Chapter 8

Question 1

Acculturation

Answer 1

The degree to which a person is socially and psychologically integrated into a new culture.

Question 2

Algorithm

Answer 2

A methodical, step-by-step procedure for trying all possible alternatives in searching for a solution to a problem.

Question 3

Availability heuristic

Answer 3

Basing the estimated probability of an event on the ease with which relevant instances come to mind.

Question 4

Belief perseverance

Answer 4

The tendency to hang on to beliefs in the face of contradictory evidence.

Question 5

Bilingualism

Answer 5

The acquisition of two languages that use different speech sounds, vocabularies, and grammatical rules.

Question 6

Cognition

Answer 6

The mental processes involved in acquiring knowledge.

Question 7

Confirmation bias

Answer 7

The tendency to seek information that supports one’s decisions and beliefs while ignoring disconfirming information.

Question 8

Conjunction fallacy

Answer 8

An error that occurs when people estimate that the odds of two uncertain events happening together are greater than the odds of either event happening alone.q

Question 9

Decision making

Answer 9

The process of evaluating alternatives and making choices among them.

Question 10

Fast mapping

Answer 10

The process by which children map a word onto an underlying concept after only one exposure to the word.

Question 11

Field dependence–independence

Answer 11

Individuals’ tendency to rely primarily on external versus internal frames of reference when orienting themselves in space.

Question 12

Framing

Answer 12

How issues are posed or how choices are structured.

Question 13

Functional fixedness

Answer 13

The tendency to perceive an item only in terms of its most common use.

Question 14

Gambler’s fallacy

Answer 14

The belief that the odds of a chance event increase if the event hasn’t occurred recently.

Question 15

Heuristic

Answer 15

A strategy, guiding principle, or rule of thumb used in solving problems or making decisions.

Question 16

Semantics

Answer 16

The area of language concerned with understanding the meaning of words and word combinations.

Question 17

Syntax

Answer 17

A system of rules that specify how words can be combined into phrases and sentences.

Question 18

Telegraphic Speech

Answer 18

Speech that consists mainly of content words; articles, prepositions, and other less critical words are omitted.

Question 19

Theory of bounded rationality

Answer 19

Simon’s assertion that people tend to use simple strategies in decision making that focus on only a few facets of available options and often result in “irrational” decisions that are less than optimal.

Question 20

Trial and error

Answer 20

Trying possible solutions sequentially and discarding those that are in error until one works.

Question 21

Underextensions

Answer 21

Errors that occur when a child incorrectly uses a word to describe a narrower set of objects or actions than it is meant to.

Question 22

Hill-climbing heuristic

Answer 22

Problem-solving approach that entails selecting the alternative at each choice point that appears to lead most directly to one’s goal.

Question 23

Insight

Answer 23

In problem solving, the sudden discovery of the correct solution following incorrect attempts based primarily on trial and error.

Question 24

Language

Answer 24

A set of symbols that convey meaning, and rules for combining those symbols, that can be used to generate an innite variety of messages.

1. symbolic
2. semantic
3. generative
4. structured

Question 25

Language acquisition device (LAD)

Answer 25

An innate mechanism or process that facilitates the learning of language.

Question 26

Linguistic relativity

Answer 26

The theory that one’s language determines the nature of one’s thought.

Question 27

Mean length of utterance (MLU)

Answer 27

The average length of children’s spoken statements (measured in phonemes).

Question 28

Mental set

Answer 28

Persisting in using problem-solving strategies that have worked in the past.

Question 29

Metalinguistic Awareness

Answer 29

The ability to reect on the use of language.

Question 30

Morphemes

Answer 30

The smallest units of meaning in a language.

Question 31

Overextensions

Answer 31

Using a word incorrectly to describe a wider set of objects or actions than it is meant to.

Question 32

Overregularization

Answer 32

In children, incorrect generalization of grammatical rules to irregular cases where they do not apply.

Question 33

Phonemes

Answer 33

The smallest units of sound in a spoken language.

Question 34

Problem solving

Answer 34

Active efforts to discover what must be done to achieve a goal that is not readily available.

Question 35

Problem space

Answer 35

The set of possible pathways to a solution considered by the problem solver.

Question 36

Representativeness heuristic

Answer 36

Basing the estimated probability of an event on how similar it is to the typical prototype of that event.

Question 37

Risky decision making

Answer 37

Making choices under conditions of uncertainty.

Question 38

emergentist theories

Answer 38

argue that the neural circuits supporting language are not prewired, but develop gradually in response to language learning experiences.

Question 39

subjective utility

Answer 39

for a given individual, the personal worth of an uncertain outcome represents that outcome’s subjective utility

Question 40

Evolutionary theorists

Answer 40

argue that the human mind is wired to think in terms of raw frequencies, rather than base rates and probabilities.