Chapter 8

Question 1

linguistic relativity

Answer 1

view that characteristics of language shape our thought processes

Question 2

linguistic

Answer 2

determinismview that all thought is represented verbally and that, as a result, our language defines our thinking

Question 3

morpheme

Answer 3

smallest meaningful unit of speech

Question 4

semantics

Answer 4

meaning derived from words and sentences”

Question 5

homesignsystem

Answer 5

of signs invented by children who are deaf and born of hearing parents and therefore receive no language inpu”

Question 6

hindsight bias

Answer 6

our tendency to overestimate how well we could have predicted something after it has already occurred.

Question 7

concept

Answer 7

our knowledge and ideas about a set of objects, actions, and characteristics that share core properties

Question 8

functional fixedness

Answer 8

difficulty conceptualizing that an object typically used for one purpose can be used for another”

Question 9

availability heuristic

Answer 9

heuristic that involves estimating the likelihood of an occurrence based on the ease with which it comes to our minds

Question 10

metalinguistic

Answer 10

awareness of how language is structured and used

Question 11

social pragmatics

Answer 11

account of language acquisition that proposes that children infer what words and sentences mean from context and social interactions

Question 12

babbling

Answer 12

intentional vocalization that lacks specific meaning

Question 13

mental set

Answer 13

phenomenon of becoming stuck in a specific problem-solving strategy, inhibiting our ability to generate alternatives”

Question 14

sign language

Answer 14

language developed by members of a deaf community that uses visual rather than auditory communication

Question 15

decision-making

Answer 15

the process of selecting among a set of possible alternatives

Question 16

phoneme

Answer 16

category of sounds our vocal apparatus produces

Question 17

Base Rate

Answer 17

how common a characteristic or behavior is in the general population.

Question 18

generative

Answer 18

allowing an infinite number of unique sentences to be created by combining words in novel ways

Question 19

dialect

Answer 19

language variation used by a group of people who share geographic proximity or ethnic background

Question 20

bilingual

Answer 20

lproficient and fluent at speaking and comprehending two distinct languages

Question 21

problem solving

Answer 21

generating a cognitive strategy to accomplish a goal

Question 22

framing

Answer 22

the way a question is formulated that can influence the decisions people make

Question 23

language acquisition

Answer 23

devicehypothetical organ in the brain in which nativists believe knowledge of syntax resides

Question 24

representativeness heuristic

Answer 24

heuristic that involves judging the probability of an event by its superficial similarity to a prototype.

Question 25

extralinguistic information

Answer 25

elements of communication that aren’t part of the content of language but are critical to interpreting its meaning

Question 26

syntax

Answer 26

grammatical rules that govern how words are composed into meaningful strings

Question 27

one-word stage

Answer 27

early period of language development when children use single-word phrases to convey an entire thought

Question 28

algorithm

Answer 28

step-by-step learned procedure used to solve a problem”

Question 29

Thinking

Answer 29

any mental activity or processing of information, including learning, remembering, perceiving, communicating, believing, and deciding.

Question 30

Cognitive bias

Answer 30

systematic error in thinking.

Question 31

language

Answer 31

largely arbitrary system of communication that combines symbols (such as words and gestural signs) in rule-based ways to create meaning