Upgrade to remove ads
Only $2.99/month

Chapter 9

Terms in this set (50)

the mental activities associated with thinking, knowing, remembering, and communicating
cognition
a mental grouping of similar objects, events, ideas, or people
concept
a mental image or best example of category
prototype
a methodical, logical rule or procedure that guarantees solving a particular problem
algorithm
simple thinking strategy that often allows us to make judgments and solve problems efficiently
heuristic
sudden and often novel realization of the solution to a problem; contrasts with strategy-based solutions
insight
tendency to search for information that supports our preconceptions and to ignore or distort contradictory evidence
confirmation bias
inability to see a problem from a new perspective, by employing a different mental set
fixation
tendency to approach a problem in one particular way, often a way that has been successful in the past
mental set
tendency to think of things only in terms of their usual functions; impediment to problem solving
functional fixedness
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
representativeness 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 events are common
availability heuristic
tendency to be more confident than correct-- to overestimate the accuracy of our beliefs and judgments
overconfidence
clinging to one's initial conceptions after the basis on which they were formed has been discredited
belief perseverance
effortless, immediate, automatic feeling or thought, as contrasted with explicit, conscious reasoning
intuition
the way an issue is posed; how an issue is framed can significantly affect decisions and judgments
framing
our spoken, written, or signed words and the ways we combine them to communicate meaning
language
in language, the smallest distinctive sound unit
phoneme
in a language, the smallest unit that carries meaning; may be a word or a part of a word (such as a prefix)
morpheme
in a language, a system of rules that enables us to communicate with and understand others
grammar
the set of rules by which we derive meaning from morphemes, words, and sentences in a given language; also, the study of meaning
semantics
the rules for combining words into grammatically sensible sentences in a given language
syntax
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
babbling stage
the stage in speech development, from about age 1 to 2, during which a child speaks mostly in single words
one-word stage
beginning about age 2, the stage in speech development during which a child speaks mostly two-word statements
two-word stage
early speech stage in which a child speaks like a telegram- "go car"- using mostly nouns and verbs
telegraphic speech
impairment of language, usually caused by left hemisphere damage either to Broca's area (impairing speaking) or to Wernicke's area (impairing understanding)
aphasia
controls language expression- an area of the frontal lobe, usually in the left hemisphere, that directs the muscle movements involved in speech
Broca's area
controls language reception- a brain area involved in language comprehension and expression; usually in the left temporal lobe
Wernicke's area
Whorf's hypothesis that language determines the way we think
linguistic determinism
We form some concepts by _____
definition
way to solve problems:
trial and error
babies' ability to produce words:
productive language
underlying human language is a _____
universal grammar
words and syntax modeled by others
imitation
the sights of things with the sounds of words
association
smiles and hugs when the child says something right
reinforcement
we come with a prewired with a sort of switch box called ____ _____ _____
language acquisition device
childhood seems to represent a ______ _____ for mastering certain aspects of language
critical period
children who haven't been exposed to either a spoken or signed language by age ____ gradually lose their ability to master any language
7
brain area involved in reading aloud
angular gyrus
in processing language, the brain divides its _____ mental functions into subfunctions
mental
____ scans detect brain activity
PET
it pays to increase your ____ ____
word power
increased word power helps explain _____ _____
bilingual advantage
some animals also display a surprising ____ ____
numerical ability
when presented with ambiguous information people tend to see what they want or expect to see because of their _____ ____
perceptual set
subtle wording differences can ____ our responses
alter
we fear what is _____ and ___ _____ _____
immediate; most readily available
"Most people reason ______, not ______"
dramatically; quantitively
THIS SET IS OFTEN IN FOLDERS WITH...