Chapter 8: Thinking, Language and Intelligence Flashcards
Cognition
A mental activity that involves thinking and understnading
Cognitive psychology
Based on the ideas that knowledge about world is stored in the form of representations
Taking makes use of two types of mental representations, what are they?
Analogical representations
Symbolic representations
Analogical representations
Have characteristics of real objects, such as maps which are analogical representations and correspond to geographical divisions
Symbolic representations
Abstract and have no relation to an object
These can be about the words, numbers, or ideas
Categorisation
In order t organise a memory, people group things together on the basis of common characteristics
This is an efficient way of thinking, because the amount of knowledge is reduced
Concept
A mental representation of a category of related objects, s that not every object has to be stored separately
What are the two other way of forming a concept?
Prototype
Example model
Prototype
The best example for that category
Example model
All the examples of the object together form the concept
What can schemas lead to?
Stereotypes
Script
Type of schema that helps to understand the sequence of events in situations is called a script
Scripts describe the correct behaviour in a given situation and the order in which they are likely to occur
Heuristics
Mental shortcuts
What can a heuristic lead to?
Confirmation bias
Hindsight bias
Framing is also often used when making decisions, what is it?
People emphasise the disadvantages or advantages of one of the alternatives
Representativity heuristics
The tendency to place a person or object in a category if this person or object is similar to the prototype of that category
Why do emotions also serve as heuristics?
Because they provide feedback for making quick decisions
Somatic markets
Physical reactions
A gut feeling that tells one that something is a bad idea
Affective prediction
Means predicting whether something will make alone happy or not
People generally do not realise how bad they are at predicting they future feelings
What are ways to overcome obstacles when problem solving?
Restructure
Mental sets
Algorithm
Analogy
Working backward
Sudden insight
Restructure
To present the problem in a different way
Mental sets
Thinking back to how one has solved similar problems in the past
Issue with mental sets
Functional fixation
Functional fixation
Having mental sets can also cause one to have fixed ideas that make it difficult to find the best solution
Algorithm
A guideline that will always give the right answer when followed correctly
Analogy
The problem is compared on the one previously used
Sudden insight
A solution will simply appear spontaneously in someone’s mind
Language
A communication system that uses sounds and symbols according to grammatical rules
Morphemes
The smallest units that still have meaning
Phonemes
The basic sounds of speech
Syntax
A language is the system of rules about how words are combined in sentences
Semantics
The study of the system of meaning that underlies words and sentences
Aphasia
A language disorder resulting in deficients in language comprehension and production
What can damage in Broca’s area in the left hemisphere lead to?
Expressive aphasia/Broca’s aphasia
Expressive aphasia
Patients can understand what is said to them, but cannot form words or sentences
What can damage to Wernicke’s area lead to?
Receptive aphasia/Wernicke’s aphasia
Receptive aphasia
Patients can speak fluently, but cannot understand the meaning of words
What can extensive damage to the left hemisphere lead to?
Global aphasia
Global aphasia
The patient is unable to produce or understand language
How is the right hemisphere involved in language?
By processing the rhythm of speech and interpreting what is said
What does the linguistic theory of relativity explain?
Language determines thought
It is only possible to think though language
Why’s is the linguistic theory of relativity not true?
Possible to link without knowing language
Telegraphic speech
Mini sentences that lack words and grammatical markers, but otherwise follow a logical syntax and are meaningful
What does Chomsky say about language?
Everyone has some kind of innate knowledge of a set of universal linguistic elements and relations
Surface structure
The ways people combine these elements to form sentences and convey meaning
Deep structure
The implicit meaning of sentences
