PSY101 - Chapter 9: Thinking and Language

Question 1

Cognition

Answer 1

All the mental activites associated with thinking, knowing, remembering, communication.

Question 2

Problem Solving

Answer 2

Algorithms: methodical, step-by-step procedures that guarantee a solution.
Heuristics: simple thinking strategies that allow us to solve problems efficiently, speedier but more error prone.

Question 3

Obstacles to Problem Solving

Answer 3

1. Confirmation Bias: the tendency to seek out info that should confirm out theory and to not seek out or ignore info that might falsify our theory.
2. Falsification: (Popper) we can show that the consequences of a theory/idea are not empirically supported. - If P, then Q. If not Q, then not P.
3. Fixation: our inability to see a problem from a new perspective, employing a different mental set.
4. Functional Fixedness: our tendency to think of things only in terms of their usual functions.

Question 4

The Representativeness Heuristic

Answer 4

Judging the likelihood of things in terms of how well they seem to represent/match particular prototypes.

Question 5

The Availability Heuristic

Answer 5

Estimating the likelihood of events based on their availability in memory (how readily they come to mind).

Question 5

Intuitive Heuristics

Answer 5

Representative and availability.

Question 6

Overconfidence

Answer 6

Tendency to overestimate the accuracy of our knowledge and judgments. (brought on my intuitive heuristics and eagerness to confirm the beliefs we already hold)

Question 7

Belief Perseverance

Answer 7

Our tendency to cling to our initial concepts even after the basis on which they were formed has been discredited.
–Capitol punishment

Question 8

Framing

Answer 8

The way an issue is posed significantly affects decisions and judgments.
– condom failure rate

Question 10

Anchoring

Answer 10

Final judgments and behaviors are assimilated or become more similar to an initial anchor value.
–nuclear war probability.

Question 11

Language

Answer 11

Refers to our spoken, written, or signed words and the ways we combine them as we think and communicate.
–arbitrary: sounds produced to resemble a word do not reflect the meaning of the word.

Question 12

Phonemes

Answer 12

Smallest distinctive sound unit in language.

Question 13

Morphemes

Answer 13

The smallest unit that carries meaning in language, including words such as “bag,” and parts of words, such as prefixes.

Question 14

Grammar

Answer 14

System of rules that enables us to communicate, including rules for deriving meaning from morphemes (semantics), and rules for ordering words to form sentences (syntax).

Question 15

Language Development

Answer 15

Children learn their native languages much before learning to add 2+2.
After age 1, we learn ~3,500 words a year, 60,000 by the time we graduate high school.

Question 15

Language acquisition device

Answer 15

Neurological system which allows us to understand and produce language.

Question 16

Babbling

Answer 16

4 months: the stage of speech development in which the infant spontaneously utters various sounds, first unrelated to household language, then related.

Question 17

One-word Stage

Answer 17

Around first birthday: stage of speech development in which the child speaks mostly in single words.

Question 18

Two-word Speech

Answer 18

Around second birthday: the stage of speech development during which a child speaks mainly in two-word statements.

Question 19

The Speaker

Answer 19

The stage of speech development in which a child begins uttering longer phrases.

Question 20

Language Processing

Answer 20

Understanding and producing language.

Question 21

Damage to Broca’s and Wernicke’s areas

Answer 21

Broca’s: inability to produce speech.

Wernicke’s: inability to understand speech.

Question 22

Language Influence on Thinking

Answer 22

People express different profiles of personality traits depending on the language in which they take the test.
Expanding vocabulary expands your ability to think - read good writing.

Question 23

Tetsuro Matsuzawa

Answer 23

Studied chimps’ ability to remember and relate numbers.

Question 24

Difference Between Human and Animal Communication Systems

Answer 24

1. Apes have difficulty acquiring even their limited vocabularies, unlike human children.
2. May be a result of behavior shaping.
3. Lack human syntax.

Question 25

Nondeclarative (Procedural) Memory

Answer 25

Thinking of something in images rather than in words.

Question 26

Outcome Simulation

Answer 26

Mentally visualizing an outcome.

Question 27

Process Simulation

Answer 27

Mentally visualizing a process/action.

Question 28

Effect of Thinking on Language

Answer 28

Thinking affects our language, which then affects our thought.