Chapter 9: Language & Thought

Question 0

Define: Grammar

Answer 0

A set of rules that specify how the units of language can be combined to produce meaningful messages

Question 1

Define: Language

Answer 1

A system for communication with others using signals that are combined according to rules of grammar and convey meaning

Question 2

Define: Phoneme

Answer 2

The smallest unit of sound that is recognizable as speech rather than as random noise (th-e-b-o-i)

Question 3

Define: Phonological Rules

Answer 3

A set of rules that indicate how phonemes can be combined to produce speech sounds

Question 4

Define: Morphemes

Answer 4

The smallest meaningful units of language (the-boy)

Question 5

Define: Morphological Rules

Answer 5

A set of rules that indicate how morphemes can be combined to form words

Question 6

Define: Syntactical Rules

Answer 6

A set of rules that indicate how words can be combined to form phrases and sentences

Question 7

Define: Deep Structure

Answer 7

The meaning of a sentence, deep reading

Question 8

Define: Surface Structure

Answer 8

How a sentence is worded

Question 9

Defined: Fast Mapping

Answer 9

The fact that children can map a word onto an underlying concept after only a single exposure

Question 10

Define: Telegraphic Speech

Answer 10

Speech that is devoid of function morphemes and consist mostly of content

Question 11

Define: Nativist Theory

Answer 11

Argued by Noam Chomsky: Language development is best explained as an innate, biological capacity.

Question 12

Define: Language acquisition device

Answer 12

(LAD) A collection of processes that facilitate language learning

Question 13

Define: Genetic Dysphasia

Answer 13

A syndrome characterized by an inability to learn the grammatical structure of language despite having otherwise normal intelligence

Question 14

Define: Aphasia

Answer 14

Difficulty in producing or comprehending language

Question 15

Define: Linguistic Relativity Hypothesis

Answer 15

The proposal that language shapes the nature of thought

Question 16

Define: Concept

Answer 16

A mental representation that group or categorizes shared features of related objects, events, or other stimuli

Question 17

Define: Family Resemblance Theory

Answer 17

Members of a category have features that appear to be characteristic of category member but may not be possessed by every member - so to use the example of a bird, anything that has feathers and wings is categorized as a bird.

Question 18

Define: Prototype Theory

Answer 18

The “best” or “most typical” member of a category

Question 19

Define: Exemplar Theory

Answer 19

A theory of categorization that argues that we make category judgements by comparing

Question 20

Define: Category-Specific Deficit

Answer 20

A neurological syndrome that is characterized by an inability to recognize objects that belong to a particular category, although the ability to recognize objects outside the category is undistrubed

Question 21

Define: Ration Choice Theory

Answer 21

The classical view that we make decisions by determining how likely something is to happen, judging the value of the outcome, and then multiplying the two

Question 22

Define: Availability Bias

Answer 22

Items that are more readily available in memory are judged as having occurred more frequently

Question 23

Define: Heuristics

Answer 23

A fast and efficient strategy that may facilitate decision making but does not guarantee that a solution will be reached

Question 24

Define: Algorithm

Answer 24

A well-defined sequence of procedures or rules that guarantees a solution to a problem

Question 25

Define: Conjunction Fallacy

Answer 25

When people think that two events are more likely to occur together than either individual event

Question 26

Define: Representativeness Heuistic

Answer 26

A mental shortcut that involves making a probability judgment by comparing an object or event.

Question 27

Define: Framing Effects

Answer 27

When people give different answers to the same problem depending on how the problem is phrased (or framed)

Question 28

Define: Sunk-Cost Fallacy

Answer 28

A framing effect in which people make decisions about a current situation based on what they have previously invested in the situation

Question 29

Define: Prospect Theory

Answer 29

People choose to take on risk when evaluating potential losses and avoid risks when evaluating potential gains

Question 30

Define: Frequency Format Hypothesis

Answer 30

The proposal that our minds evolved to notice how frequently things occur, not how likely they are to occur

Question 31

Define: Means-Ends Analysis

Answer 31

A process of searching for the meaning or steps to reduce differences between the current situation and the desired goal.

Question 32

Define: Analogical Problem Solving

Answer 32

Solving a problem by finding a similar problem with a known solution and applying that solution to the current problem

Question 33

Define: Reasoning

Answer 33

A mental activity that consists of organizing information or beliefs into a series of steps in order to reach conclusions

Question 34

Define: Practical Reasoning

Answer 34

Figuring out what to do, or reasoning directed toward action

Question 35

Define: Theoretical Reasoning

Answer 35

Reasoning directed toward arriving at a belief

Question 36

Define: Belief Bias

Answer 36

People's judgements about whether to accept conclusions depending more on how believable the conclusions are than on whether the arguemts are logically valid

Question 37

Define: Syllogistic Reasoning

Answer 37

Determining whether a conclusion follows from two statements that are assumed to be true ex. 1. Some cats are blue 2. Randy is cat Conclusion: Somethings that are not cats are blue

Question 38

The combining of words to form phrases and sentences is governed by..

Answer 38

Syntactical rules

Question 39

Language development as an innate, biological capacity is explained by...

Answer 39

Nativist theory

Question 40

A collection of processes that facilitate language learning is referred to as...

Answer 40

A language acquisition device (LAD)

Question 41

Damage to the brain region called Broca's area results in...

Answer 41

Difficultly in producing grammatical speech

Question 42

The linguistic relativity hypothesis maintains that...

Answer 42

Language shapes the nature of thought

Question 43

The most typical member of a category is...

Answer 43

a prototype

Question 44

Which theory of how we form concepts is based on our judgement of features that appear to be characteristic of category member but may not be possessed by every member?

Answer 44

Family Resemblance Theory

Question 45

The inability to recognize objects that belong to a particular category, although the ability to recognize objects outside the category is undisturbed is call...

Answer 45

Category-specific Deficit

Question 46

Making use of which of the following would most likely lead a solution to a problem?

Answer 46

An algorithm

Question 47

People give different answers to the same problem depending on how the problem is phrased because of...

Answer 47

Framing effects

Question 48

The view that people choose to take on risk when evaluating potential losses and avoid risks when evaluating potential gains describes...

Answer 48

Prospect Theory

Question 49

People with damage to the prefrontal cortex are prone to...

Answer 49

Risky decision making

Question 50

Miranda decides on a goal, analyzes her current situation, lists the differences between her current situation and her goal, then settles on strategies to reduce those differences. Miranda is engaging in...

Answer 50

Means-Ends Analysis