Unit 5

Intelligence: The ability to learn from experience, solve problems, and use knowledge to adapt to new situations
Is socially constructed thus... Can be culturally specific
Is intelligence one thing or several different abilities?
To find out sciwntists use Factor Analysis: A statistical procedure that identifies clusters of related items on a test

Charles Spearman used F A to discovery his g or (general intelligence)

Multiple Intelligences: Howard Gardber disagreed with Spearman's g and instead came up with the concept of multiple intelligences
He cane up with the idea by studying savants (a condition where a person has limited ability but is exceptional in one area)
Gardners Multiple Intelligences:
Visual/Spatial
Verbal/Lunguistic
Logical/Mathematical
Bodily/Kinesrheric
Musical/Rhythmic
Interpersonal
Intrapersonal
Natural
Sternberg three aspects of intelligence
Gardner Simplified
Analytical (acqdemic problem solving)
Creative (generating novel ideas)
Practical (required for everydayvtasks where multiplensolutions exist)
Emotional Intelligence
First called social intelligence
The ability to perceive express understand and regulate emotions
some studies show EQ to be a great future success and I Q
Brain size intelligence is there a link?
Small +.15 correlation between size intelligent scores (relative to body size)
we found .44 correlation with brain size and IQ score
Brain Function and Intelligence
Higher performing brains use less acrive than lower performjng brains (use less glucose)
Neurological speed is also a bit quicker

How do we Assess intelligence?
Alfred Binet and Theodore Simon set out to figure out The concept called a mental age (what a person a particular age should know)
They discovered that by discovering someones mental age they can predict future performance
Hoped they could use test to help children, not label them
Modern Tests of Mental Abilities
Weshsler Adult Intelligence Scale (WAIS) consists of 11 subtests and cues us in to strengths by using factor analysis

Aptitude v. Achievement tests
Aptitude: A test designed to predict a persons future perfornance
The ability for that person to learn
Achievement: A test designed to assess what a persob has learned
How do we construct Intelligence tests?
Teats must be Standaridized, Reliable, Valid
Standardization: The test must be pretested to a representatuve sample of people and form a normal distributation or bell curve
Flynn Effect: Intelligence test performance has been rising
Relaibaility: The extent which a test yields consistent results over time
Split halves or test restest method
Valadity: The extent to which is a text to measure what it is supposed to measure
Content Validity:  does the test sample at behavior of interest
Does Intelligence Change by time?
By age 3; a childs IQ can predict adolescent IQ scores
Depends in the type of intelligence, crystallized or fluid
Extrenes of Intelligence
Grouo differences in intelligenxe test scores
The bell curve is different for whites v. black
math scores are dufferent across genders and the highest scores are for the asian males
Why? nature or nature
Test bias?
Tests do discriminate but some argue that there sole purpose is to discriminate.
We have to look at the type of discrimination
Thinking
prototypes:or best example of a category
if he knew object is similar to our prototype we are better able to recognize it
Algorithms: a methodical, logical rule or procedure that guarantees solving a particular problem
Wgat are the benefits and dentrimebts of algorithms?
obstacles to problem-solving
Match problem
fixation:  The inability to see a problem from a new perspective
Mebtal Set:
A tendency to approach a problem in a particular way especially if it has worked in the past
may or may not be a good thing
Types of Heyristics
overconfidence: The tendency to be more confident than correct overestimate the accuracy of your beliefs and judgments
cognition: another term for thinking knowing and remembering
maybe by studying the way we think we can eventually think better
how to resolve problems?
heuristica:  role of thumb strategy that often allows us to make judgments and solve problems efficiently
shortcut that could be prone to errors

Unit 5

Language
Our spoken written or gestured words and the way we combining them in communication


Phonemes
In a spoken language, the smallest distinctive sound unit.

Morphemes
In a language, the smallest unit that carries meaning
Can be a word or part of a word ( prefix or suffix)


Grammar
A system of rules in a language that enables us to communicate and understand others

Semantics
The set of rules by which we derive meaning in a language
Adding Ed at the end of the words means past tense

Syntax
The rules for combining words into grammatically sensible sentences.

Language development
Babbling stage: starting at 3-4 months, the infant makes spontaneous sounds. Not limited to the phonemes of the infant’s household language.

One word stage: 1-2 years old, uses one word to communicate big meanings

Two word stage: at age 2, uses two words to communicate meanings- called telegraphic speech.


Skinner
• Skinner thought that we can explain language development through social learning theory.


Chomsky
• In born universal grammar
• We acquire language too quickly for it to be learned.
• We have this “learning box” inside our heads that enable us to learn any human language.

Whorf’s linguistic relativity
The idea that Language determines the way we think( not give versa)

Thinking without language
• We can think in words
• But more often we think in mental pictures.


Kohler’s chimpanzees

Unit 5

            Perceptions
The process of organizing and interpreting information enabling

             Visual capture
The tendency for vision to dominate the other senses.

             Gestalt psychology
*Gestalt means"an organized whole"
These psychologists emphasize our tendency to integrate pieces of information into meaningful wholes.
The whole is the greater than the sum of its parts.

              Figure ground relationship
The organization of the visual field into objects (figures) that stand out from their surroundings (ground)

              Grouping
The perceptual tendency to organize stimuli into groups that we understand

          1.proximity we group by figures together
          2 similarity we group items that are similar
          3 continuity we are looking for continuous patterns
          4 connectedness that is uniform and link together

Ex: Look at a school or a classroom


             Depth perception
*The ability to see objects in three dimensions although the images that strike the retina are two dimensional.
*Allows us to judge distance.

              Visual cliff
A baby is crawling to the edge

           
How do we transform a two dimensional objects to a three dimensional
 Binocular cues: depth cues that depend on two eyes
    Monocular cues: depth cues that depend on one eye


                  Binocular cue
-Retinal disparity: a binocular cue for seeing depth
The closer an object comes  to you the greater the disparity is between the two Image

                    Monocular cues
-Interposition: if something is blocking our view we perceive it as closer
-Relative size: if we know that two objects are similar in size the one that looks smaller is farther away
-Relative clarity we assume hazy objects are farther away

                     More monocular cues
-Texture gradient : the coarser it looks the closer it is
-Relative height: things higher in our field of vision they look farther away
Relative motion: things that are closer appear to move more quickly
Linear perspective : parallel lines seen to converge with distance
Light and shadow dimmer objects appear farther away because they reflect less light

                       Phi phenomenon
An illusion of movement created when two or more adjacent lights blink on and off in succession
                      Perceptual consistency
Perceiving objects as unchanging even as illumination and retinal images changes

motor neurons

UNIT 4 CONT...

• Nervous system 
• central nervous system: the brain and spinal cord 
• peripheral nervous system: all nerves that are not encased in bone. everything but the brain and spinal cord
• SOMATIC: controls voluntary muscle movement. Uses motor neurons.
• autonomic: controls the automatic functions of the body 
• Sympathetic:fight or flight response. Automatically accelerates heart rate, breathing, dilates pupils, slows down digestion. 
• parasympathetic: automatically slows the body down after a stressful event. Heart rate and breathing slow down pupils constrict and digestion speeds up.
• reflexes: normally, sensory neurons take info up through spine to the brain, some reactions occur when sensory neurons reach just the spinal cord.
• hormones

Unit 4

• Nervous System-it starts with an individual nerve cell called neuron
• how does a neuron fire?
• resting potential: slightly negative charge 
• reach the threshold when enough neuron-transmitters reach dendrites
• go into action potential (firing)
• The All or None Response: the idea that either the neuron fires or it does not not-no part way firing. 
• ex. firing a gun
• Types or Neurotransmitter
• Acetlycholing (ACH): deals with motor movement and memory. Lack  of ACH has been linked to Alzheimer's disease
• Dopamine: deals with motor movements and alertness. Lack of dopamine has been linked to  Parkinson's disease. Too much has been linked to schizophrenia.
• Serotonin: involved in mood control. Lack of serotonin has been link to clinical depression
• Endorphin: involved in pain control. Many of our most addictive drugs deal with endorphin.
• Drugs can be...
• agonist-make neuron  fire
• antagonist: stop neural firing
•   re-uptake inhibitors - block neurotransmitters from entering the neuron
• Norepinephrine:  helps control alertness and arousal. An under supply can lead to depression. AN over supply can lead to manic symptoms.
• GABA (gamma-aminobutytic acid):major inhibitory neurotransmitters. An under supply can lead to tremor.
• Glutamate: major excitatiry neurotransmitter; involved in memory. Oversupply can overstimulate the brain leading to migraines(This is why some people avoid MSG in food)
• Types Neurons
• sensory neurons(afferent Neurons): take information from the senses to the brain
• inter neurons: take messages from sensory neurons to other parts of the brain or to motor neurons.
• motor neurons(efferent neurons): take information from the brain to the rest of the body.