Psychology | Chapter 8

Language, Thinking, and Reasoning

Thinking

Any mental activity using learning, remembering, communication, believing, and deciding

Cognitive bias

Systematic error in thinking

Heuristics

Mental shortcuts to decrease the cognitive energy in thinking

What are two kinds of heuristics and one kind of bias?

• Representativeness heuristic

• Availability heuristic

• Hindsight bias

Whats the goal of these things?

Minimize the information we need for decision making

Representativeness heuristic

Judging the probability of an event by its superficial similarity to a prototype

• Ignores base rate (actual percentage that the thing occurrs in real life)

Availability heuristic

Estimating the likelihood of an event based on the ease that it comes to our minds with

Hindsight bias

Our tendency to overestimate how well we could have predicted something after it has already occurred

Top-down processing

Using our past experience to understand what we’re looking at

• Includes use of concepts and schemas

Concept

Things that share core properties

What is the view of Linguitsitc determinism?

The view that we represent all thinking linguistically

• Evidence thinks this is false

  • Children can preform cognitive tasks before they can speak

What is the view of Linguistic relativity?

The view that characteristics of languages shape our thought processes

• Language shapes some aspects of perception, memory, and thought

What does decision making involve? How are most daily decisions made?

System 1 and system 2 thinking

Most daily decisions are made implicitly

What is the significance of “framing?”

It has an impact on decisions even when the information is the same

• 5% chance of wining VS 95% chance of losing

Problem solving

Making a cognitive strategy to accomplish a goal

• We rely on algorithms to solve problems

What are algorithms?

Series of steps that always get the right answer

• Ex: Making a peanut butter and jelly sandwich

What are two obstacles to problem solving?

Mental sets and functional fixedness

Mental sets

Phenomenon of becoming stuck in a specific problem solving strategy, which stops us from generating alternatives

Functional fixedness

Difficulty understanding that an object can be used for more than one purpose

What does language allow for?

It allows for communication of information, as well as social and emotional functions.

Phonemes

Fundamental sounds

40-45 in english, probably 100 in total

Morphemes

Smallest units of meaning

• Convey information about semantics

  • Meaning that comes from words and sentences

Syntax

Rules for how sentences are put together

• Word order, sentence structure, morphological markers

Whats one thing about phonemes, morphemes, and syntax?

They are not usually related to what they refer (they’re arbitrary)

• Exceptions: onomatopoeia and sound symbolism

Onomatopoeia

Words that imitate the sounds they describe

• Ex: Buzz, meow, crunch

Extralinguistic Information

Elements of communication that aren’t part of the content of language but are critical to interpreting its meaning

• Tone, facial expressions, previous statements by others

Language dialects

Social groups and ethnic backgrounds cause variations in the same language

• Ex: “where you at” vs “what are you doing”

• Still use syntax rules

What are the advantages of language? (3)

• Communicating complex ideas

• Coordinates social interactions

• Helps in complex activities

What does “comprehension precedes production” mean?

We recognize words long before being able to say them

• Recognize name by 6 months old

• Recognize other words by 10-12 months

• Begin to produce words at 1 year

Syntactic development

Combining words into phrases

• Children change from 1 word statements to 2 words by 2 years of age

• Children can comprehend syntax rules before they can display them

How are sign language and verbal language the same?

• They use the same brain areas

• Developmental stages are the same in both types of language

What is the idea of the “critical period” in language development?

The younger you are the better you will learn a new language

• Not a strict critical period, but a sensitive period

• Genie’s case supports the critical period

What are 4 explanations of language acquisitions?

1) Imitation

2) Nativist

3) Social pragmatics

4) General cognitive processing

Imitation

Babies hear language and learn to use it like adults do

• Does not account for the generative nature of language, which means the infinite sentences that can be created using words

Nativist

Children are born with some basic knowledge of how language works

• Chomsky’s language acquisition device

  • Hypothetical construct in the brain where knowledge of syntax is kept

Social pragmatics

Specific aspects of the social environment structure language learning

• Requires assuming that infants have insights into others thoughts

General cognitive processing

Ability to learn language comes from skills that children apply across many activities

• However, children learn language better than adults even though adults are overall better at learning things

Language processing

Specific brain areas are recruited during language

Animal communication differs in…

The complexity and type of communication

• Scent, visual, vocal communication possible

• Most communication is geared toward mating and aggression

3 animals that have been tried to be taught english (with mixed results)

Chimpanzees, Bonobos, African grey parrot

• Humans remain unique in their ability to use language in sophisticated ways

Reading

Becomes an automatic process like language, and we can’t turn it off even when we try

What are the 4 things we must learn prior to reading?

1) Writing is meaningful

2) Writing moves in a specific direction

3) Recognizing letters of the alphabet

4) printed letters correspond to specific sounds

What are 2 more skills we must master to become experts?

Whole word recognition

• How words look on the page

Phonetic decomposition

• How to sound out unfamiliar words

What speed does the average student read at?

200-300 words per minute

Does comprehension drop the faster you read above 400 words per minute?

Yes, speed reading courses “work” by making you go faster, hut you dont’ understand as much