| A | B |
|---|
| Algorithm | A methodical, step-by-step procedure for trying all possible alternatives in searching for a solution to a problem. |
| Availability heuristic | Basing the estimated probability of an event on the ease with which relevant instances come to mind. |
| Bilingualism | The acquisition of two languages that use different speech sounds, vocabularies, and grammatical rules. |
| Cognition | The mental processes involved in acquiring knowledge. |
| Conjunction fallacy | An error that occurs when people estimate that the odds of two uncertain events happening together are greater than the odds of either event happening alone. |
| Confirmation bias | The tendency to seek information that supports one's decisions and beliefs while ignoring disconfirming information. |
| Decision making | he process of evaluating alternatives and making choices among them. |
| Fast mapping | The process by which children map a word onto an underlying concept after only one exposure to the word. |
| Framing | How issues are posed or how choices are structured. |
| Functional fixedness | The tendency to perceive an item only in terms of its most common use. |
| Gambler's fallacy | The belief that the odds of a chance event increase if the event hasn't occurred recently. |
| Heuristic | A strategy, guiding principle, or rule of thumb used in solving problems or making decisions. |
| Hill-climbing heuristic | Problem-solving approach that entails selecting the alternative at each choice point that appears to lead most directly to one's goal. |
| Insight | In problem solving, the sudden discovery of the correct solution following incorrect attempts based primarily on trial and error. |
| Language | A set of symbols that convey meaning, and rules for combining those symbols, that can be used to generate an infinite variety of messages. |
| Language acquisition device (LAD) | An innate mechanism or process that facilitates the learning of language. |
| Linguistic relativity | The theory that one's language determines the nature of one's thought. |
| Mean length of utterance (MLU | The average length of children's spoken statements (measured in phonemes). |
| Mental set | Persisting in using problem-solving strategies that have worked in the past. |
| Metalinguistic awareness | The ability to reflect on the use of language. |
