Cognition and Intelligence Discussion Question
Discussion Points are awarded for comments that · reflect that you have read the required text and readings · that you have prepared the discussion questions in advance · that you have thought about the content · that you have attempted to understand the readings · and that you are able to apply the content to “real life.” In other words, quality comments reflect effort, accuracy, and thoroughness. If you do not understand the material, you can still earn participation points by demonstrating that you have made an effort to understand the material and that you have read the text. Trying to struggle with and figure out the information merits points. I expect you to make posts that directly address all parts of the discussion questions as well as respond to others’ postings. Points awarded for responses to others’ postings will be awarded using the same criteria as original posts (see above, see syllabus).
You will not earn points for posts/replies that do not meet the above criteria or for posts/replies that simply reflect information from your personal life without incorporating specific concepts and understanding of the chapter.
Your reply should focus on enhancing your peer’s discussion and not on the organization or if you enjoyed reading it. This can be mentioned but should not be the focus. Further, you will not earn points by simply stating that you agree or disagree with a classmate without fully supporting your opinion with concepts from the course material. Your peer response must enhance your peer’s post while incorporating concepts from the course material directly related to the discussion question.
Required: Two posts per chapter. Original posts must be a minimum of 400 words combined. (approx 200 words each).
Required: Two responses to peers’ posts per chapter. Peer responses must be a minimum of 125-150 words for each peer response.
Select two of the topics below to discuss. Inside your discussion always start by titling your post in bold using one of the topic titles below and then discuss your topic starting on the next line. You will then reply to two of your peers’ posts from either the same or different topic. On the top line of your peer responses write “reply to:” and then the title of the peers’ post to which you are responding. Start your peer response on the next line.
Complete 2 of the following 4 discussion topics.
Discussion A) Functional Fixedness and Mental Set
• A) What isFILLER TEXTFunctional Fixedness? Provide two examples applying this problem solving barrier. Why is this not a problem solving barrier to young children? B) What isFILLER TEXTMental Set? Provide two examples applying this problem solving barrier. (For the this posting do not repeat examples found in your textbook or powerpoint)
Discussion B) Additive Strategies and Elimination by aspects
• What is additive strategies and provide a thorough example applying this strategy. Also, what is elimination by aspects and provide a thorough example applying this strategy. (For the this posting do not repeat examples found in your textbook or powerpoint)
Discussion C) Two common flaws
• Describe two common flaws often encountered when reasoning about decisions: the gambler’s fallacy and overestimating the improbable. Also discuss how these two flaws are related to the availability heuristic and the representativeness heuristic.
Discussion D) IQ and Occupation
• Why might IQ tests used today be predictive of occupation attainment, but not necessarily be predictive of performance?
chapter_8_cogn_and_iq_online.ppt
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Chapter 8: Cognition and
Intelligence
Dr. Ami Smith
PSYC 100
Cognitive Psychology
• A label for approaches that seek to explain
observable behavior by investigating mental
processes and structures that cannot be
observed directly.
Cognition
The mental processes that are involved in acquiring, storing,
retrieving, and using information and include sensation,
perception, imagery, concept formation, reasoning, decision
making, problem solving, and language.
Problem Solving
• Problem solving- refers to active efforts to
discover what must be done to achieve a goal
that is not readily attainable
Effective Problem Solving
• Barriers to effective problem solving:
– Irrelevant Information
– Functional Fixedness: the tendency to
perceive an item only in terms of its most
common use
– Mental Set: persist in using problemsolving strategies that have worked in the
past
– Unnecessary Constraints
Discussion Questions:
• For the following, do not repeat examples
found in your textbook, PowerPoint, etc.
– What is Functional Fixedness and give
an example. What is Mental Set and
give an example.
The tower of Hanoi problem. Your mission is to move the
rings from peg A to peg C. You can move only the top ring on
a peg and can’t place a larger ring above a smaller one. The
solution is explained in the text.
Solutions to the additional water jar problems. The solution for problems 1–
4 is the same (B – A – 2C) as the solution shown in Figure 8.3. This
method will work for problem 5, but there also is a simpler solution (A – C),
which is the only solution for problem 6. Many subjects exhibit a mental set
on these problems, as they fail to notice the simpler solution for problem 5.
Approaches to Problem Solving
• Trial-and-error: trying possible solutions
sequentially and discarding those that are in
error until one works
• Heuristics: guiding principles or “rules of
thumb” used in solving problems or making
decisions
– Forming subgoals: making intermediate
steps toward a solution
– Searching for analogies: using a solution to
a previous problem to solve a current one
– Changing the representation of a problem
Solution to the Buddhist monk problem. If you represent this
problem graphically and think in terms of two monks, it is readily
apparent that the monk does pass a single spot at the same time
each day.
Decision Making:
Choices and Chances
• Simon (1957) – theory of bounded rationality
• Making Choices
– Additive strategies: used to make choices by rating
the attributes of each alternative and selecting the
alternative with most desirable attributes.
– Elimination by aspects: making choices by
gradually eliminating unattractive alternatives.
– Risky decision making: making choices under
conditions of uncertainty.
• Expected value: what you stand to gain
• Subjective utility: represents what an outcome is
personally worth to an individual.
Table 8.1 Application of the additive model to choosing an apartment
Discussion Questions:
• For the following, do not repeat examples
found in your textbook, PowerPoint, etc.
• Discussion Question: What is additive
strategies and provide a thorough
example applying this strategy.
• Discussion Question: What is elimination by
aspects and provide a thorough example
applying this strategy.
Heuristics in Judging Probabilities
•
•
•
•
•
•
The availability heuristic
The representativeness heuristic
The tendency to ignore base rates
The conjunction fallacy
The gambler’s fallacy
Overestimating the improbable
The conjunction fallacy.
People routinely fall
victim to the conjunction
fallacy, but as this
diagram makes
obvious, the probability
of being in a
subcategory (college
teachers who are
politicians) cannot be
higher than the
probability of being in
the broader category
(college teachers). As
this case illustrates, it
often helps to represent
a problem in a diagram.
Discussion Question
• Describe two common flaws often
encountered when reasoning about
decisions: the gambler’s fallacy and
overestimating the improbable. Also discuss
how these two flaws are related to the
availability heuristic and the
representativeness heuristic.
What is Intelligence
• When we think of intelligence as a trait (thing)
we commit to an error called reification
• Reification: viewing an abstract immaterial
concept as if it were a concrete thing
What is Intelligence
• Intelligence (in all cultures) is the ability to learn
from experience, solve problems, and use
knowledge to adapt to new situations.
– Functional: intelligent behavior is always directed
toward accomplishing a task or solving a problem
– Multifaceted: aspects of it can be expressed in many
domains
– Culturally Defined:intelligence functions to help us
adapt to our environment. Environments differ by
culture-different circumstances arise by social
standards. Thus, intelligent behavior must differ by
culture
• In research studies, intelligence is whatever the
intelligence tests measure … which tends to be
school smarts.
Approaches to Intelligence
• g Factor
– Charles Spearman’s term for a general intellectual
ability that underlies all mental operations to some
degree
• People who are bright in one area tend to
be bright in others
• s factor
–Specific intellectual abilities
• Spearman’s influence seen in intelligence
tests such as Stanford-Binet that yield one
IQ score to indicate the level of general
intelligence
Approaches to Intelligence
• Gardner’s multiple intelligences
• Sternberg’s Triarchic Theory and
successful intelligence
Howard Gardner’s Eight
Frames of Mind
Howard Gardner’s Eight
Frames of Mind
• Howard Gardner (1983, 1999):
• Gardner suggests that we have multiple intelligence.
• Based on his observation that those who demonstrate genius
in one area (music or art), are typically average on standard
IQ tests. Thus, multiple intelligences each independent of the
others (linguistic, logical-mathematical, spatial, bodykinesthetic, musical, and personal)
– Gardner notes that brain damage may diminish one
type of ability but not others.
– Howard Gardner notes that mental abilities appear to
be independent:
Gardner’s Study’s of Intelligence
• Believes all forms of intelligence are equally
important
– Cultures assign varying degrees of
importance to types of intelligence
– Various abilities and skills have been
valued differently in other cultures and
periods of history
Sternberg’s triarchic theory of
intelligence (Figure 8.23)
•
•
•
•
.
Sternberg’s model of intelligence consists of three parts:
1) contextual subtheory,
2) experiential subtheory
3) componential subtheory.
• Much of Sternberg’s research has been devoted to
• the componential subtheory, as he has attempted to
identify the cognitive processes that contribute to
intelligence. He believes that these processes fall into
three groups: metacomponents, performance
components, and knowledge-acquisition
• components. All three component processes contribute
to each of three aspects or types of intelligence:
analytical intelligence, practical intelligence, and
creative intelligence.
Assessing Intelligence
Measures designed to assess level of cognitive
capabilities of an individual compared to other
people in a population
The Evolution of Intelligence Testing
• Alfred Binet and Theodore Simon (1905)
– Binet-Simon Intelligence Scale
– Mental age
• Lewis Terman (1916)
– Stanford-Binet Intelligence Scale
– Intelligence Quotient (IQ) = MA/CA x 100
• David Wechsler (1955)
– Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale
Assessing Intelligence
• Wechsler Intelligence tests
– The most widely used psychological tests
– Scores are based on how much an individual deviates
from the average score for adults not mental and
chronological ages
– Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children: published
for ages 6-16,11
– Wechsler Preschool and Primary Scale of
Intelligence: published for children ages 4-6 ½ .
– Wechsler Abbreviate Scale of Intelligence is a brief
assessment that can be used on both children and
adults.
Assessing Intelligence
Uses of IQ Tests
• Predict academic success
• Evaluate strengths and weaknesses
• Evaluate functioning over time
• Identify intellectual giftedness
• In assessment for mental retardation
Figure 8.15 The normal distribution
Figure 8.15
The normal distribution.
• Many characteristics are distributed in a pattern
represented by this bellshaped curve. The horizontal axis
shows how far above or below the mean a score is
(measured in plus or minus standard deviations).
• The vertical axis is used to graph the number of cases
obtaining each score. In a normal distribution, the cases
are distributed in a fixed pattern. For instance, 68.26% of
the cases fall between –1 and +1 standard deviation.
• Modern IQ scores indicate where a person’s measured
intelligence falls in the normal distribution.
• On most IQ tests, the mean is set at an IQ of 100 and the
standard deviation at 15. Any deviation IQ score can be
converted into a percentile score. The mental
classifications at the bottom of the figure are descriptive
labels that roughly correspond to ranges of IQ scores.
Requirements of Good Tests
• Reliability
– The ability of a test to yield nearly the same score when
the same people are tested and then retested on the
same test or an alternative form of the test
• Validity
– The ability of a test to measure what it is intended to
measure
• Culture-Fair Intelligence Test
– The use of questions that will not penalize those whose
culture differs from the mainstream or dominant culture
• Standardization
– Establishes norms for comparing score of people who
take a test in the future and a set procedure for
administration.
Assessing Intelligence: Reliability and
Validity
• Reliability
– ability of test to produce consistent and
stable scores
• Validity
– ability of test to measure what it has been
designed to measure
Assessing Intelligence: Reliability and
Validity
• A measure can be reliable but not valid
– consistently inaccurate
• A measure CANNOT be valid unless it is
reliable
Not reliable
Reliable, but not valid
Valid and reliable
Assessing Intelligence: Reliability and
Validity
Valid uses of IQ Tests
• Predict academic success
• Evaluate strengths and weaknesses
• Evaluate functioning over time
Invalid Uses:
• IQ does NOT predict:
– Job performance, social status, happiness
Reliability and Validity of IQ tests
• Exceptionally reliable – correlations into the
.90s
• Qualified validity – valid indicators of
academic/verbal intelligence, not intelligence
in a truly general sense
– Correlations:
– .40s–.50s with school success
– .60s–.80s with number of years in school
• Predictive of occupational attainment, debate
about predictiveness of performance
Discussion Question:
• Why might IQ tests used today be predictive
of occupation attainment, but not necessarily
be predictive of performance?
Heredity and Environment as Determinants
of Intelligence
• Heredity
– Twin and adoption studies
• Environment
– Adoption studies
– Environmental deprivation and enrichment
– The Flynn effect
• Interaction
– The concept of the reaction range
• Refer to genetically determined limits on
IQ. The environment determines
whether a person will fall at the upper or
lower end of their genetically determined
range.
Figure 8.19 Studies of IQ similarity
Discussion Question
• What does figure 8.19 in your PowerPoint
show that studies have found with regards to
1) IQ and heredity and 2) IQ and
environment? Why do you come to these
conclusion?
Figure 8.21 Reaction range
Figure 8.21
Reaction range
• The concept of reaction range posits that heredity sets limits on
one’s intellectual potential (represented by the horizontal bars),
while the quality of one’s environment influences where one
scores within this range (represented by the dots on the bars).
• People raised in enriched environments should score near the
top of their reaction range, whereas people raised in poorquality environments should score near the bottom of their
range.
• Genetic limits on IQ can be inferred only indirectly, so theorists
aren’t sure whether reaction ranges are narrow (like Ted’s) or
wide (like Chris’s).
• The concept of reaction range can explain how two people with
similar genetic potential can be quite different in intelligence
(compare Tom and Jack) and how two people reared in
environments of similar quality can score quite differently
(compare Alice and Jack).
Figure 8.22 Genetics and between-group differences on a trait
…
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