AP Psychology Language & Cognition

Cognition

process whereby we acquire and use knowledge; key elements: reviewing the past, contemplating the future, thinking about possibility; thinking

language

a flexible system of communication using sounds, rules, gestures, or symbols to convey information; is semantic (meaningful)-gives detailed information; displacement-allows communication over time; productive-create new words to communicate

phonemes

basic sound units; indicates change in meaning; universal; 45 phonemes in English, up to 85 in other languages; string together to create morphemes; examples:/s/, /z/, /ch/, /th/, /k/, etc.

morphemes

smallest meaningful units of speech; simple words, suffixes, prefixes; examples: red, hot, calm, -ed, pre-

surface structure

the particular words and phrases used to make up a sentence

deep structure

the underlying meaning of a sentence

grammar

language rules; determines how sounds and words can be combined; used to communicate meaning within a language; has two components: syntax and semantics; meaning is often determined by word order; Noam Chomsky; allows people to make transformation from surface to deep structure in sentences

semantics

criteria for assigning meaning to the morphemes in a language; influenced by Noam Chomsky; content of language; evidence by surface and deep structure

**meaning from sound

syntax

Noam Chomsky; system of rules that governs how words are combined/arranged to form meaningful phrases and sentences; determined by word order

image

nonverbal; visual, auditory, olfactory; mental representations; Einstein felt that scale in visualizing abstract concepts lead to insights; can be manipulated mentally (Shepard and Metzler) geometric patterns

concept

mental categories; classifying objects, people, or experiences; can be modified to better manage experience; example-dogs, books, cars<-- objects in world; fast, strong, interesting<-- things, people, events

information retrieval

the idea that language affects our ability to store and retrieve information as well as our ability to think about things; evidence by linguistic determinism; pulled info from long-term memory

prototype

Rosch; mental model; model that contains the most typical features of concept; example: cat-pale, whiskers, meow, clause, for, ears

Idealized Cognitive Model (ICM)

Rosch; expands on prototypes; concept + schema; example: mother

problem representation

first step in problem-solving; interpreting or defining a problem

trial and error

problem-solving strategy; best if there are limited choices; takes time to try all approaches; try one approach, fail; and another until you succeed; guarantees a solution

algorithm

problem-solving strategy; step by step method that guarantees a solution; must be appropriate for the problem to be use; math is a good example

heuristic

problem-solving strategy; rule of Tom; does not guarantee a solution; simplifies a problem so a solution may be found; four types: hillclimbing, subgoals, means-end analysis, and working backward

hillclimbing

a heuristic; each set move to progressively closer to a final goal; simple; example: balancing a budget, reduce expenses to a smaller deficit

subgoals

a heuristic; break problem into smaller, more manageable pieces; example: Hobbits and Orcs problem

means-end analysis

a heuristic; probably most use; combines hillclimbing and subgoals; analyze a difference between the current situation and the desired outcome, then do something to reduce the difference; does not preprint detours from final goal; example: pitcher's strategy with best batter-ultimate goal-to win game and keep batters off the base, a walk the best batter to eliminate more runs

working backward

a heuristic; used when means end analysis strays from goal; begin with goal and work backwards towards the "givens"; used when goal has more information than the givens and when the operations involved work two ways; example: $100 to spend, buy one item and subtract $100 to determine how much is left

set

mental set; tendency to perceive and approach problems in certain ways; determines what information we retrieved from memory to help us find a solution (includes heuristics and algorithms); flexibility comes from multiple sites to choose from (switch or abandon sets); pandered by function fixedness

functional fixedness

a hindrance to problem-solving; "assigning" an object in one function (which is how we form concepts); seeing a limited number of uses for an object; example: what can use a pencil for? A brick?

Tactic of elimination

problem-solving strategy; less all possible solutions then discard all solutions that seem to lead in the wrong direction

visualizing

basic building blocks of thought; diagramming a course of action

divergent thinking

thinking outside the box; generating as many unique answers as possible

convergent thinking

only one answer; answers are narrow in focus; example: math problems

compensatory model

a rational decision making model; choices are rated on various criteria (attractive criteria offset or compensate for unattractive features); example: buying a car-1. Higher price, better gas mileage 2. Lower price, lower mpg which do you buy ?

noncompensatory model

decision making model; where criteria is not so rational; example: car buying-hinges on car color

representativeness

heuristic; decision making model; new situation judged on its resemblance to a stereotypical model; example: you buy an expensive clothes and they fall apart, he judged anything inexpensive to be cheap therefore it is representative of the quality

availability

decision-making heuristic; judgment or decision is based on information that is most easily retrieved; type of: Subway Effect-law of nature that you are situation seldom occurs and we adjust accordingly (the other line his faster, until you give in it)

confirmation bias

decision-making heuristic; tendency to look for evidence in support of a believe and to ignore evidence to disprove the believe; seeing patterns of cause and effect when there is any pattern; example: AIDS, chocolate and acne

linguistic-relativity hypothesis

Benjamin Whorf; thinking patterns based on specific languages; evidence by linguistic determinism

figurative language

expressive language; smiles and metaphors

telegraphic speech

early speech; stage of one and two-year-olds that omits nonessential words; often used by primates; example: more milk!

Framing

perspective or phrasing of information used to make a decision; studies on survival and mortality framing

hindsight bias

tendency to view outcomes as inevitable and predictable after we know the outcome, and believe that we could have predicted what happened; "I knew it all along"

linguistic determinism

idea of the patterns of thinking are determined by the specific language one speaks; Benjamin more; example: Hopi language as to nouns for "flies"-one for birds and one for everything else; Dani limited color terminology-light/dark

counterfactual thinking

thinking about alternative realities and things that never happened; what ifs

Language Development:

1. Babbling Stage

2. 1-Word Stage

3. 2-Word Stage

4. Longer Phrases

ANOTHER word for two word stage

telegraphic stage

age of babbling stage

4 mouths old

age of 1-word stage

1-2 years old

age of 2-word stage

2 years old

age of longer phrases stage

2.5 - 3 years old

components of creativity (5)

1. Expertise (knowledge)

2. Imaginative thinking skills (new ways to look at things)

3. Venturesome Personality

4. Intrinsic motivation (drive from within)

5. Environment (lets you be creative)

is signing a type of language?

yes

Behavior Approach to learning language (2 prongs)

• Behavior — Reinforcement — Imitation

• latent learning (do not realize) of the language

**dependent on a cultivating environment

Cognitive Approach to learning language

Children must understand a concept before learning the language, making it an intelligence marker.

**learning from adults around them

Whorf’s Linguistic Determinism Theory Defined

the idea that language shapes thought and perception.

what does Whorf’s Linguistic Determinism Theory suggest about speakers of different languages?

suggesting that speakers of different languages experience the world differently.

Whorf’s Linguistic Determinism Theory Example

Inuit people have a much deeper understanding of snow compared to other cultures because their language (Inuktitut) has many different words to describe various types of snow, suggesting that their language shapes their perception of the snowy environment

Whorf’s Linguistic Determinism Theory Critique

The differences in language might be found in cultural knowledge as opposed to pure linguistic structures.

if you have better encoding skills

you have better social skills

if you have better recollection skills

you have a higher intelligence

if you have better memory skills

you have better learning skills

if you have better cognitive skills

you have better language skills

Convergent Thinking:

narrowing to get correct answer

Divergent Thinking:

expanding to multiple answers to look at differing points of view