PSY 1012 Final Exam Review

Chapter 8: Cognition, Language, and Creativity 1. Identify common barriers to problem solving. P. 276 -Emotional barriers: Inhibition and fear of making a fool of oneself, fear of making a mistake, inability to tolerate ambiguity, excessive self-criticism. Ex. An architect is afraid to try an unconventional design because she fears that other architects will think it is frivolous. -Cultural barriers: Values that hold that fantasy is a waste of time; that playfulness is for children only; that reason, logic, and numbers are good; that feelings, intuitions, pleasure, and humor are bad or have no value in the serious business of problem solving. Ex. A corporate manager wants to solve a business problem but becomes stern and angry when members of his marketing team joke playfully about possible solutions. -Learned barriers: Conventions about uses (functional fixed-ness), meanings, possibilities, taboos. Ex. A cook doesn’t have any clean mixing bowls and fails to see that she could use a pot as a bowl -Perceptual barriers: Habits leading to a failure to identify important elements of a problem. Ex. A beginning artist concentrates on drawing a vase of flowers without seeing that the “empty” spaces around the vase are part of the composition too. Chapter 9: Intelligence 1. Who developed the first intelligence test and for what purpose? P. 290 Alfred Binet. Purpose: They could tell whether a child was performing up to his or her potencial 2. Identify average, below average, and gifted intelligence quotients. P. 296-297 Giftedness High IQ's in the top 1%/2% range