PSYCH1003B Textbook Notes

Language

A shared symbolic system for communication comprising letters, symbols, and rules.

Mental Lexicon

The collection of words that comprise a person’s understanding of language.

Grammar

Rules that dictate the legal combination of language units.

Symbolic

The property of language that uses sounds, signs, and gestures to form and transfer mental representations.

Structure

Rule-governed structures in language that combine symbols to create meaningful units.

Generativity

The ability to combine symbols to generate an infinite number of messages.

Displacement

The ability to represent and communicate about past, future, or imaginary events.

Surface Structure

The symbols used in a sentence and their order, related to syntax.

Deep Structure

The underlying meaning of combined symbols, related to semantics.

Pragmatics

Knowledge of the practical aspects of language, including social context.

Sensitive Period

A time when a person is more responsive to learning certain skills.

Critical Period

A time when missing a skill development makes it much harder to learn later.

The Whorfian Hypothesis

The theory that the language one knows shapes their thoughts about the world.

Focus Thinking

Goal-based, problem-solving thought.

Unfocused Thinking

Daydreaming or unintentional creative thinking.

Creative Problem Solving

The process of finding innovative solutions to problems.

Intelligence

The ability to acquire knowledge, think, reason effectively, and adapt to the environment.

Mental Age

The mental level at which a child is performing compared to age norms.

Intelligence Quotient (IQ)

A measure of intelligence defined as (Mental Age/Chronological Age) x 100.

Reliability

The consistency with which a measure assesses a characteristic.

Validity

The extent to which a test measures what it is intended to measure.

Social Norms

Shared expectations about how people should think, feel, and behave.

Self-Serving Bias

The tendency to attribute successes to internal factors and failures to external factors.

Cognitive Appraisal

The process of evaluating situations and their emotional significance.

Emotional Regulation

The processes involved in managing and modifying emotional reactions.

Attachment

The strong emotional bond that develops between children and their primary caregivers.

Gender Identity

A person’s understanding of their own gender, including male, female, or other identities.

Altruism

The selfless concern for the well-being of others.

Bystander Effect

The phenomenon where individuals are less likely to help in an emergency when others are present.

Just World Hypothesis

The belief that people get what they deserve in life.

Frustration-Aggression Hypothesis

The theory that frustration often leads to aggressive behavior.

Catharsis

The release of pent-up emotional energy through aggressive acts.