Chapter 7 focuses on cognitive psychology, the branch of psychology that focuses on the study of higher mental processes, including thinking, language, memory, problem solving, knowing, reasoning, judging, and decision making.
This chapter concentrates on three broad topics: thinking and reasoning, problem solving, and creativity and language. First, we consider concepts and various kinds of reasoning. Next the chapter examines problem solving strategies and how different strategies, such as creativity and skill at making judgments about solutions, may be useful. Finally, a discussion on how language is developed and acquired is presented.
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Prologue: House Calls in Space
Looking Ahead
Section 1: Thinking and Reasoning
Mental Images: Examining the Mind's Eye
Concepts: Categorizing the World
Solving Problems
Becoming an Informed Consumer of Psychology:
Thinking Critically and CreativelyApplying Psychology in the 21st Century:Can We Learn to be Better Thinkers?
Section 2: Language
Grammar: Language's Language
Language Development: Developing a Way with Words
Understanding Language Acquisition: Identifying the Roots of Language
The Influence of Language on Thinking: Do Eskimos Have More Words for Snow Than Texans Have?
Do Animals Use Language?
Section 3: Intelligence
Measuring Intelligence
Applying Psychology in the 21st Century: When a High IQ Keeps You from Getting a Job: Are You Too Smart for the Job You Want?
Are There Different Kinds of Intelligence?
Variations in Intellectual Ability
Individual Differences in Intelligence: Hereditary and
Environmental Determinants
Exploring Diversity: The Relative Influence of Heredity
and of Environment: Nature, Nurture, and IQ.
Placing the Heredity-Environment Question in Perspective
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