PSYC 105 midterm 1
Any mental activity or processing of information that includes remembering, learning, communicating, perceiving, believing, and deciding
Thinking
Invest little mental energy unless it is necessary to invest more
Cognitive Misers
The economics of memory and mental effort and efficiency in a persons mind
Cognitive Economy
automatic, quick, and intuitive type of thinking
System 1 Thinking
controlled, slow, and effortful type of thinking
System 2 Thinking
The act of making a sensible decsion quickly
Quick Thinking
Mental shortcuts that increase our mental efficiency
Heuristics
Type of heuristic that invloves judging the probability of an event by its superficial similarity to prototype; judge based off specific events seen in the past
Representativeness Heuristic
How common a characteristic is in the real world
Base Rates
Type of heuristic that involves estimating the liklihood of an occurance based on the ease with which it comes to our mids; how available the memory in your mind is
Availibility Heuristic
Systemic error in thinking that everyone exhibits in one way or another
Cognitive Bias
Tendency to overestimate how well we could have predicted something after it has already occurred; tendency to exaggerate after learning an outcome
Hindsight Bias
Seek information that supports our viewpoint and discount evidence that doess not support it; choosing not to look for conflicting evidence
Confirmation Bias
Filling in gaps based on pre-existing knowledge or experience
Top-Down Processing
Having to build the mind up slowly and surely by building up understanding through experience and new knowledge
Bottom-Up Processing
Shares core proporties of knowledge and ideas in sets of actions, objects, and characteristics
Concepts
Specific type of concept that shows how concepts fit together
Schemas
Process of selecting between a set of options that is made in the subconscious
Decision Making
The way a question is formulated that can influence he decisions that people make
Framing
Creating a cognitive strategy to accomplish a goal
Problem Solving
Step-by-step learned procedure used to solve a problem
Algorithm
Multiple choices and does not have a clear solution
Ill Defined Problem
Has a clear solution
Well Defined Problem
Difficulty conceptualizing that an object can be used for multiple purposes; an object typically used for one purpose can be used for another; humans tend to ignore that objects have more than one use
Functional Fixednes
Focusses on how attention grabbing something is; focus on superficial/surface level similarities between problems
Salience
Phenomenon of becoming stuck in a specific problem solving strategy inhibiting out ability to generate alternatives; becoming stuck on a proven strategy or being confined to previous deals and being confined to previous ideas and being unable to generate new alternatives; once humans find a dependable working solution we often get stuck in that solution mode
Mental Sets
Largely arbitrary system of communication that combines symbols (such as words or gestural signs) in rule based ways to create meaning
Language
Category of sounds our vocal apparatus produces
Phoneme
Smallest meaningful unit of speech
Morpheme
Meaning derived from words and sentences
Semantics
Grammatical rules that govern how words are composed into meaningful strings
Syntax
Language variation used by a group of people who share geographic proximity or ethnic background
Dialect
Elements of communication that are not part of the content of language but are critical to interpreting its meaning
Extralinguistic Information
View that all thought is represented verbally and as a result our language defines our thinking
Linguistic Determinism
View that characteristics of language shape our thought processes
Linguistic Relativity
Intentional vocalization that lacks specific meaning
Babbling
Early period of language development when children use single-word phrases o convey an entire thought
One Word Stage
Language developed by members of a community with hearing loss that uses visual rather than auditory communication
Sign Language
Proficient and fluent at speaking and comprehending two distinct languages
Bilingual
Awareness of how language is structured and used
Metalinguistic
System of signs invented by children with hearing loss of hearing parents who receive no language input
Homesign
Allowing an infinite number of unique sentences to be created by combining words in novel ways
Generative
Account of language acquisition that suggests children are born with some basic knowledge of how language works
Nativist
Hypothetical construct in the brain in which nativists believe knowledge of syntax resides
Language Acquistion Device
Account of language acquisition that proposes that children infer what words and sentences mean from context and social interactions
Social Pragmatics
Does a simpler explanation fit the data just as well
Occam's Razor
Involved in speech production
Broca's Area
Involved in speech comprehension
Wernicke's Area
Reading strategy that involves identifying common words based on their appearance without having to sound them out
Whole Word Recognition
Reading strategy that involves sounding out words by drawing correspondences between printed letters and sounds
Phonetic Decomposition
An individual who displays astounding intellectual achievements at an early age
Child Prodigy
Intelligence is whatever intelligence tests measure
Boring's Definition of Intelligence
Intelligence is the byproduct of sensory capacity
Galton's Radical Hypothesis
Intelligence is a matter of raw sensory ability (same as Galton)
Cattel's Claim on Intelligence
Can the claim be disproved
Falsifiability
Diagnostic tool designed to measure overall thinking ability
Intelligence Test
A question on a measure including an intelligence or personality test
Item
Capacity to understand hypothetical concepts
Abstract Thinking
Hypothetical factor that accounts for overall differences in intellect among people
G (General Inteligence)
Particular ability level in a narrow domain
S (Specific Abilities)
Capacity to learn new ways of solving problems
Fluid Intelligence
Accumulated knowledge of the world acquired over time
Crystallized Intelligence
Idea that people vary in their ability levels across different domains of intellectual skill
Multiple Intelligences
The ability to speak and write well
Linguistic Intelligence
Use logic and mathematical skills to solve problems such as scientific questions
Logicomathematical Intelligence
Think and reason about objects in three dimensional space
Spatial Intelligence
Perform, understand, and enjoy music
Musical Intelligence
Manipulate the body in sports, dance, or other physical endeavours
Bodily Kinesthetic Intelligence
Understand and interact effectively with others
Interpersonal Intelligence
Understand and possess insight into self
Intrapersonal Intelligence
Recognize, understand, and identify animals, plants,and other living things
Naturalistic Intelligence
The ability to grasp deep philosophical concepts
Existential Intelligence
Model of intelligence proposed by Robert Sternberg positing three distinct types of intelligence including analytical, practical and creative
Triarchic Model
"Book smarts;" the kind of intelligence that allows us to have the ability to reason logically
Analytical Intelligence
"Street smarts;" the kind of intelligence that allows us to have the ability to solve real-world problems especially those involving other people
Practical Intelligence
The kind of intelligence that gives us the ability to come up with novel nd effective answers to questions
Creative Intelligence
Recent evidence suggests that people with poor cognitive skills are especially likely to overestimate their intellectual abilities
Double Curse of Incompetence
Refers to knowledge of our own knowledge
Metacognition
Intelligence test based on the measure developed by Binet and Simon adapted by Lewis Terman of Stanford University
Stanford-Binet IQ Test
Systemic means of qualifying differences among people in their intelliigence
Intelligence Quotient (IQ)
Age coreesponding to the average individual's performance on an intelligence test
Mental Age
Expresion of a persons IQ relative to their same aged peers
Deviation IQ
Movement in the early 20th century to improve a populations genetic stock by encouraging those with good genes to reproduce, discouraging those with bad genes to not reproduce, or both
Eugenics
Most widely used intelligence test for adults today consisting of 15 subsets to assess different types of mental abilities
WAIS
Abstract reasoning measure that doesn't depend on language and is often believed to be less influenced by cultural factors than other IQ tests
Culture-Fair IQ Test
Corelations tend to go down when we limit the range of scores on one or both variables
Restriction of Range
The extent to which scores on a measure adminstered several times are roughly identical
Test-Retest Reliability
Distribution of scores in which the bulk of the scores fall toward the middle with progressively fewer scores towards the "tails" or extremes
Bell Curve
Condition characterized by an onset prior to adulthood, an IQ below 70, and an inability to engage in adequite daily functioning
Intellectual Disability
Two of the most common genetic conditions that are associated with intellectual disabilities
Fragile X Syndrome and Down Syndrome