Ch. 7 - Cognition Flashcards
Cognition
The process whereby we acquire and use knowledge
Three Building Blocks of Thought
Language
Images
Concepts
Phonemes
The basic sounds that make up any language
Morphemes
The smallest meaningful units of speech, such as simple words, prefixes, and suffixes
Surface Structure
Words and phrases
Deep Structure
Underlying meaning
Images
Allow us to use concrete forms to represent complex and abstract ideas
Linguistic Relativity Hypothesis
(Whorf)
Idea that patterns of thinking are determined by the specific language one speaks
Linguistic Determinism
The belief that thought and experience are determined by language
The Distinguishing Features of Language
Meaningfulness
Productivity
Displacement
The Mirror Test
Test used by Gallup in researching wether animals have a sense of self
Problem Representation
The first step in solving a problem; it involves interpreting or defining the problem
Divergent Thinking
Thinking that meets the criteria of originality, inventiveness, and flexibility
Convergent Thinking
Thinking that is directed toward one correct solution to a problem
Algorithm
A step-by-step method of problem solving that guarantees a correct solution
Hill Climbing
A heuristic, problem-solving strategy in which each step moves you progressively closer to the final goal
Means-End Analysis
A heuristic strategy that aims to reduce the discrepancy between the current situation and the desired goal at a number of intermediate points
Mental Set
The tendency to perceive and to approach problems in certain ways
Functional Fixedness
The tendency to perceive only a limited number of uses for an object
Compensatory Model
A rational decision-making model in which choices are systematically evaluated on various criteria
Representativeness
A heuristic by which a new situation is judged on the basis of its resemblance to a stereotypical model
Availability
A heuristic by which a judgement or decision is based on information that is most easily retrieved from memory
Counterfactual Thinking
Thinking about alternative realities and things that never happened
Multitasking
The prefrontal cortex allows us to switch between tasks with relative ease
