Chapter 12: Language, Language Use, and Development

These flashcards cover key concepts related to language development, theory of mind, and social interactions as outlined in Chapter 12.

Common Ground

Knowledge that both the speaker and listener share, which helps coordinate language use.

Audience Design

A speaker's use of the audience's knowledge to determine utterances.

Lexicon

The vocabulary of a language; words and expressions used.

Syntax

The grammatical rules for arranging words and expressions.

Gossip

Informal conversation about others, typically comprising 60-70% of casual exchanges.

Ingroup

A social group to which a person belongs.

Outgroup

A social group to which a person does not belong.

Sapir-Whorf Hypothesis

The idea that the language we use determines our thoughts.

Theory of Mind

The capacity to understand the mental states of oneself and others.

Automatic Empathy

The unconscious adoption of another person's emotional state.

Joint Attention

The shared focus of two individuals on an object.

Visual Perspective Taking

The ability to perceive something from another person's spatial viewpoint.

False-Belief Test

An experimental procedure that assesses if a person recognizes that another has a false belief.

Mimicry

The subconscious imitation of another person's behavior.

Mirror Neurons

Neurons that fire both when performing an action and when observing another perform that action.

Linguistic Intergroup Bias

The tendency to describe ingroups positively and outgroups negatively, reflecting social attitudes.

Social Projection

The assumption that others have the same thoughts or feelings as oneself.

Cognitive Development

The process of growth and change in intellectual capabilities.

Goodness of Fit

The compatibility between a child's temperament and the parenting style.

Crystallized Intelligence

Accumulated knowledge and verbal skills that tend to remain stable with age.