Chapter 7
Thinking, Language, and Intelligence
Learning Objectives
Introduction: Thinking, Language, and Intelligence, pp. 279-284
1.
Define cognition and thinking, and describe how mental images are involved in thought processes.
2.
Discuss concept formation, differentiating between natural concepts and formal concepts, and explain the
role played by prototypes in concept formation.
Solving Problems and Making Decisions, pp. 284-291
3.
Describe the various problem-solving strategies, and discuss the advantages and disadvantages of each.
4.
Explain how functional fixedness and mental set can interfere with problem solving.
5.
Describe three cognitive strategies used in making decisions.
6.
Explain how people use the availability heuristic and the representativeness heuristic to estimate the
probability of events.
7.
Describe and give an example of the different cognitive biases and errors that can help account for why
people persist in pseudoscientific beliefs despite contradictory evidence.
Language and Thought, pp. 291-296
8.
Identify and describe the characteristics of a language.
9.
Describe some of the different ways that language can influence thinking.
10.
Define the linguistic relativity hypothesis, and discuss the notion that language determines perception.
11.
Summarize research on animal communication, including the ability of nonhuman animals to grasp aspects
of symbolic communication.
Measuring Intelligence, pp. 296-301
12.
Define intelligence, and discuss the history of the development of intelligence testing, noting the
contributions and differing beliefs of Binet, Wechsler, and Terman.
13.
Discuss the results and implications of Lewis Terman’s study tracking the lives of 1,500 intellectually gifted
children.
14.
Describe the purposes of aptitude and achievement tests, and explain the importance of standardization,
reliability, validity, and the normal curve in intelligence testing.
The Nature of Intelligence, pp. 302-313
15.
Describe the key issues in the debate on the nature of intelligence, and compare and contrast the intelligence
theories of Spearman, Thurstone, Gardner, and Sternberg.
16.
Discuss the interaction of genetics and environment in intelligence, and discuss how twin studies have been
used to measure the relative influence of heredity and environmental factors..
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17.
Define heritability, and explain why heritability estimates cannot be used to explain group differences in IQ
or other characteristics.
18.
Present the results of cross-cultural studies on the effect of social discrimination on IQ, and list the ways in
which culture might affect intelligence test results.
19.
Explain the idea of stereotype threat, and explain how it might affect performance on tests of intelligence
and other abilities.
Application: A Workshop on Creativity, p. 313-314
20.
Define creativity, and discuss several strategies that can be used to encourage creative thinking.
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