Chapter 8 Flashcards
Thinking
Mental activity that involves understanding, manipulating, and communicating information
Symbol
An object or an act that stands for something else
Concept
A mental structure used to categorize objects, people, or events that share similar characteristics
Prototype
An original model on which others in the same category are patterned
Algorithm
A problem-solving strategy that eventually leads to a solution;usually involves trying random solutions to a problem in a systematic way
Heuristic
A strategy for making judgments and solving problems
Difference Reduction
A problem-solving method that involves reducing the difference between the presents situation and the desired one
Means-end Analysis
A heuristic device in which a solution to a problem is found by evaluating the difference between the current situation and the goal.
Incubation Effect
The tendency to arrive at a solution after a period of time away from the problem
Mental Set
The tendency to approach a new problem in a way that has been successful in the past
Functional Fixedness
A barrier to problem solving that involves the tendency to think of objects only in terms of their common uses
Convergent Thinking
Thinking that is limited to available facts
Divergent Thinking
A thought process that attempts to generate multiple solutions to a problem
Reasoning
The process of drawing logical conclusions from facts and arguments
Deductive Reasoning
A form of thinking in which conclusions are inferred from premises; the conclusions are true if the premises are true
Premise
A statement or assertion that serves as the basis for an argument
Inductive Reasoning
A form of thinking that involves using individual cases or particular facts to reach a general conclusion
Confirmation Bias
The tendency to look for information that confirms one’s preconceived notions
Representativeness Heuristic
The process of making decisions about a sample according to the population that the sample appears to represent
Availability Heuristic
The tendency to make decisions on the basis of information that is available in one’s immediate consciousness
Anchoring heuristic
The process of making decisions based on certain ideas or standards held by the decision maker
Framing Effect
The influence of wording, or the way in which information is presented, on decision making
Language
The communication of ideas through sounds and symbols that are arranged according to the rules of grammar
Phoneme
The basic sound unit in spoken language
Morpheme
The smallest meaningful unit of language, such as a prefix or a suffix
Syntax
The ways in which words and phrases are arranged into grammatical sentences
Semantics
The study of meaning in language;the relationship between language and the objects depicted by the language
Overregularization
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.
Language Acquisition Device
According to Chomsky, the inborn ability of humans to acquire language
