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Discover the fascinating world of language and thinking with insights into how symbols are used to convey ideas, the development of language in children, and the influence of language on cognitive processes. Explore the common elements of language, parts of language like phonemes and morphemes, and theories of language acquisition from renowned linguists. Delve into Whorf’s Linguistic Relativity Hypothesis and its impact on shaping human thinking. Uncover the quirks of the English language with playful examples like eggplants having no egg and hamburgers having no ham. Engage with the complexities of concepts, prototypes, and cognitive psychology to deepen your understanding of how language shapes our perception and reasoning.
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Language and Thinking Wadsworth, a division of Thomson Learning
English is difficult! • A farm can produce produce. • The dump was so full it had to refuse refuse. • The soldier decided to desert his dessert in the desert. • The present is a good time to present the present. • At the Army base, a bass was painted on the head of a bass drum. • The dove dove into the bushes. • I did not object to the object. • The insurance for the invalid was invalid. • The bandage was wound around the wound. • They were too close to the door to close it.
Language Definition: Symbolism used to communicate ideas & concepts & to problem solve All Language shares 3 things in common • Semanticity: meaning to sounds/symbols • Generativity: Infinite combinations • Displacement: Talk about past
Language and the Brain • As a child grows, his/her language develops. Usually, understanding language occurs before the production of language. • Broca’s Area - produce speech • Wernicke’s Area - understand speech
Language Development (Year One) • Infant – Crying • 4 to 6 months – Babbling (sounds present in all languages) • 9 months – Finite babbling (narrow to sounds reflected back to them) • 1 year – One-word stage • Overextension: Applying a word to a wide variety of similar items (Ex: using “horse” to refer to any four-legged animal) • Underextension: Using a word to define only one object as though it were a proper name (Ex: using “bird” to refer to only the child’s pet and not to wild birds) • Overgeneralization- Misuse of rules “goed” “sheeps” • Holophrasic Speech: Using one word to mean an entire sentence (Ex: “shoe” means “Will you tie my shoe?”)
Language Development (Past 1st Year) • 18-24 months – Two-word stage • 2 years old – Capable of relating past and present • 3 years old – Uses simple sentence structure and can tell a simple story • 4 years old – Five-word sentences are characteristic of this age group • 5 years old – Capable of complex syntax
Parts of Language • Phonemes: Smallest unit of sound that can be understood as part of a language(40 in English) - Ex: firefighters- f I er f I t er s • Morphemes: Smallest unit of sound that conveys a meaning in a language. Can be individual or combinations of phonemes - Ex: firefigters- fire fight er s • Grammar: Set of rules that enables us to use our language • Semantics – Refers to aspects of meaning assigned to language(Ex: adding “ed” means it happened in the past) • Syntax – The system of rules we use to string words together into proper sentences (Ex: adjectives come before nouns)
Theories of Language Acquisition • Skinner – Learned through association, reinforcement and social imitation • Chomsky – Believed that language acquisition is innate from his observations that children create sentences they have never heard before and learning is too rapid to be explained solely by learning principles *Possibly a combination of the two
Thinking and Language Whorf’s Linguistic Relativity Hypothesis Definition: Word order and word choice can affect our thinking “Language itself shapes man’s basic ideas” Examples • Hopi have no past tense, so they do not readily think about the past • English has many words for self-focused emotions such as anger • Japanese have many words for interpersonal emotions such as sympathy • Bilinguals may show different personalities when taking the same personality test in their two languages
English is difficult! There is no egg in eggplant nor ham in hamburger; neither apple nor pine in pineapple. English muffins weren't invented in England.Quicksand works slowly, boxing rings are square and a guinea pig is neither from Guinea nor is it a pig. If you have a bunch of odds & ends and get rid of all but one, what do you call it?If teachers taught, why didn't preachers praught? If a vegetarian eats vegetables, what does a humanitarian eat?Why do people recite at a play and play at a recital? Ship by truck and send cargo by ship? Have noses that run and feet that smell? How can a slim chance and a fat chance be the same, while a wise man and a wise guy are opposites? You have to marvel at the unique lunacy of a language in which your house can burn up as it burns down, in which you fill in a form by filling it out and in which an alarm goes off by going on.If Dad is Pop, how come mom isn't Mop?
Thinking • Cognitive Psychology – Seeks to study how people think, problem solve, make decisions, communicate, understand concepts and access memory
Components of Thinking -Concepts • Concepts • Definition: A mental grouping of similar objects, people, events, etc. • Function: Help us to order our world into categories and communicate with fewer words • Prototypes: Our best example of a concept Ex: concept: dog prototype: your Poodle (the image that pops into your head when you think of “dog”)
Components of Thinking - Problem Solving Trial and Error: Trying one solution after another in no particular order Ex: Thomas Edison – light bulb Means-Ends Analysis: Given a current state and a goal state, an action is chosen to reduce the difference between the two. Ex: Used often in computer programming and artificial intelligence Insights: Sometimes answer just comes to us out of nowhere when we arenot focusing hard on it Ex: Coming up with a jumbled word ITIGKHNN
Components of Thinking - Problem Solving • Algorithm: A systematic procedure • which guarantees a solution, may • take longer than a Heuristic approach. • -Like a recipe to solve something • Heuristics: Using a rule of thumb strategy to problem • solve and make decisions. • -Often comes from our past experiences and personal judgments. • -Usually quicker, but more error-prone, than algorithms. • -Sometimes called“mental shortcuts • Ex: If you are having difficulty understanding a problem, try drawing a picture. • If you can't find a solution, try assuming that you have a solution and seeing what you can derive from that ("working backward"). • If the problem is abstract, try examining a concrete example.
Decision Making Definition: The process of choosing among a number of alternatives • Representativeness Heuristic – When we make a decision based on how much a new situation or object resembles our old prototypes (Ex: truck driver vs. Ivy League professor) • Availability Heuristic – When we base a decision on what we have most available in our memory. Things that come to mind are presumed to be more common. (Ex: letter “k”…more frequent 1st or 3rd letter) (Ex: casino noises, things to fear)
Errors Made in Problem Solving • Functional Fixedness: Inability to use familiar objects in new ways • Ex: Need a flashlight? Use your cell phone. • Mental Set: When people continue to use problem-solving strategies that have worked in the past • Irrelevant information: When someone becomes fixed on information that is given in the problem that does not impact the solution • Unnecessary Constraints: The inability to solve a problem because we place constraints on the solution that really don’t exist
Faulty Decision Making Confirmation Bias – A tendency to seek out information that confirms our previously held beliefs Belief Perseverance – The tendency to hold onto our belief even in the face of evidence against our belief…our beliefs distort our logic Overconfidence – The tendency to count on our own estimates and beliefs too much Framing Decisions – The way we are presented the information needed for making the decision can impact what we decideEx: coat for $100 or same coat for $150 at 33% off, would you
Thinking Game: The Matchstick Problem How would you arrange six matches to form four equilateral triangles?
Visualize Yourself Studying • The effects of mental practice on skilled motor performance. • Many athletes mentally ski their slalom course, make their free throws, or execute their gymnastic routine. • Might there also be payoffs to mentally simulating successful academic performance? • In 1998 UCLA researchers explored the surprising benefits derived by mentally simulating how one might achieve a goal. • Study: Engaged intro psych students who would be taking a midterm exam in five to seven days. • One group½ told to imagine a positive outcome (visualizing themselves scanning the posted grade list, seeing their A, beaming with joy, feeling confident, feeling proud) and to repeat this "outcome simulation" for five minutes each day before the exam. ½ were controls and did nothing differently***This had little effect, adding only two points to exam scores compared to control subjects not engaged in mental simulation. • Second group ½ instructed to imagine themselves studying in a way that would lead to an A (visualizing themselves studying the chapters, going over notes, eliminating distractions, declining an offer to go out). Were also told to repeat this "process simulation" for five minutes each day. ½ were controls and did nothing differently ***Compared to the control students, these students began studying earlier, spent more hours studying, and beat the control group exam average by nearly eight points. • Based on this and other experiments, they conclude that it is better to spend your fantasy time planning how to get there than it is to dwell on the destination.
