Question 1

Michael goes to a French immersion school because his parents want him to be proficient in French.According to the recent research,Michael

Accepted Answer

Recent research suggests that individuals who are bilingual or have exposure to multiple languages may have greater cognitive flexibility and better reading skills compared to monolingual individuals. Therefore, Michael, who is proficient in French due to his school, may also demonstrate these advantages. There is no evidence to suggest that being bilingual puts individuals at a disadvantage in learning two sets of grammar and vocabulary or performing below average on standardized intelligence tests.

Question 2

Inductive reasoning is to _____ as deductive reasoning is to _____.

Accepted Answer

Inductive reasoning starts with specific observations and draws general conclusions, while deductive reasoning starts with general principles and draws specific conclusions. Bottom-up processing starts with sensory information and builds towards understanding, while top-down processing starts with pre-existing knowledge and expectations to interpret sensory information. Therefore, inductive reasoning is like bottom-up processing and deductive reasoning is like top-down processing.

Question 3

Professor Krizan is studying the remote people in the interior of New Zealand.She claims that there is a strong relation between their language and their way of thinking.In fact,she claims that language determines how they think.Her observations are most consistent with

Accepted Answer

Professor Krizan's claim is consistent with the linguistic relativity hypothesis, which suggests that language not only reflects but also shapes the way people perceive and think about the world. This hypothesis suggests that different languages and linguistic structures can lead to different ways of thinking and perceiving reality.

Question 4

Sam is a grad student who often goes out for a drink with his friends on the weekend.He has begun to notice on these outings that as the night wears on and his friends have consumed more and more alcohol,their coordination becomes increasingly impaired.Based on these observations,Sam proposes that alcohol causes impaired coordination.As such,Sam is engaging in:

Accepted Answer

Sam is making an observation (people's coordination becoming increasingly impaired as they consume more alcohol) and proposing a general conclusion (alcohol causes impaired coordination), which is the basis of inductive reasoning. Deductive reasoning starts with a general principle and applies it to a specific case, means-ends analysis is a problem-solving strategy, an algorithm is a step-by-step procedure for solving a problem, and top-down reasoning is a form of perception that starts with the larger context and works its way down to the details. None of these accurately describe Sam's thought process.

Question 5

Which of the following is NOT considered a basic property of language?

Accepted Answer

Relativity, also known as linguistic relativity or the Sapir-Whorf hypothesis, is a debated concept about whether language affects the way people think and perceive the world around them. While it is an interesting aspect of language, it is not considered one of the basic properties of language. The other options listed (grammar, displacement, generativity, and semantics) are all considered fundamental aspects of language.

Question 6

When trying to reason logically,the tendency to abandon logical rules in favour of our own personal beliefs is referred to as:

Accepted Answer

The tendency to abandon logical rules in favour of our own personal beliefs is called belief bias. This occurs when people accept or reject arguments based on whether or not they align with their existing beliefs, rather than on the strength of the argument itself. This can lead to errors in judgement and decision-making. The other options are not relevant to the described phenomenon.

Question 7

In English,are there more 4-letter words starting with the letter "k" or with "k" as the third letter? Most people answer that there are more words starting with "k",but in fact,there are many more with "k" as the third letter (make,bake,take,etc. ).One reason that people choose starting with "k" is likely

Accepted Answer

The answer of In English,are there more 4-letter words starting...

Question 8

A headline in a newspaper reads "Suicide more common than thought".This is an example of a sentence that

Accepted Answer

The headline "Suicide more common than thought" can be interpreted in two ways: it could mean that suicide occurs more frequently than people generally believe, or it could imply that suicide is more prevalent than thinking (as an activity). This ambiguity means the sentence has two different deep structures, or underlying meanings, despite having the same surface structure (the words and order used).

Question 9

Men often show more severe aphasic responses than women to a stroke in the left hemisphere.Why might this be the case?

Accepted Answer

Research has shown that language in women may be more bilaterally represented. This means that if there is damage to the left hemisphere, the right hemisphere may be more able to compensate for the loss of language abilities. Men, on the other hand, seem to rely more heavily on the left hemisphere for language, which may result in more severe aphasic responses following a stroke.

Question 10

Kanzi,the bonobo chimp,has been shown to communicate using complex symbols.However,the evidence for language development in apes related to ____________ is more controversial.

Accepted Answer

Displacement and generativity are key aspects of human language that allow us to talk about things that are not present and to create new sentences, respectively. While apes like Kanzi can use symbols to communicate, the extent to which they can use language features such as displacement (talking about things not currently present) and generativity (creating new, never-before-heard sentences) remains controversial and less clearly demonstrated.

Question 11

Let's say that you are looking at the following image: o.If you were asked to draw the image and your drawing was this: C,we might expect:

Accepted Answer

The answer of Let's say that you are looking at...

Question 12

Jane gets a phone call from someone she was just thinking about.She concludes that whenever she thinks of someone they will call.However,she is making a mistake because she is not remembering how often she DID NOT get a call when thinking about a person.This is an example of

Accepted Answer

This is an example of confirmation bias, as Jane is only noticing and remembering instances that confirm her belief that thinking of someone makes them call, while ignoring instances where this did not occur.

Question 13

Professor Jones and Professor Smith are having a discussion on whether or not apes are capable of language.Professor Jones argues that they do not,while Smith says that they do.To make the strongest argument,Smith would probably refer to the research on

Accepted Answer

The answer of Professor Jones and Professor Smith are having...

Question 14

After the cooing stage comes the __________ stage.At this point,children ________.

Accepted Answer

The babbling stage follows the cooing stage, where infants produce more complex vocalizations with a greater resemblance to the phonemes of their native language. This stage occurs around 6 months of age and continues until the child's first words, which typically occur around 12 months of age.

Question 15

Professor Jones and Professor Smith are having a discussion on whether or not apes are capable of language.Professor Jones argues that they do not,while Smith says that they do.To make the strongest argument,Jones would probably refer to the research on

Accepted Answer

Displacement refers to the ability to communicate about objects and events that are not present in the immediate environment. This is a key feature of human language that sets it apart from animal communication. If Jones is arguing that apes do not have language, he would likely use the lack of displacement in their communication as evidence.

Question 16

If you supported a strong genetic basis for language acquisition,you would most likely believe that humans have a

Accepted Answer

The strong genetic basis for language acquisition is most closely associated with the notion of a Language Acquisition Device (LAD). The LAD is a hypothetical cognitive structure proposed by Noam Chomsky as a means of explaining the remarkable ease and speed with which children learn language. Essentially, the LAD is thought to be an innate, biologically-determined mechanism that provides the necessary framework for language acquisition. So if you supported a strong genetic basis for language acquisition, you would most likely believe in the existence of a LAD (which is represented by choice B).

Question 17

A young child enters a store by pushing a door open.Every time they come to a door after that,the child pushes the door expecting it to open,even though many doors only open by pulling.This is an example of:

Accepted Answer

This is an example of a mental set, which is a tendency to approach a problem in a certain way based on past experiences or previously learned strategies. The child's past experience with doors opening by pushing has led to this mental set, and they continue to apply it even when it is not always applicable.

Question 18

Consider the following word: "ch_ck".Since you work on an egg farm,you assume that the word is "chick".This is an example of

Accepted Answer

This is an example of top-down processing, where our prior knowledge and expectations influence how we perceive and interpret information. In this case, the person's knowledge and experience of working on an egg farm led them to assume that the word was "chick" instead of considering other possibilities such as "check", "chunk", or "chock".

Question 19

You are trying to imagine how you are going to toss your keys across the crowded room to your friend.This is an example of

Accepted Answer

Motoric thought involves imagining and planning physical actions or movements, such as tossing keys. Propositional thought involves thinking in abstract, logical terms and making connections between ideas. Prototypes are mental representations of typical examples of a category. Propositions are statements that express a relationship between concepts. The linguistic relativity hypothesis suggests that language affects how we think and perceive the world around us. In this scenario, the act of imagining how to toss keys involves planning physical actions, making it an example of motoric thought.

Question 20

Harry makes a statement to a group of friends that,"people who drive red cars get more speeding tickets".The group agrees with the statement because a member of the group,"Jim",drives a red car and frequently gets speeding tickets.This is an example of making a decision based on

Accepted Answer

This is an example of the availability heuristic, where people rely on readily available information (in this case, Jim's experiences) to make a decision or judgment, rather than considering a broader range of evidence.

Quiz 9: Language and Thinking