Chapter 9: Thinking and Language
I.
II.
Thinking
a. Concepts: mental groupings of similar objects, events, and people.
i. Organize into hierarchies
ii. Form by definitions
iii. Prototypes: a mental image or best example that
incorporates all the features we associate with a category
b. Solving problems
i. Algorithms: methodical, logical rule or procedure that
guarantees solving a particular problem.
ii. Heuristics: a simple thinking strategy that often allows us to
make judgments and solve problems efficiently; usually
speedier but also more error-prone than algorithms
iii. Insight: a sudden and often novel realization of the solution
to a problem; it contrasts with strategy-based solutions.
c. Obstacles to Problem Soling
i. Confirmation bias: We seek evidence verifying our ideas
more eagerly than we seek evidence that might refute them.
ii. Fixation: Inability to see a problem from a fresh perspective
iii. Mental set/Functional Fixedness: a tendency to approach a
problem in one particular way, often a way that has been
successful in the past
d. Making decisions and forming judgments
i. Using and Misusing Heuristics
1. Representativeness heuristic: judging the likelihood
of things in terms of how well they seem to
represent, or match, particular prototypes; may lead
us to ignore other relevant information.
2. 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.
ii. Overconfidence: the tendency to be more confident than
correct; to overestimate the accuracy of our beliefs and
judgments.
iii. Belief Perseverance Phenomenon: Clinging to one’s initial
conceptions after the basis on which they were formed has
been discredited
e. Framing: the way an issue is posed; how an issue is framed can
significantly affect decisions and judgments
Language
a. Language Structure
i. Phonemes: the smallest, distinctive sound unit
1. English has 40 phonemes
ii. Morphemes
1. The smallest unit that carries meaning; may be a
word or part of a word, such as a prefix
iii. Grammar: a system of rules
1. Semantics: rules we use to derive meaning from
morphemes, words, and even sentences. Example,
adding “ed” to laugh means it happened in the past.
2. Syntax: rules we use to order words into sentences
b. Language Development
i. When do we learn language?
1. Receptive language: the ability to comprehend
speech
2. Productive language: ability to produce words
a. Babbling: 4 months of age
b. 10 months of age: babies becomes
functionally deaf to sounds outside of their
native language(s)
c. 12 months: one-word stage
d. 24 months: two word stage: telegraphic
speech
ii. Explaining language development
1. Skinner: Operant Learning
2. Chomsky: Inborn Universal Language
a. LAD
b. Universal grammar
3. Statistical Learning and Critical Periods
a. “sensitive period”
b. implications for deaf children
iii. The Brain and Language
1. Aphasia: impairment of language, usually caused by
left hemisphere damage
a. Broca’s area: damage here disrupts speaking
b. Wernicke’s area: damage here causes
meaningless speech production and disrupts
understanding.
c. Angular gyrus: damage here disrupts reading
aloud.
“For example, adults who learned a second language early in life use the
same patch of frontal lobe tissue when recounting an event in either the
native or the second language. Those who learned their second tongue after
childhood display ac- tivity in an adjacent brain area while using their
second language (Kim et al., 1997).”
III.
IV.
Thinking and Language
a. Benjamin Lee Whorf: Linguistic determinism
i. “Language itself shapes a man’s basic ideas.”
ii. Bilinguals report having different senses of self
iii. Number
iv. Color
v. Tenses
b. “It’s better to spend your fantasy time planning how to get
somewhere than to dwell on the imagined destination.”
Animal Thinking and Language (see book for details, not covered in this
class.)