Chp 10 – Thinking and Language



Chp. 9 – Thinking and Language ‘16…homo sapiens?!?Thinking -AKA cognition: concepts and prototypes -- the representativeness heuristic (add)Problem Solving: Strategies and Obstacles: trial and error, algorithm, heuristics, insight-obstacles: confirmation bias, fixation / rigidity – mental set, functional fixednessForming Good and Bad Decisions and Judgments: the availability heuristic (AKA vivid case), overconfidence, belief bias, belief perseverance (and how to avoid / lessen), the fear factor (why we fear the wrong things), framing, perils and powers of intuitionThinking Creatively: aptitude, convergent and divergent thinking; five (other) components, Teresa Amabile (collages)Animal Thinking and Language-Do Animals Think? numbers, concepts, insight, tools, local customs / culture, theory of mind?Sultan, “Aha!”Language and ThoughtStructure: phoneme, morpheme, grammar – semantics and syntaxAcquisition – in fantis, receptive language, productive language: babbling stage; one-word stage, two word stage / telegraphic speech-explanations for acquisition: 1. Noam Chomsky -- inborn universal grammar / Language Acquisition Device2. statistical learning(3. operant learning, imitation) -critical period and maturation – Surinam, Genie…Deafness and Language Development: deaf children, cochlear implant, living in a silent worldThe Brain and Language: aphasia, Broca’s area, Wernicke’s areaDo Other Species Have Language?-honeybees, vervet monkeys, apes: Washoe, Lana, Loulis, Rico, Chaser, Kanzi-difference(s): FOXP2 gene, L.A.D. …Thinking and Language: the Whorfian hypothesis AKA linguistic determinism -- Benjamin Whorf; bilinguals -- word power and the bilingual advantage-generic “he”, “girl”Thinking in Images: outcome simulation, process simulationChp. 9 – Thinking and Language ‘16…homo sapiens?!?Thinking -AKA cognition: concepts and prototypes -- the representativeness heuristic (add)Problem Solving: Strategies and Obstacles: trial and error, algorithm, heuristics, insight-obstacles: confirmation bias, fixation / rigidity – mental set, functional fixednessForming Good and Bad Decisions and Judgments: the availability heuristic (AKA vivid case), overconfidence, belief bias, belief perseverance (and how to avoid / lessen), the fear factor (why we fear the wrong things), framing, perils and powers of intuitionThinking Creatively: aptitude, convergent and divergent thinking; five (other) components, Teresa Amabile (collages)Animal Thinking and Language-Do Animals Think? numbers, concepts, insight, tools, local customs / culture, theory of mind?Sultan, “Aha!”Language and ThoughtStructure: phoneme, morpheme, grammar – semantics and syntaxAcquisition – in fantis, receptive language, productive language: babbling stage; one-word stage, two word stage / telegraphic speech-explanations for acquisition: 1. Noam Chomsky -- inborn universal grammar / Language Acquisition Device2. statistical learning(3. operant learning, imitation) -critical period and maturation – Surinam, Genie…Deafness and Language Development: deaf children, cochlear implant, living in a silent worldThe Brain and Language: aphasia, Broca’s area, Wernicke’s areaDo Other Species Have Language?-honeybees, vervet monkeys, apes: Washoe, Lana, Loulis, Rico, Chaser, Kanzi-difference(s): FOXP2 gene, L.A.D. …Thinking and Language: the Whorfian hypothesis AKA linguistic determinism -- Benjamin Whorf; bilinguals -- word power and the bilingual advantage-generic “he”, “girl”Thinking in Images: outcome simulation, process simulationNotes version 1 - Chapter 10 – Thinking and Language Our species- homo sapiens, translation wise humanThe question is do we deserve this name?Thinking Cognition- thinking, all the mental activities associated with processing, understanding, remembering, and communicatingCognitive psychologists- psychologist studying the mental activities, finding logical and illogical ways in which we create concepts, solve problems, make decisions, and form judgments.ConceptsConcepts- mental grouping of similar objects, events and peopleExample: chair sums up several items- baby’s high chair, reclining chair, dining chairs, den chairsConcepts simplified into hierarchies.Example: cab drivers organize their cities into geographical sectors, which subdivide into neighborhoods, and again into blocks. Broad to specific.Prototypes- mental image, best example of a category.Example: robin and a goose, both fit definitions of two-footed animal that has wings and feathers and hatches from an egg, and yet robin fits the prototype of a bird more because there is a beak, the size, and easy flying.If something doest fit out prototype, there may be trouble classifying it.Solving ProblemsOne way to solve problems is through trial and error.Another way is by following algorithms, step-by-step procedures that guarantee a solutionAlgorithms are difficult, and time consumingTherefore a simpler method is used- heuristics. This is a simple thinking strategy allowing us to make judgments and solve problems efficiently.Instead of searching every aisle (algorithm) for icing to a cake, search the cooking, baking section.Insight- sudden flashes of inspirationExample: ponder on a problem for a while, and then suddenly all the pieces fall together, and the solution is clear.Provides sense of satisfactionObstacles to Problem SolvingConfirmation bias- eagerness to search for information that confirms our ideas.Example: simple sequence: 2-4-6 rule, any three ascending numbers. When asked to figure out a rule students form rules such as counting by twos, etc. this shows that we seek evidence to verify our ideas, that evidence that will disprove them.Fixation- inability to see a problem from a new perspective. Example: when asked to arrange 6 matches into four equilateral triangles, one has a hard time seeing a three dimensional solution, because one is fixated on two dimensional.One type of fixation: Mental set- repeating solutions that have worked in the past, predisposes how we thinkPerceptual set-predisposes what we perceiveAnother fixation: functional fixedness- tendency to perceive functions of objects as fixed and unchangingExample: looking for a screwdriver for a loooong time when one could just use a dime to turn the screw.Making Decisions and Forming JudgmentsUsing and Misusing HeuristicsRepresentativeness heuristic- to judge likelihood of things in terms of how well they represent particular prototypesExample: think of a person who is short, slim and likes poetry. Then asked is this person more likely to be a professor of classics at an Ivy League university or at truck driver. Using this information most people will say professor because the person is more representative of a professor. However what most people don’t factor in is the ratio of Ivy League university professors compared to the ratio of truck drivers.Availability heuristics- operates when we base our judgments on the availability of information in our memoriesExample: if thoughts of events are easily available, if they come to mind easily we presume that these events are commonThe faster people remember instance of some event the more they expect it to recurCognitively available events are more likely to recur- but not alwaysExample: does the letter k appear more often as first or third letter in English usage? Most people will say first because words beginning with k come to mind however k occurs more frequently in words such as make, likely, asked, and acknowledged.OverconfidenceIntuitive heuristics, eagerness to confirms beliefs, and knack for explaining failures form overconfidenceOverconfidence- tendency to overestimate the accuracy of our knowledge and judgmentsExample: people were asked “I feel 98% certain that the population of New Zealand is more than ___ but less than ___.” Even though people estimated with 98 percent confidence one third of them failed to include the correct answer.Overconfidence influences decisions outside labs too. Hitler was overconfident in invading Russia; Lyndon Johnson was overconfident and waged war with north Vietnam, etc.Overconfidence has an adaptive value. Although failing to appreciate one’s potential for error when making military, economic, or political judgments can have devastating consequences, so can a lack of self-confidence.Framing decisionsFraming- the way an issue is presented. They way its framed can significantly affect decisions and judgments.Example: 75% lean sounds so much better than if the package says 25% fatExample: it sounds worse to say 10 people die to ever 10 million from smoking, rather than saying the fatality risk is an infinitesimal .000001.By understanding the power of framing one can use it to influence important decisionsBelief BiasBelief bias- the tendency for one’s preexisting beliefs to distort logical reasoning, sometimes by making invalid conclusions seem valid, or valid conclusions seem invalid.Example: Premise 1: democrats support free speechPremise 2: dictators are not democratsConclusion: dictators do not support free speechNow try:Premise 1: robins have feathersPremise 2: chickens are not robinsConclusion: chickens do not have featherswe more easily see the illogic of conclusions that run counter to our beliefs than those that agree with our beliefsBelief Perseverance Phenomenonbelief perseverance- our tendency to cling to our beliefs in the face of contrary evidenceoften fuels social conflictExample: Do risk takers or cautious people make better fire fighters? Once an opinion is formed on such a question, one develops a reason for ones own views; we tend to cling to our beliefs- even if the basis for our opinion is undetermined.a simple remedy: consider the oppositeIt does not preclude our changing our beliefs. However it’s just that once beliefs form and get justified, it takes more evidence to change them than to create them.We reason in different ways one is by formal logic as by simplified, speedy heuristics.Never underestimate the worth of sound reasoning.By expanding understanding of our irrational tendencies, scientists hope to steer people away from dumb decisions.Simulating Thinking with Artificial intelligenceArtificial intelligence- science of designing computer systems to perform operations mimicking human thinking.Relies on massive stored information and rules fore retrievalHas two facets, one practical and one theoreticalPractical- includes creating of industrial robots to sense environment; expert systems that can carry out chemical analysis, offer tax planning advice, forecast weather, and help physicians diagnose their patients’ disease. Also includes chess techniques to defeat world’s chess master.Theoretical side- pioneered by psychologist Herbert Simon. Studied how humans think by designing computer systems that mimic or rival human though puter neural networks- computer systems designed to mimic brain’s interconnected neural units.Mimic how brain communicates with positive (excitatory) or negative (inhibitory) messages that fire when signal strength reaches certain threshold.Neural connections programmed to gain strength with experienceThe artificial neural networks have capacity to learn from experience.Language Language StructureThree steps to build languageFirst step- basic sounds-phonemesBat-phoneme sounds b, a, and tChanges in phonemes produces changes in meaningsPeople who grow up learning one set of phonemes usually have difficulty pronouncing those of another language.Sign language also has phonemelike building blocks however they are defined by hand shapes and movements.Second building block- morpheme- smallest unit of language carries the meaning.Most morphemes are a combination of tow or more phonemesSome are words others are just partsThird and final stage is grammar- a system of rules enabling us to communicate with othersSemantics is the set of rules we use to derive meaning from morphemes, words, and even sentencesSemantic rule tell us by adding –ed to laugh it means that it happened in the pastSyntax- these are the rules we use to order words into sentencesAdjectives before nounsLanguage becomes more complex as you move from phoneme to morpheme to word to sentenceEnglish language contains about 40 or so phonemes to combine more than 100,000 morphemes, which produces 616,500 words.Language DevelopmentSecondary school graduate knows about 80000 words, after age 1 that averages to 5000 words learned each year, or 13 each day!Even before we could add we created our own original and grammatically appropriate sentence.Acquiring languageInfants start out without languageBy 4 months, babies can read lips and discriminate soundsWide open lips and from corners of their mouth pulled back they enter the babbling stage- this is where they spontaneously utter a variety of sounds, such as ah-gooBabbling includes sounds from various languagesBefore nurture molds our speech it enables a wide range of possible phonemesAt about 10months their babbling changes so that a trained ear can identify language of household.By 12 months they can no longer perceive subtle phoneme differences from other languagesWithout exposure to other languages we become deaf to speech sounds outside our native languageBy adulthood those speaking only English cannot discriminate certain Japanese phonemesFirst birthday- children enter one-word stageFirst words contain syllable ma or daAlso words such as “doggy” may reflect a sentence such as “look at the dog out there!”Before second birthday- two-word stageThis is when they start uttering two-word sentencesLanguage is now characterized by telegraphic speech- like telegrams, contains mostly nouns and verbs (want juice), follows rules of syntaxExplaining Language DevelopmentSkinner: operant learning- his belief was that we can explain language development with familiar learning principles:Association- the sighs of things wit the sounds of wordsImitation-the words and syntax modeled by others and reinforcement- with success, smiles, and hugs when the child says something righthe argued, babies learn to talk in many of the same ways animals learn to peck keys and press barsNoam Chomsky: Inborn universal grammar: language is almost entirely inborn. Children acquire untaught words and grammar at too extraordinary a rate to be explained solely by learning principles.Views language development as “helping a flower to grow in its own way.”He believes that given the adequate nurture, it just happens to the child.Says that our language acquisition capacity is like a box, in which grammar switches are thrown as children experience their language.We are born with the hardware and an operating system; experience writes the software.Cognitive Neuroscientist: statistical LearningA main debate is how much of our language capacity is inborn.With experience computational models inspired by neural networks can learn to form past-tense verbs.Given training through exposures to many language examples, a neuronlike network can learn a language’s statistical structure.Those who learn a second language as adults usually speak it with the accent of their first language.Those who learn their second language early learn it bestChomsky says- that once the grammar switches are thrown during a child’s developing years, mastering another grammar becomes more difficult.Hearing children of hearing-speaking parents and deaf children of deaf-signing parents have much in common. Both groups babble, hearing repeat sounds, deaf repeat elementary sign gestures. Both develop vocabularies, and both are exposed to languageChildren’s genes design complex brain wiring that prepares them to learn language as they interact with their caregivers.Thinking and LanguageLanguage influences thinkingBenjamin Lee Whorf- contended that language determines the way we thinkHis hypothesis- linguistic determinism hypothesis- “language itself shapes a man’s basic ideas.”His hypothesis was guessed to occur in those who speak two dissimilar languages, such as English and Japanese.Many bilinguals report that they even have a different sense of self, depending on which language they are using.When a language becomes extinct the world loses the culture and thinking that correspond with that languageOur words re said to influence what we thinkOne thing we do well is choose our words carefullyLanguage’s power to influence thought makes vocabulary building crucial part of education. “Bilingual advantage”- bilingual children, who learn to inhibit their unspoken language, can better inhibit their attention to irrelevant information. For example when asked whether a sentence is grammatically correct (“why is the cat barking so loudly?”) they can focus more on the grammar alone.Thinking without LanguageProcedural memory- mental picture of how something is done. Step by step processesMany people have said that practicing a sport or instrument over and over in their mind has increased their performance.Mental rehearsal can also help you achieve and academic goalMuch of our processing occurs outside of consciousness, beyond language.Thinking affects our language, which then affects our thoughts.Animal Thinking and LanguageDo animals think?Great apes are one kind of animal that displays remarkable capacity for thinkingOne example showed that they were able to touch pictures in ascending numerical order to then receive food rewardTwo chimps, who numbers up to 6 could use joystick to collect that number of dotsMarc Hauser confirmed monkeys’ head for numbers by using procedures form experiments with infants.Chimpanzees also display insightIn one experiment the chimp was in a cage and was to reach for a fruit with a short stick but he had a longer stick out of reach first it didn’t click, finally all of a sudden the chimp realized how to use the short stick to get the longer one.Do primates have a “theory of mind” can they infer mental states in themselves and their peers?Chimps and orangutans have been observed using mirrors to look at them selves.Chimps and baboons have been observed using deceptionDolphins also using mirrorsDo Animals Exhibit Language?Without doubt, animals communicate.The Case of the HoneybeeThe explorer bee communicates with other worker bees by means of an intricate dance. The direction and distance of dance informs bees’ direction and distance of food source.The dance is said to signal the number of landmarks passed en route to the food source.The Case of the ApesGestures leave the speakers mind less taxed and freer to remember recently learned information.Usually apes sign single words, but sometimes they strung signs together to form intelligible sentences.Washoe- and ape signed creative sentences. He designated a swan as a water birdKoko- a gorilla reportedly described a long-nosed Pinocchio doll as an elephant baby.Lana- chimpanzee that “talks” by punching buttons on wired to a computer then translates punches into EnglishBut can apes really talk?Apes gain their limited vocabularies only with great difficultyChimps can make signs or push buttons, but pigeons too can peck sequences to get a reward n yet no one is saying pigeons are talkingIn science controversy can stimulate progress. Although chimpanzees do not have our facility for language, their abilities to think and communicate continue to impress trainersWashoe, Loulis, and others now sign a lot. They can as one another several words. The discovery that chimpanzees can learn to comprehend the semantic nuances of spoken English is still a stunning discovery.Kanzione of these chimps with grammatical ability of a two year old, has now learned language to some sense, kanzi knows the spoken words snake, bite, and dog. When asked to make the dog bite the snake with stuffed animals kanzi puts the snake in the dogs mouth.If kanzi had vocal tract, he would be talking.It use to be said that animals could not plan, conceptualize, count, use tools, show compassion, or use language however today we know much better.They have exhibited insight, show family loyalty, communicate with one another, display altruism, Transmit cultural patterns across generations, and comprehend the syntax of human speech.Notes version 2 - Chp 10 – Thinking and Language...homo sapiens?!?Wise humansThe rational and irrationalHow we form concepts, solve problems, and make judgmentsThinking -AKA cognition; concepts and prototypesCognition- the mental activities associated with thinking, knowing, remembering, and communicatingConcept- a mental grouping of similar objects, events, ideas, or peoplePrototype- a metal image or best example of a category. Matching new items to the prototype provides a quick and easy method for including items in a category (as when comparing feathered creatures to a prototypical bird, such as a robin)Told the rule that a triangle has three sides, we thereafter classify all three-sided geometric forms as trianglesProblem Solving: trial and error, algorithm, heuristics, insightSolve through trial and errorThomas Edison tried thousands of light bulb filaments before stumbling upon one that workedAlgorithm- a methodical, logical rule or procedure that guarantees solving a particular problem. Contrasts with the usually speedier- but also more error-prone- use of heuristicsHeuristics- a simple thinking strategy that often allows us to make judgments and solve problems efficiently; usually speedier but also more error-prone than algorithmsInsight- a sudden and often novel realization of the solution to a problem; it contrasts with strategy-based solutions-obstacles: confirmation bias, fixation / rigidity – mental set, functional fixednessConfirmation bias- a tendency to search for information that confirms one’s preconceptionsFixation- the inability to see a problem from a new perspective; an impediment to problem solvingMental set- a tendency to approach a problem in a particular way, especially a way that has been successful in the past but may or may not be helpful in solving a new problemAs a perceptual set predisposed what we perceive, a mental set predisposes how we think.Functional fixedness- the tendency to think of things only in terms of their usually functions and impediment to problem solvingDecisions and Judgments: representativeness heuristic, availability heuristic / vivid case, overconfidence, framing, belief bias, belief perseverance phenomenon (and how to avoid / lessen)Representativeness heuristic- judging the likelihood of things in terms of how well they seem to represent, or match, particular prototypes; may leas one to ignore other relevant informationAvailability heuristic- estimating the likelihood of events based on their availability in memory; if instances come readily to mind (perhaps because of their vividness), we presume such events are common.The faster people can remember an instance of some event, the more they can expect it to reoccur.A vivid case can overwhelm a single case. Overconfidence- the tendency to be more confident than correct- to overestimate the accuracy of one’s beliefs and judgmentsWarning people against overconfidence and urging tem to broaden their estimates doesn’t much reduce overconfident. Exposing them to others’ widely differing estimate doesFraming- the ways an issue is posed; how an issue is framed can significantly affect decisions and judgementsBelief bias- the tendency for one’s preexisting beliefs to distort logical reasoning, sometimes by making invalid conclusions seem valid, or valid conclusions seem invalidThus, belief bias: We more easily see the illogic of conclusions that runs counter to our beliefs than of those that agree with our beliefsBelief perseverance- clinging to one’s initial conceptions after the basis on which they were formed has been discreditedHaving imagined and pondered opposite findings. These people became much less biased in their evaluations of the evidenceArtificial Intelligence – computer vs. us; neural networksArtificial intelligence (AI)- the science of designing and programming computer systems to do intelligent things and to stimulate human thought processes, such as intuitive reasoning, learning, and understanding puter neural networks- computer circuits that mimic the brain’s interconnected neural cells, performing task such as learning to recognize visual patternsLanguage Structure: phoneme, morpheme, grammar – semantics and syntaxAcquisition – in fantis, babbling stage / source; one-word stage, two word stage / telegraphic speech-explanations: operant learning -- Skinner, inborn universal grammar / Language Acquisition Device -- Noam Chomsky, statistical learning; -critical period and maturation -- deaf children, Surinam, Genie…Language- our spoken, written, or signed words and the ways we combine them to communicate meaningPhoneme- in a spoken language, the smallest distinctive sound unitMorpheme- in a language, the smallest unit that carries meaning; may be a word or a part of a wordGrammar- in a language, a system of rules that enables us to communicate with and understand othersSemantics- the set of rules by which we derive meaning from morphemes, words, and sentences ina given language; also the study of meaningBabbling stage- beginning at 3 to 4 months, the stages of speech development n which the infant spontaneously utters various sounds at first unrelated to the household language.Without exposure to other languages, we become functionally deaf to speech sounds outside our native language.One-word stage- the stage in speech development, from about age 1 to 2 during which a child speaks mostly in single wordsTwo-word stage- begging about age 2, the stage in speech development during which a child speaks mostly two-word statementsTelegraphic speech- early speech stage in which a child speaks like a telegram-“go car:-using mostly nouns and verbs and omitting “auxiliary” wordsSkinner: operant learningBelieved we can explain language development with familiar learning principles, such as association (of sights of things with the sound of words); imitiation (of the words and syntax modeled by others); and reinforcement (with success, smiles, and hugs when the child says something right).Chomsky: inborn universal grammarChildren acquire untaught words and grammar at too extraordinary a rate explained solely by learning principlesMany of the errors young children make result from overgeneralizingThanks to our inborn universal grammar, we readily learn the specific grammar of whatever language we hear.Our language acquisition capacity is like a box- a “language acquisition device”- in which grammar switches are thrown as children experience the language.Before our first birthday, our brains were discerning word breaks by statically analyzing which syllables most often go together. But Chomsky’s view that our brain constrains how we learn language- that I may come prewired to look for grammatical rules- survives. Also our learning during life’s first seven or so years is also criticalSummarize- Children’s genes design complex brain wiring that prepares them to learn language as they interact with their caregivers.Skinner’s emphasis on learning helps explain how infants acquire their language as they interact with others (SO does infants’ ability to learn statistical probabilities in speech). Chomsky’s emphasis on our built-in readiness to learn grammar rules helps explain why preschoolers acquire language so readily and use grammar so well. Once again, we see biology and experience working together.Thinking and Language: the Whorfian hypothesis AKA linguistic determinism -- Benjamin Whorf; bilinguals, generic “he”, word power and the bilingual advantage-thinking without language:Linguistic determination- Whorf’s hypothesis that language determines the way we thinkHypothesis- Different languages impose different conceptions of reality: “Language itself shapes a man’s basic ideas.” However, it would not occur to people who speak only one language and view that language as simply a vehicle for thought. Learn a language and you learn about a culture.Is the generic he always taken to include females?This indicates that his carries a gender connotation that clashes with our idea of nurseProcedural memory- a mental picture of how you do itMental rehearsal can also help you achieve academic goalThinking affects our language, which then affect our thoughtAnimal Thinking and Language-Do Animals Think? numbers, concepts, insight, tools, local customs, theory of mindSultan, “Aha!”Animals, especially the great apes, display remarkable capacities for thinking. Wolfgang Kohler observed apparent insight while studying chimpanzees placed on an island off the coast of AfricaSultan- showed animals cognition and that there is more to learning than conditioningLike humans, chimps- often younger chimps- invent customs and pass them on to their peers and offspring.Primates are capable of self-recognition and of comprehending others’ perception? Many say yesApes’ capacity fro reasoning, self-recognition, empathy, imitation, and understanding another’s mind, it is similar to that of 2-year old humansDo Animals Show Language?-honeybees, apes: Washoe, Lana, Koko, Nim Chimski, Loulis, Kanzi-difference(s):Honeybees communicate but not with the element of language.The greatest challenge to humanity’s claim to be the only language-using species has come from reports of apes that “talk” with peopleWashoe learned how to use sign language so by age 32, she could use 181 signs with Allen Gardner and Beatrix GardenerLana “talks” by punching buttons wired to a computer that then translates her punches into EnglishKoko described a long-nosed Pinnochio doll as an “elephant baby.”Steve Pinker- “Chimps do not develop a language.”Humans also possess language, if by the term we mean verbal or signed expression of complex grammar. If we mean, more simply, the ability to communicate through a meaningful sequence of symbols, then apes are indeed capable of languageKanzi- happened onto language while observing his adoptive languageEarly life is the critical time for learning language.However, language capabilities are modest by human standards ................
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