Psych Final: CH.9

sunk-cost fallacy

-A framing effect in which people make decisions about a current situation based on what they have previously invested in the situation. -EX: magine waiting in line for 3 hours, paying $100 for a ticket to the Warped Tour to see your favorite bands, and waking on the day of the outdoor concert to find that it's bitterly cold and rainy. If you go, you'll feel miserable. But you go anyway, reasoning that the $100 you paid for the ticket and the time you spent in line will have been wasted if you stay home.

representative heuristic

-A mental shortcut that involves making a probability judgment by comparing an object or event to a prototype of the object or event. -The greater the similarity, the more likely they were judged to be members of that category despite the existence of much more useful base rates.

nativist view of language

-Chomsky -This nativist theory holds that language development is best explained as an innate, biological capacity. According to Chomsky, the human brain is equipped with a language acquisition device (LAD), a collection of processes that facilitate language learning. Language processes naturally emerge as the infant matures, provided the infant receives adequate input to maintain the acquisition process.

behaviorist view of language

-Skinner -behaviorist explanation of language learning, we learn to talk in the same way we learn any other skill: through reinforcement, shaping, extinction, and the other basic principles of operant conditioning

linguistic relativity hypothesis

-The proposal that language shapes the nature of thought -prediction that people of different cultures, who speak different languages, must think in different ways -inuit words for snow -dani has two words for colors

concept

-a mental representation that groups or categories shared features of related objects, events, or other stimuli -an abstract representation, description, or definition that serves to designate a class or category of things

major differences between human language/signaling systems and other species

-the complex structure of human language distinguishes it from simpler signaling systems. -humans use words to refer to intangible things, such as unicorn or democracy. -we use language to name, categorize, and describe things to ourselves when we think, which influences how knowledge is organized in our brains.

family resemblance theory

Members of a category have features that appear to be characteristic of category members but may not be possessed by every member.

analogical problem solving

Solving a problem by finding a similar problem with a known solution and applying that solution to the current problem.

language development

0-4 months Can tell the difference between speech sounds (phonemes). Cooing, especially in response to speech. 4-6 months Babbles consonants. 6-10 months Understands some words and simple requests. 10-12 months Begins to use single words. 12-18 months Vocabulary of 30-50 words (simple nouns, adjectives, and action words). 18-24 months Two-word phrases ordered according to syntactic rules. Vocabulary of 50-200 words. Understands rules. 24-36 months Vocabulary of about 1,000 words. Production of phrases and incomplete sentences. 36-60 months Vocabulary grows to more than 10,000 words; production of full sentences; mastery of grammatical morphemes (such as -ed for past tense) and function words (such as the, and, but). Can form questions and negations.

heuristics

A fast and efficient strategy that may facilitate decision making but does not guarantee that a solution will be reached

means-end analysis

A process of searching for the means or steps to reduce differences between the current situation and the desired goal.

grammar

A set of rules that specify how the units of language can be combined to produce meaningful messages.

language

A system for communicating with others using signals that are combined according to rules of grammar and convey meaning.

exemplar theory

A theory of categorization that argues that we make category judgments by comparing a new instance with stored memories for other instances of the category.

algorithm

A well-defined sequence of procedures or rules that guarantees a solution to a problem.

successes and limitations of attempts to teach nonhuman animals, particularly apes, human language

Early attempts to teach apes to speak failed dismally because their vocal tracts cannot accommodate the sound used in human languages. Later attempts to teach apes human language have et with more success, including teaching them to use American Sign Language.

availability bias

Items that are more readily available in memory are judged as having occurred more frequently.

prospect theory

People choose to take on risk when evaluating potential losses and avoid risks when evaluating potential gains.

prototype theory

The "best" or "most typical" member of a category.

interactionist view of language

The interactionist approach is that although infants are born with an innate ability to acquire language, social interactions play a crucial role in language.

cognitive revolution

The most important factor that contributed to the development of cognitive psychology is the development of computer technology.

morphemes

The smallest meaningful units of language.

phonemes

The smallest unit of sound that is recognizable as speech rather than as random noise.

functional fixedness

The tendency to perceive the functions of objects as fixed.

framing effects

When people give different answers to the same problem depending on how the problem is phrased (or framed)

conjunction fallacy

When people think that two events are more likely to occur together than either individual event.

deep structure

meaning of the sentence

language development vs. cognitive development

observed shifts in early language development reflect specific characteristics of language learning rather than general limitations of cognitive development.

surface structure

wording of the sentence