Chapter Objectives

Upon completing this chapter, you will be able to:

1. Define cognition and know its three primary facets.

2. Understand what concepts are and distinguish between simple and complex concepts.

3. Recognize the processes involved in concept formation.

4. Distinguish between the basic and prototypical characteristics of natural concepts.

5. Define problem solving and recognize the three major types of cognitive operations involved in problem solving.

6. Distinguish among the following problem-solving strategies: trial-and-error, algorithmic, and heuristic.

7. Distinguish between the representativeness heuristic and the availability heuristic.

8. Discuss the importance of framing and emotional factors in decision making.

9. Define artificial intelligence and recognize how it is used in problem solving.

10. Identify the major characteristics of human experts.

11. Define creativity and distinguish between convergent thinking and divergent thinking.

12. List and describe the four steps involved in Wallas's description of creative problem solving.

13. Recognize three ways that enhance creative thinking and list the ways in which Sternberg believes creative thinkers differ from other people.

14. Define language, including the meaning of semantic content, the distinction between the surface structure of language and the deep structure of language, and the generative property of language.

15. Distinguish among phonemes, morphemes, and syntax.

16. Understand the Whorfian hypothesis and recognize its significance.

17. Know the research results regarding the language capabilities of animals.

18. Define intelligence and compare the position of psychologists who view intelligence as a general ability to those who view it as several specific abilities.

19. List Sternberg's cognitive components of intelligent behavior.

20. Distinguish between fluid intelligence and crystallized intelligence.

21. Identify intelligence tests and discuss how they are useful.

22. Understand the concept of intelligence quotient and distinguish between ratio IQ and deviation IQ.

23. List the characteristics of good intelligence tests.

24. Define tacit intelligence and describe its relationship to general intelligence.

25. Identify the factors that contribute to an individual's intelligence.

26. Recognize the importance of intelligence scores in modern society.

27. Discuss possible reasons for the recent rise in intelligence test scores.

28. Identify the race-ethnic differences in intelligence and achievement scores and describe the controversies and policy implications raised by the publication of The Bell Curve.

29. Distinguish between mental retardation and giftedness.

30. (From the Application section) Identify techniques to help improve critical thinking.

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