Psychology 2: Unit 3 Thinking and Language

Deductive Reasoning

* Deductive Reasoning: Involves reasoning from a set of assumptions or premises, moving from general information to specific information; starts with idea or concept before considering specific elements.

Problem Solving Strategy

* Problem Solving Strategies are techniques that guide us in solving a problem when we have a situation that we want to change. One example would be Mental Stimulation; which involves imagining the steps that you will have to take to solve the problem before you actually begin them.

What are two different processes or ways that psychologists think we may categorize items in our minds?

* Psychologists think we categorize items in our minds either by comparing defining features or by comparing similarities in items.

Superordinate Level

A more abstract level where items share few characteristics.

Whorfian Hypothesis

Argues that language shapes the way we think.

Categories

Grouping things based on common characteristics.

Phrases

Groups of words that convey meaning and act as unit.

Mental Stimulation

Involves imagining the steps that you'll have to take to solve the problem before you actually begin them. (Problem Solving Strategy)

Subordinate Level

Level below the basic level where items share more specialized characteristics.

Categorization

Process of placing something into a category.

Syntax

Refers to the rules in a language that define how words and phrases can be placed in a sentence.

Mental Models

Representations that predict, explain, or describe the way that things work.

Semantics

Rules in language about meaning of morphemes, words, and phrases.

Morphemes

Smallest units of meaning *words, prefixes and suffixes

Phonemes

Smallest units of sound that make up speech *vowels and consonants

Grammar

System in a given language for generating acceptable utterances and identifying those that are not acceptable.

Language

System of symbols, meanings, and sounds that allows us to communicate with each other.

Algorithms

Systematic procedures that provide solutions (Problem Solving Strategy)

Functional Fixedness

Tendency to focus on one function of an item and ignore other potential functions.

Thinking

The manipulation of info for a purpose, such as making decisions, forming concepts, and reasoning.

Problem Solving

The process of changing one situation into another in order to meet a goal.

Analogical Reasoning

The process of understanding a novel or new situation by using a familiar one.

Decision Making

The process of weighing the pros and cons of different alternatives and making a choice.

Confirmation/Affirmation Basis

The tendency to look for affirmation of what we already believe.

Mental Images

Visual representations that we use when we think.

What are the three levels of categorization? Describe each level and provide an example for each.

* Basic Level: Broadest category where items share common characteristics that are distinctive. (EX: Cat, dog, horse, cow) * Subordinate level: Level where items share more specialized characteristics; it is used to discuss unusual items rather than jumping right to basic level. (EX: Dog à Beagle, Labrador, Boxer) * Superordinate Level: More abstract level where items share few characteristics. (EX: Dog à Mammal)

Inductive Reasoning

* Inductive Reasoning: Involves reasoning from specific information to general information; rests on possibilities or choosing reasoning that is most likely to be true.

What is the difference between Inductive and Deductive reasoning?

* Inductive seeks most probable answer while Deductive attempts to come to certain answers.

What is the Whorfian hypothesis of linguistic relativity?

* The Whorfian Hypothesis of Linguistic Relativity is a theory that argues that language shapes the way we think, that languages which have many words for the subtypes in a category will make people perceive the world differently than the people who have limited terms for subcategories.

Prototypes

Abstractions that contain the most common elements of a category.

Elements of Language

Meaning assigned to symbols and sounds, which are arbitrary. *Phonemes *Morphemes *Phrases *Sentences

Concepts

Mental representations of categories.

Sentences

Organized groups of words that express intention and thought.

Basic Level

broadest category where items share common characteristics that are distinctive.

Nonverbal Communications

gestures, facial expressions, body language and nonverbal vocalizations.

Reasoning

process by which we formulate and evaluate arguments and beliefs.

Syllogism

using two premises to come to a logical conclusion.