2nd test PSYC 250

Language

A symbolic system that combines a limited number of signals (sounds,letters, gestures)to produce an infinite number of messages.

Generativity

ability to combine a finite set of words to generate an infinite number of sentences and ideas.

Components of language

Phonemes, morphemes, semantics, syntax, and pragmatics.

Phonemes

Basic units of sound in a language that can change the meaning of a word. Ex. R vs. L - rake, lake

Phonological development

The process of learning the sounds used in a language.

Morphemes

smallest units of meaning in a language, which can be composed of one or more phonemes. Ex. dog vs. dogs. Prefixes and suffixes.→ view, preview, review.

Syntax

set of rules for turning words into sentences. Ex. Subject-verb-object

Semantics

study of meaning in language, including the meaning of words and sentences.

Pragmatics

The rules governing how language is used appropriately in different social contexts.Understands conversational convention: turn-taking, change in tone. Consider: who the listener is & what they know

• what the listener needs or wants to hear

• context and intention (not just actual words) e.g., “Do you know what time it is

Prosody

How the sounds are produced, including pitch, intonation, and stress/accentation of certain syllables.

Language comprehension

ability to understand language, which develops before speech production.

Perceptual narrowing

The process where infants become less sensitive to stimuli that are not commonly experienced. infants lose the ability to distinguish between phonemic contrasts within the first year

Word segmentation

The ability to discover where words begin and end in spoken language.

Distributional properties

The tendency for certain sounds in a language to occur together more frequently than others. Ex. In “pretty baby,” /pre/ + /ty/ occur together more often than /ty/ + /ba/

Speech perception

The process of recognizing and interpreting spoken language.

Infants' phonemic contrast

Infants can initially distinguish between phonemic contrasts in all languages, but this ability diminishes by the end of the first year.

Speech perception: word segmentation experiment

An experiment where infants listened to a string of words in a made-up language to test their ability to segment words. Results: they looked more at the speaker that were talking in make-up language. Infants are inferring when the end and beginning of a word.

Turn-taking

A conversational convention in pragmatics that involves alternating speaking turns.

Whole object assumption

Children think that the whole object itself is the word instead of a part, property, or action.

Shape bias

Children expect things that have the same shape to be referred to by the same word, regardless of size or colour.Ex. Book

Joint attention

When two people focus on the same object. Infants watch a parent point to or label something and learn the word by connecting it to the object (e.g., parent points to a cat → baby learns “cat”).

Mutual exclusivity

The assumption that one object has one word, leading to mapping new words to novel things.Ex. Rubber duck vs. Balloon. Bilingual/trilinguals will look at both things since they might think that it might be a third language.

Speech production: Neonates

"Neonates produce sounds such as cries and grunts."

Speech production: 6-8 weeks

"At this stage, infants begin to squeal, blow raspberries, and coo."

Speech production: 3-4 months

"Infants start producing consonant sounds like 'da', 'ba', and 'ma'."

Speech production: 4-6 months

"Babbling occurs, which consists of consonant-vowel combinations."

Speech production: 8 months

"Babbling begins to include an accent."

Speech production: 10-15 months

"Infants say their first words and understand about 50 words, using simplification strategies."

Omit

"A simplification strategy where a part of a word is removed, e.g., 'banana' becomes 'nana'."

Substitute

"A simplification strategy where a difficult part of a word is replaced, e.g., 'brother' becomes 'baba'."

Reorder

"A simplification strategy where the hardest part of a word is placed at the beginning, e.g., 'spaghetti' becomes 'pisketti'."

Speech production: 12 months

Holophrastic period- Infants can use 1 word to do an entire sentence. Ex. Drink → I want a drink.

Speech production: 18 months

vocabulary spurt (est. new word/ 2 hrs) Overextension. Underextension

Overextension

Using a word to refer to too wide a range of objects or events, e.g., 'doggie' for all four-legged animals.

Underextension

"Using a general word to refer to a smaller set of objects, e.g., calling all type of candy 'candy'."

Speech production : 18-24 months

Telegraphic speech: children can form sentences using only necessary words, omitting articles and conjunctions.

Nurture / Learning theory of language

Propose that children learn language through imitation and reinforcement from their environment.

Nature / Nativists theory of language

"Argue that humans are biologically programmed to acquire language, equipped with a universal grammar."

Universal grammar

"A system of common rules and properties for learning any of the world’s languages, as proposed by Chomsky."

Generativity

"The ability of children to create novel sentences rather than just repeating what they hear."

"Overregularization"

"Errors in language where irregular forms are treated as regular, e.g., saying 'goed' instead of 'went'."

"Syntax Knowledge"

"Understanding the rules that govern sentence structure and word order."

"Stable Word Order"

"Consistent arrangement of words in sentences, such as 'eat cookie' instead of 'cookie eat'."

"Syntactic Rules"

"General grammatical principles that dictate how sentences are formed."

Critical Period

A specific time frame during which language acquisition is most effective, typically between ages 5 and puberty.

Evidence for critical period for language: Feral Children

Children who have been isolated from human contact . Genie, she can learn/ produce some words, but had trouble with syntax.

Evidence for critical period: Second language learners- Immigrants went to the US at different ages

IV: Age at arrival in US DV: Grammar test (score) Results: Performance on a test of English grammar was directly related to the age at which they came to the US.

Intelligence

A measurable trait or set of traits that varies among individuals, often assessed through standardized IQ tests.

2 Factor Theory

Intelligence includes general ability (g) across tasks and specific abilities (s) for particular skills. Support for G: performance on all intellectual tasks is correlated people who do well on one task usually do well on others) Ex. Quantitative, verbal, visual reasoning. support for S: individuals might score low on a particular measure/task (e.g., memory for words)

Fluid Intelligence

The ability to solve new problems and think on the spot, not reliant on prior knowledge. Ex. Escape room. Street smarts.

Crystallized Intelligence

Knowledge gained through education and life experiences, such as vocabulary and facts.

Decline in Fluid Intelligence

The decrease in the ability to think quickly and solve problems, often observed in older age. Peaks at 20, then declines. Reason: Since they are timed, Performance on timed tests decline more in old age. Also may be linked to the slowing of central nervous system functioning.

"General Intelligence (g)"

"A broad measure of cognitive ability that correlates across various intellectual tasks."

"Specific Abilities (s)"

"Individual skills or talents that may not reflect overall intelligence, such as memory for words."

3 Stratum Theory

theory of intelligence that posits a top factor of general intelligence influencing a set of abilities and specific processes. General intelligence influences small set of abilities which influences specific processes.

Measuring Intelligence: How did early intelligence testing begin

1904, France introduced universal elementary education and noticed some children struggled more than others.Made a objective test to identify children who needed extra help rather than relying on teacher opinions

"Stanford-Binet Test"

"An intelligence test that measures various cognitive abilities in children and adults."

WISC : Weschler Intelligence Scale for Children

For ages 6-16, assessing general and specific cognitive abilities.

WAIS Weschler Adult Intelligence Scale,

Gives score on general intelligence based on several sub-components (and many tasks)

IQ Score

A quantitative measure of intelligence relative to others of the same age, with an average score of 100."

Intellectual Disability

A condition characterized by an IQ score of 70 or below.

Giftedness

A term for individuals with an IQ score of 130 or above.

"School Achievement

The correlation between IQ scores and academic performance, indicating that higher IQs often predict better grades.

Occupational Status

The classification of jobs based on the level of education and skill required, often correlated with IQ.

Environmental Impact

Factors such as poverty and access to education that can influence intellectual development.

Genetics

The hereditary factors that can affect an individual's IQ, with adopted children's scores correlating more with biological parents.

"Cognitive Abilities"

"Skills such as attention, perception, memory, reasoning, and verbal comprehension that are measured in intelligence tests."

"Developmental Differences"

"Variations in intelligence test performance across different ages and stages of life."

"Chronic Inadequate Diet"

"A factor that can disrupt brain development and negatively impact IQ."

"Emotional Distress"

"A consequence of conflicts in the home that can interfere with a child's learning and intellectual development."

"Access to Healthcare"

"Availability of medical services that can affect school attendance and overall cognitive development."

"Gene-Environment Interaction"

"The interplay between genetic makeup and environmental factors in influencing traits and behaviors."

"Behaviour Genetics"

"The study of how genetic and environmental factors affect behavior and development."

"Variance"

"The measure of how much a set of numbers differ from each other or how spread out they are."

Heritability Score

A estimate that applies to a specific group, environment, and time, indicating genetic contribution to trait variance

High Heritability

When the environment is very similar for everyone, so differences in the trait are mostly due to genetic differences.
Ex. Height in a country where everyone has similar nutrition

Low Heritability

"Suggests that environmental factors play a significant role in the differences observed in a trait."

"Genetic Contribution"

"The influence of genetic factors on an individual's traits or behaviors."

"Environmental Contribution"

"The influence of external factors and experiences on an individual's traits or behaviors."

"Population Variance"

"The variability of a trait measured across a specific group of individuals."

"Environmental Factors"

"External influences that can affect an individual's development and behavior."

"Genetic Makeup"

"The specific set of genes that an individual possesses."

"Influence Separation"

"The challenge of distinguishing the effects of genetics from those of the environment."

Heritability

how much differences between people on a trait that’s caused by genetics. score applies to a particular group in a particular environment at a particular time.

Why can’t we say a person’s intelligence is a certain percentage genetics and environment

Because intelligence requires both genes and experience. A person would not have intelligence without genetic makeup and environmental experiences, so their contributions cannot be separated into exact percentages for an individual.

Self concept

How you view yourself and your perceptions of your attributes and traits. (Internal)

Self- esteem

Evaluate and feel about yourself. (Internal)

Identity

Who you are, how you fit into society. Descriptions or categories (external)

Animals that show awareness of self

elephant, dolphin, chimps, orangutans

Concept of self: 3-4 yrs

Can talk about concrete, observable characteristics. Physical activities, abilities, psychological traits, knows their preferences & possessions. Unrealistically confident.

Concept of self: 8-11 yrs-

Does social comparisons, has opposing self-representation (ex. I’m smart in something, but dumb in ..) more realistic and based on other’s evaluations

Concept of self: 11-13 yrs

Has abstract descriptions, talk about their different selves around different people.

Personal fable

form of adolescent egocentrism that involves beliefs in the uniqueness of one’s own feelings & thoughts. And causes them to be preoccupied with what others think of them. Ex. My parents dont know what it’s like to be a teen.

Imaginary Audience:

belief that everyone is watching and judging you, especially your appearance and behaviour. This comes from adolescent egocentrism, where teens feel like they are the center of others’ attention

Concept of self: 15 yrs

Feels conflicted about inconsistencies in behaviors and characteristics. introspective (“Who am I?”). feel confused & concerned.

Concept of self: >18 yrs-

self is more integrated. less determined by others. Has own values, beliefs, standards. Thinks for future self (who they are becoming or want to be)

Erikson’s psychosocial stage theory

8 stages characterized by a specific crisis (or set of developmental issues) that a person must resolve)

Erikson’s psychosocial stage 1: trust vs. Mistrust

Age: Birth— 1yr. Try to develop a sense of trust in caregivers. If doesn’t develop, will have trouble forming intimate relationships in later life. Skepticism is also adaptive.

Erikson’s psychosocial stage 2: Autonomy vs. Shame and doubt

Age 1-3yrs. Learns to be autonomous, if not person will doubt abilities. Supportive environment = achieve self-control and esteem. Punishment/ridicule = doubt

Erikson’s psychosocial stage 3: initiative vs. Guilt

Age: 3-6 yrs. Try to develop initiative (carrying out plans) but learning not to impinge on rights of others.