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the mental activity that is involved in the understanding, processing, and communicating information
thinking
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an object or an act that stands for something else
symbol
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a mental structure used to categorize objects, people, or events, that share similar characteristics
concept
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an original model on which others in the same category are patterned
prototype
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a specific procedure that, when used properly and in the right circumstances, will always lead to the solution of a problem
algorithm
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rules of thumb that often, but not always, help us find the solution to a problem
heuristics
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a method that helps us identify our goal, where we are in relation to it, and the direction we must go to move closer to it
difference reduction
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a heuristic device in which a solution to a problem is found by evaluating the difference between the current situations and the goal
means-end analysis
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when we arrive at the solution to a problem when we have not even been consciously working on the problem we have experienced
incubation effect
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the tendency to respond to a new problem with an approach that was successfully used with similar problems
mental set
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the tendency to think of an object as being useful only for the function that the object is usually used for
functional fixedness
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thinking that is limited to available facts
convergent thinking
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a thought process that attempts to generate multiple solutions to a problem
divergent thinking
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the use of information to reach conclusions
reasoning
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the conclusion is true if the premises are true
deductive reasoning
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an idea or statement that provides the basic information that allows us to draw conclusions
premise
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reason from individual cases or particular facts to reach a general conclusion
inductive reasoning
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the tendency to prove, or confirm hypotheses rather than disprove them
confirmation bias
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when people make decisions about a sample according to the population that the sample appears to represent
representative heuristic
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people who make decisions on the basis of information that is available to them in their immediate consciousness
availability heuristic
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when people make decisions based on certain ideas or standards that they hold, ideas or standards that serve as an anchor for them
anchoring heuristic
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refers to the way in which wording affects decision making
framing effect
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basic sounds of language
phonemes
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the unit of meaning in a language
morphemes
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the way in which words are arranged to make phrases and sentences
syntax
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the formation of plurals and the past tense of irregular nouns and verbs according to rules of grammar that apply to regular nouns and verbs; characteristic of the speech of young children
overregularization
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according to Chomsky, the inborn ability of humans to acquire language
language acquisition device
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