A conception of the relation between language and thought which claims that language shapes thinking; this hypothesis implies that people who speak different languages think differently about the world around them.

A measure of overall mental ability based on total performance across a number of different types of intellectual tests.

Categories whose boundaries are ambiguous.

A theory of intelligence proposed by Sternberg, which says that intelligent behavior requires three distinct mental components: knowledge acquisition, executive planning, and performance.

To classify an item as a type of thing, that is, a member of a group.

A psychological process in which people judge whether a person or thing belongs to a given category by evaluating the degree to which the person or object resembles the category.

The set of rules governing how components of a sentence can be shifted to create other sentences that are grammatically correct.

A region of the frontal lobe in the left hemisphere of the brain needed to produce speech.

Name given to the relatively rapid rise in intelligence test scores that is evident across generations.

The full set of steps it is possible to take when solving a problem.

A psychological process in which people formulate estimates by starting with an initial guess (an “anchor”) and adjusting it to reach a final judgment.

The set of rules determining whether a series of phrases form a sentence that is grammatically correct.

A region in the temporal lobe of the left hemisphere of the brain needed to understand language and to produce meaningful sentences.

The most typical, central member of a category.

A language in which bodily movements, especially of the hands and fingers, are used to convey information.

The ability to acquire knowledge, to solve problems, and to use acquired knowledge to create new, valued products.

The tendency to seek out information that is consistent with one’s initial conclusions, and to disregard information that might contradict those conclusions.

Categories that are informative and efficient, and that thus are used most commonly to categorize items.

A behavioral tendency possessed by an animal due to its biological inheritance.

The process of drawing conclusions that are based on facts, beliefs, and experiences, combining them to reach conclusions that go beyond the information originally perceived.

A psychological process in which people base judgments on the ease with which information comes to mind.

Children exhibiting exceptional mastery of a skill at a very early age.

A characteristic of language referring to the fact that linguistic rules enable speakers to produce (or “generate”) an infinite number of sentences.

A rule of thumb, that is, a simple way of accomplishing something that otherwise would be done through a more complex procedure.

The rules that determine category membership.

An impairment of language abilities that occurs while other mental abilities remain intact.

A theory of language acquisition proposing that people acquire language by learning patterns of sounds and words that they hear frequently, that is, that are statistically common.

A communication system in which sounds have meaning and rules govern the way in which linguistic units (e.g., words) can be combined.

A set of linguistic rules that, according to Chomsky, are possessed by all humans and that enable people to understand and produce sentences.

The psychological process of turning an image in one’s mind, much as a person might turn a physical object in the world.

A thinking process in which people try to reach a solution by working through a series of steps.

Categories whose boundaries are unambiguous due to clear-cut rules for determining category membership.

A relation between categories; one category is of a lower level than another when all members of the former category are contained within the latter, higher-level category.

A theory proposed by Gardner claiming that people possess a number of different mental abilities, each of which is a distinct form of intelligence.

A category structure in which category membership is defined according to the resemblance of items to a central, most typical member (the prototype).

A strategy for solving complex problems in which, at each step toward a solution, people aim to reduce the distance between their current state of progress and the final problem-solving goal they want to achieve.

A category structure in which category members share many features but no single feature is absolutely necessary for membership.

A research method in which participants verbalize their thoughts while solving a problem, which enables experimenters to record and analyze the problem-solving strategies used.

A popular test of intelligence that assesses verbal comprehension, perceptual reasoning, working memory, and mental processing speed.

The degree of personal worth that an individual places on an outcome.

The smallest unit of a language that itself conveys meaning; words contain one or more morphemes

A thinking process in which people divide their assets and expenditures into distinct cognitive categories, rather than thinking about their overall costs and net assets.

The process of making a choice, that is, selecting among alternatives.

A measure of overall intelligence that takes into account a person’s age.

Thinking that involves pictures and spatial relationships rather than words, numbers, and logical rules.

A phenomenon in decision making in which people’s decisions are affected by the way in which outcomes are described, or “framed.”

A syndrome characterized by mental impairment in most areas of life but exceptional performance in one domain.

A measure of a child’s intelligence based on both the child’s test responses and the responses of other children who have taken the same test. The child’s mental age is equivalent to the average age of other children who perform as well as that child.

Categories whose structure is defined according to the relevance of items to a goal; items in the category are useful for some common purpose.