Chapter 9

Question 1

cognition

Answer 1

mental activities associated with thinking, knowing, remembering, communicating

Question 2

concept

Answer 2

mental grouping of similar objects and events, ideas, people

Question 3

prototypes

Answer 3

mental image or best example of a category

Question 4

algorithm

Answer 4

methodical, logical rule, or procedure that guarantees solving a particular problem

Question 5

heuristic

Answer 5

simple thinking strategy that often allows us to make judgments and solve problems efficiently (faster, more error prone)

Question 6

insight

Answer 6

sudden and often novel realization of the solution

Question 7

(obstacles of problem solving)

confirmation bias

Answer 7

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

Question 8

(obstacles of problem solving)

fixation

Answer 8

inability to see a problem from a new perspective, by employing a different mental set

Question 9

mental set

Answer 9

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

Question 10

representative heuristic

Answer 10

judging the likelihood of things in terms of how well they seem to represent or match particular prototypes (may cause us to ignore important info.)

Question 11

availability heuristic

Answer 11

estimating the likelihood of events based on their availability in memory

Question 12

overconfidence

Answer 12

tendeny to be more confident than correct (overestimate accuracy of our beliefs and judgments)

Question 13

belief perseverance

Answer 13

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

Question 14

intuition

Answer 14

an effortless, immediate, automatic feeling or thought as contrasted with explicit, conscious reasoning

Question 15

framing

Answer 15

the way an issue is posed; how an issue is framed can significantly affect decisions and judgment

Question 16

language

Answer 16

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

Question 17

When do we learn?

Answer 17

• receptive language (4-7 months)
• productive language: ability to produce words (7-12 mos)
• one-word stage: speaking in single words (1-2 yrs)
• two-word stage: speaking in 2 word statements (2 yrs)

Question 18

babbling stage

Answer 18

(4 months) infant spontaneously utters various sounds at first unrelated to the household language
(10 months) infant understood by others

Question 19

Skinner: operant learning

Answer 19

association, imitation, reinforcement

Question 20

Chomsky: inborn universal grammer

Answer 20

• kids learn too fast to be explained by Skinner’s simple ideas
• language naturally occurs (language acquisition device)
• universal grammar

Question 21

critical periods

Answer 21

there are periods in a child’s life when they learn

Question 22

linguistic determinism

Answer 22

(Whorf)
hypothesis that different languages impose different conceptions of reality
(reflecting personalities)

Question 23

animals

Answer 23

form concepts, display insights, numerical ability, natural tool users (chimpanzees)
-language? (animals communicate, but can it be called a language?)-chimps use ASL and comprehend syntax

Question 24

intelligence

Answer 24

mental quality consisting of the ability to learn from experience, solve problems, and use knowledge to adapt to new situations

Question 25

general intelligence

Answer 25

underlies specific mental abilities and is, therefore measured by every task on an intelligence task

Question 26

factor analysis

Answer 26

statistical procedure that identifies clusters of related items (factors) in a test
(used to identify different dimensions of performance that underlie a person’s total score)

Question 27

savant syndrome

Answer 27

condition in which a person otherwise limited in mental ability has an exceptional specific skill

Question 28

Gardners’s eight intelligences

Answer 28

linguistic, logical-mathematical, musical, spatial, bodily-kinesthetic, intrapersonal (self), interpersonal (other people), naturalist

Question 29

Sternberg’s three intelligences (triarchic theory)

Answer 29

1. analytical (academic problem solving): assessed by academic tests
2. creative: reacting adaptively to novel situations and generating new ideas
3. practical: required for everyday tasks with multiple solutions

Question 30

(5 components of intelligence and creativity)

1. expertise

Answer 30

well-developed base of knowledge (mental building blocks)

Question 31

(5 components of intelligence and creativity)

2. imaginative thinking skills

Answer 31

ability to see things in novel ways, recognize patterns, make connections

Question 32

(5 components of intelligence and creativity)

3. venturesome personality

Answer 32

seeks new experiences, tolerates ambiguity and risk, perseveres in overcoming obstacles

Question 33

(5 components of intelligence and creativity)

4. intrinsic motivation

Answer 33

driven by more than interest, satisfaction, and challenge than by external pressures

Question 34

(5 components of intelligence and creativity)

5. creative environment

Answer 34

sparks, supports, refines creative ideas

Question 35

emotional intelligence

Answer 35

ability to perceive, understand, manage, and use emotions

Question 36

assessing intelligence

Answer 36

method for assessing individual’s mental aptitude comparing it to others

Question 37

(Alfred Binet)

mental age

Answer 37

• predicting school achievement

- the chronological age that most typically corresponds to a given level of performance

Question 38

(Lewis Terman)

Innate IQ

Answer 38

intelligence quotient (IQ): mental age/chronological age

Question 39

(David Wechsler)

verbal and performance subtests

Answer 39

Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale (WAIS)

Question 40

Other influences on intelligence

Answer 40

genetic, environmental, heritability, ethnicity