Slide 1Thinking, Language, & IntelligenceSlide 3Slide 4ThinkingMethod of Solving ProblemsInsight and the BrainQuick-Thinking HeuristicsThe Availability HeuristicFixationConfirmation BiasOverconfidenceFramingOur Beliefs Live OnThe Perils and Powers of IntuitionLanguageLanguage DevelopmentWhen Do We Learn LanguageThinking Without LanguageThe Power of ImaginationWhat Is Intelligence?General IntelligenceSavantsMultiple IntelligencesCreativityWhat is Creativity?Emotional IntelligenceAssessing IntelligenceAlfred BinetMeasuring IQSeparate Scores for Separate SkillsTests of a “Good” TestStandardizationReliability and ValidityIntelligence: Nature and NurtureTwin StudiesAdoption Studies: Surprising?HeritabilityEnvironment and IntelligenceEthnic DifferencesMight the Racial Gap Be Environmental?Slide 42Gender DifferencesSlide 44Slide 45Are Test Questions Biased?Stereotype ThreatThe Bigger PictureThinking, Language, and IntelligenceChapter 8Thinking, Language, & IntelligenceThinkingSolving ProblemsMaking Good (and Bad) Decisions and JudgmentsThe Perils and Powers of IntuitionThinking, Language, & IntelligenceLanguageLanguage DevelopmentThinking Without LanguageThinking, Language, & IntelligenceIntelligenceWhat Is Intelligence?One General Intelligence or Multiple Intelligences?Assessing Intelligence The Nature and Nurture of IntelligenceGroup Differences in Intelligence Test ScoresThinkingThe study of _________focuses on the mental activities associated with thinking, knowing, remembering, and communicating.Method of Solving Problems•Trial and Error•_________– step-by-step procedures that guarantee reaching a solution•_________– rules of thumb, simple strategies. Speedier but more error-prone than algorithms•_________– a sudden realization of a problem’s solution. An aha! momentInsight and the Brain•Study: which word will form a compoud word with: pine, crab, sauce?•Measureed brain activity with fMRI and EEG•Aha! moment preceded by frontal lobe activity (focusing attention) and then burst of activity in right temporal lobeQuick-Thinking Heuristics•Heuristics are useful for making quick decisions•Sometimes, they can get us into trouble•Kahneman and Tversky, among others, have identified many heuristics that people use, and the associated pitfallsThe Availability Heuristic•We may base our judgements on _________ _________ _________ _________ _________•Often right, but not always•Does the letter k appear more often as the first or third letter of a word? –Most people say the first, but words like know, kingdom, king are outnumbered 5 to 1 by words like make, like, asked, etc.Fixation•Some heuristics can lead to fixation, the _________ _________ _________ _________ _________How can you arrange six matches to form four equilateral triangles?Confirmation Bias•We tend to search for information that supports our _________ and ignore, distort, or forget to seek evidence against our ideas•Wason (1960): Guess the rule for the following sequence. You may give your own sets and see if they work with the rule:2-4-6•They were seldom right but never in doubt. (The rule: each subsequent number must be larger)Overconfidence•Overconfidence: we overestimate the _________ of our beliefs and decisions–Example: we tend to overestimate our future free time•It’s adaptive: self-confident people are happier, make tough decisions more easily, and seem more believable to othersFraming•Framing, _________ _________ _________, can significantly affect decisions and judgments•“Are these condoms effective if they…”–“…have a 95% success rate?” 9 in 10 said yes.–“…have a 5% failure rate?” 4 in 10 said yes. •Organ donors–“Opt out” countries – nearly 100% donors–“Opt in” countries (including U.S.) – only 25% donorsThose who understand the power of framing can use it to influence our decisionsOur Beliefs Live On•Belief perseverance – we cling to beliefs and ignore evidence that proves they are wrong•One way to combat this is to _________ _________– imagine if the evidence had the opposite results, what would you think?•Study: Students would not let facts change their belief –The death penalty is/is not an effective deterrent.The Perils and Powers of Intuition•Intuition is used often. Much of our thinking occurs “off-screen”•Intuition is adaptive. Fast and frugal heuristics allow us to react quickly and often reliably•Intuition is recognition born of experience, or “analysis frozen into habit”•Intuition can sometimes be perilous, guiding us in the wrong direction. Especially when we overfeel and underthink. We must check our intuitions against realityLanguage•Language consists of our spoken, written, or signed words and the ways we combine them to communicate meaning•The evolution of language was a huge leap forward for our species. We can communicate information from one individual to the next, and from one generation to the next.Language Development•About 50% of our speech consists of only ____ words, but by high school we know about _________ words!•How did we learn these words? •How do learn our language’s _________(the correct way to form words into sentences)?When Do We Learn Language•Infants start without language•At 4 months, can recognize speech sounds and enter _________ _________, uttering various sounds (ah-goo)–Around 10 months, babbling sounds more like parents’ language•Around 1 year, enter _________ _________, speaks primarily in single words (“Doggy!”)•By age 2, enter _________ _________, which involves so-called _________ _________(“Want juice!”)Thinking Without Language•We often think in images•Mental practice can be valuable for musicians, athletes, and others•Once you have learned a skill, watching others perform it or imagining it can trigger activity in the same brain areasThe Power of Imagination•Imagining the experience of pain activates some of the same brain regions as the actual experienceWhat Is Intelligence?•Intelligence is the ability to learn from experience, solve problems, and use knowledge to adapt to new situations•The definition can vary depending on context or cultureGeneral Intelligence•Charles Spearman (1863-1945) believed we have one _________ _________ at the heart of all intelligent behavior•Individuals who do well in one area tend to do well in other areasSavants•General