Chapter 7 - Thinking, Language, and Intelligence Flashcards
Thinking
Paying attention to information, mentally representing it, reasoning about it, and making decisions about it
Cognition
Mental activity involved in understanding, processing, and communicating information
Concept
A mental category that is used to class together objects, relations, events, abstractions, ideas, or qualities that have common propeties
Prototype
A concept of a category of objects or events that serves as a good example of the category
Exemplar
A specific example
Algorithm
A systematic procedure for solving a problem that works invariably when it is correctly applied
Systematic random search
An algorithm for solving problems in which each possible solution is tested according to a particular set of rules
Heuristic
Rules of thumb that help us simplify and solve problems
Means-end analysis
A heuristic device in which we try to solve a problem by evaluating the difference between the current situation and the goal
Mental set
The tendency to respond to a new problem with an approach that was successfully used with similar problems
Insight
In Gestalt psychology, a sudden perception of relationships among elements of the mentally represented elements of a problem that permits its solution
Incubation
In problem solving, a process that sometimes occurs when we stand back from a frustrating problem for a while and the solution “suddenly” appears
Functional fixedness
Tendency to view an object in terms of its name or familiar usage
Representativeness heuristic
A decision making heuristic in which people make judgments about samples according to the populations they appear to represent
Availability heuristic
A decision making heuristic in which our estimates of frequency or probability of events are based on how easy it is to find examples
Anchoring and adjustment heuristic
A decision making heuristic in which a presumption or first estimate serves as a cognitive anchor; as we receive additional information, we make adjustments but tend to remain in the proximity of the anchor
Framing effect
The influence of wording, or the context in which information is presented , on decision making
Language
The communication of information by means of symbols arranged according to rules of grammar
Semanticity
Meaning; the quality of language in which words are used as symbols for objects, events, or ideas
Infinite creativity
The capacity to combine words into original sentences
Displacement
The quality of language that permits one to communicate information about objects and events in another time and place
Linguistic-relativity hypothesis
The view that language structures the way we view the world
Holophrase
A single word used to express complex meanings
Overregularization
The application of regular grammatical rules for forming inflections to irregular verbs and nouns
Psycholinguistic theory
The view that language learning involves an interaction between environment factors and an inborn tendency to acquire language
Language acquisition device (LAD)
In psychology linguistic theory, neutral “prewiring” that facilitates the child’s learning of grammar
Intelligence
A general mental capability that involes the ability to reason, plan, solve problems, think abstractly, comprehend complex ideas, learn quickly, and learn from experience
G
Spearman’s symbol for general intelligence, which he believed underlay more specific abilities
S
Spearman’s symbol for specific factors, or s factors, which he believed accounted for individual abilities
Primary mental abilities
According to Thurstone, the basic abilities that make up intelligence
Creativity
The ability to generate novel and useful solutions to problems
Convergent thinking
A thought process that narrows in on the single best solution to a problem
Divergent thinking
A thought process that attempts to generate multiple solutions to problems
Mental age (MA)
The accumulated months of credit that a person earns on the Stanford-Binet intelligence scale
Intelligence quotient (IQ)
1) Originally, a ratio obtained by dividing a child’s score (or mental age) on an intelligence test by chronological age
2) Generally, a score on an intelligence test
Heritability
The degree to which the variations in a trait from one person to another can be attributed to, or explained by, generic factors
