Unit 2 Cognitive Psych Full Notes PDF

Cognition AP Psychology Unit Two Learning Target Checklist Explain how internal and external factors influence perception. Explain how visual perceptual processes produce correct or incorrect interpretations of stimuli. Explain how psychological concepts and theories account for thinkin...

Cognition AP Psychology Unit Two Learning Target Checklist Explain how internal and external factors influence perception. Explain how visual perceptual processes produce correct or incorrect interpretations of stimuli. Explain how psychological concepts and theories account for thinking, problem-solving, judgment, and decision-making. Explain how the types, structures, and processes of memory work. Explain how different encoding processes work to get information into memory. Explain how memory storage processes retain information in memory. Explain how memory retrieval processes get information out of memory. Explain possible reasons why memory failure or errors may occur. Explain how modern and historical theories describe intelligence. Explain how intelligence is measured. Explain how systemic issues relate to the quantitative and qualitative uses of intelligence assessments. Explain how academic achievement is measured and experienced as compared to intelligence. Perception Processing Our World Under normal conditions, sensation and perception blend into one continuous process, working together to help you decipher the world around you. Bottom-up processing: analysis that begins with the sensory receptors and works up to the brain’s integration of sensory information (sensation first) Top-down processing: information processing guided by higher-level mental processes , as when we construct perceptions drawing on our experiences and expectations (experience first) While walking through an art museum, you come to the abstract art section. If you used bottom-up processing, you would stare at the piece and try to figure out what the artist was trying to create. If you used top-down processing, you would read the title of the work and look for elements of that in the painting. Just a rose, or something more romantic? And why is this painting called “The Forest Has Eyes”? Effects of Context, Motivation, & Emotion Expectations Through experience, we come to expect certain results. Those expectations may give us a perceptual set - a mental predisposition to perceive one thing and not another. Context External factors can impact how we perceive information Motivation Like research bias, we see what we want to see. Emotion Our feelings at the time can alter what we experience. Gestalt Psychology Early in the 20th century, a group of German psychologists noticed that people who are given a cluster of sensations tend to organize them into a gestalt, a German word meaning a “form” or a “whole.” As we look straight ahead, we cannot separate the perceived scene into our left and right fields of view (each as seen with one eye closed). Our conscious perception is, at every moment, a seamless scene—an integrated whole. Proximity: group objects that are close together as being part of same group Similarity: objects similar in appearance are perceived as being part of same group Continuity: objects that form a continuous shape are perceived as same group Connectedness: elements tend to be grouped together if they are connected by other elements and viewed as a single unit. Closure: like top-down processing, we fill gaps in if we can recognize it Figure Ground Figure-ground is the organization of the visual field into objects (figures) that stand out from their surroundings (the background). Selective Attention Regardless of what we may think, we are incapable of multitasking. If our brains paid attention to all the information we are exposed to every second of the day, we’d probably go insane. Frankly, some information isn’t important. Therefore, we rely on selective attention, or focusing our conscious awareness on a particular stimulus. Let’s play a game. If you’ve done it before, don’t give anything away! → Cocktail Party Effect Another example of selective attention can be seen in the cocktail party effect or phenomenon. The cocktail-party effect refers to the ability to focus one's attention a particular stimulus while filtering out a range of other stimuli (i.e., noise). For example, you’re in a crowded room in the middle of a conversation with someone else. You can focus on the conversation you’re having and ignore those going on around you. Missing Information While we need selective attention to maintain focus, it can cause us to miss things that are important because our awareness is focused elsewhere. Failing to see visible objects when are attention is focused elsewhere is known as inattentional blindness. Failing to notice changes in the environment is known as change blindness. ← Let’s play another game. How many changes do you notice? Person Swap Depth Perception From two-dimensional objects falling on our retinas, we somehow organize three-dimensional perceptions that allow us to estimate that object’s distance from us. This ability is known as depth perception. Depth perception was studied in a number of visual cliff experiments by Eleanor Gibson and Richard Walk. Infants were coaxed to cross what appeared to be drop, most of whom refused to do so, indicating that they understood depth. Monocular & Binocular Cues A monocular cue is a depth cue that is available to either eye: Linear Perspective Interposition Relative Size Relative Height Relative Clarity Light/Shadow A binocular cue is a depth cue that depends on the use of two eyes. Retinal disparity is a binocular cue for perceiving depth by comparing the retinal images from each eye and computing the distance between the two images - the greater the difference between each image, the closer the object is. Constancy Perceptual constancy is the ability to perceive objects as unchanging even as illumination and retinal images change. For example, when you look out the window of a plane, you know that you aren’t seeing tiny cars on tiny highways, but rather that the cars are normal size and just very far away. Regardless of our view of them, objects maintain the same: A & B are two different shades of Color gray, right? Wrong! Place a finger Shape over the space in the middle to Size reveal the grays are exactly the Brightness same shade! Brain Games Perceptual Adaptation In the event your perception is altered for any reason, your brain will work to overcome this shift using previous memories so you can continue to function normally. Perceiving Motion Stroboscopic Effect: a rapid series of slightly varying images perceived as moving images (flip book, “old” movies) Phi Phenomenon: illusion of movement created when two or more-lights next to each other blink on and off Autokinetic Effect: perceptual phenomenon where a stationary point of light appears to move in a dark environment due to small eye movements  Thinking, Problem-Solving, Judgments, & Decision-Making What is cognition? Cognition refers to all the mental activities associated with thinking, knowing, remembering, and communicating. Forming concepts - a mental grouping of similar objects, events, ideas, or people Forming schemas - a concept or framework that organizes and interprets information Forming prototypes - a mental image or best example of a category which provides a quick and easy method for sorting items into categories and can help organize unfamiliar items by finding an appropriate category Cognitive Processing The concept animal is broad - basically encompasses anything not human. When told to think of an specific animal - like a cat - most people will picture a house cat, not a lion, tiger, leopard, or cheetah - all of which are technically cats, but not the best representation of cats. The house cat would be the prototype, while the collection of all cats, whether house or jungle, would be a schema for cat. When you encounter a new animal, you try to find a place for it in your existing schema (assimilation). If you can’t do so, you alter your schema to include the new information (accommodation). Testing Prototypes & Schemas - What are they? Glaucus Atlanticus, What about the Sunda often called the blue Colugo? Called flying dragon, is a variation of lemurs, they have sea slug. physical characteristics of a bat, a pouch for their young like marsupials, and the diet and lifestyle of primates. Like the Sunda Colugo, Despite its frog-like the fossa have become a appearance and terrible species all their own swimming, this is the because they can’t fall red-lipped batfish. into an existing category. Algorithms vs. Heuristics Some problems we solve through trial and error, eliminating every option until only the correct solution remains. This strategy is known as an algorithm - a methodical, logical rule or procedure that guarantees a solution to a problem. In an algorithm you would see ____ + 17 = 42 and plug in every number possible until you found the right one. 1 + 17 = 18, 2 + 17 = 19, etc. Depending on problem, trying out every solution is impractical, so instead we use a heuristic - a simple thinking strategy that often allows us to make judgements and solve problems efficiently, but does not guarantee a solution. Instead of trying out every possible solution to the problem above, you’d use a heuristic and subtract 17 from 42 to arrive at the correct solution of 25. Think of an item in the grocery store, like Yum Yum sauce. With an algorithm, you’d look up and down every aisle. With a heuristic, you might think to yourself, “it should be in the international foods aisle” and start there. Shortcuts - Hindrance or Help? Intuition - an effortless, immediate, automatic feeling or thought with explicit conscious reasoning to make decisions ○ Each day, we have to make hundreds of decisions, and we could never devote equal time and attention to all of them and get everything accomplished. Representative Heuristic: estimating the likelihood of events in reference to how closely they resemble a particular prototype ○ Imagine someone who is short, slim, and likes poetry. Are they more likely to be an Ivy League professor or a truck driver? Statistically speaking, there are far more truck drivers than Ivy League professors, yet those characteristics don’t fit our prototype for truck driver. Availability Heuristic: estimating the likelihood of events on how readily they come to mind ○ Which causes more American deaths - terrorists or toddlers? While the news will paint the picture America is constantly threatened by terrorists, armed toddlers kill more Americans each year. Seeing is Believing Priming is a phenomenon in which exposure to one stimulus influences how a person responds to a subsequent, related stimulus. Through experience, we come to expect certain results. Those expectations may give us a perceptual set - a mental predisposition to perceive one thing and not another. Hurdles to Problem-Solving Framing: the way an issue is presented or worded can impact how people respond ○ “School prayer should be prohibited” vs. “Prayer in schools should not be allowed” Confirmation Bias: a tendency to search for information that supports our preconceptions and to ignore or distort contradictory evidence ○ Think of your rival, whether it be from sports or romance or whatever. Because you dislike them you will only notice their worst qualities, and ignore anything redeeming about them. Overconfidence: the tendency to overestimate the accuracy of our beliefs and judgements ○ Thinking you don’t need to study Fixation: the inability to see a problem from a new perspective ○ Mental set: tendency to persist in using the same problem-solving strategy that have worked in the past → math problems, trying to use the same formula over and over again ○ Functional fixedness: the inability to recognize novel uses for an item and only see it for its most common purpose → I need to ship a fragile item but can only use items in this room. What could keep the item from breaking in the box? Belief perseverance: clinging to one’s initial conceptions after the basis on which they were formed has been discredited ○ Cult followers Sunk cost fallacy: a cognitive bias that makes you stay in a situation despite losing resources or benefits Gambler’s fallacy: a cognitive bias that adheres to the ideas that if something hasn’t happened recently it soon will Puzzles How can you arrange these How can you connect all 9 matches to create 4 equilateral dots with 4 straight lines (or triangles? less) without lifting you pen/pencil? Think Outside the Box - Literally! What are executive functions? Executive functions are mental skills that help us learn, work, and manage daily life, including working memory, flexible thinking, and self-control. Thinking Creatively Creativity is the ability to produce ideas that are both novel and valuable. Though we can understand what creativity is, it is difficult to teach or measure. Robert Sternberg identified five components of creativity: Expertise Imagination A venturesome personality Intrinsic motivation A creative environment Divergent vs. Convergent Thinking Creativity requires divergent thinking - expanding the number of possible problem solutions, unlike convergent thinking which narrows down the solutions to the single best option. Strategy Description Powers Perils Algorithm Methodical rule or procedure Guarantees solution Requires time and effort Heuristic Simple thinking shortcut, such as the availability heuristic (which Lets us act quickly and efficiently Puts us at risk for errors estimates likelihood based on how easily events come to mind) Insight Sudden Aha! reaction Provides instant realization of May not happen solution Confirmation bias Tendency to search for support for our own views and ignore Lets us quickly recognize Hinders recognition of contradictory evidence supporting evidence contradictory evidence Fixation Inability to view problems from a new angle Focuses thinking on familiar Hinders creative problem solutions solving Intuition Fast, automatic feelings and thoughts Is based on our experience: huge Can lead us to overfeel and and adaptive underthink Overconfidence Overestimating the accuracy of our beliefs and judgments Allows us to be happy and to make Puts us at risk for errors decisions easily Belief perseverance Ignoring evidence that proves our beliefs are wrong Supports our enduring beliefs Closes our mind to new ideas Framing Wording a question or statement so that it evokes a desired Can influence others’ decisions Can produce a misleading response result Creativity Ability to innovate valuable ideas Produces new insights and products May distract from structured, routine work  Module 2.3 Introduction to Memory What is memory? Memory is the persistence of learning over time through the encoding, storage, and retrieval of information. To a psychologist, evidence that learning persists includes these three retention measures: recall—retrieving information that is not currently in your conscious awareness but that was learned at an earlier time. ○ A fill-in-the-blank question tests your recall. recognition—identifying items previously learned. ○ A multiple-choice question tests your recognition. relearning—learning something more quickly when you learn it a second or later time. ○ When you study for a final exam or engage a language used in early childhood, you will relearn the material more easily than you did initially. Three Stages of Memory Encoding: the process of getting information into the memory system Storage: the process of retaining information over time Retrieval: the process of getting information out of memory storage Imagine your brain is a filing cabinet (or a memory drive if you’re too tech savvy for paper files). Encoding is creating the file, storage is putting the file in a notable location, and retrieval is being able to find that file again when you need to. Encoding Memories Explicit or declarative memory involves the retention of facts and experiences that one can consciously know. Semantic memory: general knowledge Episodic memory: memories of life events Implicit or non-declarative memory involves retention of learned skills or classically conditioned associations independent of conscious recollection. Procedural memory: how-to do something Prospective memory involves remembering to do something in the future. Synaptic Changes When first learning how to write, the neural connections between your brain and hand are slow and inefficient. But as you spent more time writing, it got better. Now, you can write legibly without even looking, because those neural connections are stronger, faster, and more efficient. Practice makes perfect, or rather practice makes permanent. This phenomenon is called long-term potentiation (an increase in a cell’s firing potential after brief, rapid stimulation) and is the neural basis for learning and memory. What is working memory? Working memory - a newer understanding of short-term memory that adds conscious, active processing of incoming auditory and visual information, and of information retrieved from long-term memory → sight-reading music. The central executive system, a core component of working memory, controls attention and coordinates the phonological loop (handling auditory information), and the visuospatial sketchpad (processing visual and spatial information). Three-Stage Model of Memory To explain our memory-forming process, Richard Atkinson and Richard Shiffrin proposed a three-stage model: 1. We first record to-be-remembered information as a fleeting sensory memory. 2. From there, we process information into short-term memory, where we encode it through rehearsal. 3. Finally, information moves into long-term memory for later retrieval. This model has since been updated with important newer concepts, including working memory and automatic processing. Processing Memory We encode explicit memories through effortful processing, which requires attention and conscious effort. We encode implicit memories through automatic processing, which is the unconscious encoding of incidental information, such as space, time, and meaning. Levels of processing: ○ Structural: look of a word ○ Phonemic: sound of a word ○ Semantic: meaning of a word  Brain Break Can you name all 7 dwarves from Snow White? Can you draw and label a map of the USA? Encoding Memories Effortful Processing Strategies Several effortful processing strategies can boost our ability to form new memories. Later, when we try to retrieve a memory, these strategies can make the difference between success and failure. Mnemonics: memory aids, especially those techniques that use vivid imagery and organizational devices → PEMDAS (*x/+- ○ Method of Loci: a strategy for memory enhancement, which uses visualizations of familiar spatial environments in order to enhance the recall of information Chunking: organizing items into familiar, manageable units; often occurs automatically → 1492177618121941 = 1492, 1776, 1812, 1941 Spacing effect: the tendency for distributed study (breaking periods of review over several days) to yield better long-term retention than is achieved through mass practice (studying a little each night is more effective than cramming) Self-referent encoding: when information is meaningful to the individual, they are more likely to remember it Serial Position Effect Another memory retrieval quirk is the ability to only remember certain parts of a list of items. Serial position effect: our tendency to best remember the items at the beginning and end of a list ○ Recency effect: only remembering the end of the list ○ Primacy effect: only remembering the beginning of the list Test your knowledge. List all the U.S. Presidents you can remember. Most likely, you’ll only be able to recall the first few and last few, and maybe a few notable others. Storing Memories How does sensory memory work? Sensory memory feeds our active working memory, recording momentary images of scenes or echoes of sounds. When George Sperling flashed a group of letters similar to this for one-twentieth of a second, people could recall only about half the letters. But when signaled to recall a particular row immediately after the letters had disappeared, they could do so with near-perfect accuracy. He also found that people were more likely to remember letters when he played one of three tones (each tone corresponding with a row of letters). Memory Types & Techniques Sensory memory - the immediate very brief recording of sensory information in the memory system ○ Iconic - visual traces → spots in your vision after flash photography ○ Echoic - auditory traces Short-term memory - activated memory that holds a few (5-9) items briefly (10-30 seconds) before the information is stored or forgotten → digits of a phone number ○ George Miller proposed that we can store about seven pieces of information (give or take two) in short-term memory. Without rehearsal, the information will be lost in 15-30 seconds. Long-term memory - the relatively permanent and limitless storehouse of the memory system There are two types of rehearsal: maintenance and elaborative. Maintenance rehearsal (a.k.a rote memorization) involves repeating information. Elaborative rehearsal is more detailed and involves additional memory aids like mnemonic devices. Autobiographical memory is a collection of episodic memories (recollections of moments you previously experienced) → the “highlight reel” of your life. Amnesia Sometimes, forgetting happens due to injury or illness. Amnesia: memory loss, often due to brain damage ○ Anterograde amnesia: an inability to form new memories Ante = after (the damage) ○ Retrograde amnesia: an inability to recall past memories Retro = old Alzheimer’s disease involves damage to the brain’s receptors for acetylcholine, the neurotransmitter responsible for memory and learning. Other types of amnesia: ○ Traumatic Amnesia – caused by a severe, non penetrative blow to head (car accident, sports injury); can lead to anything from loss of consciousness to coma. ○ Hysterical or Fugue Amnesia – linked to severe psychological trauma; usually temporary and linked to a traumatic event the mind cannot deal with. Memory often returns, although the memory of trauma may remain incomplete. ○ Childhood or Infantile Amnesia – inability to recall events from early childhood, could be linked to language development or immature brain Retrieving Memories Testing Memory To a psychologist, evidence that learning persists includes these three retention measures: recall—retrieving information that is not currently in your conscious awareness but that was learned at an earlier time. ○ A fill-in-the-blank question tests your recall. recognition—identifying items previously learned. ○ A multiple-choice question tests your recognition. ○ May depend on “retrieval cues” or hints tied to help remember information. (Rhymes with, starts with, etc.) Unconscious Associations & Retrieval Cues Have you ever walked into a room, know you are there to get something, but can’t remember what? So you shrug, return to the room you were in originally and suddenly you remember! This is known as context-dependent memory (the activation of memory when one returns to the setting of the original encoding) and it is not only affected by physical location, but also consciousness and mood. State-Dependent Memory: the tendency to recall experiences that are consistent with the state in which a person was at the time of encoding → if you study while drinking coffee, you’ll be more likely to remember the content while drinking coffee Mood-Congruent Memory: the tendency to recall experiences that are consistent with one’s current good or bad mood → when depressed, your brain is more likely to bring forth sad memories, making you feel worse Have you ever heard that teaching is the best way to learn? By quizzing yourself or others, you strengthen your brain’s ability to bring forth a memory. This is referred to as the testing effect. Understanding how we think, remember, and learn is known as meta-cognition. When you unlock this awareness, you are better able to accumulate knowledge. Forgetting Why do we forget? Hermann Ebbinghaus conducted a series of experiments on memory, concluding the existence of a “forgetting curve”, where memories decline rapidly, but then level off → Information is lost quickly but if you manage to remember something long enough, you are likely to remember it forever. Encoding failure (didn’t pay attention well enough to properly create the memory) Storage decay (memory has faded over time) Retrieval failure (the memory is there but you can’t find it) ○ Tip-of-the-tongue phenomenon: the feeling that a word or idea is just out of reach → you know you know it but can’t seem to remember it Motivated forgetting → repression: purposely losing a memory Interference → competing information Amnesia (memory loss due to brain damage/injury) Penny Test - Which is correct? Retrieval Failure & Interference Sometimes information is encoded and stored, but cannot be retrieved. The inability to recall memories due to competing information is known as interference. Proactive Interference: previously learned information makes it harder to learn new information ○ Ex. Calling your teacher by her maiden name when she has recently married Retroactive Interference: new information disrupts the ability to retrieve older information ○ Ex. Failing to remember your old address after you moved Influences on Memory Construction While most of us would like to believe that our memories have a perfect movie-like quality to them, that is only true for a select few. The rest of us will only have snippets of information strung loosely together, easily tangled by emotion, imagination, new information, and time. Constructive memory: a type of recollection characterized by the utilization of basic insights retained in the memory to build a more thorough and intricate report of an experience → in other words, what we don’t remember, we make-up using logic and context clues ○ Reconsolidation: the process that enables the update of a previously consolidated memory trace after its reactivation, through re-exposure to unconditioned stimuli, conditioned stimuli and/or context → details are lost with time, but can be remembered with help ○ Imagination Inflation: a type of memory distortion that occurs when imagining an event that never happened increases confidence in the memory of the event Studies have shown that we are all susceptible to to false memories. If someone with any level of knowledge or authority tells us a story of something that happened in our life, we will build off their confidence and recall details despite no knowledge of the event. The Misinformation Effect Elizabeth Loftus did a series of experiments to test the concept of the misinformation effect - a phenomenon that occurs when misleading information has distorted one’s memory of an event. Just by changing the wording of a question, witnesses to the same staged car crash reported differing speed estimates, because the word altered their memory of the event. False Memories Since memory is reconstruction as well as reproduction, we can’t be sure whether a memory is real by how real it feels. Much as perceptual illusions may seem like real perceptions, unreal memories feel like real memories. Because the misinformation effect and source amnesia (impaired memory for how, where, or when information was learned despite good memory for the information itself. happen outside our awareness) it is hard to separate false memories from real ones. Brain Games Mandela Effect Intelligence Is intelligence one ability or many? Charles Spearman believed in general intelligence (g) which includes all mental abilities stemming from his work on factor analysis - a statistical procedure that identifies clusters of related items on a test and uses them to identify different dimensions of performance that underlie a person’s total score. On a personality test, if you agree with items about liking crowds, enjoying group projects, being talkative, etc. you would be considered extraverted. On an intelligence test, if you score high in verbal, spatial, and reasoning skills, you would be considered intelligent. Many question this theory, because it does not account for individuals who demonstrate increased performance in one area but not others. L.L. Thurstone (7) and Howard Gardner (8) proposed theories of multiple intelligence, where people could have strengths and weaknesses but are still considered intelligent. What is intelligence? Intelligence is the ability to learn from experience, solve problems, and use knowledge to adapt to new situations. We all have some level of intelligence - skilled in some areas but maybe we struggle in others - thus measuring intelligence is a difficult task. Evolution of Assessing Intelligence When school attendance started becoming mandatory, government officials recognized that some students would need extra attention. The French government asked Alfred Binet to develop a fair test that would help identify the skills of students and compare them to others of the same age. He and his student, Theodore Simon, created an assessment that measured each child’s mental age - the level of performance typical of children of a certain chronological age. So if you are 8 and scored a mental age of 8, you’re average. Stanford University professor Lewis Terman adapted Binet’s work, adding new items and establishing new age norms to create the Stanford-Binet Intelligence Scale. This new test allowed children of different ages to be compared because the score was based on an intelligence quotient or IQ. IQ = (mental age/chronological age)* 100 → (mental age of 10/chronological age of 8)*100 = IQ of 125 Today, “IQ” is the name used for intelligence test scores but it is no longer a true quotient, nor does it use the formula above. Elements of Test Construction Standardization: defining uniform testing procedures and meaningful scores by comparison with the performance of a pretested group ○ Includes how the test is designed, administered, and scored → ACT, SAT, & AP exams ○ Normal Curve: the bell-shaped curve that describes the distribution of many physical and psychological attributes; most scores fall near the average and fewer scores lie near the extremes Types of Reliability & Validity A test is reliable when it yields consistent results; to establish reliability researchers establish different procedures. Test-Retest Reliability: Using the same test on two occasions to measure consistency. Split-Half Reliability: Dividing the test into two parts, testing each part on the same students but on different days, and comparing scores. A test is valid if it accurately measures what it is designed to measure. Construct Validity: the ability of a measurement tool (survey, test, etc.) to measure the concept being studied. ○ Ex: Measuring Tape= Height, Scale= Weight Predictive Validity: the success with which a test predicts the behavior it is designed to predict; assessed by computing correlation between test scores and the criterion behavior ○ Ex: SAT/ACT, GPA, Intelligence Tests Bias in Intelligence Testing Even if a tests procedures are standardized, the manner in which they’re written can be considered bias if questions are based on cultural experience. Consider this as if you were taking a test in a different language - you may know the content but don’t know how to show it because the language is unfamiliar to you, thus you would be considered unintelligent. Bias can also be due to assumptions on general knowledge (you know what they say about assuming…). Test-Takers’ Expectations When Steven Spencer and his colleagues (1997) gave a difficult math test to equally capable men and women, women did not do as well—except when they had been led to expect that women usually do as well as men on the test. Expecting to struggle with the math affected their performance. Similar studies have been done with different groups being told they will do better or worse because of their gender, ethnicity/race, etc. with similar results. Stereotype threat: a self-confirming concern that one will be evaluated based on a negative stereotype Flynn Effect The Flynn Effect refers to the finding that the average human IQ has increased over time, which was first discovered by researcher James Flynn in 1984, thus IQ tests must constantly be renormed so cohorts from different time periods can be compared. With the assumption that IQ tests are an accurate representation of intelligence, this result indicates an increase in human intelligence over time. Interestingly, there has been the biggest increase in IQ in specific areas of the test, that is, in the areas of classification and analogies (being able to use logic on abstractions). Flynn explains that this is likely representative of the change in thinking patterns of humans over time, especially when it comes to the hypothetical. Impact of Genes on Intelligence Identical twins raised together are nearly as similar as those of the same person taking the test twice. ○ Heritability: the proportion of variation among individuals in a group that we can attribute to genes Identical twins also have a similar white matter to gray matter ratio. Adopted children share intelligence closer to that of their biological parents than their adoptive parents. There is no single gene for intelligence, rather several different genes that contribute. Impact of Environment on Intelligence Genes matter. Even if we were all raised in the same intellectually stimulating environment, we would have differing aptitudes. But life experiences also matter. Human environments are rarely as impoverished as the dark and barren cages inhabited by deprived rats that develop thinner-than-normal brain cortexes. Studies have shown that poor environmental conditions can depress cognitive development, and poverty-related stresses often impede cognitive performance. Therefore, even if genes give you the potential for genius, if you aren’t in an environment that fosters your intelligence, you won’t meet your full genetic potential. Racial/Ethnic Similarities & Differences Fueling the group-differences debate are two other disturbing but scientifically agreed-upon facts: Racial and ethnic groups differ in their average intelligence test scores. High-scoring people (and groups) are more likely to attain high levels of education and income. There are many group differences in average intelligence test scores. Countries whose economies create a large wealth gap between rich and poor tend also to have a large rich-versus-poor intelligence test score gap. However, individuals that receive the same content and instruction demonstrate similar scores on tests, regardless of race. Assessing Intelligence An intelligence test is a method for assessing an individual’s mental aptitudes and comparing them with those of others, using numerical scores. Achievement tests measure mastery of knowledge, assessing what someone has learned. → Finals & AP Exams measure what you have learned in class Aptitude tests are designed to predict a person’s future performance or capacity to learn. → SAT & ACT scores predict how you will do in college Growth vs. Fixed Mindset A growth mindset means that you believe your intelligence and talents can be developed over time. A fixed mindset means that you believe intelligence is fixed—so if you’re not good at something, you might believe you’ll never be good at it.  AP Psychology. AP Psychology – AP Students | College Board. (n.d.). https://apstudents.collegeboard.org/courses/a p-psychology Myers, David G. and Nathan DeWall. Citations Exploring Psychology. 11th edition. 2019. New York: Worth. Myers, David G. and Nathan DeWall. Psychology. 12th edition. 2018. New York: Worth. Weiten, Wayne. Psychology: Themes and Variations. 10th edition. 2017. Belmont, CA: Wadsworth, Cengage Learning.