7B- Cognition: Thinking and Learning Flashcards
Mental groupings of similar objects, events, ideas, or people
Concepts
The mental activities associated with thinking, knowing, remembering, and communicating
Cognition
A mental image or best example of a category
Prototype
A methodical, logical rule or procedure that guarantees solving a particular problem; step-by-step; you will find the answer, but it is time consuming
Algorithm
A simple thinking strategy that often allows us to make judgements and solve problems efficiently; faster process, but not guaranteed to solve the problem
Heuristic
A sudden and novel realization of the solution to a problem
Insight
The ability to produce novel and valuable ideas
Creativity
- expertise
- intrinsic motivation
- creative environment
- imaginative thinking skills
- venturesome personality
Sternberg’s five components to creativity
A tendency to search for information that supports our preconceptions and to ignore or distort contradictory evidence
Confirmation bias
The inability to see a problem from a new perspective, by employing a different mental set
Fixation
A tendency to approach a problem in one particular way, often a way that has been successful in the past
Mental set
The tendency to think of things only in terms of their usual functions; an impediment to problem solving
Functional fixedness
Judging the likelihood of things in terms of how well they seem to represent particular prototypes; may lead us to ignore other relevant information
Representative heuristic
Estimating the likelihood of events based on their availability in memory; if instances come readily to mind, we presume such events are common
Availability heuristic
The tendency to be more confident than correct
Overconfidence
Clinging to one’s initial conceptions after the basis on which they were formed has been discredited
Belief perseverance
An effortless, immediate, automatic feeling or thought, as contrasted with explicit, conscious reasoning
Intuition
The way an issue is posed; how an issue is framed can significantly affect decisions and judgements
Framing
Our spoken, written, or signed words and the ways we combine them to communicate meaning
Language
The smallest distinctive sound unit in language
Phoneme
In language, the smallest unit that carries meaning
Morpheme
In language, a system of rules that enable us to communicate with and understand others
Grammar
The set of rules by which we derive meaning from morphemes, words, and sentences; the study of meaning
Semantics
The rules for combining words into grammatically sensible sentences in a given language
Syntax
Ability to comprehend speech
Receptive language
Ability to produce words
Productive language
Beginning at 4 months, the stage in which the infant spontaneously utters various sounds at first unrelated to the household language
Babbling stage
From ages 1-2, the stage during which a child speaks mostly in single words
One-word stage
Beginning at age 2, the stage during which a child speaks mostly two-word statements
Two-word stage
Early speech stage in which a child speaks like a telegram using mostly nouns and verbs
Telegraphic speech
- Associations (sights with sounds)
- imitation (words with syntax)
- reinforcement (actions with emotions)
Skinner’s learning principles
- language acquisition device
- universal grammar
Chomsky
We speak certain sounds together based on how often we hear the sounds together and in what order
Statistical learning
The best time to master certain aspects of language
Critical (sensitive) period- childhood
Whorf’s hypothesis that language determines the way we think
Linguistic determinism
Bilingual children, who learn to inhibit one language while using the other, are better able to inhibit their attention to irrelevant information
Bilingual advantage
Apes and monkey can form _____
Concepts
Some animals are able to display the ability to _____ ______
Solve problems
Chimps have become _______ ______ _____
Natural tool users
Studied chimps’ ability to remember and relate numbers; chimp’s name of which he studied is Ai taps
Matsuzawa
A grey parrot who could comprehend numbers up to six
Alex
Chimps invent ______ and transmit _____ _____ to their peers and offspring
Behaviors; cultural patterns
Animals _____
Communicate
A border collie who can fetch 200 items by name; he can also pick out a novel item from among a group of familiar items
Rico
An ape that Learned sign language
Washoe
Apes usually sign _____ words! but sometimes they _____ words ______
Single; string; together
An ape who Herbert Terrace believed only signed to get rewards
Nim Chimsky
A baby ape who learned signs from Washoe
Loulis
An ape who seems to have grammatical abilities similar to a 2 year old human baby
Kanzi
Prohibiting the use of gestures disrupts _____
Speech
Blind people still _____ ______ even among other blind people
Use gestures
Language designed to alter our perception and corrupt our thinking
Doublespeak
Specialized language of our trade or profession
Jargon
Inoffensive or positive words used to avoid a harsh or distasteful reality
Euphemism
Pile on words or overwhelming the audience, either because of carelessness or by design
Gobbledygook
An attempt to make the ordinary seem extraordinary
Inflated language
