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Unit 4: Cognitive Psychology- Intelligence

Terms in this set (29)

What is the differential approach?
devoted to tests and measures of individual differences in various psychological properties
factor analysis
statistical analysis that examines all of the correlations between all of the the items and determines if any of them are highly correlated with each other
what is meant by the phrase "indifference of the indicator"
refers to the finding that the content of the test items and the nature of the task used to test general intelligence doesn't affect scores
how and why was the measure of general intelligence, g, formed?
Spearman found that when he tested people using different methods there was a high correlation between scores meaning that they must reflect a common factor intelligence which he labelled g
what are some of the reasons people have resisted the measure of general intelligence, g
because politically people would like to think we're all born equal, also opens up the opportunity for racial discrimination
what is the Binet-Simon Scale?
scale for measuring intelligence, based on belief that intelligence is a collection of higher order mental abilities. originally served to identify mentally challenged children; produced measure of a child's mental age and tested scholastic skills
what is the Stanford-Binet Scale?
this is a revised version of the Binet-Simon Scale
What is IQ
intelligence quotient; divide a persons mental age by their chronological age and multiple by 100
What is deviation IQ
developed by David Wechsler to fix chronological age related issues that were held by typical IQ; normalized scores so it was no longer a ratio quotient
What important work did David Weschler accomplish in the field of psychology
Produced the Weschler Adult Intelligence scale and the WISC; his research was important because he realized people were at a disadvantage if they didn't have the inability to speak in traditional IQ testing. developed tests on a number of subcategories to determine several types of intelligence
What are the 4 key characteristics of a good intelligence test?
1. Norming
2. Standardization
3. Reliability
4. Validity
Describe the relationship between intelligence measures and work outcomes
intelligence is correlated with work outcomes; most strongly for complex tasks and least for simple tasks
is on the job experience a better predictor of work performance than intelligence? What about measures of different aptitudes?
general intelligence is the superior predictor in both cases
What three brain function traits do intelligent people possess?
1. efficient use of neural resources
2. high synchronization between cortical centres
3. adaptation of cortical networks in the face of changing demands
gene-environment covariation
exposure to environmental conditions is correlated with genes because their genes determine the environment they will choose
The Flynn Effect
the worldwide rise in intelligence
availability heuristic
tendency to estimate how frequently something occurs based on the ease with which examples come; make decisions based on easiest information to access
base rate fallacy
results from the use of the availability heuristic; tendency to ignore general information about the frequency of events in favour of salient information; generally results in over estimation of rare events
false-consensus effect
tendency for a person to overestimate the number of people who share their beliefs and behaviours; results from availability heuristic
conjunction fallacy
belief that multiple specific conditions are more likely than a single general one; ie. thinking that a person who goes to art shows is also an artist
what three negative "fallacies" can the use of availability heuristics lead to?
base-rate fallacy, conjunction fallacy, false-consensus
representative heuristics
tendency to ignore base rates and judge frequency or likelihood by the extent to which it resembles a typical case; basically make judgement based on how representative a person is of a category (ie. musician) instead of looking at probability (ie. how many people are professional musicians)
what is the process of anchoring and adjustment?
anchoring is a bias produced when a reference or starting point is used for judgement; we use an "anchor" (ie. the CN tower is this tall) and then we "adjust" (ie. so this mountain must be this tall). Produces bias estimate
framing effect
the effect that the way information is presented has on judgement and decision making
sunk-cost fallacy
type of framing effect; occurs when individuals decisions and/or judgments are based on the past investments they made
confirmation bias
process by which people interpret, seek, and create information that confirms a bias they already hold
priming account
process by which different moods activate different information; we have a tendency to use cognitive heuristics when we are in a better mood
what are the three explanations for the effect positive moods have on decision making?
1. positive moods are cognitively distracting
2. people are not cautious in positive moods
3. people in positive moods are highly motivated to stay in positive moods
* All of these result in the use of lower level processing habits like heuristics
what is the Stanford-Binet Scale?
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