Language and Rhetorics

Question 1

When is a sentence ambiguous?

Answer 1

A sentence is ambiguous in a given context when there is more than one possible way of interpreting it in that context

Question 2

What are the two types of ambiguity?

Answer 2

Lexical (meaning) and syntactic (grammar)

Question 3

What is meant by an expressions extension?

Answer 3

The set or group of things to which an expression applies is called its extension

Question 4

What name is given to words that sound the same but have different meanings?

Answer 4

Homonyms

Question 5

What is meant by vagueness?

Answer 5

the meaning of a word or expression is vague if it is indefinite or if it is uncertain what is conveyed by the word in the context under consideration.

Question 6

What is meant by primary and secondary connotations

Answer 6

Primary connotations are the literal meaning while secondary connotations are the other characteristics the word conveys

Question 7

What are the three benchmarks of rationality that people should follow?

Answer 7

Consistency of belief- The premises have to be consistent with the conclusion
Consistency of degrees of belief- the extent of belief has to be consistent with the probability of the conclusion.
Consistency of preference and choice- The conclusion has to be consistent with decision making.

Question 8

What three elements are important in rational decision making

Answer 8

Motivation, type of motivation and capacity to make judgements are important for rational decision making.

Question 9

People generally aren’t rational, but get better the more _________ it holds

Answer 9

practical relevance

Question 10

What is meant by the belief bias?

Answer 10

The belief bias refers to prior beliefs influencing rational decision making.

Question 11

What is meant by conversational implicature and what effect does it have?

Answer 11

People should only consider relevant information, but are influenced by conversational implicature – using words in the conversational sense and not in the logical sense - and the belief bias.

Question 12

What do people often neglect when making decisions about probabilities and what is this known as?

Answer 12

People should also consider the sample size when making decisions about probabilities, but mostly show sample size neglect and people should calculate conditional probabilities but mostly show base rate neglect.

Question 13

How do you calculate the expected value?

Answer 13

the probability times the objective value

Question 14

What do people often do instead of attending to the base rate? (2)

Answer 14

people tend to satisfy – choosing the first option that satisfies the demands – and use the recognition heuristic, basing a decision upon recognition.

Question 15

What is meant by the representativeness bias?

Answer 15

people judging representative things to be more likely

Question 16

What is meant by utility?

Answer 16

Utility, the subjective value of an outcome

Question 17

Name and describe the four basic forms of logical reasoning

Answer 17

1. Modus ponens (valid) 
P1: If A, then B
P2: A 
---------------------- 
C: B

2. Modus tollens (valid) 
P1: If A, then B
P2: Not B
 ---------------------- 
C: Not A

3. Affirming the consequent (invalid) 
P1: If A, then B
P2: B 
---------------------- 
C: A

4. Denying the antecedent (invalid) 
P1: If A, then B
P2: Not A 
---------------------- 
C: Not B

Question 18

What is meant by honouring sunk costs?

Answer 18

Continuing with a decision based on the costs made on it (time, money, implications etc)

Question 19

What is meant by gambler’s rate fallacy?

Answer 19

The gambler’s fallacy refers to gamblers to make decisions based on expectations instead of probabilities

Question 20

What is meant by the availability heuristic?

Answer 20

The availability heuristic states that people find more available things (e.g. plane crashes) more probable.

Question 21

What is meant by the anchoring and adjustment heuristic?

Answer 21

The anchoring and adjustment heuristic states that people anchor their estimates on suggested values and are conservative in adjusting them on information other than the anchor.

Question 22

What is often the result of using pragmatic reasoning methods?

Answer 22

People tend to make use of pragmatic reasoning schemes, which leads to pragmatic inferences, rather than deductively valid inferences.

Question 23

Why may people engage in self justification?

Answer 23

making excuses for a mistaken belief in order to protect the self-image

Question 24

What is meant by consensus seeking?

Answer 24

Consensus-seeking refers to an openness in thinking that allows members of a group to agree on some parts and disagree on some other parts.

Question 25

What does meta-cognition refer to?

Answer 25

our knowledge of what we know and the use of this knowledge to direct further learning activities.

Question 26

What is the difference between soft and hard generalisations?

Answer 26

Soft generalisations are statements about how things usually are. Hard generalisations are statements about how things always are.

Question 27

What is meant by a direct attack? What kind of persuasive attempt is this?

Answer 27

A simple claim with no context (e.g. no to Obamacare); rhetorical ploy

Question 28

What is meant by a hard sell?

Answer 28

A direct attack repeated frequently

Question 29

What is meant by scare quotes?

Answer 29

The use of “” to make statements look more suspicious or scary

Question 30

What is meant by trading in on equivocation?

Answer 30

Intentionally using vagueness or ambiguity to persuade

Question 31

What is meant by trading in on implicature?

Answer 31

Using the statement’s implicature to mislead people

Question 32

What is meant by a many questions technique?

Answer 32

Posing a question which implies that a certain premise is true

Question 33

What are buzzwords?

Answer 33

provocative words loaded with secondary connotations

Question 34

How are acronyms used for rhetorical ploys

Answer 34

Using initials as though they were a word to obscure what is being conveyed

Question 35

What is meant by a spin?

Answer 35

Using techniques that employ rhetorical ploys to good effect in influencing opinions.