 | Term | Definition |
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cognition |
the mental activity associated with thinking, knowing, remembering, and communicating information |
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concept |
a mental grouping of similar objects, events, or people |
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prototype |
the best example of a particular category |
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algorithm |
a methodical, logical procedure that, while sometimes slow, guarantees success |
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heuristic |
a simple thinking strategy that often allows us to make judgments and solve problems efficiently. Although heuristics are more efficient than algorithms, they do not guarantee success and sometimes even impede problem solving |
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insight |
a sudden and often novel realization of the solution to a problem. Insight contrasts with trial and error and, indeed, may often follow an unsuccessful episode of trail and error |
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confirmation bias |
an obstacle to problem solving in which people tend to search for information that validates their preconceptions |
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fixation |
an inability to approach a problem in a new way |
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mental set |
the tendency to continue applying a particular problem-solving strategy even when it is no longer helpful |
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functional fixedness |
a type of fixation in which a person can think of things only in terms of their usual functions |
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representativeness heuristic |
the tendency to judge the likelihood of things in terms of how well they conform to one's prototypes |
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availability heurisitc |
estimating the probability of certain events in terms of how readily they come to mind |
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overconfidence |
the tendency to overestimate the accuracy of one's beliefs and judgments |
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framing |
the way an issue or question is posed. it can affect people's perception of the issue or answer to the question |
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belief bias |
the tendency for a person's preexisting beliefs to distort his or her logical reasoning |
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belief perserverance |
the tendency for people to cling to a particular belief even after the information that lead to the formation of the belief is discredited |
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artificial intelligence (AI) |
the science of designing and programming computer systems to do intelligent things and to simulate human thought processes |
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computer neural networks |
computer circuits that simulate the brain's interconnected neural cells and perform tasks such as learning to recognize visual patterns and smells |
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language |
spoken, written, or gestured words and how we combine them to communicate meaning |
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phonemes |
the smallest units of sound in a language that are distinctive for speakers of the language |
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morphemes |
the smallest units of language that convey meaning |
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grammar |
a system of rules that enables us to communicate with and understand others |
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semantics |
the aspect of grammar that specifies the rules used to derive meaning from morphemes, words, and sentences in a given language |
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syntax |
the aspect of grammar specifying the rules for combining words into grammatical sentences in a given language |
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babbling stage |
a stage of speech development, which begins at 3 to 4 months, which is characterized by the spontaneous utterance of speech sounds. During the babbling stage, children the world over sound alike |
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one-word stage |
a stage of linguistic development, between 1 and 2 years of age in which children speak mostly in single words |
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two-word stage |
the stage in which children, around age 2, speak mostly in two-word sentences |
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telegraphic speech |
the economical, telegram-like speech of children in the two-word stage. Utterances consist mostly of nouns and verbs; however, words occur in the correct order, showing that the child has learned some of the language's syntactic rules |
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linguistic determinism |
Benjamin Whorf's hypothesis that language determines the way we think |
