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

Question 1

Unlike formal concepts, natural concepts tend to have "fuzzy boundaries."

Answer 1

True

Question 2

Looking at pictures of faces activates the fusiform face area (FFA) of the temporal lobe.

Answer 2

True

Question 3

One way to determine whether an object is an instance of a natural concept is to compare it to a prototype of that natural concept.

Answer 3

True

Question 4

Scientific research on mental images suggests that we manipulate mental images in much the same way as we manipulate the actual objects that the images represent.

Question 5

A mental representation of objects or events that are not physically present is called a mental image.

Question 6

Functional neuroimaging studies indicate that imagining a face or place in the "mind's eye" evokes a stronger brain response than actually perceiving a face or place.

Question 7

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

Question 8

To ensure success, one of the most important steps in problem solving is to identify the problem.

Question 9

The more closely an item matches our prototype of a natural concept, the more quickly we can classify it as an example of that concept.

Question 10

Research has shown that just imagining a face or place activates the same brain region that is activated when a person perceives a face or a place.

Question 11

Forming a mental image of a face or a place activates a brain area called the fusiform facial area (FFA), whereas actually perceiving a face or a place activates a brain area called the parahippocampal place area (PPA).

Question 12

Thinking involves manipulating mental representations of information in order to draw inferences and conclusions.

Question 13

An algorithm is a method that always produces the correct solution when it is followed step by step.

Question 14

Trial and error is a problem-solving strategy that involves attempting different solutions and eliminating those that do not work.

Question 15

Forming a mental image of a face or place involves activity in the same brain areas that are activated when people actually perceive a face or a place.

Question 16

A formal concept is a mental category that is formed as a result of everyday experience.

Question 17

A key step in effective problem solving is to consider all possible solutions for a problem.

Question 18

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

Question 19

A mental image is a term that is used to refer to a visual "picture."

Question 20

Cognition refers to the mental activities involved in acquiring, retaining, and using knowledge.

Question 21

Bowers and his colleagues proposed a model of intuition that involves two stages: the exemplar stage and the prototype stage.

Question 22

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

Question 23

Alyssa goes shopping for bath soap. After looking at all of the different choices, Alyssa decides to choose the soap with the most cocoa butter in it. Alyssa is using the single-feature model of decision making.

Question 24

The term mental set refers to a particular decision-making strategy that is most often used under conditions of uncertainty.

Question 25

A mental set is sometimes likely to block insight in areas in which you are already knowledgeable and well-trained.

Question 26

The additive model of decision making involves generating a list of factors that are most important, then using an arbitrary rating scale to rate each alternative on each factor, and finally adding these ratings together for comparison purposes.

Question 27

Functional fixedness can hamper attempts to solve problems because it prevents people from seeing the full range of potential uses for a familiar object.

Question 28

A decision-making strategy in which the choice among many alternatives is simplified by basing the decision on a single feature is called the elimination-by-aspects model.

Question 29

According to Bowers, the fact that the initial stage of intuition is unconscious means that it is also irrational and unlikely to generate accurate results.

Question 30

The availability heuristic is sometimes most likely to block insight in areas in which you are already knowledgeable or well-trained.

Question 31

A problem-solving strategy that involves following a specific rule, procedure, or method, inevitably producing the correct solution, is referred to as a "heuristic."

Question 32

A flash of insight is the sudden realization of how a problem can be solved.

Question 33

When we use the availability heuristic, we estimate the likelihood of an event occurring on the basis of how readily available other instances of the event are in our memory.

Question 34

In the second stage of Bowers's two-stage model of intuition, hypotheses are formed.

Question 35

The representativeness heuristic occurs when a rare event makes a vivid impression on people, and they overestimate the likelihood of the event occurring again.

Question 36

The representativeness heuristic and the availability heuristic are two rule-of-thumb strategies that help us estimate the likelihood of events.

Question 37

Functional fixedness is a tendency to view objects as only functioning in their usual or customary way.

Question 38

In the first stage of Bowers's two-stage model of intuition, perception plays an important role in the process.

Question 39

Breaking a problem into subgoals and working backward from the goal are both useful heuristics that can help people solve complex problems.

Question 40

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.

Question 41

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.

Question 42

Alfred Binet developed a series of tests measuring different mental abilities in order to identify schoolchildren who could benefit from special help.

Question 43

The confirmation bias is the tendency to search for information or evidence that confirms a belief, while making little or no effort to search for information that might disprove the belief.

Question 44

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

Question 45

Eleanor Rosch found that even though Dani-speaking people in New Guinea have words for only two colors in their language, they seemed to remember and perceive color in much the same way as English-speaking people from the United States.

Question 46

Nonhuman animals communicate with members of their own species, but there is no valid research to support the idea that nonhuman animals demonstrate comprehension of syntax or concepts.

Question 47

The most widely accepted definition of intelligence is "the global capacity to think rationally, act purposefully, and deal effectively with the environment."

Question 48

One important property of language is displacement, meaning that speakers can generate an infinite number of new and different phrases and sentences.

Question 49

Parents with children in child care may be motivated to embrace research findings that emphasize the benefits of child care for young children and discount findings that emphasize the benefits of home-based care. This is an example of the belief-bias effect.

Question 50

All of your cognitive abilities are involved in understanding and producing language.

Question 51

People tend to believe evidence that confirms what they want to believe is true, a phenomenon that is sometimes called the wishful thinking bias.

Question 52

Although researchers once thought that primates were able to demonstrate primitive language skills, contemporary researchers have shown that the primates were simply producing learned responses to nonverbal cues.

Question 53

One day Lacey had an intuitive hunch that she would hear from an old grade-school friend and sure enough, her friend e-mailed her. Lacey is now convinced that she is psychic. This is an example of the fallacy of positive instances.

Question 54

Comparative cognition is a field of psychology that focuses on aspects of animal behavior, including memory, problem solving, planning, and cooperation.

Question 55

Comparative cognition is a field of psychology that focuses on cross-cultural research on problem solving, language, and intelligence.

Question 56

Only spoken language requires the use of symbols.

Question 57

Every language has a unique syntax, or set of rules for combining words.

Question 58

While evaluating evidence that seems to confirm a hoped-for finding, people may overlook flaws in the research or argument. This is an example of the wishful thinking bias.

Question 59

When people accept only evidence that conforms to their belief, while rejecting or ignoring any evidence that does not conform, they are demonstrating the belief-bias effect.

Question 60

Rather than focusing on whether nonhuman animals can develop human capabilities such as language, many comparative psychologists study the specific cognitive capabilities that different species have evolved to best adapt to their ecological niche.

Question 61

The intelligence quotient (IQ) is a measure that was originally developed by the U.S. military, derived by taking a person's score on the Army Alpha test and dividing it by the person's score on the Army Beta test.

Question 62

The three basic requirements of a scientifically acceptable achievement, aptitude, or intelligence test are standardization, reliability, and validity.

Question 63

Subtest scores on the WAIS have proven to have practical and clinical value, such as indicating a specific learning disability.

Question 64

Mental age is a measurement of intelligence in which an individual's mental level is expressed in terms of the average abilities of a given age group.

Question 65

An aptitude test is designed to measure a person's capacity to benefit from education or training.

Question 66

The original WAIS test was designed to measure the mental abilities of children, while the Stanford-Binet test was originally developed to measure the mental abilities of adults.

Question 67

A normal distribution is a bell-shaped distribution of scores on a graph in which most scores cluster around the mean.

Question 68

A key advantage of the Stanford-Binet intelligence test over the WAIS is that the Stanford-Binet provides scores on 11 subtests that measure different abilities rather than simply a global IQ score.

Question 69

Research by Lewis Terman confirmed that the most successful and creative people are likely to have high IQ scores, but they were also more likely to be divorced, physically unhealthy, and addicted to alcohol or prescription drugs.

Question 70

Aptitude test is to measuring level of skill or knowledge as achievement test is to measuring capacity to benefit from education or training.

Question 71

Research conducted by Lewis Terman indicated that differences in success among adults once considered highly intelligent children were attributable to personality factors.

Question 72

The Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale yields two scores: one for verbal abilities and one for performance abilities.

Question 73

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

Question 74

Both David Wechsler and Alfred Binet developed tests that were based on their belief that intelligence involves a variety of distinct mental abilities.

Question 75

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

Question 76

Although his intelligence tests were popular while he was alive, Wechsler's intelligence tests are no longer used today.

Question 77

Theodore Simon was a French psychiatrist who, along with French psychologist Alfred Binet, developed the first widely used intelligence test.

Question 78

Alfred Binet believed that intelligence was too complex to describe with a single number, and that performance on his tests of mental ability could be affected by many factors, including motivation.

Question 79

Standardization is the process of administering a test to a large, representative sample of people under uniform conditions for the purpose of establishing norms.

Question 80

The intelligence quotient or IQ score is derived by dividing a person's mental age by his or her chronological age and multiplying the result by 100.