Unit 5.3 Notecards

all the mental activities associated with thinking, knowing, remembering, and communicating

a mental grouping of similar objects, events, ideas, or people

a mental image or best example of a category. Matching new items to a prototype provides a quick and easy method for sorting items into categories

the ability to produce new and valuable ideas

narrowing the available problem solutions to determine the single best solution

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

a methodical, logical rule or procedure that guarantees solving a particular problem. Contrasts with the usually speedier—but also more error-prone—heuristics

a simple thinking strategy that often allows us to make judgments and solve problems efficiently; usually speedier but also more error-prone than an algorithm

a sudden realization of a problem's solution; contrasts with strategy-based solutions

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

in cognition, the inability to see a problem from a new perspective; an obstacle to problem solving

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

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

estimating the likelihood of events in terms of how well they seem to represent, or match, particular prototypes; may lead us to ignore other relevant information

estimating the likelihood of events based on their availability in memory; if instances come readily to mind, we presume such events are common

the tendency to be more confident than correct—to overestimate the accuracy of our beliefs and judgments

clinging to one's initial conceptions after the basis on which they were formed has been discredited

the way an issue is posed; how an issue is worded can significantly affect decisions and judgments

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

in a language, the smallest distinctive sound unit

in a language, the smallest unit that carries meaning; may be a word or a part of a word

in a language, a system of rules that enables us to communicate with and understand others. Semantics is the language's set of rules for deriving meaning from sounds, and syntax is its set of rules for combining words into grammatically sensible sentences

beginning around 4 months, the stage of speech development in which an infant spontaneously utters various sounds at first unrelated to the household language

the stage in speech development, from about age 1 to 2, during which a child speaks mostly in single words

beginning about age 2, the stage in speech development during which a child speaks mostly in two-word statements

early speech stage in which a child speaks like a telegram—"go car"—using mostly nouns and verbs

usually caused by left hemisphere damage either to Broca's area (impairing speaking) or to Wernicke's area (impairing understanding)

helps control language expression—an area of the frontal lobe, usually in the left hemisphere, that directs the muscle movements involved in speech

a brain area involved in language comprehension and expression; usually in the left temporal lobe

the strong form of Whorf's hypothesis—that language controls the way we think and interpret the world around us

the weaker form of "linguistic relativity"—the idea that language affects thought