Matakuliah
Tahun
: O0072 / Pengantar Psikologi
: 2008
COGNITION AND LANGUAGE
Pertemuan 6
COGNITION
DEFINITION
CONCEPTS : THE BASIC UNITS OF
THINKING
THINKING AND PROBLEM SOLVING
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COGNITION : DEFINITION
• (Latin: cognoscere, "to know")
• The human-like processing of information, applying
knowledge and changing preferences
• The intellectual processes through which information is
obtained, transformed, stored, retrieved and otherwise
used.
• Cognition or cognitive processes can be natural and
artificial, conscious and not conscious
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cognition
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3 Primary Facets from Cognition Definition
1. Cognition processes Information
•
In form of concepts or categories
2. Cognition is active
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Is actively changed, kept, used in the process of cognition
In cognition, information is :
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•
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Obtained through senses
Transformed through the interpretive processes of perception & thinking
Stored and retrieved through the processes of memory
Used in problem solving and language
3. Cognition is useful
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We think because there is something we do not understand
We use language because we need communicate something to others
We create because we need something that doesn’t exist
Use cognition to survive physically and to live in social world
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COGNITION : CONCEPTS (1)
information
• Concepts are the basic units of thinking
• Concepts are general categories of things,
events and qualities that are linked by a
common feature or features, in spite of their
differences
information
General
concept
information
information
information
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COGNITION : CONCEPTS (2)
concepts categorization
• Simple and Complex Concepts
– Conjunctive concepts : a simultaneous presence of two or more
common characteristic
– Disjunctive concepts : the presence of one of two common
characteristics or both
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COGNITION : CONCEPTS (3)
Learning about concepts
•
Natural Concepts :
– Natural concepts are basic
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A basic concepts has a medium degree of inclusiveness (the
number of members included in a concept)
3 level of inclusiveness :
1. Superordinate concepts are very inclusive
2. Basic concepts are the medium degree of inclusiveness
3. Subordinate concepts are the least inclusive level of concepts
•
Several characteristic of basic concepts that “fit” the human
intellect :
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Share many attributes
Share similar shapes
Share motor movement
Easily named
– Natural Concepts are good prototypes
•
Good examples or prototypes
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THINKING AND PROBLEM SOLVING
• Problem solving : the cognition
process through which
information is used to reach a
goal that is blocked by some
obstacle
http://www.mindtools.com/pages/article/newCT_10.htm
http://www.jerryfeist.com/psstages.html
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1.
Formulating The problem
We have to know what the problem is
2.
Understanding and Organizing the elements of the problem
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3.
Inventory all the elements of the problems : the resources and the information
Mental set : A habitual way of approaching or perceiving a problem  can
interfere in finding the solution
Generating and Evaluating Alternative Solutions
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Trial and error
the random application of one possible solution after another
(-) time consuming & doesn’t guarantee that the solution will be discovered
Algorithm
Systematic patterns of reasoning that guarantee finding a correct solution to a
problem
Heuristic Reasoning
Efficient problem solving based on strategies that increase the probabilities of
finding a correct solution
(-) don’t evaluate every possible solution, don’t guarantee to find the correct
one, lead to poor solution
Representativeness Heuristic : the strategy of making judgments about the
unknown on the assumption that it is similar to what we know
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Emotional Factors in Decision Making
– Intuition
– The perception of the risk
•
Creative problem solving : the ability to make human products and
ideas that are both novel and valued by others
– Convergent thinking
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Thinking that is logical and conventional and that focuses on problem
– Divergent thinking
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Thinking that is loosely organized, only partially directed and
unconventional
Creative process
1. Preparation : formulate problems, recall relevant facts, think abt
possible solution
2. Incubation : a period of rest
3. Illumination : a sudden insight pertaining to the solution
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4. Verification : the necessary
sometimes anticlimatic step of testing
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LANGUAGE
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Language : definition
• A language is a system of arbitrary symbols and the
rules used to manipulate them.
• Language can also refer to the use of such systems as a
general phenomenon. Though commonly used as a
means of communication among people, human
language is only one instance of this phenomenon.
• Language is a symbolic code used in communication
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LANGUAGE : SEMANTICS
• to aspects of meaning, as expressed in language or
other systems of signs.
• The meaning in symbols, such as language
Noam Chomsky (1975)
- Surface Structure : the superficial spoken or written
structure of a statement
- Deep Structure : the underlying structure of a statement
that holds its meaning
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LANGUAGE : ELEMENTS & RULES
• Generative : the ability to create an infinite set of
utterances using a finite set of elements and rules
– Phonemes : the smallest units of sound in a language
– Morphemes : the smallest units of meaning in a language
– Syntax : the grammatical rules of a language
* Utterances : ucapan, ungkapan, sounds
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LANGUAGE : WHORFIAN HYPOTHESIS
• In linguistics, the Sapir–Whorf hypothesis (SWH) states that there is
a systematic relationship between the grammatical categories of the
language a person speaks and how that person both understands
the world and behaves in it.
• the hypothesis argues that the nature of a particular language
influences the habitual thought of its speakers. Different patterns of
language yield different patterns of thought. This idea challenges the
possibility of representing the world perfectly with language,
because it acknowledges that the mechanisms of any language
condition the thoughts of its community of speakers. The hypothesis
emerged in many formulations, some weak and some strong.
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