Deck 8: Learning

Question 1

Human language has a hierarchical structure, with the most elementary building blocks being the units of sound that are recognized as separate in any given language. These building blocks are called

A) phonemes.
B) morphemes.
C) syntax.
D) discourse.

Answer 1

phonemes.

Question 2

Mathias works for an architectural firm that has been asked to build an office building on a particular lot. The lot is accessible from the road on three sides, and the client is unsure which way the building should face. Since the building has already been designed, Mathias is able to imagine it facing in different directions. By doing so, he can evaluate the pros and cons of each direction. Mathias is using

A) incubation.
B) linguistic relativity.
C) mental rotation.
D) applied behavioural analysis.

Answer 2

mental rotation.

Question 3

Charlotte is a jeweller. A friend asks if she knows where violet diamonds come from. Charlotte replies that she has never seen a violet diamond, so they must not exist. Charlotte's _________________ reasoning may be in error.

A) premise
B) comprehension
C) inductive
D) deductive

Answer 3

inductive

Question 4

Part of what makes human beings unique is that we are able to think better and communicate more effectively than other animals do. The images, ideas, concepts, and principles that we use to transfer ideas and skills to one another are called

A) surface structures.
B) deep structures.
C) mental representations.
D) syntax.

Question 5

Heather is an Olympic bobsled gold medalist. She and her partner decide to go for another Olympic medal after all of their training runs, she walks through their work in her mind picturing everything she must do for a perfect run down the course. Heather is employing _________ in her preparation for her Olympic trials.

A) imaginal thought
B) visual imagery
C) contextual thought
D) propositional thought

Question 6

Danni is two years old and is able to construct simple sentences with a noun and a verb. For example, when she is playing with her sister and wants the ball she says, "My ball!" This type of sentence is called

A) cooing.
B) two-word utterances.
C) babbling.
D) phoneme.

Question 7

This tendency to abandon logical rules in favour of personal beliefs is called

A) inductive reasoning.
B) confirmation bias.
C) deductive reasoning.
D) a discourse.

Question 8

Sasha drives whenever she must travel, because she's terrified that if she were to travel in a plane it would crash. Statistics show that there are 40,000 deaths per year in automobile accidents and only about 200 in air transport, but news programs tend to sensationalize plane crashes and minimize car wrecks. As a result, people like Sasha can easily call to mind examples of plane crashes. They are relying on the

A) representativeness.
B) availability heuristic.
C) base rate analysis.
D) confirmation bias.

Question 9

While trying to learn what a dog is, Arash mentally compares every animal to his family's new puppy. If the animal is similar enough, he decides that it is also a dog. Arash's puppy serves as a _______________ for the concept of dog.

A) proposition
B) heuristic
C) concept
D) prototype

Question 10

We develop a syllogism which states that all soccer players are men, Alex is a soccer player; therefore, Alex is a man." Is this statement logically correct?

A) We don't know, because we don't know if Alex is really a man or a woman.
B) We don't know, because we don't know if Alex is really a soccer player.
C) The facts are true, but the logic involved may not be correct.
D) The logic is correct, but the facts involved may not be true.

Question 11

You are able to read this sentence because you understand a system of symbols and rules that create messages and meanings. This system is called

A) representational reasoning.
B) Chomsky's system.
C) species symbolism.
D) language.

Question 12

Sam enjoys action movies, science fiction novels, weightlifting, and football. One day Sam hopes to become an aerospace engineer or a physics professor. Based on this information, most people will assume that Sam is male due to the _____________ heuristic.

A) divergent
B) base rate
C) representativeness
D) probability

Question 13

Whenever Leslie's father gets home before 6:00 p.m., she knows he finished work early and will probably be in a good mood. The last two times he came home early he took Leslie to dinner. Leslie hears her father's car pull into the garage at 5:30 and thinks, "We're going out to dinner!" Leslie is using

A) deductive reasoning.
B) inductive reasoning.
C) general reasoning.
D) invalid reasoning.

Question 14

Kirima moved to Germany with her parents and little brother Leif when she was 13 and Leif was 4. Ten years later, both Kirima and Leif speak German and English, but Leif is more fluent with German than is Kirima and he has no accent in either language. This

A) shows that Chomsky's theory about a language acquisition device is wrong.
B) proves that males are better with foreign languages than females.
C) could have happened only if Leif's elementary education was better than Kirima's.
D) suggests that children have a sensitive period for language acquisition.

Question 15

Texting has long been bemoaned as the downfall of the written word. Texting properly isn't writing at all - it's actually more akin to spoken language. And it's a "spoken" language that is getting richer and more complex by the year. The fact that language is constantly changing demonstrates that

A) language can be acquired by animals.
B) based on the shapes of objects in the part of the world where the language developed.
C) based on astrological charts.
D) language is special because it allows for the communication of abstract ideas and new ideas.

Question 16

In French, the phrase "haven't the police found you yet?" is written "la police, ne t'a pas encore trouvé?" Since French speakers arrange words differently from English speakers, the literal translation is "the police, not you have yet found?" In other words, French and English speakers use different rules, called ________________, to govern word order.

A) morphemes
B) phonemes
C) syntax
D) displacement

Question 17

Bryson's psychology professor asks his students to think about their personal cognitive abilities, then to guesstimate where they would fall on the intelligence scale. In other words, the professor is asking the students to use

A) propositions.
B) metacognitive thinking.
C) mental rotation.
D) overconfidence.

Question 18

Human children begin to master language without any formal instruction, and languages throughout the world have common underlying structural characteristics. These two things suggest an inborn tendency to learn language that is called a

A) Language Acquisition Device (LAD).
B) Syntax Acquisition Adapter (SAA).
C) Morphophonemic tendency (MPT).
D) Language Learning Link (LLL).

Question 19

When Allyson and Minka go to the coffee shop at break, Allyson spills coffee on his white shirt. Later in the boardroom, she notices a woman looking in their direction. "Everybody's staring at me!" she says. "Allyson," Minka whispers, "you pick out the one woman in the whole room who's staring, just to prove your point!" By looking for evidence that confirms what she believes rather than evidence that does not, Ingrid is relying on the

A) confirmation bias.
B) representativeness heuristic.
C) availability heuristic.
D) algorithm.

Question 20

Heather and her friend are in a book club and meet monthly to talk about the book they chose to read that month. The process of combining sentences into paragraphs, chapters, books, conversations, and debates is collectively referred to as

A) incubation.
B) morphophonemics.
C) syntax.
D) concept hierarchy.

Question 21

Though chimpanzees and apes seem to be able to use symbolic gestures (i.e., sign language) to convey meaning, some researchers question whether they really understand how to communicate about events and objects that are not physically present; that is, whether they understand

A) generativity.
B) visual imagery.
C) syntax.
D) surface structure.

Question 22

Many researchers have wondered why dolphins have brains comparable in size with those of humans, considering that nature creates organs according to need. Dolphins produce various types of sounds, including clicks, burst-pulse emissions, and whistles. Jack Kassewitz of SpeakDolphin.com, based in Miami, Florida team's findings suggest the large dolphin brain is necessary for the acquisition and utilization of a sono-pictorial language. These findings seem to contradict chimp studies which indicate that chimps

A) can learn and understand sign language like humans do.
B) lack universal grammar and take longer to learn language.
C) performance is similar to an 8 ½ month human child.
D) cannot learn any types of language at all.

Question 23

Each language carries with it a set of concepts, meanings, and ideals. Therefore, there are certain experiences conveyed through one language that cannot be translated into another. This view is related to the

A) conditioning and learning theory.
B) nativist theory.
C) linguistic determinism hypothesis.
D) confirmation bias.

Question 24

Back in the 1990s neuroscientists at the University of Parma identified cells in the premotor cortex of monkeys that were activated when the monkeys performed a given action and, mirror-like, when they saw another individual perform that same movement. These cells are implicated in

A) understanding and imitation of adult behaviour.
B) identifying the symbols used in language.
C) the confirmation bias.
D) syntax.

Question 25

Some cultures encourage a variety of social interaction and experiences, while other cultures honour the bonds of family and tradition and believe that socialization outside of the home can be a distraction or detrimental to a child's proper language development. Does one of these approaches have an advantage over the other in terms of language acquisition and development?

A) As long as the child is regularly exposed to language and encouraged to interact verbally, the level of socialization outside the home should not be an issue.
B) Genetics have the greatest influence in regard to overall language acquisition. Therefore, a child's environment plays only a minimal role in language development.
C) Different aspects of language acquisition are influenced from a variety of sources. The complex nature of language development prevents one from determining the approach with the greatest advantage.
D) Limiting a child's exposure to different social influences and expressions may prove to be a disadvantage later in life when they are introduced to unfamiliar language expression.