PSY1020 - Chap 8 Thought and Language

Question 1

Thinking

Answer 1

Manipulating Mental Representations for a reason.

Question 2

Mental Images
and
Mental Models

Answer 2

Mental Images: Visual Representations

Mental Models: Representation that describe, explain or predict the way things work.

Question 3

Concepts
and
Categories

Answer 3

Category: groups based on common properties

Concepts: a mental representation of a category.

Question 4

Categorisation

Answer 4

The process of identifying an object.

Recognising similarity to some objects and dissimilarity to others.

Question 5

Defining Features
and
Prototypes

Answer 5

Defining Features: qualities that are essential in order to qualify an object in a certain category.

Although people sometimes categorise objects by comparing them with a list of defining features, people typically classify objects rapidly by judging their similarity to prototypes.

Prototypes: is a representation of a typical example of a category.

Question 6

Hierarchies of Concepts

Answer 6

Superordinate Mammal
Basic Dog
Subordinate Kelpie

Question 7

Reasoning:

Inductive
Deductive

Answer 7

Inductive Reasoning: Taking specific observations and applying them generally. Flawed.

Deductive Reasoning: Taking general observations and applying them to specifics. More factual

Syllogism: two premises that lead to a logical conclusion. eg: all dog have hair, Ralph is a dog, therefor Ralph has hair.

Question 8

Analogical Reasoning

Answer 8

the process by where people understand a novel sitiation by comparing it to a familiar one.

Question 9

Problem Solving

Answer 9

Transforming one situation into another to meet a gaol. To move from the Initial State to the Goal State.

Operators: Mental and behavioural processes aimed at transforming the initial state until it eventually approximates the goal state.

Question 10

Mental Simulation

Answer 10

imagining the steps involved in solving a problem before undertaking them.

Question 11

Barriers to Problem Solving

Answer 11

Functional Fixedness: the tendancy for people to ignore other possible functions of an object when they have a fixed function in mind.

Mental Set: the tendancy to keep using the same problem solving techniques that worked in the past.

Confirmation Bias: the tendancy for people to search for confirmation for what they already believe.

Question 12

Overcoming Barriers to Problem Solving

Answer 12

• Restructure the problem or present it in a novel way.

Question 13

Decision Making

Answer 13

The process by which indivisuals weigh the pro and cons of a situation in order to make a choice.

1. Define the proble.
2. Define the alternatives.
3. Decide on the criteria.
4. Weigh up the pros and cons.
5. Make a decision.

Question 14

Decision making:

Weighted Utility Value

Expected Utility

Answer 14

Weighted Utility Value:
Is a combined judgement of the importance of an attribute and the extent to which a give option staisfies it.

Expected Utility:
Is a combined judgement of the weighted utility and the expected probability of obtaining an outcome.

Question 15

Explicit Cognition

Answer 15

Explicit Cognition: conscious manipulation of representations.

Question 16

Heuristics:

Representativeness Heuristic

Availability Heuristic

Answer 16

Heuristics: Cognitive shorcuts for selecting between alternatives without carefully examining each one. Allows people to make rapid, efficient but sometimes irrational judgements.

Representativeness Heuristic: people categorise by matching the similarity of an object to a prototype without considering the probability of ot occurring.

Availability Heuristic: people infer the frequency of something base on its availabilty in their mind. That is how readily it come to mind. Just because something is familiar it does not mean it is common.

Question 17

Bounded Rationality

Answer 17

People are rational within the bounds of their environment, goals and abilities.

Question 18

Implicit Cognition

Answer 18

Implicit Cognition: Cognition outside of awareness.

Question 19

Reason and Emotion

Assessing Risk

Answer 19

Thinking can somethimes interfere with sound judgement, following one’s instincts can sometimes be more advantagous.

Assessing Risk: People tend to view the risk involved with a greater weighting than the possible gains.

Question 20

Connectionism (Parallel Distributed Processing)

Answer 20

Most cognitive processes occur simultaneously through the action of mutiple activiated networks.

Question 21

Parallel Constraint Satisfaction

Answer 21

the tendancy to settle on a cognitive solution that satisfies as many constraints as possible in order to achieve the best fit to the data.

Question 22

Language

Answer 22

the system of symbos, sounds, meanings and rules for their combination that constitutes the primary mode of communication among humans.

Whorfian Hypothesis og Liguistic Relativity: The idea that language shapes thought.

Question 23

Language:

Phonemes

Morphemes

Phrases

Sentences

Answer 23

Phonemes: the smallest units of sound that constitute speech and are strung together to create meaningful utterances.

Morphemes: Smallest units of meaning (anti-, house etc..)

Phrases: groups of words taht can act as a unit and have meaning.

Sentences: orgainsed sequences of words that express thought or intention.

Question 24

Language:

Syntax

Semantics

Answer 24

Syntax: the rules that govern the placement of words and phrases in a sentence.

” semantics — the rules that govern the meanings (rather than the order) of morphemes, words, phrases and sentences — in understanding what people say.”

Question 25

Pragmatics of Language

Answer 25

"pragmatics of language — the way language is used and understood in everyday life " How people decode linguistic messages.

Question 26

Discourse

Answer 26

"discourse — the way people ordinarily speak, hear, read and write in interconnected sentences"

Question 27

Universal Grammer

Answer 27

"Chomsky argued that the speed and similarity of language acqui- sition around the world suggest a shared set of linguistic principles, or universal grammar, that is innate. When children converse with others, they spontaneously develop linguistic constructions that resemble other languages even if their parents do not provide them. The existence of specialised neural circuits for language also supports a strong innate component to language acquisition. Recent connec- tionist thinking proposes that language emerges in children from the interaction of innate tendencies and implicit learning."

Question 28

Language: Critical Period?

Answer 28

"For many years psychologists have debated the existence of a critical period for language learning. The first three years of life seem to be the optimal time to attain native fluency. After age 12, even near-native fluency is difficult to achieve, and language appears to be processed using different neural circuits than in native speakers."

Question 29

Language Development in Children 0-24 Months

Answer 29

Months 1–5 Reflexive communication: vocalises randomly, coos, laughs, cries, engages in vocal play, discriminates language from nonlanguage sounds 6–18 Babbling: verbalises in response to speech of others; responses increasingly approximate human speech patterns 10–13 First words: uses words; typically to refer to objects 12–18 One-word sentence stage: vocabulary grows slowly; uses nouns primarily; over-extensions begin 18–24 Vocabulary spurt: fast-mapping facilitates rapid acquisition of new words

Question 30

Language Development in Children 2-6 Years

Answer 30

"Years 2 Two-word sentence stage: uses telegraphic speech; uses more pronouns and verbs 2.5 Three-word sentence stage: modifies speech to take listener into account; over-regularisations begin 3 Uses complete simple active sentence structure; uses sentences to tell stories that are understood by others; uses plurals 3.5 Expanded grammatical forms: expresses concepts with words; uses four-word sentences 4 Uses imaginary speech; uses five-word sentences 5 Well-developed and complex syntax: uses more complex syntax; uses more complex forms to tell stories 6 Displays metalinguistic awareness NOTE: Children often show individual differences in the ex"

Question 31

Telegraphic speech

Answer 31

"utterances composed of only the most essential words for meaning"