Psych Test chap 8

Question 1

prefrontal cortex

Answer 1

part of frontal lobe responsible for thinking, planning, and language

Question 2

Mental Image

Answer 2

picture like representations that stand in for objects or events

Question 3

Concept

Answer 3

a mental grouping of similar objects, events, ideas, or people

Question 4

Prototype

Answer 4

a mental image or best example of a category

Question 5

Hierarchy

Answer 5

A group organized by rank

Question 6

Algorithm

Answer 6

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

Question 7

Heuristic

Answer 7

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

Question 8

mental set

Answer 8

a tendency to approach a problem in one particular way, often a way that has been successful in the past

Question 9

functional fixedness

Answer 9

The tendency to think of things only in terms of their usual functions; an impediment to problem solving.

Question 10

confirmation bias

Answer 10

a tendency to search for information that supports our preconceptions and to ignore or distort contradictory evidence

Question 11

belief bias

Answer 11

the tendency for one’s preexisting beliefs to distort logical reasoning, sometimes by making invalid conclusions seem valid, or valid conclusions seem invalid

Question 12

availability heuristic

Answer 12

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

Question 13

representativeness heuristic

Answer 13

Judging the likelihood of things in terms of how well they seem to represent, or match, particular prototypes; may lead one to ignore other relevant information.

Question 14

Framing

Answer 14

the way an issue is posed; how an issue is framed can significantly affect decisions and judgments.

Question 15

Overconfidence

Answer 15

the tendency to be more confident than correct-to overestimate the accuracy of our beliefs and judgements

Question 16

divergent vs. convergent thinking:

Answer 16

divergent: thought process or method used to generate creative ideas by exploring many possible solutions

convergent: opposite of divergent thinking. It generally means the ability to give the “correct” answer to standard questions that do not require significant creativity, for instance in most tasks in school and on standardized multiple-choice tests for intelligence

Question 17

phoneme vs. morpheme

Answer 17

phoneme - any of the perceptually distinct units of sound in a specified language that distinguish one word from another, for example p, b, d, and t in the English words pad, pat, bad, and bat

morpheme - smallest grammatical unit in a language that carries meaning (such as a prefix)

Question 18

receptive vs. productive

Answer 18

receptive - ability to understand or comprehend language heard or read

Productive - speaking and writing

Question 19

noam chomsky

Answer 19

language development; disagreed with Skinner about language acquisition, stated there is an infinite # of sentences in a language, humans have an inborn native ability to develop language

Question 20

language acquisition device

Answer 20

Chomsky’s concept of an innate, prewired mechanism in the brain that allows children to acquire language naturally

Question 21

universal grammar

Answer 21

Chomsky-no dialect or language is more complex or sophisticated than the other. We are all born with the capacity to learn any language w/o formal instruction

Question 22

B.F. Skinner

Answer 22

1904-1990; Field: behavioral; Contributions: created techniques to manipulate the consequences of an organism’s behavior in order to observe the effects of subsequent behavior; Studies: Skinner box

Question 23

Linguistic determinism

Answer 23

language determines the way we think (Benjamin Whorf’s hypothesis)

Question 24

Cooing

Answer 24

Beginning at 6-8 weeks, infants produce simple sounds that consist mainly of vowels and that are usually emitted when the infant is happy and contented

Question 25

Babbling

Answer 25

stage of language development at about 4 months when an infant spontaneously utters nonsense sounds

Question 26

telegraphic speech

Answer 26

early speech stage in which a child speaks like a telegram–‘go car’–using mostly nouns and verbs and omitting ‘auxiliary’ words

Question 27

Overgeneralization

Answer 27

children typically overgeneralize words like the “-ed” tense ex. leaved instead of left

Question 28

Overextension

Answer 28

when an infant generalizes a term to a whole category, due to his or her not knowing enough words to say what he or she wants to say (ex. cat when seeing a dog)

Question 29

charles spearman & general intelligence

Answer 29

refers to the existence of a general intelligence that influences performance on mental ability measures

Question 30

factor analysis

Answer 30

A statistical procedure that identifies clusters of related items (called factors) on a test; used to identify different dimensions of performance that underlie one’s total score.

Question 31

L.L. Thurstone & primary mental abilities

Answer 31

Primary Mental Abilities refer to 7 factors identified by Louis Leon Thurstone. These 7 factors, or primary mental abilities, are word fluency, verbal comprehension, spatial visualization, number facility, associative memory, reasoning, and perceptual speed

Question 32

fluid vs. crystallized intelligence

Answer 32

Fluid intelligence refers to general reasoning and problem-solving functions, and is often described as executive function, or working memory capacity.

Crystallized intelligence refers to cognitive functions associated with knowledge.

Question 33

Howard’s Gardner’s Theory of Multiple Intelligences

Answer 33

Howard Gardner has identified eight different types of intelligences that each individual has the capacity to possess. The idea of multiple intelligences is important because it allows for educators to identify differing strengths and weaknesses in students and also contradicts the idea that intelligence can be measured through IQ

Question 34

Summaries of eight intelligences

Answer 34

1 Visual/Spatial - Involves visual perception of the environment, the ability to create and manipulate mental images, and the orientation of the body in space.
2 Verbal/Linguistic - Involves reading, writing, speaking, and conversing in one’s own or foreign languages.
3 Logical/Mathematical - Involves number and computing skills, recognizing patterns and relationships, timeliness and order, and the ability to solve different kinds of problems through logic.
4 Bodily/Kinesthetic - Involves physical coordination and dexterity, using fine and gross motor skills, and expressing oneself or learning through physical activities.
5 Musical - Involves understanding and expressing oneself through music and rhythmic movements or dance, or composing, playing, or conducting music.
6 Interpersonal - Involves understanding how to communicate with and understand other people and how to work collaboratively.
7 Intrapersonal - Involves understanding one’s inner world of emotions and thoughts, and growing in the ability to control them and work with them consciously.
8 Naturalist - Involves understanding the natural world of plants and animals, noticing their characteristics, and categorizing them; it generally involves keen observation and the ability to classify other things as well.

Question 35

Robert Sternberg’s Triarchic Theory

Answer 35

The triarchic theory of intelligence consists of three subtheories: (i) the componential subtheory which outlines the structures and mechanisms that underlie intelligent behavior categorized as metacognitive, performance, or knowlege acquistion components , (ii) the experiential subtheory that proposes intelligent behavior be interpreted along a continuum of experience from novel to highly familar tasks/situations, (iii) the contextual subtheory which specifies that intelligent behavior is defined by the sociocultural context in which it takes place and involves adaptation to the environment, selection of better environments, and shaping of the present environment

Question 36

emotional intelligence

Answer 36

The ability to perceive, understand, manage, and use emotions.

Question 37

achievement vs. aptitude test

Answer 37

achievement test is designed to assess what a person has learned

an aptitude test is designed to predict a person’s future performance

Question 38

stanford-binet intelligence scale

Answer 38

IQ= (mental age/ chronological age ) x 100

Question 39

mental age

Answer 39

a measure of intelligence test performance devised by Binet; the chronological age that most typically corresponds to a given level of performance

Question 40

wechsler tests

Answer 40

three age-based individual IQ tests: WPPSI (Wechsler Preschool and Primary Scale of Intelligence), WISC (Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children) and WAIS (Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale); two scores - verbal and performance

Question 41

scientific standards

Answer 41

five key standards are comprehensiveness, heuristic value, testability, parsimony and compatibility and integration across domains and levels.

Question 42

standardization

Answer 42

defining meaningful scores by comparison with the performance of a pretested group

Question 43

reliability

Answer 43

Ability of a test to yield very similar scores for the same individual over repeated testings

Question 44

validity

Answer 44

The extent to which a test measures or predicts what it is supposed to.

Question 45

intellectual disability

Answer 45

a condition of limited mental ability, indicated by an intelligence score of 70 or below and difficulty in adapting to the demands of life; varies from mild to profound.

Question 46

savant syndrome

Answer 46

condition in which a person otherwise limited in mental ability has an exceptional specific skill, such as in computation or drawing.

Question 47

mental giftedness

Answer 47

IQ of 135 or higher

Question 48

flynn effect

Answer 48

The rise in average IQ scores that has occurred over the decades in many nations

Question 49

stereotype threat

Answer 49

a self-confirming concern that one will be evaluated based on a negative stereotype