PSYC101 Language and Thought PDF

PSYC1010 CHAPTER 7 LANGUAGE AND THOUGHT LEARNING OBJECTIVES PART 1 1. What is thinking? 2. What processes are involved in reasoning and decision making? 3. How do people approach and solve various types of problems? 4. What are the major obstacles to effective problem solvin...

PSYC1010 CHAPTER 7 LANGUAGE AND THOUGHT LEARNING OBJECTIVES PART 1 1. What is thinking? 2. What processes are involved in reasoning and decision making? 3. How do people approach and solve various types of problems? 4. What are the major obstacles to effective problem solving? WHAT IS THINKING? Manipulation of mental representations of information, Information may be a word, a visual image, a sound, or data in any other sensory modality stored in our memory. Thinking transforms a particular representation of information into new and different forms in order to answer questions, solve problems, or reach goals.  Think about a good friend or a parent. Think about a song you really ACTIVITY like. Think about a place you’ve visited. What happened when you did this?  MENTAL IMAGES: THE BUILDING BLOCKS OF THOUGHT Mental images: representations in the mind of an object or event. Every sensory modality may produce corresponding mental images (ex. hearing a tune in your head). Our representations of mental images have many of the properties of the actual perception of objects being represented. e.g.,. we can manipulate and rotate mental images of objects.  CONCEPTS: CATEGORIZING THE WORLD Mental groupings of similar objects, events, or people, which allows us to organize complex phenomena into simpler, easily usable, cognitive categories. Ex. Ferrari or Honda = Car, Pizza or sushi = Food Concepts allow us to classify While all dogs here are very different from each other, they all newly encountered objects are organized under our concept of a dog. based on our past experiences. Ex. anything with 4 wheels and a pedal = Car  CONCEPTS: CATEGORIZING THE WORLD (PART 2) Some concepts are easy to define, many are more ambiguous. When we consider ambiguous concepts, we tend to think in terms of examples called prototypes. Prototypes: highly representative examples of a concept. e.g., Sparrows and penguins are both birds, sparrows more closely match our concept of birds (therefore sparrows are a prototype)  ALGORITHMS AND HEURISTICS (1) Algorithm: a rule that, if applied appropriately, guarantees a solution to a problem. e.g., searching every aisle of store for canned tomatoes systematically Heuristic: a strategy that may lead us to a solution, but—unlike algorithms— may sometimes lead to errors. e.g., going directly to canned good sections of store to look for canned tomatoes.  ALGORITHMS AND HEURISTICS (2) Certain kinds of heuristics may lead to inaccurate conclusions. Representativeness heuristic: when we judge people by the degree to which they represent a certain category or group of people. Availability heuristic: judging the probability of an event by how easily the event can be recalled from memory. e.g., Due to media coverage, people are more afraid of flying than driving even though there are statistically far more car crashes than plane crashes. REPRESENTATIVENESS HEURISTIC Who went to Harvard? AVAILABILITY HEURISTIC STRATEGIES AND BARRIERS TO EFFECTIVE PROBLEM PROBLEM SOLVING SOLVING  A situation in which you are faced with a set of obstacles to obtaining your goal or desired end state. Solving a problem involves finding a way to transform the current state into the goal WHAT’S A state. PROBLEM? It involves reasoning, decision-making, creativity. Solutions can be drawn from memory, consultation, collaboration with others, careful analysis of parameters of problems. TYPES/CLASSES OF PROBLEMS Problems of inducing structure: require one to e.g., analogies, series discover trends or completion problems relationships among #’s, symbols, ideas. Problems of arrangement: require one E.g., anagrams or jigsaw to rearrange the parts of the puzzles, string problem problem to meet specific criterion. Problems of transformation: require you to carry out specific E.g., Tower of Hanoi problem sequence of transformations to reach goal.  PROBLEMS OF INDUCING STRUCTURE ANALOGY SERIES COMPLETION Lawyer is to Client as What letter completes Doctor is to _______ the series? ABMCDM _____  PROBLEMS OF ARRANGEMENT: ANAGRAMS Often solved with sudden burst of insight after longer periods of trial and error! Rearrange these letters to make another word! Integral = Hearth = Listen =  PROBLEMS OF ARRANGEMENT MAIER’S (1931) STRING PROBLEM Two strings hang from a ceiling but are too far apart to allow a person to hold one and walk to the other. On the floor are a book of matches, a screwdriver, and a few pieces of cotton. How could the strings be tied together? PROBLEMS OF TRANSFORMATION: TOWER OF HANOI PROBLEM  PROBLEMS OF TRANSFORMATION Water jars: A person has 3 jars with the following capacities. How can the person measure exactly 327 ml of water? Ten coins are arranged in the following way. By moving only two of the coins, make two rows that each contains six coins.  Trial and error Means-ends analysis (repeatedly test for difference between current and goal state) APPROACHE Working backward (start with your S TO goal state, work back from there) PROBLEM Forming sub-goals (another heuristic SOLVING approach, divide up larger problem into smaller chunks) Insight (product of previous trial-and- error and/or time away from problem) BARRIERS TO PROBLEM SOLVING 1. Irrelevant Information: we incorrectly assume all the information provided is relevant to solution. 2. Inaccurate evaluation of solutions: ignore contradictory evidence, place too much trust in one source of evidence (e.g., confirmation bias) 3. Mental sets: stuck in a specific way of problem-solving, inhibits ability to generate new strategies. e.g.. Functional fixedness: tendency to perceive an item only in terms of its most common use. (e.g. the candle problem) Copyright © 2014 Pearson Canada In  CONFIRMATION BIAS Tendency to seek out and weight more heavily information that supports one’s initial hypotheses (confirmation) and to ignore contradictory information that supports alternative hypotheses (belief perseverance). Reasons for the confirmation bias: It takes more cognitive effort to rethink a problem that appears to be solved already. Contradicting evidence may be perceived as a threat to our self-esteem.  CREATIVITY Ability to generate original ideas or to solve problems in new ways. Characteristics that are associated with creativity. Divergent thinking is the ability to generate unusual, yet nonetheless appropriate, responses to problems or questions. What other things can you do with a book? What can you use toilet paper roll cartons for?  CREATIVITY AND PROBLEM SOLVING Cognitive complexity, or preference for elaborate, intricate, and complex stimuli and thinking patterns. Creative people often have a wider range of interests and are more independent and more interested in philosophical or abstract problems than are for less creative individuals. Surprisingly, intelligence is NOT closely related to creativity! Traditional intelligence tests tap convergent thinking skills. Highly creative people may find that such tests penalize divergent thinking. Framing the Problem  FRAMING EFFECTS EXAMPLES Imagine that the United States is preparing for the outbreak of an unusual avian disease that is expected to kill 600 people. Two alternative programs to combat the disease have been proposed. Assume that the exact scientific estimates of the consequences of the programs are as follows. Program A: If Program A is adopted, 200 people will be saved. Program B: If Program B is adopted, there is a one-third probability that 600 people will be saved and a two-thirds probability that no people will be saved. Which of the two programs would you favor?  FRAMING EFFECTS EXAMPLES Treatment A would result in 400 deaths. Treatment B had a 33% chance that no one would die but a 66% chance that everyone would die. In a series of studies, this was done with either positive framing (how many people would live) or negative framing (how many people would die). Treatment A received the most support (72%) when framed as saving 200 lives but dropped significantly (to 22%) when framed as losing 400 lives.  FRAMING EFFECTS IN DAILY LIFE Advertising beef that is 95% lean vs. 5% fat. Motivating people by offering a $5 reward vs. imposing a $5 penalty/ Almost 100% of students registered early when a penalty fee frame was presented for not doing so, compared with just over 65% when it was framed as a discount. Pre-trial detention can encourage a defendant to accept a plea bargain because imprisonment has now been set as the status quo, and a guilt plea might lead to early release rather than an act WHAT IS LANGUAGE? HOW DO PEOPLE USE LANGUAGE? LANGUAGE HOW DOES LANGUAGE DEVELOP WHAT IS LANGUAGE? Communication of information through symbols arranged according to systematic rules. It is central to communication and closely tied to the way in which we think about and understand the world. To understand how language develops and relates to thought, we first need to review the formal elements of language.  GRAMMAR System of rules that determine how our thoughts can be expressed. Grammar is where the basic structure of language rests. Grammar deals with three major components of language: Phonology Syntax Semantics  PHONOLOGY Study of the e.g,. The “a” in “fat” and the “a” in smallest units of “fate” and the “a” in “far” represent speech, called three different phonemes in English. phonemes. Linguists have Although English speakers use just 52 identified more than phonemes to produce words, other 800 different languages use from as few as 15 to as phonemes. many as 141. Differences in phonemes are one e.g., Japanese language does not have reason people have an “r” phoneme. difficulty learning other languages.  SYNTAX & SEMANTICS Syntax: rules that indicate how words and phrases can be combined to form sentences. Every language has rules that guide the order in which words may be strung together to communicate meaning. e.g., “John kidnapped the boy,” and “The boy Semantics: kidnapped rules governing the John.” meaning of words and sentences. Rules allow us to use words to convey the subtlest of nuances. e.g., “The car hit Aban” (which we would be likely to say if we had just seen the vehicle hitting Aban) and “Aban was hit by a car” (which we would probably say if someone asked why Aban was missing class) DEVELOPMENTA L MILESTONES & LEARNING GENERAL RULES LANGUAGE  Babble are meaningless speech-like sounds made by children from around the age of 3 months through 1 year. Increasingly reflects the specific language being spoken in the infant’s environment, initially in terms of pitch and tone and eventually in terms of specific sounds. BABBLING Some theorists argue that a critical period exists for language development early in life, during which a child is particularly sensitive to language cues and most easily acquires language.  LANGUAGE DEPRIVATION Cases like “Genie” show the influence of nature and nurture Exposure to language may be required for the development of some aspects of language (syntax/grammar) Research on English grammar skills of children who had immigrated from China and Korea at various ages Skills dropped off for adults exposed to English after age 7.  By the time children are approximately 1 year old, they stop producing sounds that are not in the language to which they have been exposed. PRODUCTIO After age of 1 year, begin to learn more N OF complicated forms of language. LANGUAGE (1) At age 2 ½, children’s vocabulary has increased enough for them to speak in short sentence, telegraph speech. Telegraphic speech: Sentences in which words not critical to the message are left out. E.g., “No nap!” or “More juice!”  PRODUCTION OF LANGUAGE (2) ~Age 3, children learn to make plurals by adding -s to nouns and to form the past tense by adding -ed to verbs, which also leads to errors, since they apply rules inflexibly. Overregularization: when children apply language rules even when the application results in an error. ~Age 5, children have acquired basic rules of language. However, they do not attain a full vocabulary and the ability to comprehend and use subtle grammatical rules until later. Comprehension precedes production! UNDERSTANDING LANGUAGE ACQUISITION IDENTIFYING THE ROOTS OF LANGUAGE  NATIVIST APPROACHES: LANGUAGE AS AN INNATE SKILL Linguist Noam Chomsky argued humans are born with an innate linguistic capability that emerges as a function of maturation. States that all the world’s languages share a similar underlying structure called a universal grammar. Posits the human brain has a neural system, the language- acquisition device (LAD), which lets us understand the structure language provides and gives us strategies and techniques for learning the unique characteristics of our native language.  LEARNING-THEORY APPROACHES: LANGUAGE AS A LEARNED SKILL Language acquisition follows principles of reinforcement and conditioning. Children first learn to speak by being rewarded for making sounds that approximate speech. Through shaping, language becomes more and more like adult speech. Evidence show that the more parents say to their children before age 3, the larger their children’s vocabulary will be. However, this approach is less successful in explaining how children acquire language rules.  INTERACTIONIST APPROACHES To reconcile differing views, many theorists adopt an Interactionist Approach: Language development is produced through a combination of genetically determined predispositions and environmental circumstances that help teach language. Children do not pick up language from their environment simply by listening and imitating adults. Rather, adults act more as directors for language acquisition: They direct children’s attention to certain things in the environment, label things (e.g., “look at the dog over there!”), and correct them (e.g., “no, this is a bunny, not a puppy”).  Some research suggests bilingual children have smaller vocabularies in each language (others contradict this) Added together, their total vocabulary is similar or slightly superior rot that of BILINGUALISM: monolingual children. ADVANTAGE Bilingual children show disadvantage on processing speed and verbal fluency OR (cross-language interference?) DISADVANTAG Middle-class, bilingual participants E? fluent in both languages score higher on measures of cognitive flexibility, analytical reasoning, selective attention, metalinguistic awareness.  DR. BIALYSTOK’S RESEARCH Bilingualism associated with: Higher levels of controlled processing on tasks that require control of attention. Cognitive control to juggle two languages relatively easily, due to improved performance on tasks requiring selective attention, switching between competing alternatives. Attenuated age-related losses in cognition, including delaying the onset of dementia by 4 years by creating a cognitive reserve. WHAT IS IT? WHERE DOES IT COME FROM OR HOW DOES IT INTELLIGENCE DEVELOP? HOW DO WE MEASURE IT? WHAT DO YOU THINK? What is intelligence? How can we tell if someone is intelligent? How can we measure it? What (if anything) should we do with the information we gain from intelligence tests?  WHAT IS INTELLIGENCE The capacity to understand the world, think rationally, and use resources effectively when faced with challenges. The more difficult question: Is intelligence a unitary attribute, or are there different kinds of intelligence? “Intelligence is whatever intelligence tests measure” (Edward Boring, 1923)  ARE THERE DIFFERENT KINDS OF INTELLIGENCE? Early psychologists interested in intelligence assumed that there was a single, general factor for mental ability, called g or g-factor g factor was assumed to underlie intelligence in some early theories of intelligence. G-factor, the single general Today, most consider intelligence to be a intelligence factor thought to underlie all forms of intelligence. multidimensional concept that includes different types of intelligence. Gardner’s theory of multiple intelligences: the question is not how smart you are but how are you smart? He proposed 8 different and independent forms of intelligence. TRIARCHIC MODEL (STERNBERG) Analytical intelligence: ability to reason logically, or “book smarts” (e.g. IQ tests, entrance exams) Practical intelligence: ability to solve real-world problems, or “street smarts”(e.g., social intelligence or people skills) Creative intelligence: ability to come up with novel pieces and solutions (e.g, artists, musicians, writers) EMOTIONAL INTELLIGENCE (GOLEMAN) A set of skills that underlie the accurate assessment, evaluation, expression & regulation of emotions. Emotional intelligence underlies the ability to get along well with others. Emotional intelligence is basis of empathy for others, self- awareness, and social skills.  THE ORIGINS OF PSYCHOLOGICAL TESTING Galton devised the first intelligence tests based on the size and shape of a person’s skull, as well as sensory capabilities. Galton’s sought to demonstrate the natural superiority of people of high social class by showing that (eminence/intelligence) was inherited. Advocated for so-called “positive eugenics” which later led to a broader Eugenics movement (more on next slide) Galton’s theories proved wrong on nearly every point. Head size and shape are not related to intellectual performance, but genetics are.  IQ tests administered to military recruits & potential immigrants THE Led to moral panic about“low IQ” in certain groups NEGATIVE and the potential of “diluting” the intellectual stock. EUGENICS Led to creation of forcible sterilization laws, as MOVEMEN well as the introduction of immigration laws that T banned or limited entry to people deemed intellectually inferior. ”eugenics in practice was about sterilizing girls and women whose sexuality, morality, poverty, ethnicity, and intelligence combined to constitute a perceived threat to the health and safety of the larger community.” Watch the video below to be truly horrified by how widespread this movement was. The History of Eugenics  1920’s: Canadian House of Commons passed laws to restrict immigrant from countries purportedly marked by low IQ. EUGENICS Many provinces passed laws requiring forced MOVEMEN sterilization of low IQ individuals T IN (“feebleminded”) CANADA Disproportionately used on Indigenous women, individuals living with intellectual disabilities and mental illness. Only fully ended in the 1960’s.  ALFRED BINET Developed the first real intelligence test which followed from a simple premise: If performance on certain tasks or test items improved with chronological, or physical, age, performance could be used to distinguish more intelligent people from less intelligent ones Children were assigned within a particular a score relating to their age group. mental age: the age for which a given level of performance is average/ typical. Assigning a mental age to subjects provided an indication of their general level of performance. However, it did not allow for adequate comparisons among people of different chronological ages.  THE INTELLIGENCE QUOTIENT (IQ) SCORE A solution to the problem of mental age came in the form of the IQ score: Takes into account an individual’s mental and chronological ages. If a 20-year-old performs at a mental age of 18, their IQ score will be (18/20) × 100 = 90. In contrast, a 5-year-old performing at a mental age of 3 comes out with a considerably lower IQ score: (3/5) × 100 = 60 Today IQ score are known as Deviation IQ Scores. - First, the average test score for everyone of the same age who takes the test is determined, and that average score is assigned an IQ of 100. - Then, statistical techniques calculate the differences (or “deviations”) between each score and the average, and IQ scores are assigned. - When IQ scores from large numbers of people are plotted on a graph, they form a bell- shaped (normal) distribution.  STANFORD-BINET INTELLIGENCE SCALE Consists of a series of items that vary in nature according to the age of the person being tested. The test is administered orally. An examiner begins by finding a mental age level at which a person can answer all the questions correctly, and then moves on to more difficult problems. When a mental age level is reached and no items can be answered, test is over. By examining the pattern of correct and incorrect responses, the examiner can compute an IQ score for the person being tested. In addition, the Stanford-Binet test yields separate sub scores that provide clues to a test-taker’s particular strengths and weaknesses.  WECHSLER ADULT INTELLIGENCE SCALE (WAIS) The IQ test most frequently used in North America Measures verbal comprehension, perceptual reasoning, working memory, and processing speed. The primary index scales of the WISC-V include verbal comprehension, visual spatial, working memory, fluid reasoning, and processing speed. Both test yield full scale IQ scores (FSIQ).  Achievement test are tests designed to determine a person’s level of knowledge in a specific subject area. An achievement test concentrates on ACHIEVEMEN the specific material a person has learned. T AND e.g.,. Law school grads must pass the APTITUDE Aptitude Bar exam totest arelaw. practice tests designed to predict a person’s TESTS ability in a particular area or line of work. e.g., MCAT to enter medical school, the GRE to enter graduate school (Both tests are meant to predict how well people will do in graduate programs).  Reliability: test’s ability to consistently measure what they are trying to measure. Each time we give the test, a test-taker will achieve similar results. Modern IQ tests are exceptionally reliable RELIABILIT – correlations into the.90s, and Scores tend to be highly stable over long periods Y AND of time. Validity: test’s ability to measure VALIDITY what it is supposed to measure. Knowing that a test is reliable is no guarantee that it is also valid. However, if a test is unreliable, it cannot be valid.  Qualified validity: valid indicators of academic/ verbal intelligence, not intelligence in a true sense Moderately successful at predicting VALIDITY academic success, with correlations of: OF IQ.40s–.50s with school success SCORES.60s–.80s with number of years in school Moderately predictive of occupational attainment, but debate over whether they predict performance. Success depends on motivation, intellectual curiosity, effort.  VARIATIONS IN INTELLECTUAL ABILITY: INTELLECTUAL DISABILITIES A condition characterized by significant limitations in intellectual and adaptive functioning (Occurs in 2-3% of the population). Individuals who score 2 SD or more below the mean (70 or lower) Include both intellectual and adaptive functioning deficits in conceptual, social, and practical domains. Conceptual domain: skills in academics, knowledge, abstract thinking, and memory. Social domain: social judgment, empathy, interpersonal communication skills, the ability to interpret social cues, and the ability to make and keep friends. Practical domain: personal daily care, job responsibilities, management if money, and recreation.  THE ROOTS OF INTELLECTUAL DISABILITIES Fetal alcohol syndrome most common cause of intellectual disabilities in newborns. Down syndrome another major biological cause of intellectual disabilities. Results from the presence of an extra chromosome (trisomy 21). Familial intellectual disabilities are intellectual disabilities in which no apparent biological defect exists but there is a history of intellectual disabilities in the family. THE INTELLECTUALLY GIFTED The 2-4% of the population with IQ scores greater than 130. Terman: studied 1500 gifted junior high students (IQ ~150). “Termites” showed that prodigies do not “burn out” or have higher rates of mental illness. Contrary to stereotypes, the gifted are often outgoing, well- adjusted, healthy, popular people who can do most things better than the average person can. Had produced 92 books, 235 patents, 2200 scientific articles  LETA HOLLINGWORTH & GIFTED CHILDREN Interested in ‘exceptional children’ at the same time as Terman was studying giftedness. Terman believed giftedness was inherited/genetic. Hollingworth believed education & environmental factors played key roles in the development of potential. Her research asked: How do we properly nurture giftedness? How do we appropriately educate gifted kids? How heritable is intelligence? What twin studies tell us  GROUP DIFFERENCE IN INTELLIGENCE Members of certain racial and ethnic groups consistently score lower on traditional intelligence tests than do members of other groups, as do women. How can we explain these differences? Historically explained by researchers as due to genetics. Publication of “The Bell Curve” in 1994 attributed it to genes. U of Western prof Rushton’s book, Race, Evolution, and Behavior argued genetics were the cause for intellectual differences. Women were long considered to have inferior brains. FACT CHECK FACT: Differences in intelligence scores between racial and ethnic groups, and between sexes, have narrowed significantly in recent decades. FACT: There is greater variability in intelligences scores within these groups than between them. FACT: Differences in intelligence scores appear to be significantly influenced by environmental/structural factors.  EXPLAINING THE DIFFERENCES IN INTELLIGENCE SCORES Culturally—biased tests Implicit bias in teaching/grading Systemic/structural issues: poverty, income inequality, uneven distribution of resources. Poverty = more stress, poorer nutrition, less cognitive enrichment, reduced access to high-quality education. Kishiyama et al. (2009) found that children living in poverty showed reduced prefrontal brain functioning comparable to that of children with damage to the prefrontal cortex. Stereotype threat Anything else we are missing?  NOBLE ET AL. (2014) 1,099 participants between 3 and 30 yrs. old Among children from lower income families, small differences in income were associated with relatively large differences in surface area of cerebral cortex. Children from poorest families showed structural differences in brain areas associated with language and decision- making. Asks us to think about societal/governmental interventions. TED Talk: How Income Affects Childhood Brain Development  Every individual responds to the environment in a unique way, based on their genetic makeup. Your genetic potential is a fixed quantity, but whether you reach your RANGE OF full intellectual potential within that REACTION preset range, depends on the level of stimulation/cultivation in your THEORY environment. Particularly true of childhood environment (stimulation and cultivation vs. deprivation and minimal cultivation). RANGE OF REACTION THEORY ILLUSTRATED  FINAL THOUGHT EXPERIMENT Imagine that you have two identical groups of plants. One group of plants gets plenty of water and sunlight, while the other group gets a minimal or insufficient amount of water and sunlight. What might happen to each of these groups of plants?