes, performance components, planning and
decision making skills, and so on. The major criticism about the Triarchic theory
of intelligence has been regarding its unempirical nature. Psychologist Linda
Gottfredson argued that it’s not accurate to assume traditional IQ tests do not
measure practical intelligences. Researches have shown people with high IQ to
have reached higher in their career, have higher income. Also, traditional
analytical intelligence also showed correlation with staying alive and out of jail,
which is generally categorized as practical intelligence or street smarts.

b) The Guilford’s SI Model - According to Guilford’s Structure of Intellect (SI)

theory, an individual’s performance on intelligence tests can be traced back to the
underlying mental abilities or factors of intelligence. SI theory comprises up to
150 different intellectual abilities organized along three dimensions—
 Operations,
 Content,
 Products.
Guilford’s approach is rejected by intelligence researchers who support the
existence of a general factor of mental ability. For example, according to Jensen
(1998), Guilford’s contention that a g-factor was untenable was probably
influenced by his observation that a considerable number of cognitive tests of U.S.
Air Force personnel did not show correlations that were significantly different
from zero. However, Jensen states that according to later reanalyses, this resulted
from artifacts such as sampling errors, restriction of range, and measurement
errors. With proper corrections for these artifacts, all of the correlations in
Guilford’s data sets are positive. The structure-of-intellect (SI) theory is evaluated
within a framework of considerations of capitalization on chance. This empirical
problem is placed in a larger perspective of concern for the general conceptual
value of the theory in the study of human intelligence. The factor analytic support
for the theory is found to be lacking in several notable respects. At best the
 research intended to support the model must be considered exploratory. But the
model has provided a useful scheme for test construction and for indicating
interesting hypotheses about qualities of intellect. Even in this context, however,
there are several problems with the theory. The theory provides only a static
taxonomy and thus affords very limited possibilities for understanding
developmental issues.

c) Emotional Intelligence and its relevance’s. - Emotional intelligence (EI) is a

relatively new and growing area of behavioural research, having caught the imagination of
the general public, the commercial world, and the scientific community. Emotional
intelligence also connects with several cutting-edge areas of psychological science, including
the neuroscience of emotion, self-regulation theory, studies of metacognition, and the search
for human cognitive abilities beyond “traditional” academic intelligence. According to
Emmerling & Goleman, there are various definitions of EI that are complementary to each
other; each one aims at understanding one‘s own and others emotions. In 1990, Salovey &
Mayer coined the term ―Emotional Intelligence and they defined Emotional Intelligence as a
subset of social intelligence that involves the ability to monitor one's own and others‘ feelings
and emotions to discriminate among them and to use this information to guide one‘s thinking
and actions. Researchers studied 152 Vietnam veterans with combat-related brain injuries to
create the first detailed map of the brain regions that contribute to what’s called emotional
intelligence. The study found that there’s significant overlap between general intelligence and
emotional intelligence, both in terms of behaviour and where it happens in the brain. Higher
scores on general intelligence tests corresponded significantly with higher performance on
measures of emotional intelligence, and many of the same brain regions were found to be
important to both.

d) Thurstone’s Primary Mental Abilities - In contradiction to Thorndike’s theory of

multifactor, Thurstone states that intellectual performance or activities cannot be expression
of highly specific factors as in Thorndike’s Theory. This theory is more near to the
Spearman’s theory. Unlikely, Thurstone made a group of those ‘certain’ mental operations
which have in common primary factor (Thurstone, 1938). These primary factors lead
individuals to psychological & functional unity. This functional/psychological unity found
different for different mental operations. The set of mental operation is called ‘group’.
Another group has its own ‘primary’ factor which is unified. Thurstone’s theory of
intelligence centered on the existence of Primary Mental Abilities (PMA). His approach was
in direct contrast with Spearman’s theory of general intelligence. Thurstone felt that
differences in the results of intellectual tasks could be attributed to one or more of seven
independent abilities. These seven abilities were named Space, Verbal Comprehension, Word
Fluency, Number Facility, Induction, Perceptual Speed, Deduction, Rote Memory, and
Arithmetic Reasoning.
The Space PMA represents the ability to recognize that two shapes are the same when one
has been rotated. Perceptual Speed is the ability to recognize similarities and differences
between pairs of stimuli. Verbal Comprehension involves recognizing synonyms and
antonyms. Induction requires establishing a rule or pattern within a given set. Deduction
involves drawing a logical inference from a set of facts or premises.

e) Relationship between Creativity and Intelligence. - The relationship between

intelligence and creativity has been subject to empirical research for decades. Nevertheless,
there is yet no consensus on how these constructs are related. One of the most prominent
notions concerning the interplay between intelligence and creativity is the threshold
hypothesis, which assumes that above-average intelligence represents a necessary condition
for high-level creativity. While earlier research mostly supported the threshold hypothesis, it
has come under fire in recent investigations. The threshold hypothesis is commonly
investigated by splitting a sample at a given threshold (e.g., at 120 IQ points) and estimating
separate correlations for lower and upper IQ ranges. However, there is no compelling reason
why the threshold should be fixed at an IQ of 120, and to date, no attempts have been made
to detect the threshold empirically. Therefore, this study examined the relationship between
intelligence and different indicators of creative potential and of creative achievement by
means of segmented regression analysis in a sample of 297 participants. Segmented
regression allows for the detection of a threshold in continuous data by means of iterative
computational algorithms. For the former the thresholds varied as a function of criteria: When
investigating a liberal criterion of ideational originality (i.e., two original ideas), a threshold
was detected at around 100 IQ points. In contrast, a threshold of 120 IQ points emerged when
the criterion was more demanding (i.e., many original ideas). Moreover, an IQ of around 85
IQ points was found to form the threshold for a purely quantitative measure of creative
potential (i.e., ideational fluency). These results confirm the threshold hypothesis for
qualitative indicators of creative potential and may explain some of the observed
discrepancies in previous research. In addition, we obtained evidence that once the
intelligence threshold is met, personality factors become more predictive for creativity. On
the contrary, no threshold was found for creative achievement, i.e. creative achievement
benefits from higher intelligence even at fairly high levels of intellectual ability.

3) ANALYSIS ON DOES LANGUAGE DIRECT THOUGHT OR

DOES THOUGHT DIRECT LANGUAGE?
Language changes as attitudes change, and sometimes politicians, pressure groups, and others
attempt to change the language to change the attitudes—but, on the whole, language, or at
least grammar, serves to preserve the status quo, to crystallize the order and culture that it
reflects. Language may not determine thought, but it focuses perception and attention on
particular aspects of reality, structures and enhances cognitive processes, and even to some
extent regulates social relationships. Our language reflects and at the same time shapes our
thoughts and, ultimately, our culture, which in turn shapes our thoughts and language. The
role of language for development and the relationship between language and thought.
Thought comes before language, which is only one of its forms of expression. The formation
of thought basically depends on the coordination of sensory motor schemes and not of
language. This can occur only after the child has reached a certain level of mental abilities,
subordinating herself, to the thought processes. The language allows the child to evoke an
object or event absent at the communication of concepts. However, it established a clear
separation between the information that can be passed through language and processes that
do not seem to suffer any influence of it. This is the case of cognitive operations that cannot
be worked by means of specific training done with the aid of language. For example, you
cannot teach, just using words, to classify, to serialize, to think with reversibility. As for
Vygotsky, thought and language are interdependent processes, from the beginning of life.
The acquisition of language by the child modifies its higher mental functions: it gives a
definite shape to thought, enables the emergence of imagination, the memory usage and the
action planning. In this sense, language, systematizes the direct experience of children and
therefore acquires a central role in cognitive development, reorganizing processes that are
ongoing.