Thinking, Language, & Intelligence Flashcards
What is cognition?
Mental activities associated with thinking, knowing, remembering, and communicating
What’s a prototype?
A mental image or best example of categories, matching new items to this provides quick and easy method for sorting into categories
What is an algorithm?
Methodical, logical rule or procedure that guarantees solving a particular problem; slower, but less error-prone than heuristics
What are heuristics?
Simple thinking strategy that often allows us to make judgements and solve problems efficiently; faster, but more error-prone than algorithms
What is confirmation bias?
tendency to search for into that supports our preconceptions and to ignore or distort contradictory evidence
What is a mental set?
tendency to approach a problem in one particular way, often a way that has been successful in the past
What is an availability heuristic?
Estimating the likelihood of events based on availability in memory
Ex: If instances come readily to mind, we presume such events are common
What is framing?
A way an issue is posed; how an issue is framed can significantly affect decisions and judgements
What is a phoneme?
The smallest, distinctive sound unit
What is a morpheme?
Smallest unit that carries meaning (word or part of a word)
What is receptive language?
The ability of babies to understand what is said to and about them
What is productive language and what are the four stages of it?
The ability to produce words;
babbling stage, one-word stage, two-word stage, and telegraphic-speech
What is an aphasia?
impairment of language, usually caused by left-hemisphere damage either to Broca’s area or Wernicke’s area
What is Broca’s area?
controls language expression (directs muscle movements in speech) in left-hemisphere frontal lobe
What’s Wernicke’s area?
controls language reception (comprehension and expression) in left temporal lobe
What is linguistic determinism?
Whorf’s hypothesis that language determines the way the think; theory that says we cannot think about things without words to describe them
Who developed IQ?
William Stern
What is general intelligence?
underlies specific mental abilities and is therefore measured by every task on an intelligence test
What is savant syndrome?
condition in which a person has limited mental ability, but has an exceptional specific skill (computation, drawing, piano, etc)
What are the 3 Sternburg intelligences?
Analytic intelligence, creative intelligence, and practical intelligence
What does an achievement test measure?
Something already learned (literary, driving tests, final in psych)
What does an aptitude test do?
Attempt to predict ability to learn new skills (SAT, ACT, GRE tests)
What 2 tests did Wechsler create and what do they measure?
WAIS (Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale) and WISC (Wechsler Scale for Children) which measure general intelligence
What kind of IQ challenges are on Wechsler’s tests?
describing similarities and differences, timed math problems, arranging blocks to produce design, re-sequencing and recall of letters and numbers
