Language and Thought Lecture Notes

These flashcards cover key vocabulary and concepts related to language, cognition, and decision-making as discussed in the lecture.

Language

A system of communication used by a particular community or country.

Cognition

The mental action or process of acquiring knowledge and understanding through thought, experience, and the senses.

Phonology

The study of the sound system of a language.

Morphology

The study of the structure and form of words in a language.

Syntax

The set of rules that govern the structure of sentences.

Semantics

The branch of linguistics and logic concerned with meaning.

Infinite Generativity

The capacity to create an infinite number of sentences and ideas using a finite set of elements.

Verbal Ability

The skill in using language effectively, which is often linked to intelligence.

Critical Period

A specific time frame during which language acquisition is most easily and effectively learned.

Inductive Reasoning

A logical process in which multiple premises, believed to be true, are combined to obtain a specific conclusion.

Deductive Reasoning

A logical process in which a conclusion follows necessarily from the premises presented.

Confirmatory Bias

The tendency to search for, interpret, favor, and recall information in a way that confirms one's preexisting beliefs.

Belief Perseverance

The phenomenon where people hold onto their beliefs even in the face of contrary evidence.

Overconfidence Bias

The tendency to overestimate one's abilities or the accuracy of one's predictions.

Hindsight Bias

The inclination to see events as having been predictable after they have already occurred.

Availability Heuristic

A mental shortcut that relies on immediate examples that come to a person's mind when evaluating a specific topic.

Representativeness Heuristic

A cognitive bias in which people judge the probability of an event based on how much it resembles their existing prototype.

Problem of Baserates

The difficulty in accurately predicting the likelihood of an event occurring based on low baseline rates.

Illusory Correlation

The perception of a relationship between two variables when one does not actually exist.