Chapter 1 Flashcards
Cognitive Schema
An integrated mental network of knowledge, beliefs and expectations concerning a particular topic or aspect of the world
Mental image
A mental representation that mirrors or resembles the thing it represents; mental images occur in many and perhaps all sensory modalities.
Subconscious processing
Mental processes occupied outside of conscious awareness but accessible to consciousness when necessary.
Non conscious processing
Mental processes occur outside of and not available to conscious awareness
Implicit Learning
Learning that occurs when you acquire knowledge about something without being aware of how you did so and without being able to state exactly what is is you have learned
Basic concepts
Concepts that have a moderate number of instances and that are easier to acquire than those having few or many instances
Deductive reasoning
A form of reasoning in which a conclusion follows necessarily from certain premises; if the premises are true the conclusion must be true.
Indicative reasoning
A form of reasoning in which the premises provide support for a conclusion, but it is still possible for the conclusion to be false.
Dialectical reasoning
A process in which opposing facts and ideas are compared with a view to determining the best solution or resolving differences.
Affect Heuristic
The tendency to consults ones emotions instead of estimating probabilities objectively.
Availability heuristic
The tendency to judge the probability of a type of event by how easy it is to think of examples of instances.
Framing effect
The tendency of people’s choices to be affected by how a choice is presented, or framed ; for example whether it is worded in terms of potential losses or gains.
Hindsight bias
The tendency to overestimate ones ability to have predicted an event once the outcome is known; “I knew it all along”
Mental set
A tendency to solve problems using procedures that worked before on similar problems.
Cognitive dissonance
A states of tension that occurs when a person holds two cognitions that are psychologically inconsistent, or when a persons belief is incongruent with their behavior
Post decision dissonance
Tension when you believe you may have made the wrong decision.
Justification of Effort
The tendency of individual’s to increase their liking for something that they would have worked hard or suffered to attain; a common form of dissonance reduction.
Intelligence
An inferred characteristic of an individual, usually defined as the ability to profit from experience, acquire knowledge, think abstractly, acts purposely or adapt to changes in the environment.
Psychometrics
The measurement of mental abilities, traits and processes.
Factor analysis
A statistical method for analyzing the intercorrelations among various measures or test scores; clusters or scores that are highly correlated are assumed to measure the same underlying trait, ability or aptitude.
G factor
A general intellectual ability assumed by many theorist to underline specific mental abilities and talents.
Mental age
A measure of mental development expressed in terms of the average mental ability at a given age.
Intelligence quotient (IQ)
A measure of intelligence originally computed by dividing ones mental age by his chronological age and multiplying by 100; now it is derived from norms provided for standardized intelligence tests.
Triarchic theory of intelligence
A theory of intelligence the emphasizes information processing strategies, the ability to creatively transfer skills to new situations, and the practical application of intelligence.
Meta cognition
The knowledge or awareness of ones own cognitive processes, and the ability to monitor and control these processes.
Tactic knowledge
Strategies for success that are not explicitly taught but that instead must be inferred.
Emotional intelligence
The ability to identify your own and other people’s emotions accurately, express your own emotions clearly, and regulate emotions in yourself and others.
Theory of mind
A system of beliefs about the way ones own mind and the minds of others work, and of how individuals are affected by their beliefs and feelings.
