chapter 9 - thinking, language, and intelligence

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Thinking and Intelligence

• What type of thing would someone intelligent say?

• What type of thing would someone unintelligent say?

• Name 5 qualities about someone that would indicate intelligence.

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Reasoning and Rationality

• 1-Formal Reasoning

• 2-Informal Reasoning

• 3-Reflective Judgment

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Formal Reasoning

• It is the kind of thinking you find in an intelligence test.

• The information needed for reaching a solution is specified clearly.

• There is a single right or best answer.

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Formal Reasoning1-Algorithm

• A set of procedures guaranteed to produce a solution even if you don’t really know how it works.

• Example:• To solve a problem in long division you just

apply a series of operations that you have learned.

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Formal Reasoning2-Logic

• Deductive Reasoning• Drawing conclusions

from a set of observations or premises.

• If the premises are true, the conclusion must also be true.

• Inductive Reasoning• Draw conclusions but

could be conceivably wrong.

• You draw specific conclusions from general premises.

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Formal Reasoning2-Logic

• Deductive Reasoning

• Example:• All human beings are

mortal. I am a human being.

• If the premises are true • Then, I am mortal.

• Inductive Reasoning

• Example:• Most people with

season tickets must love music. John has season tickets.

• Then, John probably loves music.

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Informal Reasoning

• In informal reasoning problems, there may be no clearly correct solutions.

• Disagreement may exist about basic premises.

• Information may be incomplete.• Many view points may compete.

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Informal Reasoning1-Heuristics

• Rules of thumb that suggest a course of action without guaranteeing an optimal solution.

• Examples:• A doctor who wants to determine the best

kind of treatment.• A factory owner who wants to boost

production.

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Informal Reasoning2-Dialectical Thinking

• Example:• Is what juries are supposed to do in order to

arrive to a verdict.

• You consider argument for and against the defendant’s guilt.

• You consider point and counter point.

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Reflective JudgmentCritical Thinking

• The ability to question the assumptions, evaluate and integrate evidence, relate the evidence to a theory or an opinion,

• Consider alternative interpretations,• And reach conclusions that can be defended

as reasonable or plausible.

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Reflective JudgmentKaren Kitchener & Patricia King

• 1-Prereflective Reflective Stages• (the first 2 stages)• The right answer always exists.• No distinction between knowledge and belief, or

belief and evidence.

• Examples:• I was brought up to believe that a certain ethnic group is

bad.• If I break a mirror, I will have bad luck.

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• 2-Quasi-Reflective Stages(the next 3 stages)• There is no right and wrong answer.• Knowledge is subjective.

• Examples:• The best way to treat depression is by giving antidepressants.• The best way to treat depression is cognitive therapy.

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• 3-Reflective Thinking Stages(the last 2 stages)• Although somethings cannot be known with

certainty, some judgments are more valid than others based on evidence.

• Examples:• Based on evidence, I believe that the development

of diabetes is genetic.

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What Do You Think?

Common sense is the best distributed commodity in the world, for every man is convinced that he is well supplied with it.

(Rene Descartes)

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Barriers to Reasoning• 1- Availability Heuristic Exaggerating the ImprobableEstimating the likelihood of events based on their

availability in memory. We assume such events are common.

• Example:• If it happened in the past, then it will happen now.• I had an accident on the freeway, then I can’t drive

on the freeway.

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Barriers to Reasoning

• 2- Representatives Heuristics A rule of thumb for judging the likelihood of

things in terms of how well they seem to represent, or match particular prototypes.

• Examples:• Believing that someone is famous or

important because of how well he is dressed.

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• 3- Framing and the Tendency to Avoid Loss How an issue is framed can significantly affect

decisions and judgments.• Examples:• If you take chemotherapy, you’ll lose your hair.

(People will respond cautiously)• If you take the medication for high blood pressure,

you’ll be OK. (People will go for it)

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• 4- Confirmation Bias• Paying attention to information that

confirms one’s own belief.• Examples:• Smoking is not harmful.(Regardless of the research)

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• 5- Biases Due to Fixation or Mental Sets The inability to see a problem from a fresh

perspective. • Examples:• Believing that the medication will not work

and ignoring the doctor’s advice to take the medication.

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• 6- Biases Due to Functional Fixation Our tendency to perceive the functions of

objects as fixed and unchanging.• Examples:• Ransacking the house for a screw driver

when a dime would have turned the screw.

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• 7- Overconfidence or The Hindsight Bias• The tendency to overestimate one’s ability

to predict the future.• Examples:• I knew you were going to have a divorce.

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• 8- The Need for Cognitive Consistency• When there is inconsistency between

behavior and belief. (Smoking)• Examples:• Denying the evidence or rationalizing• Modifying the belief• Changing the behavior

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• 9- Belief Perseverance Clinging to one’s initial conception after the

basis on which they were formed has been discredited. Confirmation bias contributes to belief perseverance.

• Examples: You continue smoking even though research

shows it is definitely connected to lung cancer.

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Language DevelopmentMonth410

122424+

StageBabbles many speech soundsBabbling reveals household

languageOne-word stageTwo-word telegraphic speechLanguage develops rapidly

into complete sentences

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Language Development

• Behaviorist, B. F. Skinner

• Rationalist, Noam Chomsky

• Cognitive Scientists, Statistical Learning

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Innate Capacity for LanguageNoam Chomsky

• Surface Structure• Deep Structure• Language Acquisition Device

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Language Acquisition DeviceInnate Mental Module

• Children in different cultures go through similar stages of linguistic development.

• Children combine words in ways adults never do.

• Adults don’t consistently correct their children’s syntax.

• Even retarded children develop language.• Infants can derive simple linguistic rules.

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Language AcquisitionTheory Rationalist

ChomskyCognitive Statistical Learning

BehavioristSkinner

Language Aquisition

-Innate tendency to acquire language-Innate acquisition device

-statistical analysis of language-biological machinery for learning language

-association-imitation-reinforcement

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Thinking and Language

• Does language influence thinking? (Linguist Benjamin Lee Whorf)• Can we think without language? (Mental practice)

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Intelligence

• What’s the definition of intelligence?

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Definitions of Intelligence

• The ability to profit from experience• The ability to acquire knowledge or learn• The ability to think abstractly• The ability to act purposefully• The ability to adapt to changes in the

environment.

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Definitions of Intelligence

1-Psychometric ApproachIQ tests – focuses on how people perform on

standardized tests which are designed to measure skills and knowledge you have already learned.

2-Cognitive ApproachIntelligence comes in different ways and one

test can’t measure it all.

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Definitions of IntelligencePsychometric Approach

Alfred Binet Lewis Terman William Stern

David WechslerCharles Spearman

Goddard

Cognitive Approach

Howard GardnerRobert Sternberg

Emotional Intelligence

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Alfred Binet(1857-1911)

• Designed the 1st test that was developed later to be what we call now the “IQ test.”

• He wanted to measure the mental age as opposed to the chronological age.“The scale, properly speaking does not permit the

measure of intelligence, because intellectual qualities … cannot be measured as linear surfaces

are measured.” Binet and Simon, (1905)

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Lewis Terman(1877-1956)

• Revised the test.• Called the new test the Stanford-Binet.• Later German Psychologist William Stern

derived the famous intelligence quotient or IQ.

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William SternIQ Score=

Mental Age (MA)

divided by Chronological Age (CA)

multiplied by 100

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David WechslerIQ Tests

Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children (WISC-III)

A test for children that provides separate measures of verbal and performance (nonverbal) skills as well as a total score.

Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale (WAIS)A test for adults that provides separate measures of

verbal and performance skills as well as a total score.

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Charles Spearman(1863-1945)

General IntelligenceThe g Factor

There is a general factor that underlies the specific factors.

Those who score high on one factor, score higher than average on other factors.

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Bell Curve

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Variation in IQ ScoresRange of Scores % of Population Description

130 + 2% Very superior

120 - 129 7% Superior

110 -119 16% High average

90 - 109 50% Average

80 - 89 16% Low average

70 - 79 7% Borderline

70 & below 2% Deficient

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Evaluating IQ Tests

• Example 1: Focus on black-white differences

• Example 2: Goddard’s testing of the immigrants on Ellis Island

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What’s Wrong with Goddard’s Methodology?

• 1- The test was translated from French.• 2- The translation might not have been

accurate.• 3- The immigrants had just endured an

Atlantic crossing.• 4- The test was interpreted according to

the French norms.

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standardization reliabilityvalidity normal curvecontent validity aptitude testpredictive validity achievement test

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The Cognitive ApproachRobert Sternberg

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Robert Sternberg1- Componential Intelligence

Analytical intelligenceAcademic problem-solving intelligence

2- Experiential IntelligenceCreative intelligence

3- Contextual Intelligence Practical Intelligence

a. change situation (shaping)b. work on your emotions (adaptation)c. remove yourself from situation

(selection)

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The Theory of Multiple IntelligencesHoward Gardner (1995)

• Language 7 intelligences• Logical-mathematical + 2• Spatial relations Naturalistic• Bodily-kinesthetic Existential• Musical• Interpersonal• Intrapersonal

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Savant Syndrome

• A condition in which a person otherwise limited in mental ability has an exceptional specific skill, such as in computation or drawing.

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• 1-Interpersonal IntelligenceThe ability to understand other people

• 2-Intrapersonal IntelligenceThe ability to understand one’s

emotions

• 3-Delaying Gratification

Emotional Intelligence• EQ – or Emotional Quotient – helps a person to

acknowledge emotion in himself and others.• The emotionally intelligent person masters emotions for

personal benefit or for the greater good.• The emotionally intelligent person has the ability to reason

and distract oneself from emotional folly or obsession.• The emotionally intelligent person knows how to defer

gratification.• The emotionally intelligent person does not cuss and slam

doors while believing that he is not angry.• The emotionally intelligent person does not suppress or

run away from his painful emotions.

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Components of Creativity

The ability to produce novel and valuable ideas

• Expertise• Imaginative Thinking Skills• A Venturesome Personality• Intrinsic Motivation• A creative Environment

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Facts about Heritability

• Heritability gives an estimate of the proportion of the total variance in a trait that is attributable to genetic variation in a group.

• The maximun value hiritability can have is 1.0.• To measure heritability, the populations tested

have to share the same environment.• Even highly heritable traits can be modified by

the environment.

chapter 9 - thinking, language, and intelligence

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