Chapter 8

1. Chapter 8 Language and Thought

2. The Cognitive Revolution • 19th Century focus on the mind • Introspection • Behaviorist focus on overt responses • arguments regarding incomplete picture of human functioning • Empirical study of cognition – 1956 conference • Simon and Newell – problem solving • Chomsky – new model of language • Miller – memory

3. Language: Turning Thoughts into Words • Properties of Language • Symbolic • Semantic • Generative • Structured

4. The Hierarchical Structure of Language • Phonemes = smallest speech units • 100 possible, English – about 40-50 • Morphemes = smallest unit of meaning • 50,000 in English, root words, prefixes, suffixes • Semantics = meaning of words and word combinations • Objects and actions to which words refer • Syntax = a system of rules for arranging words into sentences • Different rules for different languages

5. Language Development: Milestones • Initial vocalizations similar across languages • Crying, cooing, babbling • 6 months – babbling sounds begin to resemble surrounding language • 1 year – first word • similar cross-culturally – words for parents • receptive vs. expressive language • 2 years – two words • 3 years – complete sentences

7. Language Development: Milestones Continued • 18-24 months – vocabulary spurt • fast mapping - children map a word onto an underlying concept after only one exposure. • Overextentions – all balls are footballs • Underextensions – only their dog is a dog • End of second year – combine words • Telegraphic speech – “Want ball”, “Give cookie” • Mean Length of Utterance (MLU) – measured in morphemes • End of third year – complex ideas, plural, past tense • Overregularization • ex. ‘he goed home’

8. Bilingualism: Learning More Than One Language • Research findings: • Smaller vocabularies in one language, combined vocabularies average • Higher scores for middle-class bilingual subjects on cognitive flexibility, analytical reasoning, selective attention, and metalinguistic awareness • Slight disadvantage in terms of language processing speed • Second languages more easily acquired early in life • Greater acculturation facilitates acquisition

10. Language Development Skinner: Operant Conditioning B.F. Skinner believed that we can explain language development with familiar learning principles such as association, imitation, and reinforcement. Language is learned.

11. Language Development Chomsky: Inborn Universal Grammar Noam Chomsky believes that children are biologically prepared to learn words and use grammar. Our language acquisition capacity is like a box– a “language acquisition device” (LAD) in which grammar switches are thrown as children experience their language.

12. Language • Linguistic Determinism • Benjamin Whorf’s hypothesis that language determines the way we think • The Hopi have no past tense for their verbs. Therefore, a Hopi could not so readily think about the past.

13. Cognitive Theory • Cognitive abilities make language development possible • Children are active participants in language learning • Piaget believed cognition precedes language

14. Theories of Language Acquisition • Interactionist - biology and experience both make important contributions. • Social communication - interpersonal communication has functional value and emphasizes the social context in which language evolves. • Emergentist theories - neural circuits supporting language are not prewired, but rather emerge gradually in response to learning experiences via incremental changes in connectionist networks.

16. Critical Period Hypothesis • Eric Lenneberg (1967) • States that there is a sensitive (critical) period for language development when learning a language is easier • What happens if a human misses that period?

17. Can Animals Develop Language? • Dolphins, sea lions, parrots, chimpanzees • Vocal apparatus issue • American Sign Language • Allen and Beatrice Gardner (1969) • Chimpanzee - Washoe • 160 word vocabulary • Sue Savage-Rumbaugh • Bonobo chimpanzee - Kanzi • Symbols • Receptive language – 72% of 660 requests

19. Problem Solving: Types of Problems • Greeno (1978) – three basic classes • Problems of inducing structure • Series completion and analogy problems • Problems of arrangement • String problem and Anagrams • Often solved through insight • Problems of transformation • Hobbits and orcs problem • Water jar problem

21. Effective Problem Solving • Well defined vs. ill defined problems • Barriers to effective problem solving: • Irrelevant Information • Functional Fixedness • Mental Set • Unnecessary Constraints

23. Approaches to Problem Solving • Algorithms • Systematic trial-and-error • Guaranteed solution • Heuristics • Shortcuts • No guaranteed solution • Forming subgoals • Working backward • Searching for analogies • Changing the representation of a problem

25. Decision Making: Evaluating Alternatives and Making Choices • Simon (1957) – theory of bounded rationality • Making Choices • Framing effect is an example of cognitive bias, in which people react differently to a particular choice depending on whether it is presented as a loss or as a gain. • Additive strategies • Elimination by aspects • Risky decision making • Expected value – what you stand to gain • Subjective utility - personal worth • Subjective probability – personal estimates of probability

26. Framing • Treatment A Positive • "Saves 200 lives" "A 33% chance of saving all 600 people, 66% possibility of saving no one." • Treatment B Negative • "400 people will die" "A 33% chance that no people will die, 66% probability that all 600 will die." • Treatment A was chosen by 72% of participants when it was presented with positive framing ("saves 200 lives") dropping to only 22% when the same choice was presented with negative framing ("400 people will die").

28. Heuristics in Judging Probabilities • The availability heuristic • The representativeness heuristic • The tendency to ignore base rates • The conjunction fallacy • The alternative outcomes effect