Ch. 7

Front 1

• Cognition

Back 1

the mental activities involved in acquiring, retaining, and using knowledge

Front 2

• Thinking

Back 2

the manipulation of mental representations of information in order to draw inferences and conclusions. Often directed toward some goal, purpose or conclusion

Front 3

• Mental image

Back 3

a mental representation of objects or events that are not physically present

Front 4

• Concept

Back 4

mental category we have formed to group objects, events, or situations that share similar features or characteristics. Based on properties they share.

Front 5

• Natural concept

Back 5

concept formed as a result of everyday experience; rather than by logically determining whether an object or event fits a specific set of rules

Front 6

• Formal concept

Back 6

a mental category that is formed by learning the rules or features that define the particular concept

Front 7

• Prototype

Back 7

the most typical instance of a particular concept; the “best”

Front 8

• Exemplars

Back 8

individual instances of a concept or category, held in memory

Front 9

• Problem solving

Back 9

thinking and behavior directed toward attaining a goal that is not readily available

Front 10

• Trial and error

Back 10

a problem solving strategy that involves attempting different solutions and eliminating those that do not work

Front 11

• Algorithm

Back 11

a problem solving strategy that involves following a specific rule, procedure, or method that inevitably produces the correct solution. Ex) mathematical formulas

Front 12

• Heuristic

Back 12

a problem solving strategy that involves following a general rule of thumb to reduce the number of possible solutions; may or may not work; tend to simplify problem solving

Front 13

• Insight

Back 13

the sudden realization of how a problem can be solved; sometimes happens when you recognize a problem is similar to another one

Front 14

• Intuition

Back 14

coming to a conclusion or making a judgment without conscious awareness of the thought processes involved

Front 15

• Functional fixedness

Back 15

the tendency to view objects as functioning only in their usual or customary way; often prevents us from seeing the full range of ways in which an object can be used

Front 16

• Mental set

Back 16

the tendency to persist in solving problems with solutions that have worked in the past; approach a problem with a rigid mental set, we may not see other possible solutions

Front 17

• Availability heuristic

Back 17

a strategy in which the likelihood of an event is estimated on the basis of how readily available other instances of the even are in memory;

Front 18

• Representativeness heuristic

Back 18

a strategy in which the likelihood of an event is estimated by comparing how similar it is to the prototype of the event; often used to make estimates

Front 19

Prototype

Back 19

the most typical example of a n object or an event

Front 20

• Linguistic relativity hypothesis

Back 20

the hypothesis that differences among languages cause differences in the thoughts of their speakers

Front 21

• Animal cognition

Back 21

the study of animal learning, memory thinking, and language; also called comparative cognitive

Front 22

• Intelligence

Back 22

the global capacity to think rationally, act purposefully, and deal effectively with the environment

Front 23

• Mental age

Back 23

a measurement of intelligence in which an individual’s mental level is expressed in terms of the average abilities of a given age group

Front 24

• Intelligence quotient (IQ)

Back 24

a measure of general intelligence derived by comparing an individual’s score with the scores of others in the same group; Stanford-Binet test

Front 25

• Achievement test

Back 25

a test designed to measure a persons level of knowledge, skill, or accomplishment in a particular area such as mathematics or a foreign language

Front 26

• Aptitude test

Back 26

a test designed to assess a persons capacity to benefit from education or training; the overall goal is to predict your ability to learn certain types of information or perform certain skills

Front 27

• Standardization

Back 27

the administration of a test to a large, representative sample of people under uniform conditions for the purpose of establishing norms

Front 28

• Normal curve or normal distribution

Back 28

a bell shaped distribution of individual differences in a normal population in which most scores cluster around the average scores.

Front 29

• Reliability

Back 29

the ability of a test to produce consistent results when administered on repeated occasions under similar conditions; two similar but not identical versions of the test at different times.

Front 30

• Validity

Back 30

the ability of a test to measure what it is intended to measure; if designed to measure mechanical aptitude, people who score high should prove to be successful in mechanical jobs.

Front 31

• G factor or general intelligence

Back 31

the notion of a general intelligence factor that is responsible for a person’s overall performance on tests of mental ability; described as a single measure of general cognitive ability

Front 32

• Autism

Back 32

most severe behavioral syndrome. Differences in brain functioning and sensory responses, impaired social interaction, verbal and nonverbal communication skills, repetitive or odd motor behaviors, restricted interest and routines.

Front 33

• Asperger’s syndrome

Back 33

varying degrees of difficulty in social and conversational skills but normal to above average intelligence and language development; accompanied with obsessive preoccupation with particular topics or routines

Front 34

• Mental retardation

Back 34

functioning significantly below average, usually defined as a measured IQ of 70 or below caused by brain injury, disease, or a genetic disorder

Front 35

• Triarchic theory of intelligence

Back 35

sternbergs theory that there are three distinct forms of intelligence; analytic, creative, and practical; emphasizes both the universals aspects of intelligent behavior and the importance of adapting to a particular social and cultural environment.

Front 36

• Heritability

Back 36

the percentage of variation within a given population that is due to heredity

Front 37

• Stereotype threat

Back 37

psychological predicament in which fear that you will be evaluated in terms of a negative stereotype about a group to which you belong creates anxiety and self-doubt, lowering performance in a particular domain that is important to you