Exam 3 Study Guide: Cognition, Language, and Intelligence

Cognition

Mental activity associated with obtaining, converting, and using knowledge.

Thinking

Mental activity associated with coming to a decision, reaching a solution, or forming a belief.

Concepts

Mental representations of categories of objects, situations, and ideas that belong together based on their central features or characteristics.

Prototypes

The ideal or most representative example of a natural concept.

Hierarchies of Concepts

Categories organized from broadest to most specific, including superordinate, midlevel, and subordinate levels.

Superordinate

The broadest category that encompasses all objects in a group.

Midlevel

The basic level of categorization most often used in everyday experiences.

Subordinate-level

The narrow and specific level of categorization.

Mental Images

Descriptions of images from the 'mind's eye' that may be mentally manipulated in three dimensions.

Biology of Cognition

The study of how brain regions are involved in cognitive processes.

Left frontal lobe

Critical for a broad array of higher cognitive functions, processing emotions, controlling impulses, and making plans.

Broca's area

A language center in the brain associated with speech production.

Wernicke's area

A language center in the brain associated with language comprehension.

Formal Concepts

Mental representations of categories created through rigid and logical rules or through features.

Natural Concepts

Mental representations of categories resulting from experiences in daily life.

Availability Heuristic

A decision-making strategy that predicts the likelihood of something happening based on how easily a similar type of event from the past can be recalled.

Recency

An example of the availability heuristic where recent events are more easily recalled.

Frequency

An example of the availability heuristic that involves comparing the number of occurrences of different items.

Familiarity

An example of the availability heuristic based on personal experiences with similar events.

Vividness

An example of the availability heuristic where more vivid or dramatic events are more easily recalled.

Representativeness Heuristic

decision-making strategy that evaluates the degree to which the primary characteristics of a person or situation are similar to our prototype of that kind of person or situation.

Language

a system for using symbols (words, gestures, and sounds) to think and communicate.

Phonemes

the units of sound that serve a basic building block for all words.

Morphemes

consists of one or more phonemes, bringing meaning to a language.

Grammar

refers to the rules associated with both word and sentence structure.

Syntax

refers to collection of rules dictating where words and phrases should be placed.

Semantics

represents the rules used to bring meaning to words and sentences.

Pragmatics

social rules that help organize activity.

Functional Fixedness

a barrier to problem solving that occurs when familiar objects can only be imagined to function in their usual way.

Problem Solving

the variety of approaches that can be used to achieve our goals.

Infants' Phoneme Recognition

Infants between 6 and 8 months can recognize all phonemes from all languages, but diminishes at about 10 months.

Basic Elements of Language

Know the different components of language (ex: phonemes, morphemes, grammar, syntax, semantics, pragmatics) and know them in the order of most specific to most general.

Example of Morphemes

Example: 'unimaginable' has 3 morphemes: un, imagine, able.

Grammar Components

tells how words are made from sounds, how sentences are formed with words, where to place punctuation, and which word tense to use.

Syntax Function

Guides both word choice and word order, providing consistency in sentence organization.

Semantics Context

Also refers to the context in which words appear.

Pragmatics in Social Interactions

Language used in social interactions, which are governed by certain norms and expectations.

Obstacles in Problem Solving

Obstacles that block path to solution.

Initial State to Goal State

The process of moving from the initial state to the goal state in problem solving.

Creative Use of Objects

This fixation can stop us from finding new, creative use for objects.

Example of Functional Fixedness

Ex: a tear in your pants occurs and you have tape and staples to fix it.

Intelligence

one's innate ability to solve problems, adapt to the environment, and learn from experiences

Validity

degree to which an assessment measures what it intends to measure

Reliability

ability of a test to provide consistent, reproductive results

Fairness

are these test differences

Cultural-fair intelligence tests

assessments are designed to minimize cultural bias

Phenotype

observable expression or characteristics of one's genetic inheritance

Epigenetics

field that examines the process involved in the development of phenotypes

Synaptic Pruning

Unused synaptic connections estimated

Language Explosion

At age of 5, most have amassed a vocabulary of approx. 13,000 words

30 million word gap

1990s, researchers published a study suggesting that the amount of language spoken at home correlates with socioeconomical status (SES)

Sequence of Language Acquisition

Across cultures, 'vocabulary explosion' tends to occur around 2 to 3 years of age

Piaget's concepts

specifically schema, assimilation, and accommodation

Piaget's levels of cognitive development

sensorimotor, preoperational, concrete operational, formal operational

Vygotsky's theories

differed from Piaget's theories

Cross-sectional method

a research method design used in developmental psychology

Longitudinal method

a research method design used in developmental psychology

Cross-sequential method

a research method design used in developmental psychology

Basic emotions

set of emotions that are universally recognized

Paul Ekman

psychologist known for research on emotional expressions in America and New Guinea

Positive psychology

emphasizes the study of positive aspects of human life

Need for Achievement

a psychological need to accomplish goals

Need for Power

a psychological need to influence or control others

Facial Feedback Hypothesis

suggests that facial expressions can influence emotional experiences

Amygdala

a part of the brain related to emotion

Abraham Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs

a theory in psychology that prioritizes human needs

Theories of emotion

James-Lang, Cannon-Bard, Schachter-Singer, Cognitive Appraisal

Negative emotions

have survived throughout our evolutionary history and are more prevalent than positive emotions