Language and Thought - Psy102

These flashcards cover key concepts related to the relationship between language and thought, linguistics, language development, problem-solving, and decision-making strategies.

Linguistic Relativity Hypothesis

The idea that the language you speak influences or determines how you think.

Weak Version of Linguistic Relativity

The assertion that the language you speak can influence your thinking.

Strong Version of Linguistic Relativity

The belief that the language you speak determines how you think.

Evidence for Weak Version of Linguistic Relativity

Research shows that language can influence thought, for example, by affecting color perception (e.g., Russian speakers distinguishing shades of blue faster).

Evidence for Strong Version of Linguistic Relativity

No strong evidence supports the idea that language determines thought; if it did, translation between languages would be impossible as speakers of different languages would perceive reality entirely differently.

Hierarchical Structure of Language

The organization of language into levels, from the smallest units of sound to complex sentences. These levels include phonemes, morphemes, words, phrases, and sentences.

Phonemes

The smallest units of sound in a language.

Phonology

The study of how sounds are organized and used in languages, focusing on the rules governing phonemes.

Phoneme-to-Letter Correspondence in English

English lacks a consistent one-to-one correspondence between phonemes (sounds) and letters (graphemes), meaning a single sound can be spelled in multiple ways, and a single letter can represent multiple sounds. This inconsistency makes reading and writing English challenging.

Morphemes

The smallest units of language that carry meaning.

Syntax

Rules for combining words to make sentences.

Semantics

Rules governing the meaning of words and sentences.

Pragmatics

The rules for using language appropriately in context, including understanding implied meanings, social cues, and non-literal speech. Pragmatic understanding helps grasp the deep structure (underlying meaning) of a sentence beyond its surface structure (literal wording).

Surface Structure

The literal wording of a sentence, as it is spoken or written.

Deep Structure

The underlying meaning of a sentence, which can be interpreted even if the surface structure varies (e.g., 'The cat chased the mouse' and 'The mouse was chased by the cat' have different surface structures but similar deep structures).

Cooing

The earliest form of vocalization in infants, consisting of elongated vowel sounds.

Babbling

The stage of language development where infants produce repetitive consonant-vowel combinations.

Expressive Jargon

A stage in infant language development (typically around 9-12 months) where infants produce babbling with intonation and rhythm that resembles adult speech, but without actual words.

First Words

The stage in language development (around 10-14 months) when children begin to use single words to refer to objects, actions, or people. This often includes overextension and underextension.

Telegraphic Speech

A simplified form of speech used by children that contains only the essential words to convey meaning.

Overgeneralizations

The application of regular grammatical rules to irregular cases (e.g., 'goed' instead of 'went', 'foots' instead of 'feet'). This demonstrates that children are actively learning and applying grammatical rules, rather than just imitating what they hear, which is why they produce forms they haven't heard.

Non-Human Primate Communication in the Wild

In their natural environments, non-human primates have complex communication systems (e.g., alarm calls, gestures) that serve specific functions, but these systems are generally limited to the 'here and now' and lack the productivity, syntax, and hierarchical structure characteristic of human language.

Non-Human Primate Language Abilities in Captivity

Through intensive training, some non-human primates (e.g., chimpanzees, bonobos) have demonstrated abilities to learn signs or use symbol systems to communicate, acquire vocabularies, and even combine symbols creatively. However, their acquisition of complex syntax and spontaneous generative use of language remains significantly less sophisticated than that of human children.

Usefulness of Categories

The ability to form categories allows us to organize vast amounts of information, make predictions about new objects or situations, respond efficiently, and generalize knowledge, thus making the world more manageable and predictable.

Defining Features vs. Family Resemblance

Psychologists have largely rejected the idea of 'defining features' (a set of necessary and sufficient conditions for category membership) because many categories have 'fuzzy boundaries'. Instead, they propose 'family resemblance', where category members share overlapping features but no single feature is common to all members (e.g., different types of games share some features but no one feature defines all games).

Basic Level Categories

Categories exist at many levels (e.g., 'vehicle' - superordinate; 'car' - basic; 'sedan' - subordinate). Basic level categories are the most natural and psychologically privileged level of categorization, being the most informative while still allowing for efficient processing and typically the first level children learn and adults name.

Well-defined Problems

Problems that have a clear goal, a known starting state, and a clear set of operations or rules for reaching the solution.

Ill-defined Problems

Problems that lack a clear goal, a clear starting state, or obvious methods for solving them, often requiring creativity and a deeper understanding of the problem space (e.g., 'finding happiness' or 'writing a novel').

Algorithm

A step-by-step procedure that guarantees a solution to a problem.

Heuristic

A cognitive shortcut that often leads to a solution but does not guarantee it.

Availability Heuristic

A cognitive bias that leads us to rely on immediate examples that come to mind when evaluating a specific topic or decision.