| Term | Definition |
| Cognitive Psychology | the branch of psychology that focuses on mental processes such as thinking, problem solving, decision making, and use of language |
| Thinking | the process of mentally representing and manipulating information |
| Mental Image | a mental picture or representation of an object or event- help us perform cognitive tasks- remembering directions, creative solutions to puzzling problems |
| Concepts | mental categories for classifying events, objects, and ideas on the basis of their common features or properties |
| Logical Concepts | concepts with clearly defined rules for membership |
| Natural Concepts | concepts with poorly defined or fuzzy rules for membership |
| Problem Solving | a form of thinking focused on finding a solution to a particular problem |
| Algorithm | a step by step set of rules that will always lead to a correct solution to a problem
o Drawback- finding one that precisely fits the particular problem |
| Heuristic | a rule of thumb for solving problems or making judgements or decisions |
| Mental Set | then tendency to rely on strategies that worked in similar situations in the past but that may not be appropriate to the present situation |
| Functional Fixedness | the tendency to perceive objects as limited to the customary functions they serve (inability to see how familiar objects can be used in new ways) |
| Decision Making | a form of problem solving in which we must select a course of action from among the available alternatives |
| Cognitive Biases | biased ways of thinking that hamper a person’s ability to make rational or sound choices |
| Confirmation Bias | the tendency to maintain allegiance to an initial hypothesis despite strong evidence to the contrary
o Place greater weight on information that confirms our prior beliefs than disputes it |
| Representativeness Heuristic | a rule of thumb for making a judgement that assumes a given sample is representative of the larger population from which it is drawn |
| Availability Heuristic | the tendency to judge events as more likely to occur when information pertaining to them comes readily to mind
o A particular brand because you recall it from TV |
| Creativity | originality of thought associated with the development of new, workable products or solutions to problems |
| Divergent Thinking | the ability to conceive of new ways of viewing situations and new uses for familiar objects |
| Convergent Thinking | the attempt to narrow down a range of alternatives to converge on the one correct answer to a problem |
| Analogy | a comparison between two things based on their similar features or properties (heart to a pump) |
| Conceptual Combination | combinations of two or more concepts into one concept, resulting in the creation of a novel idea or application (cell phone, home page) |
| Conceptual Expansion | expanding familiar concepts by applying them to new uses (chefs variation of a traditional dish) |
| Language | a system of communication composed of symbols (words, hand signs and so on) that are arranged according to a set of rules (grammar) to form meaningful expressions |
| Grammar | the set of rules governing how symbols in a given language are used to form meaningful expressions |
| Phonemes | the basic unit of sound in a language |
| Morphemes | the smallest units of meaning in a language |
| Syntax | the rules of grammar that determine how words are ordered within sentences or phrases to form meaningful expressions |
| Semantics | the set of rules governing the meaning of words |
| Language Acquisition Device | Chomsky’s concept of an innate, prewired mechanism in the brain that allows children to acquire language naturally |
| Linguistic Relativity Hypothesis (Whorfian Hypothesis) | the proposition that the language we use determines how we think and how we perceive the world (does not have merit anymore) |
| Intelligence | The capacity to think and reason clearly and to act purposefully and effectively in adapting to the environment and pursuing one’s goals |
| Alfred Binet | created an intelligence test where children had to do memory tasks and other short tasks the kinds that children might encounter and a scale to at what age what task should be able to be completed |
| Mental Age | a representation of a person’s intelligence based on the age of people who are capable of performing at the same level of ability |
| Intelligence Quotient (IQ) | a measure of intelligence based on performance on tests of mental abilities, expressed as a ration between one’s mental age and chronological age or derived from the deviation of one’s scores from the norms for those of one’s age group |
| Wechsler Scale | uses deviation IQ, a score based on the deviation (difference) of a person’s test score from the norms for the people’s age group, rather than on the ratio of mental age to chronological age |
| Norms | the standards used to compare an individual’s performance on a test with the performance of others |
| Standardization | the process of establishing norms for a test by administering the test to large numbers of people who constitute a standardization sample |
| Standardization Sample | sample must be representative of the population for whom the test is intended |
| Reliability | the stability of test scores over time |
| Test Retest Method | the subject takes the same test again after a short interval (familiarity w/questions could effect this) |
| Alternate-Forms Method | subjects are given a parallel form of the test |
| Validity | the degree to which a test measures what it purports to measure |
| Predictive Validity | the degree to which test scores accurately predict future behavior or performance
• IQ can also predict long term health and longevity and job performance |
| Culture Fair Tests | tests designed to eliminate cultural biases |
| Dyslexia | a learning disorder characterized by impaired ability to read |
| Intellectual Disability | a generalized deficit or impairment in intellectual or social skills (IQ 70 & below) |
| Mainstreaming | the practice of placing children with special needs in a regular classroom environment |
| Gifted | IQ of 130 or higher |
| Primary Mental Abilities | seven basic mental abilities that Thurstone believe constituted intelligence:
o Verbal comprehension, numerical ability, memory, inductive reasoning, perceptual speed, verbal fluency, and spatial relations |
| Primary Mental Abilities Test | measure the seven primary abilities they believe to constitute intelligence |
| Multiple Intelligences | Gardner’s team for the distinct type of intelligence that characterize different forms of intelligent behavior
o Eight intelligences
o Fails to account how multiple intelligences interact with each other |
| Linguistic | ability to understand and use words |
| Logical-mathematical | ability to perform mathematical, computational, or logical operations |
| Musical | ability to analyze, compose, or perform music |
| Spatial | ability to perceive spatial relationships and arrange objects in space |
| Bodily-Kinesthetic | ability to control bodily movements and manipulate objects effectively |
| Interpersonal | ability to relate effectively to others and to understand others moods and motives |
| Intrapersonal | ability to understand one’s own feelings and behavior (self-perception) |
| Naturalist | ability to recognize objects and patterns in nature, such as flora and fauna |
| Triarchic Theory of Intelligence | Sternberg’s theory of intelligence that posits three aspects of intelligence: analytic, creative and practical |
| Analytic Intelligence | is the kind of intelligence measured by traditional intelligence tests (comes into play when you analyze familiar problems, break them down and develop strategies to solve them) |
| Creative Intelligence | allows us to invent new ways of solving unfamiliar problems |
| Practical Intelligence | is the ability to apply what we know to everyday life (common sense) |
| Heritability | the degree to which heredity accounts for variations on a given trait within a population |
| Backward-working heuristic | we start with a possible solution then work backward to see if the data support the solution |
| Using means-end heuristic | we evaluate our current situation and compare it with the end results we want to achieve |
| Creating Sub Goals | we break a larger problem down in into smaller more manageable problems |
