Chapter 9-Language and Thought

Question 1

language

Answer 1

system for communicating with others using signals that are combined according to rules of grammar and convey meaning

Question 2

grammar

Answer 2

a set of rules that specify how the units of language can be combined to produce meaningful messages

Question 3

phoneme

Answer 3

smallest unit of sound that is recognizable as speech rather than random noise

Question 4

phonological rules

Answer 4

a set of rules that indicate how phonemes can be combined to produce speech sounds

Question 5

morphemes

Answer 5

smallest meaningful units of language

Question 6

morphological rules

Answer 6

a set of rules that indicate how morphemes can be combined to form words

Question 7

syntactical rules

Answer 7

a set of rules that indicate how words can be combined to form phrases and sentences

Question 8

deep structure

Answer 8

meaning of a sentence

Question 9

surface structure

Answer 9

how a sentence is worded

Question 10

fast mapping

Answer 10

the fact that children can map a word onto an underlying concept after only a single exposure

Question 11

telegraphic speech

Answer 11

speech that is devoid of function morphemes and consists more of content words

Question 12

nativist theory

Answer 12

view that language development is best explained as an innate biological capacity

Question 13

language acquisition device (LAD)

Answer 13

collection of processes that facilitate language learning

Question 14

genetic dysphasia

Answer 14

a syndrom characterized by an inability to learn the grammatical structure of language despite having otherwise normal intelligence

Question 15

aphasia

Answer 15

difficulty in producing or comprehending language

Question 16

linguistic relativity hypothesis

Answer 16

proposal that language shapes the nature of thought

Question 17

concept

Answer 17

a mental representation that groups or categorizes shared features of related objects, events, or other stimuli

Question 18

significance of Broca’s area

Answer 18

language production

Question 19

significance of Wernicke’s area

Answer 19

comprehension

Question 20

Broca’s aphasia

Answer 20

trouble producing full sentences, speak in short phrases

Question 21

Wernicke’s aphasia

Answer 21

trouble producing meaningful sentences, speak in full sentences that are meaningless

Question 22

family resemblance theory

Answer 22

members of the category have features that appear to be characteristic of category members but may not be possessed by every member

Question 23

prototype

Answer 23

the best or more typical member of the category

Question 24

exemplar theory

Answer 24

theory of categorization that argues that we make category judgements by comparing a new instance with stored memories for other instances of the category

Question 25

category specific deficit

Answer 25

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

Question 26

rational choice theory

Answer 26

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

Question 27

availability bias

Answer 27

items that are more readily available in memory or judged as having occurred more frequently

Question 28

heuristic

Answer 28

a fast and efficient strategy that may facilitate decision making but does not guarantee that a solution will be reached

Question 29

algorithm

Answer 29

a well defined sequence of procedures or rules that guarantees a solution to a problem

Question 30

conjunction fallacy

Answer 30

when people think that two events are more likely to occur together than either individual

Question 31

representativeness heuristic

Answer 31

a mental shortcut that involves making a probability judgement by comparing an object or event to a prototype of the object or event

Question 32

framing effect

Answer 32

when people give different answers to the same problem depending on how the problem is phrased or framed

Question 33

sunk cost fallacy

Answer 33

a framing effect in which people make decisions about a current situation based on what they have previously invested in the situation

Question 34

prospect theory

Answer 34

the proposal that people choose to take on risk when evaluating potential losses and avoid risks when evaluation potential gains

Question 35

frequency format hypothesis

Answer 35

the proposal that our minds evolve to notice how frequent things occur not how likely they are to occur

Question 36

prefrontal cortex function and significance

Answer 36

decision-making, damage to this part of the brain may cause risky decisions

Question 37

means-ends analysis

Answer 37

a process of searching for the means or steps to reduce differences between the current situation and the desired goal

Question 38

analogical problem solving

Answer 38

solving a problem by finding a similar problem with a known solution and applying that solution to the current problem

Question 39

functional fixedness

Answer 39

the tendency to perceive the functions of objects as fixed

Question 40

reasoning

Answer 40

a mental activity that consists of organizing information or beliefs into a series of steps to reach conclusions

Question 41

practical reasoning

Answer 41

figuring out what to do or reasoning direction toward an action

Question 42

theoretical reasoning

Answer 42

reasoning directed toward arriving at a belief

Question 43

belief bias

Answer 43

people’s judgements about whether to accept conclusions depend more on how believable the conclusions are than on whether the arguments are logically valid

Question 44

syllogistic reasoning

Answer 44

determining whether conclusion follows from two statements that are assumed to be true