Chapter 9: Thinking and Language Flashcards
Cognition
Mental activities associated with thinking, knowing, remembering, and communicating
Prototypes
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
Algorithm
A methodical logical rule or procedure that guarantees solving a particular problem
Heuristic
A simple thinking strategy t hat often allows us to make judgments and solve problems efficiently; usually speedier
Insight
A sudden realization of a problem’s solution
Confirmation Bias
A tendency to search for information that supports our preconceptions and to ignore or distort contradictory evidence
Mental Set
A tendency to approach a problem in one particular way often a way that has been successful in the past
Availability Heuristic
Estimating the likelihood of events based on their availability in memory; if instances come to mind/// we presume such events are common
Overconfidence
The tendency to be more confident than correct- to overestimate the accuracy of our beliefs and judgments
Belief Perseverence
Clinging to one’s initial conceptions after the bias on which they were formed has been discredited
Framing
The way an issue is posed; how a decision is framed and how it affects decisions and judgments
Language
Our spoken, written, or signed words and the ways we combine them to communicate meaning
Phoneme
In a language, the smallest distinctive sound unit
Morpheme
In a language, the smallest unit that carries meaning; may be a word or part of a word
Grammar
In a language, a system of rules that enables us to communicate with and understand others. In a given language, grammar is the rules for deriving meaning from sounds
Babbling Stage
Beginning at about age 4 months, the stage of speech development which the infant spontaneously utters various sounds at first unrelated to the household language
1 Word Stage
The stage in speech development from about age 1 to 3, during which a child speaks mostly in single words
2 Word Stage
Beginning about age 2, the stage in speech development during which a child speaks mostly in two-word statements
Telegraphic Speech
Early speech stage in which a child speaks like a telegram…using mostly nouns and verbs
Linguistic Determinism
Whorf’s hypothesis that language determines the way we thin
The Rational
Human ability to make good decisions, in conflict with stupid decisions
The Irrational
Humans still make irrational judgments, in conflict with the rationality of our brains
AI
Artificial Intelligence
Hierarchies
An organization where broader concepts are narrowed down to details
Fixation
Inability to see a problem from a new POV
Representativeness Heuristic
A heuristic used to make decisions about the probability of events or other uncertanties
Functional Fixadness
A cognitive bias in which a person can only see an object as having one use
Homosapiens
Human beings- scientific name
Cognitive Psychologist
A person who studies cognitive psychology
Belief Bias
Tendency to judge arguments based on probability rather than strength of support
Computer Neural Netwrks
Computer circuits that mimic the brain’s interconnected neural cells to perform basic sense jobs
Social Roots
Where we grew up socially
Semantics
Rules from which we derive meaning from language parts
Syntax
Rules for combining words into grammatically sensible sentences
