Chapter 5
Thinking and Intelligence
[ Chapter 13 Supplement ] [Chapter Slides] ---- [Review test] --- [Interactive Test] [Chapter Audio Introduction]
John Watson advised psychologists against studying phenomena that could not be observed. Consequently, studying thinking was not considered part of psychology. That view changed with the development of cognitive psychology, which focuses on thinking and problem solving. One example of thinking is the use of concepts, which are mental categories that share common characteristics.
Concepts make it easier for us to communicate because we do not have to rely on specific instances.
Every day we solve problems. If we have solved a similar problem in the past, we often rely on long-term memory to retrieve the past successful techniques. In other situations we rely on algorithms, which are systematic procedures for solving problems by evaluating all possible solutions. Can’t remember a lock combination? Try all the possible combinations. However, algorithms like this one can take a long time to arrive at a solution. To solve some problems, we use heuristics or educated guesses. Our problem solving often faces several obstacles that can hinder our success. For example, how we represent a problem can affect whether we solve a problem at all.
When we make decisions we often seek information to confirm our initial solutions. If we asked what the next number in the following sequence might be: 2, 4, 6 you would probably say 8. However, if the sequence was any higher number it could also be 7 or many other numbers. Other applications of heuristics are also seen in making decisions such as representativeness and availability.
Creativity is the use of our thinking capacity to produce new and appropriate works or solutions. Both personal and situational factors influence the production of creative works. Businesses are encouraging creativity among employees. Because humor and creativity are related, one way to encourage creativity is to instill humor in the workplace.
Language acquisition is a remarkable accomplishment—it occurs in a short time span and without specific teaching. Compare this rapid language acquisition to the difficulty many of us experience when learning a second language in high school or college. This ease of learning suggests there is a critical period for language. The critical period notion is supported by the ease with which people learn sign language when young compared to learning it later in life. Language can influence our thinking. One example is the tendency to see individuals as male because of the use of male pronouns.
The modern development of intelligence testing began with efforts to place children in classes with peers of similar intellectual ability. Since those efforts at the beginning of the century, a number of tests have been developed to measure intelligence. These tests must have the following characteristics: reliability, validity, and standardization. Tests of intelligence are used to identify exceptional children, which includes the categories of mental retardation, learning disabilities, and the gifted.
Whether intelligence is a single overall ability or a group of abilities has been an ongoing debate. A growing consensus views intelligence as a collection of abilities; however, there is disagreement about which abilities should be included. There is agreement that many of these abilities are not tapped by traditional tests of intelligence.
Psychologists have studied how heredity and the environment determine intelligence. One indication of the influence of heredity—the heritability index—reveals that about 50 percent of differences in intelligence are due to hereditary factors. Moreover, identical twins whether raised together or apart have similar intelligence scores. However, intelligence scores of unrelated children raised together are correlated. A complete understanding of intelligence requires consideration of both factors.