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Psycology > Chapter Nine > Flashcards

Chapter Nine Flashcards

1
Q

cognition

A

all the mental activities associated with thinking, knowing, remembering, and communicating.

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2
Q

concept

A

a mental grouping of similar objects, events, ideas, or people.

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3
Q

prototype

A

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 (as when comparing feathered creatures to a prototypical bird, such as a robin).

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4
Q

algorithm

A

a methodical, logical rule or procedure that guarantees solving a particular problem. Contrasts with the usually speedier—but also more error-prone—use of heuristics.

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5
Q

heuristic

A

a simple thinking strategy that often allows us to make judgments and solve problems efficiently; usually speedier but also more error-prone than an algorithm.

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6
Q

insight

A

a sudden realization of a problem’s solution; contrasts with strategy-based solutions.

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7
Q

confirmation bias

A

a tendency to search for information that supports our preconceptions and to ignore or distort contradictory evidence.

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8
Q

fixation

A

in thinking, the inability to see a problem from a new perspective; an obstacle to problem solving.

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9
Q

mental set

A

a tendency to approach a problem in one particular way, often a way that has been successful in the past.

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10
Q

intuition

A

an effortless, immediate, automatic feeling or thought, as contrasted with explicit, conscious reasoning.

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11
Q

representativeness heuristic

A

estimating the likelihood of events in terms of how well they seem to represent, or match, particular prototypes; may lead us to ignore other relevant information.

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12
Q

availability heuristic

A

estimating the likelihood of events based on their availability in memory; if instances come readily to mind (perhaps because of their vividness), we presume such events are common.

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13
Q

Why can news be described as “something that hardly ever happens”? How does knowing this help us assess our fears?

A
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14
Q

overconfidence

A

the tendency to be more confident than correct—to overestimate the accuracy of our beliefs and judgments.

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15
Q

belief perseverance

A

clinging to one’s initial conceptions after the basis on which they were formed has been discredited.

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16
Q

framing

A

the way an issue is posed; how an issue is framed can significantly affect decisions and judgments.

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17
Q

creativity

A

the ability to produce new and valuable ideas.

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18
Q

convergent thinking

A

narrowing the available problem solutions to determine the single best solution.

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19
Q

divergent thinking

A

expanding the number of possible problem solutions; creative thinking that diverges in different directions.

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20
Q

Match the process or strategy listed below (1–10) with its description (a–j).
Algorithm
Intuition
Insight
Heuristic
Fixation
Confirmation bias
Overconfidence
Creativity
Framing
Belief perseverance

Inability to view problems from a new angle; focuses thinking but hinders creative problem solving.
Methodological rule or procedure that guarantees a solution but requires time and effort.
Your fast, automatic, effortless feelings and thoughts based on your experience; huge and adaptive but can lead you to overfeel and underthink.
Simple thinking shortcut that enables quick and efficient decisions but puts us at risk for errors.
Sudden Aha! reaction that instantly reveals the solution.
Tendency to search for support for your own views and to ignore contradictory evidence.
Holding on to your beliefs even after they are proven wrong; closing your mind to new ideas.
Overestimating the accuracy of your beliefs and judgments; allows you to be happier and to make decisions more easily, but puts you at risk for errors.
Wording a question or statement so that it evokes a desired response; can mislead people and influence their decisions.
The ability to produce novel and valuable ideas.

A
  1. b, 2. c, 3. e, 4. d, 5. a, 6. f, 7. h, 8. j, 9. i, 10. g
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21
Q

language

A

our spoken, written, or signed words and the ways we combine them to communicate meaning.

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22
Q

phoneme

A

in a language, the smallest distinctive sound unit.

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23
Q

morpheme

A

in a language, the smallest unit that carries meaning; may be a word or a part of a word (such as a prefix).

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24
Q

grammar

A

in a language, a system of rules that enables us to communicate with and understand others. Semantics is the language’s set of rules for deriving meaning from sounds, and syntax is its set of rules for combining words into grammatically sensible sentences.

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25
Q

How many morphemes are in the word cats? How many phonemes?

A

Two morphemes—cat and s, and four phonemes—c, a, t, and s

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26
Q

What was the premise of researcher Noam Chomsky’s work in language development?

A

Chomsky maintained that all languages share a universal grammar, and humans are biologically predisposed to learn the grammar rules of language.

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27
Q

babbling stage

A

beginning around 4 months, the stage of speech development in which an infant spontaneously utters various sounds at first unrelated to the household language.

28
Q

one-word stage

A

the stage in speech development, from about age 1 to 2, during which a child speaks mostly in single words.

29
Q

two-word stage

A

beginning about age 2, the stage in speech development during which a child speaks mostly in two-word statements.

30
Q

telegraphic speech

A

early speech stage in which a child speaks like a telegram—”go car”—using mostly nouns and verbs.

31
Q

What is the difference between receptive and productive language, and when do children normally hit these milestones in language development?

A

Infants normally start developing receptive language skills (ability to understand what is said to and about them) around 4 months of age. Then, starting with babbling at 4 months and beyond, infants normally start building productive language skills (ability to produce sounds and eventually words).

32
Q

Why is it so difficult to learn a new language in adulthood?

A

Our brain’s critical period for language learning is in childhood, when we can absorb language structure almost effortlessly. As we move past that stage in our brain’s development, our ability to learn a new language diminishes dramatically.

33
Q

aphasia

A

impairment of language, usually caused by left hemisphere damage either to Broca’s area (impairing speaking) or to Wernicke’s area (impairing understanding).

34
Q

Broca’s area

A

helps control language expression—an area of the frontal lobe, usually in the left hemisphere, that directs the muscle movements involved in speech.

35
Q

Wernicke’s area

A

a brain area involved in language comprehension and expression; usually in the left temporal lobe.

36
Q

___________ ___________is one part of the brain that, if damaged, might impair your ability to speak words. Damage to might impair your ability to understand language.

A

Broca’s area; Wernicke’s area

37
Q

If your dog barks at a stranger at the door, does this qualify as language? What if the dog yips in a telltale way to let you know she needs to go out?

A

These are definitely communications. But if language consists of words and the grammatical rules we use to combine them to communicate meaning, few scientists would label a dog’s barking and yipping as language.

38
Q

linguistic determinism

A

Whorf’s hypothesis that language determines the way we think.

39
Q

What is mental practice, and how can it help you to prepare for an upcoming event?

A

Mental practice uses visual imagery to mentally rehearse future behaviors, activating some of the same brain areas used during the actual behaviors. Visualizing the details of the process is more effective than visualizing only your end goal.

40
Q

What is cognition, and what are the functions of concepts?

A

Cognition refers to all the mental activities associated with thinking, knowing, remembering, and communicating. We use concepts, mental groupings of similar objects, events, ideas, or people, to simplify and order the world around us. We form most concepts around prototypes, or best examples of a category.

41
Q

What cognitive strategies assist our problem solving, and what obstacles hinder it?

A

An algorithm is a methodical, logical rule or procedure (such as a step-by-step description for evacuating a building during a fire) that guarantees a solution to a problem. A heuristic is a simpler strategy (such as running for an exit if you smell smoke) that is usually speedier than an algorithm but is also more error prone. Insight is not a strategy-based solution, but rather a sudden flash of inspiration that solves a problem. Obstacles to problem solving include confirmation bias, which predisposes us to verify rather than challenge our hypotheses, and fixation, such as mental set, which may prevent us from taking the fresh perspective that would lead to a solution.

42
Q

What is intuition, and how can the availability and representativeness heuristics influence our decisions and judgments?

A

Intuition is the effortless, immediate, automatic feelings or thoughts we often use instead of systematic reasoning. Heuristics, such as the representativeness heuristic, enable snap judgments. Using the availability heuristic, we judge the likelihood of things based on how readily they come to mind.

43
Q

What factors exaggerate our fear of unlikely events?

A

We tend to be afraid of what our ancestral history has prepared us to fear, what we cannot control, what is immediate, and what is most readily available. We fear too little the ongoing threats that claim lives one by one, such as traffic accidents and diseases.

44
Q

How are our decisions and judgments affected by overconfidence, belief perseverance, and framing?

A

Overconfidence can lead us to overestimate the accuracy of our beliefs. When a belief we have formed and explained has been discredited, belief perseverance may cause us to cling to that belief. A remedy for belief perseverance is to consider how we might have explained an opposite result. Framing is the way a question or statement is presented. Subtle differences in presentation can dramatically alter our responses.

45
Q

How do smart thinkers use intuition?

A

Smart thinkers welcome their intuitions (which are usually adaptive), but also know when to override them. When making complex decisions we may benefit from gathering as much information as possible and then taking time to let our two-track mind process it.

46
Q

What is creativity, and what fosters it?

A

Creativity, the ability to produce novel and valuable ideas, correlates somewhat with aptitude, but is more than school smarts. Aptitude tests require convergent thinking, but creativity requires divergent thinking. Robert Sternberg has proposed that creativity involves expertise; imaginative thinking skills; a venturesome personality; intrinsic motivation; and a creative environment that sparks, supports, and refines creative ideas.

47
Q

What do we know about thinking in other species?

A

Researchers make inferences about other species’ consciousness and intelligence based on behavior. Evidence from studies of various species shows that many other animals use concepts, numbers, and tools and that they transmit learning from one generation to the next (cultural transmission). And, like humans, some other species show insight, self-awareness, altruism, cooperation, and grief.

48
Q

A mental grouping of similar things is called a _________.

A

concept

49
Q

The most systematic procedure for solving a problem is a(n) _________.

A

algorithm

50
Q

Oscar describes his political beliefs as “strongly liberal,” and he is not interested in exploring opposing viewpoints. How might he be affected by confirmation bias and belief perseverance?

A

Oscar will need to guard against confirmation bias (searching for support for his own views and ignoring contradictory evidence) as he seeks out opposing viewpoints. Even if Oscar encounters new information that disproves his beliefs, belief perseverance may lead him to cling to these views anyway. It will take more compelling evidence to change his political beliefs than it took to create them.

51
Q

A major obstacle to problem solving is fixation, which is a(n)

A: tendency to base our judgments on vivid memories.
B: tendency to wait for insight to occur.
C: inability to view a problem from a new perspective.
D: rule of thumb for judging the likelihood of an event in terms of our mental image of it.

A

C

52
Q

Terrorist attacks in Paris and San Bernardino made Americans, in the words of one senator, “really scared and worried”—and more fearful of being victimized by terrorism than of other greater threats. Such exaggerated fears after dramatic events illustrates the _________ heuristic.

A

availability

53
Q

When consumers respond more positively to ground beef described as “75 percent lean” than to the same product labeled “25 percent fat,” they have been influenced by _________.

A

framing

54
Q

Which of the following is NOT a characteristic of a creative person?
A: Expertise
B: Extrinsic motivation
C: A venturesome personality
D: Imaginative thinking skills

A

b

55
Q

What are the structural components of a language?

A

Phonemes are a language’s basic units of sound. Morphemes are the elementary units of meaning. Grammar—the system of rules that enables us to communicate—includes semantics (rules for deriving meaning) and syntax (rules for ordering words into sentences).

56
Q

How do we acquire language, and what is universal grammar?

A

As our biology and experience interact, we readily learn the specific grammar and vocabulary of the language we experience as children. Linguist Noam Chomsky has proposed that all human languages share a universal grammar—the basic building blocks of language—and that humans are born with a predisposition to learn language. Human languages share some commonalities, but other researchers note that children learn grammar as they discern language patterns.

57
Q

What are the milestones in language development, and when is the critical period for acquiring language?

A

Language development’s timing varies, but all children follow the same sequence. Receptive language (the ability to understand what is said to or about you) develops before productive language (the ability to produce words). At about 4 months of age, infants babble, making sounds found in languages from all over the world, which by about 10 months includes only the sounds found in their household language. Around 12 months of age, children begin to speak in single words. This one-word stage evolves into two-word (telegraphic) utterances before their second birthday, after which they begin speaking in full sentences. Childhood is a critical period for learning language. A delay in exposure until age 2 or 3 produces a rush of language. But children not exposed to either a spoken or a signed language until age 7 will never master any language. The importance of early language experiences is often evident in deaf children born to hearing-nonsigning parents.

58
Q

What brain areas are involved in language processing and speech?

A

Aphasia is an impairment of language, usually caused by left-hemisphere damage. Two important language- and speech-processing areas are Broca’s area, a region of the left frontal lobe that controls language expression, and Wernicke’s area, a region in the left temporal lobe that controls language reception. Language processing is spread across other brain areas as well, with different neural networks handling specific linguistic subtasks.

59
Q

What do we know about other species’ capacity for language?

A

Many chimpanzees and bonobos have learned to communicate with humans by signing or by pushing buttons, developed vocabularies of nearly 400 words, communicated by stringing these words together, taught their skills to younger animals, and demonstrated some understanding of syntax. While only humans communicate in complex sentences, other animals’ impressive abilities to think and communicate challenge humans to consider what this means about the moral rights of other species.

60
Q

What is the relationship between thinking and language, and what is the value of thinking in images?

A

Although Benjamin Lee Whorf’s linguistic determinism hypothesis suggested that language determines thought, it is more accurate to say that language influences thought (linguistic relativism). Different languages embody different ways of thinking, and immersion in bilingual education can enhance thinking. We often think in images when we use implicit (nondeclarative, procedural) memory—our automatic memory system for motor and cognitive skills and classically conditioned associations. Thinking in images can increase our skills when we mentally practice upcoming events. Process simulation (focusing on the steps needed to reach a goal) is effective, but outcome simulation (fantasizing about having achieved the goal) does little.

61
Q

Children reach the one-word stage of speech development at about
A: 4 months.
B: 6 months.
C: 1 year.
D: 2 years.

A
  1. c
62
Q

The three basic building blocks of language are ________, _______, and ______.

A

phonemes; morphemes; grammar

63
Q

When young children speak in short phrases using mostly verbs and nouns, this is referred to as ______.

A

telegraphic speech

64
Q

According to Chomsky, all languages share a(n) ____________.

A

universal grammar

65
Q

Most researchers agree that apes can
A: communicate through symbols.
B: reproduce most human speech sounds.
C: master language in adulthood.
D: surpass a human 3-year-old in language skills.

A

a

66
Q
A

Psycology (17 decks)

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