PS233 - Judgement & Decision-Making, Language, Creativity

Place of Articulation

The position in the mouth where a sound is made

[Example]: The sound of 'K' in 'kitten' & 'P' in 'potato' use different tongue placements.

Algorithm

A set of rules to follow in problem-solving operations

[Example]: Listing tasks you need to complete, then grouping them into 4 categories based on urgency & importance, and use that to determine what should get done 1st.

Affective Forecasting

Predicting how you'll feel about something in the future

[Example]: Thinking a homework assignment will not be enjoyable, then realizing it is easier than you thought.

Ill-Structured

Non-defined solution path

[Example]: Writing an essay; There is no 'correct answer,' and it requires creativity & judgment.

Mini-C

Creativity in the learning process; Personal meaning

[Example]: A child brings home their first drawing of their family after learning about emotions.

Little-C

Everyday creativity

[Example]: Inventing a new recipe with leftovers.

Pro-C

Professional creativity

[Example]: A software engineer designs a new app feature that improve a user's experience.

Big-C

Transformative creativity

[Example]: Steve Jobs discovering a higher level of personal technology (iPhones).

False Consensus Effect

The tendency for people to overestimate the number of people who agree with their beliefs, behaviors, & values

[Example]: Assuming everyone at a party has the same political beliefs as you, only to discover they disagree.

Cohort Activation Model

How listeners identify spoken words in real-time

[Example]: Hearing the 'kuh' pronunciation activates words like cat, car, candle, & camera

Convergent Thinking

Narrows down the available problem solutions to determine the single best solution

[Example]: Solving a math problem w/ one correct answer.

Divergent Thinking

Expands the number of possible problem solutions

[Example]: Writing a story w/ multiple plot twists.

Anaphoric Inference

Linking a word or phrase (usually a pronoun) to something mentioned earlier in a sentence

[Example]: "Michael went to the bank. He was annoyed because it was closed." 'He' refers to Michael. 'It' refers to the bank.

Causal Inference

Cause & effect in relationships

[Example]: If I see someone put gym clothes on and grab their gym bag, it will make me think that person is going to the gym.

Elaborative Inference

Adding beyond to what is stated

[Example]: "She dropped the vase. She ran for the dustpan and brush to sweep up the pieces."

Heuristic

Mental shortcut helping w/ efficient decision-making and problem-solving; simplifies complex information.

Anchoring

The tendency, in making judgements, to rely on the first piece of information encountered or information that comes most quickly to mind

[Example]: Sales strategy: If a shopper sees a jacket priced at $300 and then finds another jacket for $100, the $100 jacket seems inexpensive in comparison—even if $100 is actually expensive for a jacket.

Representativeness

A cognitive bias where people judge the probability or category of an event based on how closely it matches a prototype or stereotype they already have in mind

[Example]: Judging a person who wears glasses as intelligent simply because this matches the common stereotype of intelligent people, regardless of other evidence about the person's intelligence.

Availability

A cognitive bias in which people judge the likelihood or frequency of an event based on how easily examples come to mind, rather than using actual statistics or evidence

[Example]: Fearing air travel because of hearing about a recent airplane crash in the news, even though statistically, plane crashes are extremely rare.

Bias Blindspot

The tendency to fail to recognize biases as they affect us, even when we recognize them in others.

Somatic Marker Hypothesis

The idea that changes in the body, experienced as emotion, guide decision making

[Example]: A rapid heartbeat or a sense of anxiety before entering a dark alley.

Bodily feeling = Somatic Marker (signaling danger)

Cognitive Reflection

The mental process of pausing to think before reacting, where a person engages in slow, logical, and effortful thinking (System 2) to override an automatic and often incorrect initial response (System 1).

[Example]: "If you have 5 apples now, and you ate 2 apples yesterday, how many apples do you have?"

For these problems, you need to put more effort into thinking for an answer, not making assumptions.

System 1

Responsible for quick, effortless responses and is influenced by emotions and habits.

System 2

Slow, deliberate, and conscious thinking, requiring intentional effort.

Affect Heuristic

The tendency to confirm one's emotions instead of evaluating probabilities.

Prospect Theory

A theory that suggests that a decision, or argument, can be framed in different ways

[Example]: Someone has the chance to win $100 or risk losing $50. Usually, they are more willing to take the gamble to avoid a sure loss because losses feel more painful than gains that feel pleasurable.

Framing Effect

Decisions are influenced by how the choices are stated

[Example]: When a doctor describes a medical procedure as having a "90% success rate" versus saying it has a "10% failure rate."

Focalization

The perspective through which a narrative is presented

[Example]: People think about how moving to a new city will affect their happiness; They often focus heavily on one factor, like the weather, and overlook other important influences, which leads to overestimating the impact.

Peak-End Rule

A heuristic where people judge an experience based on how they felt at its most intense point (the peak) and at its end, rather than considering the duration of it.

Illusory Truth

When people tend to believe information to be correct after repeated exposure, even if it is false.

Phonology

The study of speech sounds in language.

Manner of Articulation

The extent to which airflow is interrupted by parts of the mouth in the production of consonant sounds.

Voicing

Vibration of vocal folds during sound production.

Phonemic Restoration

In speech perception, filling in a missing phoneme (sound) based on contextual meaning.

Embodiment

A visible form of an idea, quality, or feeling.

Syntax

Sentence structure

Syntactic Priming

A phenomenon in language where a person is more likely to use a particular sentence structure after hearing or producing a sentence with the same structure.

Pragmatics

The practical use of language that includes the ability to adjust language communication according to audience and context.

Simple Model of Reading

Emphasizes the equal importance of decoding and comprehension.

Dual-Route Model

The proposal that readers can either first access a word's meaning and then its pronunciation or first access a word's pronunciation and then its meaning.

Lexical Access

Refers to identifying a word and connecting it to its meaning, which has been stored in long-term memory

[Example]: Hearing the word "dog," and your brain quickly retrieves all the related information about that word from your mental dictionary.

Mental Model

Bridging Inference

A process of constructing a connection between concepts

[Example]: Reading two sentences: "Lizzie met a dog yesterday. The dog was very friendly." To understand the second sentence, you make a bridging inference that "the dog" refers to the same dog Lizzie met earlier."

Predictive Inference

A type of elaborative inference that involves making predictions about the likely outcome of a sentence

[Example]: read a story that says, "John forgot to set his alarm last night." You might predict that John will wake up late or rush in the morning, even though the text doesn't say this.

Instrumental Inference

Tools or methods

[Example]: Reading a sentence like, "She used a hammer to fix the broken chair." From this, you infer that the hammer is the tool she used to carry out the action of fixing.

Backchannel

Refers to the short, often subtle verbal or non-verbal responses a listener gives while another person is speaking

[Example]: Responses like, "uh-huh," "yeah."

Speech-Act Theory

Branch of pragmatics that suggests that when people communicate, they do not just say things; they also do things with their words

[Example]: Someone says, "I promise to help you." they are not just stating a fact; They are actually making a promise.

Locutionary Force

Refers to the actual act of producing an utterance with its literal meaning, including the pronunciation, sound, and movement.

Illocutionary Force

The intended, context-defined meaning of an utterance. [Example]: When a speaker informs us that "There's someone at the door," but really they mean "Answer the door, please."

Perlocutionary Force

The effect and importance of the consequences of communicative speech acts (reactions).

Grounding (Common Ground)

The process by which conversational participants establish a shared understanding or common knowledge

Alignment

The process during social interactions where individuals unconsciously or consciously adjust their communicative behaviors to become more similar or in sync with each other.

Positive Evidence of Grounding

Behaviors providing clear, positive feedback that participants have understood each other, enabling smooth and effective communication

[Example]: Continued attention, such as maintaining eye contact or not being distracted; Indicative gestures like pointing, looking, or touching when referring to an object.

Negative Evidence of Grounding

Behaviors serving as explicit or implicit signals that understanding has not been achieved.

[Example]: Interruptions or corrections that indicate the listener misunderstood

Physical Copresence

Sharing mutual knowledge because you have the ability to look at the same thing during conversation.

Personal Copresence

This direct physical presence allows for richer interaction compared to remote communication scenarios

Linguistic Copresence

This presence enables richer communication with nonverbal cues, real-time feedback, and shared environmental context, which are often difficult to replicate remotely.

Community Membership

Refers to the sense of belonging that individuals feel as part of a larger group or community

[Example]: Emotional safety