Thinking, Language, and Concepts

Thinking and Language Overview

• Cognitive psychology studies how people think, examining interactions of thinking, emotion, creativity, language, and problem-solving.

Concepts

• Concepts are mental categories or groupings of linguistic information, images, ideas, or memories.
• Prototypes are the best examples or representations of a concept; for example, Rosa Parks as a prototype for civil disobedience.
• Schemas are mental constructs of related concepts used to categorize and interpret information efficiently.
• Role schemas are assumptions about how individuals in certain roles will behave.
• Event schemas (cognitive scripts) are sequences of expected behaviors for a given situation.

Language

• Language is a communication system using words and systematic rules to transmit information.
• Lexicon refers to the words (vocabulary) of a language.
• Grammar refers to the set of rules used to convey meaning.
• Phonemes are the basic sound units of a language.
• Morphemes are the smallest units of language that convey meaning.
• Semantics is the process of deriving meaning from morphemes and words.
• Syntax is the way words are organized into sentences.
• Skinner proposed language is learned through reinforcement.
• Chomsky argued language acquisition mechanisms are biologically determined.
• Linguistic determinism posits that language influences the way we think.

Problem-Solving Strategies

• Problem-solving strategies involve plans of action to find solutions.
• Trial and error involves trying different solutions until the problem is solved.
• Algorithms are problem-solving formulas providing step-by-step instructions.
• Heuristics are general problem-solving frameworks or mental shortcuts.
• A mental set is persisting in approaching a problem with a previously successful, but now ineffective method.
• Functional fixedness is a type of mental set where you cannot perceive an object being used outside of its designed purpose.
• Anchoring bias is focusing on one piece of information when making a decision.
• Confirmation bias is focusing on information confirming existing beliefs.
• Hindsight bias involves believing an event was predictable after it has occurred.
• Representative bias is unintentionally stereotyping someone or something.
• Availability heuristic involves making decisions based on readily available information or recent experiences.

Intelligence

• Intelligence has been defined and modified by researchers many times since the beginning of psychology as a field.
• Spearman believed intelligence consists of a general factor, g, which could be measured and compared among individuals.
• Cattell proposed fluid intelligence and crystalized intelligence.
• Crystallized intelligence is acquired knowledge and the ability to retrieve it.
• Fluid intelligence encompasses the ability to see complex relationships and solve problems.
• Sternberg's triarchic theory includes practical, analytical, and creative intelligence.
• Practical intelligence involves finding solutions that work in everyday life.
• Analytical intelligence is demonstrated by the ability to analyze, evaluate, judge, compare, and contrast
• Creative intelligence is marked by inventing or imagining a solution to a problem or situation.
• Gardner's Multiple Intelligences Theory proposes that each person possesses at least eight intelligences.
• Emotional intelligence includes understanding emotions, showing empathy, and regulating one's own emotions.
• Divergent thinking allows unique solutions to problems, described as thinking "outside the box."
• Convergent thinking describes providing the correct answer to a problem.
• IQ (intelligence quotient) is a score from a test measuring intelligence.
• Standardization involves consistent administration, scoring, and interpretation of tests.
• Norming involves collecting data from a large population to establish referential scores.
• The Flynn effect is the observation that each generation has a significantly higher IQ than the last.

Intelligence Testing & Influences

• The bell curve is a graph demonstrating a normal distribution of a trait, such as intelligence, in a population.
• The average IQ score is 100; standard deviations describe data dispersion.
• Intelligence has genetic and environmental components based on twin studies.
• Range of reaction is the idea that each person responds uniquely to the environment based on genetic makeup.