AP Psychology - Language

prototype

a mental image or best example of a category

concept

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

cognition

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

Algorithms

step-by-step procedures for problem solving that guarantee a solution

heuristics

simple thinking strategies that allow us to make judgements and solve problems easily

insight

a sudden realization of a problem's solution

confirmation bias

the tendency to search for ideas that match our own opinions

mental set

a tendency to approach a problem in a way that has worked previously

intuition

our fast, automatic, unreasoned feelings and thoughts

availability heuristic

making decisions based on examples that immediately come into mind

overconfidence

the tendency to be more confident than correct

belief perseverance

the tendency to believe in our initial conceptions even after they are proven incorrect

framing

the way we pose an issue.The way an issue is framed can significantly affect decisions and judgements

creativity

the ability to produce new and valuable ideas

convergent thinking

narrowing solutions to a problem to find the one, best solution

divergent thinking

creative thinking - have to find as many possible answers

phonemes

the smallest distinctive sound unit in a language

morpheme

the smallest unit in a word that has meaning

grammar

system of rules in a language that enables us to communicate together

productive language

the ability to produce words

babbling stage

at 4 months old, the baby starts to make sounds

one word stage

from age 1-2, babies can speak in single words

two word stage

at the age 2, the baby starts to speak in two-word sentence

telegraphic speech

child uses only nouns and verbs to communicate

Noam Chomsky

said that all languages share the same elemental foundation - universal grammar

aphasia

impairment of language - due to damage in Broca's or Wernicke's area

broca's area

directs muscle movement for language speech

Wernicke's area

controls recpetion and understanding of language