Thinking,

Language, and
Intelligence

Ch. 8
R. Cavera, Psy.D.
Thinking:
Concepts
Solving problems
Making good (and bad) decisions and judgments
Thinking critically about: The fear factorwhy
we fear the wrong things
Thinking creatively
Close-up: Fostering your own creativity
Do other species share our cognitive skills?
Thinking
Cognition
All the mental activities associated with thinking, knowing, remembering, and
communicating

Concepts
Mental grouping of similar objects, events, ideas, and people

Prototypes
Mental image or best example of a category
Solving Problems: Trial and Error
Algorithm
Methodical, logical rule or procedure that guarantees you will
solve a particular problem
Contrasts with the usually speedierbut also more error-prone
use of heuristics
Heuristic
Simple thinking strategy that often allows one to make
judgments and solve problems efficiently; usually speedier but
also more error prone than algorithms
Insight
Involves sudden realization of the solution to a problem; it
contrasts with strategy-based solutions
THE AHA! MOMENT

From Marc Jung-Beeman, Northwestern University and John Kounios, Drexel University
A burst of right temporal
lobe EEG activity (yellow
area) accompanied insight
solutions to word problems
(Jung-Beeman et al., 2004).

The red dots show

placement of the EEG
electrodes. The light gray
lines show patterns of brain
activity during insight.
Solving Problems
Wasons classic study
Involves guessing the rule for three-number
sets
Confirmation bias
The tendency to seek evidence for our ideas
more eagerly than we seek evidence against
them (remember this from our social psych
lecture?)
 Is this fixation?
Fixation
Inability to see a problem from a new perspective
Obstacle to problem solving

THE MATCHSTICK
PROBLEM
How would you arrange six
matches to form four equilateral
triangles? (answer ahead)
Did you get the correct answer?
Making Good (and Bad) Decisions and Judgments
Life is full of judgments
How many of these judgment related terms can you define?
Intuition
Heuristics
Quick-thinking heuristics
Availability heuristics
 Definitions
Intuition
An effortless, immediate, automatic feeling or thought, as contrasted with
explicit, conscious reasoning
Heuristic
A simple thinking strategy that often allows you to make judgments and
solve problems efficiently; usually speedier but also more error prone than
algorithms
Quick-thinking heuristic
A simple thinking strategy that often allows you to make judgments more
error prone than algorithms
Availability heuristic
Involves judging the likelihood of an event based on its availability in
memory; if an event comes readily to mind, we assume it must be common
The Fear FactorWhy
We Fear the Wrong
Things
1. We fear what our
ancestral history has
prepared us to fear.
2. We fear what we cannot
control.
3. We fear what is SCARING US ONTO DEADLY
HIGHWAYS In the three
immediate. months after 9/11, those faulty
perceptions led more Americans
4. We fear what is most
to travel, and some to die, by
readily available in car. (Adapted from Gigerenzer,
memory. 2004.)
Solving Problems
More confident than correct
Overconfidence is the tendency to overestimate
the accuracy of our beliefs and judgments
Belief beyond evidence
Belief perseverance occurs when we cling to
beliefs and ignore evidence that proves these
are wrong
Solving Problems
Let me put it this way
Framing involves the way an issue is posed
It can be a powerfully persuasive tool

Framing can influence beneficial decisions

Can you think of any such decisions?

Perils and Powers of Intuition
Intuition is analysis frozen into habit
Intuition is implicit knowledge
Intuition is usually adaptive
Learned associations surface as gut feelings
Intuition is huge
Critical thinkers are often guided by intuition
Thinking Creatively
Divergent thinking
Expands the number of
possible problem solutions
(creative thinking that diverges
in different directions)

Convergent thinking
Narrows the available problem
solutions to determine the
single best solution
 Thinking Creatively
Robert Sternberg and his colleagues found five ingredients of
creativity:
Expertise
Imaginative thinking skills
Venturesome personality
Intrinsic motivation
Creative environment
Comparing Cognitive Processes and Strategies
Do Other Species Share Our Cognitive Skills?
Using concepts and numbers
Several species demonstrate the ability to sort (e.g., pigeons and other birds; great apes; humans)

Displaying insight
Humans are not the only species to display insight (e.g., Chimpanzees)

Using tools and transmitting culture

Various species have displayed creative tool use (e.g., forest-dwelling chimpanzees; elephants; humans)

Life on white / Alamy

Language
Language development
The brain and language
Thinking without language
Do other species have language?
 What is language?
Language:
Involves our spoken, written, or signed words and the ways we combine
them to communicate meaning
Used to transmit civilizations knowledge from one generation to the next
Connects humans
Language Development
When do we learn language?
Receptive language: Infant ability to understand what is
said to them around 4 months
Production language: Infant ability to produce words
beginning around 10 months
HOW DO WE LEARN GRAMMAR?

Susan Meiselas/ Magnum Photos

CREATING A LANGUAGE Young deaf children in Nicaragua were
brought together as if on a desert island (actually a school). They drew
upon sign gestures from their own home to create their own Nicaraguan
Sign Language, complete with words and intricate grammar.
How Do We Learn Grammar?
Language diversity
700+ languages worldwide; structurally very different

Chomsky
Argued all languages share basic elements called a universal grammar
Theorized humans are born with a predisposition to learn grammar rules; not a built-in specific language

Critical period
Suggests childhood represents a critical period for mastering certain aspects of language
Language

AP Photo/Arizona Daily Star, A.E. Araiza

NEW LANGUAGE LEARNING GETS
HARDER WITH AGE Young children have a
readiness to learn language. Ten years
after coming to the United States, Asian
immigrants took a grammar test. Those
who arrived before age 8 understood
American English grammar as well as
native speakers did. Those who arrived
later did not. (From Johnson & Newport,
1991.)
 The Brain and Language
Damage to any one of several areas of the brains cortex can impair language
Todays neuroscience has confirmed brain activity in Brocas and Wernickes
areas during language processing
In processing language, the brain operates by dividing its mental functions
into smaller tasks
Thinking Without Language
Mental practice relies on thinking in images
Just imagining a physical experience can have similar results
Mental rehearsal can aid in the achievement of academic goals
 Language Development
Other species have language
Velvet monkeys sound different alarms for different
predators
Chimpanzee (named Washoe) was taught sign language
by the Garders
Critics noted that ape vocabularies and sentences were
simple; vocabulary was gained with great difficulties
Most psychologists agree that humans alone possess
language
Something to ponder
If your dog barks at a stranger at the front door, does this qualify as
language? What if the dog yips in a telltale way to let you know that she
needs to go out?
 Intelligence
What is intelligence?

Assessing intelligence

Close-up: Extremes of
intelligence

The nature and nurture of

intelligence

Close-up: What is heritability?

Intelligence across the life span:

Stability or change?

Group differences in intelligence

test scores
What Is Intelligence?
Spearmans General Intelligence (g)
Humans have one general intelligence that is at the
heart of everything a person does
Mental abilities are like physical abilities
Intelligence involves distinct abilities, which
correlate enough to define a small general
intelligence factor
Gardner and Sternberg discount this theory and
propose several different kinds of intelligence
Theories of Multiple Intelligences
Gardners eight intelligences
Intelligence consists of multiple abilities that
come in different packages
Eight relatively independent intelligences
exist, including the verbal and mathematical
aptitudes assessed by standard tests
Evidence of multiple intelligence is found in
people with savant syndrome
Gardners Eight Intelligences
Theories of Multiple Intelligence
Sternbergs three intelligences
Analytical intelligence (School smarts: Traditional academic problem solving)
Creative intelligence (Trailblazing smarts: Ability to generate novel ideas)
Practical intelligence (Street smarts: Skill at handling everyday tasks)
Theories of Multiple Intelligence
Findings and criticisms
Recent research, using factor analysis, has confirmed that there is a general
intelligence factor that predicts performance on various complex tasks and in
various jobs
Researchers report a 10-year rule: Expert performers spend about a decade in
intense, daily practice
Emotional Intelligence
Abilities
Perceiving emotions (recognizing them in faces, music, and stories)
Understanding emotions (predicting them and how they may change and blend)
Managing emotions (knowing how to express them in varied situations)
Using emotions to enable adaptive or creative thinking
 Emotional Intelligence
Emotionally
intelligent people
Are socially aware
and self-aware
Delay gratification in
favor of long-term
rewards
Read others emotions
and provide
appropriate feedback
Perform well on the
job
Are often successful
in career, marriage,
and parenting
situations where
academically smarter
people fail
Comparing Theories of Intelligence
 A Few Definitions of Tests

Intelligence test
Method for assessing an individuals mental aptitudes and comparing them with
those of others, using numerical scores

Aptitude test
Test designed to predict a persons future performance; aptitude is the capacity to
learn
Achievement test
Test designed to assess what a person has learned
Assessing Intelligence: Intelligence Tests
Alfred Binet: Predicting School
Achievement
Assumed all children follow the same
course, but not the same rate, of
intellectual development
Measured each childs mental age
Tested a variety of reasoning and
problem-solving questions that
predicted how well French children
would succeed in school
Assessing Intelligence: Intelligence Tests
Lewis Terman: The innate IQ
Adapted Binets test for wider use
Extended upper end of tests range
Named this revision the Stanford-Binet
Theorized intelligence tests reveal intelligence with which a person is born

William Stern
Developed IQ formula:
IQ no longer computed; now the average performance of others of the same age computed
Assessing Intelligence
David Wechsler: Separate scores for separate skills
Created most widely used intelligence test today
Yields overall intelligence score and separate scores for
verbal comprehension, perceptual organization, working
memory, and processing speed
Contains preschool and school-age child versions
Provides clues to strengths or weaknesses
Assessing Intelligence
David Wechsler: Separate
scores for separate skills

Lew Merrim / Science Source

A block design puzzle like this
one can test childrens visual
abstract processing ability.

Wechslers individually
administered intelligence test
comes in forms suited for
adults and children.
Intelligence Tests
Three tests of a good test:
Was the test standardized?
Is the test reliable?
Is the test valid?
Scores on aptitude tests tend to form a normal, or bell-shaped,
curve around an average score. For the Wechsler scale, for example,
the average score is 100.

THE NORMAL CURVE

The Nature and Nurture of Intelligence
Twin and adoption studies
Identical twins raised together have
nearly the same intelligence test score
and specific talents
Fraternal twins are much less similar,
but more similar than other siblings
Separated, adoptive twin scores
remain very similar
Adoption of mistreated or neglected
children or adoption from poverty into
middle class enhances intelligence
score
IN VERBAL ABILITY, ADOPTED CHILDREN
RESEMBLE THEIR BIRTH PARENTS
INTELLIGENCE: NATURE AND NURTURE The
most genetically similar people have the most
similar intelligence scores. Remember: 1.0 indicates
a perfect correlation; zero indicates no correlation at
all. (Data from McGue et al., 1993.)

Christopher Fitzgerald/The Image Works

 Extremes of Intelligence

Validity and significance of any test is to compare people who score

at the two extremes of the normal curve
The low extreme
Intelligence score of 70 or below

Claudia Daut/Reuters
Difficulty adapting to life demands

Joe Klamar/AFP/Getty
The high extreme
Children with IQ scores over 135

Images
Healthy, well-adjusted, and usually
successful academically
Intelligence Tests
How does environment influence intelligence?
Slowing normal development
McVicker Hunt (1982): Iranian orphanage study found dire, negative effects of
extreme deprivation
Malnutrition, sensory deprivation, and social isolation slowed normal brain
development

Enhancing normal development

There is no environmental recipe for fast-forwarding a normal infant into a genius
What Is Heritability?
Intelligenceacross the life span:
Stability or change?
Cross-sectional
Study in which people of different ages are
compared with one another
Longitudinal study
Research in which the same people are restudied
and retested over a long period
Intelligence across the life span: Stability
or change?
Deary and colleagues study
After nearly 70 years of varied life experiences, the test-takers
two sets of scores showed a striking correlation of +.66

Johnson study
Scots born in 1936 from ages 11 to 70 confirmed the remarkable
stability of intelligence, independent of life circumstance
When 207 survivors were again retested at age 87, the
correlation with their age 11 scores was +.51
INTELLIGENCE ENDURES
When Deary and
colleagues (2004) retested
80-year-old Scots, using an
intelligence test they had
taken as 11-year-olds, their
scores across seven decades
correlated +.66.
(When 207 survivors were
again retested at age 87,
the correlation with their
age 11 scores was +.51
[Gow et al., 2011].)
Why Do Intelligent People Live Longer?
Deary (2008)
Intelligence provides better access to resources
Intelligence encourages healthy lifestyles
Prenatal events or early childhood illnesses could
influence both intelligence and health
A well-wired body as evidenced by fast reaction speeds,
may foster both intelligence and longer life
Crystal and Fluid Intelligence
Crystallized intelligence: Accumulated knowledge, as reflected in
vocabulary and word-power tests
Increases as we age, into middle age

Fluid intelligence: Ability to reason speedily and abstractly, as when solving

unfamiliar logic problems
Decreases with age; declines gradually until age 75 and then more rapidly after age 85
With Age We Lose And We Win

WITH AGE WE LOSE AND WE WIN: Studies reveal that word power
grows with age, while fluid intelligence declines.
Group Differences in Intelligence Test Scores
Gender similarities and differences
Compared to similarities, gender differences are fairly minor

Girls
Outpace boys in spelling, verbal fluency, and locating objects
Are better emotion detectors and are more sensitive to touch, taste, and color
Group Differences in Intelligence Test Scores
Boys
Outperform girls in tests of spatial ability and complex
math problems
Vary in their mental ability scores more than girls do
Effects of culture
Social expectations and opportunities matter.
Little gender math gap found in gender-equal cultures.
THE MENTAL ROTATION TEST

This is a test of spatial abilities. (From Vandenberg & Kuse, 1978.)

Do the know the answer?
Racial and Ethnic Similarities and Differences
Agreed-upon facts
Racial and ethnic groups differ in their average intelligence test scores
High-scoring people and groups are more likely to achieve high levels of education and income
Group differences provide poor basis for judging individuals
Racial and Ethnic Similarities and Differences
Consider
Genetics research reveals races are alike
Race is not a clearly defined biological category
Within the same population, there are generation-to-generation differences in test scores
Given the same information, Blacks and Whites show similar information-processing skills
In different eras, different ethnic groups have experienced golden agesperiods of remarkable achievement
GROUP DIFFERENCES AND ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT

foodfolio / Alamy
Even if the variation between members within a group reflects genetic
differences, the average difference between groups may be wholly due to
the environment. Imagine that seeds from the same mixture are sown in
different soils. Although height differences within each window box of
flowers will be genetic, the height difference between the two groups will
be environmental. (From Lewontin, 1976.)
Are Test Questions Biased?
The scientific meaning of bias hinges on a tests validity
Stereotype threat involves a self-confirming concern that a judgment
is based on a negative stereotype
Goals for mental abilities tests: Realize the benefits of testing; guard
against misinterpretation; and remember the competence general
intelligence tests sample
Next:
Motivation and Emotion (Ch. 9)