chapter 7 - slides 1 to 26

Question 1

What is cognitive psychology? (define cognition and then cognitive psychology)

Answer 1

cognition=thinking
- Perception
- Knowledge
- Problem-solving
- Judgement
- Language
- Memory

Question 2

Define steps of cognition.

Answer 2

Information sensations, emotions and memories, thoughts, behaviour

Question 3

Is most of cognition automatic?

Answer 3

yes!

Question 4

How does the brain organize information?

Answer 4

By concepts and prototypes.

Question 5

Define concepts.

Answer 5

Categories of linguistic information, images, ideas, or
memories. Based on semantic information. (like bins of information - folders in different classes but in our brain)
- Can be complex and abstract (e.g. love) or concrete (e.g. dog).

Question 6

Define semantic information.

Answer 6

literal information about work you take in (Semantics is the study of linguistic meaning)

Question 7

Define prototype.

Answer 7

-the “best” (relative of experiences, culture, etc.) example or representation of a concept.

Question 8

Give an example of prototype.

Answer 8

Love: what read in books, issue is that best is not same for everyone, problematic because we can be rigid on concepts (stereotyping)
Dog: photo of dog Berger almand vs rat (experiences, make adjustments to combat it)

Question 9

Contrast natural and artificial concepts.

Answer 9

Natural concepts:
- Created “naturally” through either direct or indirect experience.
- More reliant on prototypes
- E.g. animals, plants, weather, natural objects
Artificial concepts:
- Human created
- Defined by a specific set of characteristics.
- Less reliant on prototypes
- E.g. shapes, scientific categories, technical terms

Question 10

Define schemata.

Answer 10

Schema – a mental construct consisting of a collection of related
concepts.
* Help us understand the world
* Navigate social situations
* Predict outcomes
* Automatically engaged

Question 11

What are two schemas of social situations?

Answer 11

role and event schema

Question 12

Describe role schema. (+give an example)

Answer 12

Role schemas: cognitive
frameworks that represent our
expectations about how people
in certain roles are supposed to
behave
* Based on people
* Expected behaviours based on
their roles
example: police: safety, tickets, authority, helpful (depends on experiences)

Question 13

Describe event schemas (cognitive scripts) +give an example

Answer 13

• Event schemas: cognitive
  frameworks that represent our
  expectations for sequences of
  actions in specific situations or
  events.
• Based on situations (events)
• Predictable
• Culture specific

example: elevator example, also restaurants, classrooms, funerals, etc.

Question 14

What does language have to do with our
thoughts?

Answer 14

-to understand each other
-way language is constructed

Question 15

Define language.

Answer 15

Language – a communication system that involves using words and systematic rules to organize those words to transmit information from one individual to another.

Question 16

What are the 6 components of language and define each.

Answer 16

Lexicon – the words of a given language.
Grammar – the set of rules that are used to convey meaning through the use of
the lexicon.
Phoneme – a basic sound unit (ah, eh,).
Morphemes – the smallest units of language that convey some type of
meaning.
Language is constructed through semantics and syntax.
Semantics – the meaning we derive from morphemes and words.
Syntax – the way words are organized into sentences.

Question 17

Let’s look at the structure of the English language…
What is a phoneme?

Answer 17

Phoneme: Smallest unit
of sound that is
recognizable as speech
rather than random
noise

Question 18

What is a phonological rule?

Answer 18

Phonological rules: how
phonemes can be
combined to produce
speech sounds

Question 19

What are morphemes and morphological rules?

Answer 19

Morphemes: The smallest meaningful units of language
* Morphological rules: Set of rules that indicate how morphemes
can be combined to form words

Question 20

What is the difference between free morphemes and bound morphemes?

Answer 20

Free morpheme: a word that can stand alone
* Duck
* Bound morpheme: must be combines with another morpheme
(-er,
-s, -ing, un-, re-…)
* Duckling (ling)

Question 21

What are the different units of the English language?

Answer 21

phonemes bottom of pyramid, words or morphemes, phrases and sentence

Question 22

Let’s look into the different theories of language development. What is behaviourism explanation?

Answer 22

Behaviourist explanation: language is learned through
operant conditioning and imitation (some level of reward, baby makes sound for example, rewarding for you and the baby, reward motivates, baby will want to learn language)

Question 23

What is nativist explanation?

Answer 23

• Nativist explanation: Noam Chomsky argue that language is innate
• Universal Grammar: proposes that all humans are born with an innate
  ability to learn language that is hardwired into our brains
• Language acquisition device (LAD): Theoretical collection of mental
  processes that facilitate language learning.
• Children do not need to be explicitly taught language; they only need
  exposure to linguistic input, and their LAD will help them grasp the
  underlying rules of that language
  -JUST HEARING LANGUAGE CAN BE ENOUGH TO LEARN

Question 24

What did Noam Chomsky propose?

Answer 24

Noam Chomsky – proposed that the mechanisms underlying
language acquisition are biologically determined.
- Language develops in the absence of formal instruction.
- Language acquisition follows similar patterns in children from
different cultures/backgrounds.

Question 25

What is the critical period?

Answer 25

Critical period – proficiency at acquiring language is maximal early
in life.
- Being deprived of language during the critical period impedes the
ability to fully acquire and use language.

Question 26

What is a case that describes the importance of the critical period?

Answer 26

Case Study of Genie:
Critical Periods
-the effects of language deprivation during the critical period can be seen in the case study of Genie.

Question 27

What is interactionist explanations?

Answer 27

• Interactionist explanations
  argue that social interactions
  play a crucial role in
  language
• Social experience interacts
  with innate, biological
  language abilities

Question 28

What are the stages of language and communication development?

Answer 28

LOOK AT SLIDE 19!

Question 29

Let’s look at problem-solving strategies.
Define trial and error, algorithm and heuristic.

Answer 29

Trial and error – continue trying different solutions until problem is
solved.
Algorithm – step-by-step problem-solving formula.
Heuristic – general problem-solving framework.
- Short-cuts.
- A “rule of thumb”.

Question 30

What is availability heuristic?

Answer 30

• A mental rule of thumb
  whereby people base a
  judgment on the ease with
  which they can bring
  something to mind. (example people more afraid of going on plane than car even if statistically more accidents in cars)

Question 31

What is representativeness heuristic?

Answer 31

A mental shortcut whereby people classify something according
to how similar it is to a typical case.
* Tom is a 42-year old who reads non-fiction books, listens to National Public Radio,
and plays tennis in his spare time. Which is more likely?
* a. Tom is an Ivy League professor
* b. Tom is a truck driver
* Base rate fallacy: view an event or object as extremely representative and make a
probability judgment without stopping to consider base rate values.

Question 32

What is backwards heuristic?

Answer 32

Starts with the desired end
goal and works step by step in
reverse to find the solution or
path needed to reach that goal (not a huge one).