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Psychology > Chapter 8-thinking, reasoning, & language > Flashcards

Chapter 8-thinking, reasoning, & language Flashcards

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1
Q

Define thinking

A

Any mental activity or processing of information. Includes learning, remembering, perceiving, communicating, believing and deciding

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2
Q

What are benefits to cognitive economy

A

Allows us to simplify what we attend to and keep the information we need for decision-making to a manageable minimum because we have limited processing resources and cannot process everything
-allows us to block the processing of some inputs from other inputs

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3
Q

What is the meaning of thin slicing

A

Our ability to extract useful information from small bits of behaviour

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4
Q

Define a base rate

A

Based rate is a fancy term for how common a behaviour or characteristic is in general

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5
Q

What is a representativeness heuristic?

A

heuristic that involves judging the probability of an event based on how prevalent that event has been in past experience

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6
Q

What is the availability heuristic

A

We estimate the likelihood of an occurrence based on how easily it comes to our minds, or how “available” it is in our memories

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7
Q

Define hindsight bias

A

Refers to our tendency to overestimate how accurately we could have predicted something happening once we know the outcome.
“I knew it all along”

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8
Q

What are concepts? Schemes?

A

-Concepts are our knowledge and ideas about objects, actions, and characteristics that share core properties.
-schemas are concepts we’ve stored in memory about how certain actions, objects, and ideas relate to each other.
(Common sources of top-down processing)

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9
Q

Define decision making

A

The process of selecting among a set of alternatives

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10
Q

Define problem-solving

A

Generating a cognitive strategy to accomplish a goal

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11
Q

Define algorithms

A

Step-by-step learned procedures used to solve a problem. (Come in handy for problems that depend on the same basic steps for arriving at a solution every time the solution is required)

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12
Q

Define framing

A

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

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13
Q

What is a mental set

A

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

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14
Q

Defined language

A

A system of communication that combine symbols, such as words or gestural signs, in rule-based ways to create meaning

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15
Q

We can think about language at four levels of analysis, all of which we need to coordinate to communicate efficiently. Name these levels of analysis

A

A. Phonemes
B. Morphemes
C. Syntax
D. Extralinguistic information

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16
Q

Define phonemes

A

Category of sounds our vocal apparatus produces
-influenced by elements of our vocal track, including our lips, teeth, tongue placement, vibration of vocal chords, opening and closing of our throat and more
Ex. Sh, ch, p
-babies initially sensitive to all phonemes o(therefore easier to learn languages at young age)

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17
Q

Define morphemes

A

Smallest unit of meaningful speech/language

  • created by stringing phonemes together
  • most morphemes are words such as Dog and happy
  • we also have strings of sounds that aren’t words by themselves but modify the meaning of words when their tacked onto them (ex. Ish or Re) they don’t stand alone as words
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18
Q

Define semantics

A

Meaning derived from words and sentences

- morphemes convey information about semantics

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19
Q

Define syntax

A
  • syntax is a set of grammatical rules of language by which we construct meaningful sentences
  • includes morphological markers (ing, ed, s)
  • Real world language rarely follows them perfectly
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20
Q

Define extralinguistic’s

A

Elements of communication that aren’t part of the content of language but are critical to interpreting its meaning
-nonverbal cues such as facial expressions, tone of voice posture, gestures

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21
Q

Define dialect

A

Language variation used by a group of people who share geographic proximity or ethnic background
-dialects aren’t distinct languages, because speakers of two different dialects can, for the most part understand each other

22
Q

Define babbling

A

Intentional vocalization that lacks specific meaning and plays an important role in language development by enabling babies to figure out how to move the vocal tracks to generate specific sounds

23
Q

Define the one-word stage

A

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

24
Q

What is sign language

A

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

  • sign language is exhibit all the same features as spoken languages (phonemes, words, syntax, extralinguistic information)
  • The same brain areas involved in processing spoken languages become active in signers(Plus other brain areas)
25
Q

Define bilingual

A

proficient and fluent at speaking and comprehending to distinguish languages

26
Q

Define metalinguistic

A

Awareness of how language is structured and used
-The process of figuring out how two languages work gives them heightened metalinguistic insight. As a result they tend to perform better on language tasks in general

27
Q

Define homesign

A

System of signs invented by deaf children by hearing parents who receive no language input
-Homesigners never develop full-blown language

28
Q

Define generative

A

A system that allows us to create an infinite number of unique sentences to be created by combining words novel ways. producing new statements, thoughts, and ideas never previously uttered
-language isn’t just a set of predefined sentences that we can pull out and apply in appropriate contexts

29
Q

Define the nativist account

A

Says that children can come into the world with some basic knowledge of how language works

  • nativists propose that children are born with expectations that there will be syntactic rules that influence how sentences are constructed
  • many of its claims are difficult to falsify
30
Q

Define language acquisition device(LAD)

A

Hypothetical construct/”organ” in the brain in which nativists believe knowledge of syntax resides

31
Q

Name the four major theoretical accounts of language acquisition

A
  1. “Pure” nature and nurture accounts
  2. Nativist account
  3. Social pragmatics account
  4. General conative processing account
32
Q

Describe the “pure” nature and nurture or imitation accounts

A

Simplest explanation of children’s learning is that they learn through imitation
-babies here language used in systematic ways and learn to use language as adults use it

33
Q

Define social pragmatics

A

Account of language accusation that proposes that specific aspects of the social environment structure language learning.
-Children infer what words and sentences mean from contexts and social interactions (from the actions, expressions, gestures and other behaviours of speakers)

34
Q

Describe the general cognitive processing account

A

It proposes that children’s ability to learn language results from general skills that children apply across a variety of activities.
-children’s ability to perceive, learn, and recognize patterns may be all they need to learn language.

In class definition: kids ability to learn language is dependent on the development of other cognitive skills

35
Q

What to areas of the brain play key roles and language processing. What are their roles

A
  1. Bronca’s area(prefrontal lobe), involved in speech production
  2. Whernicke’s area(temporal lobe), involved in speech comprehension
  • both located on left-hemisphere of the brain
36
Q

Define Linguistics determinism

A

View that all thought is represented verbally and that, as a result, our language defines our thinking
-*language influences thought
Ex. Possessing 1000 words for snow enables you to perceive incredibly subtle distinctions among types of snow (actually a myth)
-Lynguistics determinism, at least in its original form, doesn’t have a lot going for it

37
Q

Define Linguistic relativity

A

View that characteristics of language shapes and determines our thought processes

  • stem of Linguistics determinism
  • also known as whorf – Sapir hypothesis
38
Q

Describe whole word recognition

A

Reading strategy that involves identifying common words based on their appearance without having to sound them out

39
Q

Describe

Phonetic decomposition

A

Reading strategy that involves sounding out words by drawing correspondences between printed letters and sounds

40
Q

Describe universal phonetic sensitivity

A

Babies are initially sensitive to all phonemes but this sensitivity is lost by one year of age

41
Q

Define aphasia

A

Disruption in language/speak processing

42
Q

Describe Broca’s aphasia and Wernicke’s aphasia

A
  1. Broca’s aphasia is damage to the left prefrontal lobe resulting in a problem with motor output of language but are capable of understanding language and can respond simply
    - their difficulty of speech production causes frustration and depression
    * faulty speech production
  2. Wernicke’s aphasia is damage to the left hemisphere (temporal lobe) resulting in an inability to understand language normally
    - their words are grammatically correct but don’t make sense (word salad)
    * Faulty speech comprehension
43
Q

Define cognition and metacognition

A

Cognition is a general term used to describe various aspects of our higher mental processing
-metacognition is thinking about thinking, thoughts on our own thoughts

44
Q

Describe unilateral extinction and unilateral neglect

A

Exaggerated tendency to orient to one side and not to attend to the other side.
Example. eat half of the food on their plate or shave half their face

45
Q

What’s an example of disordered attention

A

ADD and ADHD

-many say it’s not a pure attention problem, it also includes impulse control, and some behaviour problems

46
Q

What are some factors it interfere with problem-solving

A
  • ill-defined problems
  • > not a lot of info is given
  • > we tend to make assumptions
  • irrelevant information
  • > extra, irrelevant, information makes a problem more difficult to solve
  • mental sets
  • functional fixedness
47
Q

What is functional fixedness

A

Strong tendency to use objects only in the way they have been used before(intended for)

48
Q

What factors interfere with reasoning and decision-making

A
  • moods, believes and social contacts
  • conformational bias – do not tend to disconfirming evidence, look for info that we already believe
  • availability heuristics-assume things that are easily accessed are also more frequent or more likely
  • representativeness heuristic-how typical is it? Can lead to gamblers fallacy. Ex. Previous outcomes of roll influence future rolls
  • framing- decisions often depend on whether choices are presented as potential gains or losses
49
Q

What are the seven key themes of psychology

A
  1. Psychology is empirical – we acquire knowledge through observation
  2. Psychology is theoretically diverse
  3. Psychology involves in a sociohistorical context
  4. Multifactorial causation of behaviour
  5. Cultural heritage shapes behaviour
  6. Nature in nurture – heredity and environment interact to influence our behaviours
  7. Subjective experience – bias, selective attention, motives
50
Q

What are the defining characteristics of human language? What distinguishes language from other communication systems ?

A
  • language is hierarchically structured: we create sentences from combining the basic parts of language
  • we can create new sentences by recombining those basic parts
  • language is rule-governed: some combinations are allowed whereas others are not
  • language is infinitely creative (this is difficult for animals)
  • language is symbolic: the link between a word and what it describes is arbitrary(a symbol doesn’t have to represent the concept it represents)

Psychology (10 decks)

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