Topic 5b: Thinking/Language

cognition

the mental activities associated with thinking, knowing, remembering, and communicating

concept

a mental grouping of similar objects, events, ideas, or people

prototype

a mental image or best example of a category. provides a quick and easy method for sorting items into categories

algorithm

a methodical, logical rule or procedure that guarantees solving a particular problems. contrasts with the usually speedier - but also more error-prone-use of heuristics

heuristic

a simple thinking strategy that often allows us to make judgements and solve problems efficiently; usually speedier but also more error-prone than algorithms

insight

a sudden and often novel 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 contradictory evidence

fixation

according to Freud, a lingering focus of pleasure-seeking energies at an earlier psychosexual stage, in which conflicts were unresolved.

mental set

functional fixedness

the tendency to think of things only in terms of their usual functions; an impediment to problem solving

representativeness heuristic

judging the likelihood o things in terms of how well they seem to represent, or math, particular prototypes; may lead us to ignore other relevant information

availability heuristic

estimating the likelihood of events based on their availability in memory; if instances come readily to mind (perhaps because of their vividness), we presume such events are common

overconfidence

the tendency to be more confident than correct-to overestimate the accuracy of our beliefs and judgements

framing

the way an issue is posed; can affect decisions and judgements

belief bias

the tendency to judge the strength of arguments based on the plausibility of their conclusion rather than how strongly they support that conclusion

belief perseverance

clinging to one's initial conceptions after the basis on which they were formed has been discredited

language

our spoken, written, or signed words and the ways we combine them to communicate meaning

phoneme

in language, the smallest distinctive sound unit

morpheme

in a language, the smallest unit that carries meaning; may be a word or a part of a word (such as a prefix)

grammar

in a language, a system of rules that enables us to communicate with and understand others

semantics

the set of rules by which we derive meaning from morphemes, words, and sentences in a given language; also the study of meaning

syntax

the rules for combing words into grammatically sensible sentences in a given language

babbling stage

beginning at about 4 months, the stage of speech development in which the infant spontaneously utters various sounds at first unrelated to the household language

one-word stage

the stage in speech development, from about age 1 to 2, during which a child speaks mostly in single words

two-word stage

beginning about age 2, the stage in speech development 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

linguistic determinism

Whorf's hypothesis that language determines the way we think

gambler's fallacy

a failure to recognize the independence of chance events, leading to the mistaken belief that one can predict the outcome of a chance event on the basis of the outcomes of past chance events

sunk-cost fallacy

the tendency for people to continue investing time, money, or effort into something simply because they have already invested in it, even when continuing would not be beneficial