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AP Psychology Language & Cognition jaquiwilson Flashcards

AP Psychology terminology for language and cognition

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4807501170Cognitionprocess whereby we acquire and use knowledge; key elements: reviewing the past, contemplating the future, thinking about possibility; thinking0
4807501171languagea flexible system of communication using sounds, rules, gestures, or symbols to convey information; is semantic (meaningful)-gives detailed information; displacement-allows communication over time; productive-create new words to communicate1
4807501172phonemesbasic sound units; indicates change in meaning; universal; 45 phonemes in English, up to 85 in other languages; string together to create morphemes; examples:/s/, /z/, /ch/, /th/, /k/, etc.2
4807501173morphemessmallest meaningful units of speech; simple words, suffixes, prefixes; examples: red, hot, calm, -ed, pre-3
4807501174surface structurethe particular words and phrases used to make up a sentence4
4807501175deep structurethe underlying meaning of a sentence5
4807501176grammarlanguage rules; determines how sounds and words can be combined; used to communicate meaning within a language; has two components: syntax and semantics; meaning is often determined by word order; Noam Chomsky; allows people to make transformation from surface to deep structure in sentences6
4807501177semanticscriteria for assigning meaning to the morphemes in a language; influenced by Noam Chomsky; content of language; evidence by surface and deep structure7
4807501178syntaxNoam Chomsky; system of rules that governs how words are combined/arranged to form meaningful phrases and sentences; determined by word order8
4807501179imagenonverbal; visual, auditory, olfactory; mental representations; Einstein felt that scale in visualizing abstract concepts lead to insights; can be manipulated mentally (Shepard and Metzler) geometric patterns9
4807501180conceptmental categories; classifying objects, people, or experiences; can be modified to better manage experience; example-dogs, books, cars<-- objects in world; fast, strong, interesting<-- things, people, events10
4807501181information retrievalthe idea that language affects our ability to store and retrieve information as well as our ability to think about things; evidence by linguistic determinism; pulled info from long-term memory11
4807501182prototypeRosch; mental model; model that contains the most typical features of concept; example: cat-pale, whiskers, meow, clause, for, ears12
4807501183Idealized Cognitive Model (ICM)Rosch; expands on prototypes; concept + schema; example: mother13
4807501184problem representationfirst step in problem-solving; interpreting or defining a problem14
4807501185trial and errorproblem-solving strategy; best if there are limited choices; takes time to try all approaches; try one approach, fail; and another until you succeed; guarantees a solution15
4807501186algorithmproblem-solving strategy; step by step method that guarantees a solution; must be appropriate for the problem to be use; math is a good example16
4807501187heuristicproblem-solving strategy; rule of Tom; does not guarantee a solution; simplifies a problem so a solution may be found; four types: hillclimbing, subgoals, means-end analysis, and working backward17
4807501188hillclimbinga heuristic; each set move to progressively closer to a final goal; simple; example: balancing a budget, reduce expenses to a smaller deficit18
4807501189subgoalsa heuristic; break problem into smaller, more manageable pieces; example: Hobbits and Orcs problem19
4807501190means-end analysisa heuristic; probably most use; combines hillclimbing and subgoals; analyze a difference between the current situation and the desired outcome, then do something to reduce the difference; does not preprint detours from final goal; example: pitcher's strategy with best batter-ultimate goal-to win game and keep batters off the base, a walk the best batter to eliminate more runs20
4807501191working backwarda heuristic; used when means end analysis strays from goal; begin with goal and work backwards towards the "givens"; used when goal has more information than the givens and when the operations involved work two ways; example: $100 to spend, buy one item and subtract $100 to determine how much is left21
4807501192setmental set; tendency to perceive and approach problems in certain ways; determines what information we retrieved from memory to help us find a solution (includes heuristics and algorithms); flexibility comes from multiple sites to choose from (switch or abandon sets); pandered by function fixedness22
4807501193functional fixednessa hindrance to problem-solving; "assigning" an object in one function (which is how we form concepts); seeing a limited number of uses for an object; example: what can use a pencil for? A brick?23
4807501194Tactic of eliminationproblem-solving strategy; less all possible solutions then discard all solutions that seem to lead in the wrong direction24
4807501195visualizingbasic building blocks of thought; diagramming a course of action25
4807501196divergent thinkingthinking outside the box; generating as many unique answers as possible26
4807501197convergent thinkingonly one answer; answers are narrow in focus; example: math problems27
4807501198compensatory modela rational decision making model; choices are rated on various criteria (attractive criteria offset or compensate for unattractive features); example: buying a car-1. Higher price, better gas mileage 2. Lower price, lower mpg which do you buy ?28
4807501199noncompensatory modeldecision making model; where criteria is not so rational; example: car buying-hinges on car color29
4807501200representativenessheuristic; decision making model; new situation judged on its resemblance to a stereotypical model; example: you buy an expensive clothes and they fall apart, he judged anything inexpensive to be cheap therefore it is representative of the quality30
4807501201availabilitydecision-making heuristic; judgment or decision is based on information that is most easily retrieved; type of: Subway Effect-law of nature that you are situation seldom occurs and we adjust accordingly (the other line his faster, until you give in it)31
4807501202confirmation biasdecision-making heuristic; tendency to look for evidence in support of a believe and to ignore evidence to disprove the believe; seeing patterns of cause and effect when there is any pattern; example: AIDS, chocolate and acne32
4807501203linguistic-relativity hypothesisBenjamin Whorf; thinking patterns based on specific languages; evidence by linguistic determinism33
4807501204figurative languageexpressive language; smiles and metaphors34
4807501205telegraphic speechearly speech; stage of one and two-year-olds that omits nonessential words; often used by primates; example: more milk!35
4807501206Framingperspective or phrasing of information used to make a decision; studies on survival and mortality framing36
4807501207hindsight biastendency to view outcomes as inevitable and predictable after we know the outcome, and believe that we could have predicted what happened; "I knew it all along"37
4807501208linguistic determinismidea of the patterns of thinking are determined by the specific language one speaks; Benjamin more; example: Hopi language as to nouns for "flies"-one for birds and one for everything else; Dani limited color terminology-light/dark38
4807501209counterfactual thinkingthinking about alternative realities and things that never happened; what ifs39

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