Mod 31-34 Flashcards
cognition
the mental activities associated with thinking, knowing , remembering and communicating
concept
a mental grouping of similar objects, events, ideas, or people
prototype
a mental image or best example of a category. <atching 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)
algorithm
a methodical, logial rule or procedure that guarantees solving a particular problem. Contrasts with the usually speedier but also mor error prone use of heuristics
heuristics
a simple thinking strategy that often allows s to make judgements and solve problems efficiently; usually speedier but also more error prone than algorithms
insight
a sudden and often novel realization of the solution to a problem; it contrasts with strategy based solutions
confirmation bias
a tendency to search for information that supports our preconceptions and to ignore or distort contradictory evidence
fixation
the inability to see a problem from a new perspective, by employing a different mental set
mental set
a tendency to approach a problem in one 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 mathc, particular prototypes; may lead us 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 over estimate the accuracy of our beliefs and judgments
belief perseverance
clinging to one’s initial conceptions after the basis on which they were formed has been discredited
intuition
an effortless, immediate, automatic feeling or thought, as contrasted with explicit, conscious reasoning
framing
the way an issue is posed; how an issue is framed can significantly affect decisions and judgements
language
our spoken, written, or signed words and the ways we combine them to communicate meaning
phoneme
in language, the smallest distinctive sound unit
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
babbling stage
beginning at about four months, the stage of speech development in which the infant spontaneously utters various sounds at first unrelated to the household language
one word stage
the stage in speech development from about age one to two during which a child speaks mostly in single words
two word stage
beginning about age 2 the stage in speech development during which a child speaks mostly two word statements
telegraphic speech
early speech stage in which a child speaks like a telegram-go car-using mostly nouns and verbs
aphasia
impairment of language usually caused by left hemisphere damage either to Broca’s area or to Wernickes area
linguistic determinism
Whorf’s hypothesis that language determines the way we think
intelligence test
a method for assessing an individual’s mental aptitudes and comparing them with those of others, using numerical scores
intelligence
mental quality consisting of the ability to learn from experience, solve problems, and use knowledge to adapt to new situations
general intelligence(g)
a general intelligence factor that, according to Spearman and others, underlies specific mental abilities and is therefore measured by every task on an intelligence test
factor analysis
a statistical procedure that identifies clusters of related items(called factors) on a test; used to identify different dimensions of performance that underlie a person’s total score
savant syndrome
a condition in which a person otherwise limited in mental ability has an exceptional specific skill, such as in computation or drawing
creativity
the ability to produce novel and valuable ideas
emotional intelligence
the ability to perceive, understand, manage and use emotions
mental age
a measure of intelligence test performance devised b Binet; the chronological age that most typically corresponds to a given level of performance, Thus a child who does as well as the average 8 year old said to have a mental age of 8
Stanford Binet
the widely used American revision by Terman at STandford of Binet’s original intelligence test
intelligence quotient(IQ)
defined originally as the ratio of mental age(ma) to chronological age(ca) multiplied by 100. On contemporary intelligence tests, the average performance for a given age is assigned a score of 100
achievement tests
a test designed to assess what a person has learned
aptitude tests
a test designed to predict a person’ future performance, aptitude is the capacity to learn
Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale WAIS)
the WAIS is the most widely used intelligence test; contains verbal and performance(nonverbal) subtests
standardization
defining meaningful scores by comparison with the performance of a pretested group
normal curve
the symmetrical bell shaped curve that describes the distribution of many physical and psychological attributes. Most scores fall near the average, and fewer and fewer scores lie near the extremes
reliability
the extent to which a test yields consistent results, as assessed by the consistency of scores on two halves of the test, or on retesting
validity
the extent to which a test measures or predicts what it is supposed to do
content validity
the extent to which a test samples the behavior that is of interest
predictive validity
the success with which a test predicts the behavior it is designed to predict; it is assessed by computing the correlation between test scores and the criterion behavior.(Also called criterion related validity
intellectual disability
formerally referred to as mental retardation-a condition of limited mental abilited indicated by an intelligence score of 70 or below and difficulty in adapting to the demands of life’ varies from mild to profound
Down syndrome
a condition of intellectual disability and associated physical disorders caused by an extra copy of chromosome 21
