1. Myers’ PSYCHOLOGY (7th Ed) Chapter 10 Thinking and Language Walnut Psychology

2. 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).

3. The Three-Jugs Problem  Using jugs A, B, and C, with the capacities shown, how would you measure out the volumes indicated?

4. 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.

5. Thinking  Cognition  mental activities associated with thinking, knowing, remembering, and communicating

6. 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)

7. 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

8. 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

9. 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?

10. 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

11. 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

12. The Matchstick Problem  How would you arrange six matches to form four equilateral triangles?

13. The Matchstick Problem  Solution to the matchstick problem

14. Thinking  Functional Fixedness  tendency to think of things only in terms of their usual functions  impediment to problem solving

15. The Candle-Mounting Problem  Using these materials, how would you mount the candle on a bulletin board?

16. The Candle-Mounting Problem  Solving this problem requires recognizing that a box need not always serve as a container

17. 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

18. Logic Puzzles z 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? z 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? z If there are 3 apples and you take away 2, how many do you have?

19. 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

20. Thinking  Overconfidence  tendency to be more confident than correct  tendency to overestimate the accuracy of one’s beliefs and judgments

21. Thinking  Framing  the way an issue is posed  how 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?

22. Hotel Enigma z 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?

23. 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

25. Artificial Intelligence  Artificial Intelligence  designing and programming computer systems  to do intelligent things  to simulate human thought processes  intuitive reasoning  learning  understanding language

26. 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

27. Language z“The limits of your language mean the limits of your world.” yLudwig Wittgenstein

28. 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

29. 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

30. 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

31. 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 able to discriminate Hindi Hindi- speaking adults 6-8 months 8-10 months 10-12 months English- speaking adults Infants from English-speaking homes

32. 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

33. 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

34. Language Summary 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 into complete sentences.

35. Nature Vs Nurture Noam Chomsky B.F. Skinner

36. zHe 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. zChomsky 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

37. 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

38. Structure-Dependency A tree diagram representing phrase structure analysis:  By examining sentence diagrams, one can see how the elements of a sentence depend on its structure.

39. zChomsky developed a theory in opposition to B.F. Skinner, who argued very generally that language comes about as a result of external stimuli. yexample: a child responds to an object which is acting as a stimulus, for example a doll, calling it « doll. » yChomsky 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

40. zThe source of language must be within the mind itself zIn other words, a child could not have acquired language from the relatively few samples of language available to the child. zThis explains the complexity of our knowledge of language, as compared to the poverty of data at a learner’s disposal. Poverty of the stimulus

41. zGrammatical explanation: one does not learn the grammatical structure of a second language through explicit explanation and instruction zIs it possible to become fluent in a second language? yAccording 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. zPoverty of the stimulus does exist in a second language, according to Chomsky. zOne cannot truly teach language but can only present conditions for the learner to develop it in his or her own mind. Second Language Acquisition

42. Collins, John. Chomsky: A Guide for the Perplexed. London: Continuum Internation Publishing Group, 2008. Cook, V.J. and Mark Newson. Chomsky’s Universal Grammar: An Introduction. Ed. 2. Oxford, England: Blackwell Publishers Ltd, 1996. Jack, Gavin. “An Interview with Noam Chomsky.” Language and Intercultural Communication 6.1 (2006): 92-105. Sources

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

44. Language  New language learning gets harder with age 100 90 80 70 60 50 Native3-78-1011-1517-39 Percentage correct on grammar test Age at school

45. Language  Linguistic Determinism  Whorf’s hypothesis that language determines the way we think

46. Language  The interplay of thought and language

47. Animal Thinking and Language  Is this really language?

48. Animal Thinking and Language  The straight-line part of the dance points in the direction of a nectar source, relative to the sun Direction of nectar source

49. Animal Thinking and Language  Gestured Communication