Thought and language

Question 1

Sapir-Whorf hypothesis

Answer 1

• grammatical structure of mother tongue influences how we perceive world
• if a language does not have a word for specific colour then that colour is less likely to be remembered

Question 2

Behavioural economics

Answer 2

-people are more likely to believe events that are verbally described more vividly (e.g availability heuristics)

Question 3

Prospect theory

Answer 3

-people make different economic choices based on how something is framed

Question 4

Cognitive distortions

Answer 4

-challenging our internal dialogue can change our cognitive distortions

Question 5

Counting

Answer 5

-some cultures do not have numbers above 10 or 2 and use the word ‘many’ to describe any number above the highest

Question 6

Neuro-linguistic programming

Answer 6

-theory that language patterns can affect behaviour, such as influences a consumer is sale setting

Question 7

Concepts

Answer 7

• constituents of thoughts

- prototype theory

Question 8

Deductive reasoning

Answer 8

• reasoning that starts with a theory which we then form into a hypothesis and we then collect observations to confirm or dispute our hypothesis
• top down reasoning

Question 9

Inductive reasoning

Answer 9

• starts with observations and formulate tentative hypotheses that are then explored and a theory is formed
• bottom up reasoning

Question 10

Two types of problem solving

Answer 10

1. Algorithmic method-step by step approach which guarantees a solution
2. Heuristic approach- uses rules of thumb. More plausible solutions are tried first but are not always successful

Question 11

Heuristics in decision making

Answer 11

1. availability heuristics
2. representativeness
3. gambler’s fallacy
4. base rate fallacy
5. sunk cost bias or entrapment

Question 12

Availability heuristics

Answer 12

decision is made on readily available information without systematic search

Question 13

Representativeness bias

Answer 13

fitting a problem into one of the well known categories and solve it in a similar fashion

Question 14

Gambler’s fallacy

Answer 14

• an outcome is ‘due’ as it hasn’t happened in some time

- a gambler thinks the more he loses the more chance he will win later

Question 15

Base rate fallacy

Answer 15

-stick to stereotypes and ignore the relative frequency of occurrence of events

Question 16

Sunk cost bias or entrapment

Answer 16

-no choice but to continue to a decision as one believes withdrawal would not jusitify the cost incurred