Chapter 8

Question 1

Thinking

Answer 1

Mental activity that involves understanding, manipulating, and communicating information

Question 2

Symbol

Answer 2

An object or an act that stands for something else

Question 3

Concept

Answer 3

A mental structure used to categorize objects, people, or events that share similar characteristics

Question 4

Prototype

Answer 4

An original model on which others in the same category are patterned

Question 5

Algorithm

Answer 5

A problem-solving strategy that eventually leads to a solution;usually involves trying random solutions to a problem in a systematic way

Question 6

Heuristic

Answer 6

A strategy for making judgments and solving problems

Question 7

Difference Reduction

Answer 7

A problem-solving method that involves reducing the difference between the presents situation and the desired one

Question 8

Means-end Analysis

Answer 8

A heuristic device in which a solution to a problem is found by evaluating the difference between the current situation and the goal.

Question 9

Incubation Effect

Answer 9

The tendency to arrive at a solution after a period of time away from the problem

Question 10

Mental Set

Answer 10

The tendency to approach a new problem in a way that has been successful in the past

Question 11

Functional Fixedness

Answer 11

A barrier to problem solving that involves the tendency to think of objects only in terms of their common uses

Question 12

Convergent Thinking

Answer 12

Thinking that is limited to available facts

Question 13

Divergent Thinking

Answer 13

A thought process that attempts to generate multiple solutions to a problem

Question 14

Reasoning

Answer 14

The process of drawing logical conclusions from facts and arguments

Question 15

Deductive Reasoning

Answer 15

A form of thinking in which conclusions are inferred from premises; the conclusions are true if the premises are true

Question 16

Premise

Answer 16

A statement or assertion that serves as the basis for an argument

Question 17

Inductive Reasoning

Answer 17

A form of thinking that involves using individual cases or particular facts to reach a general conclusion

Question 18

Confirmation Bias

Answer 18

The tendency to look for information that confirms one’s preconceived notions

Question 19

Representativeness Heuristic

Answer 19

The process of making decisions about a sample according to the population that the sample appears to represent

Question 20

Availability Heuristic

Answer 20

The tendency to make decisions on the basis of information that is available in one’s immediate consciousness

Question 21

Anchoring heuristic

Answer 21

The process of making decisions based on certain ideas or standards held by the decision maker

Question 22

Framing Effect

Answer 22

The influence of wording, or the way in which information is presented, on decision making

Question 23

Language

Answer 23

The communication of ideas through sounds and symbols that are arranged according to the rules of grammar

Question 24

Phoneme

Answer 24

The basic sound unit in spoken language

Question 25

Morpheme

Answer 25

The smallest meaningful unit of language, such as a prefix or a suffix

Question 26

Syntax

Answer 26

The ways in which words and phrases are arranged into grammatical sentences

Question 27

Semantics

Answer 27

The study of meaning in language;the relationship between language and the objects depicted by the language

Question 28

Overregularization

Answer 28

The formation of plurals and the past tense of irregular nouns and verbs according to the rules of grammar that apply to regular nouns and verbs; characteristic of the speech of young children.

Question 29

Language Acquisition Device

Answer 29

According to Chomsky, the inborn ability of humans to acquire language