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Chapter 9
Terms from Chapter 9
58
Psychology
Undergraduate 1
03/05/2012

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Term
language
Definition
a system for communicating with others using signals that are combined according to rules of grammar and convey meaning.
Term
grammar
Definition
a set of rules that specify how the units of language can be combined to produce meaningful messages
Term
phoneme
Definition
the smallest unit of sound that is recognizable as speech rather than as random noise
Term
phonological rules
Definition
a set of rules that indicate how phonemes can be combined to produce speech sounds
Term
morphemes
Definition
the smallest meaningful units of language
Term
deep structure
Definition
the meaning of a sentence
Term
surface structure
Definition
how a sentence is worded
Term
content morphemes
Definition
refer to things and events (dog, cat, take)
Term
function morphemes
Definition
serve grammatical functions, such as tying sentences together (and, or, but) or indicating time (when).
Term
morphological rules
Definition
a set of rules that indicate how morphemes can be combined to form words
Term
syntactical rules
Definition
a set of rules that indicate how words can be combined to form phrases and sentences
Term
fast mapping
Definition
children map a word onto an underlying concept after only a single exposure
Term
telegraphic speech
Definition
speech that is devoid of function morphemes and consists mostly of content words
Term
nativist theory
Definition
language development is best explained as an innate, biological capacity.
Term
language acquisition device (LAD)
Definition
a collection of processes that facilitate language learning.
Term
genetic dysphasia
Definition
a syndrome characterized by an inability to learn the grammatical structure of language despite having other wise normal intelligence.
Term
aphasia
Definition
difficulty in procusing or comprehending language
Term
Broca's area
Definition
located in the left frontal cortex; involved in the production of the sequential patterns in vocal and sign languages.
Term
Broca's aphasia
Definition
with damage to the front left cortex, patients understand language relatively well, but have increasing comprehension difficulty as grammatical structures get more complex.

MAIN PROBLEM: they speak in short, stacatto phrases that connsist of content morphemes (cat, dog).  
Term
Wernicke's area
Definition
left temporal cortex, and is involved in language comprehension (spoken OR signed)
Term
Wernicke's Aphasia
Definition
patients CAN produce grammatical speech, but it tends to be meaningless, and have considerable difficulty comprehending language. 
Term
lingustic relativity hypothesis
Definition
language shapes the nature of thought
Term
concept
Definition
a mental representation that groups or categorizes shared features of related objects, events, or other stimuli
Term
family resemblance theory
Definition
members of a category have features that appear to be characteristic of category members but may not be possessed by every member
Term
prototype
Definition
the "best" or "most typical" member of a category
Term
exemplar theory
Definition
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
Term
prototype theory
Definition
people make category judgments by comparing new instance to the category's prototype. 
Term
category-specific deficit
Definition
a neurological syndrome that is characterized by an inability to recognize objects that belong to a particular category though the ability to recognize objects outside the category is undisturbed.
Term
rational choice theory
Definition
the classical view that we make decisions by determining nhow likely something is to happen, judging the value of the outcome, and then multiplying the two.
Term
availability bias
Definition
Items that are more readily available in memory are judged as having occurred more frequently.
Term
frequency
Definition
the number of times something will happen
Term
probabilities
Definition
the likelihood that something will happen
Term
heuristic
Definition
a fast and efficient strategy that may facilitate decision making but does not guarantee that a solution will be reached.
Term
algorithm
Definition
a well-defined sequence of procedures or rules that guarantees a solution to a problem
Term
conjunction fallacy
Definition
when people think that two events are more likely to occur together than either individual event
Term
base rate
Definition
the existing probabilty of an event, basing judgments on similarities to categories.
Term
representativeness heuristic
Definition
making a probability judgment by comparing an object or event to a prototype of the object or event.
Term
framing effects
Definition
occur when people give different answers to the same problem depending on how the problem is phrased (or framed)
Term
sunk-cost fallacy
Definition
occurs when people make decisions about a current situation based on what they have previously invested in the situation
Term
expected utility
Definition
people should make decisions that maximize value
Term
prospect theory
Definition
people choose to take on risk when evaluating potential losses and avoid risks when evaluating potential gains
Term
certainty effect
Definition
when making decisions, people give freater weight to outcomes that are a sure thing.
Term
frequency format hypothesis
Definition
our minds evolved to notice how frequently things occur, not how likely they are to occur.
Term
means-ends analysis
Definition
a process of searching for the means or steps to reduce differences between the current situation and the desired goal
Term
analogical problem solving
Definition
solving a problem by finding a similar problem with a known solution and applying that solution to the current problem
Term
ill-defined problem
Definition
a problem that doesn't have a clear goal or well-defined solution path
Term
well-defined problem
Definition
a problem with clearly specified goals and clearly defined solution paths
Term
goal state
Definition
a patient without the tumor and with undamaged surrounding tissue
Term
current state
Definition
a patient with an inoperable tumor surrounded by fragile tissue
Term
functional fixedness
Definition
the tendency to perceieve the functions of objects as fixed
Term
reasoning
Definition
a mental activity that consists of organizing information or beliefs into a series of steps to reach conclusions
Term
practical reasoning
Definition
figuring out what to do, or reasoning directed toward action
Term
theoretical reasoning
Definition
reasoning direced toward arriving at a belief
Term
belief bias
Definition
people's judgements about whether to accept conclusions depend more on how believable the conclusions are than on whether the arguments are logically valid
Term
syllogistic reasoning
Definition
determining whether a conclusion follows from two statements that are assumed to be true.
Term
belief laden trials
Definition
participants were scanned while they reasoned about syllogisms that could be influenced by knowledge affecting the believability of the conclusions
Term
belief-neutral trials
Definition
syllogisms contained obscure terms whose meaning was unknown to participants.
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