Chapter 8: Thinking, Language, & Intelligence Flashcards
Cognition
Mental activities involved in acquiring storing retrieving and using knowledge
Ex. Discussing through reading the text
stereoType threat
Negative stereotypes about minority groups cause some members to doubt their abilities
Ex. Blondes are dumb
Mental image
Mental representation of a previously stored sensory experience including visual auditory olfactory tactile motor or gustatory imagery
Ex. Imagining you’re laying on the beach
Concept
Mental representation of a group of or category that share similar characteristics
Ex. The concept of a river groups together the Nile Amazon and the Mississippi because they share the common characteristics of being a large stream of water that empties into an ocean or lake
Prototype
Representation of the best or most typical example of the category
Ex. Baseball is a prototype of the concept of sports
Algorithm
Logical step-by-step procedures that if followed correctly will eventually solve the problem
Ex. A recipe is used to bake a cake
Heuristics
Simple rule or shortcut for problem-solving that does not guarantee a solution but does narrow down the alternatives
Ex. Limiting your apartment rental hunting to a house within 5 minutes of your job
Mental set
Persisting in using problem-solving strategies strategies that have worked in the past rather than trying new ones
Ex. Only going to single dating bars to find love
Functional fixedness
Tendency to think of an object functioning only in it’s usual customary way
Ex. Only a coffee filter can be used to filter coffee
Confirmation bias
Preferring information that confirms pre-existing positions or beliefs wild annoying or discounting contradictory evidence
Availability heuristic (Amos Tversky & Daniel kahnerman)
judging the likelihood or probability of an event based on how readily available other instances of the event are in memory
ex. Chances of getting a jackpot bc you see flashing lights & loud noises
Representativeness heuristic
Estimating the probability of something based on how well the circumstances match or represent our previous prototype
Ex. a 6 foot+ man is predicted to be a basketball player but is more likely to be a banker president bc the ratio is 50 to 1
Creativity
Ability to produce valued outcomes in a novel way
3 characteristics are originality, fluency, & flexibility
Ex. Building with sand
Divergent thinking
Thinking that produces many alternatives from a single starting point a major element of creativity
Ex. How many different ways you can use a paper clip
Convergent thinking
Narrowing down alternatives to convert a single correct answer
Ex. Standard academic tests require convergent thinking
Language
Forms of communication using sounds and symbols combined according to specified rules
Ex. Sounds
Phoneme
Smallest basic unit of speech or sound
Ex. P in pants
Morpheme
Smallest meaningful unit of language formed from a combination of phonemes
Ex. Prefix= un , root word= think , suffix= able
Grammar
System of rules used great language and communication
Ex. I am happy vs. happy I am
Semantics
Set of rules for using words create meaning or the study of meaning
Language acquisition device (LAD)
According to Chomsky an innate mechanism that enables a child to analyze language & extract the basic rules of grammar
Ex. Parents smiling approvingly when a baby babbles
Cooing
Vowel like sounds infants produce beginning around 2 to 3 months of age
Ex. Ooohh ahhhhh
Babbling
Vowel/consonant combinations that infants begin to produce at about 4 to 6 months of age
Ex. Bahbahbah dahdah
Overextension
Overly broad use of a word to include objects that do not fit the words meaning
Ex. Calling all men daddy
