Chapter 8 Questions

Which of the following individuals is NOT engaged in reasoning, as psychologists define the term?

Emilio, who is dreaming about a novel way to earn the cash for a new used car

Which of the following sequences correctly orders the components of language, from the smallest or most specific to the broadest?

Phoneme −&γτ; syntax -> semantics

Traditional intelligence tests tend to assess _____ thinking; tests of creativity tap into _____.

convergent; divergent thinking

The ability to generate original ideas or develop novel solutions to problems is known as:

creativity

_____ is the process by which information is used to draw conclusions and make decisions.

reasoning

You are creating a language development timeline for a class presentation. Along the top of a display board, you write the following ages in sequence: 6 months −&γτ; 1 year -> 2 years -> 3 years How should you label these ages, from youngest to oldest?

Babbling −&γτ; first words −&γτ; telegraphic speech −&γτ; overgeneralization

_____ psychology is the branch of psychology that focuses on the study of higher mental processes, including thinking, language, memory, problem solving, knowing, reasoning, and judging.

Cognitive

Which of the following impediments to effective problem solving is CORRECTLY matched with its definition?

Confirmation bias—the tendency to favor existing hypotheses and to ignore evidence favoring alternatives

Connie is telling her mother a story about a scary dog she encountered in a neighbor's yard. "Then I runned away," Connie concludes. Which language acquisition phenomenon is Connie demonstrating? About how old is Connie?

Connie is overgeneralizing. She is probably 3-4 years old.

Which of the following problem types is CORRECTLY matched with a description?

Inducing structure—identifying relationships among problem elements and constructing new relationships

Which problem-solving strategy or method is CORRECTLY matched with its definition?

Insight - experiencing a sudden awareness of the relationships among a problem's components

Which of the following is true about mental images?

They are representations in the mind of an object or event.

Lori and Monica are looking at the cans of coffee on display at a local supermarket. They are trying to decide which of two different-sized cans is the better buy. Lori attempts to divide the price of each can by the number of ounces of coffee each contains. Monica suggests that "the larger size is usually a better buy." Lori is using a(n) _____; Monica, a(n) _____.

algorithm; heuristic

Mental representations of objects are called _____; mental grouping of similar objects, events, or people are called _____.

images; concepts

The theory that language acquisition follows the principles of reinforcement and conditioning is known as the _____ approach.

learning-theory

The notion that language shapes and may determine the way people in a particular culture perceive and understand the world is known as the _____ hypothesis.

linguistic-relativity

Formal reasoning in which people draw a conclusion from a set of assumptions is known as _____ reasoning.

syllogistic

A prototype is:

the most typical or highly representative example of a concept.

Thomas Edison invented the lightbulb only because he experimented with thousands of different kinds of materials for a filament before he found one that worked (carbon). This shows that at the most basic level, we can solve problems through _____.

trial and error

In _____ problems, the nature of the problem and the information needed to solve it are clear; in _____ problems, either or both the nature of the problem and the information required to solve it are unclear.

well-defined; ill-defined