Ebook Essentials of understanding psychology (11th edition): Part 2

www.downloadslide.com 7 Thinking, Language, and Intelligence www.downloadslide.com Learning Outcomes for Chapter 7 M O D U L E 2 1 LO 21-1 What is thinking? Thinking and Reasoning LO 21-2 What processes underlie reasoning and decision making? LO 21-3 How do people approach and solve problems? LO 21-4 What are the major obstacles to problem solving? Mental Images: Examining the Mind’s Eye Concepts: Categorizing the World Neuroscience in Your Life: How Culture Influences How We Categorize the World Algorithms and Heuristics Solving Problems Applying Psychology in the 21st Century: Sleep On It Creativity and Problem Solving Becoming an Informed Consumer of Psychology: Thinking Critically and Creatively M O D U L E 2 2 LO 22-1 How do people use language? LO 22-2 How does language develop? Language Grammar: Language’s Language Language Development: Developing a Way with Words Understanding Language Acquisition: Identifying the Roots of Language The Influence of Language on Thinking: Do Eskimos Have More Words for Snow Than Texans Do? Do Animals Use Language? Exploring Diversity: Teaching with Linguistic Variety: Bilingual Education M O D U L E 2 3 LO 23-1 What are the diff erent defi nitions and conceptions of intelligence? LO 23-2 What are the major approaches to measuring intelligence, and what do intelligence tests measure? LO 23-3 How can the extremes of intelligence be characterized? LO 23-4 Are traditional IQ tests culturally biased? LO 23-5 To what degree is intelligence influenced by the environment and to what degree by heredity? Intelligence Theories of Intelligence: Are There Different Kinds of Intelligence? Assessing Intelligence Variations in Intellectual Ability Group Differences in Intelligence: Genetic and Environmental Determinants Exploring Diversity: The Relative Influence of Genetics and Environment: Nature, Nurture, and IQ 237 www.downloadslide.com Prologue I’ll take “Artificial Intelligence” for $1,000, Alex “This facial wear made Israel’s Moshe Dayan instantly recognizable worldwide.” Such was the $1,600 clue in the category “The eyes have it” of a mock round of the popular television game show, Jeopardy. The contestants had mere moments to think about the question that appeared in writing in front of them—as long as it took the host to read the words aloud. As soon as he was done, it was time for the contestants to compete to be the first to buzz in and give an answer. The three contestants quickly performed these mental gymnastics to come up with the correct answer, but only one hit the buzzer fi rst. “What is an eye patch?” he correctly replied, adding $1,600 to his pot and handily beating his opponents— opponents who happened to be former Jeopardy champions. But this competitor was special in his own right: he wasn’t even human. He was a computer named Watson, and he was winning (Baker, 2011; Rachlin, 2012). LookingAhead Watson has gone on to do a lot more than win Jeopardy (which it did easily, beating a team of human Jeopardy champions). Watson is now better at diagnosing cancer than humans, is partnering with banks to help make investment decisions, and is helping workers who answer the phone at corporate call centers person-alize their responses (IBM, 2012, 2013; Love, 2013). Despite its capabilities, though, Watson is still no match for the amazing human computer that resides within our bodies: the brain. Our brains can recognize emotions displayed through subtle nonverbal behavior, can comprehend complicated gram-matical linguistic constructions, and can tell and understand jokes. It can accomplish all this in the course of our daily lives, even though we may have little or no idea how it does so. The mystery of how the brain processes language and all its nuances—as well as how it uses information to solve problems and make decisions—is the subject to which we now turn. Answers to these questions come from cognitive psychology, the branch of psychology that focuses on the study of higher mental processes, including thinking, language, memory, problem solving, knowing, reasoning, judging, and decision making. Clearly, the realm of cognitive psychology is broad. We begin by considering concepts, the building blocks of thinking. We examine different strategies for approaching prob-lems, means of generating solutions, and ways of making judg-ments about the usefulness and accuracy of solutions. Next we turn to the way we communicate with others: Language. We consider how language is developed and acquired, its basic characteristics, and the relationship between language and thought. Finally, we examine intelligence. We consider the challenges involved in defining and measuring intelligence, and then examine the two groups displaying extremes of intelligence: people with mental retardation and the gifted. We explore what are probably the two most controversial issues surrounding intelligence: the degree to which intelligence is influenced by heredity and by the environment and whether traditional tests of intelligence are biased toward the dominant cultural groups in society—a dificult issue that has both psychological and social significance. cognitive psychology The branch of psychology that focuses on the study of higher mental processes, including thinking, language, memory, problem solving, knowing, reasoning, and judging. 238 www.downloadslide.com M O D U L E 2 1 Thinking and Reasoning What are you thinking about at this moment? The mere ability to pose such a question underscores the distinctive nature of the human ability to think. No other species contemplates, analyzes, recollects, or plans the way humans do. Understanding what thinking is, however, goes beyond knowing that we think. Philosophers, for example, have argued for generations about the meaning of thinking, with some placing it at the core of human beings’ understanding of their own existence. Psychologists defi ne thinking as brain activity in which we mentally manipulate information, including words, visual images, sounds, or other data. Thinking transforms information into new and different forms, allowing us to answer questions, make decisions, solve problems, or make plans. Although a clear sense of what specifically occurs when we think remains elusive, our understanding of the nature of the fundamental elements involved in thinking is growing. We begin by considering our use of mental images and concepts, the building blocks of thought. Learning Outcomes LO 21-1 What is thinking? LO 21-2 What processes underlie reasoning and decision making? LO 21-3 How do people approach and solve problems? LO 21-4 What are the major obstacles to problem solving? thinking Brain activity in which peo- Mental Images: Examining the Mind’s Eye ple mentally manipulate information, including words, visual images, sounds, or other data. Think of your best friend. Chances are that you “see” some kind of visual image when asked to think of her or him, or any other person or object for that matter. To some cognitive psychologists, such mental images constitute a major part of thinking. Mental images are representations in the mind of an object or event. They are not just visual representations; our ability to “hear” a tune in our heads also relies on a mental image. In fact, every sensory modality may produce correspond-ing mental images (De Beni, Pazzaglia, & Gardini, 2007; Gardini et al., 2009; Koçak et al., 2011). Research has found that our mental images have many of the properties of the actual stimuli they represent. For example, it takes the mind longer to scan mental images of large objects than small ones, just as the eye takes longer to scan an actual large object than an actual small one. Similarly, we are able to manipulate and rotate mental images of objects, just as we are able to manipulate and rotate them in the real world (Mast & Kosslyn, 2002; Zacks, 2008; Reisberg, 2013; see Figure 1). Some experts see the production of mental images as a way to improve various skills. For instance, many athletes use mental imagery in their training. Basketball players may try to produce vivid and detailed images of the court, the basket, the ball, and the noisy crowd. They may visualize themselves taking a foul shot, watching the ball, and hearing the swish as it goes through the net. And it works: The use of mental imagery can lead to improved performance in sports (Fournier, Deremaux, & Bernier, 2008; Moran, 2009; Velentzas, Heinen, & Schack, 2011). mental images Representations in the mind of an object or event. PsychTech Researcher Adam Wilson has developed a method of tweeting by thinking. The process involves being outfitted with electrodes that react to changes in brain ac-tivity. It’s slow going, though: the fastest tweeters are able to create tweets at only 8 characters per minute. 239 www.downloadslide.com 240 Chapter 7 Thinking, Language, and Intelligence FIGURE 1 Try to mentally rotate one of each pair of patterns to see if it is the same as the other member of that pair. It’s likely that the more you have to mentally rotate a pattern, the longer it will take to decide if (a) the patterns match one another. Does this mean that it will take you longer to visualize a map of the world than a map of the United States? Why or why not? (Source: Adapted from Shepard & Metzler, 1971.) (b) (c) From the perspective of . . . A Human Resources Specialist How might you use the research on mental imagery to improve employees’ performance? Athletes use mental imagery to focus on a Concepts: Categorizing the World task, a process they call “getting in the zone.” What other occupations might require the use of strong mental imagery? concept A mental grouping of similar objects, events, or people. If someone asks you what is in your kitchen cabinet, you might answer with a detailed list of items (a jar of peanut butter, three boxes of macaroni and cheese, six unmatched dinner plates, and so forth). More likely, though, you would respond by naming some broader categories, such as “food” and “dishes.” Using such categories reflects the operation of concepts. Concepts are mental groupings of similar objects, events, or people. Concepts enable us to organize complex phenomena into cognitive categories that are easier to understand and remember (Murphy, 2005; Connolly, 2007; Kreppner et al., 2011). Concepts help us classify newly encountered objects on the basis of our past experience. For example, we can surmise that someone tapping a handheld screen is probably using some kind of computer or PDA, even if we have never encountered that specific model before. Ultimately, concepts influence behavior. We would assume, for instance, that it might be appropriate to pet an animal after determining that it is a dog, whereas we would behave differently after classifying the animal as a wolf. (Also see Neuroscience in Your Life.) When cognitive psychologists first studied concepts, they focused on those that were clearly defined by a unique set of properties or features. For example, an equilateral ... - tailieumienphi.vn