Cognition: Thinking, Intelligence & Language PDF

UNIT-5 COGNITION: THINKING, INTELLIGENCE AND LANGUAGE  THINKING Thinking is an essential process for humans. It allows us to solve problems, learn new information, understand concepts, and process our experiences. Thinking involves the entire process of learning, rem...

UNIT-5 COGNITION: THINKING, INTELLIGENCE AND LANGUAGE  THINKING Thinking is an essential process for humans. It allows us to solve problems, learn new information, understand concepts, and process our experiences. Thinking involves the entire process of learning, remembering, and organizing mentally to understand the information better and recall it later. Thinking, therefore, is a higher mental process through which we manipulate and analyse the acquired or existing information. Such manipulation and analysis occur by means of abstracting, reasoning, imagining, problem solving, judging, and decision-making.  COMPONETS OF THINKING MENTAL IMAGE:- Suppose, you were told by your friend that he saw a beautiful yellow bird with colourless beak in his garden. If you were paying enough attention to his description, you might form a visual image of that bird. The visual image of the bird that you formed is known as ‘mental image’ or ‘mental imagery’, it is a mental representation of stimuli that are not presently perceived by the senses CONCEPT:- A concept represents an entire class; it is the set of properties that we associate with a particular class. Our concept of a ‘car’, for example, includes the properties of having four wheels, petrol engine, steering, and seats. Concepts help us in reducing the mental complexity of our world by categorising it into manageable information.  STRATEGIES IN CONCEPT ATTAINMENT 1. Simultaneous Scanning:- In it the subject uses each positive instance (occurrence) each or correctly identified the card, to work out as to which combinations of attribute values are no longer valid. The subject must keep in mind simultaneously all rejected combinations in order to narrow down the range of successive alternatives. This technique is not very efficient as it places a great strain on the subject’s memory.  2. Successive Scanning:- In it the subject makes an overall estimate of each correct characteristic of the concept and test, each one by one. It is called successive scanning as a subject tests individual hypothesis about the correct characteristic one at a time in succession. This technique is also in efficient as the subject may choose redundant (unneeded) cards which give no new information. 3. Conservative Focusing:- In it each attribute is tested by selecting a card that is different from a focus card in only one attribute. If the new card is still a positive instance, then the subject knows that the varied attribute is not part of the concept. However, if the changed attribute yields a negative instance, then the attribute is a part of the concept. 4. Focus Gambling:- This strategy is called gambling or having a bed since the subject takes a chance varying two attributes at a time. In it the subject focuses on a correct card, but varies more than one attribute at a time. This can give early result if cards chosen yield a positive instance. If, however, the subject encourages a negative instance, he cannot tell which attribute was essential. Hence, he has to revert to simultaneous scanning technique to test hypotheses.  SCHEMA Schemas are mental models found in long-term memory. The brain utilizes such models to organize information about the world. Schemas are essentially built from our memories of our unique experiences. Theorist Jean Piaget introduced the term schema, and its use was popularized through his work. According to his theory of cognitive development,, children go through a series of stages of intellectual growth. In Piaget’s theory, a schema is both the category of knowledge as well as the process of acquiring that knowledge. He believed that people are constantly adapting to the environment as they take in new information and learn new things.  TYPES OF SCHEMA Person schemas are focused on specific individuals. For example, your schema for your friend might include information about her appearance, her behaviors, her personality, and her preferences. Social schemas include general knowledge about how people behave in certain social situations. Self-schemas are focused on your knowledge about yourself. This can include both what you know about your current self as well as ideas about your idealized or future self. Event schemas are focused on patterns of behavior that should be followed for certain events. This acts much like a script informing you of what you should do, how you should act, and what you should say in a particular situation.  REASONING Reasoning is a process of thinking during which the individual is aware of a problem identifies, evaluates, and decides upon a solution. Reasoning is used not only when we want to solve an immediate problem but also when we anticipate future problems. Reasoning plays a significant role in one’s adjustment to the environment. It not only determines one’s cognitive activities but also influences the behaviour and personality.  TYPES OF REASONING 1. Inductive reasoning: It is a specialized thinking aimed at the discovery or construction of a generalized principle by making use of particular cases, special examples and identifying of elements or relations. For example, Mohan is mortal, Radha is mortal, Karim is mortal; therefore, all human beings are mortal. 2. Deductive reasoning: It is the ability to draw some logical conclusions from known statement or evidences. Here one starts with already known or established generalized statement or principle and applies it to specific cases. For example, all human beings are mortal you are a human being, therefore, you are mortal.  PROBLEM SOLVING Problem solving is the act of defining a problem; determining the cause of the problem; identifying, prioritizing, and selecting alternatives for a solution; and implementing a solution. A problem is a barrier or hindrance towards your goal. Therefore, problem- solving can be defined as behaviour of overcoming these hindrances to achieve your goal. A typical problem-solving process follows seven steps: -  1) Problem identification: It is a pre-condition for the problem-solving process. A problem can be solved only when it is identified as a problem. 2) Problem definition: In this stage, a problem’s nature, meaning, and scope are identified. 3) Strategy formulation: Stage involved in exploring the ways to tackle/ overcome the problem i.e., generating possible solutions. 4) Organization of information: Thinking and Language Collecting and organizing all the information about the problem and its proposed solution. According to Sternberg (2012), this stage involves “How do the various pieces of information in the problem fit together? 5) Allocation of resources: After deciding which strategy is appropriate and how to follow the selected strategy, in this stage, a decision is taken regarding allocating resources (time, money, effort, etc.) appropriately in solving the problem. That is deciding, how to go about solving the problem? 6) Monitoring: To solve a problem successfully, this stage requires a person to continuously cross-check or scrutiny the path he/she had chosen. 7) Evaluation: In this last stage of the problem-solving process, judgment about the success or failure of the attempt to solve the problem is made  STRATEGIES OF PROBLEM SOLVING  An algorithm is a step-by-step procedure that, by following certain "rules" produces a solution. Algorithms are commonly used in mathematics to solve division or multiplication problems. But they can be used in other fields as well. In psychology, algorithms can be used to help identify individuals with a greater risk of mental health issues. For instance, research suggests that certain algorithms might ALGORITHMS help us recognize children with an elevated risk of suicide or self-harm. One benefit of algorithms is that they guarantee an accurate answer. However, they aren't always the best approach to problem-solving, in part because detecting patterns can be incredibly time-consuming.  TRIAL AND ERROR A trial-and-error approach to problem-solving involves trying a number of potential solutions to a particular issue, then ruling out those that do not work. If you're not sure whether to buy a shirt in blue or green, for instance, you may try on each before deciding which one to purchase. This can be a good strategy to use if you have a limited number of solutions available. But if there are many different choices available, narrowing down the possible options using another problem-solving technique can be helpful before attempting trial and error.  HEURISTICS Heuristics are shortcut strategies that people can use to solve a problem at hand. These "rule of thumb" approaches allow you to simplify complex problems, reducing the total number of possible solutions to a more manageable set. If you find yourself sitting in a traffic jam, for example, you may quickly consider other routes, taking one to get moving once again. When shopping for a new car, you might think back to a prior experience when negotiating got you a lower price, then employ the same tactics. While heuristics may be helpful when facing smaller issues, major decisions shouldn't necessarily be made using a shortcut approach. Heuristics also don't guarantee an effective solution, such as when trying to drive around a traffic jam only to find yourself on an equally crowded route.  INFORMAL HEURISTICS AVAILABILITY HEURISTICS:- The availability heuristics involves making decisions based upon how easy it is to bring something to mind. When you are trying to make a decision, you might quickly remember a number of relevant examples. Since these are more readily available in your memory, you will likely judge these outcomes as being more common or frequently occurring. Eg- Air accidents seems more in number than road accidents  REPRESENTATIVE HEURISTICS:- The representative heuristics involves making a decision by comparing the present situation to the most representative mental prototype. When you are trying to decide if someone is trustworthy, you might compare aspects of the individual to other mental examples you hold. Eg- A soft-spoken older woman might remind you of your grandmother ANCHORING & ADJUSTMENT HEURISTICS:- Anchoring and adjustment is a phenomenon wherein an individual bases their initial ideas and responses on one point of information and makes changes driven by that starting point. The anchoring and adjustment heuristic describes cases in which a person uses a specific target number or value as a starting point, known as an anchor, and subsequently adjusts that information until an acceptable value is reached over time. Often, those adjustments are inadequate and remain too close to the original anchor, which is a problem when the anchor is very different from the true answer.  SIMULATION HEURISTICS:- The simulation heuristic is a psychological heuristic, or simplified mental strategy, according to which people determine the likelihood of an event based on how easy it is to picture the event mentally. PEAK & END HEURISTICS:- The peak–end rule is a psychological heuristic in which people judge an experience largely based on how they felt at its peak (i.e., its most intense point) and at its end, rather than based on the total sum or average of every moment of the experience. BASE RATE HEURISTICS:- The base-rate heuristic is a mental shortcut that helps us make a decision based on probability. This is when we make a snap judgment based on our knowledge of how likely something is to occur or be true statistically.  CONTAGION HEURISTICS:- This leads people to avoid others that are viewed as "contaminated" to the observer. This happens due to the fact of the observer viewing something that is seen as bad or to seek objects that have been associated with what seems good. SCARCITY HEURISTICS:- Scarcity Heuristic causes us to place a higher value on goods or products that are hard to obtain and a lower value on those that are easy to obtain, regardless of the benefit we receive from them. While operating under Scarcity Heuristic, an individual will make decisions based on how limited a product or service is, how difficult it is to attain, and whether the window of opportunity to attain it might be closing.  FORMAL HEURISTICS SATISFICING:- Satisficing is a decision-making strategy or cognitive heuristic that entails searching through the available alternatives until an acceptability threshold is met. The term satisficing, a portmanteau of satisfy and suffice, was introduced by Herbert A. ELIMINATION BY ASPECTS:- The Elimination by aspects heuristic is used to choose among a given set of products during a sequential process: at each stage, consumers eliminate the products which do not possess a particular attribute, until only one good remains.  LEXICOGRAPHIC HEURISTICS:- Lexicographic heuristics are a specific type of fast and frugal heuristics, where pieces of information are inspected sequentially, and decisions are based on the first piece of information which satisfies a pre-determined criterion (such as exceeding a threshold value). ANALOGY:- The analogy heuristic is a cognitive shortcut used in problem-solving or decision- making. When using this heuristic, people try to identify a past event that is analogous to a current situation and used the solution that worked them in the past.  MEANS END ANALYSIS The means-ends analysis is a problem-solving strategy in which an issue or problem is resolved by considering the barriers that stand in the way of the target state and the initial problem state. The removal of these barriers (and, recursively, the barriers preventing the removal of those barriers) is then specified as a (simpler) sub-goal to be accomplished. The main objective of interest has been accomplished once all of the sub-goals have been completed, and all roadblocks have been removed. Means−ends analysis may be seen as a search method where the long−term objective is constantly kept in mind to guide issue solutions since the sub−goals have been prompted by the need to accomplish the primary goal. Unlike other search methods like climbing hills, it is not a near−sighted approach. WORKING A problem-solving strategy in which the solver begins at the goal BACKWOR state and attempts to find a path back to the problem’s starting conditions. D WORKING In the working-forward approach, as the name implies, the FORWARD problem solver tries to solve the problem from beginning to end.  OSTACLES TO PROBLEM SOLVING Mental set: A mental set is a tendency to only use solutions that have worked in the past rather than looking for alternative ideas. A mental set can work as a heuristic, making it a useful problem-solving tool. However, mental sets can also lead to inflexibility, making it more difficult to find effective solutions. Functional fixedness: This term refers to the tendency to view problems only in their customary manner. Functional fixedness prevents people from fully seeing all of the different options that might be available to find a solution.  FACTORS THAT INFLUENCE PROBLEM SOLVING Illusory correlation occurs when two different variables occur at the same time and an unproven connection is made based on little evidence. An example of this would occur if an individual has a bad experience with a lawyer and they immediately assume all lawyers are bad people Overconfidence bias is a cognitive bias in which individuals tend to overestimate their abilities, knowledge, and skill in a particular area, leading them to make errors in judgment and decision making. Hindsight bias is a psychological phenomenon in which one becomes convinced they accurately predicted an event before it occurred.  FALLACIES Hot hand fallacy may be caused by increased confidence in our ability to predict what will happen when we have made a run of successful predictions. Gambler's fallacy may be more likely to occur when we believe outcomes are only influenced by inanimate mechanisms, not human skill. Sunk cost fallacy means making irrational decisions that lead to suboptimal outcomes. It includes focusing on past investments instead of present and future costs and benefits, meaning that to commit to decisions that are no longer in our best interests. Conjunction fallacy is faulty reasoning in which one believes that a conjunction of scenarios or situations is more probable that just one of its conjuncts. People sometimes gravitate towards the scenario that is more detailed than the more general one.  METACOGNITION Metacognition refers to “thinking about thinking” and was introduced as a concept in by John Flavell, who is typically seen as a founding scholar of the field. Flavell said that metacognition is the knowledge you have of your own cognitive processes (your thinking).Flavell (1979). It is your ability to control your thinking processes through various strategies, such as organizing, monitoring, and adapting. Additionally, it is your ability to reflect upon the tasks or processes you undertake and to select and utilize the appropriate strategies necessary in your intercultural interactions.  Metacognitive knowledge involves (a) learning processes and your beliefs about how you learn and how you think others learn, (b) the task of learning and how you process information, and (c) the strategies you develop and when you will use them. Metacognitive knowledge is divided in three different types of knowledge:- Declarative knowledge - Knowledge about one's self as a learner and what can influence one's performance. Procedural knowledge - Skills, heuristics, and strategies. Knowledge about how to do things. Conditional knowledge - Knowledge about when and in what conditions certain knowledge is useful.  Metacognitive regulation refers to what learners do about learning. It describes how learners monitor and control their cognitive processes. For example, a learner might realise that a particular strategy is not achieving the results they want, so they decide to try a different strategy. Metacognitive knowledge is divided in three different types of knowledge:- During the planning phase, learners think about the learning goal the teacher has set and consider how they will approach the task and which strategies they will use. During the monitoring phase, learners implement their plan and monitor the progress they are making towards their learning goal. During the evaluation phase, students determine how successful the strategy they used was in helping them to achieve their learning goal.  LANGUAGE Language is a system of symbols and rules that is used for meaningful communication. A system of communication has to meet certain criteria in order to be considered a language: A language uses symbols, which are sounds, gestures, or written characters that represent objects, actions, events, and ideas. Symbols enable people to refer to objects that are in another place or events that occurred at a different time. A language is meaningful and therefore can be understood by other users of that language. A language is generative, which means that the symbols of a language can be combined to produce an infinite number of messages. A language has rules that govern how symbols can be arranged. These rules allow people to understand messages in that language even if they have never encountered those messages before.  PHONOLOGY: The study of speech structure within a language, including both the patterns of basic speech units and the accepted rules of pronunciation, is known as phonology.2 The smallest units of sound that make up a language are called phonemes. For example, the word “that” contains three phonemes the “th” represents one phoneme /th/, the “a” maps to COMPONENTS the short a sound /ă/, and the “t” to its basic sound /t/. MORPHOLOGY: Moving to the next level of OF LANGUAGE language, we find the study of the smallest units of meaning, morphemes. Morphemes include base words, such as “hat,” “dog,” or “love,” as well as affixes, such as “un-,” “re-,” the plural “s” or “es,” and the past tense “ed.” Knowledge of the morphology of our language is critical to vocabulary development and reflects the smallest building blocks for comprehension  SYNTAX: The study of how individual words and their most basic meaningful units are combined to create sentences is known as syntax. As words are grouped together when we communicate, we must follow the rules of grammar for our language, in other words, its syntax. It is the knowledge of syntax that allows us to recognize that the following two sentences, while containing different word order and levels of complexity, have the same meaning. The boy hit the ball. The ball was hit by the boy. Syntax also allows us to accept “I went to the store” as a meaningful (grammatical) sentence while “To store went I” would not be acceptable English.  SEMANTICS: Not only does the grammatical structure of our language provide the needed clues for understanding, we also have a wealth of figurative language and rich description that adds color and nuance to our communication. Semantics refers to the ways in which a language conveys meaning.3 It is our understanding of semantics that allows us to recognize that someone who is “green with envy” has not changed hue, or that “having cold feet” has less to do with the appendage at the end of our legs and more to do with our anxiety about a new experience. Because semantics moves beyond the literal meaning of words and is culture-dependent, this is among the most difficult aspects of language for individuals who are not native speakers and even those who speak the same language but come from different cultures and convey meaning using words in unique ways. Anyone who has attempted to converse with a teenager in his own vernacular can appreciate the importance of sharing a semantic base for communicating clearly.  PRAGMATICS: “‘Pragmatics’ refers to the ways the members of the speech community achieve their goals using language.”The way we speak to our parents is not the same as the way we interact with a sibling, for example. The language used in a formal speech may bear little resemblance to what we would hear at a lunch with five friends. The conversational style of day-to-day interactions is quite different from the language used even when reading a storybook to a toddler. Knowing the difference and when to use which style is the essence of pragmatics.  LANGUAGE DEVELOPMENT Language development is the process through which children acquire the ability to process speech and communicate. During this process, a child may slowly understand basic linguistic patterns and expand their vocabulary gradually before achieving fluency. Although the stages of language development are universal, the rate at which each child progresses can vary. Certain factors can influence a child's language learning capabilities, including motivation, environment, gender and physical development.  COOING:- Also known as the pre-linguistic stage, the first stage of language development often occurs between zero and six months. Children in this phase don't have developed language skills, so STAGES OF they communicate with sounds. They cry, make cooing sounds and utter nasal murmurs as their vocal tracts develop. Infants can also recognize voices and sounds in addition to facial expressions and LANGUAGE voice tones. BABBLING:- The second stage of a child's language development DEVELOPMEN happens between the ages of 6 and 9 months. Children begin to babble, making noises and syllables that aren’t yet words. Mouth muscles and teeth grow to prepare children for more advanced T talking. ONE WORD:- The third phase of language development, also known as the holophrastic stage, usually happens between the ages of 9 and 18 months. During this time, their language skills usually have increased enough for them to say single words that describe objects or identify their basic needs. For instance, a child in this stage might say "dada" as a way of getting their dad's attention.  TWO WORD:- During this stage, the child can speak two-word sentences that usually have some meaning. They group words together that they learned during the holophrastic stage. Some examples may include: Saying "more food" at the table, Saying "doggy small" to describe a dog, Saying "thank mom!" to show appreciation TELEGRAPHIC SPECH:- The telegraphic stage occurs between the ages of 24 and 30 months. Children can speak phrases that are not only longer but also have more than two elements. For instance, a child might say “The cat stand up on the table.” Correct grammar still isn’t prevalent in this stage, but the sentence conveys that the cat is standing up in addition to being on the table. The child also develops the ability to understand basic instructions, including two-part orders like "go to your table and get your books.“ MULTI WORD:- Beyond 30 months, children enter the multi-word stage. They build increasingly complex sentences that allow them to better communicate their ideas. They also start to incorporate morphemes to make more semantically sound phrases. For instance, they know to use the word “dogs” instead of “dog” when referring to more than one dog. The telegraphic stage occurs between the ages of 24 and 30 months. THEORIES OF LANGUAGE  BEHAVIOROL APPROACH Skinner believed children learn language through operant conditioning—that children receive “rewards” for using language in a functional manner. He introduced his definitions of verbal operants and verbal behavior in his famous book “Verbal Behavior.” Verbal behavior is socially mediated and reinforced by another person’s behavior. In Applied Behavior Analysis, verbal operants are the primary focus of verbal behavior. These operants include: mands, tacts, echoics, intraverbals, textuals, and transcriptions.  TEXTUAL:- A textual is the act of reading. Whenever you read a sign, a book, or anything else you are engaging in a textual. A textual is evoked by a non-verbal SD. A textual has point-to-point correspondence with the SD, but no formal similarity (spoken vs. written). Textuals are reinforced through generalized conditioned reinforcers. Any example of reading something is a textual. TRANSCRIPTION:- The final verbal operant is a transcription. Transcriptions, or transcribing, is the act of writing something down that is spoken. Transcriptions are evoked by verbal SDs, have point-to-point correspondence, and no formal similarity. Transcriptions are reinforced through generalized conditioned reinforcers. Examples include dictating a conversation, or taking notes during a meeting.  AUTOCLITIC An autoclitic is described by Skinner as verbal behavior “which is based upon or depends upon other verbal behavior.” It alter(s) the effect of verbal behavior upon the listener” It is a secondary verbal operant that modifies one's own verbal behavior to attain a response from the listener and increases the chances that the listener will respond as intended by the speaker.  Lev Vygotsky (1896-1934) was a Russian psychologist and teacher who developed a theory about how our social interactions influence our cognitive development. This is known as Lev Vygotsky's Sociocultural Theory of Cognitive Development. Vygotsky developed his theories around the same time as Swiss psychologist Jean Piaget was developing theories about cognitive development, but they differ on almost every point. Some of Vygotsky's VYGOTSY’S work is still being translated from Russian. THEORY OF Vygotsky's social development theory asserts that a child's cognitive development and learning ability can be guided and mediated by their LANGUAGE social interactions. His theory (also called Vygotsky's Sociocultural theory) states that learning is a crucially social process as opposed to an independent journey of discovery. He expands on this by stating that a DEVELOPMENT child's learning benefitted greatly from being guided by a more knowledgeable member of the community - such as a parent or teacher. Vygotsky's sociocultural theory also suggested that children internalise and learn from the beliefs and attitudes that they witness around them. He believed that culture played an important role in shaping cognitive development and therefore that this development varied across cultures. Vygotsky also stressed the importance of language as the root of all learning.  Vygotsky's theory places importance on guiding children's learning through their interaction with a more knowledgeable other (MKO). The more knowledgeable other could be anyone with a greater understanding of the task or concept that the child is trying to complete or learn. Most often, this would be a parent, caregiver or teacher, but it could also be a peer or mentor. MORE This theory is not limited to academic or educational KNOWLEDGABLE learning, it can also be applied to recreational learning such as playing games or using technology. In these OTHERS circumstances, a peer or older child is more likely to be the more knowledgeable other. The MKO could also be an electronic tutor, in cases where a program is set up to guide learning using voice prompts or videos. Vygotsky's theory places importance on guiding children's learning through their interaction with a more knowledgeable other (MKO). The more knowledgeable other could be anyone with a greater understanding of the task or concept that the child is trying to complete or learn. Most often, this would be a parent, caregiver or teacher, but it could also be a peer or mentor.  ZONE OF PROXIMAL DEVELOPMENT The concept of the zone of proximal development, also known as the zone of potential development, is used to explain a child's potential for cognitive development and ability when they are guided through a task, rather than asked to do it in isolation. If a child is presented with a task that is slightly above their ability level, the zone of proximal development (ZPD) refers to their ability to do it with the assistance of a more knowledgeable person. This theory explains why some skills present themselves in a more social context when the child is unable to display them by themselves. The zone of proximal development can be described as the distance between the actual developmental level when assessed independently and the level of potential development when assessed in collaboration with peers or mentors or under the guidance of a teacher.  STAGES OF DEVELOPMENT PRIMIITVE STAGE:- The first stage of Vygotsky's language development theory, the primitive stage, is characterized by the infant experimenting with sound production. The coos, ga- gas and babbles emitted have no purpose but to explore the baby's sense of sound. The lack of speech during this phase means no verbal thought is taking place. This does not mean the baby has a lack of thought, but rather a lack of relationship with her thoughts. NAÏVE STAGE:- The naive stage begins when babies learn to speak. The baby speaks words without grasping their purpose and meaning. When an infant utters "doggy," he could mean "Where is my doggy?" or "I want the doggy now." Over time, the child uses slightly more complex phrases such as "doggie now." These phrases lack an understanding of grammar or structure. The infant determines meaning from the responses others give to his phrases.  EXTERNAL STAGE:- A child starts to use objects to signify meaning and words in the external stage. Toys and fingers are examples of what she might use to express herself. Rhyming is also a device used in this phase to help solidify her memory of objects and sounds. What Vygotsky calls "egocentric speech" typifies this phase as well. This kind of speech occurs when the child talks to herself while alone and when interacting with others. Vygotsky calls this event the start of a child's verbalization of thought. INGROWTH STAGE:- The ingrowth stage occurs when children start to internalize many of the tasks he learned during the previous phases. For example, he will count in his head as opposed to using his fingers to numerate. A need to communicate with others people around him improves his ability to internalize thought and actions. Inner speech also shortens during this phase, called predication. Thought sentences will lack a subject, because that subject is already known to the child. NATIVIST APPROACH Since the early 1950s, Chomsky believed that rules for language acquisition are innate, meaning all humans hold an inborn and natural capacity for language. His language theory argues that this innate feature is activated during infancy by minimal environmental stimuli. A theory developed by Noam Chomsky who believed that every child has a Language Acquisition Device. The LAD is a structure in the brain that infants are born with, allowing them to quickly learn and understand language as they mature.  DEEP vs SURFACE STRUCTURE Surface structure is the actual spoken Deep structure then provides the sentence. Surface structure semantic component of sentence. Deep communicates the proper phonological structure tells the underlying meaning of information to express that thought. Eg- the sentence.. Eg- John hit Fred & Fred John hit Fred & Fred hit John have same was hitten by John have same deep surface structure. structure.  The relationship between language and our perception of reality and its representation in the human mind was explored by the famous anthropological linguist Edward Sapir (1 994- 1939) and his student Benjamin Lee Whorf. The Sapir-Whorf hypothesis named after them has two aspects: linguistic relativity and linguistic determinism. The principle of linguistic relativity says that different people see the world in different ways; some people see only one kind of water, others may see five different kinds of water and therefore feel the need for having five different words for different kinds of water. SAPIR-WHORF One community may be happy with 'uncle' and 'aunt' HYPOTHESIS while another may have ten different words in this domain of kinship words. There is thus no natural or absolute way of labelling the world around us. According to the theory of linguistic determinism, language provides the framework for our thoughts and it is impossible to think outside this frame, Sapir felt that people were at the mercy of their language  TETRAD EQUATION To understand his theory, let us assume that any correlation between two tests used by Spearman implies a factor common to both, plus two specific factors. Let the two tests be called a and b, the common factor “g”, and the two specific factors sa and sb. In terms of the two-factor theory, we may regard that tests a and b are two measures of the common element “g”, with the two remainders sa and sb. Similarly, let p and q be two other tests with “g” as the common element as shown in the Figure above. For some experiments, Spearman (1904) reported the correlations between “g” and “g” to approximate a value of 1.00. This meant that “g” and “g” were practically identical. Spearman believed that all intellectual activity contained some element or factor in common. This “g”,or general factor, was postulated to be important in every mental act, although some acts were thought to depend upon it more than others. The difference between people in intelligence was a matter of how much “g”they possessed. Spearman called this general factor as “mental energy.”  In terms of the two-factor theory, we may regard that tests a and b are two measures of the common element “g”, with the two remainders sa and sb. Similarly, let p and q be two other tests with “g” as the common element as shown in the Figure above. For some experiments, Spearman (1904) reported the correlations between “g” and “g” to approximate a value of 1.00. This meant that “g” and “g” were practically identical. Spearman believed that all intellectual activity contained some element or factor in common. This “g”,or general factor, was postulated to be important in every mental act, although some acts were thought to depend upon it more than others. The difference between people in intelligence was a matter of how much “g” they possessed. Spearman called this general factor as “mental energy.” Spearmen’s analysis of intelligence was actually an interpretation of certain observations by using the method of tetrad difference. The correlation matrix, which he used for finding the criterion of proportionality and for calculating the tetrad difference, is given.  TETRAD DIFFRENCE If there are four such activities, and r13, r24, etc., the six correlation coefficients, (F is defined by the equation F = r13r24 - r14r23. The value of F, in practice, approximates to zero.) The tetrad difference thus in all cases comes to zero. The variation in measured intelligence that was not explainable in terms of this general factor or “g” was attributed by Spearman to specific factors or “s”. There were many different specific factors. All intellectual tasks require some amount of “g.” according to Spearman, the more highly the two functions were correlated, the more highly saturated they were with “g.” Tests that are thought to have high “g” loadings involve abstract reasoning, comprehension, and problem solving.  FLUID vs CRYSTALLIZED INTELLIGENCE The theory of fluid vs. crystallized intelligence was first proposed by psychologist Raymond Cattel; he further developed it along with his student John Horn. The theory suggests that intelligence is composed of different abilities that interact and work together to produce overall individual intelligence.  FLUID INTELLIGENCE Cattell defined fluid intelligence as "the ability to perceive relationships independent of previous specific practice or instruction concerning those relationships. Fluid intelligence involves being able to think and reason abstractly and solve problems. This ability is considered independent of learning, experience, and education. When you encounter an entirely new problem that cannot be solved with your existing knowledge, you must rely on fluid intelligence to solve it. Fluid intelligence examples include: Coming up with problem-solving strategies Interpreting statistics Philosophical reasoning Solving puzzles or abstract problems Fluid intelligence tends to decline during late adulthood. Certain cognitive skills associated with fluid intelligence also tend to decline as people reach later adulthood.  CRYSTALLISED INTELLIGENCE Crystallized intelligence involves knowledge that comes from prior learning and past experiences. Crystallized intelligence is based upon facts and rooted in experiences. As we age and accumulate new knowledge and understanding, crystallized intelligence becomes stronger. Crystallized intelligence examples include: Memorizing text Memorizing vocabulary Recalling how to do something Remembering dates and locations This type of intelligence tends to increase with age. The more learning and experience you have, the more you build up your crystallized intelligence.  Vernon presented the hierarchical group factor theory, VERNON’S which deals with the structure of human intellectual abilities. The top of this hierarchy was the general factor or “g factor” of THEORY Spearman. It was accounted as the largest source of variance in Intelligence.  CREATIVITY Creativity is defined as the tendency to generate or recognize ideas, alternatives, or possibilities that may be useful in solving problems, communicating with others, and entertaining ourselves and others. 4 P’s OF CREATIVI TY  The person approach, which attempts to identify the major characteristics of creative individuals, looking primarily at the personality traits and ability levels of creative people. As such, it is comparable to the dispositional approach to personality (which focuses on the individual rather than the situation or context), although it also deals with the relationship between creativity and established ability constructs. The process approach to creativity, on the other hand, aims at conceptualizing the cognitive mechanisms underlying the process of creative thinking, for example, associative and divergent thinking. Unlike the person approach, process approaches to creativity are not aimed at distinguishing between creative and non-creative individuals but try to explain the general process of creative thinking in all individuals alike. They are thus concerned with actual creativity rather than creative individuals and draw heavily from cognitive psychology. In fact, the process approach to creativity is best represented by the collaborative effort between cognitive and differential psychologists.  The product approach to creativity studies the characteristics of creative outcomes or products, such as art works (e.g., paintings, designs, sculptures) and scientific publications (e.g., theories, experiments, discoveries). The product approach is closely related to the study of aesthetics, which is a classic area of philosophy. Accordingly, it is largely concerned with productivity and achievement and focuses on individuals’ creations rather than their personalities or the processes facilitating creative production (Simonton, 2004). Finally, the press approach to creativity looks at the relationship between individuals as creators and their environments. It therefore deals with the contextual determinants of creativity, resembling the situational rather than dispositional approach to personality. For example, “freedom, autonomy, good role models and resources (including time), encouragement specifically for originality, [and] freedom from criticism” (Runco, 2004, p. 662) are all contextual factors that can be expected to boost creative production and facilitate creative thinking. GRAHA M WALLAS GUILFORD MODEL OF CREATIVITY Fluency is the ability to produce many ideas for a given task or a problem. The more ideas a person produces, the higher his fluency ability. For example, more the number of uses of a paper cup, more would be the fluency. Flexibility indicates variety in thinking. It may be thinking of different uses of an object, or different interpretation of a picture, story or different ways of solving a problem. In case of uses of a paper cup, for example, one may give an idea to use it as a container or to draw a circle, etc.  Originality is the ability to produce ideas that are rare or unusual by seeing new relationships, combining old ideas with new ones, looking at things from different perspectives etc. Research has shown that fluency and flexibility are the necessary conditions for originality. The more and varied ideas one produces, the greater the likelihood of original ideas. Elaboration is the ability that enables a person to go into details and work out implications of new ideas.  The basic idea behind the threshold THRESHOL hypothesis is that high creativity requires high or at least above- D average intelligence. At this, above- average intelligence is thought to HYPOTHESI form a necessary but not a sufficient condition for high creativity (Guilford, S 1967). TORRANCE The Torrance Tests of Creative TESTS OF Thinking (TTCT) is designed to identify and evaluate creative CREATIVE potential using two parts – a Verbal test and a Figural test. THINKING Verbal Test for Torrance Tests of Creative Thinking The Verbal test contains seven subtests. Each subtest in the TTCT Verbal test measures different facets of creative thinking, making it a comprehensive tool for assessing an individual’s creative abilities. Importantly, while the TTCT is a robust measure of creativity, it’s most insightful when used alongside other measures and observations. Verbal test Subtests are scored on the basis of fluency, flexibility, and originality (with a score on elaboration as optional), and these scores are accumulated across all subtests. The totals may be converted to standard T scores if normative reference is desired.  Asking – This subtest evaluates the individual’s ability to formulate questions about a specific picture or situation. This skill is crucial for creative thinking as it involves curiosity, exploration, and the ability to seek out new information. The individual is encouraged to ask as many questions as they can about the picture, challenging them to think deeply and critically. Guessing Causes – Here, the individual is presented with a picture or scenario and asked to guess the possible causes of the situation. This tests their ability to hypothesize and think analytically, a crucial aspect of problem-solving and innovative thinking. It also promotes divergent thinking, or the ability to generate multiple solutions or responses. Guessing Consequences – Similar to the Guessing Causes subtest, but in this case, the individual is asked to imagine potential outcomes of a specific situation or event. This challenges their ability to anticipate, imagine, and think ahead, key elements of creativity and strategic planning. Product Improvement – In this subtest, the individual is presented with an object or product and asked to think of ways it could be improved. This test assesses creative problem-solving skills, critical thinking, and the ability to innovate and add value. Unusual Uses – This subtest involves presenting the individual with a common object, and asking them to think of as many unusual uses for that object as possible. It measures the individual’s flexibility of thought, their ability to think divergently, and to see beyond conventional uses or constraints. Unusual Questions – The individual is asked to create as many unusual questions as possible about a given picture or scenario. This subtest encourages curiosity, and the ability to think outside the box. It reflects an individual’s capacity to look at situations from unique and varied perspectives. Just Suppose – This subtest asks the individual to imagine a hypothetical, often fantastical, situation and speculate what would happen in such a scenario. This subtest measures the individual’s ability to think abstractly, to stretch their imagination, and to conceive of realities outside their direct experience. Figural Test for Torrance Tests of Creative Thinking The Figural test has three subsets. The Figural Test, which evaluates non-verbal, graphic creativity. The Figural Test consists of three activities, which include Picture Construction, Picture Completion and Parallel Lines. Here is a detailed overview of each section: The first of these Figural test subtests is scored on originality and elaboration while the remainder are scored on fluency, flexibility, originality, and elaboration. Totals are then accumulated across subtests to provide overall scores for Figural fluency, flexibility, originality, and elaboration. These scores, as in the Verbal test, can be converted to a standard T score.  Picture Construction (from a marked cue) – In this subtest, the examinee is provided with a small shape or cue (for example, a squiggle or an abstract mark) and is asked to incorporate this cue into a larger, more complex picture. The goal here is to assess how an individual can build upon a simple visual stimulus and transform it into something more elaborate and creative. The participant’s creativity is evaluated based on the originality, complexity, and the narrative quality of the constructed picture. This subtest is designed to tap into an individual’s divergent thinking, imaginative storytelling, and visual creativity. Picture Completion (again with cues) – For this subtest, the examinee is given several incomplete pictures or cues, and they are asked to complete these in the most imaginative way possible. These cues might be abstract lines or shapes, and the individual’s task is to complete the pictures in a way that adds meaning, innovation, and creativity. This subtest evaluates an individual’s ability to think divergently, their propensity for elaboration, and their fluency in generating creative solutions. Parallel Lines – In this activity, the examinee is given a page with several pairs of parallel lines and is asked to create unique images or pictures using these lines as the starting point. This activity is designed to assess the participant’s ability to look at a familiar shape (parallel lines) in novel ways, encouraging innovative, divergent thinking. This subtest assesses an individual’s ability to generate original, unique, and elaborate concepts from simple visual cues.  THANKYOU HOPE YOU LIKED IT ! DO SUPPORT US :- @Psych Learning By- Deepika Oli [email protected] 9871352330