Language, Thought, and Communication

sensorimotor stage

At this stage, babies are still discovering what their bodies can do, including the ability to make sounds. 

preoperational stage

At this stage, children are egocentric and focus only on themselves. 

concrete operational stage

At this stage, The ability to use language has developed significantly however children use it to talk about actual concrete things.

formal operational stage

At this stage, they can use language to talk about abstract, theoretical ideas.

What are the 4 stages of development?

sensorimotor stage, preoperational stage, concrete operational stage, formal operational stage

Who developed Sapir-Whorf Hypothesis?

Edward Sapir and Benjamin Whorf

Sapir-Whorf

This theory states that our thoughts and behaviors are affected and formed by the language we speak.

How animals communicate?

vocalization

Pheromones

can be used to convey a variety of different messages including the location of food.

Eye contact

is believed to be used as a way to display dominance by the monkeys because they perceived the researchers as threatening.

Karl Von Frisch

He found that bees used the straight part of the dance to communicate where the food source was in relation to the current position of the sun.

Productivity

is the ability to create an unlimited number of different messages.

Displacement

is the ability to communicate about things that are not present or events that have yet to happen in the future.

Non-verbal communication

can be simply defined as a way of conveying messages without the use of words.

Pupil dilation

has also been found to express emotion.

Dilation

is when the pupils expand and look larger.

posture

is used to communicate dominance, threat and submission.

Touch

is another form of non-verbal communication and a powerful signal that can produce unconscious emotional reactions.

serviceable behavior

is one that has a purpose, for example, humans may have used biting as an early form of self-defense.

Yuki’s study of emoticons

suggests the way we interpret facial expressions is in part due to culture and nurture (learning).

eye muscles

are not as easy to control as those around the mouth and therefore the eyes may be seen as the most truthful facial cue in cultures that limit their emotional expressions (such as Japan).

Dyslexia

is a specific learning disability that primarily affects reading and spelling.

Specific Language Impairment

is a developmental language disorder where individuals experience difficulties with language acquisition despite having no obvious cognitive or sensory impairments.

Speech Sound Disorders

 involve difficulties in producing speech sounds correctly.

Schizophrenia

is a severe mental disorder characterized by a range of symptoms, including hallucinations, delusions, disorganized thinking, and impaired emotional regulation. 

Phonology

refers to the study of the sounds used in a language, including the organization and rules governing these sounds.

Syntax

involves the structure and arrangement of words to form grammatically correct sentences in a language.

Semantics

is the study of meaning in language, focusing on how words and sentences convey meaning.

Pragmatics

deals with the use of language in social contexts, considering factors such as tone, context, and the intentions of the speaker.

Encoding

The process of selecting the appropriate words, organizing them according to syntactic rules, and preparing to articulate or write a message.

Retrieval

Accessing relevant words, phrases, and grammatical structures from memory for use in communication.

Articulation or Writing

Physically producing spoken words or written symbols to convey the intended message.

Perception

Involves the reception of auditory or visual stimuli (spoken words or written text).

Decoding

The process of interpreting the meaning of words, sentences, and discourse based on phonological, syntactic, and semantic cues.

Integration

Bringing together individual elements to form a cohesive understanding of the communicated message.

Lexical Semantics

Understanding the meanings of individual words.

Syntactic Semantics

Grasping the meanings that arise from the arrangement of words in a sentence.

Pragmatic Semantics

Considering the social and contextual aspects that contribute to the meaning of a communication act.

Working Memory

Temporary storage and manipulation of linguistic information during language processing.

Executive Functions

Higher-order cognitive processes that regulate and control language production and comprehension.

Attention

Focusing cognitive resources on relevant linguistic information while filtering out distractions.