Chapter9Student

Concept

mental category that groups objects, relations, activities, abstractions, or qualities sharing certain properties.

Basic-level concepts

Categories that have a moderate number of instances and are easier to acquire, often used by adults as they convey optimal information.

Family resemblance

shared qualities among instances of a concept, not all of which need to apply to every instance.

Schema

integrated mental network of knowledge, beliefs, and expectations concerning a particular aspect of the world.

Mental imagery

Representation in the mind that mirrors or resembles the thing it represents; important in constructing cognitive schemas.

Subconscious thinking

Mental processing that lies outside of awareness but can be brought into consciousness when necessary.

Multitasking

Toggling between tasks, which is often inefficient and introduces errors, as opposed to completing tasks simultaneously.

Implicit learning

Learning that remains outside of conscious awareness but affects behavior, often resulting in biases and prejudices.

Algorithm

problem-solving strategy guaranteed to produce the correct solution, even if the user does not know how it works.

Heuristic

Rules of thumb limit options and reduce cognitive effort in decision-making.

Fast thinking

Rapid, intuitive, emotional, and almost automatic decision-making.

Slow thinking

Deliberate, intellectual effort required to reach a conclusion based on observations, facts, and assumptions.

Critical thinking

Purposeful mental activity that involves operating on information to reach a conclusion.

Dialectical reasoning

process of weighing and comparing opposing facts or ideas to determine the best solution.

Affect heuristic

tendency to consult emotions to judge the goodness or badness of a situation rather than assessing probabilities objectively.

Availability heuristic

tendency to judge the probability of an event based on how easily examples come to mind.

Conjunction fallacy

mistaken belief that finding a member in two overlapping categories is more likely than finding a member of a larger category.

Loss aversion

tendency for people’s choices to be affected by how a choice is framed, specifically regarding potential losses versus gains.

Fairness bias

tendency to prioritize fairness over economic gain, with evolutionary roots.

Hindsight bias

tendency to overestimate one's ability to have predicted an event after it has occurred.

Confirmation bias

tendency to pay attention only to evidence that confirms one's beliefs while disregarding opposing evidence.

Mental set

tendency to try to solve new problems using same strategies and heuristics that worked for past problems.

g factor

general ability underlying intelligence performance, often equated with overall cognitive capability.

IQ (Intelligence Quotient)

measure of a person's intelligence compared to others, calculated based on mental age and real age.

Cultural bias in IQ testing

criticism that IQ tests may favor individuals from certain cultural backgrounds, affecting fairness in measurement.

Emotional intelligence (EQ)

Tability to identify, express, and regulate emotions in oneself and others.

Animal intelligence

cognitive abilities of nonhuman animals, including use of tools and understanding numbers.

Metacognition

understanding of own cognitive processes and ability to monitor and control them.