 LEARNING OBJECTIVES
To demonstrate mastery of this chapter, the student should be able to:
OBJECTIVE 8.1 — Describe what it means to have autism and to also be a savant.
OBJECTIVE 8.2 — Describe Binet’s role in intelligence testing; give a general definition
of intelligence; and explain the g-factor, what an operational definition of intelligence is,
and how other cultures view intelligence.
OBJECTIVE 8.3 — Describe the development of the original Stanford-Binet and the
five cognitive factors measured by the Stanford-Binet Intelligence Scales, Fifth Edition
(SB5).
OBJECTIVE 8.4 — Define mental age and chronological age; use examples to show how
they are used to compute an intelligence quotient (IQ); differentiate between this IQ
(MA/CA x 100) and deviation IQs; and explain how percentiles are interpreted.
OBJECTIVE 8.5 — Distinguish the Wechsler tests from the Stanford-Binet tests and
between group and individual tests; and describe the distribution of IQ scores observed
in the general population.
OBJECTIVE 8.6 — Differentiate between the terms gifted and genius; describe
Terman’s study of the gifted, including how the successful ones differed from the less
successful ones as adults; explain the relationship between IQ and school grades and IQ
and “real world” success; and list early signs of giftedness.
OBJECTIVE 8.7 — Define intellectually disabled and state the dividing line between
normal intelligence and an intellectual disability; describe the levels of intellectual
disability; and differentiate between familial and organic intellectual disability.
OBJECTIVE 8.8 — Explain why psychologists are developing broader definitions of
intelligence; and describe Howard Gardner’s theory of multiple intelligences.
OBJECTIVE 8.9 — Define the term artificial intelligence (AI); explain what AI is based
on; list its advantages and limitations; and describe how computer simulations and
expert systems are being used.
OBJECTIVE 8.10 — Describe the studies that provide evidence for the hereditary view
and for the environmental view of intelligence, including the twin studies, the adoption
studies, Skeels’ study, IQ gains in Westernized nations, and the effects of video games,
the Internet, and television.
OBJECTIVE 8.11 — Define and give examples of cognition; and list and define the
three basic units of thought.
OBJECTIVE 8.12 — Describe mental imagery and its properties, synesthesia, and the
process of “reverse vision”; explain how both stored and created images may be used to
solve problems, including how the size of a mental image may be important; and
describe how kinesthetic imagery aids thinking.
OBJECTIVE 8.13 — Define the terms concept, concept formation, conceptual rule, and
prototype; explain how children and adults learn concepts; differentiate among the three
types of concepts (conjunctive, relational, and disjunctive) and between denotative and
connotative meanings, including how connotative meanings can be measured; and
discuss problems associated with the use of faulty concepts, such as social stereotypes
and all-or-nothing thinking.
OBJECTIVE 8.14 — Explain how language aids thought; define semantics; and discuss
bilingual education, including the concepts of additive and subtractive bilingualism and
two-way bilingual education.
OBJECTIVE 8.15 — Briefly explain the following three requirements of a language and
their related concepts: a. symbols (phonemes and morphemes); b. grammar (syntax and
transformation rules); and c. productivity; describe the characteristics of gestural
languages; and discuss the extent to which chimpanzees have been taught to use
language.
OBJECTIVE 8.16 — Define and explain how each of the following strategies are related
to problem-solving: a. mechanical solutions, including trial-and-error and rote; b.
algorithms; c. solutions by understanding, including general solution and functional
solutions; d. random search strategy; e. heuristics, including the differences in experts
and novices and the role of automatic processing; and f. insight, including selective
encoding, selective combination, and selective comparison and the influence of cultures
on selective comparison.
OBJECTIVE 8.17 — Explain and give examples of how fixation and functional
fixedness block problem-solving; and describe the four common barriers to creative
thinking.
OBJECTIVE 8.18 — Describe and give examples of the four kinds of thought
(inductive, deductive, logical, and illogical); define the creative processes of fluency,
flexibility, and originality; differentiate between convergent and divergent thinking;
explain how creativity can be measured and why creativity is more than divergent
thinking; discuss the five stages of creative problem-solving and the typical
characteristics of creative persons; and list Csikszentmihalyi’s recommendations for
developing one’s creativity.
OBJECTIVE 8.19 — Define intuition; describe the process of “thin-slicing”; explain the
following four common intuitive thinking errors: a. representativeness (include
representativeness heuristic); b. emotion; c. underlying odds (base rate); and d. framing;
and include a brief description of what it means to have wisdom.
OBJECTIVE 8.20 — Describe how IQ tests may be unfair to certain groups and what a
culture-fair test is; explain how group differences in IQ scores are related to cultural
and environmental differences rather than race; and list the advantages and
disadvantages of standardized testing in schools.