Ch 8 Thinking and Intelligence

Looking at learning and intelligence it was more diverse than I thought. There are so many factor involved with those two ideas. I think that language and intelligence are in the same chapter because just like Heidi and Phiona they have their own language which to me means there different by culture and they have different types of intelligence so basically based on your culture your intelligence can be opposite but both good because of the way one live or there circumstances. Language acquisition is the process by which humans acquire the capacity to perceive, produce and use words to understand and communicate and Language development is a complex and unique human quality meaning that that social context impact them because they both happen at different times based on your living environment or culture. It impact intelligence only in the way that there are different types of thinking like Analogical representation in which Phiona has and Symbolic representation in which Heidi has. The idea of Decision making and problem solving was most interesting to me because our brain comes up with different situation and outcome scenarios and we use that to choose what we do. The most memorable thing I learned was the Prototypes and on the Try it Yourself section I was asked to think of a bird and then a superhero and the things I came up with were the answers majority of people in the US would have said.
Terms: Prototypes, Analogical representation, Symbolic representation, Decision making, Problem solving, Language Development, Language acquisition, Intelligence, Learning,

Language and intelligence are in the same chapter because both have an effect on one another. There can be multiple aspects of intelligence; fluid and crystallized intelligence, multiple intelligence and emotional intelligence. All three of these deal with language. For example, crystallized intelligence involves knowledge we acquire through experience, such as vocabulary and spelling and cultural information. Multiple intelligence includes linguistic talent, such as excellent verbal skills. Many intelligence tests include questions about English. Having strong language skills could improve your score.
Social context can impact language acquisition or development through environmental factors. For example, poor nutrition can affect brain development and result in lower intelligence. Other environmental influences that can lead to lower intelligence include prenatal factors (the parents’ intake of drugs and alcohol) and postnatal factors (family, social class, education, cultural beliefs, and our own drug and alcohol use). Similarly social context can impact intelligence. Parents can provide an enriched environment that will support the development of intelligence in their children. Good practice includes; reading books to children and provide children with intellectual opportunities from a young age. Both of these practices can improve ones language and intelligence through social context.
The topic that most interested me was how thinking depends on categorization of concepts and schemas. For example, our experience with music creates memories that are organized into schemas. Due to our schemas about country music concert, we expect to see guitars and fiddles and people dancing. Due to our schemas about orchestral music concerts, we expect to see violins and trumpets and people sitting sill while listening. A way of thinking about concepts is defining attribute model. This is a category characterized by a list of features that determine if an object is a member of the category or not.
The most surprising thing I read about in this chapter was how in 2012, an English 4-year old named Heidi Hankins joined Mensa. Mensa is the international society for people with extremely high intelligence. Psychological testing indicated that Heidi had an intelligence quotient (IQ) of 159, just a point or two below albert Einstein and Stephen Hawking. The reason her parents decided to have her tested was because she was able to speak in full sentences before age 1 and even taught herself to read by using a computer at 18 months. Then at age 2, she was reading at a level much higher than normal. Amazing!
From this chapter you can definitely see that language, thinking and intelligence all play an important roll together and have many factors. Each are factors that influence are decisions everyday.

Psychological Terms: language, intelligence, fluid and crystallized intelligence, multiple intelligence, emotional intelligence, environmental factors, prenatal factors, postnatal factors, schemas, intelligence quotient, defining attribute model

This chapter about thinking and intelligence was really interesting to me. I didn't even though how broad this topic is. Every day we represent and manipulate information of the external world, for example menu in cafe represents food option or catalog of online store represents their products and so on. All these representations are created when sensory input is changed into signals that our brain can process. During this process patterns of brain activity provide meaningful information about objects we encounter in our environment. So this mental manipulation of different kind of representations in our brain is called thinking. There are two kinds of representations: analogical and symbolic. Pictures, maps or any other kinds or internal representations that correspond to images are analogical. While representations which are more abstract and do not have relationships to the physical characteristics of the objects are symbolic. Example is our language we use every day, like perfume is symbolic representation of mixture of fragrant oils and other liquids that make our body smell good. Analogical (images) and symbolic (language) representations form the basis of human thought, intelligence, and ability to solve problems in our everyday life. That is why language is a part of this chapter; it is a part and basis of our intelligence.

Social context definitely will impact language development and acquisition. Language is human ability to communicate with other humans. Its important function of everyday life and it depends on what kind of environment you were born, were raised and are living now. In Family who speak English, there is no possibility that their child miraculously will know how to speak Spanish or French. I think level of living condition will also affect language development of human. For example, a child who is living in poverty, I think in future will speak like people around him, because he might not have opportunity to read more books and increase his vocabulary or could have fewer years of education. Also one of the examples of social impact is counties where people speak more than one language. For example Switzerland, most of people there know three languages: English, German and French. In my case social context had impacted me too. I'm international student here and in my family we speak in Russian, but my own native language is Kazakh, and to study here in US and I had to learn English. Most of people in Kazakhstan speak at least two languages, because this country is a mix of different ethnics and nations, and Russian is the common language of communication with people from all kind of nations. However Kazakh is the official language and people have to know it also. Thus, my life is one of the examples of influence of social context on language development for humans. Intelligence is the ability to use knowledge to reason, make decisions, make sense of events, solve problems, and learn quickly and so on. Environmental factors have impact on our development and also influence our intelligence. There are a lot of environmental factors that influences intelligence. For example, family, social class, education, cultural beliefs, and drug or alcohol use will impact our intelligence. From this chapter I know that the intellectual opportunities a child receives affect intelligence. Students who start school at younger age have higher test scores than same age peers who start school a year later. Social class will also influence, because people who live in poverty have smaller chances on good quality education, health care and are more likely to face prejudice and discrimination.
I found interesting that intelligence can characterized in alternatives ways. There are even some theories of intelligence: General intelligence, fluid and crystallized intelligence, multiple intelligence, triarchic theory and emotional intelligence. The most interesting part was about multiple intelligence. This theory identified several different types of intellectual talents that are independent of one another. The characteristics of this theory are that much intelligence is not measurable by IQ tests. For example: musical, bodily- kinesthetic (the ability of athletes and dancers to control their motions with exquisite skills), linguistic (verbal skills) and so on. The best part of this theory that it is saying that people can be average or even deficient in some aspects of intelligence and outstanding in other. Also for me interesting was part about problem solving techniques. We use knowledge to move from our current state to the goal state and we need to use good and right strategies to overcome obstacles. There are some techniques that we usually use: subgoals, working backward, analogy and insight. For example, analogy is identifying a previously solved problem that is similar to the current problem or insight is taking break from actively thinking about the problem.
One of the most memorable parts was about savants. People who have minimal intellectual capacities in most domains, but at a very early age each savant shows exceptional ability in some “intelligent” process. The case about Kim Peek was really memorable and interesting. He memorized the concepts of over than 9000 books but could not button his clothes. He had many brain abnormalities and scores only 87 on an intelligent test but could name hundreds of classical music by hearing it only few seconds or could read a page of the book on 8-10 seconds. Thus sometimes, intelligence can be shown in different ways. Some people can have outstanding memory but could not remember the basis knowledge or tasks in everyday life.
Terms used: Thinking, intelligence, analogical and symbolic representations, language development, Environmental factors, General intelligence, fluid and crystallized, multiple intelligence, triarchic theory and emotional intelligence,subgoals,working backward, analogy and insight techniques, memory,savants.

In the chapter, reliability is described with four different key words. These are reliability, validity, achievement test, and aptitude test. These make up the tests for intelligence which are the tests or part of the tests used by psychologists. Reliability is how consistently the tests produce similar results. This is obviously not a test, but it is an important part of the testing because the tests must be reliable or else he tests don’t mean anything. Validity is also not a test, but it is also important because the test has to be valid because the tests mean something so if it isn’t valid the tests are useless information. The achievement test is a test done to determine a person’s knowledge and skills a person has learned. An example of this would be the ACT, a test of knowledge and math skills. The aptitude test determines how much a person is able to learn. These are a little more challenging but an example would be learning a skill such as business in school at UNI and applying it at your future job. The tests they use give a person their IQ, or Intelligence Quotient. This is important to language because languages can associate people with different area. Because they live in different areas they are exposed to different types of learning and in will in the end have different scores to go by. Many people learn by hearing or seeing and if a person tries to learn a different language they will find it difficult whereas a child that has lived with that language all of their life will know the language very well. The most interesting thing to me is that criminals actually have a lower IQ than non-criminals. When I first saw this part in the book I thought maybe they were smarter and would have intelligent ways of doing their crimes but they do not. They actually prove to have lower scores which may be due to high stress and actions in their neighborhood. The most surprising thing to me is how the brain can solve issues such as playing chess or other games that involve analytical thinking.
reliability, validity, achievement test, and aptitude test,

Psych
Jacob Clark
10-12-14
Chapter 8
If i remember correctly, there is a positive correlation between language and intelligence. However this may possibly be due to a fault in the tests used to measure this correlation. Meaning, word comprehension plays a major role in understanding many of the questions and answering correctly.
What we are exposed to socially has a dramatic effect on how we speak and our desire to learn. Even the nature v.s. nurture controversy can be seen at work here. However, our social context is responsible for the existence of ethnic slurs and things of that ilk. Just as well, where you grow up can have a major role in how much you value intelligence. Think about this from a small community school, and a big inner city school. The difference is fairly obvious.
The section i found most interesting was 8.4, how do we measure intelligence. I found it interesting because i feel like intelligence is heavily subjective. Some people couldn't solve an equation to save their life, but are unbelievable at writing and delivering speeches. While i do believe there is a positive correlation between these tests, such as the aptitude test, and general intelligence, i don't believe they take into account everything.
What surprised me most about this chapter was the little section on the “paradox of choice”. I found this interesting because it has always been something ive dwelled on. This is because i find comfort in two things, complete control and organization of my surroundings, or none. I either need knowledge of complete responsibility, or knowledge that i have none. Thats why i can relate to the frustration of too much choice. When i am thrown into this middle ground of wanting to know every flavor and choose precisely but can't, it causes anxiety.
Terms: intelligence, aptitude test,

After reading through chapter eight I see why language and intelligence would be in the same chapter. The author of the book does this because they go hand in hand. Intelligence is the ability to use knowledge to reason and make sense of the things around you. Having a better understanding of the language is an important requirement to help gain intelligence. Once you understand and can interact with the environment around you through the language; then your decision making, and ability to reason and adapt will improve; thus improving your intelligence. The social environment will have a big impact on the language development of an individual because of the contacts that they will endure throughout their lives. I mean this by the fact that a rich, higher class child will go to a higher class school with higher class students and teachers. On the other hand, a low class, poor student would go to a low-class school with low-class students and teachers. Obviously the higher-class child will have the ability to better develop his/her language through the richer environment of the higher-class school. This can be proven through comparing rich and poor areas by looking at results of the achievement tests such as the ACT. This can also show that the social influences on the child can either nurture or hurt intelligence; depending on the situation. Another thing that would influence intelligence between rich and poor communities is the availability of pre-natal nutrition. If a parent could not get their fetus the right nutrients then their development of the brain will be less than those with proper nutrient. The most interesting thing from the reading for me was just how we solve problems. This was interesting to me because everyone solves a problem differently and they are all narrowed down to three types of problem-solving methods; sub goals, working backwards, and analogy. All of these ways help us achieve goals and each of us use the way that helps us in a specific situation. The most memorable thing that I read in chapter eight was that how someone would buy something from advertising if it was shown differently (the example in the book was buying 75% lean vs 25% fat). This is something I somewhat knew but hadn’t really thought about the process we go through until brought up in the chapter.
The psychological terms I used were; intelligence, language, achievement tests, sub goals, analogy, decision making, problem solving, reasoning,

Well, I won't lie; during the course of this reading I found the subject of language to be discussed very little, as opposed to thinking. It has lead me to wonder if perhaps there is a typo in the question, and 'thinking' is actually what is supposed to be there. Perhaps I'm wrong, maybe I just skimmed past it. In any case I'll try to tie language and intelligence together since they are, indeed connected. The concepts of language and intelligence often share the same bunk due to the former's connection to symbolic representation, the representation of abstract elements such as words and ideas, which is an aspect of thinking, which ties handily into intelligence. Language is essential to our developing minds because it aids in giving symbolic importance to a concept, which is a mental representation of an object, or an event. After all it's difficult to categorize concepts if you have nothing to call them. Language also holds a place in Howard Gardner's theory if multiple intelligences, one of which is the linguistic intelligence that governs our linguistic abilities.

I suppose a very blunt way that social context impacts 'language acquisition' and development is through the notion of stereotyping, or schemas that provide easy processing of information based on the source's connection to certain groups. Gender roles are a prominent example of this. For example children are often conditioned to think that firefighters, police officers, etc. are predominantly male since we're likely to address them as policemen and firemen. In regards to intelligence, social impact can come in the form of potential differences in the biology and environments of certain social groups that affect their level intelligence in comparison to other social groups. This is apparent in Arthur Jensen's assertion that African-Americans on average, aren't as intelligent as white Americans due to differences in intelligence quotient (IQ) scores. The merits of such an observation are arguable, and it's likely that differences in health-care, education, and finances are more likely to influence a sub-culture's level of intelligence, as opposed to their race or ethnicity.

The most interesting as well as the most surprising thing about this chapter for me was the opening story. I always like hearing about folks with incredible intellect. This Heidi Hankins kid learned how to read when she was less than two years old. I still couldn't do much more than sleep and cry at that time of my life. She has an interesting future ahead, but one thing that always worries me about child geniuses like her is the amount of exposure they're bound to receive from the scientific community, among others. I wonder if her folks worry that it'll adversely affect her. I know if I was a genius I'd probably get a little agitated if folks kept trying to make me to all those test and puzzles for the thousandth time for the sake of 'science'.

The keywords are: language, thinking, intelligence, symbolic representation, concept, multiple intelligences, stereotyping, schemas, and intelligence quotient (IQ).

Intelligence and language are in the same chapter because language is a part of intelligence. What we speak everyday comes from our intelligence. Being able to understand language also helps us understand pictures and words that we may see. Symbolic representations help us comprehend stuff that we may not know. These types of representations usually consist of words and ideas. As I was reading this part of the chapter, I was trying to do the example that they had to the right and I was able to do both analogical and symbolic representations. I find both of them easy to use. When referring to Howard Gardner’s multiple intelligences theory about language, the linguistic skill exemplifies excellent verbal skills. It is important to have good linguistic skills when you are talking to a group of people or giving a presentation over something.
Social context impacts development and language acquisition through environmental factors. An example of an environmental factor are prenatal factors in which the parents take drugs or drink alcohol while trying to have a baby. Poor nutrition can affect the development of the brain and result in lower intelligence. Postnatal factors can also affect intelligence depending on the family’s social class, cultural beliefs, and education. Social context also impacts intelligence. Some things that parents can do to impact intelligence is reading to their children and getting them involved in intellectual stuff at a young age.
One of the most interesting topics that I found throughout the chapter was the intelligence test. It’s hard to believe a psychologist can figure out someone’s IQ just from a test hat is taken on paper. I looked at the Try It Yourself: IQ Test that they had in the chapter and the type of questions that were there were very interesting to try to solve. I took a couple of IQ tests while I was in high school for my psychology class when I was a junior. My teacher told us that the validity of the tests might not be very accurate because they were free tests online. It did give me somewhat of an idea of what my IQ score really was. I find IQ tests to be fun to take because they can be challenging.
One of the more surprising things that I found throughout the chapter was the way that we solve problems to achieve goals. The process that I found surprising was working backwards to solve a problem. I have done this many times before when I would be working on math problems that were hard to do, but I didn’t know it was an actual process that is widely known.

Terms: intelligence, language, validity, symbolic representation, multiple intelligences, IQ, analogical representation

In this chapter, language is embedded into the intelligence. According to our text, there are multiple aspects of intelligence, those being fluid, crystallized, multiple, and emotional intelligence. Crystallized is knowledge through experience, so this includes words and how to spell them. Fluid intelligence could help us string words together, because it involves processing the information. Multiple intelligences have a plethora of subcategories. One of them being linguistic intelligence. This is the ability to use verbal skills, and also has a connection to language. Needless to say, there are so many ways that language links to intelligence. Social context plays a huge role in development of intelligence. If a child is malnourished as a kid, their body is not getting the necessary nutrients to grow healthily. This will cause the individual to more than likely not reach their full potential, and have a lower intelligence. It has been shown that breastfeeding can help increase cognitive development (in a positive way), so that is another way that social context affects intelligence in the long run. In a life with so many variables, one little tweak can change the outcome. For example: child who grew up in a poverty stricken area is more likely to have a lower intelligence than another that grew up better living conditions. The intellectual opportunities that a child has directly affects their intelligence, so it is important to develop a childs brain all throughout their lives. Also to make them think a little to develop themselves.
It was extremely interesting to see how language and intelligence are linked so closely. Without the question being posed to me in this blog, I would have more than likely never thought to think of this chapter in that way. It is also incredible how important developing children at a young age is. I would have never guessed that breast-feeding has been known to increase cognitive development. Above all I will remember the overall concept that intelligence is not just one individual idea. It is multiple theories intermingling to create one giant glob. Even though a person does not accell in math, does not mean they aren't intelligence so to speak. They may just be weak in that particular area, and strong in others such as problem solving or drawing. In the end, we still have much to learn about intelligence.

terms: language, intelligence, fluid intelligence, crystallized intelligence, multiple intelligences, emotional intelligence, linguistic intelligence, cognitive development, theories

The reason why language and intelligence are in the in same chapter is because language is a type of intelligence, they both have an effect on each other. It is two ideas that are put into same chapter. In this chapter it talked about different features of language, and how it can effect our intelligence. In this chapter it also talked about how we interpret language. There different types of intelligence like the General intelligence, fluid intelligence, crystallized intelligence, multiple intelligence and emotional intelligence. General intelligence influences important life outcome, things that we do in out day to day life that involves general intelligence is the in school or while we are at work and effect our IQ scores. Fluid intelligence is when involves information in processing in complex circumstances like thinking quickly. In Crystallized intelligence is when we acquire knowledge through experience. Multiple intelligence is not measured by IQ test. We use this intelligence when are solving a mathematical or a logical problem. Emotional intelligence is when we are able to take control of our emotions and are able to see that others have the same emotions.

Social context can impact language acquisition or development through the environment you are raised in. Your genes impacts your intelligence, but the environment that you are brought up in also impacts your intelligence. For example, if you were raised in a rough neighborhood and are around drugs and you get into that at a young age, that can impact your brain development. Poor nutrition can also have effects on brain development. Parents can provide a good and safe environment for the child to grow up in to make sure that it supports development of intelligence by reading books or sending them to extra classes like the Kumon or have them try out a new sport.

One thing that was interesting me the most was the achievement and the aptitude test. In achieve test, it is a test to see what are some of the things that an individual has learned. We give this test to get into college like the ACT. In aptitude test, it measures the persons ability to learn in the future. For example many companies look at that this test to heir a positional employee and SAT.

One thing that was the most memorable to me was the story of the Phiona Mutesi's. It was fun to read it and it was shocking from me that someone who comes from a background like that went on and became the youngest African chess champion. She did not even knew how to read and write. She would sleep on streets and was desperate for food. She comes from that background and she went on to play a game that involves so much of critical thinking, and making good decisions and she succeeded.

Psychological terms- general intelligence, crystallized intelligence, multiple intelligence, emotional intelligence, achievement test and aptitude test.

Language and intelligence both have an effect on one another. Fluid and crystallized intelligence, multiple intelligence and emotional intelligence are all aspects of intelligence. All three of these deal with language. For example, crystallized intelligence involves knowledge we acquire through experience, such as vocabulary and spelling and cultural information. Multiple intelligence includes linguistic talent, such as excellent verbal skills. This section of intelligence can not be measured by an IQ test.

There are many examples of how social context can impact language acquisition or development. In a previous post, we talked about how poor nutrition can affect the brain development. Having had this effect on the brain, will lead to lower intelligence. There are prenatal factors and postnatal factors that can also lead to lower intelligence. Prenatal factors include the amount of which the parents use drugs and alcohol. Postnatal factors include family, education, and if we personally use drugs or alcohol. The environmental factors are the biggest factor in intelligence levels. It’s mostly on how we are raised as children. If a person came from a bad household, then he or she would struggle .

The story about Sandra Witelson was interesting to read about. She was a neuroscientist that worked at McMaster University. She had a collections of brains (125). Albert Einstein’s brain was apart of this collection. Its interesting because his brain was about fifteen percent larger than the average brain.

I thought it was surprising that a four year old, Heidi Hankins, had an IQ of 159. That is only a few points below Albert Einstein.

There are two types of reasoning. The first type is informal which is reasoning that is based on a person’s opinions. Formal reasoning, the second type, is reasoning made by using standardized and objective procedures of the scientific method. This is one of the most memorable parts about the chapter, because we use reasoning every day

List of psychological terms: language, intelligence, fluid and crystallized intelligence, multiple intelligence, emotional intelligence, IQ test, Informal reasoning, formal reasoning, prenatal factors, postnatal factors

Language and intelligence are in the same chapter because they both deal with each other, language is a part of intelligence. There are several forms of intelligence. One form is fluid intelligence, which is intelligence that reflects the ability to process information, particularly in novel or complex circumstances. Another form is crystalized intelligence, which is intelligence that reflects both the knowledge a person acquires through experience and the ability to use that knowledge. Multiple intelligence is the idea that people have many different types of intelligence that are independent of one another. And, emotional intelligence consists of four abilities; understanding emotional language, managing our own emotions, using our emotions to guide our thoughts and actions, and recognizing other people’s emotions. Language is something we develop through our human development. It is a symbolic representation, which is an abstract mental representation that consists of words or ideas. Meaning language consists of words or ideas, we use schemas and concepts to organize information in our minds so we don’t have to store things individually.
The most interesting topic to me was in the beginning of the chapter about Heidi Hankins. She was speaking in full sentences before the age of one, and taught herself to read by 18 months. By the age of 2 she was reading at a level for children many years older than her. She also has an intelligence quotient, IQ, of 159, which if just a point or two below Albert Einstein and Stephen Hawking.
The most memorable thing in this chapter was about Sandra Witelson, a Canadian neuroscientist who worked at McMaster University, and collection of brains. She had 125 brains, all from native Canadians. Probably the most important brain that she has in her collection is the brain of Albert Einstein. It’s interesting that Einstein’s brain was about fifteen percent larger than the average brain. It was also interesting that someone would actually keep a collection of brains.
Terms: language, intelligence, fluid intelligence, crystalized intelligence, multiple intelligence, emotional intelligence, symbolic representation, schemas, intelligence quotient

The main reason intelligence and language are in the same chapter is due to the fact of multiple intelligence. Language is a form of this because multiple intelligence because it can’t be distinct by an IQ test. The book also gives a few examples such as; bodily kinesthetic, mathematical/logical, spatial, intrapersonal, and interpersonal. All of these connect the form of language, in many different perspectives of it into intelligence. The social context of this can relate to decision making and problem solving. Decision making is a form of thinking in which you apply two or more situations and decide which is best. This can be applied in the real, social world because every day many, or all of us are faced with decisions. Whether it be to go to class or sleep in for example. Problem solving is also a form of thinking and affects our social impact on the world. Problem solving is mainly used to overcome an obstacle that is blocking your goal. This is applied in the social world for an example us as college students face on a daily basis. Your friend wants you to go hang out, but you have some homework you need to finish. The obstacle in this case would be your friend begging to hang out, and your designated goal being to complete your homework for class. You would use the idea of problem solving to tell your friend you will spend a couple hours on your homework and can hang out with them later.
Something that I found interesting was environmental factors. Environmental factors are one of the main concepts in psychology because the environment around us can change our way of thinking, decisions, and the thought process we use. In this case one environmental factor that I found interesting was figure 8.28. It shows the mean IQ score up to 104 on the y-axis and birth weight up to >9.8 on the x-axis. I find this interesting and surprising because the heavier you are when you are born, the higher your IQ score is.
Something memorable for me is the idea of mental maps. Mental maps are images that we as humans get in our heads of questions, pictures, people, etc. As the book explains mental maps often time lead to errors because they only represent limited range of knowledge. This means that we don’t really know the answer unless we picture it, this is often not enough to prove a point because it most likely will lead to error.
Terms: Intelligence, language, multiple intelligence, spatial, intrapersonal, interpersonal, decision making, problem solving, environmental factors, mental maps

Language and intelligence is tied very closely. Just thinking all day we do in a specific language. We have an ongoing narrative in our minds that helps us solve problems and remember things every day. Intelligence is also judged in verbal communication and writing. On intelligence test, first are written so you must understand the language to answer the question, but also there are specific questions that are writing and verbally based. Language is a huge component in how we asses and gain intelligence.
In the chapter it talked about stereotypes, race, and environment as large impacts on intelligence. Stereotypes about people harm their performance on tests. If they believe the stereotype or have been made aware of it will make them do worse and do it more slowly than people that are unaware of the stereotype. Also race is an impact, but it is not proven. There are genes that determine intelligence, but not enough to make a difference. Also between humans 99% of the genes are the same. There is not enough to prove that race is a difference, but it is proven that different races have lower qualities of health, income, and education. Environment is probably the biggest factor in intelligence. If you are given the resources to do well and gain as much intelligence as possible, it will help you become more intelligent. This is an obvious assumption, based on our own understanding. If you are able to attend a better school than another person your own age, you probably will have higher intelligence once tested.
MY favorite part of the chapter was when they talked about the IQ tests. This intrigued me because I have never taken one and I didn’t know the history behind the test. It was almost ludicrous more me before I read to why you would take one. How would you know if it is true or how much can you believe it. Then I realized that it was meant to compare people of the same age to get an understanding of development. This would have many benefits, if made public, for example you could see if students from certain areas had higher IQ’s and move your kid there to learn. This would be beneficial to keep all school similar in how they consider what needs to be known for each kid to move on to another grade. This section made me curious to what my IQ score would be.
Intelligence, IQ, Stereotypes, Race, Environmental Factors, Verbal Communication.

Chapter 8
Even though this chapter is named Thinking and Intelligence, language plays a major role in all of it. The chapter first starts to talk about the different representations that we use, analogical and symbolic. Each of these representations involve language. The example that the book uses involves a lemon. Just reading the word lemon makes us visualize a yellow fruit pop into our minds. This was an example of analogical representation. The same example can be used with lemon. The actual physical word “lemon”. We use this word as a symbol in language to associate with the yellow fruit that pops into our mind when we see it. Language is the basis to a lot of our thinking processes.
Intelligence can be affected greatly by language and social context. There are many different intelligences that the book talks about, but the ones that are truly affected by language are the triarchic and emotional intelligence. Triarchic intelligence is based off of three aspects. The first is analytical, which involves problem solving, the second is creative thinking, having the ability to think in new ways, and the third way is practical thinking, which involves being able to perform your everyday tasks. Language also important in emotional intelligence. We would not be able to communicate with one another without it. We can show our emotion by speaking, reading and writing, and also body language. Intelligence is gained through what we learn in our environments, and a lot of our environment include language, relationships, and communication.
I thought that the concept of framing was interesting. I never really thought about how words can affect the way we think of something. For example, the book uses the idea of the label at the meat counter. How likely are we to buy meet if it says “25 percent fat” rather than “75 percent lean meat”? It is obvious that many people would be steered towards the 75 percent, even though they truly mean the same thing. I never considered this before. It only makes sense that the second option would be used because it sounds that much more appealing to eat. It just shows how easily the human mind can be tricked by switching simple words around.

Analogical representation, symbolic representation, triarchic intelligence, emotional intelligence, analytical, problem solving, practical thinking, framing, language, creative thinking

I think that language and intelligence might be in the same chapter because they are closely inner twined. The word intelligence means the knowledge to reason, make decisions, make sense of events, solve problems, understand complex ideas, learn quickly, and adapt to environmental challenges. Language would be in the same chapter because the language we use can determine our intelligence of certain things.
An example of this language being factored into our intelligence is the things we learn or hear when we are younger. In the chapter it discusses things about this calling it optimal environments develop intelligence. This is when we are very young it is what we are surrounded by. They give two examples of good practices that include; reading to children and providing intellectual opportunities while they are young. Doing this will provide the child with more intelligence of the world and what it has to offer. The things parents do while the child is young or not even born yet. If the parent uses drugs in alcohol the child’s intelligence will likely be less than a child’s intelligence if their parents do not use drugs or alcohol. Those aren’t the only things that will provide the child with a greater chance of intelligence. Sibling relationship and language will affect the intelligence of a person as well. There is a graph that shows that identical twins that grow up together in the same environment tend to have a higher IQ than any other form of siblings who live together, don’t live together, if they are related by genetics, or if they aren’t related by genetics. One thing that really surprised me about this graph was that identical twins who do not live together have the second highest IQ correlation.
The many theories of intelligence and I believe that everyone possesses one of them if not more. Some people may not even know about one they have. These include; general intelligence, fluid and crystallized intelligence, multiple intelligence, triarchic intelligence, and emotional intelligence. I find it very interesting about all the theories of intelligence that we can possess.
Key Terms: general intelligence, fluid and crystallized intelligence, multiple intelligence, triarchic intelligence, and emotional intelligence, intelligence, optimal environments develop intelligence

We use intelligence to make decisions, make sense of something, understand complex ideas, and to learn reason. Language is helpful for understanding others. If we could not understand and communicate with others our intelligence wouldn’t be very high because we need understanding of how things work. Language is used for our writing ability and our math ability especially, which are 2 out of the four key factors for having a high IQ because they all go together to form a general intelligence.
Social context impacts language acquisition very much! At such a young age, language learning is crucial for a baby. If the baby is in a good environment the baby should learn the language fine. However, if the language isn’t good for the baby to learn the language then the baby may have troubles socially and academically. They may have a hard to figuring things out because it would be harder to explain something to them. Their decision-making and problem solving might take longer too because they have to think longer on it than a child who learned language in a proper environment. If a child grows up in a caring home where they focus on the babies well-being and trains the child to learn how to speak, then the baby will probably be pretty intelligent because it has gone through the training of learning the language. If the baby grows up in a home that isn’t a very good environment, then the baby’s intelligence might not be so high because the baby didn’t properly learn their language in a good environment. The baby will learn the language the parents speak unless the parents are training it differently or if the parents don’t teach them how to speak.
The most interesting topic in this chapter to me was that there are different types of thinking. Thinking is the mental manipulation of representations of information we encounter in our environment. There are two ways we can group our thoughts. We can group them by analogical representation, which is seeing physical objects such as fruit, and maps or we can group them by symbolic representations such as language or the theory of gravity. As humans we have tons to think about. It is funny how we can gather all this information up and start making assumptions. A stereotype is a fast process of information so that we can conclude about groups, people, races, etc. I seem to hear more negative stereotypes than good ones.
The most memorable topic I have leaned while reading was that there is multiple types of intelligence. There is general, fluid and crystallized, multiple, triarchic theory, and emotional intelligence. General intelligence is what I think most people think of when they think of intelligence. They think of a high IQ score, which shows that person has a high general intelligence. Fluid and crystallized intelligence is shown through puzzles and quick situations. For example if you were going to call your mom on the phone but your phone died so you have to think of another way to get ahold of her. Multiple intelligence is found through how people interpret different things. My aunt Amy is able to listen to a song on the piano and be able to memorize the notes and play them afterward. Three aspects of intelligence best explain triarchic theory: analytical, creative, and practical intelligence. Finally, emotional intelligence is how someone manages their emotions. If I am feeling stressed about a test or an assignment I typically will walk away from it for a little while to calm myself down. I usually watch TV or exercise so I can come back later and deal with it with a better attitude.

Key Terms: Intelligence, general intelligence, decision making, problem solving, thinking, stereotypes, general intelligence, fluid and crystallized intelligence, multiple intelligence, triarchic theory, and emotional intelligence.

The reason for having language and intelligence in the same chapter is because intelligence is a variety of different things and without language you wouldn’t be able to express or communicate with language what you know. For example, the multiple intelligences theory, theorized by Howard Gardner, is the ideas that people have many different types of intelligence that are independent of one another. A person could have bodily-kinesthetic intelligence which would mean they’re athletes or dancers who are able to control their motions with flawless skill. On the other hand though someone could have musical intelligence where they would have an above average musical skill such as singing or playing an instrument, so on and so forth. This theory is extremely important because Gardner recognized that some people can be average or very poor in some aspects of intelligence, but still be outstanding in others. Gardner believed that each person has their own unique pattern of intelligence and no one should be viewed as “smarter” than others but rather just differently talented. Reading Gardner’s theory opened my eyes to how broad intelligence really is. That it’s not necessarily just about the grades you get or how high your I.Q. is, intelligence is much more than just that, and I found that really cool.
Social context impacts language development by a couple of important factors. One factor is behavioral genetics study the genetic basis of behaviors and traits such as intelligence. Many studies have been done to make it clear that genes help determine intelligence of a person. The other important factor is environmental factors. As we had already learned in chapter 4, that there is a large variety of factors that influence our development before we are born, when we are infants, and children. These factors in turn influence our intelligence. For example some factors that can contribute to lower intelligence would be poor nutrition which can effect brain development, prenatal factors (parents’ abuse with drugs and alcohol,) and also postnatal factors (family, social class, education, cultural beliefs, and our own use of drugs and alcohol.) with all these down sides there are ups. Such as, breast-feeding your child has been shown to enhance your child’s intelligence. Also reading to your child and putting them in school will also better their chances of a higher intelligence. There are multiple things that can go into your language and intelligence development but that behavioral genetics and environmental factors play a big role.
The topic that was the most interesting for me to read was the topic on brain size and if it correlated to higher intelligence. In the small paragraph it talked about how many studies have been documented the relationship between brain size and intelligence but that they are only correlations and that they cannot say for certain that brain size determines differences in intelligence. An example they gave was Albert Einstein’s brain which is unbelievable in size and weight. But what they found to be most interesting was the fact that his parietal lobe is 15 percent larger than average. Although scientists do not know why this is it does give a great example of the directionality problem which knowing the relationship between two variables.
Terms: intelligence, variables, directionality problem, parietal lobe, brain, environmental factors, behavioral genes, bodily-kinesthetic intelligence, musical intelligence.

The textbook defines intelligence as the ability to use knowledge to reason, make decisions, make sense of events, solve problems, understand complex ideas, learn quickly, and adapt to environmental challenges. A person’s level of intelligence is often measured by Intelligence Quotient (IQ) scores. However, the only way to measure a person’s intelligence is through language. If a person cannot convey what they are thinking or how they are processing information, other may view them as stupid. For example, if Steven Hawking could not talk, some people may assume that he has major brain damage and is not intelligent. Social context greatly impact social development. The most obvious impact is what culture the person grew up in. If someone grew up in Spain, they would think and speak a different language than a person that grew up in France. Social context also impacts what a person learns, and how they process that information. A child growing up in a small African village would learn different skills, and need different skills to survive that a child growing up in America. These same arguments can be used about intelligence. A person’s intelligence will differ by their social context because they will need to learn different skills to survive. A single aptitude test cannot be used to compare the intelligence of the two social groups.
I found the multiple intelligence theory to be very interesting. I had a teacher in eighth grade teach using the multiple intelligence theory. At the beginning of the school year she had us take a survey about what type of intelligence we had, and then she would give us project ideas based on our type of intelligence. A lot of my classmates enjoyed it, and I can still remember many of things I learned in that class. For the survey she gave us, my three top intelligences were bodily-kinesthetic, musical and mathematical. Now that I look back on it, when I study I use a lot of the same techniques. I’ll put things into a song or use actions (mostly on my fingers) to remember them. In my chemistry class I struggle to visualize molecules on the paper, but once I make a model it become much clearer. I also understand things a lot better when I have a mathematical equation to use, or there is some sort of pattern to follow. When I understand these concepts, studying becomes a lot easier.
The most surprising thing in the chapter was the different ways to measure intelligence. IQ is a very common term, but I never knew what it meant or how it was measured. I was also surprised by the negative effects that can be influenced from test scores. After it was explained, it made a lot of sense but, I think it is something that is often overlooked.

Psychological Terms: thinking, intelligence, IQ, multiple intelligences, aptitude test, problem solving

Alberto Sveum
The evolutionary development of human language has allowed us a way to handle and create, arguments like never before. In fact, without the ability to speak and use our modern set of linguistics, things like reasoning and problem solving would be devoid of their fundamental tender, that of the spoken word. This chapter cites Daniel Kahneman and his former partner’s work quite a bit. I read Kahneman’s Thinking, Fast and Slow and much of this material was covered there. One of the most important factors concerning social context was that of framing and biases. Framing can really change the way even the most deplorable things are viewed. Consider Nazi Germany or the work of Christopher Columbus. Framing could ultimately give the wrong impression for just about anything. As for biases, biases and instilled beliefs or stereotypes basically mould people’s ideals concerning just about everything. For the most part, these biases subconsciously help us out, however, certain cases more severe should be seriously reconsidered, like racism or profiling.
The fact that just thinking something is true, or that something exists, alters the way we take tests or go about our daily lives definitely shows how powerful beliefs and social context is. Everything we learn can be wrongly shaped or distorted because of the way something is viewed in the social sphere.
I had never heard of savants before reading this chapter. Part of me wonders how often these people turn up. I think it is definitely interesting that people can achieve so much or be so proficient in one field, while failing to do things that would normally be considered simple. The one case cited in the chapter was of a person who had brain damage, given the knowledge we have about how different parts of the brain manage different functions, I think it is definitely very understandable that this can happen. This is definitely something that will be stuck in my brain, the fact that there some extremely intelligent, or mentally proficient people, while I can fail to remember to brush my teeth at night.
I definitely enjoy reading and learning about how environment affects development. This is an interesting study in the psychology field because it can help us better understand what causes certain patterns or behaviors, of course correlation is not causation, but I feel like this is definitely still something that should be looked into. I can understand how educational opportunities provide a chance for children to become more educated, therefore I think there is no coincidence why those children tend to do better as scholars.
Psychological terms: framing, biases, stereotypes, savants, context

Language helps us become smarter. If we are able to make sense of a word then we can understand what it means. If we understand what it means then if we see it on a test we can know what we need to do. If we do not know the word and we see it on a test we do not know what to do. We could guess and maybe get it right, but if we know what the word is we can understand the question. If we understand the question we know what we need to do. The book says that intelligence is putting reasoning and knowledge together and making a decision. If you do not know what a word means then you are missing a part of the definition. You are missing the knowledge part.

The book gives an example of when people realize kids are smart they read to them more. When they are getting read to more they are hearing new words, which can make them smarter. When they hear new words they might ask what the word means. Then they find out the meaning and have more knowledge. If you are not read to you may not hear words that you do not know. If this happens then you will not have more knowledge about different words.

In the book there is a part that is saying that people who are better off are usually smart because they have things to help them. It also says that people who are not better off can be smart because they have to work hard. This makes sense when you have to work hard for something you want to do well at it. If you work hard you are going to do a lot of work. If you do a lot of work then you know what you are doing because you have done a lot with it.

What interested me was the triarchic theory. It makes sense to me. The three types are creative, analytical, and practical. These are easy for me to see. I can see that in my dad he is and analytical because he is good at solving problems. My mom actually calls my dad an analytical because she sees it. This is interesting to me because it makes sense. It is easy for me to get because I can relate to it. My mom says that there are people who are good at math and there are people who are good at English. The people who are good at math are analytical, and the ones that are good at English are creative. English is you need to look at things differently.

The thing that is memorable is that there is really nothing that changes how smart you are, but yourself and some genes. Things that the book said people thought changed how smart you are is your race. This is not true. What you do changes how smart you are. The book says that if you keep going to school you can be smarter.

Triarchic theory, creative, analytical, practical, intelligence, reasoning

Language and intelligence are the same because language is a form of intelligence. Intelligence is the ability to use knowledge to reason, make decisions, make sense of events, solve problems, understand complex ideas, learn quickly, and adapt to environmental challenges. Language is he method of human communication, either spoken or written, consisting of the use of words in a structured and conventional way. These are related in many ways. One-way, is crystallized intelligence, which involves the knowledge we acquire through experience, such as vocabulary and spelling. We learn vocabulary and spelling through language. Also, multiple intelligences, one type of a multiple intelligence is linguistic which is excellent verbal skills. These are two ways intelligence and language are related.
Social context impacts language because it is the social atmosphere you are put in. You could be put in an atmosphere with people who are mute; if you grow up in a mute environment your language skills will not be as strong if you grew up in an atmosphere with people who are not mute. Also depending on where or what generation you grow up in language is different. If you grow up in an African American community their language is going to be different than someone who grew up in a Spanish American community or a white community. Also, generations are different. My language is different than my grandparents, which theirs is difference from their grandparents language is always changing and either new words or new slang are being invented.
Social context impacts intelligence in different ways, you could be in a social group who are very strong readers so they are more intelligent when it comes to reading than sports. Many people use an intelligence quotient to measure how smart they are. It is a test based on how correctly you answer questions. People who takes these tests and grow up in a different social environment might not understand the wording or the language on the test, which makes the test no reliable or valid.
The topic that most interested me was the difference being achievement and aptitude test along with the ACT and SAT. An achievement test Asses current skills and knowledge. An example of an achievement test is the ACT. An aptitude test measures your ability to learn in the future. An example of an aptitude test is the SAT. It is interesting how intelligence tests can measure two very different, separate things.
The thing that was most surprising to me was how different the terms reasoning, decision-making, and problem solving are. I look at these three words and think they are all the same thing, but there not. Reasoning is when you determine if your conclusion is valid. For example your friend concluded the Carrie Underwood is the best country singer ever, you have to take their information and find new information to decide if their conclusion is right or wrong. Decision-making is when you identify important criteria and determine how well each alternative satisfies these criteria’s. For example you need to decide to take a science class or a history class, what criteria would you use in making this decision? Lastly, problem solving which is when you have a problem when a barrier or a gap exists between where you are a where you want to be. You have to overcome something to solve a problem whether it is a math problem or a friendship problem.
Intelligence, Multiple Intelligence, Linguistic, Crystallized Intelligence, Language, Intelligence Quotient, Reliable, Valid, Achievement Test, Aptitude Test, Intelligence Test, Reasoning, Decision Making, Problem Solving

Chapter eight is about thinking and intelligence. Thinking is the mental manipulation of representations of information we encounter in our environments. Intelligence is the ability to use knowledge to reason, make decisions, make sense of events, solve problems, understand complex ideas learn quickly, and adapt to environmental challenges. Both of these are closely related to language. The way I think of it is we acquire knowledge through language by communicating someone’s thoughts and ideas. When we think about the information we have learned, we use two types of representations. They are analogical and symbolic representations. Analogical representations are actual objects, while symbolic representations are usually words and ideas. According to the text, these both form the basis of human thought, intelligence, and the ability to solve the complex problems of everyday life or of special challenges. With that being said we generally solve problems by deciding what is best for our current goals. We use decision-making and reasoning to help us determine what goals we want. Once we have identified our goal we must break it down into several subgoals. Personally I do this and try to achieve the smaller goals so I can eventually reach my main goal. These subgoals are important because we use them in a way to help us breakdown the goal into certain steps to make it easier to achieve. To make intelligence easier to understand we break it up into different categories as well. These categories are based upon our personal experiences and depend on our development of communication and language. They are general, fluid and crystallized, multiple, and emotional intelligence. The one that stuck out the most for me was multiple intelligences. This is where people have many different types of intelligence that are independent of one another. This type is not measured by an IQ test and somewhat relates back to the chapter opener. Phiona, a child with no education, became her country’s chess champion by using excellent thinking skills and gained intelligence by doing so. Intelligence doesn’t necessarily have to be all about being overall really smart. Although the book states if you are really good at one specific talent you are probably good at other ones as well. But in contrast to that each and everyone of us knows a person who is really amazing at one activity such as a sport, but not the greatest when it comes to other aspects such as an intelligence test. The part that was the most interesting to me was where it talks about the factors in determining group differences in intelligence. Before reading this I never would have thought of race being such a controversial topic when it comes to intelligence. Like that thought never even occurred in my mind. The book says that the vast majority of genes, perhaps as many as ninety-nine percent, are identical among all humans. My question is why do we have to make this such a big deal? It’s highly unlikely that the difference in skin color relates to the mental capacities that underlie intelligence. Even if this were to be true we cannot determine that race actually causes these differences between white people and African Americans. The psychological terms that I used were thinking, intelligence, analogical representations, symbolic representations, problem solving, decision-making, reasoning, development, general intelligence, fluid and crystallized intelligence, multiple intelligences, and emotional intelligence, IQ.

I think that language is in the same chapter as intelligence because without intelligence there would be no language. We use language to communicate what we are thinking with the outside world. Without intelligence, we would have nothing worth saying. For example, this chapter talked about problem solving, decision making, and reasoning. All of these would be completely pointless if we could not use language to talk about them. When it comes to social context and language development, I watched the Ted Talks video posted on the website. It talked about how everything that happened in the household affected the development of their child and how his language developed. He spliced together his son’s language development from the sounds “gaga” to “water”. It could be traced back to many different aspects of the household, which were caught on video by the various cameras around the house. This part of the video leads me to how social context impacts intelligence. It was clear that everything that occurred in the household had an effect on how the child’s brain developed. It started slow, but eventually he was learning many new words, all which could be traced back to the video footage from the house. Overall, I thought that this chapter was really interesting. One thing I could really relate to was decision making. I really hate making big decisions, so I was able to make a lot of connections. I personally enjoyed reading about the paradox of choice. I feel like generally people don’t think about the consequences of having too many choices. It talked about how sometimes having too many options could be less effective; however, usually it results in customers being less satisfied with their purchases. Other things that I found interesting in this chapter were the problem solving techniques. One of my favorite techniques was subgoals. I think that this is a technique that I use every day. I am always setting mini goals for each week so that I can get everything that I have on my to-do list accomplished. I also use the insight technique. I frequently get stressed out and just put a problem on the back burner until I am able to sit down and thoroughly think it through. I really use this technique when I am alone because I get too distracted when I am with others. I was most surprised by the information about intelligence quotients. Prior to this chapter I did not know much about IQ scores. I just knew that it had something to do with measuring intelligence, but not how or why. I liked that it went into further details about different types of intelligence, such as; general, fluid, multiple, emotional intelligence. I think that it is important that intelligence that is not necessarily “book smarts” is acknowledged as well, so I really enjoyed reading about that. In conclusion, I think that this reading was really interesting and I can really see how and why intelligence and language are looped together.

Terms: Language, Intelligence, Thinking, Problem Solving, Decision Making, Reasoning, Development, Paradox of Choice, Problem Solving Techniques, Subgoals, Insight, Intelligence Quotients

Language and intelligence are in the same chapter because when it comes to thinking, we use analogical representations that end up corresponding to symbols, which in turn relate to words and ideas expressed through language. Analogical representations, as mentioned in the book, is defined as the mental representation that contain some of the physical characteristics of objects. When it comes to thinking, people also use symbolic representations, which are abstract representations that contain words and ideas. Therefore, language and intelligence are all interconnected. For example, a picture of a violin have characteristics of an actual violin that is being represented. The word violin, however, is abstract and do not have relationships to the physical qualities of objects.
Social context impacts language development in a huge way. Environmental factors play a major role in language development. For example, when someone starts a new job, they are unfamiliar with the environment and the “slang” that employees use at work. When the new employee becomes more familiar with their new environment, they will begin to use more work “slang” while at the workplace. However, that new employee would not need to use this slang in another environment, like at the park. Social context impacts language development, and environment settings is a great example of this. Social context impacts intelligence as well. The environmental factors also play into this impact. For example, when a child receives more intellectual opportunities, the child’s intelligence will be affected. As stated in the book, children who start school at a younger age have higher test scores. Schooling builds intelligence. This is a form of social context impacting intelligence.
A topic that I found most interesting was the different theories of intelligence. There is general intelligence, in which a single factor is the reason for intelligence. For example, a high score on a test shows a high general intelligence. Fluid and crystallized intelligence includes thinking swiftly and flexibly, as well as using previous knowledge to solve problems. For example, one uses fluid intelligence when they lose an assignment and try to calmly find a solution to fix it. One uses crystallized intelligence when one is doing crossword puzzles. There is multiple intelligences, which include musical, logical, intrapersonal, etc. intelligences. One person may be more musically talented, while another may be more logically intelligent. There is also emotional intelligence, which includes skills in managing emotions with other people. For example, when someone gets angry, they take steps in order to calm themselves down. These theories of intelligence really stood out to me.
The most surprising thing in this chapter was reading about heuristics. This is when we use a rule of thumb as an informal way to make decisions. What surprises me about this is that we do not even know that it is something we do. This type of thinking is adaptive because decisions are made quickly. In one way, we rely on information that is easily accessible. In another way, we also make decisions based on prototypes. It is used when a decision is based on how closely each option matches a previous belief. After reading this, I realized that I do use heuristics every day, I just never realized it.
Psychological terms: Symbolic representations, analogical representations, language, intelligence, general intelligence, fluid and crystalized intelligence, multiple intelligences, emotional intelligences, heuristics.

Language and intelligence are in the same chapter because language is apart of intelligence. If we are wanting to be more specific, language is apart of multiple intelligence which is the idea that people have different types of intelligence that are independent to one another. Being able to use language is an intellectual talent, so therefore, to have language you must have intelligence.
Social context impacts language development. For example, if a child grew up with parents who talked to them constantly then they are more likely to talk at an earlier age. Because of their parents talking to then consistently, the child has to learn how to fathom words and use them to communicate back with them. Children also pick up on words others say. If a parent says “shut up” frequently then there’s a strong possibility that the child picks up on the word and begins saying. Their reasoning would be if their parent says it, why can’t they? Social context also impacts intelligence. One example is environmental factors which include things like breast feeding. Studies show that babies who are breastfed have higher cognitive development. Another example would be schooling. If a child is sent to school, they are more likely to have a more well developed brain and cognitive skills. They were required to use their brain more often for things like decision making and problem solving which they were taught in class. Compare this to a person who doesn't attend school. They aren't required to use their brain as often.
The topic that was most interesting to me was really this whole chapter. I never knew there was so much more to thinking and intelligence. I had never known that seeing a picture of a violin and knowing that it is a violin was called analogical representation or that categorizing animals was called an exemplar model. I found all of this information to be extremely fascinating. The coolest part about it all is that I knew that kind of information, which shows my intelligence. I was aware that when shown a picture of a violin, I could name what was being shown. I looked at the picture and right away thought to myself that it was a violin. Intelligence is such a natural thing and I find it to be fascinating.
The most surprising thing I learned about was the stories of Kim Peek and Stephen Wiltshire. Kim Peek was a man who memorized the content of over nine thousand books. He could read a page of words in less than ten seconds and knew all of the zip codes and area codes of the United States. Even though he had phenomenal memory abilities, he could not button up his own shirt or do many other daily life tasks. His mental age wasn't compatible to his real age. He couldn’t live life on his own. So the question is, was Kim Peek intelligent? He could recite thousands of books and name hundreds of classical musical pieces after hearing a small handful of notes, but when Peek took an intelligence test he scored a mere eighty-seven. Even though he scored low on the intelligence test, that didn't mean he wasn’t intelligent. His intelligence was unique and outstanding.
The second story was of Stephen Wiltshire who despite having autism, was extremely intelligent. Wiltshire was able to look at something, then turn around and draw it perfectly. He had amazing visual memory. I found both of these men’s stories to be so inspiring and memorable. Just because you can’t do one thing, doesn't mean you're limited to everything else. We all are capable of amazing things, we just don’t realize it.

Psychological terms I used were thinking, analogical representations, concept, exemplar model, reasoning, decision making, problem solving, intelligence, mental age, and multiple intelligence.

Everyday we communicate to people through language, and there are multiple languages in the world. We think in our minds while conversing with another person and these two concepts (thinking and language) work off each other in order for us to learn and grow. They feed off each other in a sense in order to keep progressing. When we see a word such as “guitar” we can picture in our minds what a guitar looks like, and vice versa. This is known as analogical representations, learning from images and words, putting a connection between the two inside our minds. I strongly believe that a person is who they are by the people they surround themselves with. That is how social context comes into play in our lives, we learn and observe people around us and pick up on some of their attributes. When we were taught as children to learn spanish, the teacher would always say the best way to pick up on a language is surround yourself with that culture and you will learn that language quickly. I spent a 2 and a half weeks in Italy, and began to understand Italian much more than I did before I got there. In terms of development, how does social context effect our growth? If one were to surround themselves with a group of people who have no ambition or passion, most likely that person would become the same as their “friends”. Ever heard of the saying, “cut the bad fruit off of the tree” that is the best thing a person could do for themselves in order to make progression in life. We should not let ourselves fall into stereotypes, because once that happens it is hard to erase that reputation. I am 100% Mexican, and most of the time stereotypes about Hispanics are never good. Stereotypes in general never usually have good cognitive schemas. If I allowed myself to become the “stereotypical” Mexican I would feel like I would never be able to progress in life. A stereotype in my mind is just labeling a person as who they are, but I do not want to be defined like that. I would much rather be an enigma to keep people on their toes. There are three simple tools that we use almost all the time to get through the day: reasoning, decision making, and problem solving. I was raised by a family that was able to figure out problems and quickly decipher them in order to get to the answer. I hung out with friends who were athletic and mostly were fun to be around, real genuine guys. The more I reflect on it, social context has been a large factor of my life. I have a best friend back home who went down a completely different road than I went. We basically grew up together because we would always hangout, but once we got into junior high, thing started to change. He works full time now and has a kid, I am in college and working towards a career. I still talk to him every now and then, but we both live completely different lives now. Social context effects everyone's intelligence differently. For me, it raised my intelligence, I learned from my mistakes and continued to grow as a person. The most memorable part of this reading was reading about intelligence and the people that have gotten famous enough to be considered intelligent. Intelligence, in my opinion, can be subjective. Many consider Miley Cyrus to be “genius” but that is far from the truth. She is just a normal person with fame from her Disney Show. Eminem on the other hand is a true genius, the way he came from literally nothing and now is the most revered artist in our generation. He fought for everything he has now, and did it growing up in a hostile environment. He mastered the gift with music he was given and never let go of that fire. Listening to his songs, the lyrics are absolutely full of intelligence, this is what is called being a lyrical genius. I guess to me, a true genius is someone who takes something from this universe and masters it to near perfection. I don't judge anyone based on their IQ, I know people are capable of so much more and a test should not define a person's intelligence. The multiple intelligence theory is the idea I stand behind the most out of all of the other theories.

terms: thinking, analogical representation, concept, stereotypes, reasoning, decision making, problem solving, intelligence, IQ, multiple intelligence

Thinking is the capability to manipulate words and images. It requires understanding, recalling, processing information as well as the ability to communicate. According to cognitive psychology, mind is involved in perceptions organization, processing information as well as interpreting experiences. Language on the other hand entails a formal system of communication in either written, spoken or in gesture form. Spoken language have distinguished elements which include phoneme- which are basic sounds, Morphemes- the smallest unit which have meaning and phrases- which entails the combined morpheme to bring out clear meaning. The acquisition of language begins out as a simple way and progress to complexity. This begins from birth as the child learn discriminating sounds in speeches, start producing sound through imitation, sound becomes clear words which the child associate it with its meaning. One factor that makes us to be able to learn language is the fact that our brain has the capacity to change our neural networks on bases of experiences. Intelligence is the ability to learn from experience, use the knowledge as well as solve the problems. Intelligence gives one a capability to hold two different ideas in the mind at one time and still maintain his functioning role. Intelligence is an inheritance aspect and it is based on; speed in reacting to signals, muscular strength, ability to detect tiny differences and size of the head. Intelligence can be achieved on multiple basis where one become good in many areas such as ; academic, games, social situation as well as ability to posses emotional intelligence by regulating emotions, ability to perceive, understanding and expressing. Intelligence have much influence to brain functioning as more intelligence people have the ability to process information quickly, as well as process perceptual information faster. Despite the argument that language unfolds because of child’s imitation, association and reinforcement from the older people, language is an inborn quality. A child develops language by making sense of the sounds they hear and what they see. As we learned in chapter 4, many factors influence our development. Poor nutrition and other environmental influences can affect our intelligence development. The environment that humans live in also has an impact on intelligence and IQ scores. The environment affects childhood IQs more than adult IQs. Environmental factors that affect intelligence are the type of family one grows up in, education, and training. If a child grows up in a home that encourages learning, they are more likely to succeed on IQ tests. Education and intelligence have a involved relationship, because a child that scores high on IQ tests do not necessarily succeed in school, but children that so score high on IQ tests have a lower high school dropout rate. Young children that receive training, such as music and chess, have a higher intelligence. Learning music as a child is said to boost intelligence and raises verbal IQ. There are extreme differences in the structure of the brain in musicians and non-musicians. Listening to music by Mozart right before taking an IQ is shown to improve IQ scores. Students that play chess have improved mathematic skills and comprehension. Other than these factors, biological influences such as nutrition and toxic chemicals have an impact on IQs. Studies have shown that short-term prenatal malnutrition does not affect intelligence, but long term malnutrition does. Prenatal exposure to lead and alcohol will affect a child’s intellectual growth and performance on IQ tests. This was the most surprising and most interesting part of the reading. Terms: Cognitive, Intelligence, Brain, Environmental factors, Biological influences, Prenatal malnutrition, Recalling, Processing, Morphemes.

Language and intelligence are in the same chapter because they are interconnecting and affect one another. A person’s intelligence affects their language development and and skills, while their knowledge of vocabulary and language affects how intelligent they seem. Crystallized intelligence, knowledge from experience that is used to solve problems, has to do with information that is stored in your long-term memory. This includes skills such as vocabulary and spelling. Crystallized intelligence is one form of intelligence that directly relates to language or vocabulary. General intelligence, the common factor that contributes to performance on an intellectual task, relates to things such as math, problem solving ability, drawing ability, and writing ability. Language is also connected with one’s writing ability, so general intelligence is also related to language.
Social context also impacts intelligence because different life circumstances can greatly affect intelligence, even if it is biological. Minority groups, for example, have on average lower intelligence scores. This could be because they are pessimistic about their chances of success within their own culture. This leads to a lower motivational level and performance. Stereotype threat is another example. It is the apprehension that some may have if they believe that their performance might confirm those negative beliefs about their racial group. This can affect any group that is subject to negative stereotypes or connotations. An example of this is girls in the subject of science or math. They are often told and believe that men are superior in the subjects and so that belief negatively impacts their scores or makes them stop trying. Other environment influences are poor nutrition, which can affect brain development, prenatal factors, and then your family, social class, education, and cultural beliefs. Intellectual opportunities affect intelligence as well because on average, the more schooling you get the higher the iq. Breast-feeding during infancy has also shown to enhance cognitive development.
Social context impacts language development in many of the same ways. Depending on the way that you were raised, your language development can be swayed. If your parents read to you a lot or anything like that, development can increase further and greater. The opposite is also true. Those who are raised in a less nurturing house hold can have a decreased language development because of less educational opportunities to stimulate cognitive development.
The most memorable thing that I learned about in this reading is the different theories of intelligence. I thought it was interesting to think about what we really see as “intelligent” or not. What must you be knowledgeable of or be good at specifically in order to be characterized in our society as intelligent? General intelligence is seen as the single factor underlying intelligence, but there are also other ways in which intelligence can be characterized such as fluid and crystallized intelligence, multiple intelligences, triarchic theory, and emotional intelligence. All of these different theories touch on different form of intelligence such as problem solving, thinking quickly, musical intelligence, interpersonal intelligence, creative intelligence and emotional intelligence to name a few. I think it’s important to remember that there is more than one way for people to be intelligent, and that everybody is better at certain things than others, but that doesn’t necessarily make them less intelligent, just intelligent in a different way.

words used: language, intelligence, crystallized intelligence, general intelligence, stereotype threat, stereotypes

In this chapter, it talks about language and intelligence being connected, not necessarily directly but it’s implied in an oblique manner. By the analogical and symbolical representations, it teaches us that a picture is a physical or analogical representation and the symbolic representation consists of words and ideas opposed to visuals and are not related to the physical qualities of the object. It also stated that one’s general intelligence is the single factor of overall intelligence, such as math, writing, drawing, and problem solving ability.

Social context can substantially impact language acquisition and development. Depending on the individual, it can begin before one is even born. If the biological parents smoke, drink, use tobacco, or even have a poor nutritional diet, it can slow the developmental process. This can make the baby have a decelerated intelligence development. Even subsequent to birth, as the child is learning all different things a child should be learning, it can be slowed because of their environment either at home or at school. If the child is not in a “normal” learning environment, or being taught “normal” learning, it can be difficult for the child to keep up with the “normal” pace of development.

The most interesting part of the reading, to me, was learning the relationship between validity and reliability. I liked the visual of the targets to help me better understand. From the graphic, I learned that validity is when the shots hit the intended “target”, or when the test measured intelligence as intended. Reliability is hitting the intended “target” multiple times, or when one gets nearly the same results when testing. I thought the visual made it easier for me to understand the content and made it more enjoyable to learn about because it was interesting to study all of the different comparisons.

I thought the most surprising thing I read in this reading was the theories of intelligence. Prior to reading this chapter, I only thought that there was just plain intelligence, I didn’t know that there were different branches. I already talked about the general intelligence, which is the basic knowledge in a person. The next two models of intelligence are categorized under one: Fluid intelligence and crystallized intelligence. Both of these are common in all people. Fluid intelligence would be quick problem solving skills and opposite to that is crystallized intelligence which is knowledge that one acquires through experience. Multiple intelligences vary from person to person. It is somewhat of an individualized talent. Gardner quoted “No one should be viewed as ‘smarter’ that others, just differently talented.” Next, is the triarchic theory which includes analytical, creative, and practical intelligence. Each is pretty self explanitory. Analytical is having skill in solving problems, creative is the ability to think in new and interesting ways, and practical is skill in dealing with everyday tasks. Lastly, is emotional intelligence, which is being able to control one’s emotions and being able to notice emotions in others. I thought this was very surprising because these theories aren’t common knowledge.

Psychological terms: analogical representation, symbolical representation, general intelligence, reliability, validity, fluid intelligence, crystallized intelligence, multiple intelligences, triarchic theory, analytical intelligence, creative intelligence, practical intelligence, emotional intelligence

Language and intelligence are in the same chapter together because they come hand in hand. Language helps develop intelligence and intelligence can help us out with language. In your environment you would learn different sort of words for things in your language. If you live in a different culture than you may refer to an object differently than someone else. Or how in certain sections in the South you may hear lunch referred to as dinner and dinner referred to as supper. Social context affects intelligence because how someone was raised may affect how they do in school or how well their brain developed. For example a child raised in a household that surrounds their child in music, reading and art may have a more intelligent and creative child than a child raised in a household of constant cartoons.
The most interesting topic to me in the chapter was the section on heuristics. How we take shortcuts in our mind all the time and half the time they aren’t even correct or true. It’s interesting how we can make choices or decisions based on prototypes. We also make choices on people based on the stereotypes that we put them in. On a normal, everyday basis we forget to sit back and really think about things so instead we choose to take shortcuts through everything and assume that we are correct. When we are told we are wrong we are always somehow surprised. The most memorable thing that I learned was that about working backwards. It was really cool to think about how we subconsciously work backwards on things in everyday life.
Terms: language, intelligence, environment, social context, heuristics, prototypes, stereotypes, working backwards.

Intelligence was a very interesting topic to read about and I can see why Language and Intelligence would be in the same chapter. As young children we learn our language and about the world around us synonymously and our language kind of effects the way we think. We will see a yellow fruit and we all may know that it is sour, but not everyone in the world calls it a lemon. Everyones schema may be different when they hear the word lemon. language can be very defining in terms of schema and thinking. Social impact has a big part on language and thinking as well. Stereotypes really influence the way people think in a daily basis. For example, in our language the word “jerk” has a negative connotation with it, but in the schema of other people that are not native to the US, the word “jerk” make not bring up the same thoughts for them. This is all done by stereotyping and the way social standards and views are taught with our languages. The social context could also impact someones intelligence. This really may be a more personalized topic because the environment that someone may grow up may experience a completely different social experience than someone else. The social pressures may be different from person to person, but the social influence is there in every life. While reading through the chapter, what I found to be the most interesting is the idea of heuristics. I think it is very interesting that humans have this instinct almost to take “shortcuts” in our thinking. I think in ways this is very efficient for life and I can see that it happens in my daily life, but I feel like our world would be a very different place if we didn’t have this sense of heuristic tendencies.

Terms: Heuristic, Stereotypes, Language, Intelligence, schema, social context,

Language and intelligence are in the same chapter because they directly affect one another. When talking about language I don’t mean in the same way as before in the development chapter, but now as how we represent language and how language can affect how we view intelligence. Language and intelligence where first linked by a term symbolic representation. Symbolic representation how we interpret and represent our language. In other words this concept explains that ideas and words have no relationship to physical qualities of objects. Language also affects intelligence when it comes to cultural biases. It is shown in testing for intelligence that you have a higher score if you know the mainstream language and culture. Social context has a great impact of language development. Language is how we are able to communicate with others. Communicate is one of the most important things in everyone’s everyday life. Language is greatly influenced by how you grow up and the environment you grow up in. An example of this would be if you grow up in Mexico you are most likely going to learn Spanish as your first language, same as if you grow up in U.S you would learn English as you first language. So where you grow up can have a great effect on language. Social context can also directly influence your intelligence as well. An example of this would be if you mother while pregnant smoked and just overall had non nutritious diet I can have a direct influence on your brains development which can lower your intelligence. To me the most interesting thing to read about was the different types of intelligence's. The two main intelligence's I enjoyed learning more about was general and multiple intelligence. General intelligence is the factors that tend to yield a higher IQ score, and multiple intelligence's are the things like musical, bodily-kinesthetic and things like that; that won’t affect your IQ score. I just found it interesting how in your schooling system we put most of the emphasis on general intelligence when that is such a small part of what intelligence is. The most memorable thing I remember reading about was “The paradox of choice”. This talks about how are decisions are affect by the amount of choices we have. You would think that have a huge amount choices would be better, but there is a diminishing return after so many choices. For example a store will sell more of a certain product if they have a variety of it, but at some point if you get to many varieties you will no longer keep selling more.
Terms: intelligence, symbolic representation, cultural biases, Language, general and multiple intelligence

Language and intelligence are tied together in the chapter because different languages may have different kinds of intelligence almost based where you live or how you’re living. Social context can be gained in different ways for example in a high class neighborhood they might take there children to a expensive good learning educated school to work on there own language. These kids intelligence will be more advanced then other kids such kids who are getting poor educational learning or even no professional teaching what so ever. Culture basis would have a huge part in intelligence. Depending where you live can some what explain the intelligence you have weather your given information accordantly through your life or your given information at a very little circumstances. Intelligence is the ability to use knowledge to reason, make decisions, make sense of events, solve problems, understand complex ideas, learn quickly, and adapt to environmental challenges. To sum intelligence up it’s complex and multifaceted. From this reading the topic I thought were most interesting were the group differences in intelligence: biological and environmental differences. In biological differences many psychologists and anthropologist do not think race is a biologically meaningful concept. The countries who are growing larger in populations are generally mixed races. Some people may say intelligence relies on your race, but its unlikely that differences in skin color or style type relate to the mental capacities that define intelligence. Environmental differences have been tested even through IQ score through different races, but its not inadequate information to determine if there are any environmental differences between races. Many African Americans live different life styles then white Americans. African American make less money then whites and are more likely to live in poverty, have fewer years of education and more likely to face discrimination. The most surprising thing I read from this chapter was Sternberg’s theory where there’s three types of intelligence Analytical intelligence, Creative intelligence, and practical intelligence.
Psychological terms: Analytical intelligence, Creative intelligence, practical intelligence, language, Social context, and intelligence.

The reason that intelligence and language are in the same chapter is because language is a form of intelligence. It is categorized within the multiple intelligences category. Within the multiple intelligences section also lies musical intelligence, body-kinesthetic, linguistic (language), mathematical/logical, spatial, intrapersonal and interpersonal. The only problem with Gardner’s theory of multiple intelligences is that there is no standardized way of testing them. For example, a standard test is not going to be able to tell us how skilled somebody is at spatial thinking.
Social context can impact language acquisition and development in many ways. First off, if a baby is born into a home where it is neglected and not talked to as much as a regular baby, chances are it will not develop the same skill level of language as another child. This is because the baby will not try and replicate the sounds or words adults make and speak if it is left in its crib alone all day in silence. This will hamper it down the road because it will be at a linguistic disadvantage going into preschool and kindergarten and so forth. In my example above both the acquisition and development were affected due to neglecting parents. That is just one example though. If the baby had loving affectionate parents that were constantly talking to it and stimulating its mind, chances are it would fair much better and thrive with language acquisition and development. One last example, children pick up on what their parents are saying. This means that if their parents use a slang word or a variation of a word the child will most likely mimic this. This also shows how social context can influence a child’s language acquisition.
Social context can affect a child’s intelligence in a few ways, but one of the main ones is what type of social status were they born into. If born into poverty chances are they may not receive the same level of education and therefore end up not being as smart as other children. The example the book used was Oprah Winfrey. She was born into poverty, became a teen mom and did not go to college. However, she is now one of the most influential women on the planet and also the first African American billionaire. Oprah managed to achieve that status without a college degree. This shows how even though somebody may be born into poverty they can still be successful. Yet, if born into poverty the chances are still not on your side.
The most interesting topic for me to read about was the schemas and the category and concept. Schemas are used to organize our memories and are based off of our prior experience and knowledge of information. The book uses the example of a country music dance and an orchestra. It can be divided into two categories, the first being country music instruments and the second being orchestral instruments. It tells how one instrument such as a guitar may be only used in the country band and how the trumpet is only used in the orchestra. However, the violin which is used in the orchestra is used as a fiddle in country music. Concept is then unique knowledge of the instrument, such as a guitar usually has six strings,or the trumpet is made of brass.
I enjoyed learning about this topic and how our brains categorize and relate things.

Key Terms: Multiple Intelligences, Musical Intelligence, Body-Kinesthetic, Linguistic, Mathematical, Logical, Spatial, Intrapersonal, Interpersonal, Schema, Category, Concept

Language and intelligence are in the same chapter because language is a part of intelligence. Being able to understand language helps us become more intelligent by first even learning the language and second being able to comprehend the language that is being spoken. Language and intelligence are also in the same chapter because they both deal with the brain and they help us understand things happening around us in our lives.

Social context can impact language acquisition and development in many ways. An
example would be if a mother decided to make poor choices while she was pregnant. Another example would be poor nutrition, which can affect brain development and result in lower intelligence. Social context also impacts intelligence by the environment you come from. If you come from an upper class home than that will rise your learning skills and that would therefore raise your intelligence level but just the opposite if you were raised in a bad household that would lower your intelligence and due to that your learning skills would slow down.

From the reading the topic that was most surprising to me was the achievement and aptitude test. The achievement test assesses current skills and knowledge. An example of an achievement test would be the ACT because it measures the knowledge from high school. On the opposite side an aptitude test measures your ability to learn in the future. Aptitude tests are also used to predict what tasks people will perform with a skill.

The most memorable topic in this reading would be the topic of brain size and if that has anything to do with higher intelligence. It was interesting because it talked about how many studies have been done to document the relationship between brain size and intelligence but scientists cannot for sure say if they go hand in hand.

The psychological terms I used were language, intelligence, social context, development, environment, achievement test, aptitude test and brain.

The reason both language and intelligence are in the same chapter is because language is a form of intelligence. This form is called multiple intelligence. The theory of multiple intelligence was proposed by Howard Gardner in 1983. This theory states people can be average or bad in some parts of intelligence and outstanding in others. This is how we can say that nobody should ever be called smarter than someone else. They don’t have any way to tests Gardner’s intelligences(except maybe the IQ test) but Gardner believes that there is no way to capture the essence of different types of intelligence.
Social context affects the the way people learn their language. For example, a person who is born in Texas or down south their voice and the way they speak will be different than how someone who is born in Iowa talks. People from Texas will speak the same language but will have different words and slang terms compared to a person from Iowa. Social context impacts intelligence because it affects how we as people communicate to other people. It is also how kids can develop their own intelligence and how their imagination works. Social context also affects how children learn in school. If a child can not socialize properly with a teacher they will not learn properly
A topic that is most interesting to me is how we assess intelligence. Psychometric tests are the same as standardized tests. These tests must be reliable and validity. They have to measure what they say they are measuring. Something memorable I learned was the environmental differences. If there are differences in IQ test between races you can not assume that the differences are because of race. How they say minorities around the world have different circumstances than the majority does. A reason they score lower is because it is possible they believe that hard work will not pay off for them. Although this is understandable it is not a fact that is why the test scores differ.

Terms used: intelligence, multiple intelligence, IQ test, social context, reliability, validity, psychometric tests, standardized tests, environmental differences.

I believe that language and intelligence are in the same chapter because language is actually a form of intelligence. A person can have multiple intelligence and they can have fluid and crystallized intelligence. Fluid intelligence is where we get our reasoning, drawing analogies, and the ability to think quickly and flexibly. Crystalized intelligence however involves the knowledge we have acquired through experience such as vocabulary, spelling, cultural information, and the ability to problem solve. Multiple intelligence consists of musical intelligence, bodily kinesthetic, linguistic, mathematical/logical, spatial, intrapersonal, and interpersonal skills. Linguistic skills include our ability to speak and use excellent verbal skills, which in turn show that language is a part of intelligence. Social context can impact a person’s language development due to the environment that they grew up in, such as if others talk to the child or if it just simply talks to itself. Because of this the child can expand its vocabulary and develop its speech at a faster rater. Social context can also impact your intelligence whether or not you were given sufficient stimulus as a child to help improve and expand your intellectual skills. The most interesting part of this chapter was the section that talked about how we problem solve to achieve goals. There are many difference ways to problem solve to compete a goal. One strategy to problem solving to achieve a goal is that we can break it down into sub goals. By breaking the goal into sub goals and completing each sub goal you will eventually achieve the main goal. Another strategy is that we can use is working backwards to achieve the goal. By working backwards to reach the initial state of the problem or goal we are able to come up with a solution for the problem. Some other problem-solving step is by using analogy where we use examples to relate and solve a problem. Insight is another problem solving step were we suddenly realize the solution to a problem. The most memorable part of this chapter in my opinion was the opening section where it discussed Heidi Hankins joining Mensa and how she had an IQ of 159 at the age of four years old. To me this was amazing hearing about how early she could speaking full sentences, begin reading at very high levels, and still be interested and live the life of a normal child. I find it amazing how greatly the stimulus we have as a child can impact our learning and intellectual skills as we mature.

Terms used: Language, intelligence, multiple intelligence, fluid intelligence, crystallized intelligence, musical intelligence, bodily kinesthetic, linguistic, mathematical/logical, spatial, intrapersonal, interpersonal, working backwards, analogy, and insight

Chapter 8:
Throughout this chapter, I read information about language and intelligence. They both merge has one by having language being a part of intelligence. Language is a structure that allows humans to think and comprehend. We always can picture objects in our minds and know characteristics of things without actually it being there in front of our eyes. The textbook have us an example of a violin and seeing how we can imagine a violin and give characteristics plus an understanding of the object. This gives us an example of linguistic intelligence that is a type of intelligence. Howard Gardner’s theory consisted of multiple intelligence, in which he gathered there were nine different types of intelligence and intrapersonal intelligence. For example, if a person has linguistic intelligence they are great at giving speeches. Language takes on another big role in test taking. I remember when I had to take those test were the tested us over vocabulary, comprehension, and the general knowledge of language. The most memorable thing that surprised me was heuristic, which means an informal way to follow through with decision making. Is happens unconsciously most of the time and requires less cognitive thinking.
The history of IQ was one of the most helpful to me, because I always wanted to know who decided to categories society of how intelligent they are. I distasted being labeled, but as a child was always encouraged to improve my test scores to be expected in today’s society. Alfred Binet was influenced by the French government to make children known about in the school systems and in need of special attention. In 1919, Lewis Terman modified the IQ, because have the test results from children that overall was not good enough for the teachers. In this section, a man mentioned in an article that said African Americans scored lower on tests. That personally made me question my life and influenced my knowledge of your skin color and that it does not define who you are, but what you bring to the table. I felt somewhat judged as a children because where I was born, but I changed their perceptive of me by speaking my mind and showing society: I am much more than what you see on the outside.
Over the years, research as shown that some racial groups scored lower on a standardized test, but to me it is based on where you were raised and who is in your life to influence your behavior. Jumping back to the beginning of the chapter, reliability was described with four different key words. They were reliability, validity, achievement test, and the aptitude test. These were used by psychologists or by seeing people’s intelligence on a piece of paper. Reliability is to produce similar results and finding importance of the test. Validity is not a test, but seeing how valid the test really is. The achievement test is determining a person’s knowledge and skills they have. And finally, the aptitude test determines how much a person is able to learn. The four are the basic needs in producing a test that is qualified in showing solid information. This chapter has to be the most helpful because I was able to see myself doing all of these skills and learning new abilities for the future.

Terms: language, intelligence, linguistic intelligence, were reliability, validity, achievement test, and the aptitude test.

Language and intelligence are in the same chapter because they go hand in hand. Language is the way we are able to communicate and represent our intelligence. Without language or communication, there would be basically no intelligence. It discussed in the book how intelligence is the result of genes and environment. When they say environment, they mean where a person grew up and where a person learned things. Different environments will obviously yield different levels of intelligence. Social context impacts language acquisition and development in many different ways. The way we learn is through communication and social context. During classes, social context is being exhibited. While the teacher talks, the students are there to listen and learn more information as well as respond to questions and have discussions on the topic. The way we think and solve different types of problems was very interesting to me as I read through this chapter. Thinking is the manipulation of the representations we see in our everyday lives. There are two types of internal representation: analogical and symbolic. In analogical our brains correspond to images in our heads. In the book they gave an example of a map being analogical because we know that maps correspond to geographical layouts. On the other hand, symbolic representations are abstract and they consist of words or ideas in our minds. For instance, when we hear the word dog we usually think of a friendly pet. Together, both of these different types of representations form the basis of our thoughts, intelligence, and the ability to solve the complex problems of our everyday lives. Through our thinking and learning though, we create schemas to help us characterize concepts. Schemas are related to the organization of analogical and symbolic representations in our minds. According to the prototype model, concepts are organized based on the “most typical member” or prototype of a category. This basically says that we compare things we see to objects we recognize in our own lives. Unfortunately, this can lead to stereotypes which can often be a bad thing. In order to be able to overcome our unconscious tendency to stereotype, we need to be aware of how our schemas influence our thinking. Another thing that surprised me very much in this chapter was how the different ways information can be presented affects us. The way information is presented and how it can alter our decisions is called framing. In the book they used an example of beef at a grocery store. It is much more likely to buy beef that says 75% lean rather than 25% fat. I thought that was extremely interesting and it surprised me how obvious ways like that can alter our decisions and choices. The way we are able to problem solve is really quite fascinating as well. I learned that having sub-goals is a very good way to accomplish something by starting out small and working your way up. The steps in sub-goals are working backwards, analogies, and adding sudden insight. Wolfgang Kohler conducted an experiment on insight learning with chimps. In this experiment he placed a banana that was unable to be reached in the room. In the room he had different types of things and tools the chimp could use to reach the banana with. Eventually, the chimps became aware of the tools and were able to get the banana. The chimps achieved this by using mental sets. Mental sets are previous strategies that help us overcome new obstacles. The chimps tried reaching the banana by themselves at first, but were unable. They then discovered that it would be possible with the tools. With each problem we face, it helps us become more prepared for future problems, thus increasing our knowledge and intelligence. Some people are obviously better at solving problems than other people, but that doesn’t mean they are necessarily smarter. According to Howard Gardner, his theory of multiple intelligences supports that people can be smart in one area, but not so smart in another. Each person has a unique pattern of intelligences. His theory opposes the IQ test system. Throughout this chapter I learned many new and interesting things that I will remember.
Terms: language, intelligence, social context, thinking, internal representations, analogical, symbolic, schemas, prototype model, stereotypes, framing, sub-goals, multiple intelligences theory

I believe intelligence and language are placed in the same chapter because they go hand in hand. A person’s language can in many ways explain to another just how intelligent they really are. For example, an individual could examine a person’s vocabulary to try and figure out just how intelligent they really are in that aspect. Another way a person’s intelligence could be identified through language is their sentence structure. If the person being observed uses the correct structure throughout their sentences, this could potentially be another indicator that this person is intelligent. Language and intelligence are still related in so many other ways. Language is a pathway for information to get to our brain. Without language, how would we be able to learn the information our teachers teach us? With every blog post, I feel that its certain topic I am writing about is the most vital to human function; however, I keep repeating that thought in my head every time we come across a new topic. Language, though, I feel is absolutely vital for humans to be able with communicate with others. Without language, there would ultimately be a completely different way of life. What exactly is intelligence? There are four main forms, the first being general intelligence, which is basically the intelligence required to perform general tasks. Next is fluid and crystalized intelligence. Fluid intelligence involves information processing, especially in complex circumstances. Crystallized intelligence is different, requiring that we learn this information through experience. Thirdly, we have multiple intelligences. Multiple intelligences involves the all of the previously mentioned forms; however, this one involves language. Finally we have emotional intelligence. This form consists of four main abilities: managing our emotions, using our emotions to guide our thoughts and actions, recognizing other people’s emotions, and understanding emotional language. To conclude, language is vital to our intelligence because without it, we would have no way of interpreting information and storing it for ourselves. I believe that social context definitely impacts language and intelligence. For example, if an individual grew up in poor or even poverty conditions, it is likely that the person did not properly learn their language, therefore effecting their overall intelligence. I’m sure there are many other examples of social context affecting language and intelligence, but I feel that the conditions while growing up would be the most evident. I was definitely most interested by all the different kinds of intelligence. I guess I had never given it a thought really, but to my surprise there are many different types of intelligence. The most memorable thing I read was about the mental maps. The question was asked, which is farther east, San Diego, California or Reno, Nevada. Without any question I was sure Reno was further east. To my surprise, San Diego was actually further east despite being in a state west of Nevada. I learned that my brain was aware that California was west of Nevada, but forgot to remind me that California extends south of Nevada as well. Terms: intelligence, general intelligence, fluid intelligence, crystal intelligence, multiple intelligence, emotional intelligence, mental maps

Language and intelligence are in the same chapter because language is a type of intelligence. When I was considering this question I realized that when I am thinking I am speaking to myself. Using the language I have grown up learning I am able to process and work through the task or problem at hand. Every thought I have is in English and the more fluent I am in the language the faster I am able to solve a problem. Language is how we are humans demonstrate our intelligence. It is also how we understand our intelligence. Language is referred to very little in this chapter so with the question of how it is related to intelligence we are forced to think beyond our reading and make connections. Language is the very essence of intelligence. It is how we communicate information, how we process it, and how we store it; through words.

I believe that social context can impact language acquisition, development, and intelligence in many different ways. The primary social context that affects these topics is family. Growing up in a family whose primary language is English will cause the child to speak English. The child will not miraculously learn how to speak another language without being exposed to it. I attended a school that was almost entirely English speaking. I never learned any other language besides this because my peers around me also spoke my language. It wasn’t until my sophomore year in high school when I met a foreign exchange student that my social context taught me part of a different language. As discussed in previous chapters development greatly relies on the family. If a child is not properly cared for or doesn’t develop an attachment it will not develop properly as the child grows up. Again the family plays a role in impacting intelligence. If a family is concerned with education and making their child aware of the outside world the child is more likely to gain intelligence. Framing is the concept that how information is presented affects how that information is perceived and influences decisions. How information is presented in a social setting affects how it will be perceived. I also believe to some extent that some people have a different capacity for intelligence higher than others. Completely disregarding social context.

The most interesting part of this chapter for me was the section that actually defined what intelligence was. Everyone has a broad understanding of the term but I didn’t realize how many different types of intelligence there were. While these different types of intelligence are only theories, it struck my interest when different types of intelligences were categorized and defined. One theory is general intelligence which is the idea that one general factor underlies intelligence. This has a few different parts. Fluid intelligence reflects the ability to process information particularly in novel or complex circumstances. Crystallized intelligence reflects both the knowledge a person acquires through experience and the ability to use that knowledge. Multiple intelligences is different than the general intelligence. This is the idea that people have many different types of intelligences that are independent of one another.

The most memorable thing from this chapter was in the opening story. Hedi Hankins was four years old and joined Mensa. We took the psychological IQ test and scored 159. This score is just below Albert Einstein. That is absolutely incredible to me. The young girl was speaking in full sentences before age one and taught herself to read by eighteen months.

Terms used: IQ test, multiple intelligence, general intelligence, crystallized intelligence, fluid intelligence, theory, intelligence, social context, development, attachment, language, thinking, framing

Language and intelligence would be in the same chapter because with our language, we demonstrate and express our intelligence. Some is done with symbolic representation, where we see a word in common language and can instantly know what it is, what it stands for, and how it relates to us in our everyday lives.

An interesting topic to me that was found in the reading was the prototype model. How we find perfect examples of a category in the category with qualifications we determine fit that grouping. The books example about fruit with oranges versus tomatoes or olives was a good example because we don’t characterize olives as being a fruit because they are not sweet and don’t have seeds, when the truth is that they really are fruit. All of that leads into stereotypes, because we stereotype that all fruits have to be sweet, have to have seeds, and have to come from a tree. When in reality, having only those characteristics doesn’t dictate whether a food is a fruit or not, they are stereotypes. Some fruits are not sweet at all, and some don’t have seeds. And that leads into reasoning, where we determine if our conclusion is valid or not. Our reasoning to think that an olive isn’t a fruit is because it is not sweet nor does it have seeds. This all runs nicely together right into decision making, where we use our reasoning to identify important criteria and determine how well each alternative meets the set requirements.

The most surprising and memorable things I learned in this reading were with the models. Defining attribute model of concepts is a category that is characterized by a list of features that determine if an object it’s a member of the category. I feel like I do this often when I am attempting to study, and I feel like this is how lots of classes are organized in teaching wise. For example, anatomy, we start out with a major topic (skeletal system) then break that down into functions, then types and how those types grow and so on. Another memorable thing to me in the reading was when they discussed restructuring. Restructuring is something we do when we are faced with a problem and we look at it in a new light to figure it out and solve it. Another thing that was surprising to me was Charles Spearman’s conclusion that people whom scored well on one part of the test, tended to score just as well on the other parts of it. In example: if someone was good in the math section of the IQ test, they generally did well with other skills, such as problem solving, writing and other mental challenges, which he referred to this concept as general intelligence. General intelligence is the single common factor that contributes to performance on any intellectual task, which tends to get higher IQ scores on intelligence tests.

Terms: language, intelligence, symbolic representation, defining attribute model, prototype model, decision making, reasoning, stereotypes, restructuring, IQ, general intelligence, intelligence test.

Language and intelligence are in the same chapter because they are both linked to the way you learn. Intelligence is how we come up with ideas, and use those ideas to solve problems and complications in our lives. This process is very dependent on language, because language is the way we communicate with others. In other words, without language, we would have a hard time using our intelligence to solve our problems. In the beginning of this chapter we learned that representations are everywhere in the world. Representations can be made when our sensory inputs are changed into signals so that our brain can understand them and make something of them. All of these things work together to form our intelligence and help us with our thinking process. According to our textbook, thinking is the mental manipulation of these representations. In order to understand the concept of thinking, we need to first understand how our brain identifies and processes the representations that we see all around us. There are two types of internal representations, which are analogical and symbolic. Analogical representations usually go hand in hand with images and tangible objects. Our brain often associates words with images, even though we don’t realize it. For example, if someone is talking about a cucumber, you are most likely picturing a cucumber in your head without even trying. However, these images do not actually exist in your head. They are put there through your neural activity, which has electrical impulses that can cause your brain to group neurons together and form an image in your head. The other type of internal representation is symbolic representation. Symbolic representations are not physical objects, but rather words or ideas. This is how we put together words and what the words mean. For example, when we think of the word mustard, we usually think of a substance that is put onto food to create flavor. This chapter goes on to talk about how our thinking depends on categorization of concepts that we learn and how we make decisions sand solve problems through reasoning. Reasoning is when you determine if a conclusion is valid. In order to do this, we use our thoughts and what we believe is already true, to determine whether or not our conclusion is reasonable. Other ways that we make decisions and solve problems are through decision making and problem solving. When you use the decision making process to make decisions, you have alternative options. You first figure out what the important criteria is for your situations, and try to decide how well each of the alternatives suits your criteria best. Problem solving, the third form of thinking, occurs when you are trying to solve a situation that you are not satisfied with. To do this, you must move through obstacles in order to get to the place that you want to be. In this chapter, the most memorable thing that I learned was the section about intelligence and our genes and environment. Two ways that intelligence can be measured and understood is by studying behavioral genetics and environmental factors. Our intelligence can be effected by where we were raised, our schooling, and our social lives. Poor nutrition, which is an environmental factor, could also result in lower intelligence. This section was memorable to me because whenever I have thought about intelligence, I have never thought about the factors that can effect it. This chapter helped me realize that there are a lot of things that go into intelligence. It isn’t just about what you know, or how much information you have stored in your brain.
Terms: language, intelligence, learning, communication, representations, sensory inputs, signals, thinking, analogical representations, symbolic representations, reasoning, decision making, problem solving, criteria, genes, behavioral genetics, environmental factors

Language and intelligence are discussed in the same chapter because they are both similar and connected. Linguistic intelligence falls under the category of multiple intelligences, which is the idea that people have many different types of intelligence that are independent of one another. Another reason that language and intelligence are mentioned in this chapter is because they both have two factors that determine to what level each is acquired, nurture and nature. Humans are genetically built to be able to interpret and understand language. Also, a level of a person's intelligence is influenced by their genetic makeup, a person is either born intelligent or not. Although, genetic factors influence language social contexts and the culture a person is raised in has a large impact on their language. A child born and raised to a mandarin speaking family in China will speak mandarin because that is the language it was exposed to. Similarly, intelligenec is somewhat dependant on a person's social situation. A person in a wealthy family who is given opportunities to go to the better schools and learn more has a better chance of having a higher intelligence than someone with less opportunities.

I think the most interesting aspect of this chapter is the story about Phiona Mutesi. Although she grew up in a very poor neighborhood of a poor country she was able to become a chess master. She wasn't able to attend school, so she couldn't read or write, yet she was able to master a game as complex as chess. This speaks to the importance of the genetic factor of intelligence, because even though she didn't receive any formal education she was is still considered a great intelligent thinker.

The thing that surprised me most was the role of nature in determining intelligence. Coming into this chapter I thought that people were mostly given a level playing field at birth as to how intelligent they could be, and their final intelligence was determined by the hard work they put into their education. The evidence the book provides with examples such as, Heidi Hankins and Phiona Mutesi, prove to me that some people are definitely born with an advantage of being more naturally intelligent. A person can work as hard as they want in learning, but a big portion of how smart they actually get has to do with their genetic makeup.
Psychological terms: language, intelligence, linguistic intelligence, multiple intelligences, nurture, nature, genetics

Intelligence and language work hand-in-hand, and this is why they are grouped together in this chapter. We begin life at an early age being able to learn language and communicate our thoughts to the people around us. Reading, writing, communicating, and our general understanding of things, comes from some form of language. In this chapter, the book talks about how important language is to understanding intelligence. With language, you are able to better understand your perceptions and representations by labeling them and talking about them with others, as well as better making sense of them. Intelligence is defined as, the ability to use knowledge to reason, make decisions, make sense of events, solve problems, understand complex ideas, learn quickly, and adapt to environmental challenges. Intelligence is very complex; this is why it must be categorized into different groups. Intelligence is categorized into fluid and crystallized intelligence, multiple intelligences, and emotional intelligence. All of these categories aid in the idea of general intelligence. Language is brought up in many of these categories, especially crystallized intelligence. Crystallized intelligence involves the knowledge we acquire through our experiences. Vocabulary and spelling, which are parts of language, fit into this category. We learn most about our language by the experiences we have dealing with it. Children learn most about language through listening to others. Language is also brought up in multiple intelligences, which is the idea that there are several types of intellectual talents that are separate from each other. One talent that brings up language is linguistic, which is having excellent verbal skills. In this theory, proposed by Gardner, states that people can be good, bad, or average at any one of these intelligences. In his theory, Gardner believes that every person has a unique set of intelligences and there is no way to assess such intelligences through general intelligence or the use of standardized testing, such as the intelligence quotient, or IQ test.
Social context can alter how language is developed. Is everyone born with particular intelligence, or is intelligence a product of how we are raised and the environment we are in? The question the book brings up in dealing with context, such as genes and the environment, and how they affect intelligence. This question goes back to earlier chapters when discussing the aspect of Nature vs. Nurture. The human race is born having the capacity for a large vocabulary. This is genetic, and is in everyone. While, on the other hand, the words that are apart of that capacity are learned through different aspects of the environment. The words we learn are dependent on culture and our circumstances. This goes back to the story from the beginning of the chapter about Heidi and Phiona. While Heidi was raised in a house with two parents and lived a very normal and comfortable lifestyle, Phiona was raised in a poor neighborhood and had not learned how to read or write. The two were both born with the biological aspects to be able to learn such things, but they were raised in different cultures, which stunted or excelled the learning of language. Both environmental factors, and genetics affect intelligence.
One of the most interesting aspects of the chapter was the part about the exemplar model. The idea is that we only have fuzzy representations and not one single concept. These fuzzy representations are based of the experiences we have and that our observations and prototypes are just concepts that we have experienced more often. The example they used about the cat was interesting. The example stated that my idea of cats is only based on the information I have observed and experienced in my life. When I see and animal in the house, I will compare it to the knowledge I have of all the animals I have encountered in life. The animal may resemble a cat, even if it is slightly different from other cats I’ve ever seen. I think it is interesting and it really stuck with me, that we can decide what an object is just by unknowingly comparing the object to things we have experienced throughout our lives.

Psych Terms: intelligence, language, perceptions, representations, general intelligence, fluid intelligence, crystallized intelligence, multiple intelligences, emotional intelligence, social context, genes, Nature vs. Nurture, exemplar model

Language and intelligence are go together hand in hand. Language is a form of multiple intelligence. There are currently no tests to see how smart you are when it comes to your multiple intelligence. It is not as easy as just taking an IQ test because it is not that simple. The social context impacts your language and intelligence because it is all about the environment around you. Everyone grows up in different Social contexts that is why no two people are the same. The most interesting part of this chapter was how we measure intelligence. The tests you take to tell your intelligence must be both reliable and valid. Two examples of these types of tests are the SAT and ACT. Both of these tests are valid unreliable and should show you a good reflection of your intelligence.
Terms: Language, Intelligence, Multiple Intelligence, Social context.

The reason that language and intelligence are in the same chapter is because language is a big form of intelligence. As talked about in the multiple intelligences section language is a form of intelligence just like mathematical skills and other things similar. It also discusses how we use our intelligence to link things with language. I saw things in the section called symbolic representation. It talks about how when we say a word like orange we can picture the orange in our head, but the word does not look like an orange. We use our intelligence to make these connections. Social context can have a big impact on language acquisition or development. If we think back to our development chapter it talked about how our environment effects our development. A child that lives in an environment that they cannot receive very good nutrition will not be able to develop as quickly as others might. Another factor is if a child was born prenatal it could affect their development and in turn impact their language acquisition.
The most interesting topic to me is that the ACT and the SAT test very different aspects of intelligence. The ACT is an achievement test and it tests what you have previously learned in school. While the SAT is an aptitude test that tests your ability to learn in the future. I think these a very different tests and it is very interesting how certain parts of our country think one is more important than the other. I am interested in finding out more about why certain parts of our country prefer one over the other.
The most surprising thing that I read about is the four year old girl that had an IQ of 159. She really went off track of Piagets theory of cognitive development. She was very developed at a very young age. It is extremely amazing that she was speaking full sentences at a time when babies are usually just speaking their very first word. It is also very interesting that even though she is very intelligent she still does things that a normal child of that age would do like playing with Lego’s
Key terms: multiple intelligences, symbolic representation, language acquisition, development, environment, prenatal, achievement test, aptitude test, piaget’s theory, cognitive development.

After reading the chapter, I found that language and intelligence are in the same chapter because they are both related in a way and they both effect each other. Social context impacts language acquisition and development because it just depends on where you are born. It can impact intelligence also because it helps people think in great ways like how to have a creative mind, and through the theory of multiple intelligence.
The most interesting topic that I found in this chapter was they talked about heuristics. A heuristic is a shortcut (rule of thumb or informal guideline) used to reduce the amount of thinking that is needed to make decisions. We may or may not be aware of taking these shortcuts because heuristic thinking often occurs unconsciously. They also require minimal cognitive resources. Tversky and Kahneman were the ones that identified several heuristics that commonly use to make decisions in our daily lives. One of them that they found was the availability heuristic, which is the tendency to make a decision based on information that comes most easily to mind or we tend to rely on information that is easy to retrieve. The next one is the representativeness heuristic which also reveals that we make decisions based on prototypes. This is the tendency to place people or objects in a category if they are similar to the concept that is the prototype.
The most memorable thing I learned in this reading is about overcoming functional fixedness. I have seen the goal about attaching the candle to the wall in such a way that the candle can be lit and burn properly, in my Oral Comm class. We had to do this in a group and had to do it without talking because our speech for the following week was our group speeches. Functional fixedness is a tendency to think of things based on their usual functions, which may make it harder to solve a problem. I know from experience that this experiment was difficult because for starters, we could not talk, and second we could not think of any way that it could possibly work besides melting the candle until it was flat and then tack the candle melting onto the wall and light it, which did not work at all. It says that people with excellent thinking skills can demonstrate the abilities to create, change, and manipulate internal representations to make decisions and solve problems. I think that my group lacked some of that as well.

Terms Used: intelligence, social context, heuristic, availability heuristic, representativeness heuristic, functional fixedness,

After reading the chapter I got a better understanding on how language and intelligence have effects on one another. Intelligence is the ability to use knowledge to object and make logic around us. If you have a better understanding about the language can help you gain intelligence. There are many types of intelligences that are a factor of language. These types are multiple intelligence, fluid and crystallized intelligence, and emotional intelligence. Many intelligence has a lot to do with verbal skills. Verbal skills refer to the extent to which a person can approach words, sentences, written texts verbs, adjectives, as well as, the extent to which he/she can comprehend meanings, produce synonyms and antonyms, know the meaning and use of words, complete sentences with words omitted based on the word context and have a critical view towards written speech.

These kinds of skills are partly inborn skills, in the sense that, each person has the his or her mother language inside him/her as a living organization and learns it-in a subconscious and nonsystematic way- every moment of his life through the interaction with other people and, partly, acquired skills, in the sense that, each of us has acquired some knowledge from official obligatory public education(school) in order to develop a common structure as a base upon which the language can develop in a dynamic way throughout our lives.
A person's verbal skills reflect its general intelligence and their development guarantees at a great extent the attainment of organizational goals. Due to pure talent, inborn inclination or systematic polish some people have developed more extensively their ability to approach verbal meanings and solve verbal tests than other people.
From reading this chapter I think social context impacts language and intelligence on a person’s back ground and environment. There are a lot of factors that can have an impact on your intelligence, and language. Drugs and alcohol can have a huge effect your brain development. Your parents can also be an impact depending on what culture you are, or your neighborhood. There are a lot of factors that can have an effect on being intelligent, and our language.
The one thing I thought was interesting was that criminals are not as smart as I thought they were. They have lower scores than non-criminals. I was always into shows that showed bad guys being really smart, and planning things to get away with what they did, and that is why I thought that they would be smarter than the average non-criminal.
The most memorable thing I read was about hedi. I think it is so crazy that she was only 1 and could talk in full sentences, and that her family knew she was very smart for her age. This was memorable to me because it set me up for what the chapter was about, and because her score was three under albert Einstein.
Terms: intelligence, language, systematic, subconsciousness, fluid intellience, crystallized intelligence

In this chapter language and intelligence are together because language is a form of intelligence. It can also be called multiple intelligence. Multiple intelligence the section of the brain that can’t be measured by any kind of test. A lot of other things in the human brain can’t be measured, for instance musical, mathematical, intrapersonal, and interpersonal. Those are specific areas that people excel at or they don’t. No matter what someone’s ability that doesn't make them smarter or better than anyone else. The social context develops from the social environments a person grew up in. I went on cruise once and I made friends with this girl from New Orleans and her accent was completely different from what I thought it was going to be. Also how you interact with children can affect there speaking. If you talk to a child long enough in baby talk they start to talk like that. But if you start talking to them like you talk to anyone else they will pick up on that and talk like an adult in a sense. The social context impacts intelligence by having children interact with other children, and allowing children to use their imagination to develop a stronger intelligence. Having this developed with other kids would be putting them in daycare or always having them around other kids. It can be a good and a bad thing because they can pick up on good and bad habits form other children.

The most memorable and interesting thing for from this chapter would be about Sandra Witelson. She is a Canadian neuroscientist at McMaster University and she has her own personal collection of human brains. She has 125 of them. All of brains are Canadian brains. I think the most interesting thing about her is that she is the official keeper of Elbert Einstein’s brain! His brain is 15% larger than any other average person’s brain.

Terms: intelligence, language, multiple intelligence, musical, mathematical, intrapersonal, interpersonal, social context

Language and intelligence are in the same chapter because they are dependant upon each other. Thinking is the mental manipulation of the meaningful information about the objects we encounter in our environment. When we think about information we use two types of representations analogical and symbolic. Analogical representations usually correspond with images or the actual objects we are thinking about. Symbolic representations are abstract and usually consist of words or ideas, they do not even have to have relationships with physical qualities of objects in the world. In my opinion, this is where language comes into play with intelligence.
From the stories in this chapter, social context can either hinder or help language and intelligence development. In underdeveloped countries people are rarely given the same opportunities to expand their language and intelligence whereas in the United States for example we are required to attend school and such.
In the reading, I was most interested the section about decision making. I never knew there was an actual difference between reasoning, decision making and problem solving. Reasoning is where we determine if a conclusion is valid. For example if a friend said that a Old Chicago is the best restaurant in Cedar Falls. I would use formal and informal reasoning to determine if I agree with them or not. Decision making is another form of thinking where you select alternatives that satisfy a criteria. An example of this would be the choice between eating at Old Chicago or Jimmy Johns. The last form of thinking is problem solving. This is where there is a gap between where you are and where you want to be. You have to use your thinking to decide how to reach your goals.

language, intelligence, environment, analogical representation, symbolic representation, reasoning, decision making, problem solving

Nate Weber
Chapter 8 Response
Intelligence and Thinking were placed with each other because they have a close correlation between each other. Thinking is how we provide mental information about the stimuli around us. We all think different though, this makes us different than the next person. Some ways we think are through pictures, which are analogical representation, while thinking with words would be symbolic representations. To organize our thoughts, we must have a model of organizing. Some models are Defining attribute model, prototype model, and the exemplar model. But how does this all fit into the intelligence factor? We must put those thoughts into action with the process of reasoning. Reasoning is determining if a conclusion is true. With reasoning, we can improve in decision making and problem solving skills. (It seems that people these days rarely come with this ability, sometimes considering these skills like a superpower…) Who is intelligent though? The definition of intelligence is the ability to use knowledge to reason, make decisions, make sense of events, solve problems, understand complex ideas, learn quickly and adapt to environmental challenges. If we use that definition of intelligence, then almost everyone is intelligent. The school systems track if you are intelligent by issuing math problems or interpreting a book. While the kid that plays games and doesn’t get good grades, could also be intelligent. That kid can use knowledge to reason, he can make decisions on what thing to do at what time, he can make sense of what is going on around him and get around that problem that might have been issued. He might be able to understand what to use at what time to have his skills go cohesive and work well together and thus overcoming and adapting to his environment. Every person is intelligent; you must single out what quality of intelligence you are looking for. Intelligence should not differ depending on the gender or race a person is. Intelligence is more in a biological difference or an environmental difference. The genes passed down from generation to generation could create more synapses in the brain thus having the person becoming more intelligent. While it is unlikely that differences in skin color and hair type relate to the mental capacities that underlie intelligence. On average, African Americans have very different life circumstances than white Americans. This could also be true to the other cultures around the world. The Japanese grow up in a world that focuses more on studies and work, so this might reinforce the stereotype of those that grew up in that world.
Terms: Thinking, Intelligence, analogical representation, symbolic representation, Decision making, Problem solving, Biological difference, Environmental Difference.

Intelligence and language is in the same chapter because they go hand in hand. Language, or the way we speak shows our range of vocabulary. People with a larger range in their vocabulary and are able to speak using big words and carry on a conversation reflects their intelligence on the conversation and their understanding of vocabulary.
The topic from the reading that most interested me was IQ scores reveal intelligence. I have never really thought about what kind of questions were on an IQ test or what IQ even stood for. In this chapter both of those questions were answered almost immediately. There are a lot of different questions about math, English, science and other areas. In a way it seems similar to the ACT test. I learned that IQ stood for intelligence quotient. The IQ test was developed by a psychologist Alfred Binet and his collaborator, or assistant, Theodore Simon. The section talks about why the IQ test had been developed. The test was developed to find which kids in the French School system needed help or special attention. Alfred Binet and Theodore Simon had developed a test that measured different abilities the kids had and called the scale they came up with the Binet-Simon intelligence scale. This was very interesting to me. The Binet-Simon intelligence scale was the original scale to measuring ones IQ. This shows that someone did not one day come up with the IQ test, but that there was a process of getting to such a thing. In the study of the French school system, the psychologist Alfred Binet talked with teachers to find the expected results of what the kids knew. They found an average among the kids then looked to see which kids had lower scores to find if they needed extra help or special attention. The scale resulted in an IQ test with many questions. What makes this section so interesting to me is that I have never taken an IQ test nor have I ever seen one. I would like to take an intelligence Quotient test to find out my IQ score and see where I range among the average scores of the IQ test.

Terms: IQ, Intelligence Quotient, psychologist, intelligence, language

I honestly did not see where language was the largest incorporated topic of this chapter. It appeared to me that thinking and intelligence were covered the most. Maybe language was more of an implied topic. Either way, language is still a key factor in intelligence. It allows people to fully communicate their thoughts/knowledge to other people. It also is a nice tool to have when using analogous and symbolic representations of things. In the case of Helen Keller, I remember her describing life as seemingly empty and plain until she finally realized that there was a sign for water. Most of a person’s ability to think and reason is through words and word association. Social context can have a large influence on the development and type of intelligence that a person possesses. People who are raised in a wealthy environment with access to good schooling will likely develop good math, reading, and writing skills. These same people may not develop other categories that are not taught in school such as creative, emotional, or kinesthetic intelligence. These kinds of intelligence are kind of what I refer to as being a “street smart” person. Some people have absolutely zero math/reading/writing intelligence due to lack of environmental factors, but can live in the wild with no help or instructions. This leads to the other big portion of intelligence which is genetics. Some people are more genetically prone to be a phenomenal musician, but without the proper environment they may never come to realize this hidden aptitude. In the same way, someone who is naturally bad at music can be taught how to play an instrument to a reasonable degree of proficiency (as in a guitar around a campfire… not the philharmonic orchestra). Moreover, it seems that the environment a person is raised in can cultivate certain areas of their intelligence more than others.
The most memorable section for me was the candle activity where participants are asked to fasten a candle to the wall and light it while only being given a box of tacs, a candle, and a few matches. These kind of out of the box thinking exercises are always interesting to me. I like to think that I would have successfully completed the task, but I will never know. I have a tendency to rely on functional fixedness and mental sets sometimes. Even though the answer for some problems is so blatantly obvious, our prior knowledge of what things are purposed for stifles our ability to use them creatively.

Terms: functional fixedness, mental sets, analogous, symbolic, Helen Keller, Social context, development, environment, intelligence, creative/emotional/kinesthetic intelligence

Sophia Sperrazzo
Thinking and Intelligence
10/14/14
Language and intelligence are in the same chapter because language is considered a form of intelligence called multiple intelligence. Multiple intelligence is a single type of intelligence within idea that people have different types of intelligences. Included in the category of multiple intelligence, there is musical, bodily-kinesthetic, linguistic, mathematical/logical, spatial, intrapersonal, and interpersonal. Most parts of this type of intelligence cannot be measured by an IQ test. Several scientists believe that there truly are many types of intelligence so no person can be considered any smarter than another, instead that they are just gifted in different ways.
There are several ways social context that could impact one’s ability to learn linguistically. Such as, when a child is young, they are still learning what to do and how to do it, but if they never get the chance to learn on their own, then they don’t get as good of a learning experience. The social context surrounding intelligence could also have many different possibilities to impact a developing mind. While growing up, children need the company of others to continue learning. Having friends the same age helps to keep their imaginations going and creativity, while by being around adults or older peers shows them what to act like when they are older.
For me, the most interesting topic in this reading would have to be about stereotyping. Schemas are used whenever we think about a certain object or topic, and when we start thinking about the schemas, we start to make generalizations about them. Generalization is not good to do because it could lead us to act on how we feel about the certain thing. Stereotyping people or the way people do things is caused by the schemas that we make surrounding that certain thing that we notice.
The most memorable thing I learned about this chapter was about the young girls at the very beginning. It shocked me to hear about such amazingly intelligent girls at such a young age and little education. I was stunned when I read about how the 4 year old had a slightly lower IQ than Albert Einstein and it amazes me that things like that are even possible. I cannot comprehend how that happens, but it interests me and I like to read about those kinds of things.

Key Terms: language, intelligence, multiple intelligence, musical, bodily-kinesthetic, linguistic, mathematical/logical, spatial, intrapersonal, interpersonal, IQ, social context, schemas, stereotyping

Language and intelligence have a lot to do with each other. The way we think relates to how we understand language. Whereas there is a genetic correlation to intelligence there is also a social context. How were you raised? How many parents did you have? How many siblings? These all impact intelligence though not in consistent ways.

The most interesting thing to me, in this chapter, was learning about heuristics. Heuristics are shortcuts that allow you to make decisions faster and to problem solve, although you may not realise because they occur unconsciously. This was particularly interesting to me because how different heuristics are from person to person. They tend to not have much reasoning behind them, or just reasoning based on limited information.

The most memorable thing to me was reading about the savants. The existence of savants, to me, really proves the many different types of intelligence. And many forms of intelligence seem to be simply knowing what to think or what decision to make. Not necessarily what to eat, but what next chess piece to move. Everyone is intelligent in some way, even if it isn't something we have realised yet.

Terms: language, intelligence, heuristics, problem solving, thinking, savant

Intelligence is to be defined as the ability to use knowledge to reason, make decisions, make sense of events, solve problems, understand complex ideas, learn quickly, and adapt to environmental challenges. As Language is defined as the human ability to acquire and use complex systems of communication, and a language is any specific example of such a system. Therefore, intelligence and language are in the same chapter because language is a form of intelligence, language is a communicator of a humans intelligence measured by IQ tests.

There are multiple aspects of intelligence, fluid, crystallization, triarchic theory and emotional intelligence. Fluid intelligence involves information processing, especially in novel or complex circumstances. Crystallized intelligence involves knowledge we acquire through experiences such as vocabulary and spelling and cultural information, and the ability to solve problems. Triarchic Theory the idea that people have three types of intelligence: analytical, creative, and practical. Emotional intelligence consists of four abilities, managing our own emotions, using our emotions to guide our thoughts and actions, recognizing other people’s emotions, and understanding emotional language.

Social context can easily impact language acquisition or development through environment. Take two different people for instance one in a higher class and one poor class area. People in higher class society tend to have more access to resources to stimulate their development further. Those in a lower class tend to particularly only develop skills for survival and not go above and beyond in furthering their intellectual development. How one is raised and who you choose to surround yourself with can determine what types of things someone can pick up.

The most surprising thing to me was the topic about Heidi Hankins. She is a very intelligent little girl, speaking in full sentences before the are of one, most babies around that are are just learning to mumble and walk. By the age of two she was reading at a much higher age level than her own. Her IQ is impressive to say the least, 159 just a few points away from Albert Einstein.

Terms used:IQ test, social context, development, intelligence, crystallized, fluid, impact, communication, complex, language

Thinking is “the mental manipulation of representations of information we encounter in our environments.” Our thinking is influenced by our language. Granted, the English language does not implement analogical representations (meaning, our words do not visually show us the characteristics of the words – instead we use symbolic representations), but our language still allows us to communicate information that we need to manipulate. Further, language is how we communicate our manipulations. And the cycle goes on and on.

Social context impacts our language acquisition and/or development by impacting our environment. Because our environment dictates what words we come into contact with, what the words mean to us, and how we should feel about those words, social context has great significance. For example, if a child never came into contact with an elephant (be it a real one, one in a book, a cartoon character, a stuffed animal, within a conversation, etcetera), the child would not even have a concept based on the word “elephant”.

However, social context can impact us not only in being able to identify the meaning of a word. Social context can also result in stereotypes by encouraging a certain way of thinking, or certain associations with certain words. This is more easily seen when looking at the prototype model (each category has certain characteristics, though not all members of the category have to fit all of the characteristics) than the exemplar model (by coming into contact with various members of a category, we create concepts –exemplars— for the category). In this way, language can impact what we think of when we hear, for example, the word “vegetable”.

Intelligence is “the ability to use knowledge to reason, make decisions, make sense of events, solve problems, understand complex ideas, learn quickly, and adapt to environmental challenges.” Social context may determine what we value as intelligence, however. For example, does your environment value intelligence quotient (performance on an intelligence test), general intelligence (good performance on any task), fluid intelligence (information processing), crystallized intelligence (acquired knowledge), emotional intelligence, or a more specific intelligence (such as linguistic, spatial, interpersonal, creative, and so on, as defined by the theory of multiple intelligences and the triarchic theory)? Additionally, prenatal factors (such as whether one’s mother drank alcohol while pregnant) and postnatal factors (such as education) can influence one’s intelligence by affecting whether one lives up to his or her intellectual potential.

Both the most interesting and the most memorable aspect of this chapter for me was that of how we make decisions. Specifically, I thought that it was interesting that when we have more choices, we are more likely not to choose anything. However, because I am horrible at decision making, I will remember the concept of the heuristic (the informal guideline we use to reduce the amount of thinking that we use to make decisions) – mostly because I’m not sure if I have one.

Thinking, analogical representations, symbolic representations, concept, stereotypes, prototype model, exemplar model, intelligence, intelligence quotient, general intelligence, fluid intelligence, crystallized intelligence, emotional intelligence, multiple intelligences, triarchic theory, decision making, heuristic

Language and intelligence are in the same chapter because they affect one another. This chapter taught us that there are many different aspects of intelligence, and a lot of these aspects relate to language. Crystallized intelligence involves knowledge we acquire through experiences, such as spelling and vocabulary. Multiple intelligence is when someone has many different types of intelligences. This includes the example most closely related to language; linguistic. Linguistic is defined as excellent verbal skills. This reminded me of my mom always telling me not to swear, because swearing makes you sound dumb. Which I agree with most of the time. Uneducated people talk in a different way than educated people and it is not hard to distinguish between the two.
Social context has a big impact on a person’s level of intelligence. The book talks about how a person’s vocabulary is learned from the environment. The meanings of words that we learn are affected by the culture we were raised in. Another aspect of this is the upbringing of a child, beginning in the womb. Denying a fetus of the necessary nutrients in the womb affect brain development, resulting in lower intelligence. Abstaining from drugs and alcohol during pregnancy is also an important aspect. Then once the baby is born, there are tons of things that affect his or hers intelligence. The family they are raised in, their economic status, and the amount of education they complete are big parts of this. Schooling encourages the development of a child’s brain and cognitive capacities, and also teaches children about problem solving and social skills.
I found the section about measuring intelligence the most interesting. I did not know the ACT and SAT were such different tests because I only took the ACT. The ACT is an achievement test that asses your current skills and knowledge and the SAT is an aptitude test that measures your ability to learn in the future. I didn’t know they were not even measuring the same kind of intelligence which makes me want to take the SAT just to see how I would do on it. I also was interested in the mental age section because it made me want to test a lot of people in my life. For example, my 6 year old cousin is a genius and I wonder what his mental age would be. Then on the other end, I have a cousin who is 16 and is really just not book smart so I wonder how he his mental age would differ from his actual age.
The most surprising thing I learned in this reading was the part about savants, specifically the man pictured named Stephen Wiltshire. Stephen has autism but has such a good memory that he is able to draw things very accurately after seeing them for a very short period of time, even just one glance. This was really interesting to me because I work with people with autism, and have similar experiences. For example, one kid remembered everyone’s cars. He had never even ridden in my car but from seeing me drive it one time, he knew me as “the girl who drives the silver Oldsmobile Alero.” So Stephen from chapter 8 reminded me of this kid I worked with.
Terms: language, intelligence, crystallized intelligence, multiple intelligence, linguistic, cognitive capacities, problem solving, achievement test, aptitude test, mental age, savants

I believe that language and intelligence would be in the same chapter because the more a person knows how to communicate, the better they can understand different situations in life which could improve their knowledge of the world around them. We talked in class about how if a person knew more than one language, they would be able to hear someone speak a foreign language and understand the words they are speaking. But, if a person for example only understands English, they will only hear the actual sound that the other person is making. In a social environment, for instance, if you live in a part of the country where close to or a majority of the population speaks Spanish, it could be a good idea to learn that language. This way one could make more friends and diversify, as well as be influenced by different cultures so that that person would now have a more comprehensive view of the world. Not just a biased opinion that everywhere else in the world is just like how it is here for the sole reason that one has grown up and seen only that part of the world. If there are many people in an area speaking one kind of language, generally a person who speaks a different language would be inclined to develop the skills of speaking the other language as quick as possible, to cut down on the barrier that exists between them and other people at this point in time. The most interesting thing I read about in the chapter was the idea of analogies. Both of these interested me a lot because in the case of analogies, they talk about how a surgeon is faced with the problem of using a high intensity laser to destroy a tumor, but needs to be extremely precise to not destroy the surrounding tissue. By using the idea of analogies, the best decision was to use multiple lower intensity lasers so that each one individually would not harm the healthy tissue, but when they converge it would create an intensity that would be great enough to destroy the tumor. In our daily lives, if we can condition ourselves to take a more wide angled view of any given situation, we might be able to come up with a more abstract solution than we normally would have which would provide us a greater benefit. These ideas are extremely useful in tough situations, but would take time and practice to really be able to solve certain problems without too much thinking. Developmentally if it was integrated into our lives consciously as a child, we would have much more practice with these kinds of logical ideas, and therefore help each one of those children later in life when they had to make a risky or tough decision. It also would be very helpful for studying because we would possibly be able to develop a better way to manage our time, which in turn would help us understand how to better break our studies down into the other interesting topic of sub-goals. Sub-goals are how we go about achieving a goal by breaking the process of going about it into smaller goals that help us gradually get to where we want to be. These smaller goals help us by making us focus on a situation immediately in front of us, rather than possibly becoming overwhelmed by the broadness of our ultimate goal.
Terms: Sub-Goals, Analogy

This chapter covered language and intelligence. I think that the authors chose to put these to concepts of development into the same chapter because, they influence each other. Together, these two key parts of development produce framing; the way of which we perceive things and how it influences us. With this being said, with the lack of intelligence, one cannot learn a language. Without a language that has been taught to a child in their early development stages can limit that knowledge that the child will be able to learn and comprehend. Humans use their general intelligence to learn anything from, writing, drawing, problem solving, learning, and math. This creates your intelligence.
Social context impacts language development and intelligence in many ways. One way it impacts us is through crystallized intelligence. Crystallized intelligence is things that are learned and turned into knowledge through personal experiences. After the learning takes place, your fluid intelligence kicks in to see if you can reflect the information that was presented. Social contexts play the role in how people learn these different things such as phrases, slang or jargon that they use in everyday life. Their own cultures help them develop their intelligence and their development. Sometimes it can have a good or bad effect on their development.
Something that I found interesting was the paradox of choice. They had a study done in 2006 that showed people’s reactions when they had too many things to choose from. More people were attracted to the larger taste testing amount but were more likely to actually make a purchase when there were only six options to choose from. It made me think of my own life and how I can never decide on anything!
Terms: language, intelligence, development, framing, crystallized intelligence, fluid intelligence and jargon.

Language and intelligence are not commonly connected together, but they actually are linked together. Language is actually categorized into many different kinds of intelligence. The one that I believe language is mostly connected to crystallized intelligence. Crystallized intelligence is intelligence that reflects both the knowledge a person acquires through experience and the ability to use the knowledge. I think that language is connected to crystallized intelligence because it deals with knowledge that a person acquires over time which is how you learn a language. Crystallized intelligence also deals with vocabulary and spelling. Vocabulary and spelling are big factors that contribute to language. Therefore crystallized intelligence and language are connected.

Social context impacts language acquisition and development greatly. It impacts it from the infant stage all the way up to the adult stage of life. Breast feeding is one thing that has been shown to enhance cognitive development. Other things that impacts language acquisition and development are parental factors and social factors. Some parental factors that can have an influence is the parents’ intake of drugs and alcohol. Social class, education, cultural belief, and family are some of the social factor that can have an impact as well. These examples also have an impact on intelligence as well. One thing that also has an impact on intelligence is the use of alcohol and drugs to oneself. Many things can impact language development and intelligence without even really thinking about them or noticing.

The topics that were most interesting to me from this chapter was the section on the multiple aspects of intelligence. There are several aspects of intelligence: general intelligence, fluid intelligence, crystallized intelligence, multiple intelligence, and emotional intelligence. All these different aspects of intelligence differ from one another. The reason that this section was most interesting to me was because it really made me stop and think about how they related to real life. While thinking about this I began to think of different people that I knew and thought about which intelligence I thought best fit them and it helped me understand the intelligences more. Multiple intelligence is the idea that people have many different types of intelligence that are independent of one another. Raymond Cattell believed that general intelligence was made up of two types. Fluid intelligence represents working memory processes and information processing which allows rapid thinking. Crystallized intelligence pertains to information in long-term storage, such as knowledge we acquire through experience. I found this section interesting because I really thought about crystallized intelligence and its impact on general intelligence it has.

Overall I found this reading very interesting but I also found it somewhat confusing. I enjoyed learning more about intelligence and thinking. It helped me to realize how these processes and everything works together.
Psychological terms used: intelligence, thinking, crystallized intelligence, fluid intelligence, multiple intelligence, emotional intelligence,