Thinking and Intelligence

1
Thinking and Intelligence

• Falls under the general heading of Cognitive
  Psychology
• Thinking mental process involving the
  manipulation of information that is inferred from
  our behavior
• Concepts mental categories that share common
  characteristics
• Prototypesbest example of a concept

2
Problem Solving

• Problem-Solving Methods
• Algorithms systematic procedure for solving a
  problem by evaluating all possible solutions
  until the correct one is found (e.g., word
  jumble)
• Heuristic educated guess/rule of thumb

3
Common Errors

• Priming set person up to think in a certain
  pattern
• Representative Heuristic determine whether an
  instance represents a certain category. Similar
  to how we use stereotypes
• Gamblers Fallacy run of numbers doesnt appear
  to be by chance thus assume that a non-chance
  process is operating
• Confirmation Bias seek information that confirms
  our beliefs

4
Lots of Room for Error

• Availability Heuristic probability of an event
  is determined by how readily it comes to mind
• Plane versus auto crashes
• Comparison errors short NBA players
• Illusory Correlation the tendency to
  overestimate the extent of certain relationships
  (e.g., rain and car washing)
• Illusion of Control throwing dice harder

5
Potential Traps

• Rigidity tendency to rely too heavily on past
  experience in solving problems
• 8,5,4,1,7,6,3,2,0 Why this order?
• Functional Fixedness inability to see new uses
  for familiar objects (Maier two-string problem)

6
All is not lost Aids to problem solving

• Become expert with experience learn how to
  chunk/organize information
• Setting sub-goals makes problems more manageable

7
Creativity

• 2 minutes how many uses for a paper clip
• 4 average, 8 very good, 12 rare, 1/1000 get 16 or
  higher
• A weak link between creativity and intelligence
• Personal Characteristics capacity for hard work,
  willingness to take risks, a tolerance for
  ambiguity
• Creativity can be stimulated

8
Intelligence

• Intelligence Testing
• Galton Darwins cousin. Snob
• Alfred Binet French schools, mental age
• Stanford-Binet Intelligence Scale Binets test
  was revised by Lewis Terman. Created the
  intelligence quotient
• Wechsler Scale chief psychologist at Bellevue.
  Worked on WWI intelligence testing. Created the
  WAIS and WISC

9
Kinds of Intelligence

• Spearmans Model
• General intelligence (g)
• Specific intelligences (s)
• Sternberg Triarchic Model of Intelligence
• Analytical intelligence assessed by most current
  tests
• Creative intelligence
• Practical intelligence common sense

10
Gardners Multiple Intelligences

• Linguistic mastery and love of words
• Musical
• Logical-mathematical
• Spatial Reasoning
• Kinesthetics body movement
• Interpersonal intelligence
• Intrapersonal intelligence
• Naturalist ability to recognize patterns in the
  way things are organized or function