unit 5 master

Cognition

The mental activities associated with thinking

Concept

A mental grouping of similar objects

Prototype

A mental image or best example of a category

Algorithm

A methodical

Heuristic

Simple thinking strategy that often allows is to make judgments and solve problems efficiently(faster but less effective than algorithms)

Insight

A sudden and often novel realization of the solution to a problem(right temporal lobe)

Confirmation Bias

A tendency to search for information that confirms ones preconception

Fixation

The inability to see a problem from a new perspective and impediment to problem solving

Mental Set

A tendency to approach a problem in a certain way

Functional Fixedness

The tendency to think of things only in terms of their usual functions

Representative Heuristic

Judging the likelihood of things in terms of how well them seem to represent or match certain prototypes

Availability Heuristic

Estimating the likelihood of events based on their availability in memory

Overconfidence

Being more confident than correct

Framing

The way an issue is posed

Belief Bias

Tendency for preexisting beliefs to distort logical reasoning

Belief Perserverance

Clinging to ones initial conceptions after the basis on which they formed was discredited

Language

Spoken

Phoneme

In a language

Morpheme

The smallest unit that carries meaning

may be a word or a part of a word(such as a prefix

pre

Grammar

A system of rules that enables us to communicate with understood language

Semantics

The set of rules by which we derive meaning from morphemes(can also be the study of meaning)

Syntax

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

Babbling stage

Infant utters various sounds at first unrelated to the house-hold language(4 months)

One-word stage

Child speaks mostly in single words(age 1-2)

Two-word stage

Child speaks mostly 2 word statements(age 2)

Telegraphic stage

Early speech stage where a child speaks like a telegram(age 2)

Linguistic Determination

Benjamin Lee Whorf's hypothesis that language determines the way we think

intelligence

capacity to understand the world, think rationally, and use resources effectively

factor analysis

mathmatical procedure for reducing a set of interrelations among variables

general intelligence

single underlying aspect of intelligence

savant syndrome

a condition in which a person otherwise limited in mental ability has an exceptional specific skill ex: piano prodigy

emotional intelligence

the ability to perceive how others feel

creativity

ability to produce ideas that are novel and valuable

intelligence test

assess individual’s mental aptitudes

mental age

how old your brain is, (not physically) but how developed it is

stanford-binet

oral intelligence test for kids and adults, finds mental age

intelligence quotient (IQ)

mental age divided by chronological age x 100

achievement

measures what you know/have learned

aptitude

measures your capacity for learning

wechsler adult intelligence scale (WAIS)

intelligence test to test IQ

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. Most scores fall near the average

reliability

the extent to which a test yields consistent results

validity

the extent to which a test measures or predicts what it is supposed to

content validity

the extent to which a test samples the behavior that is of interest

criterion

standard against which a judgment can be made (comparison device)

predictive validity

The success with which a test predicts the behaviour it is designed to predict

can a test be reliable without being valid?

yes

can a test be valid but not reliable?

no

flynn effect

the worldwide phenomenon that shows intelligence test performance has been increasing over the years (+27 points per year)

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 with age

heritability

The proportion of variation among individuals that we can attribute to genes. The heritability of a trait may vary

intellectual disability

a condition of limited mental ability, varies from mild to profound

down syndrome

a condition of mild to severe intellectual disability and associated physical disorders caused by an extra copy of chromosome 21

stereotype threat

a self-confirming concern that one will be evaluated based on a negative stereotype

cross-sectional study

a study in which people of different ages are compared with one another at the same time

acoustic encoding

the encoding of sound

amnesia

the loss of memory

automatic processing

unconscious encoding of incidental

information

chunking

organizing items into familiar groups, often occurs automatically

deja vu

the eerie sense that"I've experienced this before." Cues

from the current situation may subconsciously trigger retrieval of an earlier experience

echoic memory

a momentary sensory memory of auditory

stimuli

if attention is elsewhere

sounds and words can still be recalled within 3 or 4 seconds

effortful processing

encoding that requires attention and

conscious effort.

encoding

the processing of information into the memory

system

explicit memory

memory of facts and experiences that one

can consciously know and "declare" (declarative memory)

flashbulb memory

a clear memory of an emotionally

significant moment or event

hippocampus

a neural center that is located in the limbic

system, helps process explicit memories for storage

iconic memory

a momentary sensory memory of visual

stimuli, a photographic or picture-image memory lasting no more than a few tenths of a second

imagery

mental pictures

a powerful aid to effortful processing

especially when combined with semantic encoding

implicit memory

retention independent of conscious

recollection. (nondeclarative or procedural memory)

long-term memory

the relatively permanent and limitless

storehouse of the memory system, includes knowledge and skills

long-term potentiation

an increase in a synapse's firing

potential after brief

memory

the persistence of learning over time through the

storage and retrieval of information

misinformation effect

incorporating misleading information into one's memory of an event

mnemonics

memory aids

mood-congruent memory

the tendency to recall experiences that are consistent with one's current good or bad mood

priming

The activation

proactive interference

the disruptive effect of prior learning on the recall of new information

recall

a measure of memory in which the person must retrieve information learned earlier

recognition

a measure of memory in which the person need only identify items previously learned

rehearsal

the conscious repetition of information

relearning

a measure of memory that assesses the amount of time saved when learning material for a second time

repression

the subduing of memories by the unconcious mind to protect oneself, in psychoanalytic theory