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DISP Psychology > Intelligence and Reasoning > Flashcards

Intelligence and Reasoning Flashcards

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1
Q

What is human language?

A

a system of communication specific to Homo sapiens

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2
Q

What are the characteristics of human language?

A

open and symbolic, has rules of grammer, allows its users to express abstract and distant ideas

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3
Q

What does open mean, in relation to language?

A

the system is dynamic and free to change

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4
Q

What does symbolic mean, in relation to language?

A

no real connection between a sound and the associated meaning/idea

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5
Q

How does human language differ in terms of what ideas can be expressed from most other forms of animal communication?

A

most animals only communicate on immediate events related to mating, survival, etc. whereas humans can discuss ideas not tied to the present moment/location

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6
Q

What are morphemes?

A

the smallest units of meaning in a language

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7
Q

What are phonemes?

A

the smallest units of sound in a language

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8
Q

What is an example of a morpheme?

A

“ball” - means ball

“s” - means plural

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9
Q

What is an example of a phoneme?

A

”s” sound at end of word

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10
Q

What is syntax?

A

rules for arranging words and symbols in sentences or parts of sentences

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11
Q

What is grammar?

A

comprises the entire set of rules for combining symbols and sounds

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12
Q

What is the first stage of language development and when does it occur?

A

cooing - during the first 6 months

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13
Q

What are cooing sounds?

A

almost all vowels (regardless of native language)

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14
Q

What is the second stage of language development, and when does it occur?

A

babbling - starts around 5/6 months

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15
Q

What are babbling sounds?

A

experimentation with a range of phonemes, including consonants and vowels

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16
Q

What can babies hear but adults can’t, and when does this stop?

A

babies can pick out more phonemes than adults in languages they haven’t been exposed to; ability disappears at 6-12 months

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17
Q

What is the third stage of language development, and when does it occur?

A

one-word utterances, starts around 12 months

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18
Q

What are one-word utterances?

A

single words, usually nouns (“mama” “more” “no”), and usually words spoken at ends of sentences

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19
Q

What aspect of language development illustrates the recency effect?

A

one-word utterances stage - babies usually acquire words spoken at ends of sentences first

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20
Q

What is the fourth stage of language development, and when does it occur?

A

two-word utterances; starts around 18 months

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21
Q

What is a two-word utterance?

A

phrases children put together (“my ball”, “go away”)

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22
Q

What is the last stage of language development, and when does it occur?

A

sentence phase, starts between 2.5 to 3 years

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23
Q

What occurs in the sentence phase of language development?

A

children start speaking in fully-gramatical sentences

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24
Q

Which sex tends to acquire language skills faster?

A

female

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25
Q

Why do adults lose the abilities to distinguish as many sounds as babies?

A

neurons change - become better at perceiving native language but lose ability to perceive sounds in other languages

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26
Q

What does language development map well onto and why?

A

brain growth; both start out changing very quickly and get longer/level out over time

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27
Q

What is the sensitive period?

A

period during development when exposure to human language is necessary

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28
Q

What happens if a child is not exposed to much language during the sensitive period?

A

language does not develop

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29
Q

What is the range of ages for the sensitive period?

A

begins in first years of life, ends around age 12

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30
Q

What are the theories of language acquisition?

A

sociocultural theory;
conditioning and learning theory;
nativist theory;
nature, nurture, and language learning

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31
Q

According to the sociocultural theory, how do we learn language?

A

environmental influence - learn language from people around us - acquire vocabulary by hearing it, determine meaning based on context

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32
Q

What effect does a mother’s verbal responsiveness have on her child’s language development, and which theory does this support?

A

higher verbal responsiveness, child reaches 50 word vocabulary earlier; supports sociocultural theory

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33
Q

What is child-directed speech?

A

universal changes in adult speach patterns when speaking to young children, characterized by higher pitch, volume changes, simpler sentences, emphasis on here/now, use of emotion to communicate messages

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34
Q

How does child-directed speech relate to imitation?

A

facilitates it - when parents draw words out children pay attention and focus on certain aspects of language

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35
Q

What theory of language development does imitation relate to?

A

sociocultural theory

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36
Q

Why does observation assist with language learning (sociocultural theory)?

A

mirror neurons fire upon observing, so it’s like you’re actually speaking

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37
Q

Who is behind the conditioning and learning theory of language development?

A

Skinner

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38
Q

How does language develop according to the conditioning and learning theory?

A

develops like any other behaviour - it is reinforced and shaped

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39
Q

How can language be reinforced like other behaviours?

A

parents reward better approximations of words with praise/smiles (conditioning and learning theory)

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40
Q

How does language progress from cooing/babbling to full sentences, according to the conditioning and learning theory?

A

progresses through shaping, successive approximations, and reinforcement

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41
Q

According to the nativist theory, how do we develop language?

A

we discover language rather than learn it - language development is inborn (like an instinct)

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42
Q

Who is the main advocate behind the nativist theory?

A

Noam Chomsky

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43
Q

According to Chomsky, what do humans have and how does it allow them to acquire language?

A

language acquisition device (LAD) - innate, biologically-based capacity to acquire language

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44
Q

Why does the presence of an LAD in humans make sense?

A

fits how easily and automatically humans learn complex/difficult things in language - universal and develops in children everywhere the same way

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45
Q

What ust the LAD have that can be applied to the parameters of each language?

A

principles of universal grammar

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46
Q

What studies show that humans are “built to speak” (nativist theory)?

A

enslaved people - adults develop “pigeon language” to communicate (little grammar, more nouns/verbs); their children automatically put grammar in it when raised

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47
Q

What kind of language learning does the nature/nurture theory propose?

A

innately-guided learning

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48
Q

What aspects of language are more innate (genetic contribution)?

A

grammar

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49
Q

What aspect of language is more environmental?

A

vocabulary

50
Q

According to nature/nuture language learning, what two things change together over time?

A

brain and language skills

51
Q

What gene may be related to understanding and producing speech?

A

FOXP2 gene

52
Q

How was the FOXP2 gene discovered?

A

a study on a family with a prevalent language disorder - had a mutation on the FOXP2 gene

53
Q

What human ancestor also had the FOXP2 gene, and what does that suggest?

A

Neanderthals - sugggests they had some spoken language

54
Q

Why can’t chimps produce the same range of sounds as humans?

A

humans have a much larger pharynx - chimps have no real vocal apparatus

55
Q

What species have learned nonvocal sign language?

A

primates - chimps…

56
Q

What sort of range of signs have chimps learned?

A

100 to 400 words

57
Q

How did Kanzi learn sign language?

A

from watching his mother’s training - he knows 3000 words

58
Q

How much can primates learn language compared to humans?

A

only achieve rudimentary ability - slow learning, only 2-3 word combos in no particular order…

59
Q

What ability do dogs have regarding human language?

A

some can understand it (make associations between words and objects, show some deeper understanding of language principles)

60
Q

If given a novel word, what does Rico (border collie) do?

A

fetches novel object

61
Q

How large is Rico’s (border collie) vocabulary?

A

200 words

62
Q

What language abilities do computer programs posess?

A

learn, understand, and translate language

63
Q

What did Whorf and Sapir propose?

A

that language creates thought as much as thought creates language - the language ou speak shapes the thoughts/cognitive processes you might engage in

64
Q

What is linguistic determinism?

A

language determines our way of thinking and perception of the world

65
Q

What support is there for linguistic determinism?

A

Piraha of the Amazon - have no words for numbers past 2 and can’t do simple math (but they function without it); also can’t put clauses within clauses, so end up speaking like “I finish eating. I speak to you.” and they can’t talk about past or future

66
Q

What theory does the Piraha tribe challenge?

A

Chomsky’s concept of universal grammar

67
Q

What native languages make simple math easier and what theory does this support?

A

Vietnamese, etc. - languages with words for numbers that follow base 10 (11 = ten-one), rather than memorizing numbers past ten (like in English);
supports linguistic determinism

68
Q

What is the linguistic relativism theory?

A

language influences the way we think

69
Q

What support is there for linguistic relativism?

A

colour matching experiment between native english speakers (1 word for “blue”) and russian speakers (1 word for light blue, 1 for dark);
measure reaction time for colour discrimination task;
no difference in english speakers based on shade of blue while russians slower if shown colour in same category (suggests they think about colours in a different way)

70
Q

What is cognitive psychology?

A

the science of how people think, learn, remember, and perceive

71
Q

What is cognition?

A

mental proccesses involved in acquiring, processing, and storing knowledge

72
Q

What is a mental representation?

A

a structure in the mind that stands for something else in the past or future (not present)

73
Q

What are some types of mental representations?

A

visual and verbal

74
Q

What is visual representation?

A

thinking in images - visual imagery

75
Q

What can visual imagery be used for?

A

imagining outcomes, mental rotation

76
Q

What effect does imagining outcomes (success) have on performance and the brain?

A

enhances performance; activates brain in similar way as performing a task

77
Q

What is crucuial for cognitive tasks like mental rotation?

A

visual representations

78
Q

What is mental rotation?

A

process of imagining an object turning in 3-D space

79
Q

What is involved in mental rotation?

A

conjure up image and manipulate it

80
Q

How can mental rotation be tested?

A

present two images of 3-D tetris-like shapes with different orientations and measure amount of time needed for subject to decide if images are of same object

81
Q

In mental rotation tasks, what is the time to a decision proportional to?

A

degree of rotation

82
Q

What sex differences exist in mental rotation tasks?

A

males outperform women (unless time is unlimited)

83
Q

Why might males be better than women at mental rotation tasks?

A

testosterone may help them (women with high levels of testosterone do better than normal women too)

84
Q

What do verbal representations do?

A

organize and classify our perceptions into categories

85
Q

What is the most basic unit of knowledge?

A

concept

86
Q

What is a concept?

A

mental groouping of objects, events, or people

87
Q

Why do we use concepts?

A

make our ability to use info much more efficient - help organize our perceptions into hierarchies/parallel-distributed processes

88
Q

What is a concept hierarchy?

A

arrangement of related concepts from general to specific

89
Q

What is an example of a concept hierarchy?

A

animal - bird - chickadee

90
Q

What do hierarchies provide?

A

more information about a specific concept from the general concepts before it

91
Q

What is parallel-distributive processing?

A

more complex model of knowledge organization in brain - associations between concepts activate many networks or nodes at same time based on how strongly associated they are to each other

92
Q

What is a category?

A

concept that organizes other concepts around shared characteristics (can be concrete or abstract)

93
Q

What is a prototype?

A

the best-fitting examles of a category - a simple/common example most people would choose

94
Q

What is an examle of a prototype for the category “birds”?

A

robin (NOT ostrich, which is unusal in its lack of flight)

95
Q

What is reasoning?

A

the process of drawing inferences or conclusions from principles and evidence

96
Q

What is deductive reasoning?

A

reasoning from general statements (of what is known) to specific conclusions

97
Q

If proper logic is used, what is the only way in which deductive reasoning can produce an incorrect conclusion?

A

if the premises (general statements) are wrong

98
Q

Which type of reasoning is less prone to errors?

A

deductive

99
Q

What is inductive reasoning?

A

reasoning from specific evidence to general conclusions

100
Q

In science, what is inductive reasoning used for?

A

constructing hypotheses

101
Q

What is often used for inductive reasoning?

A

causal inferences

102
Q

What are causal inferences?

A

judgements made about the causation of one thing by another

103
Q

What error is inductive reasoning prone to?

A

confirmation bias

104
Q

What is the confirmation bias?

A

tendency to selectively attend to info that supports one’s general beliefs while ignoring information/evidence that contradicts them

105
Q

Why is inductive reasoning more prone to error and bias than deductive reasoning?

A

it’s more open-ended

106
Q

What test shows the confirmation test?

A

subject given sequence: 2-4-6;
asked to guess rule by asking if other sequences follow the rule too;
most guess 6-8-10, etc. (correct) and assume rule is all even numbers (incorrect - actual rule is sequence of increasing numbers);
would be less likely to make mistake if tried to disprove their guess rather than confirm it

107
Q

Each card has a number on one side and a letter on the other. If a car has a vowel on one side, then it must have an even number of the other. Which cards (E, J, 4, 7) must you definitely turn over to test whether this rule is being followed? What type of reasoning is used?

A

E (to check if it has even number) and 7 (to make sure the odd number doesn’t have a vowel on the back);
NOT 4 since rule doesn’t say anything about even numbers needing vowels;
deductive reasoning

108
Q

What is a schema?

A

mental representation of a class of objects, scenes, events, etc.

109
Q

What are reasoning schemas?

A

mental representations of familiar types of problems

110
Q

What kinds of problems are the easiest for us to solve?

A

pragmatic problems - tend to be more practical, with contexts we’re familiar with

111
Q

What are the two general ways of making judgements?

A

algorithms and heuristics

112
Q

What are algorithms?

A

formulas/procedures that generate the correct answer - try every single possibility

113
Q

What are heuristics?

A

mental shortcuts used to make decisions and judgements

114
Q

What is the problem with algorithms?

A

take a long time - try every possibility

115
Q

Why are heuristics used?

A

faster than algorithms (ex: solving anagram - can use shortcuts like common consontant combos to make phonemes to guess word, rather than trying every possibility)

116
Q

What is the problem with using heuristics?

A

prone to error and bias

117
Q

What is the representative heuristic?

A

strategy used to estimate the probability of one event based on how typical it is of another

118
Q

What is the problem with the representative heuristic?

A

tend to rely on it in the face of other types of evidence

119
Q

Joe was chosen randomly from group of doctors and real estate agents. He’s friendly, often works weekends, and knows his way around town well. Which profession is he most likely? Which heuristic is used to determine this?

A

real estate agent; representative heuristic (which can lead to overestimates of probability of being real estate agent if given that group is 70 doctors and 30 real estate agents)

120
Q

What is the availability heuristic?

A

decision-making strategy based on how easily estimates come to mind or their availability to awareness

121
Q

If there’s a dog attack, what heuristic is used when someone assumes it was a pit bull rather than a german shepherd?

A

availability heuristic - used to conjuring up image of aggressive pit bull, so that answer comes to mind more easily (even if false)

122
Q

What statistical fact do people tend to overlook as a result of (representative) heuristics?

A

the probability of two events can never be more than the probability of one of the events

DISP Psychology (6 decks)

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