Mia Ramos

Block 2
7B Thinking, Problem Solving, Creativity, and Language: Unit Questions
1. What are the functions of concepts?
Any mental activity that is associated with thinking is known as cognition. Concepts simplify ideas,
objects, or events by placing them in groupings based on similarities. These concepts are formed based
on the definition or characteristics of the object or idea. Prototypes are the best examples within a
concept and give more specificity. Sometimes, they are recognized as a stereotype.
2. What strategies assist our problem solving?
Problems obviously require solutions, but there are numerous ways of solving a problem. Algorithms
involve logical, step-by-step procedures that have guaranteed solutions; however, the process takes
longer than using a heuristic. Heuristics are simpler and faster strategies to solving a problem, yet they
are more error-prone than algorithms. Using insight to solve a problem is a last resort when other
problem-solving strategies fail. It takes information learned from a separate source to help figure out the
solution and contrasts strategy-based solutions.
3. What is creativity, and what fosters it?
Creativity is the ability to produce ideas that are both noble and valuable. Intelligence tests, which require
convergent thinking, demand a single correct answer and contrast creativity tests. Creativity tests require
divergent thinking and result in numerous solutions. There are five components of creativity: expertise,
imaginative thinking skills, a venturesome personality, intrinsic motivation, and a creative environment.
4. What obstacles hinder our problem solving?
Both confirmation bias and fixation can cause doubt in finding the correct answer when problem solving.
Confirmation bias is a tendency to find information that would support our stance and ignore any
contrasting information. Fixation is the inability to view an obstacle from a new or fresh perspective
because of being stuck in a certain mind set. Mental set, which is the tendency to approach a problem
only one certain way, and functional fixedness, which is the tendency to think of things only in their usual
functions, are examples of fixation.
5. How do heuristics, overconfidence, and belief perseverance influence our decisions and
judgments?
When we tend to judge the likelihood of things on how they represent the prototype of a subject and its
group, it is known as representativeness heuristic. In other words, it is similar to using a stereotype to
make an assumption about something, yet the possibility could be wrong. The availability heuristic causes
us to judge the likelihood of things based on how easily it can be remembered. It often causes us to be
afraid of the wrong thing. Overconfidence tends to blind our judgement because we tend to be more
confident than correct. Whenever an idea comes to mind and we try to support it, sometimes the
explanation remains in our minds, despite contrasting ideas and information. This is known as belief
perseverance.
6. How do smart thinkers use intuition?
Intuition is an automatic, unreasoned feeling or judgement of something. It allows us to react quickly and
adapt to any situation. Experience fuels our intuition by allowing us to use previous situations to judge
current ones.
7. What is framing?
Framing is the way an idea is presented or expressed. It influences the way a person views the
information based on the way it is worded. For example, a person can name a statistic of surgery risks by
saying 10 percent die and another person can say 90 percent survive. Although the statistics are the
same, discussing the 10 percent of deaths make it seem riskier.

8. What are the structural components of a language?

It takes three specific components to create a language: phonemes, morphemes, and grammar.
Phonemes are a basic set of sounds and they can change meaning of a word based on pronunciation.
Morphemes deal with definition or meaning within a language. They are combinations of two or more
phonemes and include prefixes and suffixes. Grammar ties together a language by giving it a set of rules
known as semantics and syntax. Semantics are the rules used to derive meaning from morphemes,
words, and sentences. Syntax refers to word order in sentences.
9. What are the milestones on language development?
Infants begin language development around 4 months through recognition of speech sounds and lip
reading, all known as receptive language or the ability to comprehend speech. Babbling stage takes place
at around 4 months where babies begin to utter a variety sounds. At age one, most infants enter the oneword stage. By age two, they enter the two-word stage, where they communicate using two word
sentences, just like in telegraphic speech. From there, children begin speaking in longer phrases.
10. How do we learn language?
B. F. Skinner argued that language is learned through experience and exposure. He believes in the
learning principles of association, imitation, and reinforcement. Noam Chomsky believes that we are
already born with a language acquisition device that already gives us the ability to learn language
because it is part of our biological makeup. It connects us with having universal grammar, which is used
to learn a specific language. The most critical period for learning spoken and written language is
childhood.
11. What is the relationship between language and thinking?
Based on Benjamin Lee Whorf's hypothesis of linguistic determinism, language influences the way a
person thinks. A person who speaks two different languages may agree because they will find having
different senses of self or personality. Using implicit memory, we think in images.