Deck 10: Thinking and Language

Question 1

The idea that the mind was designed to process and manipulate information is known as the

A) computer metaphor
B) information-processing approach
C) computational theory of mind
D) cognitive theory of mind

Answer 1

C

Question 2

This interdisciplinary science that studies the collecting, processing, storing, retrieving, and manipulating of information is called

A) cognitive neuroscience
B) cognitive science
C) behavioural computation
D) computational cognition

Answer 2

B

Question 3

Which of the following statements is most consistent with Fodor's computational theory of mind?

A) The mind is designed exactly like a PC or MAC.
B) People tend to think and act the same as a robot.
C) Computers are better than humans at detecting patterns.
D) The mind operates according to universal rules of processing.

Answer 3

D

Question 4

Dr. Plant uses laboratory methods to study thinking, learning and memory, and language. Thus, Dr. Plant focuses his study on

A) cognition
B) behaviour
C) mental illness
D) adaptation

Question 5

Thought can be described as the active process of mentally manipulating information, and is comprised of two primary components:

A) neurons and glia
B) mental images and concepts
C) concepts and schemas
D) mental images and mental logic

Question 6

When research participants engage in tasks that require the construction of this type of mental representation, they utilize parts of their occipital lobes

A) schema
B) mental image
C) script
D) concept

Question 7

Which mental representation would we need to utilize to think about abstract words like time, ambivalence, and fatigue?

A) schema
B) script
C) concept
D) mental image

Question 8

Which of the following concepts most likely has fuzzy boundaries?

A) triangle
B) oxygen
C) life
D) water

Question 9

One conclusion that can be drawn from the debate about when life begins-with conception or with birth-is that the concept of life has

A) clear boundaries
B) fuzzy boundaries
C) strict rules for inclusion
D) specific starting and ending points

Question 10

A person is more likely to see the "family resemblance" between an item and other members of a concept if the item matches this representative member of the concept

A) geon
B) prototype
C) exemplar
D) instance

Question 11

According to Daniel Kahneman, this system of thought is rapid, intuitive, effortless, and automatic.

A) System 1
B) System 2
C) consciousness
D) System B

Question 12

According to Daniel Kahneman, this system of thought is slow, effortful, and requires attention to work properly

A) System 1
B) System 2
C) consciousness
D) System A

Question 13

One way to measure the extent to which a person is utilizing System 2 on any mental task is to observe

A) the accuracy of their answers
B) the time it takes for a person to finish the task
C) a change in the galvanic skin response
D) a change in pupil dilation

Question 14

Which of the following presents the most valid conclusion regarding the existence of Systems 1 and 2?

A) The gorilla suit experiment demonstrates that System 1 and 2 exist in the frontal lobes.
B) Systems 1 and 2 do not physically exist in separate brain areas but are convenient metaphors for complex attention processes.
C) Experiments using the Müller-Lyer illusion demonstrate that System 1 is a part of the occipital lobe.
D) Most cognitive psychologists believe that System 2 is not a part of the function of the frontal lobe.

Question 15

This thought process is characterized by the movement from a situation that exists to a situation that is desired by removing obstacles.

A) decision making
B) problem solving
C) mental representation
D) concept formation

Question 16

If you forgot the combination to your locker, you might fiddle with it for a while hoping eventually to hit upon the right numbers. This is an example of which basic problem-solving strategy?

A) trial and error
B) insight
C) algorithm
D) heuristic

Question 17

This problem-solving procedure always remains the same, and will work as long as you input information in the appropriate manner.

A) heuristic
B) algorithm
C) means-end
D) trial and error

Question 18

This aspect of thinking is a mental shortcut designed to help us make judgments and decisions when all the facts are not known

A) algorithm
B) concept
C) heuristic
D) mental image

Question 19

This heuristic works by biasing us toward mental information, memories, or images that are more easily "accessible" to our consciousness

A) availability heuristic
B) representativeness heuristic
C) base rate heuristic
D) probability heuristic

Question 20

When people fear boarding a plane because of a recent terrorist attack, while ignoring the fact that the likelihood of experiencing a terrorist attack while aboard a plane is extremely small, this heuristic is at work

A) availability heuristic
B) representativeness heuristic
C) base rate heuristic
D) probability heuristic

Question 21

Using this heuristic involves making instantaneous comparisons of the new person or thing with prototypes of various categories until a "match" is found.

A) availability heuristic
B) representativeness heuristic
C) base rate heuristic
D) probability heuristic

Question 22

Michael Simmons is 5′ 7″ tall, quite slim and not particularly muscular. He likes to read mid-19th-century British poetry and diaries of the authors of literature classics like Jane Austen and Charles Dickens. This heuristic will lead you to believe that Michael is more likely to be an literature professor than a truck driver.

A) availability heuristic
B) representativeness heuristic
C) base rate heuristic
D) probability heuristic

Question 23

Most errors in judgment that people make due to the use of heuristics stem from the tendency to ignore

A) base rates
B) distinctive features
C) prior experience
D) System 2

Question 24

To say that the base rate of being American with depression is 5 percent, whereas the base rate of having the first name "John" is 20 percent, it means that

A) it is more likely for an American to be depressed than to be named John
B) it is less likely for an American to be depressed than to be named John
C) the likelihood of meeting a depressed person named John is about one in five
D) the probability that John and Kate are both depressed is very high

Question 25

This problem-solving phenomenon begins with an impasse, and is often accompanied by feelings of pleasure and confidence that one has truly solved the problem.

A) availability heuristic
B) mental logic
C) insight
D) creativity

Question 26

Problem solvers who experience insight must have first experienced an obstacle that seemed to not be passable, called a(n)

A) impasse
B) road block
C) heuristic
D) algorithm

Question 27

One reason that people reach impasses in problem solving is that prior experience results in being "stuck" in a specific way of mentally representing a problem. This is known as

A) functional fixedness
B) cognitive bias
C) fixation
D) rapid encoding

Question 28

Which of the following best describes the conclusions drawn from neuroscientific studies of insight conducted by Jung-Beeman and his colleagues?

A) The insight experience is not evident in any areas of the brain related to thought.
B) The insight experience is characterized by two separate brain waves in EEG data.
C) Insight cannot be prepared by thinking with one's left brain.
D) The right inferior temporal gyrus is involved in solving most insight problems.

Question 29

Which of the following is NOT an aspect of creativity as defined by psychologists?

A) originality
B) utility
C) flexibility
D) fixation

Question 30

Systematic distortions in thinking, memory, and perception are referred to as

A) heuristics
B) cognitive biases
C) algorithms
D) mental hops

Question 31

This term refers to the tendency to pay more attention and accord more weight to evidence that is consistent with what we already believe

A) experimenter bias
B) availability heuristic
C) confirmation bias
D) satisficing

Question 32

As much as it feels as though the odds are stronger with each new toss of heads that the next toss will be tails, this is an illusion, known as the

A) consistency bias
B) confirmation bias
C) gambler's fallacy
D) evidence fallacy

Question 33

The gambler's fallacy is most related to which of the following cognitive biases?

A) representativeness heuristic
B) availability heuristic
C) confirmation bias
D) fixation

Question 34

This area of language research is most interested in characterizing human language according to the properties of generativity, recursion, and displacement.

A) cultural psychology
B) cognitive science
C) symbiotics
D) linguistics

Question 35

The quality of language that allows a person to use the relatively small number of words and grammatical structures of a language to compose a theoretically infinite number of sentences is called

A) generativity
B) recursion
C) displacement
D) fixation

Question 36

Which of the following demonstrates the generativity of language?

A) Honeybees use a dance-like system to alert each other about the location of food.
B) Macaques use vocalizations to lure members of the opposite sex.
C) There are over one hundred ways for English speakers to talk about money.
D) Birds use several birdsongs to signal each other during mating, and to avoid danger.

Question 37

In linguistics, this term refers to the fact that any sentence can be extended indefinitely by embedding clauses or phrases within or following it.

A) generativity
B) recursion
C) displacement
D) fixation

Question 38

Humans are relatively unique because we are able to use language to converse about things that do not exist, are abstract, or have yet to occur. This is called

A) generativity
B) recursion
C) displacement
D) fixation

Question 39

According to Noam Chomsky and other linguists, humans inherit partly specialized neural circuitry ("hard wiring") in the brain and cognitive structures of the mind designed

A) inferior temporal system
B) internal language faculty
C) mirror neuron system
D) specialized grammar faculty

Question 40

In linguistic theory, children can assimilate the language of their parents and community, by automatically applying the rules of

A) the internal language faculty
B) universal grammar
C) specific grammar
D) functional syntax

Question 41

Universal grammar is considered by its advocates to be

A) acquired through experience with one's native language
B) an innate capacity that drives language learning in humans
C) a shared aspect of all social animal communication systems
D) a universal property of English language grammar

Question 42

According to Noam Chomsky, what is most puzzling about the ease with which children acquire language?

A) Children born in any place in the world learn the language of that place.
B) Children imitate the speech of their adult caregivers exactly.
C) Children learn language despite the impoverished nature of the stimulus.
D) Children tend to make the same mistakes in grammar that are made by their caregivers.

Question 43

Why is it so interesting to linguists that children say things like "taked" instead of "took" or "badder" instead of "worse"?

A) because children only make these mistakes early in their language acquisition period
B) because children are explicitly taught the rules of universal grammar
C) because children persist in making these grammatically logical mistakes even after being corrected
D) because it is evidence of the influence of direct instruction on speaking by caregivers

Question 44

This theory denies the existence of the language faculty and instead asserts that the mechanisms of the mind are "plastic" in the sense of being highly flexible and adaptable

A) Sapir-Whorf hypothesis
B) connectionism
C) constructivism
D) linguistic relativity

Question 45

The grammar that one learns in school, which reflects standards in ways of speaking, is called

A) universal grammar
B) specific grammar
C) prescriptive grammar
D) standardized grammar

Question 46

Which of the following was NOT among the insights about fixed rules for prescriptive grammar outlined by John McWhorter?

A) A language is always on its way to changing into a new one.
B) Any language is actually a bundle of dialects.
C) No language changes in a way that contradicts basic logic.
D) Languages are becoming less grammatical as time passes.

Question 47

The view that the specific grammar of a language determines the way in which native speakers construct their realities is called the

A) linguistic relativity hypothesis
B) Sapir-Whorf hypothesis
C) critical period hypothesis
D) universal grammar hypothesis

Question 48

The Sapir-Whorf hypothesis began to lose favour in psychology throughout the 1970s because

A) the original research results were largely faked
B) evidence to dispute the claims was steadily mounting
C) Benjamin Whorf conceded that he had misheard the Hopi speakers
D) the Inuit languages actually had many more words for snow than there are in English

Question 49

In 1998, this gorilla, trained in American Sign Language, became the first nonhuman to conduct a live Internet chat session.

A) Nim
B) Koko
C) Kanzi
D) Matata

Question 50

Pollick & de Waal found that the arm and hand gestures in different species of nonhuman primates were flexible in their content. That result provides evidence in favour of the hypothesis that language evolved fro

A) facial signals
B) vocalizations
C) gestures
D) signs

Question 51

When research subjects engage in tasks that require the construction of mental images, they utilize areas of the occipital cortex normally associated with vision

Question 52

In Kahneman's theory, System 1 comes into play when we try to write a term paper or article, judge whether or not a logical argument has merit, or decide whom to invite to a party with an eye toward avoiding conflict among the guests.

Question 53

Most researchers believe that Systems 1 and 2 are supported by activity in the frontal lobe of the cortex.

Question 54

When solving a problem, the greater the number of possible solutions, the less efficient trial and error will be.

Question 55

In general, computers are quite good at using algorithms to perform tasks human beings find very difficult, such as the simultaneous computation of large amounts of data

Question 56

The representativeness heuristic is stimulated by the fact that most representative events are reported nationally because they are both unusual and horrific

Question 57

No one claims that the internal language faculty resides in some specific anatomical location of the brain.

Question 58

The generativity of human language demonstrates that language is open-ended, unlike other animal communication systems.

Question 59

Researchers have shown that infants prefer the sounds of spoken language as much as any other similar sounds that they hear at birth.

Question 60

Because of the egocentric bias, when gathering evidence, people are often simply "building a case" for what they already believe rather than actively attempting to discover the truth.

Question 61

Fuzzy boundaries are features of most concepts, occurring when it is not precisely clear where a concept _________and _____.

Question 62

According to Kahneman, _________thought is rapid, intuitive, effortless, and automatic. It is generally not under voluntary control. However, if a task requires concentration, or full attention to perform well, we have to use _________thought.

Question 63

A(n) _________is a mental shortcut designed to help us make judgments and decisions when all the facts are not known. In contrast, a(n)_________is a step-by-step system that can solve any problem of a given type.

Question 64

Unfortunately, most people do not take __________information into account when they make judgments of the likelihood of some event.

Question 65

When faced with baldly disconfirming evidence, a person may engage in mental gymnastics to play down its relevance or credibility, a process known as ______.

Question 66

_________is the quality of language that allows a person to use the relatively small number of words and grammatical structures of a language to compose a theoretically infinite number of sentences expressing an infinite number of new thoughts and ideas.

Question 67

The rules for __________are expressed by linguists in this way: "If a language has X (e.g., some particular way of placing a verb) it will also have Y (some way of utilizing nouns)."

Question 68

According to the __________hypothesis, language is one of many factors affecting the way people construe reality.

Question 69

_________occurs when a person has reached an impasse in attempts to solve a problem and then suddenly and effortlessly arrives at a solution

Question 70

The ___________allows children to learn language effortlessly, even though they are exposed to only a few of the words and constructions possible in the language.

Question 71

Daniel Kahneman's metaphorical Systems 1 and 2 describe the various degrees of complexity of our thoughts and thought processes. Briefly characterize each system and illustrate how they might be at work while humans solve problems using heuristics

Question 72

Characterize the strengths of the evidence for an innate capacity for human language. In your answer, describe Noam Chomsky's theories, including the internal language faculty. Discuss two examples of research that support Chomsky's views

Question 73

Several studies have examined the linguistic abilities of nonhuman primates. Pick two such cases and describe the aspects of human language that primates can learn. Also, describe the limits of such research on nonhuman language learning.

Question 74

Evaluate the notions of linguistic determinism and linguistic relativity with regard to the examples of cross-cultural variations and universals in concepts