COGNITIVE

PSYCHOLOGY

Faculty : Evangeline Supriya

Assistant Professor
 Cognitive Psychology- An introduction
 Basic concepts in Cognitive Psychology:
 Perception: Meaning Principles of perception in all modalities, Factors affecting
perception, Errors in perception.
 Attention: Meaning, Types and Theories.
 Memory - Meaning, Types and Models.
 Forgetting - Meaning, Theories and Factors affecting Forgetting.
 Learning - Meaning, Types and Theories.
 Reasoning - Meaning and Types.
 Problem Solving – Definition, Strategies and approaches in problem solving.
 Intelligence - Definition and Types
 DEFINITION OF COGNITION:
 The word ‘cognition’ is derived from the Latin word cognoscere, meaning “to know” or
“to come to know”. It includes the activities and processes concerned with the
acquisition, storage, retrieval and processing of knowledge.
 Cognitive Psychology – The branch of psychology that focuses
on the study of higher mental processes, including thinking,
language, memory, problem solving, Reasoning, judging and
decision making.
 It is the branch of psychology devoted to the scientific study of the
mind.
Cognition

Learning
 Mental Representation : Is an individuals ability to perceive information, Comprehend
it, decide and act on it depends.
 MR acts as an internal code for information which cannot be observed by others.
 Eg: CUCKOO BIRD

 The Brain and Cognitive Development :

1. Cerebellum : plays a role in higher cognitive functions such as learning.
2. Hippocampus: helps in recalling new information and recent experiences.
3. Amygdala: directs emotions.
4. Thalamus: is involved in our ability to learn new information, particularly verbal.
5. Cerebral Cortex: it allows the greatest human accomplishments, such as complex
problem solving and language.
 ATTENTION
 Attention is the process of getting an object or thought clearly before the
mind”—Ross
 It is a perceptual process where you consciously experience some specific
factors, objects, situations, events in our environment. “Being aware of a given
time.
 An act of involving, listening, concentrating on a topic objects, events and so
on.
 Attention is limited
 Attention is selective
 Attention is a basic part of the cognitive system
 Factors influencing Attention are two types
1. External factors or condition
2. Internal factors
 External Factors are:
1. Nature of the stimulus
2. Intensity and size of the stimulus
3. Contrast, Change and Variety
4. Repetition of Stimulus
5. Movement of the stimulus
 Internal Factors are:
1. Interest
2. Motives
3. Mind set
4. Moods and attitudes
TYPES OF ATTENTION
 Selective attention
 Divided attention
 Sustained attention
 Alternating Attention
 Executive attention

FUNCTIONS OF ATTENTION
1. Alerting function
2. Selective function
3. Limited capacity channel
4. Vigilance
1. Selective attention
 Selective attention is the process of focusing on a particular object in the environment for a certain
period of time.

2. Divided attention
 Being able to attend to multiple things at once will improve the learner’s ability to notice and respond
to multiple cues in his environment, thereby improving his adaptive, academic, and social
functioning.
 Dual task performance : requires an individual to perform two task (i.e., Task A and Task B)
simultaneously
3. Sustained attention: concentrate on one task for a longer period.
4. Alternating attention: is the ability to switch ones focus back and forth between tasks that requires
different cognitive demands.
5. Executive attention: blocking out unimportant features of the environment and attending to what
really matters.
 Theories of Selective Attention

Broadbent's Filter Model

Donald Broadbent developed the filter model as an extension of William James’
multi-storage paradigm.
 Broadbent proposed the notion that a filter acts as a buffer on incoming sensory
information to select what information gains conscious awareness.
 Broadbent (1958) proposed that physical characteristics of messages are used to
select one message for further processing and that all others are lost.
 The dichotic listening tasks involves simultaneously sending one message (a 3-digit number) to
a person's right ear and a different message (a different 3-digit number) to their left ear.
Participants were asked to listen to both messages irrelevant stimuli in the environment at the
same time and repeat what they heard. This is known as a 'dichotic listening task.

 One way of conceptualizing attention is to think of humans as information processors who can
only process a limited amount of information at a time without becoming overloaded.
 Broadbent and others in the 1950's adopted a model of the brain as a limited capacity
information processing system, through which external input is transmitted.
 Triesman’s Attenuation Model

 Treisman (1964) aggress with boradbent’s theory of an early bottleneck filter. However, the
difference is that treisman's filter attenuates rather than eliminates the unattended material.
Attenuation is like turning down the volume so that if you have 4 sources of sound in one room
(TV, radio, people talking, baby crying) you can turn down or attenuate 3 in order to attend to
the fourth.

 Broadbent's and Treisman's models of attention are all bottleneck models because they predict
we cannot consciously attend to all of our sensory input at the same time.
 PERCEPTION
 PERCEPTION PROCESSES
 Meaning of Perception
 Perception is our sensory experience of the world around us and involves both recognizing
environmental stimuli and actions in response to these stimuli.
 Perception includes the five senses; touch, sight, sound, smell, and taste.
 Perception refers to the way sensory information is organized, interpreted, and consciously
experienced.
 Definition
 The process by which an organism detects and interprets information from the external world by
means of the sensory receptors
 The act or the effect of perceiving
 Insight or intuition gained by perceiving
 The ability or capacity to perceive

 GESTALT LAWS OF PERCEPTUAL ORGANISATION

When stimuli occur close to one another in space and in time, they may group perceptually into
coherent, salient patterns or wholes.
 Principles of Perceptual Organisation
1. Figure-ground relationship:
 According to this principle any figure can be perceived more
meaningfully in a background and that figure cannot
be separated from that background.
2. Proximity:
Proximity means nearness. The objects which are nearer to each other can be perceived meaningfully
by grouping them.
3. Similarity:
Stimuli need not be nearer to each other for perception.
If there is similarity in these objects, they are grouped together
and perceived, even if they are away

4. Continuity:
Any stimulus which extends in the same direction or shape
5. Closure:
When a stimulus is presented with gaps, the human
tendency is to perceive that figure as complete one by
filling the gaps psychologically.

6. Symmetry:
Objects which are having symmetrical shape are perceived as groups. For example, the brackets of
different shapes shown in the figure given below is perceived meaningfully, because they are
grouped together and perceived as brackets.
 The Franz Carl Muller-Lyer Illusion is named after its creator, Franz Carl Müller-Lyer (1857 - 1916),
a German psychiatrist and sociologist,
 LEARNING

 MEANING OF LEARNING
 Learning is a key process in human behaviour.

 DEFINITION OF LEARNING
 Learning is a process of effective change in a behavior which generally produces an
improvement in our relations with our environment.
 Learning is the act of acquiring new, or modifying and reinforcing, existing knowledge,
behaviors , skills, values, or preferences and may involve synthesizing different types of
information.
 BEHAVIORAL PSYCHOLOGY
 Key Concepts of Behavioral Psychology
 Behaviorism, also known as behavioral psychology, is a theory of learning based
on the idea that all behaviors are acquired through conditioning.
 Conditioning occurs through interaction with the environment. Behaviorists
believe that our responses to environmental stimuli shape our actions

 Strict behaviorists believed that any person can potentially be trained to perform
any task, regardless of genetic background, personality traits, and internal
thoughts (within the limits of their physical capabilities). It only requires the
right conditioning.
 Behaviorism was formally established with the 1913 publication of John
B. Watson's considered the "father" of behaviorism.

 Two Types of Conditioning

 Classical conditioning and
 Operant conditioning.
 TYPES OF LEARNING
 Classical Conditioning – (Ivan P.Pavlov)
 Operant Conditioning – (B.F.Skinner)
 Observational Learning – Social Learning Theory – (Albert Bandura)
 Latent Learning – (Edward C.Tolman ) (Cognitive Approaches to Learning)
 Insight Learning
 Trial and Error
 Transfers of learning
 DETERMINANTS OF LEARNING
 Motivation
 Practice
 Environment
 Mental group
 THEORIES OF LEARNING
CLASSICAL CONDITIONING
 A Russian physiologist named Ivan Pavlov a Nobel prize in 1904 first discovered the
principles of classical conditioning during his experiments on the digestive systems of dogs.
Learning through association.

 His experiment – showed digestion started in the mouth.

 Saliva was an important part of the digestive
process.
 This led him to the discovery of the salivary
gland and the
salivary reflex.
 Classical conditioning is a technique frequently
used in behavioral training in which a
neutral stimulus is paired
with a naturally occurring stimulus.
 Classical conditioning theory involves learning a new behavior via
the process of association. In simple terms, two stimuli are linked
together to produce a newly learned response in a person or
Stages of Conditioning
 OPERANT CONDITIONING

 Operant conditioning was first described by behaviorist B.F.Skinner , which is why you
may occasionally hear it referred to as Skinnerian conditioning.

 Operant conditioning is a method of learning that

occurs through rewards and punishments for
behaviour. Through operant conditioning, an
individual makes an association between a particular
behaviour and a consequence
(Skinner, 1938).
Positive reinforcement: It strengthens a behavior by providing a consequence an individual finds it
rewarding.
 Negative reinforcement: the removal of an unpleasant reinforcer can also strengthen behavior.
 Punishment: punishment is defined as the opposite of reinforcement since it is designed to weaken
or eliminate a response rather than increase it.
Difference between Classical Conditioning and Operant Conditioning

 Operant Conditioning
 Classical Conditioning

 First described by Ivan Pavlov, a  First described by B. F. Skinner, an

Russian physiologist American psychologist

 Focuses on involuntary, automatic  Involves

behaviors applying reinforcement or punishment
after a behavior

 Involves placing a neutral signal before  Focuses on strengthening or weakening

a reflex
voluntary behaviors
 Classical conditioning involves associating an involuntary response and a stimulus,
while operant conditioning is about associating a voluntary behavior and a
consequence

 In operant conditioning, the learner is also rewarded with incentives, while classical
conditioning involves no such enticements.
 Edward Thorndike was born on August 31, 1874 in Williamsburg,
Massachusetts.
 Put forward a “Law of effect” which stated that any behavior that is
followed by pleasant consequences is likely to be repeated, and any
behavior followed by unpleasant consequences
is likely to be stopped.
 OBSERVATIONAL LEARNING

 The process of learning by watching others is called Observational learning

 It is an important part of socialization and can take place at any point in life. But, it’s
mostly common during childhood as children learn variety of behaviors and activities
through observation of their peers, family members and other authority figures in
their life. Observational learning is also referred to as vicarious reinforcement,
modelling, and shaping.
 For example: A child learns to interact with other people by observing their parents.
The parents are not teaching these behaviors directly. But, the child nevertheless,
imitates different actions by watching others. In psychology, this is exactly what
observational learning means.

 Stages of Observational Learning:

1. Attention
2. Retention/Memory
3. Motor/Initiation
4. Motivation
 FACTORS THAT INFLUENCE OBSERVATIONAL LEARNING:
1. Behaviors observed from people who are warm and nurturing towards the observer.
2. If the behavior is rewarded.
3. When imitating behaviors has been rewarding in the past.
4. Lack of confidence in one’s own abilities or knowledge.
5. When behaviors are executed by authority figures.
6. Likeminded people of same age and sex.
7. Behaviors from people who are of higher social status, and whom we admire.
8. When the situation is confusing, unfamiliar or ambiguous, imitating others’
behavior seems like the safest bet.
COGNITIVE APPROACHES TO LEARNING: INSIGHTFUL LEARNING &
LATENT LEARNING

Thus, in trial and error method, the learner makes random activities and finally reaches
the goal accidently.
The stages through which the learner has to pass are Goal, Block- hindrances, Random
Movements or multiple response, chance success, selection and Fixation.
 LATENT LEARNING

 Latent learning is a form of learning that is not immediately expressed in an overt

response. It occurs without any obvious reinforcement of the behavior or associations that
are learned.
 Latent learning also occurs in humans. Children may learn by watching the actions of their
parents but only demonstrate it at a later date, when the learned material is needed.
 Tolman was a ‘soft behaviourist’ The behaviourists’ view had been that learning took place
as a result of associations between stimuli and responses.

 Tolman suggested that learning was based on the relationships which formed amongst
stimuli. He referred to these relationships as cognitive maps.
 TRANSFERS OF LEARNING
 The word Transfer is used to describe the effects of past learning upon
present acquisition, how well and how rapidly we learn anything
depends to a large extent upon the kinds and amount of things we have
learned previously.
 Types of Transfer of Learning:
1. Positive Transfer: when learning in one situation facilitates learning in
another situation.
2. Negative Transfer : when learning in one task makes the learning of
another task harder.
3. Neutral Transfer : When learning of one activity neither facilitates
nor hinders the learning of another task. It is also called as “zero
transfer”.
 MEMORY

 MEANING OF MEMORY
 Memory is the mental system for receiving, storing, organizing, altering
and recovering the information.

 DEFINITION OF MEMORY
 “Memory is the process of maintaining information over time”- Matlin.
 “Memory is the means by which we draw on our past experiences in order
to use this information in the present”- Sternberg.
 MEMORY PROCESS: Memory processes limitless amount of information every
day, and information is stored in different forms like meaning, sounds and images.
 ENCODING:
Encoding is the first stage of memory. As the term suggests, this is the stage of memory
which accumulates all the information from the surrounding and encodes or stores it
in our brain
 Information we intake from the world around us is processed in three different forms.
 Visual (picture)
 Acoustic (sound)
 Semantic (meaning)
 STORAGE:
 This stage deals with nature of the memory where the information is stored, time
duration of the memory, the amount of information that can be stored, and type of
memory.
 Information is stored in two main parts of memory.
1. Short Term Memory (STM)
2. Long Term Memory (LTM)
Miller stated in 1956 that most adults are capable of storing within 5 to 9 items in their
STM, short term memory, and he called it the magic number 7 (plus or minus 2).
According to findings of Miller, there is limited number of slots in Short Term
Memory; however, he didn’t specify the amount of information that can be stored in
each memory slots
 RETRIEVAL:
 As the term suggests, retrieval refers to retrieving information out of our memory storage. Failure to
retrieve information is often understood as not being able to remember or recall the particular
information.
 STM is both stored and retrieved in a sequential manner. For example, let’s say a subject is given a
phone number to remember and then asked the second last number on the list. The person goes
through the number from the start to retrieve the required information.
 LTM is both stored and retrieved by association. Remembering a certain action might lead to retrieval
of information about some other actions. For instance, traveling the same road you were walking the
day before might lead you to retrieve information about the girl you had seen the day before.
 Memory organization is one of the ways to increase your ability to retrieve memory. Information can
be organized alphabetically, by time, by size, or by any other means you deem fit.
TYPES OF MEMORY
 Sensory Memory
Sensory memory holds information in a relatively raw,
unprocessed form for a short time after the physical
stimulus is no longer available

 Short-Term Memory
Short-term memory is also known as working memory. It holds only a few items (research shows a
range of 7 +/- 2 items) and only lasts for about 20 seconds.
 Long-term memories are all the memories we hold for periods of time longer than a few seconds; long-
term memory encompasses everything from what we learned in first grade to our old addresses to what
we wore to work yesterday. Long-term memory has an incredibly vast storage capacity, and some
memories can last from the time they are created until we die.

 There are many types of long-term memory.

1. Explicit or declarative memory
2. Procedural/implicit memory
MEMORY MODELS: ATKINSON AND SHIFFRIN MODEL, NEURAL NETWORK MODELS

 ATKINSON AND SHIFFRIN MODEL

 Atkinson and Shiffrin proposed a multi-store model made up of 3 storage registers.
 Sensory Memory (SM)
 Short-Term Memory (STM)
 Long-Term Memory (LTM)
They describe a process where information from the environment enters via senses, moves to the short-
term memory register, and then progresses to the long-term memory register.
It gets the dual-store title because the researchers consider short-term and long-term memory as disparate
units of storage.
 As per the model, information needs to be attended to and then encoded (changing its
form) to go into long-term storage. Information can be forgotten from any of the 3
registers. Once information is in the STM, it can be recalled. For it to move to long-
term memory, STM contents need to be rehearsed and thereby strengthened. To recall
information that has transferred to LTM, retrieval is necessary to bring it back into
STM and then recalled.
 Sensory Memory - We take in enormous amounts of information through our senses
but the vast majority of it cannot be processed correctly due to the limitations of our
memory. Information not attended to immediately is held in our sensory
memory which holds onto this knowledge for a very short period of time.
 Short term Memory: This relates to memories of information which is retained by
our senses long enough for it to be used.
 An example of this is a telephone number which needs to be remembered before
being dialled.
 Long term Memory: The Atkinson-Shiffrin model believed that STM could be
transferred to Long-Term Memory (LTM) if the information was processed and
learned fast enough. LTM has a limitless capacity and is capable of lasting a lifetime
 Mnemonics are memory devices that help learners recall larger pieces of
information, especially in the form of lists like characteristics, steps, stages, parts,
phases, etc.
 TYPES OF MNEMONICS
1. Imagery
2. Organization
3. Chunking
4. Hierarchy
5. First letter technique
6. First word technique
7. Key word
8. Sentence formation
 FORGETTING

 FORGETTING : it refers to failure to either recall or retain information into present consciousness.
 The following points highlight the eight main causes of forgetting:
1. Inadequate Impression at the Time of Learning
2. Laps of Time
3. Interference
4. Lack of Rest and Sleep
5. Poor Health and Defective Mental State
6. Nature of the Material Learned
7. Methods Used to Learn
8. Raise in Emotion.
 THEORIES OF FORGETTING

1. CUE- DEPENDENT FORGETTING OR RETRIEVAL FAILURE THEORY

2. INTERFERENCE THEORY – a) Proactive interference : is when older memories interfere with
the retrieval of newer memories.
b) Retroactive Interference: is when newer memories interfere with the
retrieval of older memories.

3. TRACE DECAY THEORY

 THINKING
 DEFINITIONS OF THINKING
 Ross :“Thinking is a mental activity in its cognitive aspect or mental activity with regard to
psychological aspects”.
 The process of thought forming through three stages are as follows:
1. Analysis of the characteristics of similar objects
2. Comparison
3. Abstraction
a) Opinion formation
 Affirmative or positive opinion
 Negative opinion
 Modalities are opinions
 TYPES OF THINKING:
1. Perceptual or Concrete Thinking
2. Conceptual or Abstract Thinking
3. Reflective Thinking
4. Creative Thinking
5. Critical Thinking
 TOOLS FOR THINKING:
1. Images
2. Concepts
3. Prototypes
4. Symbols
5. Language
CONVERGENT THINKING
Joy Paul Guilford, an American psychologist, coined the term “convergent
thinking”. It refers to figuring out a certain established solution to a
problem.
 Manning explained: It is associated with analysis, judgment, and decision-
making. It is the process of taking a lot of ideas and sorting them,
evaluating them, analyzing the pros and cons, and making decisions,”
 The characteristics of convergent thinking are
1. Fast
2. Precise
3. Logical
 DIVERGENT THINKING
 Divergent thinking is the process of thinking that explores multiple possible solutions in order to
generate creative ideas. This thought process is not as straight forward as convergent thinking but used
in conjunction with it.
 The term “divergent” refers to developing in different directions,

 The characteristics of divergent thinking include:

1. Instinctual
2. Free-flowing
3. Complex
 REASONING
 MEANING AND DEFINITION
Reason is the capacity for consciously making sense of things, applying logic, establishing and verifying
facts, and changing or justifying practices, institutions, and beliefs based on new or existing
information.
“Reasoning is the word used to describe the mental recognition of cause and effect relationships, it may
be the prediction of an event from an observed cause or the inference of a cause from an observed
event”—Skinner.
 TYPES OF REASONING:
a. Inductive reasoning: Inductive reasoning makes broad generalizations from specific observations
Eg: The coin I pulled from the bag is a penny. That coin is a penny. A third coin from the bag is a penny.
Therefore, all the coins in the bag are pennies.
 Deductive reasoning, or deduction, starts out with a general statement, or hypothesis,
and examines the possibilities to reach a specific, logical conclusion,
 Eg: "All men are mortal. Harold is a man. Therefore, Harold is mortal.“
 DEFINITIONS OF DECISION MAKING
 Decision making is the cognitive process leading to the selection of a course of
action among alternatives. Every decision-making process produces a final choice.
 Steps of Decision Making:
1. Define the problem
2. Analysing the problem
3. Developing alternative solutions
4. Selecting the best type of alternative
5. Implementation of the decision
6. Follow up
7. Monitoring and feedback
 DECISION MAKING STYLES:
1. Directive Style
2. Analytical Style
3. Conceptual Style
4. Behavioural Style
 CREATIVITY AND PROBLEM SOLVING

 MEANING OF CREATIVITY
 Creativity happens when someone comes up with a creative idea.
 Creativity is the ability to generate, create, or discover new ideas,
solutions, and possibilities.
 Very creative people often have intense knowledge about something,
work on it for years, look at novel solutions, seek out the advice and
help of other experts, and take risks.
 The first criterion is originality. The idea must have a low probability.
 The second criterion is usefulness. The idea should be valuable or work.
 The third and last criterion is surprise. The idea should be surprising, or at least nonobvious.

 DEFINITION OF CREATIVITY
a. Creativity is derived from the word ‘creo’ meaning – ‘to create’ or ‘to make’.
b. Spearman (1931): Creativity is the power of human mind to create new contents by transforming
relations and generating new correlates”.

 COMPONENTS OF CREATIVITY:
a. Originality: Originality refers to the production of a new idea, without any particular care for whether
these ideas will be useful or not
b. Functionality: A creative idea must work and produce results, otherwise, the whole effort will be in
vain.
 STEPS IN CREATIVE THINKING
1. Preparation
2. Incubation
3. Illumination
4. Verification
 MODELS OF CREATIVITY: FOUR C MODEL OF CREATIVITY,
 Dr. James C. Kaufman and Dr. Ronald Beghetto have identified four developmental
levels of creativity.
 4C MODEL OF CREATIVITY
1. The mini – c level of creativity
Creativity is inherent in learning. Any time one attempts a new task, there is a level of
creativity involved. At the mini-c level of creativity, what one creates might not be
revolutionary, but it is new and meaningful to them.
2. The little-c level of creativity
The little-c level of creativity reflects an aspect of growth from the mini-c level.
With appropriate feedback, advancements are made and what was created might be
of value to others.
3. THE PRO-C LEVEL OF CREATIVITY
At this level, one has the ability to be creative at a professional level and in a professional
venue.
4. THE BIG-C LEVEL OF CREATIVITY
Those at the Big-C level will be remembered in the history books. The Big-C level includes
an evaluation of one’s entire career and entire body of work and then evaluates the entire
body of work against other great contributors and decides where one fits in.

 J.P. GUILDFORD MODEL OF CREATIVITY

 One of the earliest models of creativity was created by a man named J. P.

Guilford. Originally, Guilford was trying to create a model for intellect as a whole, but in
doing so also created a model for creativity. Guilford hypothesized that every mental task
was made up of three separate parts: an operation, a content, and a product
 OBSTACLES TO CREATIVE THINKING
1. Lack of Direction from Yourself or Others
2. Being Afraid of Failure
3. Being Afraid of Rejection
4. Never Changing or Adapting to the Situation
5. Not Thinking Proactively
6. You Rationalize and Never Improve

 ENHANCING TECHNIQUES OF CREATIVITY

1. Daydream: Think in the abstract
2. Collaborate: Bounce your ideas off someone.
3. Emulate: Find inspiration from “the Greats
4. Meditate: Discipline your mind
5. Experiment: Be creative in other ways.
 PROBLEM-SOLVING
 MEANING OF PROBLEM SOLVING
Problems are at the center of what many people do at work every day. Whether you're
solving a problem for a client (internal or external), supporting those who are solving
problems, or discovering new problems to solve, the problems you face can be large
or small, simple or complex, and easy or difficult.
Problem-solving is a mental process that involves discovering, analysing and solving
problems. The ultimate goal of problem-solving is to overcome obstacles and find a
solution that best resolves the issue.
 STEPS IN PROBLEM SOLVING
1. Identifying the Problem
2. Defining/Understanding the Problem
3. Forming a Strategy
4. Organizing Information
5. Monitoring Progress
6. Evaluating the Results
 METACOMPONENTS OF PROBLEM SOLVING:
1. Recognition
2. Definition
3. Representation of problems

 STRATEGIES IN PROBLEM SOLVING:

1. Heuristics
2. Algorithms
3. Trial & error
4. Insight
 OBSTACLES TO PROBLEM SOLVING
1. Confirmation bias
2. Mental set
3. Functional fixedness
 MODULE -V
INTELLIGENCE

 IQ—or intelligence quotient—is the score most widely used to assess intelligence,
and typically measures a variety of skills from verbal to spatial.

 MEANING OF INTELLIGENCE
 Intelligence, mental quality that consists of the abilities to learn from experience,
adapt to new situations, understand and handle abstract concepts, and use knowledge
to manipulate one’s environment.
 DEFINITION OF INTELLIGENCE
 According to David Wechsler, Intelligence is the aggregate or global capacity of
the individual to act purposefully, to think rationally and to deal effectively with his
environment.
 FACTORS AFFECTING INTELLIGENCE
 Biological Factors
 Environmental Factors
 THEORIES OF INTELLIGENCE: SPEARMAN (TWO-FACTOR THEORY)
According to Spearman intelligence is the ability to think constructively.
The English psychologist, Charles Spearman (1863-1945), in 1904 proposed his theory of intelligence
called two-factor theory. According to him intellectual abilities are comprised of two factors, namely;
the General Ability known as G-factor and Specific Abilities known as S-factors.
 Characteristics of ‘G’ Factor:
1. It is universal inborn ability.
2. It is general mental energy.
3. It is constant.
4. The amount of ‘g’ differs from individual to individual.
5. It is used in every activity of life.
6. Greater the ‘g’ in an individual, greater is his success in life.
 Characteristics of ‘S’ Factor:
1. It is learned and acquired in the environment.
2. It varies from activity to activity in the same individual.
3. Individuals differ in the amount of ‘S’ ability.
 THURSTONE (PRIMARY MENTAL ABILITIES)
 Thurston’s Group Factor Theory
 Louis Thurston came out with the group factor theory (1937) saying that Intelligence is a cluster of
abilities
 He pointed out that there were Seven Primary Mental Abilities and later on added
two more. They are:
1. Verbal comprehension Factor
2. Verbal fluency Factor
3. Numerical Factor
4. Perceptual speed Factor
5. Inductive reasoning Factor
6. Spatial visualization Factor
7. Memory Factor
 STERNBERG TRIARCHIC THEORY
 The tri-archic theory by Sternberg categorized intelligence into three different aspects.
 Componential – Analytic skills
 Experiential – Creativity
 Practical – Contextual skills
 Sternberg believed intelligence to be a much more complex subject matter, which lead him to propose
a theory dealing with the cognitive approach to intelligence theory rather than a behaviouristic view
point. He believed that a person’s adaptation to the changing environment and his contribution of
knowledge in shaping the world around them had a significant importance in determining their
intelligence.
 Sternberg also argued that intelligent tests were wrong to ignore creativity, and there are always other
important characteristics like cognitive processes, performance components, planning and decision-
making skills, and so on.

 In triarchic theory of intelligence, is defined in terms of the ability to achieve success in life based on
one's personal standards–and within one's sociocultural context. The ability to achieve success
depends on the ability to capitalize on one's strengths and to correct or compensate for one's
weaknesses. Success is attained through a balance of analytical, creative, and practical abilities–a
balance that is achieved in order to adapt to, shape, and select environments.
 Three Aspects of Intelligence:
 Analytical intelligence: Analytical intelligence is involved when the components of
intelligence are applied to analyse, evaluate, judge, or compare and contrast.
 Creative intelligence: creativity is relatively, although not wholly, domain-specific.
In other words, people are frequently creative in some domains, but not in others.

 Practical intelligence: involves individuals applying their abilities to the kinds of

problems that confront them in daily life, such as on the job or in the home.
 GUILDFORD (STRUCTURE OF INTELLECT MODEL)
 J.P. Guilford developed a model of intelligence (1966) using factor analysis. He outlines topography of
the structure of intellect, providing an integrated rationale for describing the many dimension of
intellectual performance.
 He suggests that there are three basic parameters along which any intellectual activity takes place.
These are:
 Operations – the act of thinking
 Contents – the terms in which we think, and
 Products – the ideas we come up with.
 Guilford identified 5 operations, 5 contents and 6 products. Thus the maximum number of factors in
terms of the different possible combination s of these dimensions will be 5x5x6 = 150.
 Operations: It consists of five major groups of intellectual abilities.
1. Cognition: It refers to discovery, rediscovery or recognition.
2. Memory: Simply remembering what was once known.
3. Convergent Thinking: This type of thinking, by reasoning, results in useful solution to problems.
4. Divergent Thinking: This is thinking in different directions, seeking and searching some variety
and novelty.
5. Evaluation: It is reaching decisions or making judgments about information.
 Content: A Second way of classifying the intellectual factor is according to the kind of material or
content involved. It involves five factors:
1. Visual Content: It is concrete material which is perceived through our senses, i.e. size, form, colour,
etc.
2. Auditory Content: It consists of language, speech, sounds, music and words
3. Symbolic Content: It is composed of letters, digits, and other conventional signs.
4. Semantic Content: It is in the forms of verbal meanings or ideas which we get from others.
5. Behavioural Content: It means social behaviour in society.
 Products: When a certain operation is applied to certain kind of content as many as six kinds of
products may be involved.
1. Units: Understanding the meaning of words, visual, auditory and symbolic units.
2. Classes: It means classification of words and ideas.
3. Relations: It implies discovering relations of words and ideas.
4. Systems: The ability to structure objects in space and to structure symbolic elements and to
formulate problems.
5. Transformation: The ability to look into the future lines of development or to suggest changes in
the existing situations.
6. Implications: The ability to utilize present information for future ends.
CATTELL (FLUID AND CRYSTALLIZED)
 Psychologist Raymond Cattell first proposed the concepts of fluid and crystallized intelligence and
further developed the theory with his student John Horn. The Cattell-Horn theory of fluid and
crystallized intelligence suggests that intelligence is composed of different abilities that interact and
work together to produce overall individual intelligence.

 Fluid Intelligence
Fluid intelligence refers to the ability to reason, analyse, and solve problems. When we use fluid
intelligence, we aren’t relying on any pre-existing knowledge. Instead, we are using logic, pattern
recognition, and abstract thinking to solve new problems.
 Crystallized Intelligence
Crystallized intelligence refers to the knowledge you acquire through experience and education. When
you use crystallized intelligence, you reference your pre-existing knowledge: facts, skills, and
information you learned in school or from past experience.

 GARDENER (MULTIPLE INTELLIGENCE)

 Howard Gardner of Harvard has identified seven distinct intelligences.
Gardner says that these differences "challenge an educational system that assumes that everyone can learn
the same materials in the same way and that a uniform, universal measure suffices to test student
learning.
 The learning styles are as follows:
1. Visual-Spatial
2. Bodily-kinesthetic
3. Musical
4. Interpersonal
5. Intrapersonal
6. Linguistic
7. Logical -Mathematical
 CONCEPT OF IQ, COMPARING IQ AND EQ
 Stanford-Binet Intelligence Test : The Stanford-Binet intelligence test used a single number, known as
the intelligence quotient (or IQ), to represent an individual's score on the test.
 Definition of IQ
 Intelligence Quotient, shortly known as IQ is an intelligent test score, obtained by a standardised
intelligence test in which an individual’s mental age is divided by his chronological age and then
multiplied by 100. The test aims at assessing a person’s cognitive capacity of thinking and reasoning.
The term was first introduced by William Stern.
Formulae : MA/CA ×100
 Definition of EQ
 EQ- Emotional Quotient, which is defined as a person’s capability of identifying his own and other’s
person’s emotions. It is a measure of the emotional intelligence level of an individual, which
demarcates between different feelings and use this intelligence to guide thinking and behaviour.
 The term was first evolved in 1995, by Daniel Goleman a psychologist in his book on Emotional
Intelligence. It is the ability of a person to identify, express and control his/her thoughts and actions,
understand other people and rightly interpret their situations, make right and quick decisions, cope
with pressures and crisis and so on
 IQ score ranges. Some tests present scores differently and with differing interpretations
of what those scores might mean.

These classifications come from the Wechsler series of IQ tests for children and adults.

IQ Classifications

IQ Level Descriptive Classification

130 Very Superior
120 to 129 Superior
110 to 119 High Average
90 to 109 Average
80 to 89 Low Average
70 to 79 Borderline
69 and below Intellectual Disability