AQA GCSE psychology Language, thought and communication | Quizlet

schema

A mental framework of beliefs and expectations that influence cognitive processing.

Language and thought: Piaget's theory

-language depends on thought

-young children

-the development of language

-logical thinking

language depends on thought

the child's understanding of a schema comes first, then they learn how to express the understanding of it by words. Piaget's thinks that thought and understanding comes first and then language develops

young children

language exists without thought, but the child can use the language properly once they understand what they r talking about

the development of language

the children speak towards the end of sensorimotor stage, before the age of 1 they r developing schemas, coordinating sensory and motor information. in pre-operational stage the language can make a rapid progress

logical thinking

Concrete operational stage: By 7 children's language becomes mature and logical as they question things and create their own ideas.

strength

one strength is that it has supporting evidence tnat this theory isn't random. at the age of one the children r saying basic words and talk of some understanding of the world. this happens when the child develops the right schema

weakness

schemas can't be scientifically measured. you can't know what someone has developed a schema, without measuring there is no proof that schemas are there.

Language and thought: sapir-whorf hypothesis

-it suggests that the language a person speaks has a great influence on the way they think and perceive.

-thinking depends on language

-the strong version: language determines thought

-the weak version: language influences thought

-what version is better?

thinking depends on language (SW H)

The basic idea is:

If you don't have a word for something, it's harder to think about it.

For example:

Some languages have words for things that others don't (e.g. "schadenfreude" in German = taking pleasure in others' pain).

If your language doesn't have a word for a concept, you may struggle to fully understand or even notice it.

strong version: language determines thought

Your language controls your thinking completely.

You can only think things if you have words for them.

So, no word = no thought.

Example:If your language has no word for time (past/future), you can't think about time properly.

💬 Criticism:This version is too extreme — we can often think of things even if we don't have the exact word for them.

weak version: language influences thought

Weak Version: Language influences thought

Language shapes or guides the way you think, but it doesn't control it.

You can still have thoughts without words, but language makes certain ideas easier or more likely to come to mind.

Example:The Hopi people don't have words for time like "past" or "future", so they might experience or describe time differently — but they still understand the concept.

which version is better?

The weak version is more widely accepted.

It's supported by more evidence (e.g. studies on colour perception, memory, and cultural language differences).

It makes more sense: we can still think about things we don't have words for — just not as clearly or easily.

strength

it's a restricted and elaborated code by explaining the link between language and intelligence.Restricted code — Strengths:

Quick and efficient (good for fast, casual communication)

Strengthens group identity and bonds with people who share your background

Feels natural and comfortable in familiar groups

📖 Elaborated code — Strengths:

Better for explaining complex ideas clearly

Helps in education and formal settings (like writing essays, giving presentations)

Allows people from different backgrounds to understand each other more easily

Supports critical thinking and problem-solving

Why this matters:

Bernstein argued that middle-class children tend to use both codes, especially elaborated, which gives them an advantage in school.

Working-class children may mostly use restricted code, which can be a disadvantage in education if teachers mainly use elaborated code.

weakness

a weakness is that just because of culture doesn't mean that the word came first. If the inuit language does have more words for snow, the most important question is why in this case.

Language and thought: our view of the world

VARIATION IN RECALL OF EVENTS

-native American cultures

-native americans: The Hopi

-Language affects recall of events

VARIATION IN RECOGNITION OF COLOURS

-native americans: The Zapi

-language affects recall of colour

Variation in recall of events: Native americans : the hopi

Hopi don't distinguish past, present and future. This affects the way they think about time.

Evaluation for hopi

One weakness is that Whorf's conclusions about Hopi were based on one individual. Other people have said that the way that Hopi recalls events isn't that different from English speakers.

Recall of events: language affects the recall of events

Memory for pictures affected by labels given, the picture had been influenced by the verbal label that the participant heard

evaluation of language affects recall of events.

one weakness is that we aren't interpreting ambiguous images every day in our life.

Variation in recognition of colours: native americans: the zuni

Zuni people have only one word for shades of orange and yellow, an in a research study had difficulty in distinguishing between them.

evaluation of native americans the Zuni

one weakness is that the zuni people may have not understood what the task actually was, or the researchers may have not understood the answers.

language affects recall of colour

Bermino people had difficulty recalling colours as they only have five words for colour.

weakness

one weakness of this study is that some researchers have found participants as the same condition as the bermino people actually were as good as the english speakers when recalling colours.

Human and animal communication: Von Frisch's bee study--> Aim

He aimed to carefully describe the dances performed by bees and explain how these enabled bees to communicate information to each other

Procedure of bees

Von Frisch was an ethologist, someone who studies an animal in its nature habitat. He would just observe the bees. But sometimes change aspects of the bees' environment to study how this changed their behaviour. He used controlled observation to place the food at least 10-20 metres or up to 300 metres. He made more than 6000 observations of honeys bees over a period of 20 years.

results of bees

He found that some honey bees tell other honey bees where the pollen is. They do this by performing a dance.

-the round dance: if food is less than 100 metres away the returning bees moves around in a circle, sometimes changing direction, this tells other honey bees where the food is.

-the waggle dance: this is more complex, the bee moves in a figure of 9, at the middle where the straight line is they would waggle their abdomen. The direction of the straight line of this part indicates to the watching bees of where the pollen is. The slower the dance, the further away the food.

strength of bees study

was that his work made an important contribution to science. everyone knew that bees danced but Von carefully observed how they danced and what direction they were going in. He was given many prizes like the noble prize and etc. This shows how valuable Von's contribution was to ethology and science in general.

weakness of bees study

is that the importance of sound was overlooked. he missed some aspects of communication. Another researcher found that when bees made no sound other bees wouldn't follow as it shows that they weren't looking for food. But when they made sounds it showed that the other bees followed them for food. This shows that the visual form of the dance that Von identfied may be part of a larger communication system but it also includes sound-based signals.

Human Vs animal communication: animal communication

the exchange of information between animals within the same species using a variety of signals.

language human vs animal communication

a communication system unique to humans.

functions of animal communication, human vs animal communication

- Survival

- Reproduction

- Territory

- Food

Survuval, human vs animal communication

Some animals would make "alarm calls" to warn some particular dangers like vervet monkeys would make a sound to warn other vervet monkeys of some specific animals around like, leopards, eagles and more.

reproduction, human vs animal communication

to attract a mate, many animals use a mating display to signal to the other members of the species that they want to reproduce, like a peacock showing of their colourful colours.

territory, human vs animal communication

Many animals mark their territory using the signal of scent marking. They do this by spreading their urine, faeces or other naturally produced scents to discourage other animals from invading their territory.

food, human vs animal communication

Many animals signal to draw attention to food sources like, ants leave pheromone trail to communicate food source.

Properties of human communication not present in animal communication

-plan ahead and discuss future events.

-creativity

-single VS multiple channels

plan ahead and discuss future events, human vs animal communication

An important feature of humans is that we can talk. humans can discuss things that aren't present or haven't happened yet (displacement).

animals are focused on the present like food sources and predators.

Creativity, human vs animal communication

Humams have an open system combining many words together.

Animals have closed system using communication for specific events.

single VS multiple channels

Humans have a variety of communicating by talking language, writing it down, sign language, texts, emails and many more

While for animal communication by using single channels like ants leave pheromones trail to communicate food source.

Non-verbal communication: eye contact

-verbal communication

-non-verbal communication

EYE CONTACT

-what is eye contact?

-regulating flow of conversation

-signalling attraction

-expressing emotion

verbal communication, eye contact

the use of words as a way of expressing your thoughts and how you feel.

nonverbal communication, eye contact

exchanging information without words.

what is eye contact?

when two people look at each other's eyes at the same time

regulating flow of conversation, eye contact

Eye contact is often one of the first signals we use to communicate our attraction to someone. We make 'check the person out from a distance. also, our level of our eye contact may increase when we are up close or talking to somebody we like.

Expressing emotion, eye contact

most people use eye contact as a way of expressing their emotions, people use eye contact in different ways to express their emotions. Joy and anger are direct gaze, and fear and sadness averted gaze.

strength, eye contact

this has real-world applications is that eye contact research can be applied in work and everyday relationships to help people regulate the flow of conversation and express emotions better. Like anxious no eye contact, happy or anger more eye contact to focus and let the other person know you are listening.

weakness, eye contact

is that some studies of eye contact involve quite artificial tasks. in the kendon study, people were told to get to know the other participants better, so this was staged and told so participants may change their behaviour within eye contact intentionally which varies the results. As this is not how people meet irl.

Non-verbal communication: Body language

-what is body language?

-open and closed posture

-postural echo

-touch

body language

the way in which attitudes and feelings are communicated to others through unspoken movements and gestures.

open and closed posture, Body language

open posture: a relaxed posture (without arms or legs being crossed) is an open posture which suggests someone is listening in a social interaction and is in agreement with what is being said.

-closed posture is having the arms and /or legs crossed is closed posture, which suggests that the person is in disagreement with what is being said or is possibly annoyed.

postural echo, Body language

a similarity or mirroring of body positions by people in a social interaction.

touch, Body language

different types of touches, high fives, slapping someone on the back, etc

if librarian touched a student the student commented on them positively.

strength, Body language

it has real-world application by applying them to real-life situations. for ex: you want to have a good relationship with someone you will have an open posture, postural echo and touch to make them feel comfortable. this shows that body language can help people build good relations in the whole world.

weakness, Body language

is that body language studies raise ethical issues. In the studies of posture and touch, the participants who are approached are not aware that the person they are interacting with is part of an experiment, this raises the ethical issue of deception.

Non-verbal communication: personal space

-what is personal space

-cultural differences

-gender differences

-status differences

personal space

an invisible and portable 'bubble' that surrounds each individual.

cultural differences, personal space

one suggestion by the researchers is that the climate as an influence as well. In warmer countries, people preferred to maintain closer distances towards strangers, but further distances towards friends.

gender differences, personal space

it seems that men and women use their personal space differently. Men generally prefer a larger social distance when interacting with other men than women prefer when interacting with other women.

status differences , personal space

status might be defined as someone's rank or position within society or a workplace. Zahn: people with similar status stand closer than unequal status.

strength , personal space

it has real world application in personal space shows us how to interact with others. understanding cultural and gender differences in personal space can help us avoid offending people in everyday life.

weakness, personal space

is that it is too simplistic, that research studies only look at one factor at a time for personal space. Several factors affect personal space. like gender, cultural and status all at the same time. by concentrating on one factor may make the conclusions too simplistic.

Non-verbal behaviour: Darwin's evolutionary theory

-Darwin and evolution

-non-verbal communication as evolved and adaptive

-comparisons with human behaviour

-serviceable habits

darwin and evolution

it explains how species have adapted to their environment over millions of years. like increasing chances of survival, successful reproduction, and natural selection

non-verbal communication as evolved and adaptive, Darwin's evolutionary theory

NWC evolved in animals to express in emotion.

for example, baring teeth is adaptive because it reduces death in a conflict and therefore protects survival of the individual (and group).

comparisons with human behaviour, Darwin's evolutionary theory

in our distant ancestors opening eyes widely was adaptive because they could see route to safety more easily.

This behaviour is passed down to humans and continues to express Suprise.

serviceable habits, Darwin's evolutionary theory

behaviours use by ancestors to promote survival. Still used by humans but may not serve the same purpose.

strength, Darwin's evolutionary theory

it is supported by facial expressions, showing that different emotions like surprise, fear, disgust and more have specific facial expressions expressing their emotions. It is a behaviour which suggest that it's in our genes.

weakness, Darwin's evolutionary theory

is that it has difficulty in explaining cultural differences in non-verbal communication. if all non-verbal communication is genetically determined, then it should surely be seen in every culture, so similar forms of non -verbal communication should be seen all around the world. this suggest that the evolutionary explanation cannot explain all non-verbal communication

Non-verbal behaviour: innate or learned? -evidence

EVIDENCCE THAT NON-VERBAL BEHAVIOUR IS INNATE

-nenonate research

-senosory deprived

EVIDENCE THAT NON-VERBAL BEHAVIOUR IS LEARNED

-contact vs non-contact cultures

-gestures

-explaining cultural differences

Evidence that non-verbal behaviour is innate: neonate research

-neonates the name is given to newborn babies

-social releasers: these social releasers are like non-verbal behaivour like smiling and giving eye contact, this makes others want to take care of the baby like a desire.

-facial expressions: In a study the babies were given sour lemons, their facial expressions showed their disgust, this suggests that facial expressions as a way of communicating emotions are likely to be innate.

Evidence that non-verbal behaviour is innate: sensory deprived

-sensory deprived describes an animal or human who does not have a particular sensory ability, such as hearing or seeing.

-Sensory deprivation refers to a lack of senses, such as blindness. If blind individuals show the same non-verbal behaviours as sighted people, despite not being able to see or copy them, this supports the idea that these behaviours are innate.

Evidence that non-verbal behaviour is learned: contact vs non-contact cultures

-cross cultural research is by comparing behaviours from different cultures shows if they are learned.

-contact countries: mediterrean and latin american prefer smaller space

-non-contact countries: UK and USA prefer larger space

Evidence that non-verbal behaviour is learned: gestures

this suggest how the same hand gesture can be interpreted differently by people in different cultures. Like some places find pointing with the index rude like Hindus so they use their thumb, balck pointed is finding something funny and western point to emphasise on what is being said.

Evidence that non-verbal behaviour is learned: explaining cultural differences

-people observe how other people in their culture interact with each other.

-then they imitate this behaviour.

Non-verbal behaviour: Yuki's study of emotions---> emoticon

an emoticon is a combination of the words emotion and icon. a non-verbal type of way expressing mood or emotion within a written communication.

Non-verbal behaviour: Yuki's study of emotions -aim

They aimed to find out if this difference would be reflected in how different emoticons are understood by the people in the East (Japan) and the West (America)

Non-verbal behaviour: Yuki's study of emotions-procedure

this was a cross cultural study where there was a group of 95 students from japan and 118 students from america. all participants were presented with a set of 6 emoticons. Some faces were happy or sad or neutral displayed by their eyes and lips. the participants had to rate on each emoticon for how happy they thought it was. A 9-point scale, 9 being the happiest and 1 being the saddest.

Non-verbal behaviour: Yuki's study of emotions- results

-Japanese: higher happiness rating for happy eyes than Americans

-Americans: higher happiness rating when mouths were happy even with sad eyes.

Non-verbal behaviour: Yuki's study of emotions- conclusions

Cultural differences in the way emotion is interpreted in facial expressions. Japanese may sue eyes because cultural norms lead to hiding emotions but hard to control the expression from the eyes.

Non-verbal behaviour: Yuki's study of emotions- weakness

is that it used artificial materials, like emoticons may not represent human faces. It was assumed that the way in which participants interpret emoticons says something about how people interpret faces in general. This is not a valid conclusion to make. Just because the Japanese interpreted the eyes and the Americans did interpret the mouth, does not mean that this cultural difference generalises to interpreting real faces. this shows that this study lacks reference to real life.

Non-verbal behaviour: Yuki's study of emotions- weakness

they used rating scales and it may not be the best method to use.emotions are very hard to understand and using a rating scale is just oversimplifying it. It means that judgements were reduced to a single number to represent happiness. in reality we judge someone's expression in a variety of emotions. he measured them in a simple way