Thinking and Language

Thought• Cognition: all mental activities associated w/

processing, understanding and communicating.

• Cognitive psychology is the study of thoughts, logic, decision, etc.

• Metacognition: thinking about

thinking

Types of thoughts:

• Concepts: cognitive rules we use to categorize stimuli (people, objects, ideas) from our environment (like a schema)–Ex: concept of teacher, a dog, the plant and animal kingdom divided into a hierarchy of concepts

• Conceptual Categories:– 1. Superordinate categories. (ex produce)

– 2. Basic Categories (ex. Apple)

– 3. Subordinate categories

(Granny Smith)

Types of thoughts cont . . .

• Images: Mental images we create . . . Can be visual, auditory,

olfactory, etc

Problem Solving: two different methods we commonly use

• A. Algorithms:– Step by step, try every possible solution.– Guarantees the right solution but may take a while

• B. Heuristic:– Rule of thumb that is generally, but not always, true– Faster but may lead to erroneous conclusion

– Ex: You are trying to break into my computer and need my 4 digit numerical password. How do you figure it out with an algorithm? With a heuristic?

Availability Heuristic• Judge a situation based on examples of similar

situations that readily come to mind.

– For example, if events are easily remembered

(shocking), we think of them more often.

– Ex: 26 times more likely to die in a car crash than plane crash but more people fear planes

Ex: While at the beach I worry about a shark attack, but don’t use sunscreen and don’t think at all about skin cancer

Availability Heuristic

Representative Heuristic• Judge a situations based on how

similar the aspects are to prototypes the person holds in mind.–Ex. A short, slim man who likes to read

poetry . . . • Is he more likely to be an Ivey League English professor? Or a truck driver?

• Ex – Joe is 6”11, he must play basketball

Impediments to Problem Solving

• A. Overconfidence: we overestimate how accurate our knowledge and judgments are (Hitler, LBJ and Vietnam)

• We are more confident than right– i.e. we tend to under prepare for tests– 90% of college freshman think they will graduate in

4 years. Many don’t

• B. Belief Perseverance: maintain a belief even after evidence we used to form the belief is contradicted

• C. Confirmation Bias: we look for evidence that confirms our beliefs/opinions and ignore evidence that contradicts it

D. Rigidity: Tendency to fall into established thought patterns (can’t see novel solution b/c using old methods)–Ex. Functional fixedness: inability to

see new use for an object . . .–I am making a cake and cannot find

a whisk – do I think to use a fork?

• E. Framing: the way a problem is presented (framed) can get in the way of solving it. Advertisers/Marketers are masters of framing

– Examples:• The majority of my class passed the test (51%

passed); Almost half of my class failed the test (51% passed)

• Beef: do you want 10% fat or 90% lean?

• Do you want a 10% chance of survival or a 90% chance of mortality?

Problem Solving Techniques

• A. Means End Analysis – work backwards from the solution (ex: math – look the odd numbered problem answers up in the back of the book and learn the steps by working backwards)

• B. Breaking a problem into smaller, more manageable parts

IV. Creativity: even more difficulty to define than thought. What is it?

• A. Researchers find little connection between creativity and intelligence

• B. Criteria for creativity:–Originality: is it new and original?–Appropriateness: does it fit the situation? Is it applicable? Useful?

Creative, divergent thinkers think outside the box!

• C. Convergent vs. divergent thinking–Convergent Thinking: look for one solution (rigidity)

–Divergent Thinking: search for multiple solutions (associated more with creativity)… “more than one way to skin a cat…”

LANGUAGE

Language and thought are closely intertwined. It is often argues that one cannot exist without the other. The Psychology of language examines how language works and how we acquire it.

Language Trivia• The average 18 year old has a vocab of 80,000 words while there are nearly

7,000,000 words in the dictionary• Although you know 80,000 words you only use about 150 words for

approximately 50% of what you say• At 18 months kids’ language explodes and they transition from learning a

word per week to a word per day (pre-operational stage)• Initially babies babble in universal phonemes, but at about 10 months, they

start to specialize and babble in just the phonemes of their respective language

• Brain scans reveal a difference in how the brain records a second language learned early versus later in life. Adults who learned the 2nd language within the critical period use the same part of the brain when talking in either language. Those who learned the 2nd language after the critical period use a different brain area when speaking their 2nd language.

Components of Language

• Phonemes: smallest unit of sound in a language (Eng has 44). The sounds of language. Babies initially babble in all phonemes.– Ex: chat has 3 phonemes – ch, a, t

• Morpheme: smallest unit of meaningful sound (prefixes/suffixes).– Ex: “Pre” means before, “ed” means past

tense

Components of Language

• GRAMMAR – phonemes are combined into morphemes which are combined into words. Grammar is the system of rules we use to enable us to communicate with words– A. Semantics – rules that determine meaning

of words– B. Syntax – rules that determine placement of

words. English: The white house. Spanish: la casa blanca

Language Acquisition – how do we learn language?

• Babies across the globe pass through the same universal stages of lang acquisition

– 1.) Babbling – innate. Babies make the sounds of all languages (all phonemes). Unintelligible. Around 10 months they start to babble just in the phonemes of their language.

Language Acquisition

• 2.) One word stage – around 1 year– Ma, Da, No, Milk, Me

3.) Telegraphic Speech – about 2 years – toddlers combine 2-3 words into simple commands. Meaning is clear, but no syntax.

Ex: Me go; Me juice; You no cookie; Nonny like chocolate

George 16 months.MOV

Language Acquisition

• 2 years + language develops rapidly into complete sentences– Overgeneralization: kids learn grammar rules

but not exceptions and they over apply correct rules such that they use them incorrectly• Ex: I want a lotter ice cream• Ex: He hitted me• Ex: He atted my cookie

Overgeneralization

Is Language Acquisition NATURE or

NURTURE???(big debate)

Nurture - Behaviorists

• Say kids learn language like any other behavior– Social modeling/observational learning– Operant Conditioning– Shaping

Nature - Language Nativist Theory

Noam Chomsky

Nativist Theory

• Noam Chomsky is the first linguist to say that babies are born with a language acquisition device – innate hardware that enables them to learn language quickly (too quickly to be explained solely by behaviorism)– Universal grammar – all languages have

same grammatical building blocks – nouns, verbs, adjectives, etc.

– Critical Period – LAD must be activated for a particular language (age 7)….Genie

Language fluency – critical period dictates exposure before age 7.

Nature - Nurture

• Today researchers believe the two theories work in tandem. There is an innate LAD and babies do learn language in a creative way and much more quickly that adults would (Nature). However, we also learn our particular language through behaviorists techniques. The LAD is the hardware, our language/models write in the software.

What is the relationship between thinking and language. They are intricately connected. Which comes first? Do our ideas come first and we wait for words to name them? Or are thoughts conceived in words and therefore unthinkable without them?

Benjamin Whorf and Linguistic Determinism

• Whorf said language determines/limits our thoughts. He worked with the Hopi Indians who had no grammatical past tense. Whorf concluded the Hopi did not think/conceptualize things in the past tense.