Chapter 9

Question 1

metacognition

Answer 1

cognition about cognition. keeping track of and evaluating our mental processes

“thinkingabout thinking”

Question 2

concept

Answer 2

a mental grouping of similar objects, events, ideas or people

Question 3

prototype

Answer 3

a mental image or best example of a category. matching new items to a prototype provides a quick and easy method for sorting items into categories

ex. crow = prototype for birds so takes longer for people to put penguin into the bird concept

Question 4

algorythm

Answer 4

a methodical, logical rule or procedure that garentees solving a particular problem. contrasts with the usually speedier, but also more error prone, use of heuristics.

Question 5

heuristics

Answer 5

a simple thinking strategy. a mental shortcut that helps us to make judgements and solve problems efficiently. usually faster but also more error-prone then algorythm

Question 6

insight

Answer 6

a sudden realization of a problem’s solution. contrasts with strategy-based solutions

Question 7

confirmation bias

Answer 7

our tendency to search for information that supports our preconceptions and to ignore or distort contradictory evidence

Question 8

fixation

Answer 8

in cognition, the inability to see a problem from a new perspective. an obstacle to problem solving.

Question 9

mental set

Answer 9

a tendency to approach a problem in one particular way, often a way that has been succesful in the past

Question 10

intuituion

Answer 10

an effortless, immediate, automatic feeling or thought. contrasted with explicit, concise reasoning

Question 11

representativeness heuristic

Answer 11

judging the likelihood of events in terms of how well they seem to represent or match particular prototypes. may lead us to ignore other relevant information.

Question 12

availability heuristic

Answer 12

judging the likelihood of events based on their availability in memory. if instances come to mind (vividly), we presume such events are common

Question 13

overconfidence

Answer 13

the tendency to be more confident then correct. to overestimate the accuracy of our beliefs and judgements. we think we know more than we do

Question 14

belief perseverance

Answer 14

clinging to ones original conceptions after the basis on which they were formed has been discredited

Question 15

framing

Answer 15

the way an issue is posed. how an issue is framed can significantly affect decisions and judgement

Question 16

nudge

Answer 16

framing choices in a way that encourages people to make beneficial decisions

Question 17

creativity

Answer 17

the ability to produce new and valuable ideas

Question 18

convergent thinking

Answer 18

narrowing the available problem solutions to determine the single best solution

Question 19

divergent thinking

Answer 19

expanding the number of possible problem solutions. creative thinking that diverges in different directions

Question 20

robert sternburg’s 5 components of creativity

Answer 20

1. expertise
2. imaginative thinking skills
3. a venturesome, determined personality
4. intrinsic motivation
5. a creative environment

Question 21

language

Answer 21

our spoken, written, or signed words and the ways we combine them to communicate meaning

Question 22

phonemes

Answer 22

the smallest distinctive sound unit (letter or letter sounds like “th”)

Question 23

morphemes

Answer 23

smallest unit that carries meaning. can be a word or part of a word (prefixes)

Question 24

grammar

Answer 24

a system of rules that enables us to communicate with and understand others

Question 25

semantics

Answer 25

the language’s set of rules for deriving meaning from sounds

Question 26

syntax

Answer 26

set of rules for combining words into grammatically sensible sentences

Question 27

babbling stage

Answer 27

the stage in speech development beginning around four months when an infant spontaneously utters various sounds that are not all related to the household language

Question 28

one-word stage

Answer 28

stage in speech developement (1-2yo ish) during which a child speaks mostly in single words

Question 29

two-word stage

Answer 29

stage in speech development (beginning at 2yo) during which a child speaks mostly in two-word sentences

Question 30

telegraphic speech

Answer 30

early speech phase in which child speaks like a telegraph (ex. “go car”) using mostly nouns and verbs

Question 31

aphasia

Answer 31

impairment of language. usually caused by left hemisphere damage to boca’s area (production) or wernick’s area (comprehension + expression)

Question 32

linguistic determinism

Answer 32

Whorf’s hypothesis that language determines the way we think

ex. he thought since the hopi people have no past tense that meant also an inability to think about the past

Question 33

linguistic relativism

Answer 33

the idea that language influences the way we think

ex. people feeling like “different people” when they speak english vs japanese