Chapter 9-Language and Thought Flashcards
Language and Thought
language
system for communicating with others using signals that are combined according to rules of grammar and convey meaning
grammar
a set of rules that specify how the units of language can be combined to produce meaningful messages
phoneme
smallest unit of sound that is recognizable as speech rather than random noise
phonological rules
a set of rules that indicate how phonemes can be combined to produce speech sounds
morphemes
smallest meaningful units of language
morphological rules
a set of rules that indicate how morphemes can be combined to form words
syntactical rules
a set of rules that indicate how words can be combined to form phrases and sentences
deep structure
meaning of a sentence
surface structure
how a sentence is worded
fast mapping
the fact that children can map a word onto an underlying concept after only a single exposure
telegraphic speech
speech that is devoid of function morphemes and consists more of content words
nativist theory
view that language development is best explained as an innate biological capacity
language acquisition device (LAD)
collection of processes that facilitate language learning
genetic dysphasia
a syndrom characterized by an inability to learn the grammatical structure of language despite having otherwise normal intelligence
aphasia
difficulty in producing or comprehending language
linguistic relativity hypothesis
proposal that language shapes the nature of thought
concept
a mental representation that groups or categorizes shared features of related objects, events, or other stimuli
significance of Broca’s area
language production
significance of Wernicke’s area
comprehension
Broca’s aphasia
trouble producing full sentences, speak in short phrases
Wernicke’s aphasia
trouble producing meaningful sentences, speak in full sentences that are meaningless
family resemblance theory
members of the category have features that appear to be characteristic of category members but may not be possessed by every member
prototype
the best or more typical member of the category
exemplar theory
theory of categorization that argues that we make category judgements by comparing a new instance with stored memories for other instances of the category
category specific deficit
a neurological syndrome that is characterized by an inability to recognize objects that belong to particular category though the ability to recognize objects outside the category is undisturbed
rational choice theory
classical view that we make decisions by determining how likely something is to happen judging the value of the outcome and then multiplying the two
availability bias
items that are more readily available in memory or judged as having occurred more frequently
heuristic
a fast and efficient strategy that may facilitate decision making but does not guarantee that a solution will be reached
algorithm
a well defined sequence of procedures or rules that guarantees a solution to a problem
conjunction fallacy
when people think that two events are more likely to occur together than either individual
representativeness heuristic
a mental shortcut that involves making a probability judgement by comparing an object or event to a prototype of the object or event
framing effect
when people give different answers to the same problem depending on how the problem is phrased or framed
sunk cost fallacy
a framing effect in which people make decisions about a current situation based on what they have previously invested in the situation
prospect theory
the proposal that people choose to take on risk when evaluating potential losses and avoid risks when evaluation potential gains
frequency format hypothesis
the proposal that our minds evolve to notice how frequent things occur not how likely they are to occur
prefrontal cortex function and significance
decision-making, damage to this part of the brain may cause risky decisions
means-ends analysis
a process of searching for the means or steps to reduce differences between the current situation and the desired goal
analogical problem solving
solving a problem by finding a similar problem with a known solution and applying that solution to the current problem
functional fixedness
the tendency to perceive the functions of objects as fixed
reasoning
a mental activity that consists of organizing information or beliefs into a series of steps to reach conclusions
practical reasoning
figuring out what to do or reasoning direction toward an action
theoretical reasoning
reasoning directed toward arriving at a belief
belief bias
people’s judgements about whether to accept conclusions depend more on how believable the conclusions are than on whether the arguments are logically valid
syllogistic reasoning
determining whether conclusion follows from two statements that are assumed to be true
