Question 1

Brooke is a very young child and is still learning to talk. When she speaks now, her verbalizations tend to consist of two words, such as "give doll" or "doggie run." These vocalizations would be characterized as

Accepted Answer

Brooke's speech is characterized as telegraphic speech, which is typical in young children who use two-word phrases that convey essential meaning without using unnecessary words.

Question 2

Lilly is only 18 months of age. She has started to put two or three words together to communicate with her mother. This morning she said "more nana" to indicate that she wanted to eat more of a banana. Lilly is

Accepted Answer

Lilly is using telegraphic sentences, which are short and simple combinations of words that convey a clear message, typical in early language development stages.

Question 3

The theorist responsible for proposing that human beings are born with built-in grammar that allows us an innate ability to develop language skill was

Accepted Answer

Noam Chomsky proposed the theory of Universal Grammar, suggesting that humans are born with an innate ability to acquire language.

Question 4

One day, a tree on the Lakewood Golf Course was hit by lightning. The following weekend Galen continued his golf game near that tree during a thunderstorm because he was certain that lightning would not strike there twice. Galen's decision was based on

Accepted Answer

Galen's decision is based on the gambler's fallacy, which is the mistaken belief that if something happens more frequently than normal during a given period, it will happen less frequently in the future, or vice versa. In this case, Galen incorrectly assumes that because the tree was already struck by lightning, it is less likely to be struck again.

Question 5

Kaley is an advocate of her choir's decision to reprimand Padraic, one of the members. Even she is a little surprised, however, with the final decision to kick Padraic out. It seems extreme to her. The phenomenon that produced this decision is the process of

Accepted Answer

Group polarization refers to the tendency of a group to make decisions that are more extreme than the initial inclination of its members. In this case, the group's decision to kick Padraic out, which was more extreme than Kaley initially expected, is an example of group polarization.

Question 6

Gambling casinos sometimes put a sign up near the roulette wheel that tells players what the last ten or twenty spins were. This leads the players to believe that they can predict the upcoming spin based on the last spins. Players who fall for this are making

Accepted Answer

The gambler's fallacy is the mistaken belief that past random events can influence the likelihood of future random events, such as believing that a roulette wheel is "due" to land on a certain number after a series of spins.

Question 7

Nuria's parents are so happy because she can say "doggie" and "cookie." Lani, who is younger, makes many sounds that are repetitive, like "lalalala" and "papapa." Nuria's language development is in the __________ stage and Lani's is in the __________ stage.

Accepted Answer

Nuria is in the one-word stage, where children start using single words to convey meaning. Lani is in the infant vocalization stage, characterized by repetitive sounds and babbling.

Question 8

The fact that people spend hundreds of dollars on Mega Millions lottery tickets and actually believe that they have a strong chance of winning demonstrates how people tend to

Accepted Answer

People often overestimate the probability of rare events, such as winning the lottery, due to cognitive biases and the allure of potentially large rewards.

Question 9

Children who are not exposed to language until late in life are often unable to use complex features of language. This suggests that learning language involves

Accepted Answer

The fact that children who are not exposed to language until late in life struggle with complex language features provides evidence for the existence of a critical period for language acquisition. This critical period suggests that there is a limited window of time during which the brain is most receptive to language learning. Choices A, B, and D do not specifically relate to this concept.

Question 10

Janaki is an infant whose vocalizations tend to consist of sounds such as "bababa" or "dadada." Janaki is

Accepted Answer

Infants around 6 months of age tend to produce babbling sounds such as "bababa" or "dadada." This is a common developmental stage in which the infant is experimenting with different sounds and practicing using their vocal cords. This stage is not yet considered to be language production or the use of telegraphic speech, nor is it a sign of lacking universal grammar or overextending words.

Question 11

Gabriel is just beginning to speak in words. He says "Daddy!" and "Car." Gabriel is most likely __________ old.

Accepted Answer

Typically, children begin to say their first words between 10 and 14 months, with a range of 8 to 18 months. Therefore, Gabriel is most likely between twelve to fifteen months old.

Question 12

Kevin just read an authoritative study that shows that a stock's current price on the stock market is completely unrelated to its previous price. In other words, if a stock does well one week, it may or may not do well the next week. However, Kevin still only wants to sell stocks of his whose price increased over the last several weeks because he thinks they are more likely to reverse themselves the next week. Kevin is guilty of

Accepted Answer

Kevin is guilty of the gambler's fallacy, which is the mistaken belief that if something happens more frequently than normal during a given period, it will happen less frequently in the future, or vice versa.

Question 13

The two processes that seem to underlie the phenomenon of group polarization are (1)associating one's self with the most favorable option and (2)________.

Accepted Answer

Group polarization occurs when individuals in a group tend to shift towards more extreme positions after group discussions. This is often due to confirmation bias, where individuals favor information that confirms their pre-existing beliefs, leading to more extreme views.

Question 14

Marta is lecturing on the first day of her Introduction to Linguistics course. She starts by explaining that if you have words and a set of rules for using those words, you have everything you need for

Accepted Answer

The definition given in the question is that having words and rules for their use constitutes a language. Therefore, the best answer is D, "a language."

Question 15

Marla is one year of age. She probably

Accepted Answer

At one year of age, children typically understand more words than they can express verbally.

Question 16

Benji received a $50 bonus this month because he had the highest sales at work. He liked the bonus, but in Benji's view, it didn't compensate for his $50 speeding ticket. Benji's feelings are best described by

Accepted Answer

Benji's feelings are best described by loss aversion, which is the tendency for people to prefer avoiding losses rather than acquiring equivalent gains. The pain of losing $50 from the speeding ticket outweighs the pleasure of gaining a $50 bonus.

Question 17

Sunyi says, "Arya is going." What is the earliest approximate age that Sunyi should be able to use this sentence?

Accepted Answer

By the age of three years, children typically start forming simple sentences like "Arya is going," which involves subject-verb-object structure.

Question 18

Sumon is in the first stages of learning to speak. Both personal experience and genetic predisposition will interact to help him identify the basic dimensions of language. This idea supports the existence of

Accepted Answer

The idea that personal experience and genetic predisposition interact to help individuals identify the basic dimensions of language supports the concept of universal grammar, which posits that humans are innately programmed with a set of basic grammatical rules that underlie all languages.

Question 19

A psycholinguist who does not believe human language is innate would have the most trouble with theories of language development that

Accepted Answer

Theories of language development that are based on the existence of universal grammar would be most problematic for a psycholinguist who does not believe human language is innate. Universal grammar refers to the idea that there are certain fundamental principles that underlie all human languages, regardless of their specific characteristics. This suggests that language is a biologically determined capacity that is present in all humans from birth. A psycholinguist who does not believe in the innateness of language would have difficulty accepting the idea that there are universal principles that govern language development.

Question 20

Theresa began studying Japanese when she was in the eighth grade. After many years of study, however, she still speaks Japanese with an accent and lacks perfect fluency. This is probably because

Accepted Answer

The critical period hypothesis suggests that there is a window of time in early life when the brain is particularly receptive to language learning, and passing this period can make it more difficult to achieve native-like fluency.

Quiz 7: Thought, Language, and Intelligence