PSYC 381 Lecture Notes - Lecture 7: Problem Solving, Information Processing, Neofunctionalism
27 May 2018
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1. What are the characteristics of intelligent people? What are the three research approaches
in the study of intelligence? (pp. 235-238)
Characteristics of intelligent people:
1) Problem solving ability (reasoning logically, identifying connections between problems)
2) Verbal ability (speaking articulately, reading with a high comprehension)
3) Social competence (accepting others for what they are, admitting mistakes)
Three research approaches
1) Psychometric approach – have concentrated on measuring intelligence as performance on
standardized tests; this view represents the psychometric approach
2) Information processing approach – detailed analysis of aging associated changes in
components of cognitive mechanisms and their interactions
3) Cognitive structural approach researchers have been more concerned with the ways in
which people conceptualize and solve problems than with scores on tests.
2. Define and describe the four major concepts of a lifespan approach? (pp. 235-236)
Theories of intelligence are therefore multidimensional; that is they specify many domains of
intellectual abilities. The life span concepts including multidirectionality, plasticity, and inter
individual variability.
First concept:
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Multidirectionality refers to the distinct patterns of change in abilities over the life span with
these patterns of change in abilities over the life span with these patterns differing for
different abilities
Second concept:
The term plasticity refers to the range of functioning within an individual and the conditions
under which a person’s abilities can be modified within a specific age range. Eg. They found
that older and younger adults show different activation patterns in the brain when they
perform cognitive tasks.
Third concept:
Inter individual variability: acknowledges that adults differ in their intellectual development
Cognitive abilities include basic forms of thinking associated with information processing
and problem solving such as reasoning, spatial orientation, or perceptual speed. Intellectual
change in this first component is greatest during childhood and adolescence.
4 concepts: Multidimensionality , multidirectionality, plasticity, interindividual variability
3. Define primary mental abilities. What are the age-related changes in primary mental
abilities? (pp. 240-242)
Primary Mental abilities: reflect interrelationships among performances on intelligence tests
- Proposes a hierarchial relationship in intellectual abilities such as perceptual speed
and verbal memory are considered the most basic and are tied to neuropsychological
functioning.
- Mental abilities such as reasoning and numbering are products of acquired
information . All mental abilities underlie all meaningful activities of persons daily
life.
- Shows that people tend to improve on the primary abilities tested until their late 30s
or early 40’s. Scores then tend to stabilize until people reach their mid 50’s or early
60’s
- Abilities that are typical such as reasoning, verbal memory, spatial orientation, and
perceptual speed typically show a pattern of decline during adulthood, with some
acceleration in very old age. These abltieis show a steady state of decline.
4. Define secondary mental abilities. What are the age-related changes in secondary mental
abilities? (pp. 243-246)
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5. Describe the six moderators of intellectual change and provide original examples of each. (pp.
246-252)
6. Summarize the research that has been done to look at modifying primary mental abilities. (pp.
253-255)
7. Describe Piaget’s theory of cognitive development. What is post-formal thought and why is it
important? (pp. 256-260)
• For Piaget, adaptation and organization
• Adaptation is the process of adjusting thinking to the environment
• Adaptation occurs through organization, which is how the organism is put together,
• In pigets theory the organization of thought is reflected in cognitive structures that
change over the life span.
• What process underlie intellectual adaptation: assimilation and accommodation.
• Assimilation is the use of currently available knowledge to make sense out of incoming
information
• Accomodation involves changing one’s thought to make it better approximation of the
world of experience
Sensorimotor period:
• First stage: intelligence is seen infants action. Babies get their sensory and motor skills,
beginning with basic reflexes.
• The most important thing that infants learn during the sensorimotor period is that objects
continue to exist even when they are out of sight; this ability is called object permanence.
Preoperational period:
• This means that young children believe all people and all inanimate objects experience
the world just as they do.
• Thinking is not based on logic
Concrete Operational Period
• Logical reasoning emerges in the concrete operational period.
• Children classify objects into groups eg fruits and vegetables
• Realize that when changes occur in perceptual dimension and they are compensated for
in another no net change occurs (conservation)
• Transitivity: A>B and B>C , then A>C
• However children are still unable to del with abstract concepts such as love
Formal operations
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Document Summary
What are the three research approaches in the study of intelligence? (pp. Characteristics of intelligent people: problem solving ability (reasoning logically, identifying connections between problems, verbal ability (speaking articulately, reading with a high comprehension, social competence (accepting others for what they are, admitting mistakes) Theories of intelligence are therefore multidimensional; that is they specify many domains of intellectual abilities. The life span concepts including multidirectionality, plasticity, and inter individual variability. Multidirectionality refers to the distinct patterns of change in abilities over the life span with these patterns of change in abilities over the life span with these patterns differing for different abilities. The term plasticity refers to the range of functioning within an individual and the conditions under which a person"s abilities can be modified within a specific age range. They found that older and younger adults show different activation patterns in the brain when they perform cognitive tasks. Inter individual variability: acknowledges that adults differ in their intellectual development.
