CHAPTER 7
THOUGHT AND LANGUAGE
Questions
1. A mental representation of a category (i.e, an internal portrait of a class of objects, ideas, or events that
share common properties) is referred to as a
a. concept
b. mental image
c. mental model
d. prototype
2. A prototype is
a. a visual representation, such as an image or a geometric form
b. a representation of a system that enables people to describe, explain, and predict how things work
c. a mental representation of a class of objects, ideas, or events that share common properties
d. an abstraction across many instances of a category
3. Bill has noticed that almost every time he shakes hands with someone who has a cold, he comes down
with a cold, too. He concludes that the cold virus can be transmitted via hand-to-hand contact. This
reasoning is an example of
a. problem solving
b. hypothesis testing
c. inductive reasoning
d. deductive reasoning
4. Dave and Nancy sent out 100 invitations to their wedding. They then took the number of replies they
received and multiplied them by the price per plate that the caterer had given, to arrive at the cost of the
wedding reception dinner. This problem-solving strategy is an example of a(n)
a. algorithm
b. syllogism
c. heuristic
d. prototype
5. When the fan belt broke on her car, Melanie pulled out a pair of nylons from her shopping bag and told
John "This will fix it!" John just couldn't see how you could use nylons for anything other than wearing.
John's problem is known as
a. the representativeness heuristic
b. the availability heuristic
c. the confirmation bias
d. functional fixedness
6. Connectionist models differ from traditional information-processing models in that the underlying
metaphor is no longer really "mind as computer." Rather it is mind as
a. a set of algorithms functioning in series
b. a set of heuristics involved in problem solving
c. a set of neurons that activate and inhibit one another
d. the programmer of the computer
7. The suffix "s," added to a noun to make it plural, is an example of
a. a phoneme
b. a constituent
c. a morpheme
d. transformational grammar
8. Most English-speaking 4-year-olds use the reflexive pronoun "hisself" instead of the correct "himself."
This tendency
a. is a clear example of the Whorfian theory of linguistic relativity
b. can be viewed as evidence of an innate set of neural structures for acquiring language
c. raises questions concerning the notion that there is a "critical period" for language acquisition
d. is evidence of how "motherese" affects language acquisition
9. Chomsky argued that humans are born with what he called a _______ device, an innate set of neural
structures for acquiring language.
a. syntactical processing
b. language processing
c. grammatical awareness
d. language acquisition
10. All of the following are characteristics of motherese, except
a. fast rate of speech
b. exaggerated intonation
c. slow rate of speech
d. high pit
Answers
1. a
2. d
3. c
4. a
5. d
6. c
7. c
8. b
9. d
10. a