Psych Unit 5 - Thinking, Language, and Creativity

What is cognition?

All mental activities associated with thinking, knowing, remembering, and communicating.

What are concepts? Give and example.

A mental grouping of similar objects, events, ideas, or people.

Example: Fruit is a concept group that includes apples, bananas, strawberries, etc.

What is a prototype? Give an example.

A mental image that is the best example of a category.

Example: When you draw a house, its a basic simple shape that people can easily tell is a house. It’s no special type of house, it’s just a house.

What is creativity?

The ability to produce new and valuable ideas.

What is convergent vs. divergent thinking? Give examples of both

Convergent: Narrowing the possible solutions to a problem. Ex; math teachers telling you you can only do a problem one specific way.

Divergent: Expanding the possible problem solutions. Ex; creating multiple solutions after given the prompt and deciding which one to use.

What are the 5 components of creativity according to Robert Sternberg?

• Expertise - how skilled you are

• Imaginative Thinking Skills

• A Venturesome Personality - willing to try new things and not being afraid to fail

• Intrinsic Motivation - you have a natural interest in the subject

• A Creative Environment

What are algorithms? Give an example.

Methodical, logical rules or procedures that guarantee solving a particular problem.

Example: Following a cake recipe down to every exact measurement

What are heuristics? Give an example.

Simple thinking strategies that often allow us to make judgements and solve problems more freely. NOT always 100% correct!

Example: Baking a cake but eyeballing measurements instead of looking at the recipe.

What is insight? Give an example.

A sudden realization of a problem’s solution; contrasts with strategy based solutions(algorithms)

Example: While solving a riddle that has stumped you, the answer randomly pops into your head. The “ah-ha” moment.

What is fixation? Give an example.

An inability to see a problem from a new perspective.

Example: Searching everywhere for a fly swatter when you could just use a shoe or napkin.

What is a mental set? Give an example.

A tendency to approach a problem in a particular way, often a way that has previously worked in that past.

Example: When your WIFI goes out, you immediately go to reset the router because it has worked before in the past. If it doesn’t work the first time, you’ll try again because your brain believes that is the only solution.

What is intuition? Give an example.

An effortless, immediate, automatic feeling of thought, as contrasted with explicit, conscious reasoning.

What is representative heuristic vs availability heuristic? Give an example of both.

Representative: To judge the likelihood of something based on intuitively comparing it to a particular prototype. Ex; imagine a short and slender guy who likes to read. Will he become an English professor or monster truck driver?

Availability: Estimating how common an event is based on its mental availability. Ex; Casinos using flashy lights to make it seem like people win a lot at the casino.

What is belief perseverance? Give an example.

Clinging to ones initial conceptions after the basis on which they were formed has been discredited.

Example: People still believing the earth is flat after multiple studies proving it is not.

What is framing? Give an example.

The way an issue is posed; how an issue is worder can significantly affect decisions and judgements.

Example: Asking someone the speed of the car after it “hit” or “smashed” the other car.

What is language?

Our spoked, written, or signed words and the ways we combine them to communicate meaning.

What are phenomes vs. morphemes? Give an example of both.

Phenome: the smallest distinctive sound unit. Ex; “d” “ch” “sh” “th” “au”

Morpheme: the smallest unit that carries meaning Ex; prefixes and suffixes.

What is grammar?

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

What is Noam Chomsky’s theory of language? What other factor is important to consider when looking at the theory of language?

Noam Chomsky believes humans to be hard-wired from birth, meaning language is with us from birth that does not need to be learned.

The other factor important to consider is nurture.

What is syntax?

The correct way to string words together to form coherent thought and sentences.

What is receptive vs. productive language?

Receptive: The ability to process and understand the language.

Productive: The ability to speak the language.

What is the babbling stage?

Infants will spontaneously utter sounds at first, which are unrelated and incoherent speech.

What happens during the one-word stage? What age is the child?

Typically around age 1; child only speaks in majority single words.

What happens during the two-word stage? What age is the child?

Typically around age 2; child begins to speak in mostly correct two word phrases.

What is meant by the critical period?

The age where the child picks up the most information. If no one speaks or interacts with you during this period, you will never learn to speak.

When do kids lose their ability to learn a language if no one speaks to them?

Age 7

If a child is born deaf, when should they begin to learn sign language?

Infancy

What is linguistic determinism? Give an example.

The idea that language controls the way we think and interpret the world around us.

Example: Draw the phrase “The boy talked to the girl.” You draw the boy on the left and girl on the right because we read left to right.

What is linguistic influence? Why is it considered to be weaker?

It is the idea that language affects our thought. It is considered weaker because it is the idea of not the definitive cause.