Chapter 9 - Thinking and Language Flashcards
cognition
the mental activities associated with thinking, knowing, remembering and communicating
concept
a mental grouping of similar objects, events, people or ideas
prototype
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 that often allows us to make judgments and solve problems efficiently; usually quicker than algorithms but more error prone
insight
a sudden realization of a problem’s solution; contrasts with strategy-based solutions
confirmation bias
a tendency to search for info 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
intuition
an effortless, immediate, automatic feeling or thought, as contrasted with explicit, conscious reasoning
availability heuristic
estimating the likelihood of events based on their availability in memory; if instances come readily to mind, we presume such events are common
belief perserverance
clinging to ones initial conceptions after the basis on which they were formed has been discredited
framing
the way an issue is posed; how an issue is framed can significantly affect decisions and judgments
convergent thinking
narrowing the available problem solutions to determine the single best solution
divergent thinking
expanding the number of possible problem solutions; creative thinking that diverges in different directions
phoneme
in a language, the smallest distinctive sound unit
morpheme
in language, the smallest unit that carries meaning; may be a word or a part of a word
grammar
a system of rules that enables us to communicate with and understand others.
semantics
set of rules for deriving meaning from sounds
syntax
set of rules for combining words into grammatically sensible sentences
babbling stage
begins at 4 months, stage of speech development in which the infant spontaneously utters various sounds at first unrelated to the household language
one-word stage
from about age 1-2 a child speaks mostly in single words
two-word stage
begins at age 2, a child speaks mostly in two-word statements
telegraphic stage
child speaks like a telegram “go car” - using mostly nouns and verbs
aphasia
impairment of language, usually caused by left hemisphere damage either to Broca’s area or Wernicke’s area
Broca’s Area
controls language expression - an area of the frontal lobe, usually in the left hemisphere, that directs the muscle movements involved in speech
Wernicke’s area
controls language reception, a brain area involved in language comprehension and experiession - usually in the left temporal lobe
linguistic determinism
Whorf’s hypothesis that language determines the way we think
