Deck 8: Cognition and Language

Question 1

Three-year-old Johnny used to say "mikk" when he wanted a drink of milk. Now he is able to say "milk" quite clearly. In this instance, Johnny has made a gain in his use of

A) phonemes.
B) syntax.
C) morphemes.
D) linguistic heuristics.

Answer 1

phonemes.

Question 2

The requirement that a declarative sentence have both a noun phrase and a verb phrase is an example of a

A) rule of syntax.
B) transformational rule.
C) morpheme.
D) heuristic.

Answer 2

rule of syntax.

Question 3

Cognition refers to

A) focusing awareness on a narrow range of stimuli or events.
B) the use of language in a social context.
C) widely shared beliefs that are transmitted socially across generations.
D) the mental processes involved in acquiring and using knowledge.

Answer 3

the mental processes involved in acquiring and using knowledge.

Question 4

Our ability to reason constitutes primarily

A) a behavioural activity.
B) a cognitive activity.
C) a learned activity.
D) an objective activity.

Question 5

Syntax refers to rules for

A) arranging words into phrases and sentences.
B) combining phonemes to form morphemes.
C) using words symbolically.
D) combining morphemes into words.

Question 6

The sentence, "The nervous the stared thick at exam student" would be virtually impossible for an English speaker to understand because the sentence violates the rules of English

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

Question 7

Which of the following statements is LEAST accurate?

A) Humans are capable of producing about 100 phonemes.
B) A letter of the alphabet is represented by more than one phoneme if it has more than one pronunciation.
C) All languages use all of the phonemes of which humans are capable.
D) Phonemes are combined into morphemes.

Question 8

The component of language that would be evident if an individual recognises that "give" and "take" have opposite meanings is

A) syntax.
B) phonology.
C) generativity.
D) semantics.

Question 9

Semantics is the component of language concerned with

A) understanding the meaning of words and word combinations.
B) specifying rules for how words can be arranged into sentences.
C) creating novel messages from a finite number of symbols.
D) correctly pronouncing the prefixes, suffices, and root words of a language.

Question 10

The fact that language has rules that govern the arrangement of words into phrases and sentences refers to the

A) generative aspect of language.
B) phonemic aspect of language.
C) continuity aspect of language.
D) structured aspect of language.

Question 11

Symbols that convey meaning, plus rules for combining those symbols that can be used to generate an infinite variety of messages are known as

A) language.
B) telegraphic speech.
C) an overextension.
D) semantics.

Question 12

The smallest speech units in a language that can be distinguished perceptually are

A) morphemes.
B) phonemes.
C) sounds.
D) words.

Question 13

Last Halloween, four-year-old Jillian called the decorations at her house "punkins". This year she is able to say "pumpkins" when she describes them. In this instance, Jillian has made a gain in her use of

A) syntax.
B) morphemes.
C) linguistic heuristics.
D) phonemes.

Question 14

The smallest unit of meaning in a language is

A) the phoneme.
B) the word.
C) the phrase.
D) the morpheme.

Question 15

The area of psychology that refers broadly to mental processes or thinking is

A) introspection.
B) cognition.
C) mentalism.
D) intelligence.

Question 16

The word "psychology" consists of

A) ten morphemes, one for each letter of the alphabet used.
B) one morpheme, for the entire word.
C) three morphemes, one for each syllable.
D) two morphemes: "psych", and "ology".

Question 17

Phonemes are the smallest units of ____ in a spoken language; morphemes are the smallest units of ____ in a language.

A) sound; meaning
B) sound; syntax
C) meaning; sound
D) meaning; syntax

Question 18

Last year, five-year-old Alonda would say "No he coming" when explaining to her younger sister that their older brother would be staying home. Now Alonda will tell her sister "He's not coming". This example illustrates that Alonda has made gains in her use of

A) linguistic relativity.
B) phonemes.
C) morphemes.
D) syntax.

Question 19

When the word "jar" is changed to the word "jars", the number of

A) phonemes increases, but the number of morphemes stays the same.
B) phonemes stays the same, but the number of morphemes is increased.
C) phonemes and morphemes are both increased.
D) phonemes decreases, but the number of morphemes increases.

Question 20

When the word "oat" is changed to the word "boat,", the number of

A) phonemes and morphemes are both increased.
B) phonemes stays the same, but the number of morphemes is increased.
C) phonemes increases, but the number of morphemes stays the same.
D) phonemes decreases, but the number of morphemes increases.

Question 21

Young children have a larger receptive vocabulary than productive vocabulary. In other words, they ____ more words than they ____.

A) hear; speak
B) speak; understand
C) understand; speak
D) understand; hear

Question 22

If your psychology professor gives students two separate grades on their essay questions on exams, one for content or meaning and the other for grammar, the first grade can be said to refer to the ____ and the second grade to the ____ of the essays.

A) semantics; syntax
B) syntax; semantics
C) phonemes; morphemes
D) morphemes; phonemes

Question 23

After the first word is spoken,

A) vocabulary immediately grows at an extremely rapid pace.
B) further increases in vocabulary occur very slowly and steadily.
C) vocabulary growth is slow for several months and then speeds up dramatically.
D) no further vocabulary growth takes place until around 18 months.

Question 24

Which child is exhibiting under-extension?

A) Abby, who uses the word "swing" when referring to all the pieces of playground equipment on the playground
B) Brenda, who uses the word "car" only when referring to her mother's car
C) Cindy, who uses the word "doggie" when referring to both her dog Fido and her grandmother's cat Fluffy
D) Debbie, who uses the word "doggie" when referring to both her dog Fido and her grandmother's dog Spot

Question 25

Robert knows how to say "red", but when his cousin asks him to name the colours of the cars that drive past their house, he says red for the red cars, the blue cars, the green cars, and the black cars. Robert's use of this word illustrates

A) fast mapping.
B) telegraphic speech.
C) babbling.
D) overextension.

Question 26

The fact that overextensions are more common in children's production of words than in their comprehension of words implies that overextensions occur because

A) toddlers must rely on a very limited vocabulary to express themselves.
B) toddlers can't consistently identify objects to which different words apply.
C) children's vocabulary growth occurs at such a rapid pace.
D) toddlers cannot yet combine words into sentences.

Question 27

Which of the following situations would lead you to suspect that the child has a language development problem?

A) A one-year-old child understands a few words and can say a few words.
B) A two-year-old child babbles and uses a few words.
C) A three-year-old child uses grammar correctly around 75% to 80% of the time.
D) A five-year-old child can use language much better than a chimpanzee.

Question 28

When an infant produces repetitive consonant-vowel combinations such as "babababa", the infant is

A) using baby talk.
B) cooing.
C) babbling.
D) speaking.

Question 29

Metalinguistic awareness refers to

A) the ability to recognise one's own grammatical errors.
B) the ability to reflect on the use of language.
C) knowledge of which verbs are irregular.
D) awareness of the role of positive reinforcement in language acquisition.

Question 30

Jenna is 14 months old and uses only "bottle, no, up, bye-bye, mama and dada" when she talks. However, when the family is on their way to visit Jenna's grandmother, and her father tells Jenna to get her blue bunny from the bedroom and bring it with her, Jenna quickly runs to get the bunny. This episode demonstrates that

A) toddlers' receptive vocabularies are larger than their productive vocabularies.
B) toddlers' productive vocabularies are larger than their receptive vocabularies.
C) infants have difficulty pronouncing phonemes they have never heard.
D) Jenna is able to overextend her current vocabulary.

Question 31

Under-extension would be evident if a three-year-old child

A) used a word too broadly.
B) used telegraphic speech to communicate complex ideas.
C) used a word too narrowly.
D) failed to utilise fast mapping.

Question 32

Kailee has learned the word "kitty", but she uses this word when she is referring to cats, bunnies, squirrels and other small furry animals. Kailee's use of this word illustrates

A) overextension.
B) fast mapping.
C) telegraphic speech.
D) babbling.

Question 33

Seven-year-old Tracy heard a joke in school and asks you: "How could you find a lost dog in the woods?" When you are stumped, she tells you: "You stand near a tree and listen for the bark". Tracy's play on words indicates that she is developing

A) metalinguistic awareness.
B) psycholinguistic skills.
C) linguistic relativity.
D) the ability to use linguistic heuristics.

Question 34

The two sentences "The boy hit the ball" and "The ball was hit by the boy" are the same in regard to

A) grammar.
B) syntax.
C) morphemes.
D) semantics.

Question 35

In language development, babbling refers to producing

A) different cries to signify different kinds of discomfort.
B) a wide variety of phonemes and consonant-vowel combinations.
C) sound by placing the tongue near the back of the mouth.
D) random combinations of words.

Question 36

An eight-year-old shows irony and sarcasm in his speech by saying "That's just great, I'm a regular Michael Jordan!" after he misses a free throw in a basketball game; this suggests that his ____ has improved.

A) metalinguistic awareness
B) psycholinguistic skills
C) linguistic relativity
D) ability to use linguistic heuristics

Question 37

When a child incorrectly uses a word to describe a wider set of objects or actions than the word is meant to describe, the child is making an error of

A) over-regularisation.
B) overextension.
C) under-extension.
D) fast mapping.

Question 38

Recent research suggests that bilingual persons learn another language ___________ monolingual persons.

A) much more slowly than
B) slightly more slowly than
C) at about the same pace as
D) more quickly than

Question 39

The two sentences "Tom hit John" and "John hit Tom" are the same in regard to

A) syntax.
B) symbolic structure.
C) morpheme structure.
D) semantics.

Question 40

Ashley is just starting to show signs of understanding the meanings of familiar words. Based on research that has investigated milestones in language development, you should expect that Ashley is approximately

A) 6 weeks old.
B) 3 months old.
C) 8 months old.
D) 14 months old.

Question 41

When working on complex problems, a useful strategy to use is to

A) formulate subgoals, or intermediate steps toward a solution.
B) recognise the similarity between two problems.
C) recognise when the problem does not have a well-specified goal.
D) use a heuristic.

Question 42

Reorganising the letters "OSHUE" to form an English word is an example of an anagram, which constitutes a problem of

A) inducing structure.
B) lexical analysis.
C) transformation.
D) arrangement.

Question 43

People often find it difficult to solve a problem by using a familiar object in a novel way because of

A) a mental set.
B) unnecessary constraints.
C) irrelevant information.
D) functional fixedness.

Question 44

Bilingualism is associated with all of the following EXCEPT

A) enhanced processing speed.
B) reduced risk of dementia.
C) higher metalinguistic awareness.
D) increased working memory capacity.

Question 45

According to Skinner, children learn a language

A) because they possess an innate language acquisition device.
B) through imitation, reinforcement, and shaping.
C) as the quality of their thought improves with age.
D) only when they have reached a certain level of brain maturation.

Question 46

A mental "rule of thumb" for problem solving is referred to as

A) an algorithm.
B) a heuristic.
C) a mental set.
D) a syllogism.

Question 47

You are having a conversation with your psychology professor and she proposes that children acquire language the same way they learn everything else, through reinforcement and other established principles of conditioning. Which theorist would agree with her assertions?

A) David Premack
B) B. F. Skinner
C) Steven Pinker
D) Noam Chomsky

Question 48

The trial and error approach to problem solving is most effective when

A) there is a relatively large number of possible solutions.
B) there is a relatively small number of possible solutions.
C) there are no time constraints on solving the problem.
D) a solution to the problem must be found quickly.

Question 49

People often assume that it is necessary to use all the numerical information provided in a problem in order to solve the problem. In reality, numerical information sometimes makes it more difficult to solve a problem because the information

A) results in a mental set.
B) puts unnecessary constraints on the problem-solver.
C) may be irrelevant.
D) encourages functional fixedness.

Question 50

Joe is a bilingual elementary school student. Relative to his monolingual peers, Joe is likely to excel on tasks requiring

A) working memory.
B) processing speed.
C) social intelligence.
D) vocabulary.

Question 51

The hypothesised "language acquisition device" is associated with the

A) nativist theory of language.
B) learning theory of language.
C) generativity theory of language.
D) stage theory of language.

Question 52

Kanye's ability to distinguish between "Pour the Coke in the lemonade" and "Pour the lemonade in the Coke" illustrates an understanding of

A) neither syntax nor semantics.
B) semantics, but not syntax.
C) both syntax and semantics.
D) syntax, but not semantics.

Question 53

Functional fixedness refers to

A) continued use of problem-solving strategies that have worked in the past.
B) arriving at a particularly insightful solution to a problem.
C) focusing on information that is irrelevant to the solution of the problem.
D) not seeing a new function for a familiar object.

Question 54

The active efforts to discover what must be done to achieve a goal that is not readily attainable is the cognitive structure known as

A) inductive reasoning.
B) creativity.
C) problem solving.
D) a heuristic.

Question 55

Which of the following statements concerning the ability of animals to acquire language is false?

A) some language-like skills have been taught to a number of species
B) questions remain concerning whether the language-like behaviour of animals demonstrate all the critical properties of language
C) animals have never shown behaviour that suggests an understanding of grammatical rules
D) the ability to use language - in a very basic, primitive way - may not be entirely unique to humans

Question 56

Claudia wants to send a fragile vase to her parents for their anniversary but she can't find any appropriate packing material in her house. She decides to pop some popcorn and use that to pack around the vase. In this case, Claudia has

A) demonstrated functional fixedness in solving her problem.
B) effectively utilised the availability heuristic in solving her problem.
C) overcome functional fixedness in solving her problem.
D) utilised an elimination-by-aspects strategy to solve her problem.

Question 57

When Alaina is working on her bicycle, she brings her entire tool kit out on the driveway and starts pulling wrenches from the tool kit at random, trying them until she finds one that fits. Alaina's approach when she is working on her bicycle could be best described as

A) alternate outcomes analysis.
B) working backward.
C) trial and error.
D) forming subgoals.

Question 58

Working backward is a good strategy to follow when

A) a problem has obvious sub-goals.
B) you can recognise the similarity between two problems.
C) the problem does not have a well-specified goal.
D) you have many options available at the beginning of a problem, but few options at the end.

Question 59

You have a pair of pliers and a bag of nuts in the shell. You are lamenting the fact that you can't shell the nuts because you do not have a nutcracker. Your inability to perceive the pliers as a makeshift nutcracker demonstrates ____ on your part.

A) functional fixedness
B) mental set
C) insight insufficiency
D) heuristic reasoning

Question 60

Pinker and Bloom (1992) suggest that human language may be a result of evolutionary processes because language allows humans to

A) acquire information about the world secondhand.
B) use trial-and-error learning more effectively.
C) avoid heuristic fallacies.
D) engage in more efficient introspection.

Question 61

The fact that choices which are objectively identical can seem very different when reframed in different terms helps to illustrate which of your text's unifying themes?

A) Heredity and environment jointly influence behaviour.
B) Psychology is theoretically diverse.
C) Our behaviour is shaped by our cultural heritage.
D) Our experience of the world is highly subjective.

Question 62

The linguistic relativity hypothesis is most consistent with the unifying theme in psychology that

A) heredity and environment jointly influence behaviour.
B) behaviour is shaped by cultural heritage.
C) people's experience of the world is highly subjective.
D) psychology is empirical.

Question 63

Which strategy for decision-making might involve the weighting of individual attributes differently, based on the importance of the attributes?

A) selection by aspects strategy
B) elimination by aspects strategy
C) multiplication strategy
D) additive strategy

Question 64

Evolutionary theorists argue all of the following EXCEPT that

A) traditional research on decision making has imposed invalid and unrealistic standards of rationality.
B) human brains are wired to think in terms of base rates and probabilities.
C) humans only seem irrational because cognitive psychologists have been asking the wrong questions.
D) human decision-making and problem-solving strategies have been tailored to handle real world adaptive problems.

Question 65

According to Simon's theory of bounded rationality, people tend to use

A) simple strategies in decision making that focus on only a few facets of available options and often result in irrational decisions that are less than optimal.
B) complex strategies in decision making that focus on multiple facets of available options and often result in irrational decisions that are less than optimal.
C) simple strategies in decision making that focus on multiple facets of available options and often result in rational decisions that are optimal.
D) complex strategies in decision making that do not focus clearly on enough facets of available options and often result in rational decisions that are less than optimal.

Question 66

Barriers to effective problem solving, such as functional fixedness and mental sets, BEST reflect the unifying theme in psychology that

A) behaviour is shaped by cultural heritage.
B) psychology is empirical.
C) heredity and environment jointly influence behaviour.
D) people's experience of the world is highly subjective.

Question 67

Seventeen-year-old Ashley is driving her brother's car when she has her first-ever flat tyre. She realises that she needs to find where the spare tyre and the jack and other tools are stored in the car, remove the flat tyre and install the spare tyre. Ashley is approaching the problem by

A) forming sub-goals.
B) changing the representation of the problem.
C) working backward.
D) searching for analogies.

Question 68

Which of the following is NOT a common heuristic for problem-solving?

A) working backward
B) forming sub-goals
C) trial and error
D) searching for analogies

Question 69

In order to decide which car to buy, Jim makes a list of desired qualities and rates each of the cars he is considering on a scale of one to ten. After totaling the points each car receives on all the desired qualities, he is going to purchase the car with the most points. Jim is using the ____ strategy of decision-making.

A) elimination by aspects
B) selection by aspects
C) subtractive
D) additive

Question 70

Simon's theory of bounded rationality asserts that people frequently make

A) rational decisions that are less than optimal.
B) irrational decisions that are less than optimal.
C) rational decisions that are optimal.
D) irrational decisions that are optimal.

Question 71

Brett is trying to decide which graduate schools he will apply to. He is making up a list of all the positive and negative aspects he feels are associated with 100 different schools, and he plans to send applications to the 10 schools that score the highest when he adds up all the positive points and subtracts all the negative points. The decision strategy that Brett is using is referred to as

A) a purely additive strategy.
B) elimination by aspects.
C) a holistic strategy.
D) an expected value strategy.

Question 72

Evolutionary psychologists suggest that when people have to make quick decisions they tend to

A) gather information, calculate probabilities, and make statistically optimal decisions.
B) use relatively simple heuristics.
C) use relatively complicated heuristics.
D) make irrational decisions.

Question 73

Car A has good mileage, a low price, and low maintenance, or three pluses. Car B has only a low price and low maintenance, or two pluses. So, I'll choose Car A. This is an example of

A) a weighted additive strategy.
B) a field dependent decision strategy.
C) a purely additive strategy.
D) elimination-by-aspects.

Question 74

During the 1950s and 1960s, creative new ways of measuring mental processes paved the way for the cognitive revolution. The development of new research methods helps to illustrate which of your text's unifying themes?

A) Our experience of the world is highly subjective.
B) Psychology is theoretically diverse.
C) Psychology is empirical.
D) Behaviour is determined by multiple causes.

Question 75

According to dual-process theories of decision-making, when complicated or important decisions need to be made people use

A) dumb and dumber strategies.
B) fast and frugal strategies.
C) intuitive strategies.
D) rule-governed strategies.

Question 76

In which case would working backward to solve a problem be an effective strategy?

A) when a problem has a well-defined endpoint
B) when a problem is unsolvable by heuristics
C) when it is necessary to change the representation of a problem
D) when a problem has multiphasic branch points

Question 77

Research suggests that when making a decision involving relatively few options, people tend to use

A) elimination by aspects strategies.
B) selection by aspect strategies.
C) additive strategies.
D) subtractive strategies.

Question 78

The process that involves evaluating alternatives and making choices among them is known as

A) insight.
B) problem solving.
C) decision making.
D) bounded rationality.

Question 79

The fact that variations in cognitive style sometimes reflect the ecological demands of one's environment helps to illustrate which of your text's unifying themes?

A) Our experience of the world is highly subjective.
B) Psychology is theoretically diverse.
C) Our behaviour is shaped by our cultural heritage.
D) Psychology evolves in a socio-historical context.

Question 80

Research shows that when consumers have a very high number of products to choose from, they are

A) likely to purchase more items.
B) likely to purchase fewer items.
C) likely to purchase no items.
D) likely to purchase higher quality items.