Language Basics
The smallest distinctive sound unit in a language.
What is a Phoneme?
A step-by-step procedure that guarantees a solution.
What is an Algorithm?
The tendency to overestimate the accuracy of our beliefs.
What is Overconfidence?
A mental grouping of similar objects, ideas, or events.
What is a Concept?
The best early-life window for learning language.
What is the Critical Period?
Rules for arranging words into phrases and sentences.
What is Syntax?
A specific method used to approach a problem.
What are Strategies?
Thinking of an object only in terms of its usual use.
What is Functional Fixedness?
The “perfect example” of a category.
What is a Prototype?
The hypothesis that language shapes how we see the world.
What is Linguistic Relativity?
The smallest unit of meaning in language.
What is a Morpheme?
A habitual strategy used when solving problems.
What is a Mental Set?
Clinging to beliefs even after they are proven wrong.
What is Belief Perseverance?
The mental practice of performing a task.
What is Mental Rehearsal?
The brain system proposed by Chomsky for language learning.
What is the Language Acquisition Device?
The communication of information through symbols and rules.
What is Language?
A sudden realization of a solution to a problem.
What is Insight?
A mental shortcut used to make quick judgments.
What are Heuristics?
The mental processes of thinking, knowing, and remembering.
What is Cognition?
The two linguists who created the Linguistic Relativity Hypothesis.
Who is Benjamin Lee Whorf?
The system of rules that allows us to derive meaning from sounds.
What is Semantics?
Generating many possible solutions to one problem.
What is Divergent Thinking?
Relying on easily recalled information when judging something.
What is the Availability Heuristic?
The ability to produce new and valuable ideas.
What is Creativity?
Mental activities involved in thinking and communicating.
What is Cognition?