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Chapter 8: Language and Thought

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The Cognitive Revolution

19th Century focus on the mindIntrospection

Behaviorist focus on overt responses arguments regarding incomplete picture of human functioning

Empirical study of cognition – 1956 conference

Simon and Newell – problem solvingChomsky – new model of languageMiller – memory

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Language: Turning Thoughts into Words

Properties of LanguageSymbolicSemanticGenerativeStructured

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The Hierarchical Structure of Language

• Phonemes = smallest speech units– 100 possible, English – about 40

• 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

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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

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Table 8.2 Overview of Typical Language Development

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Language Development:Milestones Continued

• 18-24 months – vocabulary spurt– fast mapping – over and underextensions

• End of second year – combine words – Telegraphic speech– Mean Length of Utterance (MLU)

• End of third year – complex ideas, plural, past tense– Overregularization

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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

– 2nd languages more easily acquired early in life

– Greater acculturation facilitates acquisition

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Figure 8.4 Age and second language learning

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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

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Theories of Language Acquisition

• Behaviorist – Skinner

• learning of specific verbal responses

• Nativist– Chomsky

• learning the rules of language• Language Acquisition Device (LAD)

• Interactionist – Cognitive, social communication, and

emergentist theories

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Figure 8.5 Interactionist theories of language

acquisition

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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

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Figure 8.6 Six standard problems used in studies of

problem solving

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Effective Problem Solving

• Well defined vs. ill defined problems

• Barriers to effective problem solving:– Irrelevant Information– Functional Fixedness– Mental Set– Unnecessary Constraints

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Figure 8.12 The tower of Hanoi problem

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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

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Figure 8.16 Representing the bird and train problem

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Culture, Cognitive Style,and Problem Solving

• Field dependence – relying on external frames of reference

• Field independence – relying on internal frames of reference– Western cultures inspire field

independence– Cultural influence based in ecological

demands

• Holistic vs. analytic cognitive styles

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Decision Making:Evaluating Alternatives and

Making Choices• Simon (1957) – theory of bounded

rationality

• Making Choices– Additive strategies– Elimination by aspects– Risky decision making

• Expected value• Subjective utility• Subjective probability

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Table 8.3 Application of the additive model to choosing an apartment

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Heuristics in Judging Probabilities

• The availability heuristic

• The representativeness heuristic

• The tendency to ignore base rates

• The conjunction fallacy

• The alternative outcomes effect

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Figure 8.18 The conjunction fallacy

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Understanding Pitfalls in Reasoning

About Decisions• The gambler’s fallacy

• Overestimating the improbable

• Confirmation bias and belief perseverance

• The overconfidence effect

• Framing

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Evolutionary Analyses: Flaws in Decision Making and Fast and

Frugal Heuristics• Cosmides and Tooby (1996)

– Unrealistic standard of rationality– Decision making evolved to handle real-

world adaptive problems– Problem solving research based on

contrived, artificial problems

• Gigerenzer (2000)– Quick and dirty heuristics– Less than perfect but adaptive