Chapter 9 Vocab

Question 1

language

Answer 1

A 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

The smallest unit of sound that is recognizable as speech rather than as 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

The 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

The meaning of a sentence.

Question 9

surface structure

Answer 9

How a sentence is worded.

Question 10

fast mapping

Answer 10

A phenomenon whereby 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 mostly of content words.

Question 12

nativist theory

Answer 12

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

Question 13

genetic dysphasia

Answer 13

A syndrome characterized by an inability to learn the grammatical structure of language despite having otherwise normal intelligence.

Question 14

aphasia

Answer 14

Difficulty in producing or comprehending language.

Question 15

concept

Answer 15

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

Question 16

family resemblance theory

Answer 16

The theory that members of a category have features that appear to be characteristic of category members but may not be possessed by every member.

Question 17

prototype

Answer 17

The “best” or “most typical member” of a category

Question 18

exemplar theory

Answer 18

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

Question 19

category-specific deficit

Answer 19

A neurological syndrome that is characterized by an inability to recognize objects that belong to a particular category although the ability to recognize objects outside the category is undisturbed.

Question 20

rational choice theory

Answer 20

The 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 21

frequency format hypothesis

Answer 21

The proposal that our minds evolved to notice how frequently things occur, not how likely they are to occur.

Question 22

availability bias

Answer 22

The tendency to mistakenly judge items that are more readily available in memory as having occurred more frequently.

Question 23

conjunction fallacy

Answer 23

An error that occurs when people think that two events are more likely to occur together than either individual event.

Question 24

representativeness heuristic

Answer 24

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

Question 25

framing effects

Answer 25

Phenomena that occur when people give different answers to the same problem depending on how the problem is phrased (or framed).

Question 26

sunk-cost fallacy

Answer 26

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

Question 27

prospect theory

Answer 27

The proposal that people choose to take risks when evaluating potential losses and avoid risks when evaluating potential gains.

Question 28

intelligence

Answer 28

The ability to direct one’s thinking, adapt to one’s circumstances, and learn from one’s experiences.

Question 29

ratio IQ

Answer 29

A statistic obtained by dividing a person’s mental age by the person’s physical age and then multiplying the quotient by 100 (see deviation IQ)

Question 30

deviation IQ

Answer 30

A statistic obtained by dividing a person’s test score by the average test score of people in the same age group and then multiplying the quotient by 100 (see ratio IQ)

Question 31

two-factor theory of intelligence

Answer 31

Spearman’s theory suggesting that every task requires a combination of a general ability (which he called g) and skills that are specific to the task (which he called s).

Question 32

fluid intelligence

Answer 32

The ability to see abstract relationships and draw logical inferences

Question 33

crystallized intelligence

Answer 33

The ability to retain and use knowledge that was acquired through experience.

Question 34

prodigy

Answer 34

A person of normal intelligence who has an extraordinary ability.

Question 35

savant

Answer 35

A person of low intelligence who has an extraordinary ability.

Question 36

emotional intelligence

Answer 36

The ability to reason about emotions and to use emotions to enhance reasoning.

Question 37

fraternal twins

Answer 37

(also called dizygotic twins) Twins who develop from two different eggs that were fertilized by two different sperm.

Question 38

identical twins

Answer 38

(also called monozygotic twins) Twins who develop from the splitting of a single egg that was fertilized by a single sperm.

Question 39

shared environment

Answer 39

Those environmental factors that are experienced by all relevant members of a household

Question 40

nonshared environment

Answer 40

Those environmental factors that are not experienced by all relevant members of a household