Unit 5 - Cognition, Language, and Intelligence

Question 1

Cognition

Answer 1

Mental activity associated with thinking, knowing, remembering, and communicating information.

Question 2

Concept

Answer 2

Metal groupings of similar objects, events, people; forms the basis of thought.

Question 3

Prototype

Answer 3

Mental image of the best example of a specific category or concept.

Question 4

Schemas

Answer 4

Mental concepts or frameworks that organize and interpret information.

Question 5

Assimilation

Answer 5

Interpreting a new experience in terms of an existing schema.

Question 6

Accomodation

Answer 6

Changing an existing schema to incorporate new information that cannot be assimilated.

Question 7

Creativity

Answer 7

Ability to produce novel and valuable ideas within any discipline.

Question 8

Metacognition

Answer 8

Active control and awareness of your thinking; complex process during which we examine how we are thinking, the cognitive steps we take, the biases we may have, and our approach to learning a task.

Question 9

Trial and error

Answer 9

Process by which we try out different solutions until we find one that works.

Question 10

Algorithm

Answer 10

Methodical, logical procedure that guarantees success because it explores every possibility; it is sometimes time consuming.

Question 11

Heuristic

Answer 11

“Rule of thumb” or simple thinking strategy that often allows us to make judgements and solve problems efficiently; more efficient but does not guarantee success and sometimes impedes problem solving.

Question 12

Representative heuristic

Answer 12

Tendency to judge the likelihood of things in terms of their usual functions or how it matches a prototype.

Question 13

Availability heuristic

Answer 13

A cognitive bias where people rely on readily available information when making decisions, even if it’s not the best or most accurate information.

Question 14

Insight

Answer 14

Sudden and often novel realization of the solution of a problem; contrasts with trial and error and may often follow unsuccessful episode of trial and error.

Question 15

Intuition

Answer 15

What we know without knowing how we know it.

Question 16

Mindset

Answer 16

Mental approach to problems and issues, often connected to the psychological construct of intelligence.

Question 17

Growth mindset

Answer 17

Mental approach that believes we can improve.

Question 18

Fixed mindset

Answer 18

Mental approach that believes there will never be a change.

Question 19

Confirmation bias

Answer 19

Obstacle to problem solving in which people tend to search for information that validates their preconceptions.

Question 20

Gambler’s fallacy

Answer 20

Cognitive bias that occurs when people believe the outcomes of random events are influenced by previous outcomes; hinders people from making a good decision; people mistakenly think a certain event will occur in the future because it has occurred twice recently.

Question 21

Sunk-cost fallacy

Answer 21

Cognitive bias that occurs when people continue investing time, money, or effort into a project/endeavor because they’ve already invested significant resources; hinders people from making a good decision.

Question 22

Mental set

Answer 22

Tendency to apply a problem-solving strategy that has been successful in the past but may not be useful now.

Question 23

Functional Fixedness

Answer 23

Type of fixation in which a person can think of things only in terms of their usual functions; this hinders creativity.

Question 25

Framing

Answer 25

Way in which an issue or question is posed; can affect people's perception of the issues or answer to the question.

Question 26

Priming

Answer 26

Stimuli that unconsciously influences subsequent thoughts or behaviors; the color red makes you think of an apple or yellow makes you respond with the word banana.

Question 27

Belief bias

Answer 27

Tendency for a person's preexisting beliefs to distort his or her logical reasoning.

Question 28

Belief perseverance

Answer 28

Tendency for people to cling to a belief/initial conception even after information that led to the formation of the belief is discredited.

Question 29

Anchoring Effect

Answer 29

Cognitive bias favoring the first information offered.

Question 30

Executive functions

Answer 30

Cognitive processes that allow individuals to generate, organize, plan, and carry out goal-directed behaviors and experience critical thinking.

Question 31

Language

Answer 31

Spoken, written, or gestured words and how we combine them to communicate meaning.

Question 32

Phonemes

Answer 32

Smallest units of sound in a language that are distinctive for speakers of the language; 40 in English language.

Question 33

Morphemes

Answer 33

Smallest units of language that convey meaning.

Question 34

Grammar

Answer 34

System of rules that enables us to communicate with and understand others.