Problem Solving and Language Acquisition Essential Q & V

Question 1

Cognition

Answer 1

All the mental activities associated with thinking, knowing, remembering, and communicating

Question 2

Concept

Answer 2

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

Question 3

Prototype

Answer 3

A mental image or best example of a category. Matching 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).

Question 4

Creativity

Answer 4

The ability to produce novel and valuable ideas.

Question 5

Convergent thinking

Answer 5

Narrows the available problem solutions to determine the single best solution

Question 6

Divergent thinking

Answer 6

Expands the number of possible problem solutions (creative thinking that diverges in different directions).

Question 7

Algorithm

Answer 7

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

Question 8

Heuristic

Answer 8

A simple thinking strategy that often allows us

to make judgments and solve problems efficiently; usually speedier but also more error-prone than algorithms.

Question 9

Insight

Answer 9

A sudden realization of a problem’s solution; contrasts with strategy-based solutions.

Question 10

Confirmation bias

Answer 10

A tendency to search for information that supports our preconceptions and to ignore or distort contradictory evidence.

Question 11

Mental set

Answer 11

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

Question 12

Intuition

Answer 12

An effortless, immediate, automatic feeling or thought, as contrasted with explicit, conscious reasoning.

Question 13

Representativeness heuristic

Answer 13

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

Question 14

Availability heuristic

Answer 14

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 15

Overconfidence

Answer 15

The tendency to be more confident than correct—to overestimate the accuracy of our beliefs and judgments.

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

Framing

Answer 17

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

Question 18

Language

Answer 18

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

Question 19

Phoneme

Answer 19

In a language, the smallest distinctive sound unit

Question 20

Morpheme

Answer 20

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

Question 21

Grammar

Answer 21

In a language, a system of rules that enables
us to communicate with and understand others. In a given language, semantics is the set of rules for deriving meaning from sounds, and syntax is the set of rules for combining words into grammatically sensible sentences

Question 22

Babbling stage

Answer 22

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

Question 23

One-word stage

Answer 23

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

Question 24

Two-word stage

Answer 24

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

Question 25

Telegraphic speech

Answer 25

Early speech stage in which a child speaks like a telegram—“go car”—using mostly nouns and verbs.

Question 26

Aphasia

Answer 26

Impairment of language, usually caused by left-hemisphere damage either to Broca’s area (impairing speaking) or to Wernicke’s area (impairing understanding).

Question 27

Linguistic determinism

Answer 27

Whorf’s hypothesis that language determines the way we think.

Question 28

Telegraphic speech

Answer 28

Early speech stage in which a child speaks like a telegram—“go car”—using mostly nouns and verbs.