Chapter 9 Psych 121

Front 1

Concepts

Back 1

a mental category that groups objects, relations, activities, abstractions, or qualities having common properties
- ex golden retriever, cocker spaniel, and border collie are all instances of the concept dog

Front 2

Basic concepts

Back 2

concepts that have a moderate number of instances and that are easier to acquire than those having many or few instances
- ex: seeing an apple and calling it an apple, vs. calling it a fruit (many instances) or calling it a McIntosh (few instances)

Front 3

Prototype

Back 3

especially representative example of a concept
ex: golden retriever vs chihuahua - golden retriever is a better example of a dog

Front 4

Proposition

Back 4

a unit of meaning that is made up of concepts and expresses a single idea

Front 5

Cognitive schemas

Back 5

integrated mental network of knowledge, beliefs, and expectations concerning a particular topic or aspect of the world
ex: gender schemas - defines what we think of a certain gender

Front 6

Mental images

Back 6

mental representation that mirrors or resembles the thing it represents (picture in minds eye)

Front 7

Subconscious processes

Back 7

mental processes occurring outside of mental awareness, but accessible to conscious when necessary

Front 8

Nonconscious processes

Back 8

mental processes occurring outside of and not available to conscious awareness - like relying on intuition or insight, hunches and gut feelings

Front 9

Implicit learning

Back 9

learning that occurs when you acquire knowledge about something without being aware of how you did so and without being able to state exactly what it is you have learned

Front 10

Mindlessness

Back 10

mental inflexibility, inertia, and obliviousness to the present context

Front 11

Reasoning

Back 11

drawing conclusions or inferences from observations, facts, or assumptions

Front 12

Formal reasoning problems

Back 12

problems solved using established methods (algorithms and logic) usually a single correct solution
- such as IQ test or entrance exams - only right answers

Front 13

Deductive reasoning

Back 13

a form of reasoning in which a conclusion follows necessarily from certain premises; if the premises are true, the conclusion must be true

premise true + premise true = conclusion must be true

Front 14

inductive reasoning

Back 14

a form of reasoning in which the premises provide support for a conclusion, but it is still possible for the conclusion to be false

premise true + premise true + possibility of discrepant info = conclusion probably true

Front 15

informal reasoning problems

Back 15

often no clearly correct solution

Front 16

Heuristic

Back 16

rule of thumb that suggest a course of action or guides problem-solving but does not guarantee an optimal solution

Front 17

dialectical reasoning

Back 17

process in which opposing facts are weighed and compared in order to determine the best solution or resolve differences

Front 18

Reflective judgement

Back 18

Pre-reflective, Quasi-reflective and reflective stages

Front 19

Pre-reflective stages

Back 19

assumption that correct answers can be obtained through the senses or from the authorities

Front 20

Quasi-reflective stages

Back 20

recognize limits to absolute certainty - realize judgements should be supported by reasons, yet pay attention to evidence that confirms beliefs

Front 21

Reflective stages

Back 21

consider evidence from a variety of sources and reason dialectically

Front 22

Exaggerating the imporababl

Back 22

common bias to exaggerate the probability of a plain crash

Front 23

Affect heuristic

Back 23

tendency to consult ones emotions instead of estimating probabilities objectively - emotions overtake ability to reason

Front 24

Availability heuristic

Back 24

tendency to judge the probability of a type of event by how easy it is to think of examples or instances - justifying choices by examples

Front 25

Framing effect

Back 25

the tendency for people's choices to be affected by how a choice is presented or framed - we want to minimalize loss so we pick whichever solution sounds best

Front 26

Fairness bias

Back 26

sense of fairness often takes precedence over rational self-interest when people make economic choices - better we both than you get more than your share

Front 27

Hindsigt bias

Back 27

people tend to overestimate one's ability to have predicted an event once the outcome is known

Front 28

Confirmation bias

Back 28

tendency to look for or pay attention to info that confirms one's own beliefs

Front 29

Mental sets

Back 29

tendency to solve problems using procedures that worked on similar problems

Front 30

Cognitive dissonance

Back 30

state of tension when a person holds two cognitions that are psychologically inconsistent, or when a person's beliefs are incongruent with their behaviour

Front 31

reducing dissonance

Back 31

- to justify a choice a decision you freely made
- to justify behaviour that conflicts with your view of yourself
- to justify the effort put into a decision or choice

Front 32

intelligence

Back 32

an inferred characteristic of an individual - usually defined as the ability to profit from experience, acquire knowledge, think abstractly, act purposefully, or adapt to changes in the environment

Front 33

mental age

Back 33

avg age at which normal children reach a particular score

Front 34

chronological age

Back 34

years since birth

Front 35

mental retardation

Back 35

IQ 70-75 in person less than 18, genetic and environmental links to causes of retardation

Front 36

Giftedness

Back 36

IQ above 130, 3 dimensions: ability, creativity, task commitment

Front 37

G factor

Back 37

factor of general intelligence (g) that underlies all intelligent behaviours, and specific skills (s) that apply to different domains

Front 38

Crystallized intelligence

Back 38

knowledge that a person has already acquired & the ability to access that knowledge

Front 39

Fluid knowledge

Back 39

ability to see complex relationships and solve problems

Front 40

Triarchic theory

Back 40

3 forms of intelligence: analytical, creative, and practical

Front 41

Analytical intelligence

Back 41

basic components that underlie thinking and problem solving (knowledge acquisition, performance, [metacognitive knowledge of one's own cognitive process])

Front 42

Creative intelligence

Back 42

ability to deal with novel versus routine problems

Front 43

Practical intelligence

Back 43

ability to select or adapt to new and different contexts and effectively shape your environment

Front 44

heredity

Back 44

50% of intelligence due to genetic makeup, environment much more important than nature

Front 45

IQ in different cultures

Back 45

researchers question validity of using IQ across cultures - so many intangible and unaccountable differences

Front 46

Motivation

Back 46

makes the difference between most successful and least successful

Front 47

Racial intelligence beliefs

Back 47

Asian parents believe that achievement comes from ability, whereas north american parents believe in innate talent

Front 48

Cognitive Ethology

Back 48

the study of cognitive processes in nonhuman animals
- shown that some animals can anticipate future events, use numbers to label quantities, and coordinate activities with other animals

Front 49

Theory of mind

Back 49

a system of beliefs about: the way one's own mind and the minds of others work, and how individuals are effected by their beliefs and feelings

Front 50

Animals and language

Back 50

Chimps and bonobos can be taught to communicate in ways that resemble language
parrots can count, classify, and compare objects in English

Front 51

Anthropomorphism

Back 51

tendency to falsely attribute human qualities to nonhuman beings

Front 52

Anthropodenial

Back 52

the tendency to mistakenly think that human beings have nothing in common with other animlas