Chapter 7

Question 1

coginitive psychology

Answer 1

the branch of psychology that focuses on processes such as perception, thinking, problem solving, decision making, and language.

Question 2

thinking

Answer 2

the process of mentally representing and manipulating information

Question 3

mental images

Answer 3

helps us perform various cognitive functions, such as remembering directions and seeking creative solutions to problems.

Question 4

concepts

Answer 4

are mental categories for classifying events, objects, and ideas on the basis of their common features or properties

Question 5

logical concepts

Answer 5

are concepts with clearly defined roles for membership

Question 6

natural concepts

Answer 6

are concepts with poorly defined or fuzzy rules for membership

Question 7

problem solving

Answer 7

is a form of thinking focused on finding a solution to a particular problem

Question 8

algorithm

Answer 8

a step-by-step set of rules that will always lead to a correct solution to a problem

Question 9

heuristic

Answer 9

a rule of thumb for solving problems or making decisions

Question 10

mental set

Answer 10

relying on a strategy that worked in a previous similar situation

Question 11

functional fixedness

Answer 11

the tendency to perceive objects as limited to the customary functions they serve.

Question 12

decision making

Answer 12

a form of problem solving in which we must select a course of action from among the available alternatives.

Question 13

confirmation bias

Answer 13

the tendancy to stick with an initial hypothesis despite strong evidence to the contrary.

Question 14

representative heuristic

Answer 14

a rule of thumb for making a judgment that assumes a given sample is representative of the larger population from which it is drawn

Question 15

availability heuristic

Answer 15

the tendency to judge events as more likely to occur when information pertaining to them comes readily to mind

Question 16

creativity

Answer 16

refers to originality of thought associated with the development of new, workable products or solutions to problems

Question 17

divergent thinking

Answer 17

the ability to conceive of new ways of viewing situations and new uses for familiar objects

Question 18

convergent thinking

Answer 18

the attempt to narrow down a range of alternatives to “converge’ on the one correct answer to a problem

Question 19

language

Answer 19

a system of communication consisting of symbols arranged according to a set of rules, called grammar, to express meaning.

Question 20

Phonemes

Answer 20

the basic units of a sound in a spoken language

Question 21

Morphemes

Answer 21

the smallest units of meaning in a language; phonemes are combined to form morphemes

Question 22

Syntax

Answer 22

the rules of grammar that determine hopw words are ordered within sentences and prases to form meningful expressions

Question 23

semantics

Answer 23

the set of rules governing the meaning of words

Question 24

language accquistion device

Answer 24

proposed by Noam Chomsky, that humans have an innate, prewired mechanism in the brain for language development, not an actual structure in the brain.

Question 25

linguistic relativity hypothesis

Answer 25

( or Whorfian hypothesis) proposes the language we use to determine how we think and how we perceive the world.