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Cognition
all the mental activities associated with thinking, knowing, remembering and communicating
Concept
a mental grouping of similar objects, events, ideas and people
Prototype
a mental image of best example of a category
Algorithm
a methodical, logical rule or procedure that guarantees you will solve a particular problem
Heuristic
a simple thinking strategy that often allows you to make judgments and solve problems efficiently; usually speedier but also more error prone than Algorithms
Insight
a sudden realization of the solution to a problem; it contrasts with strategy-based solutions
Confirmation Bias
a tendency to search for information that supports our preconceptions and to ignore or distort evidence that contradicts them
Fixation
the inability to see a problem from a new perspective; an obstacle to problem solving
Intuition
an effortless, immediate, automatic feeling or thought, as contrasted with explicit, conscious reasoning
Availability Heuristic
judging the likelihood of an event based on its availability in memory; if an event comes readily to mind, we assume it must be common
Overconfidence
the tendency to be more confident than correct- to overestimate the accuracy of our beliefs
Belief Perspective
clinging to beliefs and ignoring evidence that proves they are wrong
Framing
the way an issue is posed; framing can significantly affect decisions and judgments
Creativity
the ability to produce new and valuable ideas
Convergent Thinking
narrows the available problem solutions to determine the single best solution
Divergent Thinking
expands the number of possible problem solutions; creative thinking that diverges into different directions
Language
our spoken, written or signed words and the ways we combine them to communicate meaning
Babbling Stage
at 4 months, the stage of speech development in which the infant spontaneously utters various sounds at first unrelated to household language
One-Word Stage
from 1-2, stage in speech during which a child speaks mostly in single words
Two-Word Stage
at age 2, the stage in speech during which a child speaks mostly two-word statements
Telegraphic Speech
early speech stage in which a child speaks like a telegram "go car" using mostly nouns and verbs
Grammar
in a specific language, a system of rules that enable us to communicate with and understand others
Broca's Area
controls language expression, an area of the frontal lobe, usually in the left hemisphere, that directs the muscle movement involved in speech
Wernicke's Area
controls language reception, a brain area involved in language comprehension and expression, usually in the left temporal lobe
Intelligence
mental quality consisting of the ability to learn from experience, solve problems and use knowledge to adapt to new situations
General Intelligence
a general intelligence factor that underlies specific mental abilities and is therefore measured by every task on an intelligence test
Savant Syndrome
a condition in which a person otherwise limited in mental ability has an exceptional specific skill, such as in computation or drawing
Emotional Intelligence
the ability to perceive, understand, manage and use emotions
Intelligence Test
a method for assessing an individual's mental aptitudes and comparing them with those of others, including numerical scores
Aptitude Test
a test designed to predict a person's future performance, aptitude is the capacity to learn
Achievement Test
a test designed to assess what a person has learned
Mental Age
a measure of intelligence test performance devised by Binet; the chronological age that most typically corresponds to a given level of performance.
Stanford-Binet
the widely used American revision of Binet's original intelligence test
Intelligence Quotient
defined originally as the ratio of mental age (ma) to chronological age (ca) multiplied by 100, thus IQ=ma/cax100; on contemporary intelligence tests, the average performance for a given age is assigned a score of 100
Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale
the most widely used intelligence test, contains verbal and performance subjects
Standardization
defining uniform testing procedures and meaningful scores by comparison with the performance of a pretested group
Normal Curve
the bell shaped curve that describes the distribution of many physical and psychological attributes
Reliability
the extent to which a test yields consistent results, as assessed by the consistency of scores on two halves of the test, on alternative forms of the test, or retesting
Validity
the extent to which a test measures or predicts what it is supposed to do
Cross-Sectional Study
a study in which people of different ages are compared with one another
Longitudinal Study
research in which the same people are restudied and retested over a long period
Crystallized Intelligence
our accumulated knowledge and verbal skills; tends to increase with age
Fluid Intelligence
our ability to reason speedily and abstractly; tends to decrease during late adulthood
Stereotype Threat
a self confirming concern that we will be judged based on a negative stereotype
