Ch 9: Language and Thought

language

a system for communicating with others using signals that are combined according to rules of grammar and that convey meaning

grammar

a set of rules that specify how the units of language can be combined to produce meaningful messages

phonemes

the smallest unit of speech that distinguish one word from one another (ex. m, ah-ee, th)

phonological rules

indicate how phonemes can be combined to form words

morphemes

the smallest meaningful units of language

morphological rules

indicate how morphemes can be combined to form words

content morphemes

things and events (ex. cat, dog)

function morphemes

serve grammatical functions (ex. but, and, -ed)

syntactic rules

indicate how words can be combined to form phrases and sentences

telegraphic speech

devoid of function morphemes and consist mostly of content words

nativist theory

language development is best explained as an innate, biological capacity

universal grammar

collection of processes that facilitate language learning, humans are born with an innate, biologically determined ability to learn language

aphasia

difficulty in producing or comprehending language

Broca’s aphasia 

understand language relatively well but they have increasing comprehension difficulty in grammatical structures

Wernicke’s aphasia

produce grammatical speech but it tends to be meaningless and they have difficulty comprehending language

linguistic relativity hypothesis

the idea that language shapes the nature of thought (correct version = language influences thought)

concept

mental representation that groups or categorizes shared features of related objects, events, or other stimuli

prototype theory

the concept that we classify new objects by comparing them to the “best” or “most typical” member of a category

exemplar theory

we make category judgements by comparing a new instance with stored memories of other instances in that category

category-specific deficit

a neurological syndrome characterized by an inability to recognize objects that belong to a particular category, even when the ability to recognize objects outside the category is undisturbed

rational choice theory

the classical view that we make decisions by determining how likely something is to happen, judging the value of the outcome, and then multiplying the two

availability heuristic

a rule of thumb that items that are more readily available in memory are judged as having occurred more frequently

heuristic

fast and efficient strategy that may facilitate decision making but does not guarantee that a solution will be reached

algorithm

a well-defined sequence of procedures or rules that guarantees a solution to a problem

representativeness heuristic

a mental shortcut that involves making a probability judgement by comparing an object or event with a prototype of the object or event

conjunction fallacy

people think that 2 events are more likely to occur together than the individual event

framing effects

people give different answers to the same problem depending on how the problem is framed

sunk-cost fallacy

a framing effect in which people make decisions about a current situation on the basis of what they have previously invested in the situation

optimism bias

people believe that, compared with other individuals, they are more likely to experience positive events and less likely to experience negative events in the future

prospect theory

explains how people make choices under risk, suggesting they are not always rational and evaluate potential gains and losses differently

means-ends analysis

a process of searching for the means or steps to reduce the differences between the current situation and the desired goal

analogical problem solving

an attempt to solve a problem by finding a similar problem with a known solution and applying that solution to the current problem

functional fixedness

the tendency to perceive the functions of objects as unchanging

reasoning

a mental activity that consists of organizing information or beliefs into a series of steps in order to reach conclusions

belief bias

the idea that people’s judgements about whether to accept conclusions depend more on how believable the conclusions are than on whether the arguments are logically valid

syllogistic reasoning

assesses whether a conclusion follows from 2 statements that are assumed to be true

illusory truth effect

an error in reasoning that occurs when repeated exposure to a statement increases the likelihood that people will judge the statement to be true

illusion of explananatory depth

an illusion that occurs when people overestimate the depth of their understanding

semantics

the relationship between symbols and the things they refer to

syntax

relation of signs to each other in formal structures

deep structure grammar

general sense of what speaker is talking about due to order of words, underlying + abstract meaning of a sentence

surface structure grammar

sentence diagram, actual visible and audible form

1. Babbling

2. One-word

3. Two-word

4. Sentences

4 stages of language acquisition

Babbling

production and detection of rudimentary speech and sounds, (4-6 months)

One-word stage

• production and detection of words

• 10-12 month

• social referencing and novelty mapping, category assumption, linguistic context

Social referencing

social cues that can direct intention (gestures, touching things, looking somewhere specific)

novelty mapping

encounter a new word and only 1 object you don’t know the name of, that new word stands for the unfamiliar object

category assumption

generalize knowledge of what 1 thing is to other things to define a category

Two-word stage

use syntax and telegraphic speech, 18-24 months

Sentence stage age

2+ years

The parsing problem

how the human brain rapidly structures a linear sentence of words into meaningful phrases and clauses to understand a sentence despite the ambiguity and complexity of language

Language acquisition device

children are born with a natural predisposition to learn grammar, when is then triggered and shaped by the linguistic input they receive from their environment

• stages always progress in same order

• existence of sensitivity periods

• dedicated brain structures (Wernicke’s and Broca’s areas)

• other species cannot acquire true language

Language acquisition device evidence

1. Mental representation

2. Problem solving

3. Decision making

Thinking

The amygdala

Part of the brain that codes info about the value of outcomes

prefrontal cortex

part of brain that uses info to guide decisions

Expected utility(A) = probability of outcome(A) x value of outcome(A)

Rational choice theory formula

gambler’s fallacy

false judgement that the probability of an event in a random sequence is dependent on preceding events

the “hot hand” fallacy

cognitive bias that incorrectly leads people to believe that a person who has a string of successes will have a higher chance of success in their next attempt

law of large numbers

larger sample = more likely to reflect population

misunderstanding chance, sample size neglect

gambler’s fallacy (hot hand) due to…

memory retrieval biases

availability heuristic due to…

base-rate neglect

representativeness heuristic due to…

base rate neglect, match to sample

conjunction fallacy due to…

prospect theory relativism

increasing absolute values have diminishing impacts

prospect theory loss aversion

losses are more impactful than gains

social brain theory

proposes that the evolution of large brains, particularly the neocortex, is a response to the demands of living in complex social groups

1. Pattern detection

2. Doing things

3. Doing things with other people

What is thinking for?