Psych Exam 3: Thinking and Language

Cognition

the process of acquiring knowledge and understanding, senses/thoughts/experiences, thinking

Schema

how we organize information, a collection of related concepts

Phonemes

the basic sounds of a language, english has 44

Morphemes

the smallest meaningful part of language, words/prefixes/suffixes

Semantics

the meaning of words

Syntax

how words and punctuation need to be arranged in order to make sentences

Stage 1

0-3 months, cooing

Stage 2

3-8 months, babbling, interest

Stage 3

8-13 months, intentional communication

Stage 4

12-18 months, first words

Stage 5

18-24 months, phrases

Stage 6

2-3 years, sentences of 3 or more words

Stage 7

3-5 years, complex sentences, conversations

Language influences thought...

small differences, some speakers of languages with absolute direction show better navigation

Algorithms

step-by-step problem solving procedures

Heuristics

mental shortcuts to solve problems, trial and error, guestimating, working backwards

Anchoring

focusing too heavily on an initial piece of information

Confirmation Bias

focusing only on information that confirms your existing beliefs

Hindsight Bias

the belief that something which happened was predictable

Representativeness Bias

overestimating outcomes based on similarity of something, stereotypes

Availability Bias

judging how likely something is to happen based off how easily examples come to mind