Unit 6: Thinking, Intelligence and Creativity

Theoretical perspectives on thought processes:

Associationism-

 Associationism is the view that the mind is organized, at least in part, by principles
of association.
 The basic idea behind associationism seems to be this; items that “go together” in
experience will subsequently “go together” in thought.
 This is because, when something happens, it quickly get associated in our mind to the
already occurred events that were very similar, and it gets added to the list of that
particular set of association.
 The study of associationism was first initiated by Aristotle in 350 BCE.
 He said items that go together by having certain relations in space (spatial contiguity)
can have certain relations in time (temporal contiguity).
 John lock- said that new ideas that come in our mind is not innate, but a result of
associating one idea with another and emerging with a new one.
 David Hume- stated that any of our experiences have no substantial reality behind
them, and all the logic and thinking that comes after it is based on these 3 simple laws
of association.
o Law of resemblance
o Law of contiguity
o Law of cause and effect
 Hermann Ebbinghaus- first experimenter to apply associationism principles
systematically. He studied his own mental processes through self-observation and
studied how people learn and remember material through rehearsal (conscious
repetition of to-be learned material). He said repetition aids learning.
 Thorndike held that the role of satisfaction is the key to forming association (law of
effect).
 Tolman- cognitive maps

Gestalt-

 Emphasized the study of consciousness.

  Rejected the views of structuralists and associationists that consciousness consists of
associated elements.
 Gestalt hypothesizes that an individual’s perception of stimuli has an effect on
their response. If 2 individuals are exposed to identical stimuli, their reactions to it
would be different, depending on their past experiences. Individuals use insight when
solving a problem or determining their response to stimuli.
 Kohler- chimpanzee experiment
 J.S bruner, a proponent of constructivism, considers thinking the most important
outcome of cognitive development. He considers “problem solving and the
acquisition of knowledge as taking place as both analytic thinking and intuitive
thinking.

Information processing model-

 This model sees the individual as a processor of information in much of the same way
that a computer takes in information and follow a program to produce an output.
 It compares the human mind to a computer.
 Assumptions of information processing model-
o Information made available by the environment is processed by a series of
processing system. These processing systems transform or alter the
information in systematic ways.
o It has a limited capacity- the amount of information that can be processed by
the system is constrained in some very important ways. The system can only
process so much info, either because of information flow restrictions or
individual mental capacity.
o A controlled system is required. A regulatory mechanism is necessary to
oversee how information is received, interpreted, changed, recalled, and used
by the brain.
 Given Atkinson and Shiffrin (1968). It explains how stimuli that enter our memory
systems are selected and organized for storage and retrieval from memory.
 Memory starts with a sensory input from the environment. This input is held for a
very brief time- several sec at most- in a sensory register associated with sensory
channels. Auditory (4sec) is held for a longer time than visual (1sec). capacity is
3-7 chunks.
  Information that is attended to and recognized in the sensory register may be passed
on to STM, where it is held perhaps 20-30 sec.
 Some of the info reaching STM is processed by being rehearsed- that is, by having
focused on it, perhaps by being repeated over and over, or perhaps by being processed
in some other way that will link it up with other info already stored in memory.
Capacity is 7-9 chunks.
 Information that is rehearsed may then pass to LTM; info not so processed is lost.
Items in LTM are organized into categories, where they may reside for days, months,
years, or for lifetime. Capacity is infinite.
 When you remember something, a representation of the item is withdrawn, or
retrieved, from LTM.

Feature integration model

 Given by Treisman and Gelade (1980).

 The Feature Integration Theory offers that visual perception applies two methods, as
stated below.
o Analysis of basic visual features such as color, orientation, and spatial
frequency. This is referred to as feature analysis.
o Integration of the analyzed features into unified perceptual representations,
referred to as integration.
 Feature search- Features should "pop out" during search.
 Conjunction search- occurs with the combination of two or more features and are
identified serially. It requires attention and effort.
 The set size effect refers to the phenomenon where reaction time increases as the
number of distractors in a search task increases, supporting the idea that attention
is required to combine features.

 The feature integration theory proposes that object features are identified
automatically during a pre-attentive stage, and attention is then used to bind these
features together for perception.

 we sometimes look at a scene using distributed attention, with all parts of the scene
processed at the same time; on other occasions, we use focused attention, with each
item in the scene processed one at a time. Furthermore, distributed attention and
 focused attention form a continuum, so that you frequently use a kind of attention that
is somewhere between those two extremes.
 Distributed attention allows you to register features automatically; you use
parallel processing across the field, registering all the features simultaneously.
relatively low-level kind of processing.
 Focused attention requires serial processing, and you identify one object at a time.
more demanding kind of processing. Focused attention identifies which features
belong together—for example, which shape goes with which color.
 According to Treisman and Gelade, if you processed isolated features in distributed
attention, then you should be able to rapidly locate a target among its neighboring,
irrelevant items. That target should seem to “pop out” of the display automatically,
no matter how many items are in the display.
 In focused attention people need more time to find the target when there are a
large number of distracters.
 the feature present/feature-absent effect tells us that people search much more
rapidly for a feature that is present compared to searching for a feature that is
absent.
 An illusory conjunction is an inappropriate combination of features, perhaps
combining one object’s shape with a nearby object’s color.
 the visual system actually processes an object’s features independently. In other
words, the human visual system sometimes has a binding problem because your
visual system does not represent the important features of an object as a unified
whole.
 When you use focused attention to look at the apple, you will accurately perceive an
integrated figure—a red, round object. Attention allows the binding process to
operate.

Thinking

 think- mentally or cognitively processing information.

 Thinking consists of the cognitive rearrangement or manipulation of both information
from the environment and the symbols stored in LTM.
 A symbol stands for some event or item in the world.
 Autistic thinking Directed thinking

Highly private and use symbols with Thinking aimed at solving problems or
very personal meaning. creating something new.

Example- dreams Example- solving problems

 Thinking is a set of cognitive processes that mediate, or go between, stimuli and

responses.
 Thinking and language are closely related.
 Basic elements of thinking-
o Concepts
o Mental imagery
o Prepositions
 Concepts- it is a symbolic construction that represents some common and general
features of many objects or events. They are mental categories for objects, events,
experiences, or ideas that are similar to one another in one or more respect. It is a way
of classifying diverse elements in the world around us.
o Basic/natural concept- which are acquired easily, appear in thinking very
early in life, and to some degree reflect the way the brain processes and sorts
of information. They are based on prototypes. Prototype is an example of a
concept that closely matches the defining characteristics of the concept. It
emerges from our experience with the external world. Example – animals.
You acquire these concepts by
 Discrimination learning- occurs when some responses are rewarded, or
reinforced, and other responses are not. Play role in formation of
concepts.
 By seeing examples of a concept in different contexts, or settings
 Definitions- describing them in terms of other words or concepts with
which they are already familiar.
o Logical concepts- concepts that can be clearly defined by a set of rules or
properties. Example- square
 Core (a part of prototype) comprises properties that are most important for being a
member of a concept. The prototype properties are salient but not perfect indicators of
 concept membership whereas the core properties are more central to concept
membership.
 Hierarchy of concepts
o Super ordinate concepts- broad categories. For example: animals.
o Basic-level concepts- narrower categories. For example: dog
o Subordinate concepts- yet narrower subordinate concepts. For example:
German Shephard.
 How can we categorize objects?
o Rule based categorization: determine whether the person has the defining
properties of a concept. For example – for grandmother- is she the female
parent of a parent.
o Similarity based categorization: when we rely more on similarities. Used
when we do not know enough defining properties. For example- for
grandmother- woman with grey hair and wrinkles.
 Some Concepts like time and space are innate. Other have to be learned.
 We can learn about a concept in two ways- (a) either we are explicitly taught
something about the concept or (b) we learn it through experience.
 Steps of concept formation-
o Observation- stage of becoming aware.
o Generalization- repeated experiences or observations.
o Discrimination or differentiation- becomes aware of the differences between
concepts.
o Abstraction- experience is analyzed in the absence of actual situations. It
actually transforms comparable and contrasting experiences into concepts.
 Mental imagery- concepts are represented through visual images. Mental pictures of
objects or events in the external world.
 Propositions- it involves relating one concept to another or one feature of concept to
the entire concept.
 Clusters of propositions are often referred to as mental models, knowledge structure
that guide our interactions with objects and events in the world around us.
 Types of thinking-
o Convergent and divergent thinking- done already.
o Concrete and abstract thinking-
 Concrete thinking Abstract thinking

Surface thinking Deeper analysis

Literal meaning Hidden meaning

Deals with HOW Deals with WHY

Focuses on things that are real and Goes beyond it and looks for patterns
tangible. and connections.

 Analytical and creative thinking-

Analytical/Critical thinking Creative thinking

act of converging on facts, data, act of diverging one's thinking to

information, judgment, experience and explore many different options.
wisdom in search of one best answer

Left brain is involved Right brain is involved

 Linear and holistic thinking-

Linear Thinkers System/Holistic Thinkers

Break pieces into component pieces. Are concerned with the whole

Concerned with content. Concerned with process

Try to fix symptoms Concerned with underlying dynamics

Intelligence:

Spearman-

 Charles spearman (two-factor theory of intelligence) - 1904

 1st psychologist to successfully apply mathematical methods to brain analysis.
 Charles Spearman is considered the epitome of factor analysis. Used higher order
factor analysis.
 concept of general intelligence called the “g” factor.
  He analyzed different mental aptitude and cognitive tests attempted by the
participants to form this theory.
 He concluded that the factors related to intelligence could be expressed numerically.
 He proposed that the various mental traits are not independent of each other, and there
exists a factor called the general factor or “g” factor. The amount of “g” factor present
varies with each specific ability.
 Spearman proposed that intelligence consists of two factors which are the “g” factor
and “s” factor.
 ‘g’ factor is determined almost exclusively by inheritance.
 The “g” factor is linked to the general ability, while the “s” factor is linked to the
specific ability.
 According to psychologist, the specific abilities of the person can be drawing
interference, coding abilities, mathematical abilities, etc.
 Tetrad equation (difference between correlations of any 4 abilities) and tetrad
difference- r12*r34 – r13*r24 = 0 (should be zero). Used to prove the existence of “g”
factor.
 Sometimes the tetrad difference is not 0. It is when we find the difference between
different group factors which have varying amount of g factor.

Cattell (1963)-

 one of the first psychologists to describe intelligence as being comprised of multiple

constructs.
 He gave two forms of intelligence: FLUID INTELLIGENCE AND CRYSTALLISED
INTELIGENCE.
 These factors are seen as distinct but correlated.
 Here general intelligence is the first order factor while G(f) and G(c) are second order
factors.

Fluid intelligence Crystallized intelligence

Ability to solve new problems, use logic Ability to use learned knowledge and
in new situations and identify patterns. experience; cumulative learning from
Innate ability. school, books etc.
Flexible minded Gets more stable over time – like a
crystal
 Street smarts – adapt to a situation on Book smarts – such as knowledge of
the spot; non-verbal IQ tests. Vocabulary, grammar
We need some amount of fluid Crystallized intelligence is influenced by
intelligence to manifest crystallized culture, learning, experience, wisdom,
intelligence; never controlled by comprehension
environment.
 Young children show increased fluid intelligence. It grows till late adolescence. Peaks
at mid-20’s and then slows down rapidly. It begins to decline from early to older
adulthood. The reason being that Neurons begin to shrink with age.
 Crystallized intelligence- Increases throughout young adulthood and middle
adulthood and then remains stable in old age. Develops through personal experience
and therefore, shares positive relationship with wisdom and age.
 Horn later expanded the model and instead of 2 gave 10 second order factors
including G(f) and G(c).
 Carroll: three stratum model of intelligence. Intelligence comprises of hierarchy of
cognitive abilities comprising 3 strata. Strata 1 is level 3 which is specific factors. He
gave 70 such narrow abilities. Then comes strata 2 which is level 2 and consists of 8
second order factors. Strata 3 is general factors.
 Carroll removed quantitative knowledge from the second order factors. And he
included reading and writing as a part of crystallized intelligence.
 In 1965, John Horn expanded the dichotomous Gf-Gc model to include 4 additional
abilities including.
o Visual perception or processing
o STM (acquisition and retrieval)
o LTM (storage and retrieval)
o Speed of processing
 Later he added auditory processing abilities.
 1990s- he added quickness in reaction and making decisions and later quantitative and
broad reading-writing factors.
 Based on this Gf-Gc model expanded into 8-factor model and k/a Cattell-Horn Gf-Gc
model.
Jensen (1969)-

 Two-level theories of mental abilities used confirmatory factor analysis to prove

spearman’s theory and for his own theory he used multiple regression.
 Accepts existence of “g” factors.
 Jensen presented evidence that racial differences in intelligence test scores may have a
genetic origin.
 Intelligence consists of 2 levels of abilities. Level I abilities is associative learning
which account for memory functions and simple associative learning and Level II
abilities is called cognitive learning which comprises abstract reasoning and
conceptual thought. He said level 2 is necessary for success.
 Jensen concluded from his research that Level I abilities are equally distributed
among the races, whereas white and Asian students demonstrate advantages in tests of
Level II abilities.
 He also studies SES.
 According to him, genetic differences in intelligence exist among people coming from
different races, nationalities, and social classes.
 Jenson on the basis of his studies believed that genetic factors (80-90%) are important
than environmental factors for one’s intelligence.
Vernon-

 Gave hierarchical theory of intelligence based on spearman’s model.

 In 1950, Vernon elaborated Burt’s hierarchical theory of intelligence. Vernon
description of different levels of intelligence may fill the gaps between two-factor
theory of Spearman and multi-factor theory of Thurston.
 2 factor theory of spearman did not allow for the existence of group factors and the
thruston theory did not allow a “g” factor.
 He gave different levels of intelligence.
 Level 1 is the g factors which are also most important (10-12 years of age). Highest
level with largest source of variance between individuals.
 Level 2 is major group factors (12-14 years of age) which are verbal numerical
education factor (v.ed) and practical-mechanical-spatial-physical (k.m) factors.
 Level 3 is minor group factors (14-18 years of age) such as verbal fluency which are
divided from major group factors.
 Level 4 is the specific factor, “s” factor which is least important.

 He concludes later in 1969 that individual differences in intelligence are

approximately 60 percent attributable to genetic factors.

Thurstone (1938)-
  He gave as a group factor theory of intelligence also k/a multiple factor theory of
intelligence.
 He used factor analysis.
 He believed that intelligence is not a single entity, but rather a combination of distinct
primary mental abilities.
 He analyzed the intercorrelations of a set of 56 mental test and identified 7 primary
mental abilities that he believed were the foundation of intelligence. These were-
o Verbal comprehension- The ability to understand and use language effectively.
o Numerical ability- The ability to work with numbers and solve mathematical
problems.
o Spatial ability- The ability to think and reason about objects in three-
dimensional space.
o Perceptual speed- The ability to quickly and accurately perceive and identify
visual stimuli.
o Inductive reasoning- The ability to identify patterns and relationships in
information and make generalizations based on that information.
o Memory- The ability to store and retrieve information.
o Word fluency- The ability to generate many words in a short period of time,
including the ability to use language creatively and to generate novel ideas.
 Thurstone believed that each of these primary mental abilities was relatively
independent of the others, meaning that a person could be strong in one area but weak
in another.
 He rejected to accept the general intelligence or g-factor of Spearman’s theory.
Thurstone stated that human intellectual abilities are diverse.
 He suggested focusing on the individual’s scores in various mental abilities instead of
focusing only on the intelligence quotient of the person.
 Criticism of his theory-
o Limited diversity of sample
o Method of factor analysis (orthogonal)

Gardner-

 Theory of multiple intelligences

 He proposed that there is no one form of intelligence but a number of intelligence
work together.
 Intelligence is the “ability to solve problems or fashion products that are of
consequence in a particular cultural setting or community” (1993).
 he did not believe there was “one form of cognition which cuts across all human
thinking. There is multiple intelligence with autonomous intelligence capacities”
 Gardner initially formulated a list of seven intelligence. In addition, he revised the
theory by adding naturalist intelligence as the eighth. he has also considered inclusion
of existential intelligence as the ninth intelligence in his theory (1999).

o Visual-spatial- ability to accurately perceive spatial relationships.

o Linguistic verbal- sensitivity to sounds and the meanings of the words.
o Logical-mathematical- capacity for scientific analysis and logical and
mathematical problem solving.
o Body-kinesthetic- ability to control body movements and manipulate objects.
o Musical- sensitivity to sounds and rhythms, capacity for musical expression.
o Interpersonal- sensitivity to the emotions and motivations of others; skillful at
managing tasks.
o Intrapersonal- ability to understand oneself and one’s strengths and
weaknesses.
o Naturalistic- ability to understand patterns and processes in nature.
o Existential- ability to understand religious and spiritual beliefs.
Sternberg-

 Triarchic theory of intelligence (1985)

 According to this view, intelligence is the ability to adapt, to shape, and select
environment to accomplish one’s goals and those of one’s society and culture.
 This theory shifts away from a psychometric approach to intelligence and toward a
more cognitive approach, categorizing it as cognitive-contextual theories.
 The three aspects are practical, distinct, and analytical.
 The Sternberg theory of intelligence is divided into three sub-theories, each of which
corresponds to a different type of intelligence.
 Sternberg’s intelligence theory has three sub-theories: contextual, experiential, and
complementary.
 According to the contextual sub theory,
o intelligence is linked to an individual’s surroundings. Street smartness. Thus,
intelligence is determined by one’s ability to:
 Adapt to one’s surroundings.

 Choose the best environment for yourself.

 Alter the environment to better suit one’s requirements and desires.

 o Practical intelligence: According to Sternberg, practical intelligence is the
ability to connect with the everyday world successfully. The contextual sub
theory is linked to practical intelligence. Practically intelligent people are
particularly skilled at behaving successfully in their surroundings.
 Adaption- it takes place when one makes changes within oneself to
adjust to a new environment.
 Shaping- occurs when one changes one’s environment according to his
requirement.
 Selection- it is done when a completely new environment is replaced
with the older ineffective ones.
 Experiential sub theory- proposes a range of experiences. Intelligence is best
displayed at the extremities of this spectrum. An individual is confronted with an
unfamiliar activity or situation and must devise a strategy to deal with it at the novel
end of the spectrum. On the automation end of the spectrum, someone has become
comfortable with a task or scenario and can now manage it without thinking. The
experiential sub theory is associated with creative intelligence, which is the ability to
apply prior knowledge to develop new solutions to problems or cope with novel
situations. 2 components are there-
o Automation- some aspects of info processing are automated, they do not
require much effort, attention, or energy. They can run parallel to other
processes.
o Novelty- this enables the individual to use cognitive resources for coming up
with novel/new ideas.
 Componential sub-theory- describes the numerous processes that lead to
intelligence. Book smarts. Analytical intelligence comes in it. This is essentially
academic intelligence. Analytical intelligence is the type of intelligence evaluated by
a regular IQ test and used to solve issues. It has three types of mental processes:
o Meta-components enable us to keep track of, control, and assess our mental
processes to make better decisions, solve problems, and prepare for the future.

o Performance components allow us to put the plans and decisions made by the
meta-components into action.

o Knowledge-acquisition components assist us in gaining new knowledge that

will aid us in carrying out our plans.
  Information processing theory by Sternberg also gave 6 steps- encoding-interpreting-
mapping-application-justification-response.

Goleman-

 Emotional intelligence theory (1995)

 ‘Emotional intelligence’ was first coined in 1990 by Peter Salavoy and John
Mayer.
 His theory outlines 5 components of EQ:
 self-awareness, ability to recognize and understand your own thoughts,
feelings, and emotions, which can affect your interaction with others. It
helps you temper your communication style and gives you a reason to
listen to people around you.
 self-regulation,
 motivation, the drive or an inspiration that an individual feels to perform a
task or achieve a goal. There are different kinds of motivation like intrinsic
and extrinsic motivation.
 empathy,
 social skills – active listening, verbal and non-verbal communication,
leadership etc.
 EI is the ability to understand and manage your own emotions and feelings, as
well as those of others.

Das-

 PASS model of intelligence (planning, attention-arousal and simultaneous-successive

model of intelligence) is based on the work of A.R. Luria.
 First proposed by Das, Kirby and Jarman in 1975, later elaborated by J.P das, Jack
Naglieri, and Kirby (1994) and Das, Kar and Parrilla (1996).

 Pass theory distinguishes itself by testing intelligence as a series of cognitive

processes.

 According to this model, intellectual activity involves the interdependent functioning

of 3 neurological systems, called the functional units of the brain.
 These units are responsible for arousal/attention, coding or processing, and planning
respectively.
  Arousal/attention- state of arousal is basic to any behavior as it helps us in attending
to stimuli. It enables a person to process information. An optimal level of arousal
focuses our attention on the relevant aspects of a problem. Too much or too little
arousal would interfere with attention. It forces you to focus your attention. The
brainstem and thalamus are thought to be involved in arousal activities.
 Simultaneous and successive processing- you can integrate the information into your
knowledge system either simultaneously or successively. Simultaneous processing
takes place when you perceive the relations among various concepts and integrate
them into a meaningful pattern for comprehension. This refers to our ability to
integrate disparate stimuli/information into our knowledge system as a cohesive
whole. These processes are regarded to be vital for the occipital and parietal lobes.
Successive processing takes place when you remember all the information serially so
that the recall of one lead to the recall of another or it is the capacity to combine
stimuli/information into sequential order. This sort of processing is associated with
the fronto-temporal lobe.
 Planning- after the info is attended to and processed, planning is activated. It entails
identifying objectives, devising strategies to achieve those goals, and predicting the
repercussions of those strategies. The frontal lobes of the brain are connected with
planning.
 These PASS processes operate on a knowledge base developed either formally(by
reading, writing, and experimenting) or informally from the environment. These
processes are interactive and dynamic in nature; yet each has its own distinctive
functions.
 Das and Naglieri have also developed a battery of tests, K/A the cognitive Assessment
System (CAS). It consists verbal and non-verbal tasks for 5-17 years of age children.
 This model represents the information processing approach to intelligence.
 The PASS theory of intelligence
o Has given us tests to measure intelligence as a set of cognitive processes.
o Discusses what the major processes are.
o Guides us in the remediation of processing difficulties.

Creativity:

 The ability to come up with ideas that are new, surprising and valuable is called
creativity.
 Margaret Boden categories creativity into;
o P-creativity (psychological): a novel idea is new to the person who comes up
with it (it may be present in literature already).
o H-creativity (historical): a novel idea that is new to the person who comes up
with it and also new to everyone.
 Frontal lobe is involved in creativity.
 In his book “Art of Thoughts”, Wallas described 4 stages (1926).
o Preparation- the thinker formulates the problem and collects facts and
materials considered necessary for the new solution.
o Incubation- Like preparation, incubation can last minutes, weeks, even years.
Failing to solve the problem, the thinker deliberately or involuntarily turns
away from it. During this period some of the ideas that were interfering with
the solution tend to fade. In addition, the creative thinker may have
experiences that provide clues to the solution. The unconscious thought
processes involved in creative thinking are also at work during this period.
o Illumination- if the thinker is lucky, this stage occurs with its “aha” insight
experience; and idea for the solution suddenly wells up into consciousness.
o Verification (evaluation, revision)- the apparent solution is tested to see if it
satisfactorily solves the problem. Frequently the insight turns out to be
unsatisfactory, and the thinker is back at the beginning of the creative process.
In other cases, it is usually satisfactory but needs some modification or the
solution of minor problems to a really “good” new idea.
 Characteristics of a creative person-
o Have knowledge
o Aren’t afraid to be different
o More independent in their judgement
o Self-assertive and dominant
o Unconventional in their work
o More complex psychodynamically
o Prefer complexity and some degree of apparent imbalance in phenomenon.
 If creativity is valued in the cultural setting, motivation to be creative increases.
 Nature of thinking-
 o Convergent thinking (Critical/vertical/analytical/linear)- concerned with a
particular end result. The thinker gathers information relevant to the problem
and then proceeds, by using problem solving rules to work out the right
solution. not used to thinking creatively. Use logic.
o Divergent thinking (Creative/Horizontal thinking)- when thinking
creatively, people tend to think in a divergent manner, thus having many
varied thoughts about a problem. It includes autistic thinking (highly private
and may use symbols of personal meanings) and some convergent thinking.
Use imagination.
 The threshold hypothesis: high creativity requires high or at least above-average
intelligence. At this, above-average intelligence is thought to form a necessary but not
a sufficient condition for high creativity (Guilford, 1967).
o It is assumed that there exists a threshold in intelligence which is usually set to
an IQ of 120.
o While creativity should be limited by intelligence below this threshold,
differences in intelligence should be no longer relevant to creativity above it.
o Accordingly, the threshold hypotheses predict a correlation between measures
of creativity and IQ only in low to average IQ samples, whereas there should
be no correlation in groups of higher IQ.
 Robert J. Sternberg’s Investment and confluence theory of creativity:
o Successful investors buy into companies and ideas when they are still new and
unconventional. That way, when the ideas catch on and explodes, they can sell
at a much higher price and move on to the next exciting company or idea.
o They don’t follow the mainstream crowd making, doing, and thinking what
everyone else does. Artists are the ones who rebel and break the rules.
o Creativity requires a confluence of 6 distinct but interrelated resources:
intellectual abilities, knowledge, styles of thinking, personality, motivation
and environment.
 Intellectual skills- Three intellectual skills are particularly important-
 Synthetic skill- to see problems in new ways and to escape the
bounds of conventional thinking.
 Analytic skill- to recognize which of one’s ideas are worth
pursuing and which are not
  Practical–contextual skill- to know how to persuade others of—
to sell other people on—the value of one’s ideas.
 Knowledge- Knowledge can help, or it can hinder creativity. On the
one hand, one needs to know enough about a field to move it forward.
On the other hand, knowledge about a field can result in a closed and
entrenched perspective, resulting in a person’s not moving beyond the
way in which he or she has seen problems in the past.
 Thinking styles- they are decisions about how to deploy the skills
available to a person. A legislative style is particularly important for
creativity, that is, a preference for thinking and a decision to think in
new ways.
 Personality- willingness to overcome obstacles, willingness to take
sensible risks, willingness to tolerate ambiguity, and self-efficacy.
 Motivation- Intrinsic, task-focused motivation is also essential to
creativity.
 Environment- environment that is supportive and rewarding of
creative ideas.
 His list includes attitudes such as willingness to-
o Redefine the problem in novel ways.
o Take sensible risks.
o Sell ideas that others might not initially accept.
o Persevere in the face of obstacles.
o Examine whether their own preconceptions are interfering with their creative
process.
 4C model of creativity, given by Kaufman and Beghatto (2009)-
o Mini C level- creativity is inherent in learning. Any time one attempts a new
task, there is a level of creativity involved. At the mini c-level of creativity,
what one creates might not be revolutionary, but it is new and meaningful to
them. Impact on individual.
o Little C level- reflects an aspect of growth from the mini-C level. With
appropriate feedback, advancements are made and what was created might be
of value to others. Impact on individual and their zone of influence.
 o Pro C level- able to be creative at a professional level and in a professional
venue. Many years of deliberate practice and training. Goal is to support
themselves doing something they love. Impact on an organization, field,
system of practice or market.
o Big C level- remembered in the history books. Evaluation of one’s entire
career and entire body of work and then evaluates it against other great
contributors and decides where one fits in. impact on culture, society and
world.

 To measure a process or skills of person’s creativity WKCT (Wallach and Kogan, 1965),
TTCT (Torrance, 1966, 2008), SOI (Guilford, 1967), CAP (Williams, 1980) is used.
 Different ways/approaches of assessing creativity-
o Process approach- focuses on specific cognitive processes and structures. Used
to measure creativity relevant skills.
o Press approach- the analysis of the work environment or climate that influences
creativity.
 o Person approach- self-report questionnaires that enquire about personality traits.
o Product approach- rating individual’s creative products in different areas.
 Torrance test of creative thinking (TTCT) or Minnesota test of creative thinking
(MTCT). He used many of Guilford’s concepts in his test construction but in contrast he
sought both verbal and figural activities and grouped the different subtests of the TTCT
into 3 categories-
o Oral, written or drawn responses.
o It can be scored separately by categories.
o Teachers give the tests in a group to children.
o 4 criterion component- fluency, flexibility, elaboration, originality
o 3 categories; nonverbal tests, verbal tests using nonverbal stimuli, verbal tests
using verbal stimuli.
 In 1990 Torrance deleted the flexibility scale, since it correlated highly with fluency and
added two measures of creative potential, viz., (i) abstractness of titles and (ii) resistance
to premature closure. Here he used 5 norms referenced scores and 13 criterion referenced
scores. Torrance (1966,1974) has explained 6 components of creativity-
o Fluency- The number of relevant ideas; shows an ability to produce a number of
figural images.
o Flexibility- not only a large number but also a variety of responses, ideas or
solutions to a problem.
o Originality- The number of statistically infrequent ideas; shows an ability to
produce uncommon or unique responses.
o Elaboration- The number of added ideas; demonstrates the subject’s ability to
develop and elaborate on ideas.
o Abstractness of titles- The degree beyond labeling; based on the idea that
creativity requires an abstraction of thought.
o Resistance to premature closure- The degree of psychological openness; based on
the belief that creative behavior requires a person to consider a variety of
information when processing information and to keep an “open mind.”
 The newest version of TTCT measured 4 norm referenced abilities- fluency, originality,
elaboration and flexibility.
 Aspects of creativity by Guilford (1986)-
 o Creative thinking- he considered creative thinking as involving divergent
thinking, which emphasizes fluency, flexibility, originality, and elaboration. He
noted that creative thinking is not the same as divergent thinking, because
creativity requires sensitivity to problems as well as redefinition abilities, which
include transformations of thought, reinterpretations, and freedom from functional
fixedness in driving unique solutions.
o Divergent thinking- He first proposed the concept of divergent thinking.
Guilford’s test of divergent thinking is used to measure how respondents are able
to come up with alternative uses for a certain product based on 4 factors; fluency,
flexibility, originality and elaboration.
o SOI (structure of intellect)- it is a 3-dimensional model. He proposed that
intelligence is not a unitary concept. According to this theory, intellect may be
represented by 3 aspects-
 Operations- cognition, memory, divergent and convergent production,
evaluation.
 Products- units, classes, relations system, transformations, implications
 Content- visual, auditory, symbolic, sematic, behavioral.
o The final version of SOI model (1988) was resembled as a cube with 3
dimensions, or 5*6*5 figure that yield a total of 150 possible unique abilities
which are correlated with each other.
o Psychometric study of human intelligence- he designed numerous tests that
measures divergent or creative thinking and the intellectual ability of creative
person.
 Modes of thinking in young children by Wallach and Kogan in 1965-
o It is administered in game like environment. It comprises 3 verbal subtests
(instances, alternate uses and similarities) and 2 sub-tests consisting of ambiguous
figural stimuli (pattern meanings, line meanings).
o Alternate uses, which asks respondents to give as many unusual uses as they can
for various common items. Most widely used subtest. It can be scored for fluency,
uniqueness, flexibility, originality and usefulness.
 Remote associates test (Mednick, 1962)-
o Measures creativity by asking individuals to suggest remote associates to stimulus
words.
 o It comprises 30 sets of several apparently unrelated words each.
o The respondent needs to suggest a remote 4th word that links these words.
o The score is the number of correct solutions.
o The test has high internal consistency coefficients and distinguished well between
why students rated as high or low on creativity and correlated reasonably well
with creative behavior in non-test situations.
 Getzels-Jackson theory of creativity-
o they studied the correlation between IQ and creativity among high school
students. As a result, they found that the most creative students had lower IQs than
the least creative students.
o On the other hand, these highly creative students were more fun, playful, less
predictable, and less conventional than those with higher IQs.
o What was surprising was the evaluation of teachers. They liked students with high
IQ, but not students with high creativity.
o Contrary to their predictions. Teachers did not like such students, even though
students with high creativity had similar or better academic performance than
students with high IQs.
o The phenomenon of liking smart people who adapt to the organization while
saying that creativity is very important is called the ‘Getzels-Jackson effect’.
This is because relatively creative people are playful, don’t follow customs, and
tend to be unpredictable, making it difficult to control.
o This means while it emphasizes creation and disruptive innovation on the outside,
it values control more on inside. Of course, human nature that fears change and
prefers familiarity also works here.

Problem-solving

 Problem – any conflict or difference between one situation and another situation.
 Problem-solving- The thought process involved in a person’s effort to remove obstacles
in the way to achieve the goal state is called problem solving.
 It is goal directed and motivated by the need to reduce discrepancy.
 Problem space- Initial state, goal state and operator (person who is in the initial state and
strives to achieve the goal or end state) combine to form the problem space. A successful
understanding of the problem space would require coherence, correspondence and
relationship to background knowledge.
o Coherence- connecting the elements in a meaningful manner.
o Correspondence- None of the elements should be left unmatched and also none of
them should be mismatched.
 Rules- rules that exist in converting the problem state into a goal state.
 Types of problem-
o Well and ill-defined problems- A problem is well-defined if there is a
definable initial state and a goal state, definite number of operators, well
identified and clear and explicit rules and sub-goals to convert the initial state
into the goal state. However, an ill-defined problem is in which one or all of
the elements of the problem space (initial state, goal state, operators and rules)
are not clearly defined. We use trial and error approach for an ill-defined
problem.
o Problem of inducing structure- determining relationship among several
elements of the problem. For example, “bird to sky as fish is to water”.
Solving analogy problems requires three types of cognitive skills:
 Process of attribute discovery
 Process of encoding
 Process of comparing encoded attributes and evaluating attribute-based
structure among the elements.
o Problems of transformation- finding a sequence of operations to transform
the initial state into the goal state. Example, tower of Hanoi.
o Problems of arrangement- requires the operator to rearrange the elements of
the problem according to some criterion.
 There are 4 Stages of problem solving according to Polya-
o Define, understand and think about the problem- In this stage, there is
identification of the actual problem, attributes of the problem, area of
knowledge involved in solving the problem and collecting relevant
information.
o Devise a plan for solution- This stage includes thinking of alternate ways to
solve the problem and preparing a flowchart of solution.
 o Carry out the plan- This stage of problem solving is to execute the solution
of the problem.
o Looking back- This involves verifying that the problem solved was the one
originally defined, and also checking reasonableness, criteria and constraints
as well as communicate results.
o information processing translation of the Polya’s stages given in the chart-

 Strategies of problem solving- A strategy is a set of sequential steps (or procedure)

used by a problem solver in arriving at a solution.
o Algorithms- a set of rules which, if followed correctly, will guarantee a
solution to a problem. It is a slow process. There are four essential properties
of an algorithm:
 Each step of an algorithm must be exact. An algorithm must be
precisely and unambiguously described, so that there remains no
uncertainty.
 An algorithm must terminate. If the process does not stop when
executed, one will not be able to get any result from it. Therefore, an
algorithm must contain a finite number of steps in its execution.
  An algorithm must be effective. It must provide the correct answer to
the problem.
 An algorithm must be general. This means that it must solve every
instance of the problem.
o Heuristics- are strategies, usually based on past experience with problems,
that are likely to lead to a solution but do not guarantee success. They are
general suggestions or “rules of thumb “or mental shortcuts.
 Means end analysis- break the problem into smaller subunits, each a
little closer to the end goal.
 Working backward- This strategy starts with the goal state and the
operator moves backward toward the initial state. However, working
backward is useful only when the end state is uniquely well defined
with an unclear initial state.
 Analogies- uses experiences of strategies used to solve past problems
in solving a current problem.
 Factors affecting problem solving-
o Nature of the problem- magnitude of the problem, the difficulty level of the
problem. It is observed that as the size of the problem increases, it becomes all
the more difficult to reach solution to the problem and also it becomes more
time consuming.
o Degree of difference between the initial and the goal state- Greater the
difference between initial and goal states decreases the likelihood of solution.
In such situations problem space is more disorganized and therefore, the
operator is required to take more steps to reach to the solution.
o The perceiver’s set- tendency to perceive and respond to a particular stimulus
in a stereotypical manner. Set is formed in a situation where a person
successively and systematically perceives and responds to a stimulus in a
similar way.
 Set may prove to have facilitatory, as well as inhibitory impact on
problem solving.
 Set biases thinkers at the start of the problem, directing them away
from certain thoughts and towards others.
  The hindering effects of set can be reduced somewhat by warning the
subject just before the critical problem, reducing the number of
practice trials, increasing time interval between practice and trial.
o Functional fixedness- refers to the tendency to perceive the objects with their
customary and stereotypical use. It is a set to use objects in a way we are
accustomed to using them, even if a different use might solve a problem. One
advantage of temporarily quitting a problem you cannot solve is that you may
come back to it with a fresh approach, your functional fixedness may be
broken.

Metacognition

 In late 1970s, John Flavell originally coined the word ‘metacognition’. He defines the
word as “cognition about cognitive phenomenon”.
 Metacognition is often referred to as “thinking about thinking”. It is a regulatory
system that helps a person understand and control his or her cognitive performance.
 It is generally implicated in the monitoring and controlling of retrieval and
interference processes involved in the memory system. Monitoring refers to how we
evaluate what we already know (or do not know).
 It allows people to take charge of their own learning. It involves awareness of how
they learn, an evaluation of their learning needs, generating strategies to meet these
needs and then implementing the strategies (Hacker, 2009).
 It is generally learned during the later stage of development. Metacognitive strategies
can often (but not always) be stated by the individual who is using them.
 The 2 processes of metacognition-
o Knowledge of cognition (Metacognitive knowledge)- it consists of one’s
conscious and subconscious beliefs or knowledge about people, tasks, and
strategies that influence the cognitive process. It includes knowledge about
one’s own or other’s cognitive processes, self-efficacy, motivation, or interest.
It can change over time i.e., people can learn metacognitive processes. It has 3
components.
 Knowledge of the task context such as the task demand.
 Knowing general strategies that might be used to achieve one’s
cognitive goals.
 Knowing what information is available during the task.
 o Metacognitive knowledge is divided into 3 different types of knowledge-
 Declarative knowledge- factual information that we know, can be both
spoken or written. This is also the knowledge about ourselves as
learners and about what factors can influence our performance.
 Procedural knowledge- information on how to do something or how to
perform the procedural steps that make up a task. A high degree of
procedural knowledge allows us to perform tasks more automatically
through a variety of strategies.
 Conditional knowledge- knowledge about when to use a procedure,
skill, or strategy or when not to. Such knowledge allows us to assign
optimal resources for various tasks.
o Regulation of cognition- researchers have analyzed executive control
processes involved in the regulation of cognition. Brown and Pallincsar
describe several types of executive functions that one might undertake to
regulate their cognitive processes-
 Planning activities- prior to undertaking a problem (predicting
outcomes, scheduling strategies, and various forms of vicarious trial
and error)
 Monitoring activities- during learning (monitoring, testing, revising,
and rescheduling one’s strategies for learning)
 Checking outcomes- (evaluating the outcome of any strategic actions
against criteria of efficiency and effectiveness)
 Here you assess task-evaluate strengths-plan approach-act and monitor-reflect and
adjust. It’s a circular process.

Decision making

 It is a kind of problem solving in which we are presented with several alternatives,

among which we must choose.
 We can divide decision making tasks into five different categories. These tasks often
occur in a particular order, but there may be “cycles” to an order, in which certain
tasks are revisited and redone. there may or may not be a set order to the tasks.
 systematic and common biases or ways of thinking that lead to systematic errors have
been labelled cognitive illusions.
 Framing effect- our choices are influenced by the way they are framed through
different wordings, settings, and situations.
 Sunk cost effect- greater tendency to continue an endeavor once an investment in
money, effort, or time has been made.
 Illusory correlation- phenomenon of seeing nonexistent relationships.
 Hindsight bias- a psychological phenomenon that allows people to convince
themselves after an event that they accurately predicted before it happened.
 Confirmation bias- tendency to search only for information that will confirm one’s
initial hunch or hypothesis, and to overlook or ignore other information.
 Overconfidence- a curve—plotting confidence against accuracy—is called a
calibration curve. The closer the curve is to the 45-degree line, the better the
calibration, or “fit,” between confidence and accuracy. Deviations from the curve
below this line are said to indicate overconfidence, where confidence ratings are
higher than actual accuracy. Deviations above the line would indicate under
confidence, a phenomenon that rarely occurs.
 Peak-end analysis- describes your tendency to evaluate past experiences by focusing
on the most intense, or peak, moments as well as the end moments of an experience,
rather than the experience as a whole.
 Lexicography- pieces of information are inspected sequentially, and decisions are
based on the first piece of information which satisfies a pre-determined criterion.
 Working backwards- a method of problem solving in which an individual imagines
they have already solved the problem they are trying to solve.
 Utility models of DM-
o Normative models- define ideal performance under ideal circumstances.
o Prescriptive models- tell us how we “ought” to make decisions. circumstances
in which decisions are made are rarely ideal, and they provide guidance about
how to do the best we can.
o Descriptive models- simply detail what people actually do when they make
decisions. they describe actual performance.
 Utility and subjective probability-
o Utility is the perceived benefit or psychological value-in making decisions.
o Different people assign different utilities to the same event.
o Subjective probabilities- guessed at, or perceived, probability estimates.
o Mathematical model of decision making is that people make decisions that
will maximize subjectively expected utility. In other words, given a choice
among alternatives, we take utility and subjective probability into account,
multiply them together, and take the alternative with highest product.
o This expected utility model is a normative model of DM.
 Heuristics and biases in decision making-
o Among heuristic decision-making rules for estimating the likelihood, or
subjective probability, of outcomes are representativeness, availability, and
adjustment.
o Heuristic of representativeness- to arrive at subjective probabilities, we
decide, first, whether the current situation is similar to one we have
encountered before and then we act accordingly. In other words, we ask
whether the current situation is representation, or instance, of something
we have already experienced.
 This method can work but it may result in our being misled by
surface similarities.
 It is also possible that the original situation, the one that serves as
our basis of comparison, may not be representative of the true state
of affairs.
  Gambler’s fallacy- occurs when an individual erroneously believes
that a certain random event is less likely or more likely to happen
based on the outcome of a previous event or series of events.
o Heuristic of availability- the ease with which we remember certain things
helps us in making subjective-probability estimates.
 It can be useful but neglecting events that are harder to remember
can also lead to misjudgments about the likelihood of certain
outcomes.
o Heuristic of adjustment- we start with a certain subjective probability and
raise or lower it depending on the circumstances. When we make these
adjustments, the outcome depends upon the starting point.it is as if the
initial level provided an ‘anchor’ that biased our estimate and therefore
this biasing effect is often called anchoring.
o Stimulation heuristic- simplified mental strategy, according to which
people determine the likelihood of an event based on how easy it is to
picture the event mentally.
 Weighing alternatives-
o first make a list of desired attributes.
o Give weight to these attributes on the basis of their importance.
o Then assess the utility of each attribute, multiplying by weight to give an
overall value of the attribute.
o Overall score can be summed to give a single weighed utility for each
alternative.
 The choice of attribute is critical in this DM.
 Image theory-
o Descriptive model given by Beach and Mitchell.
o The fundamental assumption of this theory is that in making real-life
decisions, people rarely go through a formal structuring process in which
they lay out all their options and criteria and then weigh and integrate
various pieces of information, as EU models predict.
o Instead, most of the decision-making work is done during a phase known
as the “pre-choice screening of options.” In this phase, decision makers
 typically winnow the number of options under active consideration to a
small number, sometimes one or two.
o They do this by asking themselves whether a new goal, plan, or alternative
is compatible with three images: the value image (containing the decision
maker’s values, morals, and principles), the trajectory image (containing
the decision maker’s goals and aspirations for the future), and the strategic
image (the way in which the decision maker plans to attain his or her
goals).
o According to image theory, options judged incompatible with one or more
of these three images (value, trajectory, strategic) are dropped from further
consideration.
o This pre-choice screening process is non-compensatory: Violations of any
image are enough to rule out that option, and no tradeoffs are made.
o Screening may result in a single option remaining active; in this case the
decision maker’s final choice is simply whether to accept the option.
o If there is more than one survivor of the pre-choice screening phase, then
the decision maker may go on to use a compensatory (i.e., making
tradeoffs) or other decision strategy to make the final choice. If there are
no survivors, decision makers presumably attempt to discover new
options.
 Recognition primed decision making-
o Gary Klein (1998) studied experts making time-pressured, high stakes
(often life-or-death) decisions: firefighters, intensive care pediatric nurses,
military officers.
o He argues, experts are most likely to rely on intuition, mental simulation,
making metaphors or analogies, and recalling or creating stories.
o They take stock of a new situation, they compare it to other situations
they’ve previously encountered, calling to mind narrative stories about
what happened in those situations and why.
o Typically, Klein found, experts consider one option at a time, mentally
simulating the likely effect of a particular decision. If that simulation fits
the scenario, the decision maker implements it; if not, she tries to find
either another option or another metaphor for the situation.
  Obstacles in decision making-
o Overconfidence- is a twofold problem because of its effects in particular
decisions and because it inflates people’s view of their own decision-
making and planning capabilities.
o people’s feelings and expectations about how decisions ought to be made.

Reasoning

 It involves 3 major components-

o Focused thinking- one or more particular goal in mind.
o Involves inferences or conclusions drawn from any other information.
o Some conclusions- involve new information.
 Two types of reasoning are there-

Deductive Reasoning Inductive Reasoning

General to specific Specific to general

No new information is added New information is added

Deductive validity- guarantee Inductive strength- probable truth

Top-down approach Bottom-up approach

Conclusions are certain Conclusions are probabilistic

 Deductive reasoning has 2 types-

o Propositional reasoning-
 Involves drawing conclusions from premises that are in the form of
propositions.
 Proposition- is an assertion. It can either be true or false.
 Simple propositions can be hooked together into more complicated
(compound) prepositions by using certain logical connectives.
 These connectives include and, or, negative operator (akin to not), if-
then.
 The final truth values of any compound expression depend only on the
truth values of the individual prepositions.
  In a truth table, every possible combination of truth values of
individual propositions is listed and the connectives are used.
 This method is called algorithm, in the sense that its guaranted to
reveal whether a compound proposition is
 Always true (tautology)
 Sometimes true or always false (contradiction)
 Limitation- Truth tables grow at a very fast rate as the number of
propositions increases. (2 raise to the power n)
 Rules of inferences
 Modus ponens (pq, p/q)
 Modus tollens (pq, -p/-q)
 Fallacies- rules that can produce conclusions that are false even if the
premises are correct.
 Affirming the consequent (pq, q/p)
 Denying the antecedent (pq, -p/-q)
 Wason’s propositional reasoning task (1968)- selection task or the 4-
card task.
 Grigg’s and con’s experiment (1982) – drinking-age version of card
problem.
o Syllogistic reasoning- reasoning done with syllogism. This type of problem
presents 2 or more premises and asks the reasoner either to draw a conclusion
or to evaluate a conclusion that the problem supplies, to see if the conclusion
must be true whenever the premises are true.
 Categorical syllogism- deals with class of entities. Have quantifiers
which provide information about the number of members.
 A syllogism with 2 negative premises has no conclusion.
 Inductive reasoning- it involves categorization and hypothesis (formation of rule).
 Halo effect- one trait of a person or thing is used to make an overall judgement of that
person or thing.
 Probability rules of inductive reasoning-
o Base rate rule- one relevant probability rule, which states that the probability
of something being a member of a class is greater when more class members
are there.
 o Conjunction rule- the probability of a proposition cannot be less than the
probability of that proposition combined with another proposition.

Language and Thought

 Linguistics- is the study of languages as structured system of rules.

 Components of linguistic competency-
o The sound or written elements of language and the rules for combining these
basic elements into units, such as words, that have meaning.
o Underlying implicit knowledge of the rules for combining words into
meaningful sentences. In other words, knowledge of grammar or syntax, rules
of language.
o Meaning of thousands of words stored in Semantic LTM.
o Knowledge of how to use speech in order to have an intended impact on
others.
o Knowledge of the rules for processing and interpreting the speech of other
people.
 Psycholinguistics- ways in which people use language competency to generate and
understand language.
 Language elements-
o Phones or phonemes- speech sounds (phones). Can be distinguished on the
basis of frequency, intensity, pattern of vibration over time. Phones that make
no difference in the meaning of a word when they are substituted for one
another are grouped together as phonemes. This phenomenon is called
categorical perception of phonemes. Basic unit of speech/sound. It is not
meaningful.
o Syllables- smallest unit of speech perception. 2-3 phonemes combine to form
syllables. People perceive the whole syllable before they perceive its separate
parts.
o Morphemes- meaning of speech. Smallest unit of meaning in speech
perception. It can be prefixes, words or suffixes.
o Clauses- words combined by the rules of grammar. It consists of a verb and its
associated nouns, adjectives and so on.
o Sentences- clauses are formed into sentences.
 Theory of transformational grammar-
o Given by Chomsky, 1957. He was supporter of Rene Descartes-cartesian
linguist.
o Language acquisition devices- innate tendency to be able to learn language. It
is an area of our brain.
o Language development is modular.
o Universal grammar- children use words/sentences which they have never
heard.
o When a person intends to communicate a simple sentence, the words are
organized in what is called the deep-phrase structure, mental representation of
what the person intends to say.
o The expressed sentence is called the surface structure.
o Transformational rules- set of rules for changing the core proposition into
sentence with different surface structure but the same underlying meaning. It
can also be used to change the surface meaning.
 It makes possible the generation of surface sentence with different
meanings based on the same deep-structure proposition.
 Semantics- study of word and concept.
o Denotational meaning- generally accepted meanings of words and concepts.
o Connotative meaning- emotional and evaluative meaning of words and
concepts.
 Pragmatics- speaking to have an impact on others. How to use language socially in
interpersonal relationships. Last to develop and not necessary for language
development.
o Context and situation
o Status
o Conversational rules- rules seems to specify the manner in which we start a
conversation or discourse, with another person.
 Markers- cues in the surface structure that helps us make sense of what we hear.
Markers such as question words and voice inflection indicated whether the sentence
was a question or a statement.
 Linguistic relativity hypothesis/Sapir-Whorf hypothesis- person’s perception of the
world and how they experience the world is determined and influenced by the
language we speak.
o Language controls thinking and perception. Anything which is not
experienced through language and culture, cannot be thought of.
o It consists of 2 principles- linguistic determinism and linguistic relativity.
o Linguistic determinism- the language we use to some extent determines the
way in which we view and think about the world around us.
o Linguistic relativity- people who speak different languages perceive and think
about the world quite differently from one another.
o Broca’s area- speech production- left frontal lobe.
o Wernicke’s area- language comprehension- left temporal lobe.
 Language development

Birth Vocalization

6 months Babbling

1 year 1st word

2 years Phrases

3 years Sentences

4 years Story telling

5 years Grammar-almost adult like

 Critical period- language might never develop if not begun by age 7.
 Aphasia- an impairment in the ability to produce or understand language,
caused by brain damage.