Name: 
 

Ch9 - Language & Thought



Multiple Choice
Identify the choice that best completes the statement or answers the question.
 

 1. 

What is the primary means of communicating thought?
a.
concepts
c.
propositions
b.
categories
d.
language
 

 2. 

One characteristic of all human societies is
a.
language.
c.
linguistic analysis.
b.
propositions.
d.
automatic acquisition of language.
 

 3. 

Language is a multilevel system. What levels are involved, from lowest to highest?
a.
prefixes, words, sentences
c.
sounds, words, sentences
b.
sounds, sentences, paragraphs
d.
sounds, prefixes and suffixes, words
 

 4. 

The English language has approximately _____ speech sounds.
a.
an infinite number of
c.
70,000
b.
forty
d.
1,000
 

 5. 

How many phonemes are there in "cat"?
a.
none
c.
two
b.
one
d.
three
 

 6. 

Categories of speech sounds are known as
a.
glyphs.
c.
autonemes.
b.
morphemes.
d.
phonemes.
 

 7. 

Phonemes are combined to form words. Each language, though, has rules about
a.
how the phonemes are duplicated in a word.
b.
how many phonemes can be used to make a word.
c.
how few phonemes can be used to make a word.
d.
which phonemes can follow which other phonemes.
 

 8. 

Two-year-old Ashley uses "kitty" to describe any creature with four legs and fur. Ashley is exhibiting
a.
telegraphic concepts.
c.
overextension.
b.
syntactic analysis.
d.
phonemic transformation.
 

 9. 

A person of what age will be least successful in learning the phonemes associated with a second language?
a.
1 year
c.
10 years
b.
5 years
d.
20 years
 

 10. 

What is a proposition?
a.
a set of properties
c.
a problem-solving strategy
b.
a statement that makes a factual claim
d.
a system of logical reasoning
 

 11. 

_____ are the two components of every concept.
a.
Goal state and heuristic
c.
Exemplar and hypothesis frame
b.
Subject and proposition
d.
Prototype and core
 

 12. 

A very attractive, tall blonde woman in a tight red dress who has a Ph.D. and has published several scholarly articles will probably conform to your _____, but probably not to your _____ of the concept "professor."
a.
classical concept; fuzzy concept
c.
fuzzy concept; classical concept
b.
core; prototype
d.
prototype; core
 

 13. 

When you think of "the president of a corporation," you probably think of a middle-aged male. Why?
a.
The concept of corporate president has no core.
b.
These are typical properties of your concept of corporate president.
c.
There are faults in the combinations of your propositions.
d.
"Corporate president" is a classical concept.
 

 14. 

Which of the following constitutes a hierarchy of concepts?
a.
apple, orange, banana, strawberry
b.
automobile, bicycle, helicopter
c.
vehicle, automobile, Ford, Mustang
d.
German shepherd, golden retriever, beagle, Chihuahua
 

 15. 

In an argument, the conclusion and premises are
a.
deductively valid.
c.
combined propositions.
b.
propositions.
d.
intuitively valid.
 

 16. 

What can be said of the following deductive argument?
1. All humans are mortal.
2. Fido is mortal.
3. Therefore, Fido is human.
a.
The premises are true; therefore, the conclusion must be true.
b.
The conclusion is false; therefore, the premises must be false.
c.
The premises are true; the conclusion is false.
d.
This argument is deductively valid.
 

 17. 

The strongest arguments are those that are deductively valid, which means that
a.
the reasoning makes intuitive sense.
b.
the argument can be shown to be internally consistent.
c.
if the premises are true, the conclusion cannot be false.
d.
the truth value of the conclusion is independent of the premises.
 

 18. 

In _____ we compare our current state to the goal state in order to find the most important difference. We then search for a procedure to eliminate the difference.
a.
searching for cognitive homeostasis
c.
imaginal processing
b.
means-end analysis
d.
syntactic analysis
 

 19. 

Your representation of a problem is important for problem-solving because
a.
any representation will help you keep all the important details accessible.
b.
if a problem is not represented correctly, it may obscure the key to the solution.
c.
just by making an initial representation the solution typically becomes obvious.
d.
it narrows down the possible solutions.
 

 20. 

When confronted with a novel problem, novices tend to
a.
use heuristics.
b.
utilize representations.
c.
use propositional thinking.
d.
focus on superficial features of the problem.
 



 
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