Cognition and Intelligence

1. Chapters 7 and 8 Cognition and Intelligence

2. What is Cognition? • Cognition is our ability to think… • Organize thoughts • Solve problems • Think rationally • Imagine an image in our mind • Construct sentences • Make decisions

3. How are our thoughts organized? • Schema • Mental framework to help us organize thoughts • Popular Schemas (aka Schemata): • School- What does this include? What is expected of you? How does it look? • Others? • “Concepts” are examples of schemata

4. How are our thoughts organized? • Concepts • Mental categories for classifying specific people, things, or events • Allow us to group new experiences with old ones… Like placing all socks (soccer socks, ankle socks, stockings) into one drawer • Prototypes- a member of a concept with the most typical features • Can help us to make quick decisions about new experiences.. Does it fit into this concept because it resembles the stereotype? • “Protypical” genius… does the jock “align”? • Stereotypes?

5. Concepts and Prototypes • Which do you see as the most “typical” example of the concept dog?

6. How do we solve problems? • How do we solve problems? • Interpretation • Strategy • Evaluation

7. Interpretation of the Problem • First step= Problem Representation • Interpreting or defining the problem • What is the cause of this issue? • I.E. Gun violence in the U.S. • Verbal vs. Visual • How can I approach this problem? Should I write it down? Draw a picture? Chart? Graph? Web? • I.E. Identifying correlations between murderers, weapons, SES background, mental health- VISUALLY • Gaining expertise consists of your ability to represent and categorize problems so that they can be solved quickly and effectively • i.e. calling football plays, making chess moves, etc… you can practice!!!

8. Now for the solving: Strategies • Trial and error- • Works best when there are a limited amount of choices otherwise it is too time consuming • i.e. trying different keys to open a lock • Information retrieval- • recalling how problems were solved in the past.. Can help or hinder! • i.e. how do other countries solve violence issues? • **problem: could the issue be the result of something different? Back to problem representation.

9. Strategies (cont.) • Algorithms- • guarantees a solution but can be tedious • Heuristics- rules of thumb; no guaranteed solution • Hill climbing- moving towards goal (process of elimination) • Subgoals- break problem into small, more manageable parts • Means-end analysis- looking at the whole picture; more flexible than hill-climbing • Working backward- knowing goal and working backwards from there (shopping?)

10. Obstacles to Problem-Solving • Motivation • Emotional Arousal • Mental Set- our tendency to approach a problem in a certain way but that excludes different approaches to a problem • Need flexibility!! • Functional Fixedness- assigned meaning to a problem **Abandoning the problem for a while may lead to insight upon return (i.e. Incubation)

11. Return to your Worksheet! • What problem solving devices did you use? • What obstacles did you encounter? • Other real world examples? • How can you use this to make better decisions in the future?

12. Decisions- How do we make them? • Compensatory Model • Rational decision-making model in which choices are systematically evaluated on various criteria • i.e. pros and cons, ratings • Non-compensatory • “going with your gut” • Role of emotion/intuition • Not willing to allow one feature your decision “make up for” another, lacking feature of your decision

13. Decisions- How do we make them? • Representativeness • A heuristic by which a new situation is judged on the basis of its resemblance to a stereotypical model • Who is sensitive, smart, and creative: football player or stage actor? • Availability • A judgment or decision is based on information that is most easily retrieved from memory • How fresh is something in your mind? • Are there more words that start with “r” or have “r” as the third letter? • Jackie was cruel to you three weeks ago but did you a favor yesterday… which is more “available”?

14. Put your Decision Making Skills to the Test! • Read the decision-making scenarios and employ your devices, making sure you try to avoid the heuristics that may lead you astray!

15. Decision Making Cont. • Confirmation Bias- The tendency to look for evidence in support of a belief and to ignore evidence that would disprove this believe. • “All short people have “Napoleon Complexes” • Other stereotypes?? • Framing • Perspective or phrasing of information that is used to make a decision (how it is presented) • “This contraceptive is 90% effective” • “You have a 1 in 10 chance of getting pregnant” • You are at risk of losing something vs. have the opportunity to gain something? (i.e. gambling)

16. Decisions Under Pressure • Stress causes decision making to deteriorate • Training under emergency situations is critical to prepare people for efficient and effective decision making in unanticipated situations • Emotion can also hinder decisions • Amygdala is active! It is up to your Frontal Lobe to calm it down!

17. Explaining Our Decisions • Hindsight bias- • Tendency to view outcomes as inevitable and predictable after we know the outcome and to believe we could have or did predict what happened • “Hindsight is 20:20” • Counterfactual thinking • Imagined alternatives… “If only….” • Attempts to reverse a course of events that led to a negative experience; explaining atypical or abnormal events, etc to regain sense of control”

18. What Happens When We Are Wrong? • Overconfidence- • we are more confident about our thoughts and our experiences than we should be • Belief perseverance- • we cling to what we originally believed and have difficulties accepting opposite truths • Intuition- • fast, unreasoned, automatic feeling and thought • Justification • Whether it’s conscious or not, we justify our decisions- think back to choice blindness!

19. Your decisions? • What are some major decisions you’ve had to make in the past? • For example, in relationships you have with friends, family, or significant others? College decisions?

20. Intelligence • How do we define intelligence? • Are you intelligent? • Is there a difference between males and females?

21. Intelligence • Exactly what makes up intelligence is a matter of debate • David Wechsler’s Definition • Act purposefully • Think rationally • Deal effectively with the environment

22. Theories of Intelligence

23. Early Theories of Intelligence • Charles Spearman • Believed intelligence is general • People who are bright in one area are usually bright in other areas as well • “g” factor • L. L. Thurstone • Believed that intelligence is made up of seven distinct, independent abilities • Spatial ability, perceptual speed, numerical ability, verbal meaning, memory, word fluency, and reasoning • What is still missing?!

24. Contemporary Theories of Intelligence • Robert Sternberg • Triarchic theory of intelligence posits three types of intelligence (prototype of 3 grad school applicants) • Analytical intelligence includes the ability to learn how to do things, solve problems, and acquire new knowledge (Alice) • Creative intelligence includes the ability adjust to new tasks, use new concepts, and respond well in new situations (Barbara) • Practical intelligence includes the ability to select contexts in which you can excel and solve practical problems (Celia) • Which one are you?!

25. Contemporary Theories of Intelligence • Logical-mathematical • Linguistic • Spatial • Musical • Bodily-kinesthetic • Interpersonal • Intrapersonal • Naturalistic • Howard Gardner’s theory of multiple intelligences

26. Contemporary Theories of Intelligence • Daniel Goleman • Proposed theory of emotional Intelligence • Emotional intelligence has five components • Knowing one’s own emotions • Managing one’s own emotions • Using emotions to motivate oneself • Recognizing the emotions of other people • Managing relationships

27. According to Gardner, what type of intelligence are the following people displaying a high level of? Tiger Woods Nick Cannon Barack Obama Justin Timberlake Beyonce Albert Einstein Copernicus F. Scott Fitzgerald George Washington Brittany Spears Mia Hamm Monet

28. Comparing Contemporary Theories

29. Intelligence Tests: How do we measure “smartness”? • Binet-Simon scale • First test of intelligence, developed to identify children who might have difficulty in school • Binet developed the concept of mental age in children • Mental Age = age at which you perform intellectually - may or may not correspond with chronological age • Stanford-Binet scale • L. M. Terman’s adaptation of the Binet-Simon scale • Eugenics, Immigration Act of 1924 • Stern introduced the I.Q. score

30. Intelligence Tests • The Wechsler Intelligence Scales • The Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale – Third Edition is the most commonly used test of intelligence for adults • WAIS-III is divided into to parts, one that focuses on verbal abilities and one that focuses on performance skills • Also a version for children, Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children – Third Edition

31. Intelligence Tests • Group Tests • Intelligence tests that can be given to large groups • Advantages • Quick scoring • No examiner bias • Easier to establish norms • Disadvantages • Less likely to detect someone who is ill or confused • Might make people nervous • Learning disabled children often perform worse

32. Intelligence Tests • Performance tests • Tests that minimize the use of language • Used to test very young children or people with retardation • Also can be used to test those unfamiliar with English • Culture-fair tests • Tests designed to reduce cultural bias • Minimize skills and values that vary from one culture to another

33. What Makes a Good Test? • Reliability • Ability of a test to provide consistent and stable scores • What does the IQ predict? SAT? Correlation? • Validity • Ability of a test to measure what it was designed to measure

34. What Makes a Good Test? • Standardization uniform rules for administering, taking and scoring the test. • Norms – performance benchmarks established during test development used to establish “average” performance. • Representative Sample – group used to establish norms that adequately reflects the demographics of those who will be taking the test.

35. Scoring the IQ Test • Raw Score - • number of questions answered correctly; doesn’t tell much about performance • Standard Score - • score that tells you how you did compared to other test takers – a much better read of performance • Percentile Score - • what percentage of test takers you scored better than • What does it mean to score in the 85th percentile? • You scored better than 85% of the test takers • IQ = Mental Age/Chronological Age x 100 • Most common IQ score? • 100! Why?

36. The “Normal” (Bell) Curve:Approximate Distribution of IQ Scores in the Population

37. Criticisms of IQ Tests • Test content and scores • Critics argue that IQ test measure a narrow set of skills • Some feel that the tests merely measure test taking ability • Tests may discriminate against minorities • Use of intelligence tests • Could result in permanent labeling • IQ and success • Relationship does exist, but may be the result of a self-fulfilling prophecy • Case of Gladys Burr?

38. What Determines Intelligence? • Nature • Biological similarities in Adoption Studies – • IQ scores of child more closely correlated with biological mother than adoptive mother. • Identical Twins reared apart – • after identical twins reared together, identical twins reared apart have the highest correlation of IQ scores.

39. Correlation of IQ Scores of Family Members

40. What Determines Intelligence? • Nurture • Isolated or Deprived Environments • individuals living in culturally or physically impoverished environments have lower IQ scores • Adoption Studies and Improved Environment • children demonstrated elevated IQ scores after being moved from crowded orphanage to parents with high socioeconomic status

41. What Determines Intelligence? • Family Structure? • Intellectual Climate – numerical calculation of the level of intellect in a household, based on the number of family members and their ages. • Example Calculation – adults = 30, teens = 15, children = 5, and newborns = 0: • 2 adults: • 30+30=60/2=intellectual climate of 30 • 2 adults and a newborn: • 30+30+0=60/3=intellectual climate of 20 • Intellectual climate goes down most when there are many children born in rapid succession.

42. Heredity vs. Environment:Which is More Important? • There is general agreement that both heredity and environment affect IQ scores • Debate centers around the relative contribution of nature (heredity) and nurture (environment) to the development of intelligence

43. Males vs. Females • Today’s Conclusions • Overall, men and women do not differ significantly in general intelligence • Women show slight advantage in verbal and mathematical computation skills while men show an advantage in spatial ability • Men are more likely to fall in the extremes of intelligence range • There is no explanation for why these minimal differences exist – are they cultural or inborn? • Is there a difference in the way we think?

44. Determinants of Intelligence • Culture • Difference in academic performance between American and Asian students are found from first grade through high school in mathematics and reading • May be related to a difference in cultural attitudes toward ability and effort • Stability of Intelligence • IQ stays relatively steady over course of life

45. Extremes of Intelligence: Giftedness • Definition • top 3% of IQ scores, typically over 132 • Superior IQ combined with ability in academics, creativity, and leadership • Giftedness is often in specific areas • “Globally” gifted people are rare • Specialized Programs of Study?

46. Extremes of Intelligence: Mental Retardation • Definition • IQ < 70; lowest 3% of IQ scores • not a result of accident • onset before age 18 • substantial limitations in functioning. • Causes – drug abuse during pregnancy, genetic disorders, lack of fetal nutrition • Levels • Mild - 90% of cases • Moderate - 6% of cases • Severe - 3% of cases • Profound - 1% of cases • Some people with retardation show savant performance on particular skills

47. Mental Retardation

48. Creativity • Defined as the ability to produce novel and socially valued ideas or objects • Creativity and Intelligence – Early studies suggested that there was little relationship between the two, however, later research indicates otherwise: creative individuals tend to have higher IQs AND creative individuals are perceived as being more intelligent as well. • Creativity Tests – • Open-ended questions; scoring is based upon the number and originality of a person’s answers • Torrance Test – Individuals explain a picture, its origins, and consequences • Mednick’s Remote Association Test (RAT) – given three words – you come up with a fourth word that the other three can be combined with e.g. hand, lone, win (answer = some)

49. Take the tests! • RAT, Torrance • IQ Test • EQ Test