CH 9 Language and Thought

language (def)

communication system using signals combined through grammar rules to convey meaning

grammar (def)

rules specifying how language can be combined to produce meaningful messages

human language is _____ (more/less) complex than other forms of communication. it differentiates from other animal species because it is used to ____ and ____

[more] [think] [conceptualize]

there are _____ human languages

7,100

phoneme VS morpheme

phoneme: smallest unit of sound recognized as speech

morpheme: smallest meaningful unit of language (content vs function)

phonological rules VS morphological rules VS syntactical rules

phonological rules: rules indicating how phonemes combine to produce speech sounds

morphological rules: rules indicating how morphemes combine to form words

syntactical rules: rules indicating how words combine to form sentences and phrases (noun, verb, adjective, noun phrase, verb phrase → sentence)

3 characteristics of language development in children

1. children rapidly learn language

2. children make few errors when learning to speak

3. children’s language comprehension is faster than language production

describe the speech sound test

• infant watches toy animal while single speech sound plays

• sound and display change after a few repetitions

• if infant switches attention when sound changes, they are anticipating the new display = can discriminate between sounds

first words occur at ______ months

[10-12]

many aspects of language acquisition are completed by ____ years

[4-5]

name the 8 language milestones (month + milestone)

1. 0-4 months: differentiating phonemes

2. 4-6 months: babble consonants

3. 6-10 months: understand words, simple requests

4. 10-12 months: begin use of single words

5. 12-18 months: 30-50 word vocabulary

6. 18-24 months: 50-200 word vocabulary; two-word phrases using syntactical rules

7. 24-36 months: 1,000 word vocabulary; phrases and incomplete sentences

8. 36-60 months: 10,000 word vocabulary; full sentences, grammatical morphemes (-ed for past tense), function words, questions

over-regularizing (def, example)

evidence of children acquiring grammatical rules through errors

• ex/ you eated, i runned / throwed / catched

fast mapping

when children map words onto underlying concepts after a single exposure

telegraphic (two-word) speech (months developed, def)

24 months

• no function morphemes, mainly content words

the orderly progression of language development depends on…

[general cognitive development] [experience with a certain language]

name 3 theories of language development

1. behaviourist explanations

2. nativist explanations

3. interactionist explanations

behaviourist explanation (founder, def/theory)

language development theory by BF Skinner

• language learned through operant conditioning → word produces response/reinforcement or punishment

• not supported

nativist explanation (def/theory)

language development theory

• language is innate, its development is an innate biological capacity

• human brain is equipped with universal grammar (processing facilitating language learning)

elaborate on why nativist explanation is supported or disputed

• language ability is slightly separated from general intelligence (single dominant gene issues)

• language is harder to learn after puberty (1-5 yrs of age vs 9 yrs)

interactionist explanation (def/theory)

language development theory

• social interactions influence language

• social experience combines with innate biological language abilities to develop language

language development is allowed because as the brain _____, ______ of specific neurological _____ takes place

[matures] [specialization] [structures]

aphasia

difficulty in producing or comprehending language

• broca’s aphasia or wernicke’s aphasia

broca’s area

language production

• broca’s aphasia

wernicke’s area

language comprehension

• grammatical speech produced, but meaningless

• wernicke’s aphasia

broca’s aphasia VS wernicke’s aphasia

broca’s aphasia

• cannot produce sentences ; language production

wernicke’s aphasia

• can produce sentences without meaning ; language comprehension

linguistic relativity hypothesis (def, founder)

language shapes the nature of thought (benjamin whorf)

• theory is supported (ex/ perception of colour variations show differences between languages)

is the linguistic relativity hypothesis correct?

benjamin whorf created linguistic relativity hypothesis

• newer studies support the theory (names for colour tiles)

• whorf would be incorrect in stating that language directly determines thought

• whorf is correct in saying that language influences thought

language and thought are not the same thing

concept

mental representation grouping/categorizing shared features of stimuli/objects

conditions for concepts and categories

• necessary condition: true of the object to belong to the category

• sufficient condition: if true to the object, proves it belongs to the category

2 theories of concepts and categories

1. prototype theory

2. exemplar theory

prototype theory

theory of concepts and categories

• objects classified by comparing them to the “best”/most typical member of a cateogry

• prototype = the best/most typical member

exemplar theory

theory of concepts and categories

• category judgements made by comparing new object with all category members

• if we remember it belonging to the category, we classify it as such

category-specific deficit

neurological syndrome with inability to recognize objects belonging to certain categories

category-specific brain organization _____ (is/is not) innate. explain why

it might be - evidence suggests so

• blind adults display similar activity patterns of category-specific organization to sighted adults

rational choice theory

• apply it to the following example: 10% chance of $500 or 20% chance of $2000?

decisions are made by determining likeliness of something to occur, judging outcome value, then multiplying the two

• (500 × 0.1) and (2000 × 0.2)

• = $50 vs $400

people are good at estimating the ____ (ex: ____) of an event, but are poor at tasks requiring thinking in terms of ____ (ex:____)

[frequency: 1% or 5 cups of coffee] [probabilities: 1 in 100 people]

conjunction fallacy

thinking that two events are more likely to occur together than both events occurring individually

• is a fallacy b/c combined probability is always less than independent probability of each event

heuristics

fast strategy facilitating decision-making, but not guaranteeing that a solution will be reached

availability heuristic

items more readily available in memory are misconstrued as having occurred more frequently

representativeness heuristic

estimating the probability that something belongs to a specific category by comparing it to the category’s prototype

• the greater the similarity, the more likely the people in the descriptions are judged to be members of that category

[p] representativeness heuristic: define how it works for the following scenario

• you meet a quiet person wearing glasses

  • the prototype you have for science professions categories matches the person’s external features

you automatically assume that they are a science professional, ignoring statistical realities that sales/service jobs are more common probability-wise

algorithm

sequence of procedures or rules guaranteeing a solution to a problem

[p] how would you use an algorithm and heuristic to find guava juice at a grocery store?

framing effects

people giving different answers to the same problem depending on how it is phrased/framed

• sunk-cost fallacy is a framing effect

• functional fixedness is a framing effect

sunk-cost fallacy

making decisions about a current situation based on what they have previously invested in it

apply the sunk-cost fallacy to the following:

• a book you have spent 3 hours reading, but you do not find interesting

• a car that continuously needs repairs, that you have spent

• you have already spent 3 hrs of your life invested in the book, so you might not want to quit it

• it needs many repairs but you have already spent so much money on it you can’t let it go

prospect theory

how people make decisions when considering risks (evaluating potential losses when taking on risks) (evaluating potential gains and avoiding risks)

• compare choices to a reference point

in the prospect theory, people are more willing to take risks to ____ losses than to _____ gains

[avoid] [achieve]

2 major kinds of problems

• ill-defined problems (no clear goals or well-defined solutions)

• well-defined problems (clearly specified goals and solutions)

means-end analysis (def + steps)

(problem-solving)

process of searching for steps that reduce the difference between the current situation and the desired goal

1. analyze goal state

2. analyze current state

3. list differences btwn states

4. reduce differences:

   1. direct means

   2. subgoal

   3. find similar problem with known solution

analytical problem solving

(problem-solving)

solving problem by finding a similar problem with a known solution and applying it to the problem

insights involve the spontaneous _____ of a problem or unconscious _____ processes

[restructuring] [incremental]

functional fixedness

tendency to see the functions of objects as unchanging

there is a fundamental distinction in reasoning between the ____ of statements and the ____ of an argument

[truth] [validity]

reasoning (def)

mental activity of organizing information and beliefs into a series of steps to reach conclusions (logical)

belief bias

judgements about accepting conclusions depend on how believable they are instead of if the arguments are logically valid

• syllogistic reasoning

syllogistic reasoning

(belief bias)

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

explain why the following is an example of a valid syllogism:

• statement 1: all mammals are warm-blooded

• statement 2: all whales are mammals

  • conclusion: therefore all whales are warm-blooded

syllogistic reasoning determines a conclusion following 2 true statements

• this conclusion is valid because it must be true if its premises/statements are also true

1 is valid, 2 is invalid

• no cigarettes are inexpensive (therefore they are all expensive)

• some addictive things are inexpensive (cigarettes are all expensive)

• therefore cigarettes are NOT inexpensive, therefore they are NOT addictive

premise 2 is incorrect b/c

• no addictive things are inexpensive (therefore all addictive things are expensive)

• SOME cigs are inexpensive (indicating SOME are expensive)

• conclusion is not valid v/c some cigs are expensive, and therefore addictive

illusory truth effect

occurs when repeated exposure to statement increases likelihood that it is assumed to be true (repeated exposure causes familiarity)

illusion of explanatory depth

illusion occurring when people overestimate the depth of their understanding

• asking individuals to explain a concept can help them recognize the gaps in their knowledge