PSCI 11B: Exam #3

What are the Hierarchies of Concepts

Superordinate (furniture), Basic (chair), Subordinate (rocking chair)

Exemplar Model

All members of a category are examples, together they form the concept and determine category membership (to categorize something like a bird, we may compare this to other birds like sparrows or eagles)

What is the difference between the Prototype Model and Exemplar Model?

Prototype Model: People use an average or typical version of the category as a reference.

Exemplar Model: People use specific examples they've seen before as a reference.

Schemas

Concepts or mental frameworks that organize and interpret information (you can sit at an empty seat on a bus around random people, not on an empty seat with random people having dinner)

Scripts

General descriptions of what occurs and when it occurs in a particular situation (be quiet during a movie, wait in line for you turn)

Heuristics

Mental shortcuts or "rules of thumb" that often lead to a solution (but not always).

Symbolic Representations

Abstract mental representations that do not correspond to the physical features of objects or ideas

Analogical Representations

Mental representations that have some of the physical characteristics of objects; they are analogous to the objects

Categorization

Grouping things based on shared properties, reduces the amount of knowledge we must hold in memory and is therefore an efficient way of thinking

Prototype Model

Within each category, there is a best example for that category (robin is a prototype of bird: has wings, a beak, feathers)

What can heuristics lead to?

Faulty beliefs and biases

Availability Heuristic

Making a decision based on the answer that most easily comes to mind

Anchoring and Adjustment Heuristic

A natural tendency for people to be influenced by an initial anchor point such that they do not sufficiently move away from that point as new information is provided

Representativeness Heuristic

A mental shortcut whereby people classify something according to how similar it is to a typical case (he must be a lawyer because he is wearing a suit and a briefcase)

Framing Effect

Decisions are influenced by how the choices are stated (70% effective: positive ; 30% ineffective: negative)

How can the Framing Effect influence our decisions?

The more positive sounding option is usually preferred as well as the one that has less risk

What are the Levels of Language?

Phonology, Morphology, Semantics, Syntax, Pragmatics

What is Phonology?

The sound system of a language

What is Morphology?

How sounds are combined into larger units with meaning

What is Semantics?

The meaning of words in a language

What is Syntax?

The arrangement of words and phrases to create well-formed sentences in a language.

What are Pragmatics?

The appropriate use of language in different contexts

What are Phonemes?

The smallest unit of sound that can be altered to change the meaning of the word

What are Morphemes?

The smallest meaningful units of language

What was Noam Chomsky's theory of Language Acquisition?

The Nativist Explanation: Humans are born with the innate ability to learn language (language acquisition device); children are able to learn the rules of language and speech just from exposure

What is the Behaviorist Explanation? (B.F Skinner)

Humans learn to talk thorough reinforcement, shaping, and extinction (operant conditioning); children imitate speech that they hear and undergo reinforcement for correct grammar ("da da")

What is the Interactionist Explanation?

Humans learn language via biological capacity and environmental exposure; social aspects of talking and learning conversational skills

What is the Critical Period?

A crucial and limited time during when a person can acquire language capability, when presented with enough language input

What is the Sensitive Period?

The earlier exposure to a language will be, the better they will be at achieving fluency and proper rules

What makes Language challenging?

Children must distinguish which sounds are speech, segment speech into words, understand the semantics (meaning) of words, and understand the rules (syntax) of language

What does the Broca's area do?

Helps with language production

What can happen if the Broca's area is damaged?

It can limit speech, limit writing, makes speech slower, and limit vocabulary

What is the Wernicke's Area?

Used for comprehension and understanding of language

What can happen if Wernicke's area is damaged?

Can lead to fluent but meaningless speech, word substitution error, lack of comprehension, and impaired reading and writing

What is a primary difference between damage of the areas?

People with damage in the Broca's Area are aware of their language deficiency

Judgement

Forming an opinion or assessment based on available information

Decision

Choosing an action based on judgements, beliefs, and goals (deciding to bring an umbrella)

What is the Rational Choice Theory?

People compare pros and cons of different courses of actions and choose the one they think is best for themselves.

What is the Conjunction Fallacy?

When people incorrectly believe that specific conditions are more probable than a single general one (Linda Problem)

What is Hindsight Bias?

People tend to see an outcome being predictable AFTER it has happened (I knew it all along) - Distorts memory and judgement of past events

What is Confirmation Bias?

The tendency to look for and weigh heavily in on information that coincides with your beliefs (a scientist avoids research that does not align with his beliefs)

What is Belief Perseverance?

The tendency to maintain beliefs even after they have been discredited

What does the Left Hempisphere do for language?

It is specialized for most (but not all) aspects of language

What does the Right Hemisphere do for language?

Understanding the functions of language that go beyond meaning (determining emotional state of a speakers tone of voice, humor, metaphor etc)

What is the mile stone for 1-6 months?

Hearing differences between any phonemes

What is the mile stone for 4-6 months?

They can babble phonemes

What is the mile stone after 6 months?

Infants lose the ability to distinguish subtle differences in unimportant sounds in their native language

What is the mile stone for 1.5 - 3 years?

They experience accelerated growth in vocabulary (2 new words and hour)

What is the mile stone for 6 years?

They can produce around 2,400 words and understand around 8,000

What is the Surface Structure?

The superficial appearance (literal order of words)

What is the Deep Structure?

The underlying meaning of a sentence

Are memories of emotional events permanent and accurate?

No - eyewitness testimony is very inaccurate

What is a Flashbulb Memory?

A clear memory of an emotionally significant moment or event (where you were on 9/11) - higher confidence in accuracy often leads to incorrect information retrieval

How does emotion enhance memory?

It enhances memory for central information and is relevant to goals

How can emotion impaired memory?

It can narrow the focus of attention - rehearsal of false or inaccurate memory can lead to impairment of the memory itself as "accurate"