Thought And Language

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Cognition

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methodof studying how we process, store, and use information and how thisinformation, in turn, influences what we notice, perceive, learn, remember,believe, and feel

Themental activities associated with acquiring, retaining, and using knowledge,often directed toward a goal, purpose, or conclusion

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Thinking

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(reasoning); involves mental processes that are used to form concepts, solve problems, and engagein creative activities

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Cognitive psychologists

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study how we use mental images, create concepts, solve problems,make decisions and form judgments.

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Concepts

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Concepts—mentalgroupings of similar objects, events, ideas, or people based on some features, traits, or characteristics that they all share in common

provide a kind of mental shorthand,economizing cognitive efforts.

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Functions of concepts

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◦Organize information

◦Group things into categories and thusbetter organize and store information in memory◦Avoid relearning◦

◦Children develop concepts for objectbefore developing language to describe objects◦Things organized into differentcategories in brain

◦Categorical/concept development occurs atunconscious level

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Prototypes

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The most typical instance or best example of a particular concept

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Exemplars (examples = ?)

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Individual instances, held in memory, of a concept or category ;

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Exemplar model

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Form a concept of an object, event, animal, or person by defining or making a mental list of the essential characteristics of a particular thing

Problems

1)Toomany features

2)Toomany exceptions

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Formal concept

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mentalcategory formed by learning the rules or features that define it

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Prototype theory

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◦Form a concept by creating a mental imagebased on the average characteristics of an object (prototype)

◦To identify a new object, match to analready formed prototype of objects, people, or animals

◦AdvantagesDon’thave for form mental image of every possible feature

◦Allowsfor quick recognition

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Problem solving

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Involvessearching for some rule, plan, or strategy that results in reaching a certaingoal that’s currently out of reach

◦ Occursin 3 states:

1)Initialstate

2)Operationsstate

3)Goalstate

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Problemsolving strategies include...

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1.Trialand Error

2.Algorithms

3.Heuristics

4.Insightavailable

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Algorithms

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strategythat involves following a specific rule, procedure, or method that inevitablyproduces the correct solution

Algorithms,which are very time consuming, exhaust all possibilities before arriving at asolution.

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Heuristics

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rules of thumb, or clever and creativemental shortcuts, that reduce the number of operations to solve problems moreeasily and quickly

Heuristics are lesstime consuming, but more error-prone than algorithms

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Instinct

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asudden, often novel, realization of a solution (not really a strategy at all)

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Types of Heuristics

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1. Representative heuristics

2. Availability heuristics

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Availability heuristic

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saysthat we rely on information that’s more prominent or easily recalled andoverlook other information that’s available but less prominent or notable

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Representativeness Heuristic

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Judging the likelihood of things orobjects in terms of how well they seem to represent, or match, a particularprototype

EX. If you meet a slim, short, man whowears glasses and likes poetry, what do you think his profession would be?

An Ivy league professor or a truckdriver?

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Intuition

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coming to an effortless conclusion ormaking a judgment without conscious awareness of a thought process

enablesquick reactions, which have beenfound to be based on unconscious perceptions based on expertise

when amounting to overfeeling and underthinking, can be based on gut fears or prejudice

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Framing effects

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howan issue is presented, or framed, can significantly affect thought processes,judgments, and decisions

Which sounds better: ground beefthat is 75 percent lean, or ground beef that has 25 percent fat?

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Confirmation bias

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searchingfor information that supports our preconceptions(personal bias) and to ignore or distortcontradictory information

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Overconfidence

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overestimatingthe accuracy of our own knowledgeauto-save

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Belief perseverance

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clingingto one’s initial conceptions even after the basis on which they were formed hasbeen discredited

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Insight activates this part of the brain

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Temporal cortex

(takes about 0.3 seconds)

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Fixation

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inabilityto see a problem from a new perspective

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Mental set

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tendencyto approach a problem with a mind-set that has worked in the past

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functional fixedness

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characterized by the inability to see an object as having a function differentfrom its usual one

(this is an example of a fixation)

EX. matchstick problem

EX. 9-Dot test

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Insight

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thesudden grasp on knowledge after multiple incorrect attempts

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Creative thinking

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combinationof flexibility in thinking and reorganization of understanding to produceinnovative ideas and new or novel solutions

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Creative individual

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someonewho regularly solves problems, fashions products, or defines new questions thatmake an impact on his or her society

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Convergent thinking

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beginswith a problem and ends with a single correct solution

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Divergent thinking

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beginswith a problem and ends with many different solutions

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Characteristics of creative people

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(Not necessarily related to IQ)

1)One area focus

2)Are able to change mental direction, usemental images and consider things from multiple angles

3)Are more confident, independent,unconventional and hard working

4)Intrinsically motivated

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Language

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specialform of communication in which we learn and use complex rules to form andmanipulate symbols (words and gestures) that are used to generate an endlessnumber of meaningful sentences

ourspoken, written, or signed words and the ways we combine them as we think andcommunicate

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Through language, we...

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transfer meaning from one mind to another:

1) communicatingday-to-day

2) transferringaccumulated knowledge acrossgenerations

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Language characteristics

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1) Followsspecific rules in a highly structured system

2) Creativeor generative: an infinite number of phrases and sentences can be generated

3) Possessesthe possibility of displacement, or communicating about things, ideas, etc.that are not physically present

4) Symbolsare required for written language or sign language

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Word

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Arbitrarypairing between a sound/symbol and a meaning

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Grammar

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Setof rules for combining words into phrases and sentences to express an infinitenumber of thoughts that can be understood by others

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Word

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Arbitrarypairing between a sound/symbol and a meaning

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Grammar

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Setof rules for combining words into phrases and sentences to express an infinitenumber of thoughts that can be understood by others

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Phonology

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specifieshow we make the meaningful sounds used by a particular language

Phonological rules indicate how phonemes can be combined to produce speech sounds

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Phonemes

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basic sounds of consonants and vowels

EX. dogs = duh - oh - g - s = (4 phonemes)

individualspeech sound (e.g., “ee” in “feet”)

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Morphology

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systemthat we use to group phonemes into meaningful combinations of sound and words

Morphologicalrules indicate how morphemes can be combined to produce words

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Morpheme

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smallest meaningful combination of sounds in a language

EX. dogs = dog - s (2 morphemes)

smallestmeaningful unit of language; can be prefixes, suffixes, or words (e.g., “re-”,“-er”, or “use”)

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Language Development

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Infantswho are 4-months-old are preverbal. They do not speak using words or languagebut can discriminate speech sounds and read lips.

Children learn their nativelanguages much before learning to add 2+2.

We learn, on average (after age 1),3,500 words a year, amassing 60,000 words by the time we graduate from highschool.

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Languagestages

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Refers to all infants going through four different periods or stages: babbling, single words, two-word combinations, and sentences

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Babbling

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begins at about six months; the first stage in acquiring language

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Single word

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occursat about one year of age

parentese(emphasizes tone of voice and words)

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Two-word combinations

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occursat about two years of agestringsof two words that express various actions (“me play”)

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Sentences

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occursat about four years of age

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Basic rules of grammar

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Rules for combining nouns, verbs,adjectives, and other parts of speech to form meaningful sentences

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Telegraphic speech

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Distinctive pattern of speaking in whichthe child omits articles (the), prepositions (in, out), and parts of verbs

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Overgeneralization

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Applying a grammatical rule to caseswhere it shouldn’t be used

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Innate language factors

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geneticallyprogrammed physiological and neurological features that facilitate our makingspeech sounds and acquiring language skills

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Innate physiological factors

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specialadapted vocal apparatus (larynx and pharynx) that let us make sounds and formwords

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Innate neurological features

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lefthemisphere of the brain is prewired to acquire and use language, whether spokenor signed

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Innate developmental factors

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criticallanguage period

timefrom infancy to adolescence when language is easiest to learn

moredifficult to learn anytime after adolescence

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Children & Language

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Childhoodis a critical period for fully developing certain aspects of language. Childrennever exposed to any language (spoken or signed) by about age 7 gradually losetheir ability to master any language.

Childhoodis a critical period for learning language: if language and speech are not usedthen, the neurons which support these skills become pruned

Languageacquisition of a first language is very difficult after age 7 and likelyimpossible after age 13

Second-languagelearning more difficult once adolescence begins

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What are environmental factors?

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Interactionschildren have with parents, peers, teachers, and others who provide feedbackthat rewards and encourages language development, as well as providesopportunities for children to observe, imitate, and practice language skills

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Social cognitive learning

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Emphasizesthe acquisition of language skills through social interactions, which givechildren a chance to observe, imitate, and practice the sounds, words, andsentences they hear from their parents or caregivers

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LanguageAcquisition: Behaviorist Explanation

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association ofthe sights of things with sounds of words

imitation ofthe words and syntax modeled by others

reinforcement withsmiles and hugs when something is said correctly

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LanguageAcquisition: Nativist Explanation

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Humanbrains are equipped with a language acquisition device (LAD) that facilitatesthe learning of language.

Universalgrammar underlies human language; it provides children with an innateunderstanding of how words are combined in an appropriate structure and order.

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Languageprocessing becomes concentrated in two brain regions...

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Broca’sarea - involvedin language production

Wernicke’sarea involvedin language comprehension

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Noam Chomsky’s theoryof language

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saysthat all languages share a common universal grammar and that children inherit amental program to learn this universal grammar

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Mental grammar

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Braincontains a program that allows us to combine nouns, verbs, and objects in anendless variety of meaningful sentences

Thisis a built-in, innate brain programmakeslearning the general rules of grammar relatively easy

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LinguisticDeterminism

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Whorf (1956) suggested thatlanguage determines the way we think. For example, he noted that the Hopipeople do not have the past tense for verbs. Therefore, the Hopi cannot thinkreadily about the past.

Whorf:Language itself shapes a man’s basic ideas

Psycholinguistsask: Does language determine thought or merely influence it?

Researchshows that it is realistic to argue that language influences thought, notdetermines it.

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Cognitionand language are inextricably linked

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Language gives you a structure to organize, share, and remember your thoughts

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Rules forLanguage

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1)Learninga set of abstract symbols

2)Usingabstract symbols

3)Learningcomplex rules of grammar4)Generateendless number of meaningful sentences

Differsfrom basic communication