AQA GCSE Psychology Unit 5 - Language Thought and Communication

Piaget’s theory on language and thought

• readiness - children will only be able to do certain thing at the right stage of cofnitive development

• cognitive development leads to the groeth of language

• we develop schemas

• thought and understandng are necessary to use language

Evaluation of Piaget’s theory

• + children’s use of language in non random combinations shows that before they are fluent they have an understanding of relationships between objects

• -there is no objective evidence for the existence of schemas, which are a key part of piaget’s theory

• - the existence of an alternate theory which has support

Sapir-Whorf hypothesis on language and thought

• its impossible to 100% understand something you cant describe in words

• thought and behaviouirs are affected by language

• Strong version of SWH claims language determines thought

• Weak version of SWH claims language influences thought

Evaluation of the Sapir-Whorf Hypothesis

• + Bernstein argued that restriced code led to lower scored on intelligence tests

• + studies with tribes who have less words for colours show that a limited vocabulary made it harder for them to remember or recognise colours they previously saw

The Hopi

• whorf claimed the hopi had a ‘timeless’ language

• whorf argued that having a different system of time meant the hopi did not understand time the way english speakers do

Evaluation of the study of the Hopi

• - Whorf only spoke to one member of the Hopi

• - Other research suggests the hopi understand time similarly to how we do

The Zuni and the Berinmo

• Zuni and Berinmo have less words for colour than english speakers

• the tribespeople were noted to struggle with identifying recognising and recalling a wide range of colours

• therefore the limited number of words for colours made it difficult to recall specific colours

Evaluation of the study of The Zuni and the Berinmo

• studies with other tribes from new guinea who have less word for colours didnt show similar results

  • Therefore this doesnt prove that their lack of vocabulary affects their thought

Function of Animal communication: Survivual

• Function - To alert others to a threat

• Form:

  • Alarm calls to communicate the presence of a threat

  • Displays using size/ colour to make appearance more offputting to predator

Function of Animal communication: Repreoduction

• Function - let others know that it is ready to mate

• Form:

  • colourful display or competition used to attract opposite sex

  • pheremones released to inform opposite sex

Function of Animal communication: Territory

• Function - warning to others

• Form:

  • make loud noises

  • leave excrement

Function of Animal communication: Food

• Function - alert others to location of food

• Form:

  • directions to food

  • call for help with hunting

Human communication: Displacement

• can discuss the time and/or placve of future events

• can discuss things that happened in the past and occoured in a different place

Human communication: Open System

• Can create new sentences/ meanings by rearranging words

• can create an infinite number of new sentences

Animal communication is limited compared to human communication

• + animals use a closed system

• + animals can only talk about/in the present place and time

• - animals can use high freqency sounds to communicate over large distances

• - animals can use non verbal methods

• - some animals have their own equivalents of words

Von Frisch’s Bee study

• placed sugar water at different locations within 10-20m and up to 300m

• Observed and recorded the movement bees made when they returned to the hive to report food

  • when food was less than 100m away, bees would dance in a circular motion to signify food was close

  • Waggle dance- Bees would move in a figure of 8 pattern. In the middle straight section bee would show distance away from hive and the orientation of the 8 pattern would be the angle relative to the sun

Evaluation of Von Frisch’s bee study

• + Von frisch’s work was an important contribution to the sciences as it opened many peopels eyes to the capabilities of animals

• - Von frisch’ overlooked the importance of sound as a study in 1967 showed that if the dances were done in silence bees would not go to the food

• - Bees do not always respond to the waggle dance which goes against what Von frisch thought

Darwin’s Evolutionary Theory

• actions and characteristics which benefit an organism (serviceable habits) are more likely to be passed down

• Serviceable habits generally help with survival to reproduction age

• serviceable habits eventually become common to the point of being a key feature of a species

• aspects of NVC which are universal must have served a beneficial purpose

Evaluating Darwin’s Evolutionary Theory

• + babies who were blind from birth show similar facial expressions without having learned them

• - NVC is very varied across culture: any non universav behaviours are learned which means not all NVC can be explained from an ecolutionary perspective

Non-Verbal communication:Nurture

Reseach has shown that in different cultures people seem to prefer a range of different distances when talking to strangers

this shows that NVC with regards to spacing is learned

Hypothesis and Method of Yuki et al

• judgements made by americans will be based on the mouth while japanese judments will be based on the eyes

• 118 us students and 95 japanese students were presented with six emoticons with different combinations of sad neutral and happy eyes and mouths

Results and Conclusion of Yuki et al

• Japanese ppts rated happy eyed emoticons happier than US ppts

• US ppts rated happy-mouthed emoticons happier than the japanese ppts

• The results point to a connection between culture.

  • this is explainedaccording to the fact US culture (ind) allows for greater expression of emotion than japanese culture (coll)

Evaluation of Yuki et al

• - study wprked off the assumption that the USA and Japan were good representatives for induvidualistic and collectivistic cultures

• - low mundane realism because they looked at artificial faces

• +another study by yuki which used real faces yielded similar results