Chapter 10

Thinking and Language

Thinking How do we use the information we receive, perceive, store and retrieve?

Cognition mental activities associated with thinking, knowing, remembering, and communicating

Cognitive Psychologists study these mental activities: concept formation ; problem solving ; decision

making ; judgment formation

Concept mental grouping of similar objects, events, ideas, or people; we create hierarchies &

definitions of ; written on our brain ;

Prototype mental image or best example of a category

matching new items to the prototype - a quick and easy method for including items in a category (ex.s: comparing feathered creatures to a prototypical bird, such as a robin ; disease symptoms don’t match prototype, don’t seek help ; prejudice prototypes)

Thinking – Solving Problems

How? Trial and error Step-by-step - algorithms Simple strategies - heuristics

Algorithm methodical, logical rule or procedure that guarantees solving a particular

problem contrasts with the usually speedier–but also more error-prone--use of heuristics

Heuristic simple thinking strategy that often allows us to make judgments and solve

problems efficiently usually speedier than algorithms more error-prone than algorithms

Thinking – Solving Problems

UnscrambleS P L O Y O C H Y G

Algorithm all 907,208 combinations

Heuristic throw out all YY combinations other heuristics?

Insight Sudden, novel realization of the solution to a problem (text ex. Johnny’s sand

solution) contrasts with strategy-based solutions

Obstacles to Solving Problems

Confirmation Bias tendency to search for information that confirms one’s preconceptions – we

would rather verify our ideas than try to refute them.

Fixation - inability to see a problem from a new perspective

Mental Set 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 problem

Functional Fixedness -tendency to think of things only in terms of their

usual functions

The Matchstick Problem

How would you arrange six matches to form four equilateral triangles?

Obstacle: Fixation on 2-

dimensional solution

The Three-Jugs Problem

Using jugs A, B, and C, with the capacities shown, how would you measure out the volumes indicated?

Obstacle:Mental set for

solving first 5 applied to #6 & 7, instead of simpler solution.

The Candle-Mounting Problem

Using these materials, how would you mount the candle on a bulletin board?

Obstacle:Functional fixedness –

use the box in a different way!!

The Matchstick Problem

Solution to the matchstick problem.

The Three-Jugs Problem

Solution: a) All seven problems can be solved by the equation shown in (a): B - A - 2C = desired volume.

b) But simpler solutions exist for problems 6 and 7, such as A - C for problem 6.

The Candle-Mounting Problem

Solving this problem requires recognizing that a box need not always serve as a container

Heuristics

Representativeness Heuristic judging the likelihood of things in terms of how well they seem to represent,

or match, particular prototypes Problem: may lead one to ignore other relevant information – we ignore

statistical or logical considerations (text ex. : short, slim poetry reader = professor of classics at Ivy League school or truck driver?)

Availability 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 Examples: airplane crash, winners of lottery/gambling. Used by insurance salespeople (among others!!) Affects social judgements (ex. One story of welfare recipients = all welfare

recipients)

Thinking – Making Decisions & Judging

Overconfidence tendency to be more confident than correct tendency to overestimate the accuracy of one’s beliefs and judgments Try putting money on it!! The most confident people are not the most accurate!

Student projects generally take twice as long as predicted!! Think about it…

Framing the way an issue is posed – “10% die” or “90% survive” how an issue is framed can significantly affect decisions and judgments Example: What is the best way to market ground beef--as 25% fat or

75% lean? To create fear of something always frame as #s not %s (text ex. Smoking

stats) Marketers use this all the time to sell, sell, sell !!

Thinking

Belief Bias the tendency for one’s preexisting beliefs to distort logical reasoning sometimes by making invalid conclusions seem valid or valid conclusions seem

invalid Look at several examples in your text on pages 395-6.

Belief Perseverance Phenomenon clinging to one’s initial conceptions after the basis on which they were formed

has been discredited (Text ex. Risk-taker vs. Cautious person as better firefighters)

Prejudice persists

Artificial Intelligence

Artificial Intelligence designing and programming computer systems to: do intelligent things ;

simulate human thought processes - intuitive reasoning, learning, understanding language

Computer Neural Networks computer circuits that mimic the brain’s interconnected neural cells performing tasks: learning to recognize visual patterns & smells

Language

Language our spoken, written, or gestured works and the way we combine them to

communicate meaning – spreads information beyond its actual experience.

Phoneme in a spoken language, the smallest distinctive sound unit

Morpheme in a language, the smallest unit that carries meaning may be a word or a part of a word (such as a prefix)

Grammar a system of rules in a language that enables us to communicate with and

understand others

Language

Semantics the set of rules by which we derive meaning from morphemes, words, and

sentences in a given language also, the study of meaning

Syntax the rules for combining words into grammatically sensible sentences in a

given language

Language We are all born to recognize speech sounds from all the world’s languages

100

90

80

70

60

50

40

30

20

10

0

Percentage ableto discriminateHindi t’s

Hindi-speaking

adults

6-8 months

8-10months

10-12months

English-speaking

adultsInfants from English-speaking homes

Language Babbling Stage

beginning at 3 to 4 months the stage of speech development in which the infant spontaneously utters

various sounds at first unrelated to the household language – nature at work! Eventually non-native sounds disappear

One-Word Stage from about age 1 to 2 the stage in speech development during which a child speaks mostly in

single words

Two-Word Stage beginning about age 2 the stage in speech development during which a child speaks in mostly two-

word statements

Telegraphic Speech early speech stage in which the child speaks like a telegram-–“go car”--using

mostly nouns and verbs and omitting “auxiliary” words

Language

Summary of Language Development

Month(approximate)

Stage

4

10

12

24

24+

Babbles many speech sounds.

Babbling reveals households language.

One-word stage.

Two-word, telegraphic speech.

Language develops rapidly intocomplete sentences.

Language

Genes design the mechanisms for a language, and experience activates them as it modifies the brain

The debate is how much is nature, and how much is nurture

Language

New language learning gets harder with age

“critical period” for language acquisition – begins to close around 7.

100

90

80

70

60

50Native 3-7 8-10 11-15 17-39

Percentage correct ongrammar test

Age at school

Language Linguistic Determinism Whorf”s hypothesis that language determines the way we think –

studies show bilingual people have different self-concepts depending on the language used.

Language is a key to culture Complexity of language can influence how we distinguish and think

about things – the Inuit describe snow with separate words depending on the type. We distinguish different colours with more and more complexity – this differs from one language to another

Subtle influences – sexist language which implies lower status of womenTo expand language is to expand the ability to think, understand, express

Language

The interplay of thought and language