Chapter Ten Flashcards
Concept
A mental grouping of similar objects, events, ideas, or people
Cognition
The mental activities associating with thinking, knowing, remembering and communicating
Prototype
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)
Algorithm
A methodical, logical rule or procedure that guarantees solving a particular problem. Contrasts with the usually speedier - but more error-prone - use of heuristics.
Heuristic
A simple thinking strategy that often allows us to make judgments and solve problems efficiently; usually speedier but more error-prone than algorithms
Insight
A sudden and often novel realization of the solution to a problem; it contrasts with strategy-based solutions
Where do fMRIs and EEGs suggest insight occurs in the brain?
In the right temporal lobe above the ear
Confirmation Bias
A tendency to search for information that confirms one’s preconceptions
Fixation
The inability to see a problem from a new perspective; an impediment to problem solving
Mental Set
A tendency to approach a problem in a particular way, often a way that has been successful in the past.
Functional Fixedness
The tendency to think of things only in terms of their usual functions; an impediment to problem solving
Representativeness Heuristic
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
Availability Heuristic
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
Overconfidence
The tendency to be more confident than correct - to overestimate the accuracy of one’s beliefs and judgments
Framing
The way an issue is posed; how an issue is framed can significantly affect decisions and judgments
Belief Bias
The tendency for one’s preexisting beliefs to distort logical reasoning, sometimes by making invalid conclusions seem valid, or valid conclusions seem invalid
Belief Perseverance
Clinging to one’s initial conceptions after the basis on which they were formed has been discredited
Language
Our spoken, written, or signed words and the ways we combine them to communicate meaning
Phonemes
In a language, the smallest distinctive sound unit
The English language has about 40 phonemes
Morpheme
In a language, the smallest unit that carries meaning; may be a word or part of a word (such as a prefix)
Grammar
In a language, a system of rules that enables us to communicate with and understand others
Semantics
The set of rules by which we derive meaning from morphemes, words, and sentences in a given language; also, the study of meaning
Syntax
The rules for combining words into grammatically sensible sentences in a given language
Receptive Language
The ability to comprehend speech
Productive Language
The ability to produce words
Babbling Stage
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
When do infants begin to utter sounds that resemble their household language?
10 months
One Word Stage
The stage in speech development, from about age 1-2, during which a child speaks mostly in single words
Two Word Stage
Beginning at about age 2, the stage in speech development during which a child speaks mostly 2 word statements
Telegraphic Speech
Early speech stage in which a child speaks like a telegram, using mostly nouns, verbs, and omitting auxiliary verbs
Universal Grammar
All languages have the same grammatical building blocks (nouns, verbs, subjects, objects, negations, questions…)
- Languages are basically just dialects of universal grammar
Linguistic Determinism
Linguist Benjamin Lee Whorf’s hypothesis that language determines the way we think
Outcome Simulation
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
Process Simulation
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
The mental accomplishments of apes are similar to that of a ______?
2 year old human
How many signs did Washoe the chimp at the University of Nevada learn by the age of 32?
181
How many signs did Loulis, Washoe’s foster infant, pick up on through observation alone?
68 signs
