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Cognition, Language, and Intelligence
Cognition, Language, and Intelligence
Definition of Cognition
Intellectual processes• Perception• Memory• Thinking• Language
through which information is
• Obtained• Transformed• Stored• Retrieved• Used
Cognition, Language, and Intelligence
Three Primary Facets of Cognition
• Cognition processes information
• Cognition is active– Information is
• Obtained through senses• Transformed through interpretive processes• Stored and retrieved through memory• Used in problem solving and language
• Cognition is useful
Concepts: The Basic Units of Thinking
• Concepts– Basic units of logical thinking– General categories of things, events, qualities
linked by common feature(s)– Makes most productive thinking possible– Allows efficient processing of information
Cognition, Language, and Intelligence
Cognition, Language, and Intelligence
• Simple concepts have a single common feature
• Complex concepts– Conjunctive: simultaneous
presence of 2 or more common characteristics
– Disjunctive: presence of one common characteristic or another, or both
appleRed t-shirt ball
aunt female
mom’s sister
Schizophrenic person
hears havingvoices distortednot there beliefs
Types of Concepts
Cognition, Language, and Intelligence
Basic Concepts
Station Station wagonwagon
Basic conceptsBasic concepts
VehiclesVehicles
PlanesPlanes
Propeller Propeller planeplane
CarsCars
Luxury Luxury sedansedan
SportsSportscarcar
BoatsBoats
Glider Glider
Jet planeJet plane
KayakKayak
SailboatSailboat
MotorboatMotorboat
Subordinate Subordinate conceptsconcepts
Superordinate Superordinate conceptconcept
Cognition, Language, and Intelligence
Cards used in laboratory studies
Can you tell what the
concept is here?
Cognition, Language, and Intelligence
• Concepts that are easier to learn than others
– Assumption – humans are biologically prepared
– Two primary characteristics
• Natural concepts are basic
• Natural concepts are prototypical – they make good prototypes
Natural Concepts
Cognition, Language, and Intelligence
• Three levels of inclusiveness
– Superordinate concepts are very inclusive
– Basic concept has medium degree of
inclusiveness
– Subordinate concepts are least inclusive
Natural Concepts
Cognition, Language, and Intelligence
• Why basic concepts are easier to learn than superordinate or subordinate concepts – four characteristics make them natural
– Basic concepts share many attributes
– Members share similar shapes
– Members often share motor movements
– Basic concepts are easily named
Natural Concepts
Thinking and Problem Solving
• Sophisticated thinking is based on concepts
– Understanding concepts gives insight into content of thinking
• Problem solving – cognitive process in which information is used to reach a goal blocked by some obstacle
– Steps must be performed in sequence
Cognition, Language, and Intelligence
Steps in Problem Solving
• Formulating the problem
– Clearly define it in specific terms (what is it?)
• Understanding and organizing elements of the problem (what is here and missing?)
– Be flexible in thinking; use insightfulness
– Avoid getting stuck in mental sets – habitual ways of thinking
Cognition, Language, and Intelligence
Steps in Problem Solving
• Generate and evaluate alternative solutions (what if ?)– Try to foresee effects and consequences
– Choose best solution
– Strategies to find best solution• Trial-and-error
Cognition, Language, and Intelligence
Problem Solving
– Strategies to find best solution• Heuristic reasoning using algorithms
– Efficient but subject to error• Representativeness heuristic – judgments
based on assumptions that unknown is similar to what is known
• Problems solving affected by emotions – not totally a cognitive, logical process
Cognition, Language, and Intelligence
Creative Problem Solving
• Creativity – ability to act or think in novel and ways that are valued by others
• Convergent thinking – Logical, factual, conventional, focused thinking
• Divergent thinking– Unconventional, loosely organized and directed– Breaks out of mental sets more easily
Cognition, Language, and Intelligence
Problem Solving• Wallas’ four steps
– Preparation• Initial attempts to look at facts, solutions
– Incubation• Rest period; leave it alone for a while
– Illumination• Sudden insight as to a solution
– Verification• Test the solution
Cognition, Language, and Intelligence
Human Diversity
• Inferential reasoning – reaches conclusion with information going beyond what is known
• Different cultures: more alike than not– Culture does shape thinking– Bicultural individual – goes back-and-forth
between two cultural mind-sets
Cognition, Language, and Intelligence
Cognition, Language, and Intelligence
Which two belong
together?
Chinese thinking
(relationship)
American thinking
(category)
Language
• Symbolic code used in communication
– Semantics – meaning or semantic content
– Generative – infinite set of utterances made into finite set of elements and rules
• Phonemes – smallest units of sound• Morphemes – smallest units of meaning• Syntax – combines morphemes, phonemes
– Prescriptive rules of grammar
Cognition, Language, and Intelligence
Language and Thought
• Whorfian Hypothesis known as linguistic relativity hypothesis
– A culture’s language shapes member’s thinking
• The more important something is to a culture, the more words exist to describe it
– Linguistic relativity led to rethinking certain words in our language - - example: chairman became chairperson
Cognition, Language, and Intelligence
Animal Language
• Humans have most flexible, symbolic communication
• Bees have simple, elegant form of communication– Round dance – distance communicated but
not direction
– Tail-wagging dance – direction communicated by angle to sun and distances through loose figure-eight patterns
Cognition, Language, and Intelligence
Cognition, Language, and Intelligence
Round dance
Direction of flower
Tail-wagging dance
Animal Language
• Teaching primates language
– Washoe – limited use of ASL
– Koko - demonstrated more spontaneous and generative use of language than Washoe
– The primates did not master human syntax
– Accomplishments of both is less than that of 3-year-old humans
Cognition, Language, and Intelligence
Cognition, Language, and Intelligence
Koko
Mastered 600 signs for more generative communication such as
“That Koko”
“Finger bracelet”
“I was sad and cried this morning”
Washoe
Mastered 150 signs for limited but useful commands such as
“Gimme sweet drink”
Intelligence
• Sum total of cognitive abilities
• Popularized by Galton in late 1800s
• Differing views– Galton – intelligence is single general factor
– Spearman – g (based on complex mathematical analysis) is general factor of intelligence
– Wechsler agrees with Spearman
Cognition, Language, and Intelligence
Intelligence
• Differing views
– Thurstone – Primary Mental Abilities Test measures seven intellectual abilities
– Guilford – extreme position that some 150 different abilities make up intelligence
– Gardner – 8 independent types of intelligence based on research with savant syndromes
Cognition, Language, and Intelligence
Cognition, Language, and Intelligence
Logical-mathematical
Linguistic
Musical
Spatial (artistic)
Kinesthetic (athletic)
Interpersonal (social skills)
Naturalistic intelligence (understanding nature)
Gardner’s Intelligences
Intrapersonal (personal adjustment)
Biological Basis of General Intelligence
• Genes influence many aspects of intelligence
• High g – believed to have greater ability to form neural connections in the brain
– Better able to learn from experience
– Brain can process information faster including
• Faster reflexes, reaction times
• Less time to make simple judgments
Cognition, Language, and Intelligence
Cognitive Components of Intelligent Behavior
• Sternberg – cognitive steps used
– Encode – put in memory in usable form
– Infer relationships between terms/elements
– Map or identify common characteristics
– Apply identified relationship
– Compare alternative answers
– Respond with an answer
Cognition, Language, and Intelligence
Fluid and Crystallized Intelligence
• Fluid intelligence
– ability to process information quickly, devise strategies to solve problem
• Crystallized intelligence –
– ability to use previously learned skills in problem solving
Cognition, Language, and Intelligence
Measures of Intelligence
• IQ Test– Terman – Stanford-Binet Intelligence Test– Wechsler – WISC-III and WAIS-R– Controversies over intelligence tests
• Use of small samples• Uses for predicting future behavior• Do tests really measure intelligence?
Cognition, Language, and Intelligence
Cognition, Language, and Intelligence
xx
(MA)(MA)
Chronological Chronological Age Age (CA)(CA)
100100Mental AgeMental Age==IQIQ
Construction of Intelligence Tests
• Binet – score is intelligence quotient (IQ)
• Ratio IQ no longer used • New approach: deviation IQ and normal
distribution
Good Intelligence Tests
• Characteristics - – Standardization
– Norms based on large sample of general population
– Objectivity – no bias
– Reliability – same results time after time
– Validity – measures what it is supposed to measure
• Predictive validity
Cognition, Language, and Intelligence
Tacit Intelligence
• Everyday intelligence not taught in school
• General intelligence tests are limited – Predicts success in school, complex occupations– Cannot predict tacit intelligence– Persons with low or limited general intelligence
rarely have high tacit intelligence– Persons with high general intelligence – more
likely to have good practical knowledge across many areas
Cognition, Language, and Intelligence
Individual Differences in Intelligence
• Contributing factors
– Combination of heredity and experience
• Monozygotic twins – evidence of heredity
– Intellectual environment one is raised in
• Enriched environments can increase IQ
Cognition, Language, and Intelligence
Importance of IQ Scores
• Modern society– Persons with higher IQ scores do better in
educational achievement, and obtain higher paying employment• Average truck driver – IQ under 100• Average doctor or lawyer – IQ is 125 or more• High correlation between educational and
occupational success
Cognition, Language, and Intelligence
People Are Becoming More Intelligent
• IQ scores increased over several generations– Tests measured fluid and crystallized IQ
• Larger gains measured by fluid IQ tests– Explanations
• Nutrition and health have improved• Levels of education have increased• Technology made environment more complex• More complex, multicultural society
Cognition, Language, and Intelligence
Cognition, Language, and Intelligence
1940 1950
Rel
ativ
e m
ean
inte
llig
ence
sco
res
1970 1980 1990
105
19601930
110
115
120
100
Year data collected
Intelligence scores of individuals born in different years but tested at the same age
Race-Ethnic Differences
• Intelligence and achievement since 1930s
– African American scores average 15 points below whites
– Hispanic/Latino Americans average scores fall between those of whites and African Americans
– Asian Americans average 5 points higher than scores of whites
Cognition, Language, and Intelligence
Race-Ethnic Differences
• Large increases in IQ since 1930s due to– Lives of African Americans have improved
(more opportunities in education and life)– Less children born benefit from family size– Changes in health and nutrition
• Bell curve – U.S. becoming meritocracy– Society headed toward genetic decline
Cognition, Language, and Intelligence
Cognition, Language, and Intelligence
2%14%34% 34%14%2%
Normal Distribution
Cognition, Language, and Intelligence
Normal Distribution
2.14% 2.14%
13.59%13.59%
34.13%34.13%
Below average
Average
Above average
70 85 115 130 14555 100
Few
Num
ber
of p
erso
ns
obta
inin
g ea
ch s
core
Many
Percent of persons
scoring in each segment under
the normal curve
IQ scores
Extremes in Intelligence
• Mental retardation – IQ of 70 or below– Wide range of conditions resulting from
genetics, trauma, and maternal infections• Mildly retarded – IQ of 50 to 70• Moderately retarded – IQ of 35 to 49• Severely retarded – IQ of 20 to 34• Profoundly retarded – IQ under 20
• Gifted – high IQ and high creativity – High achievers and highly successful in life
Cognition, Language, and Intelligence
The End
Cognition, Language, and Intelligence