KEY: notes, definitions, examples, theories

Chapter 10: The Thinking Mind- Thinking, Language and Intelligence

10.1: What Do We Think About?

-​ Cognition: internal mental processes including info processing, thinking, reasoning and problem
solving.
-​ Thinking allows us to manipulate info internally, to construct models of the world, plan
interactions with that world, and regulate ourselves to meet our goals.
-​ Knowledge: entire body of information acquired through study, investigation, observation and
experience.
-​ Language is an example of symbolic representation.
↳​ Symbolic Representation: representation that bears no resemblance to actual object
↳​ Words do not keep any of the characteristics of the object they represent
○​ Eg. The WORD dog does not have fur, walk on four legs or bark.
↳​ Analogical Representations: representation that maintains some characteristics of the real
object
-​ Mental Image: representation of any sensory experience that is stored in memory and can be
retrieved for later use.
↳​ Children use visual images in their thinking, however few adults can do this
-​ We organize ideas into concepts
↳​ Defining attributes or features.
↳​ Considering prototypes and exemplars
○​ Exemplars have advantages: provide a better way of thinking about variability of
a category.
○​ Use of prototypes and exemplars reply of similarity, therefore unsimilar objects
are discluded.
↳​ Concepts as Theories: set of facts and relationships between facts that can be used to
explain and predict phenomena.
○​ Provide insight into the problem of judging category fitness.
↳​ Concepts and schemas: allow to shape memory stage and retrieval of info relevant, but
also to predict new facts about them.
↳​ Concepts and the Brain: naming things is accompanied by activation in the frontal and
parietal lobe associated with movement, suggesting that we think about what to do with
an item to name it right.
↳​ Concepts guide our thinking and be continually tested for accuracy against new info.
↳​ Amyotrophic Lateral sclerosis (ALS): movement disorder, but also affects a person's
ability to form new concepts.
○​ Correlated with lots of grey matter loss in the left prefrontal and parietal cortices.
○​ Usually frontotemporal dementia occurs, with neural loss in frontal and temporal
lobes, which causes defects in cognition, language and memory.
-​ Thinking helps deal with problems we face.
↳​ Well defined problems: have a solution that is correct or incorrect
↳​ Ill-defined problems: have a solution that is evaluated subjectively.
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1.​ Understand the Problem: how we see the problem

↳​ For big problems, they are easier to solve in smaller steps.
↳​ Recognize biases that may alter your approach to solving
↳​ Do not get stuck in the wrong framework for thinking about a problem (essentially do not
rely on previous solutions to similar problems)
↳​ Functional Fixedness: type of mental set that refers to a person’s tendency to think about
an object in its most typical form and no other form.
○​ Eg. if you need to reach a high shelf, you can use a stack of books to stand on
○​ When we face emergencies we think of using items that we wouldn’t normally
think to use, to solve the emergency.
2.​ Make a Plan: generating possible solutions and then choosing the best one to implement.
↳​ Coming up with solutions involves lots of creativity and time (more time=most diverse
solutions)
↳​ Many interferences can occur like disliking risk, rushing, overlooking, judging too early
↳​ Some problems lead to algorithms (step-by-step rules for reaching a particular solution.
○​ Have the advantage of producing an accurate solution reliably.
○​ However, because of time needed to use algorithms, we turn to heuristics
(shortcut to problem solving/aka rule of thumb)
●​ Faster than algorithms, but do not guarantee a solution
●​ Availability heuristic: ROT where the frequency of an event’s occurrence
is predicted by the ease with which the event is brought to mind.
●​ Representativeness heuristic: ROT which stimuli similar to a prototype
are believed to be more likely than stimuli that are dissimilar to a
prototype.
●​ Recognition heuristic: people will place a higher value on more easily
recognized alternative
↳​ Affect heuristic: ROT in which we choose between alternatives based on gut reaction to
stimuli
○​ We use our emotional responses to each choice to guide our decisions.
↳​ Utility theory: we compute the expected outcomes of our choices and select the best
likely one.
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○​ Useful for important decisions.

↳​ Good decision making is a teachable skill, and those who have gotten formal training in
decision making, make better real world choices.
3.​ Carry out the Plan
↳​ To carry out a plan, you must plan it
↳​ Solutions that might succeed, can fail when people do not plan the time and resources
needed.
4.​ Look Back
↳​ As solution goes on, you need to know if it is bringing you closer to your goal (needed a
measure of success)
↳​ Solutions need time to work
↳​ From time to time, you need to look back at the problem to see if its been resolved
○​ If the problem is solved, you can move onto new issues
○​ If the problem still exists, you need to return to planning and try again
-​ Maximizers: people who strive to reach the best outcome
↳​ Associated with increased regret, lower life satisfaction and reduced self esteem
↳​ Find decision making more difficult
↳​ Reduced psychological well-being
↳​ “See glass as half-empty”
-​ Satisfiers: people who are more willing to choose outcomes that are acceptable
↳​ Easier time making decisions, less regret and more satisfaction because they are not
worrying about all possible options
↳​ Find decision making easier
↳​ Increased psychological well-being
↳​ “See glass as half-full”
-​ AlphaGo (IBM tech that defeated many chess players) uses the four problem-solving steps to win
against opponents.
↳​ Therefore computer programs use the same decision making as humans (but needs real
life game input from people to be made effectively)
-​ Damage to frontal lobes = impulsivity and poor judgement leading to gambling and other life
changing decisions
-​ When we make fast and cautious decisions, different levels of activity in the subthalamic nucleus
(part of basal ganglia) occur
-​ Three major brain circuits interact during division making:
↳​ Circuit 1: assigns value to situations along lines of pleasure or pain (involves
ventromedial prefrontal cortex, orbitofrontal cortex, nucleus accumbens and amygdala)
○​ This is an impulsive circuit that gets controlled as we mature and are exposed to
social rules of society.
↳​ Circuit 2: impulse control network that controls unwanted responses (involves lateral
prefrontal cortex and parietal cortex)
↳​ Circuit 3: attentional circuit monitors significant stimuli and also involved with complex
social decision making, like who to trust (involves insula, anterior cingulate cortex and
amygdala)
○​ Hoarding is correlated with low levels of activity in anterior cingulate cortex
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↳​ Drug addicts behave similar to those who have brain circuit damage related to decision
making.
○​ Overtime, their impulsive systems control the impulse control system, hence why
the pleasure of drugs is put over priority of the negative effects.
↳​ Teens make risky decision because their prefrontal cotex hasn’t matured yet, but also
because their impulse control system is weak
○​ Teens are more likely than adults to make risky decisions when in front of peers

○​

10.2: How Does Language Influence Behaviour

-​ Language: system for communicating thoughts, feelings using signals like voice sounds, gestures
or written symbols
↳​ Language extends our thinking abilities to abstract concepts like truth and beauty
↳​ Connects us with others
-​ Sapir- Worf Hypothesis: argues that the language we speak influences our perceptions and
cognitions
↳​ Eg. a skier would think about snow differently than a person born in the tropics
↳​ Believed that the relationship between language and thought influences (evidence backs
this up) our thinking and determines our experiences (no evidence to back this up)
○​ Language and thought influences thinking (evidence): in Russian, light and dark
blue have different names, but in English they are just different shades. So in a
study, Russian and English speakers were shown blue squares and chose which of
the two blue squares matched the target square. English speakers performed the
same regardless of whether they were to distinguish between dark and light. But
Russian speakers distinguished between light and dark quickly.
-​ Africa is seen to be the source of first human languages.
↳​ Number of speech sounds in a languages decreases with the cultures distance from Africa
○​ Eg. Many African languages have 100+ speech sounds, compared to 45 in
English and 13 in Hawaiian.
-​ Phonemes: speech sounds
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↳​ Eg. “c” in cat

↳​ Building blocks of words like consonants and vowels
↳​ Not all languages use all phonemes
↳​ Humans make more than 500 phonemes
↳​ English has 45 phonemes (single letters like “s” or combinations like “sh”)
-​ Morphemes: combination of sounds that have meaning
↳​ English has 10 000 morphemes to make a million+ words
↳​ Smallest meaningful unit of language, if it has meaning it is a morpheme
○​ Eg. me, texting, unfairly
↳​ Average 20 y/o English speakers know about 42 000 words, with education and age, this
increases to nearly 60 000 words.
↳​ Morphemes are combined into phrases and sentences
-​ Language is typically managed by the left hemisphere of brain
-​ Aphasia: loss of the ability to speak or understand language

Major Brain Structures in Language

-​ Wernicke's Aphasia: another type of language deficiency that is caused by the Wernicke’s area
being affected
↳​ Affects comprehension, speech is fluent but meaningless
↳​ Patients are locked into a world without social connection
Broca’s Aphasia Wernicke’s Aphasia

-​ Speech is slow but generally -​ Speech is rapid and fluent but

meaningful meaningless
-​ Affects production of speech -​ Affects comprehension of speech
-​ Occurs when Broca’s area is damaged -​ Occurs when Wernicke’s area is
damaged
-​ Three major patterns of animal communication
↳​ Inflexible group of calls for signalling danger and identifying territories
↳​ Signs that communicate magnitude
↳​ Sequences of behaviour like a birdsong
-​ Chimps, bonobos and gorillas all have a part of the brain similar to the human Broca’s area
↳​ This shows a difference in size between left and right hemispheres that might be
correlated with language ability.
-​ Language learning begins very early in life.
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-​ Social interaction is key to language learning

↳​ Since language is used to communicate with others, social interaction serves as a gateway
for learning language
↳​ Conversing with children makes greater language competence than reading to them
-​ Socioeconomic differences also impact language acquisition
-​ The use of rich vocab, complex ideas and back and forth conversation promotes language
growing in children
-​ Genetic conditions can affect an individuals language-learning abilities
↳​ Williams syndrome and Down syndrome produce a similar level of intellectual disability
↳​ However it is not unusual for people of high intelligence to have significant difficulties
learning language (eg. Albert Einstein)
-​ Dyslexia: experience difficulties in learning to read despite intelligence and teaching methods
↳​ Influenced by genetic factors, therefore results in differences in symmetry of cerebral
hemispheres and fibre pathways in each hemisphere
↳​ People who are dyslexic are more likely to be left handed or ambidextrous
↳​ Difficulty distinguishing between similar speech sounds
↳​ People with dyslexia show evidence of using a workaround when reading
○​ Less activity in a pathway connecting visual cortex in the occipital lobe, to
Wernicke’s area in temporal lobe.
○​ Instead they show greater activation of Broca’s area, participating in speech
production
-​ Bilingual advantage: those who are bilingual switch between languages (which is a cognitive
task) so this improves function capabilities.
↳​ Being bilingual protects against cognitive decline and may delay the onset of symptoms
of Alzheimer’s disease.
-​ ASL provides a contrast between language functions found in the left hemisphere of the brain,
and spatial functions managed by the right hemisphere.
-​ Is language unique to humans?: no, all animals make noise to communicate (bird song, bee dance,
barks, etc)
↳​ Symbols and generativity make human language unique compared to other animals
○​ Symbols: no real world connection between idea that symbol represents (eg.
“cat”, nothing about this word that is feline or cat like, we just all agreed that this
word means the animal)
○​ Generativity: being able to produce sentences that have never been said before
but yet we can understand it (eg. green rabbits hop through the night on their way
to school, even though this is a new sentence made, we can still imagine it)
↳​ Semantics: what words mean (definition of words)
↳​ Syntax: rules used to combine words
○​ Eg. grammar
○​ Vary across different languages
○​ Different languages have different rules for order of words
●​ Eg. in English we say “the brown dog”, in Spanish we say “the dog
brown”
↳​ Pragmatics: things that change meaning of words like context and tone
KEY: notes, definitions, examples, theories

↳​ Metalinguistics: using language to talk about language

-​ Code switching: going back and forth between several languages
-​ Types of bilingualism
↳​ Simultaneous (early) bilingualism
↳​ Sequential bilingualism (learning one early on, then one later in like)
↳​ Heritage bilingualism (family language but you don’t feel comfortable speaking it)
↳​ Adult second language bilingualism (learning language later on in life, critical language
learning period is gone)

10.3: What is Intelligence?

-​ Intelligence: ability to learn or understand and deal with challenging situations, ability to apply
knowledge, think abstractly, set of abilities that increase an organism's survival and reproduction
-​ Psychometrics: branch of psychology concern with objective measure of mental abilities and
other attributes
↳​ Founded by Sir Francis Galton
↳​ Wrongly believed that intelligence were the result of nature
↳​ Believed that intellect was associated with greater sensory discrimination.
○​ “the discriminative faculty of idiots is curiously low; they hardly distinguish
between heat and cold, and their sense of pain is so obtuse that some of the more
idiotic seem hardly to know what it is”
●​ This led to the term “idiocy” which was to describe someone whose
mental faculties stopped developing in childhood (often they lived in
institutions because they couldn’t care for themselves)
↳​ Believed in eugenics (idea of selective human breeding to improve our species)
○​ This led to many states and provinces to pass sterilization laws to criminals, those
ill and people who were not “normal”
-​ How do we measure intelligence?
↳​ Intelligence isn’t observable but correlates of it are
↳​ Alfred Binet: employed by french government to develop first IQ test with trial and error
(Binet-Simon Intelligence test)
○​ Consisted of puzzles, object naming, counting
○​ Modern IQ test still test specific abilities (eg. WISC and WAIS)
○​ Test specific skills that correlate with academic, professional and social success
○​ IQ test are specific to your age and location (eg. there is a specific test for 7 y/o’s
in Canada, and different test for 10 y/o in China)
●​ Average on IQ test is designed to be 100, because the test changes as you
age (so no matter what age, our IQ should not change)
●​ Standard deviation is designed to be 15
●​ IQ follows a normal distribution/bell curve
-​ IQ/intelligence quotient: a measure of individual intelligence related to a normal bell curve
↳​ IQ is determined by: mental age ÷ chronological age x 100
↳​ Almost all IQ scores fall within the 70-130 range, someone outside this score is
considered exceptional.
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-​ General Intelligence: measure of individuals overall intelligence rather than specific abilities
↳​ Fluid Intelligence: ability to think logically without needing previously learned
knowledge
○​ Eg. seeing patterns in a visual stimulus
○​ Peaks in young adulthood then declines
○​ Correlated to working memory capacities
↳​ Crystallized Intelligence: requires specific, learned knowledge
○​ Vocab or multiplication tables
○​ Remains stable throughout adulthood
-​ Intelligence is a combination of factors rather than a single thing
-​ Howard Gardner found that we have multiple types of intelligence: musical, visuospatial,
logical-mathematical, bodily-kinesthetic, interpersonal and intrapersonal (but this is not proved
by evidence)
-​ Augmented Theory of Successful Intelligence (by Robert Sternberg): success in any area of life
involves making new ideas (creativity), evaluation of ideas (analytic ability), implementing ideas
and convincing its usefulness to others (practicality) and ensuring these ideas serve the common
good (wisdom).
-​ Emotional and social skills are key to successful adaptation as they allow people to manage
emotions and reason the mental states of others

↳​ Emotional Quotient Inventory: world's leading assessment tool for social and emotional
intelligence.
↳​ Damages to the prefrontal cortex, amygdala and insula lead to poor emotional and social
intelligence, even if they show normal IQ and no other disorder evidence
○​ Eg. autistic people are superior in their cognitive abilities compared to their
social abilities.
-​ Measures of intelligence positively correlate with overall brain volume
↳​ Intelligence measures are correlated with thickness of cerebral cortex, specifically
prefrontal cortex and temporal lobes
↳​ Brain enjoys quick, efficient communication of information from one area to another
along axon pathways
↳​ People with brain damage have their fluid intelligence negatively affected by damage to
frontal lobes.
-​ Children with average IQ show a peak of thickening grey matter at age 8, but children with high
IQ peak later, thickening their grey matter at 13
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-​ 75% of variance in intelligence is attributed to genetics (not 75% of a person’s intelligence is bc

of genes, that's not true)
-​ No gene is correlated to high IQ test performance
-​ Flynn Effect: steady increase intelligence test scores overtime
↳​ Increase in IQ scores over years has occurred too quick to be genetic reasons, so it is
likely because of health and nutrition improvements
↳​ As a nation becomes weather and capable of battling diseases, IQ increases

IQ Distribution

-​ Intellectual Disability: condition diagnosed in individuals with IQ below 70

↳​ Demonstrate problems with adaptive behaviours or life skills
↳​ Divided into mild, moderate, severe
○​ Mild: IQ 55-70, can live independently, work, marry and have families, not bc of
genetic problems.
○​ Moderate: IQ 40-55, assisted living, because of genetic conditions like down
syndrome
○​ Severe: IQ 25-40, can learn few high-priority words, and learn basic self care,
require significant assistance, because of medical conditions introduced at
infancy.
↳​ Children with intellectual disability form insecure attachment with caregivers, language is
affected
-​ Giftedness: extreme intelligence with IQ of 130+, 1-3% of population
↳​ Involves synthesization of intelligence, creativity and wisdom
↳​ People with high IQ enjoyed better physical health, emotional stability, occupational
attainment and social satisfaction throughout adult life.
↳​
KEY: notes, definitions, examples, theories

Lecture Notes
-​ Is language unique to humans?: no, all animals make noise to communicate (bird song, bee dance,
barks, etc)
↳​ Symbols and generativity make human language unique compared to other animals
○​ Symbols: no real world connection between idea that symbol represents (eg.
“cat”, nothing about this word that is feline or cat like, we just all agreed that this
word means the animal)
○​ Generativity: being able to produce sentences that have never been said before
but yet we can understand it (eg. green rabbits hop through the night on their way
to school, even though this is a new sentence made, we can still imagine it)
↳​ Semantics: what words mean (definition of words)
↳​ Syntax: rules used to combine words
○​ Eg. grammar
○​ Vary across different languages
○​ Different languages have different rules for order of words
●​ Eg. in English we say “the brown dog”, in Spanish we say “the dog
brown”
↳​ Pragmatics: things that change meaning of words like context and tone
↳​ Metalinguistics: using language to talk about language
-​ Code switching: going back and forth between several languages
-​ Types of bilingualism
↳​ Simultaneous (early) bilingualism
↳​ Sequential bilingualism (learning one early on, then one later in like)
↳​ Heritage bilingualism (family language but you don’t feel comfortable speaking it)
↳​ Adult second language bilingualism (learning language later on in life, critical language
learning period is gone)
-​ Intelligence: ability to learn or understand and deal with challenging situations, ability to apply
knowledge, think abstractly, set of abilities that increase an organism's survival and reproduction
↳​ Three tiered model: general intelligence, basic intelligence (fluid, deal with new
situations and problem solve and crystallize, facts we know), specific abilities
-​ How do we measure intelligence?
↳​ Intelligence isn’t observable but correlates of it are
↳​ Alfred Binet: employed by french government to develop first IQ test with trial and error
(Binet-Simon Intelligence test)
○​ Consisted of puzzles, object naming, counting
○​ Modern IQ test still test specific abilities (eg. WISC and WAIS)
○​ Test specific skills that correlate with academic, professional and social success
○​ IQ test are specific to your age and location (eg. there is a specific test for 7 y/o’s
in Canada, and different test for 10 y/o in China)
●​ Average on IQ test is designed to be 100, because the test changes as you
age (so no matter what age, our IQ should not change)
●​ Standard deviation is designed to be 15
●​ IQ follows a normal distribution/bell curve
-​ Intelligence might predict academic success, economic success, occupational success
KEY: notes, definitions, examples, theories

↳​ “The rich get richer” hypothesis: by having high intelligence in childhood, they can enter
experiences that further their intelligence
↳​ The effects of intelligence is self-perpetuating (can be built on with more experience)
↳​ Education and intelligence work together to sometimes determine work wages back then
↳​ Now, each additional point in IQ is equal to $202/year
○​ Each year of formal education is equal to $1328/yearly wage
-​ Difference in intelligence is based on genetics, family environment and education
↳​ Proof of genetics: identical twins have similar IQ scores than fraternal twins, and adopted
children have similar IQ scores to their biological parents than their adoptive twins
↳​ Proof of environment: IQ scores are positively correlated with high parental involvement,
stimulating physical environment, etc.
↳​ Proof of education: IQ scores are higher in those who attend school
-​ Humans have multiple types of intelligences (found by Gardner) that are based on self-report
measures and behavioural observation

outlined intelligences are ones tested on IQ tests

1.​ Bodily kinesthetic intelligence: being aware of your own body in environment and
moving it (eg. athletes, dancers, etc)
2.​ Musical intelligence: combines sounds and rhythms
3.​ Nature intelligence: how well we interact with our natural environments
4.​ Interpersonal intelligence: intelligence about other people (social intelligence)
5.​ Intrapersonal intelligence: intelligence about yourself (how we regulate and understand
our own emotions)
6.​ Logical math intelligence: being well at problem solving skills
7.​ Spatial intelligence: the cognitive ability to perceive, understand, and manipulate visual
information in space
8.​ Linguistic intelligence: the ability to think in words and to use language to express and
appreciate complex meanings
-​ Each intelligence are uncorrelated to one another
-​ Evidence of Gardner's multiple intelligence: areas of intelligence have different developmental
patterns and emerge at different ages (eg. some people develop musical skills well before math
skills) , and damage to one specific area of the brain may only impact one intelligence and not
others.
-​ Emotional intelligence: not tested by IQ tests, but it is the ability to reason about emotions and
use those emotions to enhance reasoning, identify/describe/manage ones emotions, and detect the
emotions of others
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-​ People with high emotional intelligence show less brain activation when experiencing an
emotional stimuli because it takes them less effort and time to process the stimuli (less
hard)