Week 9 Intelligence Heuristics and Bias

PSY-101:
Principles of

Chapter 8

Chapter 8:
Thinking and Intelligence

COGNITION
In other words, thinking

We organize our thinking by:

Building Concepts
● Mental groupings of similar objects, events, or people
● Allow us to organize complex things into simpler categories

Developing Prototypes
● Best example or representation of a concept
● E.g., Eagle may be my prototypical bird, not Ostrich

HOW DO WE SOLVE PROBLEMS?
Three main approaches that use our concepts and prototypes:

● Trial and Error
○ Try different solutions until the problem is solved

● Algorithms
○ Applicable to formula/equation-type problems
○ If used the right way, guarantees correct solution
○ Time consuming but accurate

● Heuristics
○ General strategy that has been used in a similar situation
○ Saves time and energy, but can be entirely inaccurate

COMMON HEURISTIC ERRORS
Anchoring Heuristic

● You make a decision by focusing on a certain piece of information (an “anchor”)
● Keeps you from recognizing the importance and value of other information

Availability Heuristic
● You judge the probability of an event based upon how “available” memories of that

event are in your long-term memory
● Keeps you from recognizing actual statistical probabilities

Representativeness Heuristic
● You judge people, places, and behaviors based upon your existing

“representations” of those things in your concepts (this is STEREOTYPING!)
● Keeps you from recognizing that people, places, and behaviors are all unique and

may not fit some stereotype that you have

USEFUL HEURISTICS
● Work backwards

○ Focus on the end result first, and “work backward” from there
○ Can give us a new perspective on the solution

● Create subgoals
○ Break problem into a set of smaller steps
○ Large problems become more manageable as you work

through the smaller steps

PROBLEM-SOLVING PROBLEMS
Functional Fixedness

● Tendency to think of an object only in terms of its typical use
● Lack creativity

Mental Sets
● Tendency for old patterns of problem solving to persist, even in the

face of repeated failure

Confirmation Bias
● Tendency to focus on, and search out, information that “confirms”

your existing beliefs
● Ignore information that contradicts your existing beliefs

INTELLIGENCE
Capacity to understand the world, think rationally, and use
resources effectively when faced with challenges

Two contemporary theories of intelligence:

● Gardner’s Multiple Intelligences
○ Breaks intelligence into (at least) eight different intelligences

● Sternberg’s Triarchic Theory of Intelligence
○ Breaks intelligence into three parts that relate to one’s success in

life, not just school

GARDNER’S
MULTIPLE

INTELLIGENCES

STERNBERG’S TRIARCHIC THEORY

CREATIVITY
Ability to generate or discover new ideas, solutions, and
possibilities

● A part of Sternberg’s theory of intelligence!

Divergent Thinking
● Process of arriving at multiple unique solutions to a

given problem
● Thinking “outside the box”

MEASURING INTELLIGENCE
● Traditionally done through an IQ (Intelligence Quotient) Test

○ Assumes intelligence is a singular factor though most
contemporary psychologists agree that intelligence is
multidimensional

○ Hyperfocus on Gardner’s logical-reasoning and linguistic
intelligences and Sternberg’s analytical Intelligence

○ Culturally biased and discriminates against minority-group
members whose experiences differ from the white majority

○ Still widely used in educational and clinical settings to
identify those who may benefit from extra attention/help

THE SOURCE OF INTELLIGENCE
As with pretty much EVERYTHING… it’s a result of a
complex interaction between our Nature and Nurture

● We inherit a predisposition for a certain “level” of intelligence
from our biological parents
○ NATURE

● This predisposition is either facilitated or inhibited as a result
of our environmental experiences
○ NURTURE