Myers’ PSYCHOLOGY (7th Ed) Chapter 10 Thinking and Language Walnut Psychology.
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Transcript of Myers’ PSYCHOLOGY (7th Ed) Chapter 10 Thinking and Language Walnut Psychology.
Myers’ PSYCHOLOGY
(7th Ed)
Chapter 10
Thinking and Language
WalnutPsychology
Fact or Falsehood?
1.) We notice evidence that contradicts our beliefs more readily than evidence that is consistent with them.
2.) In general, people underestimate how much they really know.
3.) It takes less compelling evidence to change our beliefs than it did to create them in the first place.
4.) Some computers are able to learn from experience.
5.) Only human beings seem capable of insight (the sudden realization of a problem’s solution).
The Three-Jugs Problem
Using jugs A, B, and C, with the capacities shown, how would you measure out the volumes indicated?
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.
Thinking
Cognition mental activities associated with thinking,
knowing, remembering, and communicating
Thinking
Concept mental grouping of similar objects,
events, ideas, or people Prototype
mental 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)
Thinking
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
Thinking
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
Unscramble
S P L O Y O C H Y G Algorithm
all 907,208 combinations Heuristic
throw out all YY combinations other heuristics?
Thinking
Insight sudden and often novel realization of the
solution to a problem contrasts with strategy-based solutions
Confirmation Bias tendency to search for information that
confirms one’s preconceptions Fixation
inability to see a problem from a new perspective
impediment to problem solving
Thinking
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
The Matchstick Problem
How would you arrange six matches to form four equilateral triangles?
The Matchstick Problem
Solution to the matchstick problem
Thinking
Functional Fixednesstendency to think of things only in terms of their usual functions
impediment to problem solving
The Candle-Mounting Problem
Using these materials, how would you mount the candle on a bulletin board?
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
may lead one to ignore other relevant information
Logic Puzzles
A ladder hangs over the side of a ship anchored in a port. The bottom rung touches the water. The distance between rungs is 20 cm and the length of the ladder is 180 cm. The tide is rising at the rate of 15 cm each hour.When will the water reach the seventh rung from the top?
I am looking at somebody's photo. Who is it I am looking at, if I don't have any brothers or sisters and the father of the man in the photo is the son of my father?
If there are 3 apples and you take away 2, how many do you have?
Heuristics
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
Example: airplane crash
Thinking
Overconfidence tendency to be more confident
than correct tendency to overestimate the
accuracy of one’s beliefs and judgments
Thinking
Framing the way an issue is posedhow 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?
Hotel Enigma
Three people check into a hotel. They pay $30 to the manager and go to their room. The manager finds out that the room rate is $25 and gives the bellboy $5 to return to the guests. On the way to the room the bellboy reasons that $5 would be difficult to split among three people so he pockets $2 and gives $1 to each person. Now each person paid $10 and got back $1. So they paid $9 each, totaling $27. The bellboy has another $2, adding up to $29.Where is the remaining dollar?
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
Belief Perseverance clinging to one’s initial conceptions after
the basis on which they were formed has been discredited
Artificial Intelligence
Artificial Intelligence designing and programming
computer systems to do intelligent things to simulate human thought
processes
intuitive reasoning learning understanding language
Artificial Intelligence
Computer Neural Networks computer circuits that mimic the
brain’s interconnected neural cells
performing tasks learning to recognize visual patterns learning to recognize smells
Language
“The limits of your language mean the limits of your world.” Ludwig Wittgenstein
Language
Language our spoken, written, or gestured
works and the way we combine them to communicate meaning
Phoneme in a spoken language, the
smallest distinctive sound unit
Language
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
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
One-Word Stage from about age 1 to 2 the stage in speech development
during which a child speaks mostly in single words
Language
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
LanguageSummary of Language Development
Month(approximate)
Stage
4
10
12
24
24+
Babbles many speech sounds.
Babbling reveals households language.
One-word stage.
Two-world, telegraphic speech.
Language develops rapidly intocomplete sentences.
Nature Vs Nurture
Noam Chomsky B.F. Skinner
He found, through his studies, that humans have a « language acquisition device » that other animals do not have. When exposed to language, a child will acquire that language where an animal will not. Thus, a language acquisition device (LAD), as Chomsky calls it, is the function of our brain that allows us to transform exposure to a language into acquisition of grammar.
Chomsky argues that the types of grammar that the child needs must be narrowly constrained by human biology. These innate constraints on grammar are what Chomsky refers to as universal grammar, or more commonly known as “language instinct.”
« Universal Grammar » Chomsky
Structure-Dependency
Knowledge of language requires dependance on the structural relationships within a sentence.
By examining changes in a particular sentence, one can see structural relationships within the sentence, and not the linear order of words. Therefore, structure dependancy is a universal principle of language
Structure-DependencyA tree diagram representing phrase structure analysis:
By examining sentence diagrams, one can see how the elements of a sentence depend on its structure.
Chomsky developed a theory in opposition to B.F. Skinner, who argued very generally that language comes about as a result of external stimuli. example: a child responds to an object which is
acting as a stimulus, for example a doll, calling it « doll. »
Chomsky challenges this with the notion of creativity: if a child can regularly produce sentences they have never heard before, how could they be acting through stimuli? Language is not controlled by stimuli.
First Language Acquisition
The source of language must be within the mind itself
In other words, a child could not have acquired language from the relatively few samples of language available to the child.
This explains the complexity of our knowledge of language, as compared to the poverty of data at a learner’s disposal.
Poverty of the stimulus
Grammatical explanation: one does not learn the grammatical structure of a second language through explicit explanation and instruction
Is it possible to become fluent in a second language? According to Chomsky, yes. But motivation plays a big factor.
He once gave an example of his two children. He went to Italy once for a few months, and his young boy picked up the language without even trying. However, his older daughter, who was highly motivated to learn Italian, had to work hard at it.
Poverty of the stimulus does exist in a second language, according to Chomsky.
One cannot truly teach language but can only present conditions for the learner to develop it in his or her own mind.
Second Language Acquisition
Language
Genes design the mechanisms for a language, and experience activates them as it modifies the brain
Language
New language learning gets harder with age
100
90
80
70
60
50Native 3-7 8-10 11-15 17-39
Percentage correct ongrammar test
Age at school
Language
Linguistic DeterminismWhorf’s hypothesis that language determines the way we think
Language
The interplay of thought and language
Animal Thinking and Language
Is this really language?
Animal Thinking and Language
The straight-line part of the dance points in the direction of a nectar source, relative to the sun
Direction ofnectar source
Animal Thinking and Language
Gestured Communication