Chapter 9: Thinking and Language

Question 1

Cognition

Answer 1

All of the mental activities associated with thinking, knowing, remembering, and communicating.

Question 2

Concept

Answer 2

A mental grouping of similar objects, events, ideas, or people.

Question 3

Prototype

Answer 3

A mental image or best example of a category.

Question 4

Algorithm

Answer 4

A methodical, logical rule or procedure that guarantees solving a particular problem.

Question 5

Heuristic

Answer 5

A simple thinking strategy that often allows us to make judgements and solve problems efficiently.

Question 6

Insight

Answer 6

A sudden realization of a problem’s solution; contrasts with strategy-based solutions.

Question 7

Confirmation bias

Answer 7

A tendency to search for information that supports our preconceptions and to ignore or distort contradictory evidence.

Question 8

Mental set

Answer 8

A tendency to approach a problem in one particular way, often a way that has been successful in the past.

Question 9

Intuition

Answer 9

An effortless, immediate, automatic feeling or thought, as contrasted with explicit, conscious reasoning.

Question 10

Availability heuristic

Answer 10

Estimating the likelihood of events based on their availability in memory.

Question 11

Overconfidence

Answer 11

The tendency to be more confident than correct - to over-estimate the accuracy of our beliefs and judgements.

Question 12

Belief perseverance

Answer 12

Clinging to one’s initial conceptions after the basis on which they were formed has been discredited.

Question 13

Framing

Answer 13

The way an issue is posed; how an issue is framed can significantly affect decisions and judgements.

Question 14

Creativity

Answer 14

The ability to produce new and valuable ideas.

Question 15

Convergent thinking

Answer 15

Narrowing the available problem solutions to determine the single best solution.

Question 16

Divergent thinking

Answer 16

Expanding the number of possible problem solutions; creative thinking that diverges in different directions.

Question 17

Language

Answer 17

Our spoken, written, or signed words and the ways we combine them to communicate meaning.

Question 18

Phoneme

Answer 18

In a language, the smallest distinctive sound unit.

Question 19

Morpheme

Answer 19

In a language, the smallest unit that carries meaning.

Question 20

Grammar

Answer 20

In a language, a system of rules that enables us to communicate with and understand others.

Question 21

Semantics

Answer 21

In a language, the set of rules for deriving meaning from sounds.

Question 22

Syntax

Answer 22

In a language, the set of rules for combining words into grammatically sensible sentences.

Question 23

Babbling stage

Answer 23

Stage of speech development in which the infant spontaneously utters various sounds at first unrelated to the household language.

Question 24

One-word stage

Answer 24

Stage of speech development during which the child speaks mostly in single words.

Question 25

Two-word stage

Answer 25

Stage of speech development during which the child speaks mostly in 2-word statements.

Question 26

Telegraphic speech

Answer 26

Early speech stage in which a child speaks like a telegram using mostly nouns and verbs.

Question 27

Aphasia

Answer 27

Impairment of language, usually caused by left-hemisphere damage.

Question 28

Broca's area

Answer 28

Controls language expression - an area of the frontal lobe, in the left hemisphere, that directs muscle movements involved in speech.

Question 29

Wernicke's area

Answer 29

Controls language reception - a brain area involved in language comprehension and expression in the left temporal lobe.

Question 30

Linguistic determinism

Answer 30

Whorf's hypothesis that language determines the way we think.