Detailed notes on the last 7 chapters of Introductory Psychology and Cognition which are the content for the first interim exam at the University of Amsterdam for the Bachelor of Psychology. The content of the notes is a combination of both lecture notes and book notes (Psychology, Gray & Bjorklund...
, 10. solving problems: reasoning and intelligence
our memory of the past is useful to the degree that it helps us to understand and to deal adaptively with the present
and the future
• the process = reasoning
• capacity to reason = intelligence
analogies and induction = depend explicitly on identifying similarities
WE REASON LARGELY BY PERCEIVING SIMILARITIES BETWEEN NEW EVENTS AND FAMILIAR ONES
analogy = any perceived similarity between otherwise different objects, actions, events or situations
= similarity in behaviour function, or relationship between entities or situations that are in other aspects
quite different from each other
= based on similarity relations
• success on analogical reasoning is highly dependent on the similarity between objects
• if someone is not familiar with one set of relations, the similarity with other relationship will not be useful
• analogies in scientific reasoning: natural selection vs selective breeding, brain/computer
• analytical thinking: analogies and scepticism
• used in judicial and political reasoning and persuasion
• reasoning on the basis of analogies: useful to the degree that the structural relationships in the analogy hold
true
• neurological basis for analogical reasoning
o multiple areas of prefrontal cortex
o brain areas involved with integration of info (seems to be true for both children and adults), but
patterns of brain activation change with age (cognition & brain structures)
• people do not readily use analogies to solve novel problems → formal instruction on analogical reasoning
could provide educational benefits
inductive reasoning = the attempt to infer a new principle or proposition from observations or facts serving as
clues; a bottom-up approach
= hypothesis construction (the inferred guess is at best an educated guess)
• true scientific reasoning – a form of scientific reasoning
• founded on perceived analogies or other similarities: evidence on which we base conclusions = a set of past
experiences that are in some way similar to one another or to experience one is trying to explain / predict
• biases involved (primarily when thinking ‘fast’, unconsciously):
o the availability bias = tendency to rely strongly on info that is readily available/availability of examples
▪ serious negative consequences in a doctor’s office: establishing diagnoses right after having
seen clients with certain diagnoses
▪ probability of rare events gets overestimated
o confirmation bias = tendency to confirm rather than disconfirm the current hypotheses
▪ ‘one can never prove that a hypothesis is correct, but one can prove that it is incorrect’
▪ not related to intelligence
▪ serious negative consequences in a doctor’s office
▪ e.g. discovering the experimenter’s rule or interview to find out extravertism
▪ e.g. Wason card selection task is easier when system 1 helps us solve the task; social
contract
o predictable-world bias = tendency to see order even when it does not exist = tendency to engage in
inductive reasoning even in situations where it is pointless as the relationship in question is random
▪ e.g. superstitions and maximising or matching (biased) strategy in throwing dice and gambling
▪ most obvious in games of pure chance
▪ e.g. answering multiple choice questions
▪ advantage: a prompt to seek order and make prediction where order exists
,how people reason: deduction and insight
DEDUCTION AND INSIGHT CONTRIBUTE TO PROBLEM-SOLVING ABILITY
deductive reasoning = deriving logically the consequences that must be true if certain premises are accepted as
true; a top-down approach
• logical proof (if done correctly)
• all of mathematics
• testing deduction:
o series problems (require the organisation of items into a series on the basis of a set of comparison
statements and then conclusion not contained in any statement)
o syllogisms (presents a major premise and a minor premise that one must combine mentally to see
if a particular conclusion is true/false/indeterminate
• the ‘formal operational’ view on deductive reasoning: ‘problems are solved my ‘mental algebra’ or ‘formal
logic’ → rejected because we seem to solve d. problems by reflecting on our real-world knowledge; people
who know the laws of logic well rarely apply them in daily life
• possible bias: the tendency to rely on real-world knowledge can overwhelm our deductive-reasoning ability;
to solve some syllogisms, we must suppress our real-world knowledge
• d. reasoning problems are easier to solve when formulated in the form of a social contract which reflects
deontic reasoning (about what one may/should/ought to do)
insight problems: unsolvable until looked at in a way different from the usual way; require ‘thinking out of the box’
• their solution depends on abandoning a well-established habit of perception or thought (mental set), and
then viewing the problem in a different way
• often entail the mix of inductive and deductive reasoning
• functional fixedness = the failure to see an object as having a function other than its usual one
o helps: not fixating on surface properties
o may stem from design stance: the fact that tools were manufactured by people for some purpose
o knowing what the tool is for and using it exclusively for that purpose → increased efficiency but
lower flexibility (e.g. in comparison to other primates)
• e.g. the candle problem
• 1st step: the realisation that the old method does not work and that a new one must be found
• mental capacities to solve insight problems1: different from those to solve d. reasoning problems2
1 creativity, incubation period (unconsciously reorganizing the material related to the problem while
consciously doing and thinking about something different); ‘fast’ mental processes
unconscious priming (the activation of a mental concept to a level that does not reach
consciousness but that still makes the concept more available for forming connections to other
concepts)
2 working memory capacity, conscious attention (‘slow’ thinking)
• a happy mood improves performance on insight problems
o broaden-and-build theory of positive emotions: the building of ideas and knowledge during
periods of safety and happiness is adaptive – those ideas may satisfy future needs and prevent future
emergencies; whereas a moment of emergency = a time for action proven the be effective
o it may as well be playfulness that makes us view objects in a different way
cross-cultural differences in perception and reasoning
• non-Westerners
o often find it absurd to respond to questions outside the realm of concrete experiences and to
answer logic questions in practical, functional terms1
o East Asians perceive and reason more holistically, focusing on the whole scene and the
interrelationship among its objects; they divide their attention
• Westerners
, o tend to sort things by taxonomic category1
o tend to focus and remember the more prominent individual objects of the scene as separate entities,
abstracted from their background; they focus their attention
• children over the world seem to begin life with a ‘relational/holistic’ bias
the practice and theory of intelligence testing
EFFORTS TO CHARACTERIZE AND MEASURE INTELLIGENCE HAVE PRACTICAL AND THEIRETICAL GOALS
intelligence = the variable capacity that underlies individual differences in reasoning, solving problems, and acquiring
new knowledge
a culture’s definition of intelligence is a reflection of what that cultures values in a human being
Binet: ‘intelligence is a loose set of higher-order mental abilities that can be increased by schooling’; his tests used
school-related questions and problems
• most modern intelligence tests are rooted in Binet’s approach and use a variety of verbal and nonverbal
subtests
• validity: IQ scores correlate moderately well with school grades and job performance
Spearman: ‘general intelligence (g) is a single factor that contributes to all types of mental performance’
Cattell: ‘g consists of 2 factors: fluid and crystallized intelligence’
modern measures of mental quickness and executive functions: correlate significantly with IQ
Sternberg: ‘efficiency of mental self-government accounts for individual differences in intelligence’
general intelligence: selected for in human evolution perhaps because it helps us deal with novel problems
IQ = abstract reasoning, problem solving, ability to acquire knowledge
• calculated based on scores in variety of subtests
o verbal tests, skills
• positive correlations with
o academic success (.3 to .7)
o career success (.2 to .6)
▪ the more challenging jobs, the stronger the correlation)
• negative correlations with
• gives a rough idea about how the person will do at school and at work
measuring intelligence (modern IQ test)
• Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale, 4th edition (WAIS-IV)
• Groninger Intelligentie Test-2 (GIT-2) → in NL
in order to make an intelligence test: a (large) random sample takes the test
• making the test normative → the avg group score) by definition) = 100
• the distribution of IQ should have a bell-curve shape
genetic and environmental contributions to intelligence: no simple answers
QUESTION NOT TO ASK: to what extent is the IQ score determined by genes/environment?
QUESTION TO ASK: can variability in IQ in exact population be attributed to differences in genes (heritability) or
environment?
• analogy of an inflated balloon: its thickness is determined both by the rubber thickness and the air inside the
balloon
ways to find out the contributions of genes to IQ
• identical twins: 100% same genes
1the difference in perception and reasoning may be the results of preference rather that ability; they are not the result of genetic differences,
more likely the ancient philosophies that underlie the cultures
Voordelen van het kopen van samenvattingen bij Stuvia op een rij:
Verzekerd van kwaliteit door reviews
Stuvia-klanten hebben meer dan 700.000 samenvattingen beoordeeld. Zo weet je zeker dat je de beste documenten koopt!
Snel en makkelijk kopen
Je betaalt supersnel en eenmalig met iDeal, creditcard of Stuvia-tegoed voor de samenvatting. Zonder lidmaatschap.
Focus op de essentie
Samenvattingen worden geschreven voor en door anderen. Daarom zijn de samenvattingen altijd betrouwbaar en actueel. Zo kom je snel tot de kern!
Veelgestelde vragen
Wat krijg ik als ik dit document koop?
Je krijgt een PDF, die direct beschikbaar is na je aankoop. Het gekochte document is altijd, overal en oneindig toegankelijk via je profiel.
Tevredenheidsgarantie: hoe werkt dat?
Onze tevredenheidsgarantie zorgt ervoor dat je altijd een studiedocument vindt dat goed bij je past. Je vult een formulier in en onze klantenservice regelt de rest.
Van wie koop ik deze samenvatting?
Stuvia is een marktplaats, je koop dit document dus niet van ons, maar van verkoper ScienceRules. Stuvia faciliteert de betaling aan de verkoper.
Zit ik meteen vast aan een abonnement?
Nee, je koopt alleen deze samenvatting voor €3,99. Je zit daarna nergens aan vast.
