Notes on Language, Cognition, and Personal Experience

How Do We Become Ourselves? (You ARE What You THINK!)

Cognition and Perception

• Cognition:

  • Processes by which people understand, know, perceive, evaluate, and remember the world.

  • Reference: (A&R, 2002)

• Perception:

  • How organisms assimilate and make sense of sensory data.

  • Reference: (A&R, 2002)

Selectivity in Cognition

• Selective Attention:

  • Focusing on what is valuable.

• Selective Perception:

  • Applying personal interpretations to experiences.

• Selective Retention:

  • Remembering consistent information with one’s values, beliefs, and attitudes while forgetting contrasting information.

• Key Question:

  • Do we see life as it is or as we are?

Internal Consistency

• Consistency:

  • Selectivity supports internal consistency between behavior, attitudes, beliefs, and values.

Cognitive Dissonance Theory

• **Concept: **

  • A psychological theory explaining the inner desire for consistency between thoughts, words, and actions.

• Dissonance:

  • Inconsistency leads to discomfort, which can trigger change or adjustment in beliefs and actions.

Importance of Language

• Language and Thought Relationship:

  • Language enables self-reflection and thought processing.

• Signals and Symbols:

  • Signals:

  • One-to-one, unambiguous relationship (e.g., specific words indicating specific meanings).

  • Symbols:

  • One-to-many, ambiguous relationship (e.g., the word "friend" can refer to various types of relationships).

Language Theory

• Four Theories Explaining Language Influence:

  1. Speech Act Theory:

  • Words are actions;

  • Communicating is performing;

  • Asserts and commits.

  1. Semiotics:

  • Study of signs in society;

  • Signifier (form) and signified (meaning) relationship.

  1. Inner Speech Theory:

  • Examines external (social) and internal (private) speech.

  1. Symbolic Interaction Theory:

  • Social interaction shapes how we see ourselves and societal norms.

Talking vs. Doing

• Key Insight:

  • Quoting Walt Disney:

    • To start, quit talking and begin doing.

• False Dichotomy:

  • Rhetoric vs. Reality.

Speech Act Theory Details

• Concept:

  • Speech acts are actions that convey intentions or actions through words.

  • The impact of language in expressing thoughts and reality.

Semiotics Overview

• Core Idea:

  • Signs operate in complex, culturally defined ways, with meanings established through social interaction.

Inner Speech Theory

• Focus:

  • Examines both social interactions and inner mental processes;

  • Develops complex inner lives involving imagination and introspection.