Myers’ Psychology for AP*
David G. Myers
Some PowerPoint Presentation Slides
by Kent Korek
Germantown High School
Worth Publishers, © 2010
*AP is a trademark registered and/or owned by the College Board, which was not involved in the production of, and does not endorse, this product.
OBJECTIVES:
The student will know and
understand the Thinking and Language examines the
role of language, problem-solving skills, creativity,
multilingualism, and intelligence testing as primary
interests of researchers in this area. After completing
their study of this chapter, students should be able to:
1)describe the nature of concepts and the role of
prototypes in concept formation,
2) discuss how we use trial and error, algorithms,
heuristics, and insight to solve problems,
3) describe how the confirmation bias and fixation can
interfere with effective problem solving,
4) explain how the representatives and availability
heuristics influence our judgments,
5) describe the effects that overconfidence and framing
can have on our judgments and decisions,
6) discuss how our beliefs distort logical reasoning, and
describe the belief perseverance phenomenon,
7) describe artificial intelligence, and contrast the
human mind and the computer as information
processors,
8) describe the structure of language in terms of
sounds, meanings, and grammar,
9)trace the course of language acquisition from the
babbling stage through the two-word stage,
10)explain how the nature-nurture debate is illustrated
in the theories of language development,
11)discuss Whorf’s linguistic determinism hypothesis
and the relationship between thought and language,
12)describe the research on animal cognition and
communication and discuss the controversy over
whether animals can use language.
Thinking
Cognition
mental activity associated with processing,
understanding, and communicating information
Cognitive Psychology
the study of these mental activities
concept formation
problem solving
decision making
judgement formation
study of both logical and illogical thinking
Thinking
Thinking
Concept
mental grouping of similar objects, events,
or people
address
• country, city, street, house
• zip codes
Prototype
the 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.)
Once we place an items in a
category, our memory of it
tends to shift toward a category
prototype.
Notice the ethnicity of the people in the
following slides and mentally determine
the percentage of ethnicity in each
person. (ie) is the person 30% black and
70% Asian?
Shown a face that is 70% caucasian, people
tended to classify the person as caucasian
and to recollect the person as more
caucasian than it was.
Problem Solving
Good problem solvers are skilled at (a) identifying the
problem, and (b) selecting a strategy.
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
TWO strategy methods:
rule-of-thumb strategy that often allows us to make
judgements and solve problems efficiently
usually speedier than algorithms
more error-prone than algorithms
sometimes we’re unaware of using heuristics
Thinking
Unscramble
SPLOYOCHYG
Algorithm
all 907,208 combinations
Heuristic
throw out all YY combinations
other heuristics?
Heuristics
Representativeness Heuristic
rule of thumb for 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
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
Making Decisions and Forming Judgments
Using and Misusing Heuristics
The Availability Heuristic
Some Useful Heuristic Strategies:
1) Working backwards (works well with mazes
and certain math problems where the initial
conditions are vague)
2) Searching for analogies (works well if the
problem is similar to one you have faced
previously)
3) Breaking problem in to smaller pieces
(allows the completion of smaller, manageable
units)
Solving Problems
Creativity
Creativity: the ability to produce novel
and valuable ideas.
Sternberg’s five components
Expertise
Imaginative thinking skills
A venturesome
personality
Intrinsic motivation
A creative environment
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- Insight
Wolfgang Kohler’s experiment on insight by a chimpanzee
by solving complex problems.
Kohler suspended fruit out of reach of the chimp. Sulton, the brightest chimp first
attacked the fruit with sticks in trial and error fashion. He then sat down, scratched
his head, and begin to pile boxes. He then climbed on top of them with a stick to
knock down his prize.
PROBLEMS
Using these
materials, how
would you
mount the
candle on a
bulletin board?
How would you
arrange six
matches to
form four
equilateral
triangles?
Problem Solutions
Solution to the
matchstick
problem
Solving this
problem
requires
recognizing
that a box
need not
always
serve as a
container
The Three-Jugs Problem
Using jugs A, B, and C
with the capacities
shown, how would you
measure out the
volumes indicated?
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 Three-Jugs Problem
Obstacles to Problem Solving
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
impediment to problem solving
Self Imposed Limitations Low self-esteem
Lack of Knowledge
Fatigue
Lack of Interest
Drugs
Thinking
Overconfidence
tendency to be more confident than correct
tendency to overestimate the accuracy of one’s
beliefs and judgements
Framing
the way an issue is posed
how an issue is framed can significantly affect
decisions and judgements
Example: What is the best way to market
ground beef- As 25% fat or 75% lean?
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
Consider the
opposite??
Artificial Intelligence
Artificial Intelligence
designing and programming computer systems
to do intelligent things
to 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
learning to recognize smells
Making Decisions and Forming Judgments
The Perils and Powers of Intuition
Intuition: an effortless, immediate,
automatic feeling or thought, as
contrasted with explicit, conscious
reasoning.
Unconscious intuition
QUESTIONS FOR
REVIEW
Jessie’s older brother has had chronic depression for several
years. Jessie has been incorrectly informed by her parents
that there is a 40 percent chance she will also suffer from
depression.
Explain how the following might lead to Jessie having depression:
AVAILIABILITY HEURISTIC:
memories of watching her brother
suffer, so she believes she will suffer….
If parents had said 60 percent chance of NOT suffering
FRAMING:
from depression instead of 40 percent chance that she will…..
CONFIRMATION BIAS: Tendency to search for information that
confirms one’s belief…
BELIEF PERSERVERANCE:
Clinging to one’s initial conceptions
even after the basis for the misinformation is pointed out….
Show
DISCOVERING PSYCHOLOGY
#10 Cognitive Processes
#11 Judgment and Decision
Making
BACK
Language
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 (in English,
about 40 phonemes)
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
HOW DO CHILDREN
ACQUIRE
LANGUAGE?
LANGUAGE
INNATENESS THEORY OF LANGUAGE
*children acquire language not merely by imitating but
also by inborn program of steps to acquire vocabulary and
grammar in their environment.
Noam CHOMSKY, psycholinguist
*children born with mental structure,
allows vocabulary & grammar of their
environment
*LAD: Language Acquisition device
HUMAN GENOME PROJECT
*language is genetic
*Broca’s area (ch.2)
Professor emeritus,
linguistics, MIT
The CHOMSKY HIERARCHY
Not necessary
to copy
Language Class
3
2
1
0
Grammar
Automaton
Regular
NFA or DFA
Context-Free
Push-Down Automaton
Context-Sensitive
Linear-Bounded Automaton
Unrestricted (or Free) Turing Machine
Type 0:Unrestricted rewriting systems. The languages defined by Type 0
grammars are accepted by Turing machines; Chomskyan transformations are
defined as Type 0 grammars.
Type 1:Context-sensitive grammars. The languages defined by Type 1 grammars
are accepted by linear bounded automata; the syntax of some natural languages
(including Dutch, Swiss German and Bambara), but not all, is generally held in
computational linguistics to have structures of this type.
Type 2:Context-free grammars. The languages defined by Type 2 grammars are
accepted by push-down automata; the syntax of natural languages is definable
almost entirely in terms of context-free languages and the tree structures
Type 3:Regular grammars. The languages defined by Type 3 grammars are
accepted by finite state automata; morphological structure and perhaps all the
syntax of informal spoken dialogue is describable by regular grammars. There are
two kinds of regular grammar.
Language Development
Explaining Language Development
Chomsky: Inborn Universal
Grammar
Language acquisition device
Universal grammar
Language Development
Explaining Language Development
Skinner: Operant Learning
Learning principles
Association
Imitation
Reinforcement
Language
1) Crying…..
2) 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
also called “naming
3) One-Word Stage (“mama”)
stage”
*from about age 1 to 2
*the stage in speech development during which a child speaks mostly in
single words
4) Two-Word Stage (“mommy milk”)
*beginning about age 2
*the stage in speech development during which a child speaks mostly twoword statements
*start to acquire grammar
5) Telegraphic Speech (“ball hit mary cry”)
*early speech stage in which the child speaks like a telegram – “go car” –
using mostly nouns and verbs and omitting “auxiliary” words
*acquire rules of grammar
Starting at age 2, children also:
*acquire use of MORPHEMES, showing tense (walks,
walked, walking)
*overgeneralization or overregularization:
(ie. hitted, breaked)
*use words with abstract meanings (dream, forget,
pretend, believe)
*use words that refer to emotions (happy, sad, angry)
After cognitive advances in later childhood,
they understand highly abstract words (truth,
justice, idea)
Language
Summary of Language Development
Month
(approximate)
Stage
4
Babbles many speech sounds.
10
Babbling reveals households
language.
12
One-word stage.
24
Two-word, telegraphic speech.
24+
Language develops rapidly into
Complete sentences.
Motherease (parentease):
the way a
mother talks to infants…..includes slower pace,
enunciate clearly, simple words, reemphasis on common
words, higher tone, common pitch….
Universal Adaptability; during the babbling stage,
the ability of an infant to make all possible sounds in
language. This ability is lost by the age of 1.
Language Development
Explaining Language Development
Statistical Learning and Critical
Periods
Statistical learning
Critical (sensitive) period
Language
Genes design the
mechanisms for a
language, and
experience fills them as it
modifies the brain
Language
Environment
spoken language
heard
provides
input to
Genes
Brain
design
Mechanisms for
understanding and
producing language
Behavior
Mastery of
native
language
Language
We are all born to recognize speech sounds from all the
world’s languages
Percentage able
to discriminate
Hindi t’s
100
90
80
70
60
50
40
30
20
10
0
Hindispeaking
adults
6-8
months
8-10
months
10-12
months
Infants from English-speaking homes
Englishspeaking
adults
7bThe mind 23 infant speech sound
discrimination.avi.mp4
7bThe mind 24 language
predisposition.avi.mp4
7bThe mind 26 the bilingual
brain.avi.mp4
Language
Percentage
correct on
grammar
test
New language
learning gets
harder with
age
100
90
80
70
60
50
Native 3-7
8-10 11-15 17-39
Age at school
Language Influences Thinking
Whorf’s linguistic
determinism:
**hypothesis that language determines the
way we think
Bilingual advantage
Thinking in Images
Implicit memory
Animal Thinking and Language
 Is this
really
language?
QUESTIONS FOR
REVIEW
RECALL
1) Noam Chomsky has presented evidence supporting
his theory that
a) Children learn language by imitating their parents.
b) Children are born with some rules of grammar
programmed into their brains
c) Vocabulary is innate, but grammar is learned.
d) Different languages may have entirely different rules
of grammar
e) Grammar interferes with a child’s ability to learn
languages.
RECALL
2) A child’s acquisition of grammar first becomes
apparent at
a) The babbling stage
b) The one-word stage
c) The two-word stage
d) The concrete operational stage
e) adolescence.
RECALL
3) What is the first step in problem solving?
a) selecting a strategy
b) avoiding pitfalls
c) searching for analogies
d) identifying the problem
e) developing algorithms
APPLICATION
4) A math problem calls for finding the area of a triangle.
You know the formula, so you multiply 1/2 the base
times the height. You have used
a) an algorithm
b) a heuristic
c) functional fixedness
d) intuition
e) an analogy
RECALL
5) Good problem solvers often use “tricks of the trade”
or “rules of thumb” known as
a) algorithms
b) heuristics
c) trial and error
d) deductive reasoning
e) scripts
APPLICATION
6) Which one of the following would be an example of
confirmation bias at work?
a) Mary ignores negative information about her
favorite political candidate
b) Aaron agrees with Joel’s taste in music.
c) Natasha refuses to eat a food she dislikes
d) Bill buys a new RV, even though his wife was
opposed to the purchase.
e) Frank buys a lottery ticket because he read about
a lotto winner.
RECALL
7) Which of the following is NOT a characteristic that is
consistently found among highly creative people?
a) independence
b) a high level of motivation
c) willingness to restructure the problem
d) extremely high intelligence.
e) open-mindedness.
UNDERSTANDING THE CORE CONCEPT
8) Heuristic strategies show that our thinking is often
based on
a) logic rather than emotion
b) experience rather than logic
c) trial and error rather than algorithms
d) common sense rather than learning.
e) logic rather than creativity.
APPLICATION
9) Which of the following utterances illustrates
overregularization in language development?
a) “bababababa”
b) “Drink milk, all gone”
c) “house”
d) “Me gots two foots and two handses.”
e) “Want cookie”
APPLICATION
10) An alien being from another galaxy has landed on
Earth and is overwhelmed by the sensory input it
must process. Eventually the alien simplifies its
thinking by categorizing sets of experiences and
objects according to common features. In other
words, the alien learns to form
a) algorithms
b) concepts
c) heuristics
d) hypotheses
e) scripts
APPLICATION
11) Because you watch a lot of violent videos, you think
your chances of being mugged are quite high. Your
judgment is flawed by
a) anchoring bias
b) functional fixedness
c) hindsight bias
d) availability bias
e) stereotyping
APPLICATION
12) A mental ____ outlines the proper sequence in
which actions and reactions might be expected to
happen in a given setting, such as when you visit a
grocery store.
a) algorithm
b) heuristic
c) map
d) prototype
e) script
Show
THE MIND
#25 Human Language: Signed and Spoken
#26 The Bilingual Brain
#27 Animal Language
#28 Language and Culture
And
FERAL CHILDREN (DIS)
DISCOVERING PSYCHOLOGY
#6 Language Development