Psychology Midterm

Front 1

Mental Representation

Back 1

images, ideas, concepts, and principles

Front 2

Language

Back 2

consists of a system of symbolds and rules for combining these symbols in ways that can generate an infinite number of possible messages and meanings

Front 3

Psycho-linguistics

Back 3

the study of the psychological aspects of language (how people understand, produce, and acquire language)

Front 4

Grammar

Back 4

the set of rules that dictate how symbols can be combined to create meaningful units of communication

Front 5

Semantics

Back 5

the meaning of words and sentences

Front 6

Generativity

Back 6

the symbols of language can be combined to generate an infinite number of messages that have novel meaning

Front 7

Displacement

Back 7

the fact that language allows us to communicate about events and objects that are not physically present

Front 8

Surface Structure

Back 8

consists of the symbols that are used and their order

Front 9

Deep Structure

Back 9

refers to the underlying meaning of the combined symbols

Front 10

Phoneme

Back 10

the smallest unit of speech sound in a language that can signal a difference in meaning

Front 11

Discourse

Back 11

sentences are combined into paragraphs, articles, books, conversations, and so forth

Front 12

Bottom-Up Processing

Back 12

individual elements of a stimulus are analyzed and then combined to form a unified perception

Front 13

Top-Down Processing

Back 13

sensory information is interpreted in light of existing knowledge, concepts, ideas, and expectations

Front 14

Speech Segmentation

Back 14

perceiving where each word within a spoken sentence begins and ends

Front 15

Pragmatics

Back 15

a knowledge of practical aspects of using language

Front 16

Aphasia

Back 16

an impairment in speech comprehension and/or production that can be permanent or temporary

Front 17

Language Acquisition Device (LAD)

Back 17

an innate biological mechanism that contains the general grammatical rules common to all languages

Front 18

Language Acquisition Support System (LASS)

Back 18

represent factors in the social environment that facilitate the learning of a language

Front 19

Linguistic Relativity Hypothesis

Back 19

language not only influences but also determines what we are capable of thinking

Front 20

Propositional Thought

Back 20

thinking that takes the form of verbal sentences that we say or hear in our minds (i'm hungry)

Front 21

Imaginal Thought

Back 21

consists of images that we can see, hear, or feel in our mind

Front 22

Motoric Thought

Back 22

relates to mental representation of motor movements

Front 23

Propositions

Back 23

statements that express ideas

Front 24

Concepts

Back 24

basic units of semantic memory (mental categories in which we place objects, activities, abstractions, events)

Front 25

Prototypes

Back 25

the most typical and familiar members of a category or a class

Front 26

Deductive Reasoning

Back 26

we reason from the top down (from general principles to a conclusion about a specific case)

Front 27

Inductive Reasoning

Back 27

we reason from the bottom up (start with specific facts and trying to develop a general principle)

Front 28

Belief Bias

Back 28

the tendency to abandon logical rules in favour of our own personal beliefs

Front 29

Framing

Back 29

refers to the idea that the same information, problem, or options can be structured and presented in different ways

Front 30

Mental Set

Back 30

the tendency to stick to solutions that have worked in the past

Front 31

Algorithms

Back 31

formulas or procedures that automatically generate correct solutions

Front 32

Problem-Solving Schemas

Back 32

like mental blueprints or step-by-step scripts for selecting information and solving specialized classes of problems

Front 33

Heuristics

Back 33

general problem solving strategies that we apply to certain classes of situations

Front 34

Means-End Analysis

Back 34

we identify differences between the present situation and the desired state, or goal, and then make changes that will reduce these differences

Front 35

Sub-Goal Analysis

Back 35

formulating sub-goals, or intermediate steps, toward a solution

Front 36

Representativeness Heuristic

Back 36

used to infer how closely something or someone fits our prototype for a particular concept, or class, and therefore how likely it is to be a member of that class

Front 37

Availability Heuristic

Back 37

causes us to base judgements and decisions on the availability of information in memory

Front 38

Confirmation Bias

Back 38

rending to lok for evidence that will confirm what they currently believe rather than looking for evidence that could disconfirm their beliefs

Front 39

Overconfidence

Back 39

the tendency to overestimate one's correctness in factual knowledge, beliefs, and decisions

Front 40

Schema

Back 40

a mental framework, an organized pattern of thought about some aspect of the world

Front 41

Script

Back 41

a mental framework concerning a sequence of events that usually unfolds in a regular, almost standardized order

Front 42

Wisdom

Back 42

represents a system of knowledge about the meaning and conduct of life

Front 43

Mental Image

Back 43

a representation of a stimulus that originates inside your brain rather than from external sensory input