Week 2 notes
Information Theory consist of 7 key concepts
1. Information: reduces uncertainty. This can involve data, channel,
outcomes/uses, and process.
2. Entropy: the degree of uncertainty, chaos, randomness, turbulence, chaos.
3. Piece: a unit or piece of information.
4. Bit: a unit of information that reduces the alternatives by half; a decision between
two alternatives.
The example give of a deck of card. Asking questions that will in return cut my
options in half. Like is the card your holding black or white will reduce to half
once answered.
5. Turbulence: is the degree of stability/instability in the environment; effects
entropy.
6. Information load: quantity of information combined with relative difficulty in
transmission; burnout may result from underload or overload.
7. Uncertainty reduction: people seeking information to reduce uncertainty; they
may also create uncertainty by the information they transmit.
8. Social cognition theory: reduces uncertainty by increasing one’s knowledge of
social situations. How do we learn/come to know?
Cybernetics
Control and self-regulation via communication with in regard to Feedback.
Example, like the thermostat that controls the air conditioner.
Example, any computerized controlled system.
Cybernetic mechanisms characteristics are:
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Goal parameters
A control center
Sensor
Comparator
Activator
 Feedback: negative or positive
 Corrective action capability
These cybernetic mechanisms for example is the process that the air conditioner
uses.
Theories of Language and Cognitive Processing
Theories of verbal coding.
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A sign is a stimulus that has meaning for people.
Messages are sign and group of sign shaped through human though
processes.
Signal: indicates the presence of a object other than itself, time and contextbound. For example maybe dogs do not know what we are actually saying
signals like waving hands or tone of voice gets communication across.
Symbol: arouses in a person a conception of the object, event or condition
context- free. For example, labels or a stop sign.
Coding: the process of relating signs to their referents. For example, shaking
hands.
Signs are used it elicit and formulate behavior.
Sings have relationship with other signs.
In communication, one’s reality is represented to the self and others with
signs.
The study of signs and /or verbal coding can be approached three ways.
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Theories of Verbal Coding
Semantics: how signs relate to things…meaning( what words mean)
Pragmatics: how signs effect human behavior.
Syntactic: signs relating to other signs
Language is a structure sequence of speech sounds organized through rules
or syntax.
Speakers of language must acquire an intuitive knowledge of grammar.
People must be able to use their knowledge of grammar to create and
understand novel sentence.
How do we develop language?
How is language structured?
Classical Structural Linguistics
What are the syntactical units and relations within a sentence?
Phonology: The study of sounds.
Morphology: study of words, how do words come to be or form overtime.
Syntactic: learning rules for grammar, or that language you speak.
Lexical level: meanings of words and word combinations
Psychological Approaches
Ask how is language used? What mental processes are used in speech
production and reception?
Behavioristic: stimulus response (Skinner). Example, saying hello will make
the other person say hello back.
 Conditioned, reinforced; affected by use frequency.
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Generative grammar (Chomsky)
Concerned with novel sentences; (creating sentence from own point of
view).
Conceives the ideal speaker- listener.
Competence and performances, key concepts
Major syntactic concern is the difference between deep structure and
surface structure.
Deep structure: an abstract sentence mostly in the mind of the
speaker.
Surface structure: produced from deep structure through
transformations.
Language Acquisition
 Behaviorist: learned
 Nativist: innate
Theories of Thinking
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Thinking involves conceptual behavior… two approaches to concept
formation.
Behavioristic
Cognitive school( learning in school)
Boume: a concept is formed whenever two or more distinguishable
objects or events have been grouped or classified together on the
basis of some common feature or property. For example, apple is the
object that can to group by color or the fact that it is a food or fruit or
what color the apple is.
Conceptual behavior consists of:
 Concept formation: learning concepts.
 Concept utilization: their use in life.
 Cybernetic approach: Miller/ Galant/ Pribram
Thinking involves planning.
Thinking is a cybernetic mechanism that senses feedback and adjusts accordingly.
Developed the TOTE model
Test> Operate> Test> Exit.