Exam 7: Section 3: Thinking, Language, and Intelligence

In Sternberg's triarchic theory of intelligence, practical intelligence refers to the mental processes used in learning how to solve problems.

About 68 percent of people who take the WAIS intelligence test will score between 85 and 115.

A general rule-of-thumb strategy for problem solving that may or may not work is called a "heuristic."

State lottery commissions capitalize on the availability heuristic by running many TV commercials showing that lucky person who won the $100 million Powerball jackpot. A vivid memory is created in the viewer, which leads him or her to make an inaccurate estimate of the likelihood that the event will happen to him or her.

Herman does not respond to attempts at social interaction with him. He also engages in repetitive or odd motor behaviors and has a few restricted routines and interests that he focuses on. According to the In Focus box on neurodiversity, Herman has symptoms of a disorder called autism spectrum disorder.

Identical twins share exactly the same genes because they developed from a single fertilized egg that split into two.

Exemplars are stored memories of individual instances of a particular concept.

According to the linguistic relativity hypothesis, differences among languages cause differences in the thoughts of their speakers.

People from some cultural backgrounds may use different problem-solving strategies than those that are required for solving problems on standardized intelligence tests.

The In Focus box on neurodiversity presents information on the idea of neurodiversity and notes that people with a mild form of autism spectrum disorder typically show abnormal and slow language development, have narrow interests and inflexible behavior, and by definition, have an IQ of 70 or below.

Intelligence theorist Louis Thurstone disagreed with Spearman's notion that intelligence is a single, general mental capacity.

Research conducted by Lewis Terman found that highly intelligent children tended to be socially awkward and physically clumsy.

A heritability estimate of 60 percent for intelligence would mean that roughly 60 percent of an individual's IQ score is due to his or her genes.

Heritability estimates suggest that about 75 percent of the differences in IQ scores within a particular population is due to environmental factors.

Faced with evidence that seems to contradict a hoped-for finding, people may object to the study's methodology. This is an example of the fallacy of positive instances.

In comparing the average IQ for various racial groups, the IQ score for the majority or dominant group tends to be lower than the IQ scores of the minority groups.

The improvement of average IQ that has been found around the world in just a few generations is referred to as the "Flyer Effect" since worldwide travel by air has become more common.

The phenomenon of stereotype lift refers to the finding that awareness of positive expectations can actually improve performance.

Only a few highly gifted people are capable of true creativity.

Concepts provide a kind of mental shorthand, economizing the cognitive effort required for thinking and communication.