Thinking (8)

Question 1

Cognition

Answer 1

The mental activity that includes thinking and the understandings that result from thinking.

Question 2

Thinking

Answer 2

Knowledge about the world is stored in the brain in representations, and thinking is the mental manipulation of these representations.

Question 3

Analogical representations

Answer 3

Mental representations that have some of the physical characteristics of objects; they are analogous to the objects.

Question 4

Symbolic representations

Answer 4

Abstract mental representations that do not correspond to the physical features of objects or ideas.

Question 5

Concept

Answer 5

A category, or class, of related items; it consists of mental representations of those items.

Question 6

Prototype model

Answer 6

A way of thinking about concepts: within each category, there is a best example – a prototype – for that category.

Question 7

Exemplar model

Answer 7

A way of thinking about concepts: all members of a category are examples (exemplars); together, they form the concept and determine category membership.
The exemplar model assumes that, through experience, people form fuzzy representations of a concept because there is no single represation of any concept. And the exemplar model accounts for the observation that some category members are more prototypical than others.

Question 8

Stereotypes

Answer 8

Cognitive schemas that allow for easy, fast processing of information about people based on their membership in certain groups.
E.g. gender roles, a type of schema that operates at the unconscious level.

Question 9

Script

Answer 9

A schema that direct behaviour over time within a situation. Dictate appropriate behaviours and the sequence in which they are likely to occur. What is viewed as appropriate is shaped by culture.
These are likely to affect children’s behaviour when they are older. Have adaptive element, because they usually work well, they minimise the amounts of attention required to navigate familiar environments.

Question 10

Decision making

Answer 10

Attempting to select the best alternative from among several options. Usually, we identify important criteria and determine how well each alternative satisfied these criteria.

Question 11

Problem solving

Answer 11

Finding a way around an obstacle to reach a goal.

Question 12

Heuristics

Answer 12

Shortcuts (rules of thumb or informal guidelines) used to reduce the amount of thinking that is needed to make decisions. Often occurs unconsciously. Useful partly because it requires minimal cognitive resources and allows us to focus our attention on other things – adaptive.
Can result in biases, which may lead to errors, faulty decisions, etc.

Question 13

Anchoring

Answer 13

The tendency, in making judgements, to rely on the first piece of information encountered or information that comes most quickly to mind.

Question 14

Framing

Answer 14

In decision making, the tendency to emphasise the potential losses or potential gains from at least one alternative. Research indicates that people may way losses and gains differently, placing emphasis on the costs – loss aversion.

Question 15

Availability heuristic

Answer 15

Making a decision based on the answer that most easily comes to mind.

Question 16

Representativeness heuristic

Answer 16

Placing a person or an object in a category if that person or object is similar to one’s prototype for that category. We use this when we base a decision on the extent to which each option reflects what we already believe about a situation.
We usually ignore base rate when using this heuristic.

Question 17

Somatic markers

Answer 17

Bodily reactions that arise from the emotional evaluations of an action’s consequences. May guide people to engage in adaptive behaviours.

When people have damage in the middle of the prefrontal region, they are often insensitive to somatic markers.

Question 18

Affective forecasting

Answer 18

The tendency for people to overestimate how events will make them feel in the future (both positive and negative events).

Question 19

Restructuring

Answer 19

A technique that consists of representing the problem in a novel way. Ideally, the new view reveals a solution that was not visible under the old problem structure.

Question 20

Mental sets

Answer 20

Previous mental strategies, problem-solving strategies that have worked in the past. They are often useful, but sometimes make it difficult to find the best solution.

Question 21

Functional fixedness

Answer 21

In problem solving, having fixed ideas about the typical functions of objects. To overcome this, the solver needs to reinterpret an object’s potential function.

Question 22

Insight

Answer 22

The sudden realisation of a solution to a problem.

Question 23

Language

Answer 23

A system of communication using sounds and symbols according to grammatical rules. Can be viewed as a hierarchical structure. Sentences can be broken down into smaller units, etc etc.

Question 24

Morphemes

Answer 24

The smallest language units that have meaning, including suffixes and prefixes. Each word consists of one or more morphemes.

Question 25

Phonemes

Answer 25

The basic sounds of speech, the building blocks of language.

Question 26

Aphasia

Answer 26

A language disorder that results in deficits in language comprehensions and production. Most strokes that cause aphasia occur in the left hemisphere.

Question 27

Broca’s Aphasia

Answer 27

The are of the brain that produces speech, Broca’s area, is located in the left hemisphere. When it is damaged, people develop Broca’s aphasia, which interrupts their ability to speak. Patients can understand what is said to them, and can move their lips and tongues, but cannot form words or put one word together with another to form a phrase.

Question 28

Wernicke’s area

Answer 28

An area of the left hemisphere where the temporal and parietal lobes meet, involved in speech comprehensions. Patients can speak fluently, but what they say is nonsensical. They have trouble understanding the meaning of words.

Question 29

Linguistic relativity theory

Answer 29

The claim that language determines thought. Does not appear to be true.

Question 30

Telegraphic speech

Answer 30

The tendency for toddlers to speak using rudimentary sentences that are missing words and grammatical markings but follow a logical syntax and convey a wealth of meaning.