THINKING, INTELLIGENCE, & CREATIVITY | Ace your Psychology Exams!

Thinking is the mental process of manipulating information to form concepts, solve problems, make decisions, and reflect critically. It involves various cognitive functions such as perception, memory, and reasoning. Thinking encompasses both conscious and unconscious activities, integrating past experiences and knowledge to navigate current and future challenges. It includes divergent thinking for creativity and innovation, and convergent thinking for focusing on finding the single best solution to a problem. By understanding and enhancing these processes, individuals can improve their cognitive abilities and decision-making skills, leading to more effective problem-solving and critical analysis.

NTA UGC NET/JRF Psychology

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Associationism
- Based on causal history- this is how one’s thoughts are formed.
- Can be used as a theory of learning, thinking, mental structures, and implementation of thought.
Gestalt Theoretical Perspectives
- Principle of Totality
  - Any conscious experience must be considered globally as the mind is a dynamic part of the whole system.
- Principle of Psychophysical Isomorphism
  - correlational between conscious experience and cerebral activity
- Productive Thinking
  - Max Weitheimer
  - solving a problem with insight
  - situation and environment interaction
- Reproductive Thinking
  - solving a problem with previous knowledge
- Fuzzy Trace Model – Dual Model
  - memory and reasoning
  - encoding information through verbatives and gist
    - Verbatives – exact memory in detail
    - Gist – semantic and conceptual

Concept formation is the process by which we learn to form classes of things, events, people and so forth.
- Concepts are of 3 types:
  - Conjunctive – presence of at least two features
  - Rational – how objects relate to something else
  - Disjunctive – at least one of several features
- Prototypes
  - Eleanor Posch
  - ideal models used as a prime example
  - They are highly representative
- Faulty concepts
  - Thinking errors
  - related to behaviour or personality maladjustment
  - All or nothing thinking
Strategies of Concept Attainment for Problem Solving
- Simultaneous scanning
  - Rational thinking : use of information to rationally eliminate hypothesis and think through to reach the one that can be true
  - Ideal strategy if reasoning and memory are good
  - Rigorous
- Successive scanning
  - Tests a hypothesis at a time and moves towards a conclusion
  - Guessing game. It is easier, requires less time and memory
- Conservative focusing
  - Taking an example as representing the concept and using it to judge other examples
  - Less efficient if the chosen concept is incorrect
  - Best strategy for conjunctive problems
  - Require less thinking and time
  - Much better than successive scanning
- Focus gambling
  - Uses one card but changes more than one feature at a time
  - If lucky less time or else more time
  - Do it
    - if solving the problem in a few trials brings big rewards
    - less to lose
Semantic Dimension
- Understanding meanings of word
- Takes longer and is slower than syntax
- Maybe dependent on intellectual development and maturity
Semantic Differential
- Rating scale to measure commutative meaning of objects, events and concepts
- Commutative is the suggestive significance of a word apart from its explicit and recognized meaning
- Evaluation, potency and activity
  - Evaluation
    - good-bad
  - Potency
    - strong-weak
  - Activity
    - active-passive
Recognition by components
- Irving Biedesman (1987)
- recognition of objects by breaking them up into smaller recognizable shapes called geons.
- Geons are 3D shapes
  - Eg. cylinder, cones
    - can be assembled in many ways
    - < 36 geons present as components
- While perceiving objects we focus on
  - Edges
    - enables to maintain the same perception of the object regardless of viewing orientation
  - Concavities
    - the area where two geons meet,
    - helping in separation of geons
- Perception of objects doesn’t change regardless of angle because of viewpoint invariance
  - may be due to invariant edge properties:
    - curvature, parallel lines, co-termination, asymmetry, co-linearity
- Template matching model
  - whole image to a stored representation of the whole object
- Feature matching model
  - discriminating features from the images and matches them with known features of the object
- Configurable model
  - Distinguishing among objects that share same basic parts of structure with a prototype

INTELLIGENCE & CREATIVITY

Intelligence is the ability
to acquire knowledge, to think and reason effectively, and to deal
adaptively with the environment.

History

Sir Francis Galton
- measured
  reaction time, hand strength, sensory acuity, and skull size
- believed
  that people from privileged backgrounds were more intelligent
- His
  mental skill measures were not valid or reliable because results were
  not complying
Alfred Binet
- 2
  assumptions
  - mental
    abilities increase with age
  - rate
    of gaining competence is a personal characteristic
- Intelligence
  quotient (William Stern)
  - MA/CAx100 (MA = Mental Age, CA = Chronological Age)
  - Today
    IQ is an individual score in comparison to norms of other individuals
    of the same age
Lewis Terman created
Stanford-Binet test (verbal items)
Arthur Otis
- Army
  Alpha (verbal)
- Army
  Beta (non-verbal)
Weschler (verbal and
non-verbal) WAIS WISC WPPSI WAIS III WISC
IV

NATURE OF INTELLIGENCE

Two
major approaches
- Psychometric
  – structure and types of mental competencies
- Cognitive
  – thought process underlying mental competencies

Psychometric theoretical approach

Statistical study of
intelligence using observable measures
Factor analysis was used to
arrive at components
Reduction of larger measures
to smaller clusters
- Charles Spearman
  - g-factor
    – general intelligence
  - s-factor
    – specific intelligence
- L.L. Thurstone
  - 7
    distinct abilities called “Primary Mental Abilities”
    - verbal
      comprehension
    - perceptual
      speed
    - number
    - spatial
      visualisation
    - associative
      memory
    - word
      fluency
    - reasoning
(Study Tip: VPN-SAW-R)
- Raymond Cattell and Horn
  - Broke
    Spearman’s general intelligence “g” into 2 subtypes
    - Crystallized
      intelligence (gc) is the ability to apply previously learned knowledge
      to current problems (vocals and info tests)
      - Creates
        expertise
    - Fluid
      intelligence (gf) – arriving at novel problem solving situation which
      does not develop out of personal experience
      - inductive
        reasoning
      - reason
        abstractly, logical, management of info in working memory
  - Humans
    move from fluid to crystallized through life
- Carollus
  - Three
    structure model
    - g
    - +
      Broad
    - Narrow
- Guilford’s Structure of
  Intellect Model
  - Operations
    (5)
  - Products
    (6)
  - Contents
    (5)
  - 150
    components are possible
  - Also
    known as
    - SI
      Theory
    - Factor
      analysis
    - OPC
      Model

Operations (5)	Products (6)	Contents (5)
Cognition	Unitssingle item of knowledge	Visualperceived through seeing
2. Memory	2. Classes sets sharing common attributes	2. Auditory learning
3. Divergent Production	3. Relations units linked as opposites, associates, etc.	3. Symbolic symbols
4. Convergent Production	4. Systems multiple relationsinterrelated networks	4. Semantic meaning and ideas
5. Evaluation	5. Transformation changes – prospective, conversion or mutation of knowledge	5. Behavioural Acts
	6. Implication prediction, inferences, anticipation of knowledge

Gave emphasis to divergent
production (thinking) with 4 characteristics
- Fluency
  – great number of ideas
- Flexibility
  – variety of approaches
- Originality
  – new, novel ideas
- Elaboration
  – systematize and organise ideas
(Study Tip: F for FOE)

Cognitive Process theories

Explore specific information-processing and cognitive process that underlie intellectual ability
Robert Sternberg- Triarchic Theory of Intelligence
- psychological process and diverse intelligence
- 3 components:
- Meta components
  - Higher order processes used to plan and regulate task performance
  - Type of fluid intelligence
- Performance
  - mental processes used to perform based on experience
  - type of crystallized intelligence
- Knowledge acquisition
  - learning from experiences, store information, combine new insights and previously acquired information
  - combining crystallized and fluid intelligence
- Further 3 different classes of adaptive problem solving were suggested (APC)
  - Analytical intelligence
    - academically oriented problem solving
    - traditional intelligence
  - Practical intelligence
    - skills to cope with daily needs
  - Creative intelligence
    - mental skills for novel problems
Other theories
- Gardner’s Multiple Intelligences
  - Visuospatial intelligence
  - Interpersonal intelligence
  - Linguistic intelligence
  - Logical-mathematical intelligence
  - Natural intelligence
  - Intrapersonal intelligence
  - Bodily-kinesthetic intelligence
  - Musical intelligence
(Study Tip: VILL NIBM)
- Jensen Intelligence Theory (Arthur Jensen)
  - Level 1 (equal among races)
    - memory ability and simple associative learning
  - Level 2 (unequal among races)
    - abstract reasoning and conceptual thought
    - Whites and Asians have more
- Vernon
  - Hierarchical Model of Intelligence

Culture Fair/Free Intelligence Tests
- 1st – Army Examination Beta
- Non-verbal material
  - They include Learning Potential Assessment Device (LPAD)
  - Culture Free Self Esteem Inventories
  - Black Intelligence Tests of Cultural Homogeneity
  - Raven Progressive Matrices
- Not completely free
- Cattell’s Culture Fair
  - 1-3 scales
  - Age > 4
    - Cultural experience
    - Verbal ability
    - Educational level
    - Special education
Goleman – Emotional Intelligence
- 5 components
  - Emotional self-awareness
  - Self-regulation
  - Motivation
  - Empathy
  - Social skills
Emotional Intelligence given by John D. Mayer and Peter Salovey
- 4 components
  - Perceiving emotions nonverbally
  - Using emotions to facilitate thought
  - Understanding emotions and creating action
  - Managing emotions
- Measured by – Mayer Salovey Caruso Emotional Intelligence

Measurement of IQ

WAIS
– verbal (6) and Performance (5) = (11)
- Verbal
  & Performance
  - Information
  - Digit
    symbol
  - Comprehension
  - Picture
    completion
  - Arithmetic
  - Block
    Design
  - Similarities
  - Picture
    Arrangement
  - Letter-number
    sequencing
  - Object
    Assembly
  - Vocabulary
Psychometric standards
- Correlation
  of IQ and Academic Performances are .60 for high school
Flynn effect
- increase
  in intelligence across the world
- 3
  points per decade
Cultural measurements
- 2
  ways
  - Reasoning
    problems without any cultural knowledge base (eg. Ravens Progressive
    Matrices)
  - creating
    measures tied to specific cultures
Heredity, Intelligence and
Environment correlation coefficient
- 0.50
  – 0.70 due to genes
Group differences
- Arthur
  Jensen argued for ethnically based intelligence
- Difference
  are due to genetics of different ethnicities
Research on IQ shows:
- Japanese
  have highest IQ.
- Asian-Americans
  less than White Americans in verbal but more on spatial and mathematical
  reasoning
- Hispanic
  same as white
- African-Americans
  below white
Is intelligence testing
biased?
- 2
  types
  - a)
    Outcome bias
    - underestimation
      of a person’s true intellectual ability
  - b)
    Predictive bias
    - Successful
      measurement for some groups but not others
Sex differences in types of
intelligences
- Men
  > women on spatial tools, target directed, mathematical reasoning
- Women
  > men on perceptual speed, verbal fluency, mathematical calculations
Extremes of Intelligence
- Intellectually
  gifted have an IQ > 130
- Success
  depends on
  - highly
    developed mental abilities
  - creative
    problem solving
  - motivation
    and dedication
Mental Retardation
- Mild
  – 50 – 70
- Moderate
  – 35 – 50
- Severe
  – 20 – 35
- Profound
  – < 20

Creativity

Mel Rhodes
- 4 P’s
  - process
  - product
  - person
  - place
Wallas
- 5 stages
Guilford
- Convergent thinking
- Divergent thinking
Major approaches
- Guilford
  - based on divergent thinking (production) Fluency, Flexibility, Originality, Elaboration
  - Traits of creative people and not creative people can help distinguish
  - Many components or traits
  - Think with greater fluency
- - - ideational theory
    - associational theory
    - expressional theory
- Mednick
  - to think of an idea in a new, improbable way
  - created Remote Associates Test (RAT)
  - word finding test
    - three words are given, the idea is to think of one word that resembles all three present
- Wallas – predicting of creative thought depends on previous creative accomplishment
  - 4 processes
    - Preparation
    - Incubation
    - Illumination
    - Verification
- Terrence
  - Minnesota studies confirmed that creative boys felt alienated because:
    - sanctions against divergence
    - may not be well rounded
    - learn on their own
    - attempt difficult tasks
    - searching for a purpose
  - Terrence Test for Creative Thinking (TTCT) based on creativity process

●Threshold Theory – Intelligence is a necessary, but not sufficient condition for creativity. There is a moderate positive relationship between creativity and intelligence until IQ ~120.

●Certification Theory – Creativity is not intrinsically related to intelligence. Instead, individuals are required to meet the requisite level intelligence in order to gain a certain level of education/work, which then in turn offers the opportunity to be creative. Displays of creativity are moderated by intelligence.

●Interference Theory – Extremely high intelligence might interfere with creative ability.

Creativity and Intelligence
- Getzel and Jackson
  - When contrasting ‘high creativity’ and ‘high i.q.’ groups, it was found that the ‘high i.q.’ group was preferred by teachers
  - independent traits (adolescents)
  - Creative children do not do as well on standardized tests as there is no room for creativity.
  - used word association
  - uses of things
- hidden shape
- fables
- make up problems

Spearman
- decided separate states to creativity
- Intelligence threshold below which creativity cannot exist

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