Chapter Ten

Question 0

Concept

Answer 0

A mental grouping of similar objects, events, ideas, or people

Question 1

Cognition

Answer 1

The mental activities associating with thinking, knowing, remembering and communicating

Question 2

Prototype

Answer 2

A mental image or best example of a category. Matching new items to the prototype provides a quick and easy method for including items in a category (as when comparing feathered creatures to a prototypical bird, such as a robin)

Question 3

Algorithm

Answer 3

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

Question 4

Heuristic

Answer 4

A simple thinking strategy that often allows us to make judgments and solve problems efficiently; usually speedier but more error-prone than algorithms

Question 5

Insight

Answer 5

A sudden and often novel realization of the solution to a problem; it contrasts with strategy-based solutions

Question 6

Where do fMRIs and EEGs suggest insight occurs in the brain?

Answer 6

In the right temporal lobe above the ear

Question 7

Confirmation Bias

Answer 7

A tendency to search for information that confirms one’s preconceptions

Question 8

Fixation

Answer 8

The inability to see a problem from a new perspective; an impediment to problem solving

Question 9

Mental Set

Answer 9

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

Question 10

Functional Fixedness

Answer 10

The tendency to think of things only in terms of their usual functions; an impediment to problem solving

Question 11

Representativeness Heuristic

Answer 11

Judging the likelihood of things in terms of how well they seem to represent, or match, particular prototypes; may lead one to ignore other relevant information

Question 12

Availability Heuristic

Answer 12

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

Question 13

Overconfidence

Answer 13

The tendency to be more confident than correct - to overestimate the accuracy of one’s beliefs and judgments

Question 14

Framing

Answer 14

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

Question 15

Belief Bias

Answer 15

The tendency for one’s preexisting beliefs to distort logical reasoning, sometimes by making invalid conclusions seem valid, or valid conclusions seem invalid

Question 16

Belief Perseverance

Answer 16

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

Question 17

Language

Answer 17

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

Question 18

Phonemes

Answer 18

In a language, the smallest distinctive sound unit

The English language has about 40 phonemes

Question 19

Morpheme

Answer 19

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

Question 20

Grammar

Answer 20

In a language, a system of rules that enables us to communicate with and understand others

Question 21

Semantics

Answer 21

The set of rules by which we derive meaning from morphemes, words, and sentences in a given language; also, the study of meaning

Question 22

Syntax

Answer 22

The rules for combining words into grammatically sensible sentences in a given language

Question 23

Receptive Language

Answer 23

The ability to comprehend speech

Question 24

Productive Language

Answer 24

The ability to produce words

Question 25

Babbling Stage

Answer 25

Beginning at about 4 months, the stage of speech development in which the infant spontaneously utters various sounds at first unrelated to the household words

Question 26

When do infants begin to utter sounds that resemble their household language?

Answer 26

10 months

Question 27

One Word Stage

Answer 27

The stage in speech development, from about age 1-2, during which a child speaks mostly in single words

Question 28

Two Word Stage

Answer 28

Beginning at about age 2, the stage in speech development during which a child speaks mostly 2 word statements

Question 29

Telegraphic Speech

Answer 29

Early speech stage in which a child speaks like a telegram, using mostly nouns, verbs, and omitting auxiliary verbs

Question 30

Universal Grammar

Answer 30

All languages have the same grammatical building blocks (nouns, verbs, subjects, objects, negations, questions…)
- Languages are basically just dialects of universal grammar

Question 31

Linguistic Determinism

Answer 31

Linguist Benjamin Lee Whorf’s hypothesis that language determines the way we think

Question 32

Outcome Simulation

Answer 32

Picturing mentally the desired outcome of an event as a way to improve the chances of said outcome happening
ex: Picturing the A you will get on your final helps your test scores

Question 33

Process Simulation

Answer 33

More effective than outcome simulation; picturing mentally the process of achieving an outcome as a way to improve its chances of occurring
ex: Picturing the study process to achieve the A on your final increases your test scores

Question 34

The mental accomplishments of apes are similar to that of a ______?

Answer 34

2 year old human

Question 35

How many signs did Washoe the chimp at the University of Nevada learn by the age of 32?

Answer 35

181

Question 36

How many signs did Loulis, Washoe’s foster infant, pick up on through observation alone?

Answer 36

68 signs