Myers’ PSYCHOLOGY

(7th Ed)

Chapter 10

Thinking and Language

WalnutPsychology

Fact or Falsehood?

1.) We notice evidence that contradicts our beliefs more readily than evidence that is consistent with them.

2.) In general, people underestimate how much they really know.

3.) It takes less compelling evidence to change our beliefs than it did to create them in the first place.

4.) Some computers are able to learn from experience.

5.) Only human beings seem capable of insight (the sudden realization of a problem’s solution).

The Three-Jugs Problem

Using jugs A, B, and C, with the capacities shown, how would you measure out the volumes indicated?

The Three-Jugs Problem

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.

Thinking

Cognition mental activities associated with thinking,

knowing, remembering, and communicating

Thinking

Concept mental grouping of similar objects,

events, ideas, or people Prototype

mental image or 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)

Thinking

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

Thinking

Heuristic simple thinking strategy that often allows us to make judgments and solve problems efficiently

usually speedier than algorithms

more error-prone than algorithms

Thinking

Unscramble

S P L O Y O C H Y G Algorithm

all 907,208 combinations Heuristic

throw out all YY combinations other heuristics?

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

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

The Matchstick Problem

How would you arrange six matches to form four equilateral triangles?

The Matchstick Problem

Solution to the matchstick problem

Thinking

Functional Fixednesstendency to think of things only in terms of their usual functions

impediment to problem solving

The Candle-Mounting Problem

Using these materials, how would you mount the candle on a bulletin board?

The Candle-Mounting Problem

Solving this problem requires recognizing that a box need not always serve as a container

Heuristics

Representativeness Heuristic 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

Logic Puzzles

A ladder hangs over the side of a ship anchored in a port. The bottom rung touches the water. The distance between rungs is 20 cm and the length of the ladder is 180 cm. The tide is rising at the rate of 15 cm each hour.When will the water reach the seventh rung from the top?

I am looking at somebody's photo. Who is it I am looking at, if I don't have any brothers or sisters and the father of the man in the photo is the son of my father?

If there are 3 apples and you take away 2, how many do you have?

Heuristics

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

Thinking

Overconfidence tendency to be more confident

than correct tendency to overestimate the

accuracy of one’s beliefs and judgments

Thinking

Framing the way an issue is posedhow an issue is framed can significantly affect decisions and judgments

Example: What is the best way to market ground beef--as 25% fat or 75% lean?

Hotel Enigma

Three people check into a hotel. They pay $30 to the manager and go to their room. The manager finds out that the room rate is $25 and gives the bellboy $5 to return to the guests. On the way to the room the bellboy reasons that $5 would be difficult to split among three people so he pockets $2 and gives $1 to each person. Now each person paid $10 and got back $1. So they paid $9 each, totaling $27. The bellboy has another $2, adding up to $29.Where is the remaining dollar?

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

Artificial Intelligence

Artificial Intelligence designing and programming

computer systems to do intelligent things to simulate human thought

processes

intuitive reasoning learning understanding language

Artificial Intelligence

Computer Neural Networks computer circuits that mimic the

brain’s interconnected neural cells

performing tasks learning to recognize visual patterns learning to recognize smells

Language

“The limits of your language mean the limits of your world.” Ludwig Wittgenstein

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

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

Language We are all born to recognize speech sounds from all

the world’s languages

100

90

80

70

60

50

40

30

20

10

0

Percentage ableto discriminateHindi

Hindi-speaking

adults

6-8 months

8-10months

10-12months

English-speaking

adultsInfants from English-speaking homes

Language 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

One-Word Stage from about age 1 to 2 the stage in speech development

during which a child speaks mostly in single words

Language

Two-Word Stage beginning about age 2 the stage in speech development

during which a child speaks in mostly two-word statements

Telegraphic Speech early speech stage in which the child

speaks like a telegram-–“go car”--using mostly nouns and verbs and omitting “auxiliary” words

LanguageSummary of Language Development

Month(approximate)

Stage

4

10

12

24

24+

Babbles many speech sounds.

Babbling reveals households language.

One-word stage.

Two-world, telegraphic speech.

Language develops rapidly intocomplete sentences.

Nature Vs Nurture

Noam Chomsky B.F. Skinner

He found, through his studies, that humans have a « language acquisition device » that other animals do not have. When exposed to language, a child will acquire that language where an animal will not. Thus, a language acquisition device (LAD), as Chomsky calls it, is the function of our brain that allows us to transform exposure to a language into acquisition of grammar.

Chomsky argues that the types of grammar that the child needs must be narrowly constrained by human biology. These innate constraints on grammar are what Chomsky refers to as universal grammar, or more commonly known as “language instinct.”

« Universal Grammar » Chomsky

Structure-Dependency

Knowledge of language requires dependance on the structural relationships within a sentence.

By examining changes in a particular sentence, one can see structural relationships within the sentence, and not the linear order of words. Therefore, structure dependancy is a universal principle of language

Structure-DependencyA tree diagram representing phrase structure analysis:

By examining sentence diagrams, one can see how the elements of a sentence depend on its structure.

Chomsky developed a theory in opposition to B.F. Skinner, who argued very generally that language comes about as a result of external stimuli. example: a child responds to an object which is

acting as a stimulus, for example a doll, calling it « doll. »

Chomsky challenges this with the notion of creativity: if a child can regularly produce sentences they have never heard before, how could they be acting through stimuli? Language is not controlled by stimuli.

First Language Acquisition

The source of language must be within the mind itself

In other words, a child could not have acquired language from the relatively few samples of language available to the child.

This explains the complexity of our knowledge of language, as compared to the poverty of data at a learner’s disposal.

Poverty of the stimulus

Grammatical explanation: one does not learn the grammatical structure of a second language through explicit explanation and instruction

Is it possible to become fluent in a second language? According to Chomsky, yes. But motivation plays a big factor.

He once gave an example of his two children. He went to Italy once for a few months, and his young boy picked up the language without even trying. However, his older daughter, who was highly motivated to learn Italian, had to work hard at it.

Poverty of the stimulus does exist in a second language, according to Chomsky.

One cannot truly teach language but can only present conditions for the learner to develop it in his or her own mind.

Second Language Acquisition

Language

Genes design the mechanisms for a language, and experience activates them as it modifies the brain

Language

New language learning gets harder with age

100

90

80

70

60

50Native 3-7 8-10 11-15 17-39

Percentage correct ongrammar test

Age at school

Language

Linguistic DeterminismWhorf’s hypothesis that language determines the way we think

Language

The interplay of thought and language

Animal Thinking and Language

Is this really language?

Animal Thinking and Language

The straight-line part of the dance points in the direction of a nectar source, relative to the sun

Direction ofnectar source

Animal Thinking and Language

Gestured Communication