Lecture 6/7

Question 1

Human language

Answer 1

Symbols
= Arbitrary pairings between a person/thing and an idea that people agreed to correlate the two
Generativity
= Basically, humans can say things and others can understand those new ideas, imagining them, etc.

Question 2

Parts of language

Answer 2

Phonemes
= The sounds of human language, the basic structure for everything in language
= The smallest units of sound recognizable as speech rather than random noise
EX: vowels in english, consonants in english
= Each of the world’s languages have a unique set of phonemes
= Not all language use all phonemes

Question 3

Semantics

Answer 3

Words composed of one or more Morphemes

Question 4

Morphemes

Answer 4

Smallest components of human language that also have meaning
= Needs one phoneme to make a morpheme
EX: the sound S

Question 5

Syntax

Answer 5

Grammar for sentences
= The rules governing how words are combined to form meaningful phrases and sentences
= Syntactical rules differ across languages
English: I went to the beach yesterday
Spanish: Yesterday went to the beach
French: I am gone to the beach yesterday

Question 6

Pragmatics

Answer 6

Context, tone, body language, how we say the sentence
Metalinguistics
= Using all these components to talk about language itself

Question 7

Types of bilingualism

Answer 7

Simultaneous (early) bilingualism
Sequential bilingualism (many different home languages but one at school, in order from one to next)
Heritage bilingualism (main language is english but another language you sorta understand)
Adult second-language bilinguialism

Question 8

Intelligence

Answer 8

Formal definitions
= The ability to learn or understand, or to deal with new or challenging situations
= The ability to apply knowledge to manipulate one’s environment
= The ability to think abstractly as measured by objective criteria
Other definition
= A set of abilities that increase an organism’s likelihood of survival and reproduction

Question 9

Three-tiered model

Answer 9

1. General intelligence (g)
   = All these different types of intelligence in an individual
   Basic intelligence
   = Like crystallised intelligence, fluid intelligence, general memory and learning
   A set of specific abilities

Question 10

How do we measure intelligence

Answer 10

IQ tests
IQ tests are created to produce a standard score in the age group and location in which they are presented
Mean score on IQ tests is designed to be 100
Standard deviation is designed to be 15

Question 11

= Why is intelligence important

Answer 11

Many humans are not faced with frequent threats to our physical survival
So why does intelligence matter?
= It still helps us thrive in our environment
In humans, intelligence might predict
= Academic success
= Economic success
Occupational success
Success begets success and the rich get richer
= The effects of intelligence are self-perpetuating

Question 12

Intelligence test examples

Answer 12

Intelligence tests are different for different ages
Ideational fluency for 7-year-olds
= When you see the word PLANT, what else do you think of?
Naming facility for 5 year olds
= What is happening in this picture

Question 13

Where does intelligence come from

Answer 13

Genetics
= IQ scores are more similar between identical than fraternal twins
= IQ scores of adopted children are more similar to their biological parents’ than to their adoptive parents’ scores
Family environment
= IQ scores are positively correlated with protective factors (high parental involvement, stimulating physical environment, etc)
= IQ scores negatively correlated with risk factors (low SES, low maternal education, etc)
Education
= School enhances (builds on) children’s existing intelligence
= IQ scores are higher during the school year than the summer (for some children)

Question 14

Gardner’s theory of multiple intelligences

Answer 14

Linguistic intelligence
Logical-math intelligence
Musical intelligence
Body-kinesthetic intelligence
Spatial intelligence
Inter-personal intelligence

Question 15

Gardner’s theory of multiple intelligences

Answer 15

Evidence for Gardner’s approach
= These areas of intelligence have different developmental patterns (emerge at different ages)
= Damage to a specific brain area may impact only one type of intelligence and not others

Question 16

Affect heuristic

Answer 16

A rule of thumb in which we choose between alternatives based on emotional or “gut” reactions to stimuli

Question 17

Heuristics

Answer 17

A shortcut to problem solving, also known as rule of thumb

Question 18

Representativeness heuristic

Answer 18

• A rule of thumb in which stimuli similar to a prototype are believed to be more likely than stimuli that are dissimilar to a prototype

Question 19

Recognition heuristic

Answer 19

A rule of thumb in which a higher value is placed on the more easily recognized alternative

Question 20

Psychometrics

Answer 20

• A branch of psychology concerned with the objective measurement of mental abilities and other attributes

Question 21

Availability heuristic

Answer 21

• A rule of thumb in which the frequency of an event’s occurance is predicted by the ease with which the event is brought to mind

Question 22

Analogical representations

Answer 22

• A representation that maintains some of the characteristics of the real object

Question 23

Aphasia

Answer 23

• The loss of the ability to speak or understand language

Question 24

Crystallized intelligence

Answer 24

• The ability to think logically using specific learned knowledge

Question 25

Fluid intelligence

Answer 25

- The ability to think logically without the need to use learned knowledge

Question 26

Functional fixedness

Answer 26

- A possible barrier to successful problem solving in which an object is considered only in terms of its most typical use

Question 27

Emotional intelligence

Answer 27

IQ tests only attempt to measure some types of intelligence Emotional intelligence is not tested by traditional IQ tests = The ability to reason about emotions and to use emotions to enhance reasoning = Identification of one’s own emotions = Description of one’s own emotions = Management of one’s own emotions = Detection of others’ emotions Individuals have different levels of emotional intelligence = Strikingly, individuals with high emotional intelligence show less brain activation when solving emotional problems

Question 28

Interpersonal intelligence

Answer 28

Social intelligence Our ability to interact with other people “Inter” meaning “between”

Question 29

Intrapersonal intelligence

Answer 29

Intra” meaning “within” Things and emotions that occur within yourself

Question 30

What is emotion

Answer 30

A positive or negative experience in response to a stimulus and associated with a particular pattern of physiological activity = Two-dimensional = Valence (positive or negative) = Psychological arousal (severity)

Question 31

Major brain structures involved in emotional processing

Answer 31

Review: there are many neural structures involved in most brain processes = Two structures related to emotion that we’ll study = The amygdala = The prefrontal cortex = The amygdala is a relatively primitive part of the limbic system that quickly processes biologically relevant information = The prefrontal cortex is a relatively advanced part of the brain that slowly processes information rationally

Question 32

Universality hypothesis

Answer 32

Charles Darwin proposed that emotions are evolved and that they are universal in the human population = The universality hypothesis = Emotion aids in survival Likewise, the facial gestures that accompany emotion are also evolved and universal Support for the universality hypothesis: = Individuals with visual impairments that have never seen a human face smile similarly to seeing humans = 2-day-old infants produce disgusted facial expressions similar to those of adults Arguments against the universality hypothesis: = People from isolated cultures do not always label emotional displays in the same way as people from interconnected cultures