Thinking and Language Flashcards
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.
morpheme
in a language, the smallest unit that carries meaning; may be a word or a part of a word (such as a prefix).
belief perseverance
clinging to one’s initial conceptions after the basis on which they were formed has been discredited.
algorithm
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.
concept
a mental grouping of similar objects, events, ideas, or people.
linguistic determinism
Whorf’s hypothesis that language determines the way we think.
phoneme
in a language, the smallest distinctive sound unit.
aphasia
impairment of language, usually caused by left-hemisphere damage either to Broca’s area (impairing speaking) or to Wernicke’s area (impairing understanding).
Broca’s area
controls language expression-an area of the frontal lobe, usually in the left hemisphere, that directs the muscle movements involved in speech.
overconfidence
the tendency to be more confident than correct-to overestimate the accuracy of our beliefs and judgments.
confirmation bias
a tendency to search for information that supports our preconceptions and to ignore or distort contradictory evidence.
intuition
an effortless, immediate, automatic feeling or thought, as contrasted with explicit, conscious reasoning.
heuristic
a simple thinking strategy that often allows us to make judgments and solve problems efficiently; usually speedier but also more error-prone than algorithms.
telegraphic speech
early speech stage in which a child speaks like a telegram-“go car”-using mostly nouns and verbs.
one-word stage
the stage in speech development, from about age 1 to 2, during which a child speaks mostly in single words.
cognition
all the mental activities associated with thinking, knowing, remembering, and communicating.
insight
a sudden realization of a problem’s solution; contrasts with strategy-based solutions.
babbling stage
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.
language
our spoken, written, or signed words and the ways we combine them to communicate meaning.
Wernicke’s area
controls language reception-a brain area involved in language comprehension and expression; usually in the left temporal lobe.
grammar
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.
framing
the way an issue is posed; how an issue is framed can significantly affect decisions and judgments.
mental set
a tendency to approach a problem in one particular way, often a way that has been successful in the past.
prototype
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).
two-word stage
beginning about age 2, the stage in speech development during which a child speaks mostly in two-word statements.
