Deck 8: E: Thought and Language

Question 1

Seth tells his friend that he got two tickets to a big concert next week,to which his friend replies,"Get out of town!" Because of the context,Seth knows his friend is expressing excitement and doesn't really want him to leave town.This is an example of

A)pragmatics.
B)linguistic relativity.
C)semantics.
D)syntax.

Answer 1

A

Question 2

The smallest units of language that convey meaning are known as

A)semantics.
B)morphemes.
C)phonemes.
D)syntaxes.

Answer 2

B

Question 3

The linguistic relativity hypothesis suggests that

A)the way we think about categories affects the language we use.
B)our perception influences the language we use.
C)words are organized mentally based on their relationship to each other.
D)the language that we use affects how we think about the world.

Answer 3

D

Question 4

When Kwan's computer stopped working,he called the company's technical support line.The technician followed a predetermined set of steps from a manual to diagnose and help Kwan fix his computer over the phone.The steps that the technician followed are an example of a(n)

A)algorithm.
B)mental set.
C)semantic network.
D)heuristic.

Question 5

According to classical categorization,people use specific _____ to decide if an object belongs to a specific category.

A)prototypes
B)schemas
C)rules
D)grades

Question 6

People often overestimate the danger of shark attacks because it is often easy to think of news stories and reports of shark attacks.This is an example of how the _____ can sometimes lead to poor judgments.

A)availability heuristic
B)anchoring effect
C)conjunction fallacy
D)representativeness heuristic

Question 7

The "sensitive period" for language refers to

A)a period of time in our ancestral past when language first evolved.
B)a period of time during gestation when the language areas of the brain develop.
C)a time during which an individual is learning a new language.
D)a time during childhood when children are especially wired to learn language.

Question 8

Han and Bert both bought the same new cell phone.Han spent several weeks reviewing the dozens of different phones and reading reviews online,trying to find the best phone possible for his needs.Bert simply bought the first phone that met his needs.Given the research on maximizers and satisficers,which is most likely to be the outcome?

A)Han and Bert will end up equally satisfied about their purchases.
B)Han will be more satisfied with his purchase than Bert.
C)Bert will be more satisfied with his purchase than Han.
D)Han will spend less time researching his purchase next time.

Question 9

Studies in which researchers have attempted to teach language to non-human animals have generally found that

A)chimpanzees and gorillas are the only animal species that can fully learn language.
B)some animals are capable of learning elements of human language.
C)animals are incapable of learning even the most basic elements of human language.
D)dolphins are the only animal species that can fully learn language.

Question 10

Wernicke's area is most closely associated with

A)speech production.
B)muscle control of the mouth and tongue.
C)cognitively composing words.
D)understanding language.