Psych 101 / Ch. 7

Concepts

Mental groupings of similar objects, events, ideas, or people that serve as the building blocks of thinking.

Prototypes

The best or most typical example of a category within a mental concept (e.g., thinking of a rose when asked about a flower).

Steps of Problem Solving

Defining the problem, developing a strategy, carrying it out, and evaluating if the strategy is working.

Algorithm

A methodical, step-by-step logical procedure or rule that guarantees solving a particular problem.

Heuristic

A simple mental shortcut used to make judgments and solve problems efficiently, though it does not guarantee a correct answer.

Insight

A sudden and often novel realization of the solution to a problem.

Confirmation Bias

The tendency to search for, interpret, and favor information that confirms pre-existing beliefs or preconceptions.

Fixation

The inability to see a problem from a new perspective or angle.

Functional Fixedness

A type of fixation where one thinks of things only in terms of their usual or intended functions.

Representativeness Heuristic

Judging the likelihood of things in terms of how well they match a particular prototype, which can lead to stereotyping.

Availability Heuristic

Judging the likelihood of events based on how easily examples of them come to mind or are available in memory.

Framing

The way an issue or problem is presented, which can significantly affect decisions and judgments.

Babbling Stage

The stage of language development starting around 3-4 months, where infants spontaneously utter various sounds.

One-Word Stage

The stage of language development from ages 1-2, where a child speaks mostly in single words or one-syllable utterances.

Two-Word Stage

The stage of language development around age 2, where a child speaks mostly in two-word statements using telegraphic speech.

Telegraphic Speech

Early speech stage in which a child uses as few words as possible to get a message across, like a telegram.

Over-extension

Using a word in too broad of a sense, such as a baby calling all men "dada."

Under-extension

The tendency to use a word in too narrow of a sense, such as calling only a bathtub rubber duck "duck" and not recognizing live ducks at the park.

Skinner’s Learning Theory of Language

The view that language is acquired like any other behavior through reinforcement, correction, imitation, and observation.

Chomsky’s Nativist Theory of Language

The view that humans are born with an inborn capacity to learn language naturally.

Language Acquisition Device (LAD)

An innate brain structure (likely in the frontal lobe) proposed by Chomsky that enables humans to acquire language quickly.

Piaget’s Cognitive Theory of Language

The view that cognitive development and language development go hand in hand.

Sir Francis Galton

A mid-to-late 1800s researcher who argued that intelligence runs in families in his book "Hereditary Genius" and advocated for eugenics.

Binet-Simon Scale

The first intelligence test created in 1905 to identify children struggling in school by assessing their mental age.

Mental Age

A measure of intelligence expressed as the chronological age that most typically corresponds to a given level of performance.

Stanford-Binet Intelligence Scale

Lewis Terman's American revision of the Binet test, used for ages 2–85+ with a mean IQ of 100 and a standard deviation of 15.

Intelligence Quotient (IQ) Formula

Historically calculated as (Mental Age / Chronological Age) × 100.

Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale (WAIS)

A widely used intelligence test containing sub-scales for both Verbal IQ and Performance IQ.

Verbal IQ Score

Sub-scale measuring language-based reasoning, learned knowledge, word comprehension, and verbal expression.

Performance IQ Score

Sub-scale measuring spatial reasoning, perceptual organization, visual problem-solving, and processing without needing spoken language.

Standardization

Establishing uniform testing procedures and comparing individual scores to a representative standardization group.

Reliability

The consistency of a test's results over time (e.g., scoring similarly on a test-retest).

Predictive Validity

The success with which a test predicts the behavior it is designed to predict (e.g., SAT scores predicting college success).

Concurrent Validity

The degree to which test scores correlate with scores on other established and validated tests.

Content Validity

The extent to which a test samples or measures the actual behavior/subject matter it is supposed to measure.

Normal Distribution of IQ

A bell curve where the average IQ score is 100, 95% of scores fall between 70 and 130, and extreme scores are below 70 or above 130.