AP Psych-Thought, Language, Creativity, and Concepts

What are prototypes?

mental images (prototype --\> type of "photo") of the best example of a concept *(the individuals "papers" that we have things we see everyday day)*

natural concepts vs artificial concepts

*natural concepts* --\> ones that we come up with *(we form them everyday)*

*artificial concepts* --\> ones that are accurate and defined by a set of rules *(examples: math formulas, dictionary definitions)*

What is an event-related potential?

very small voltages/waves in the brain shown on an EEG patterns that are associated with particular stimuli

What is a schema?

A schema is a cluster of related concepts that provide a general conceptual framework for thinking about a topic, event, object, people or situation. *(like a file folder...**this file folder contains all of our prototypes/"papers"**, of everything that we know about a particular topic*

What is a script?

An organized knowledge framework that represents how an event typically unfolds *(They basically dictate a person's predictions for a sequence of events)*

What is the Innateness Theory of Language?

basically says that you're born with the ability to learn

What is the Language Acquisition Device?

a built-in mechanism in our brains for acquiring language

About how old is a child whenever they begin to *babble (the naming explosion)?*

*18 months old*

About how old is a child whenever they begin to use *telegraphic speech?*

*2 years old*

phonemes vs. morphemes vs. syntax

*phonemes* [think *PHONE*mes *PHONETICS (sounds)* ] --\> set of basic sounds

*morphemes* --\> the meaningful units that make up words *(prefixes, roots, and suffixes)*

*syntax* --\> the set of rules that describes how words and phrases are arranged to make grammatical sentences

Who brought about *linguistic determinism?*

Benjamin Whorf

What is linguistic determinism?

the idea that our **specific** language determines how we think* (he believed that someone who lived in Africa would think differently than someone who lived in Asia)

*WHAT IS ACTUALLY CORRECT*
- words don't determine thinking, but they do *influence* it

What is creativity?

the ability to produce novel and valuable ideas

*Role of intelligence - If you have **higher intelligence** there is a chance for **better creativity** (correlation not causation)*

convergent thinking vs divergent thinking

*convergent thinking* - leads to *a single best solution*

*divergent thinking* - expands the number of possible solutions *(more than one solution...many possibilities)*

Robert Sternberg's 5 components of creativity

1) Expertise
2) Imaginative thinking skills
3) A venturesome personality (extrovert in short)
4) Intrinsic motivation ("I'm doing it because I want to")
5) A creative environment