Thinking & Language in Cognitive Psychology

These flashcards cover essential vocabulary related to cognition, mental representations, decision-making, language, and their properties in the context of cognitive psychology.

Cognition

The mental activities associated with acquiring, retaining, and using knowledge, often directed toward a goal, purpose, or conclusion.

Mental Representations

The way knowledge is represented and manipulated in the mind, involving images, concepts, and symbols.

Concepts

Mental groupings of similar objects, events, ideas, or people that can be represented by mental images or words.

Analogical Representation

Mental images that capture many of the actual characteristics of what they represent.

Symbolic Representation

Abstract depictions, such as words, that in no way resemble what they represent.

Formal Concept

Mental category formed by learning the rules or features that define it, e.g., geometric shapes.

Natural Concept

Mental category formed as a result of everyday experience, used when boundaries are fuzzy.

Definitional Theory

The organizational structure of words in our minds based on their definitions.

Prototype Theory

Concepts described by a set of loosely identified features, with the most typical instance being a prototype.

Propositions

Mental representations expressing relations between concepts, e.g., 'dogs hate cats'.

Schema

A set of generalized propositions about categories of objects, places, events, etc.

Judgment Heuristic

Mental shortcuts often relied upon when making judgments.

Availability Heuristic

Judging the likelihood of events based on how easily they come to mind.

Represetativeness Heuristic

Judging the likelihood of events based on how they match a category.

Decision Making

The process of choosing among alternatives and evaluating options.

Framing Effect

The way choices are presented, which can affect decision-making outcomes.

Mental Set

Inflexibility of response due to past experiences that hinder problem-solving.

Functional Fixedness

Not realizing that objects can have functions other than their traditional uses.

Incubation

Letting a problem lie unresolved for a time to gain new perspectives.

Language

A system of words or symbols and rules for combining them, used for thinking and communication.

Semanticity

The property of language that allows it to convey meaning.

Generativity

The ability to produce an infinite variety of statements from a finite set of words.

Displacement

The capacity of language to refer to things that are not present in the immediate context.

Phoneme

The smallest unit of sound in a language.

Morpheme

The smallest meaningful unit of language.

Syntax

Rules of grammar that govern how words can be combined to form phrases and sentences.