chapter 9: cognition

Psychology: A Modular Approach to Mind and Behavior, Tenth Edition, Dennis Coon Chapter 9

Chapter 9: Cognition


Cognition: Definition of Terms

• Cognition: Mentally processing information (images, concepts, etc.); thinking

• Internal Representation: Mental expression of a problem or situation

• Concept: Generalized idea representing a class of related objects or events

• Language: Words or symbols, and rules for combining them, that are used for thinking and communication


Figure 9.1


Figure 9.2


Types of Mental Images

• Stored Image: Mental image kept in long-term memory (LTM) and retrieved when appropriate

• Created Image: Image that has been assembled or invented rather than remembered

• Kinesthetic Image: Created from produced, remembered, or imagined muscular sensations


Concepts

• Concept: Idea that represents a category of objects or events

• Concept Formation: Process of classifying information into meaningful categories

• Positive Instance: Object or event that belongs to the concept class

• Negative Instance: Object or event that does not belong to the concept class


Concept Formation

• Conceptual Rule: Guideline for deciding whether objects or events belong to a concept class

• Conjunctive Concept: Class of objects that have two or more features (e.g., object is pink and soft)


Concept Formation (cont.)

• Relational Concept: Based on how an object relates to something else or how its features relate to one another

• Disjunctive Concept: Objects that have at least one of several possible features; either-or concept (strike in baseball)


More Concept Issues and Terms

• Prototype: Ideal model used as an example of a good concept

• Denotative Meaning: Exact definition of a word or concept

• Connotative Meaning: Emotional or personal meaning of a concept

• Semantic Differential: Measure of connotative meaning


Faulty Concepts

• Social Stereotype: Inaccurate and oversimplified concepts of groups of people

• All-or-Nothing Thinking: One-dimensional thought


Figure 9.3


Figure 9.4


Figure 9.5


Figure 9.6


Language Structure

• Encoding: Translating information into symbols that are easy to manipulate

• Semantics: Study of meaning in language

• Phonemes: Basic speech sounds

• Morphemes: Speech sounds collected into meaningful units, like syllables or words


Figure 9.8


Language Structure (cont.)

• Grammar: Set of rules for making sounds into words or words into sentences

• Syntax: Rules for word order in sentences

• Transformation Rules: Rules that allow us to change a declarative sentence into other voices (passive, active) or forms


Language Structure (cont.)

• Productivity: Ability of language to generate new thoughts or ideas

• American Sign Language (ASL): Language used by deaf and hearing-impaired people


Figure 9.9


Figure 9.10


Figure 9.11


Problem Solving

• Mechanical Solution: Achieved by trial and error or by rote

• Algorithm: Learned set of rules that always leads to a correct solution

• General Solution: States the requirements for success but not in enough detail to guide further action


More on Problem Solving

• Random Search Strategy: All possibilities are tried, more or less randomly

• Heuristic: Strategy for identifying and evaluating problem solutions


Figure 9.14


Insight

• When an answer appears suddenly in problem solving (“a-ha” learning)


Insight Involves:

• Selective Encoding: Selecting information that is relevant to a problem while ignoring distractions

• Selective Combination: Connecting seemingly unrelated bits of useful information

• Selective Comparison: Comparing new problems with old information or with problems already solved


Fixations

• Tendency to repeat wrong solutions and to “fixate” on them, or to become blind to alternatives

• Functional Fixedness: Inability to see new uses (functions) for familiar objects or for things that were used in a particular way


Barriers to Problem Solving

• Emotional Barriers: Inhibition and fear of making a fool of oneself or of making a mistake

• Cultural Barriers: Belief that fantasy is a waste and feelings and humor have no place in problem solving

• Learned Barriers: Taboos; staying with conventional uses

• Perceptual Barriers: Habits leading to a failure to identify important elements of a problem


Figure 9.17


Figure 9.18


Artificial Intelligence (AI)

• Computer programs that perform human-like problem solving or intelligent responding (Deep Blue, the chess-playing supercomputer)

• Computer Simulations: Programs that attempt to duplicate human behavior, especially thinking, problem solving, or decision making


Artificial Intelligence (cont.)

• Expert Systems: Computer programs that respond as a human expert would– Responding like a chess Grand Master

• Organized Knowledge: Systematic information

• Acquired Strategies: Learned tactics


Defining Intelligence

• Global capacity to act purposefully, think rationally, and deal effectively with the environment

• Operational Definition: Procedures used to measure a concept


Figure 9.19


Testing Intelligence

• Stanford-Binet Intelligence Scale, Fifth Edition (SB5): Widely used individual intelligence test, derived directly from Alfred Binet’s first intelligence test; items are age-ranked


Intelligence Quotients

• Chronological Age: Person’s age in years

• Mental Age: Average intellectual performance


SB5: Cognitive Factors Measured

• Fluid reasoning

• Knowledge

• Quantitative reasoning

• Visual-spatial processing

• Working memory


Figure 9.22


More Terms

• Intelligence Quotient (IQ): Intelligence index; original definition; mental age divided by chronological age, then multiplied by 100

• Deviation IQ: Scores based on a person’s relative standing in his or her age group; how far above or below average a person’s score is, relative to other scores

• Average IQ in the U.S.: 100


Wechsler Tests

• Wechsler Adult Intelligence Test, 3rd Edition (WAIS-III): Adult intelligence test that rates verbal and performance intelligence and abilities

• Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children, 4th Edition (WISC-IV): Downscaled version of the WAIS-III; for children from 6 years to 16 years, 11 months, 30 days


Types of Intelligence

• Performance Intelligence: Nonverbal intelligence

• Verbal Intelligence: Language or symbol-oriented intelligence


Figure 9.23


Group Tests

• These tests can be given to a large group of people with little supervision; usually contain multiple-choice items

• Normal (Bell-Shaped) Curve: Most scores fall close to the average, and very few are found at the extremes


IQ Research Results

• A strong correlation (about .50) exists between IQ and school grades

• IQ is NOT a good predictor of success in art, music, writing, dramatics, science and leadership

• Men and women do NOT appear to differ in overall intelligence, Larry Summers’ assertions notwithstanding


Giftedness

• Having a high IQ (usually above 130) or special talents or abilities (playing Mozart at age 5)


Figure 9.24


Gardner’s Theory of Eight Multiple Intelligences

• Language: Lawyers, writers, comedians

• Logic and Math: Scientists, accountants, programmers

• Visual and Spatial Thinking: Engineers, inventors, artists

• Music: Composers, musicians, music critics – Where does Simon Cowell fit?


Gardner’s Theory of Eight Multiple Intelligences (cont.)

• Bodily-Kinesthetic Skills: Dancers, athletes, surgeons

• Intrapersonal Skills (Self-Knowledge): Poets, actors, ministers

• Interpersonal Skills (Social Abilities): Psychologists, teachers, politicians

• Naturalistic Skills (Ability to Understand Natural Environment): Biologists, organic farmers


Mental Retardation (or Developmentally Disabled): Some Definitions

• Presence of a developmental disability and an IQ score below 70; a significant impairment of adaptive behavior also figures into the definition– Adaptive Behavior: Basic skills such as

dressing, eating, working, hygiene; necessary for self-care


Familial Retardation

• Mild retardation that occurs in homes that have inadequate nutrition, intellectual stimulation, medical care, and emotional support


Organic Causes of Mental Retardation

• Related to physical disorders

• Birth Injuries: Lack of oxygen to the brain, for example

• Fetal Damage: Prenatal damage from disease, infection, or drug use by the mother

• Metabolic Disorders: Rate of energy use and production in the body are affected

• Genetic Abnormalities: Abnormality in the genes, such as missing genes, extra genes, or defective genes


Creative Thinking

• Inductive Thought: Going from specific facts or observations to general principles

• Deductive Thought: Going from general principles to specific situations

• Logical Thought: Going from given information to new conclusions based on explicit rules

• Illogical Thought: Thought that is intuitive, associative, or personal


Figure 9.25


How to “Rate” Creative Thoughts

• Fluency: Total number of suggestions you can make

• Flexibility: Number of times you shift from one class of possible uses to another

• Originality: How novel or unusual your ideas are

• Convergent Thinking: Many thoughts or variations converging on a single answer; conventional thinking

• Divergent Thinking: Many possibilities developed from one starting point


Tests of Creativity (This is the “Twilight Zone”

• Unusual Uses Test: Find as many uses for an object as possible (“Tell me all the things you can do with this pencil.”)

• Consequences Test: List all the consequences that would follow if a basic change were made in the world (“What would happen if we were able to read everyone’s thoughts?”)

• Anagrams Test: Make as many new words as possible from the letters in a given word


Stages of Creative Thought

• Orientation: Defining the problem

• Preparation: Gaining as much information as possible

• Incubation: The problem, while not appearing to be actively worked on, is still “cooking” in the background

• Illumination: The “a-ha” experience; rapid insight into the solution

• Verification: Testing and critically evaluating the solution


Creative Personality

• Smarter people have a slight tendency to be more creative

• Creative people usually have a greater than average range of knowledge and interests

• Creative people have openness to a wide variety of experiences

• Creative people value independence and have a preference for complex things


Logic and Intuition

• Intuition: Quick, impulsive thought that does not make use of clear reasoning

• Representativeness Heuristic: Giving a choice greater weight if it seems to be representative of what is already known

• Base Rate: Underlying probability of an event

• Framing: The way a problem is stated or the way it is structured


How to Enhance Creativity

• Break mental sets and challenge assumptions– Mental Set: Tendency to perceive a

problem in a way that blinds us to possible solutions

• Define problems broadly

• Restate the problem in different ways

• Allow time for incubation


How to Enhance Creativity (cont.)

• Seek varied input

• Look for analogies

• Take sensible risks

• Delay evaluation


Brainstorming

• Keeping the production of ideas separate from the evaluation of them; producing ideas with no criticism

• Cross-Stimulation Effect: When one participant’s ideas in a brainstorming session trigger ideas from others


Some Rules for Brainstorming

• Criticism of ideas is barred

• Modification or combination with other ideas is encouraged

• Quantity of ideas is sought

• Unusual, remote, or wild ideas are sought

• Record ideas as they occur

• Elaborate or improve on the most promising ideas


The Match Problem and Its Solution


Figure 9.26


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chapter 9: cognition

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