Themes in Psychology Chapter 8 PDF

CHAPTER 8 THEMES IN THIS CHAPTER Empiricism Cultural Heritage Heredity & Environment Subjectivity of...

CHAPTER 8 THEMES IN THIS CHAPTER Empiricism Cultural Heritage Heredity & Environment Subjectivity of © PictureNet/Corbis Experience Language and Thought © Rebecca Atkins, York University Language: Turning Thoughts into Words 296 Problem Solving: In Search of Solutions 306 Decision Making: Choices and Chances 313 Putting It in Perspective: Themes 1, 5, 6, and 7 320 PERSONAL APPLICATION Understanding Pitfalls in Reasoning about Decisions 321 CRITICAL THINKING APPLICATION Shaping Thought with Language: “Only a Naïve Moron Would Believe That” 324 Concept Chart 326 294 02940_ch08_ptg01.indd 294 08/01/21 9:35 PM  O n October 17, 1968, Prime Minister Pierre Elliott Trudeau introduced legislation, the Official Languages Bill, that he believed reflected the reality of the Canadian experience and that he hoped would promote Canadian unity in the context of its diversity. He suggested that both French and English should be official languages of Canada. This was essential, he argued, because both language groups were “strong enough in numbers and in material and intellectual resources to resist the forces of assimilation... this underlying reality of our country has not been adequately reflected in many of our public institutions” (Library and Archives Canada, 2001). On becoming officially bilingual, Canada joined a small set of countries around the world such as Finland, Sweden, Belgium, South Africa, and Afghanistan that have more than Penelope Breese/Getty Images one official language. The themes begun in the Official Languages Bill were continued in the later Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms (1982) and then in the Official Languages Act (1988). The implications of the bill were far-reaching—socially, culturally, economically, politically, and educa- Pierre Elliott Trudeau, prime minister of Canada (1968–1979 tionally. The opportunity to be educated in either and 1980–1984), was a champion of bilingualism. or both of Canada’s official languages is now well established. Canada’s two official languages, French and English There are advantages to be derived from bilin- (Statistics Canada, 2019d). gualism and immersion education in a second lan- We will also consider the nature of cognition guage. These include general educational and social itself, a task we began in Chapter 7. Cognition benefits. In addition, research by developmental and language are closely linked, as we will discuss psychologist Ellen Bialystok and others suggests that later in the chapter. Cognition refers to the mental there may be additional cognitive benefits that can processes involved in acquiring knowledge. In even partially protect you against some of the cogni- other words, cognition involves thinking. As we tive deficits often found in older people. These are discussed in Chapter 1, the study of cognition has discussed later in this chapter. seen peaks and valleys in psychology. When psy- We will look more closely at the potential cogni- chology first emerged, it focused on the mind and tive benefits of bilingualism, but before that we will the research method of choice was introspection. consider the nature of language, and language devel- But the limitations of that method and the rise of opment in children in general. We will have to place behaviourism, with its focus on observables (have the learning of two languages in the context of what you ever seen a thought?), led to the demise of we know about how children acquire language more cognition as a serious scientific topic. It was not generally. until the 1950s that the study of cognition came Of course, bilingualism refers to more than just back—an era often referred to as the “cognitive rev- proficiency in English and French. Many students olution” (Baars, 1986). Renegade theorists such as in Canada also have access to other heritage lan- Nobel Laureate Herbert Simon argued that behav- guages. After English and French, the languages iourists’ exclusive focus on overt responses was most frequently spoken in Canada are Spanish, doomed to yield an incomplete understanding of German, Italian, Hindi, Arabic, Chinese, Russian, human functioning. Three major advances in one and Hebrew. Over 6 million of us report speaking day, at a 1956 conference, ignited the cognitive rev- a language at home other than English or French olution (Gardner, 1985). First, Herbert Simon and (Statistics Canada, 2015a). The range of languages Allen Newell described the first computer program represented in Canada is striking—from the 39 025 to successfully simulate human problem solving. Inuktitut speakers to the 264 500 people who speak Second, Noam Chomsky outlined a new model that Urdu, with almost 18 percent of us bilingual in changed the way psychologists studied language. Language and Thought 295 02940_ch08_ptg01.indd 295 08/01/21 9:35 PM  Third, George Miller delivered a legendary discus- Besides memory, which we discussed in Chapter 7, sion paper arguing that the capacity of short-term psychologists conduct basic and applied research memory is seven (plus or minus two) items. Since investigating the complexities of language, inference, then, cognitive science has grown into a dominant problem solving, decision making, and reasoning trend in psychology. We review some of this work (e.g., Clatch, Walters & Borgida, 2020; Kruglanski & in this chapter. Orehek, 2007; Oppenheimer & Kelso, 2015). Language: Turning Thoughts into Words Language obviously plays a fundamental role in human semantic, or meaningful. Third, language is generative. KEY LEARNING GOALS behaviour (Joy, 2013). Indeed, if you were to ask people, A limited number of symbols can be combined in an “What characteristic most distinguishes humans from infinite variety of ways to generate an endless array Compare behavioural, nativist, and interac- other living creatures?” a great many would reply, of novel messages. Every day you create and compre- tionist perspectives on “Language.” Spoken language and its accompanying hend sentences that you have never spoken or heard language acquisition. gestures (Goldin-Meadow & Alibali, 2013) allow us to before. Fourth, language is structured. Rules govern Discuss the effects convey information, express ourselves, and form and the arrangement of words into phrases and sentences; of bilingualism, and assess the status of maintain relationships with others (Kovacs & Kleinbaum, some arrangements are acceptable, and some are not. the linguistic relativity 2020). In this section, we’ll discuss the nature, structure, hypothesis. and development of language and related topics, such as The Structure of Language bilingualism and whether animals can learn language. Human languages have a hierarchical structure (Ratner et al., 1998). As Figure 8.1 shows, basic What Is Language? sounds are combined into units with meaning, which A language consists of symbols that convey meaning, are combined into words. Words are combined into plus rules for combining those symbols, that can be used phrases, which are combined into sentences. to generate an infinite variety of messages. Language systems include a number of critical properties. PHONEMES First, language is symbolic. People use spoken At the base of the language hierarchy are phonemes, sounds and written words to represent objects, the smallest speech units in a language that can be actions, events, and ideas. Second, language is distinguished perceptually. Sentence The strangers talked to the players Phrase The strangers talked to the players Word The strangers talked to the players Morpheme The strange er s talk ed to the play er s θ θ Phoneme e streynj e r z t k e t tuw e pley e r z Figure 8.1 An analysis of a simple English sentence. As this example shows, verbal language has a hierarchical structure. At the base of the hierarchy are the phonemes, which are units of vocal sound that do not, in themselves, have meaning. The smallest units of meaning in a language are morphemes, which include not only root words but also such meaning-carrying units as the past-tense suffix ed and the plural s. Complex rules of syntax govern how the words constructed from morphemes may be combined into phrases, and phrases into meaningful statements, or sentences. Source: A. Clarke-Stewart, S. Friedman, and J. Koch. 1985. Child development: a topical approach (p. 417). Copyright © 1985. Reproduced with permission from John Wiley & Sons, Inc. 296 CHAPTER 8 02940_ch08_ptg01.indd 296 08/01/21 9:35 PM  For all its rich vocabulary, the English language SYNTAX is composed of about 40 phonemes, corresponding Of course, most utterances consist of more than a roughly to the 26 letters of the alphabet plus sev- single word. As we’ve already noted, people don’t eral variations. A letter in the alphabet can represent combine words randomly. Syntax is a system of rules more than one phoneme if it has more than one pro- that specify how words can be arranged into sen- nunciation, and some phonemes are represented by tences. A simple rule of syntax is that a sentence must combinations of letters, such as ch and th. Working have both a subject and a verb. Thus, “The sound with this handful of basic sounds, people can under- annoyed me” is a sentence. However, “The sound” is stand and generate all of the words in the English not a sentence because it lacks a verb. And virtually language—and invent new ones. all English speakers know that an article (e.g., the) comes before the word it modifies. For example, MORPHEMES AND SEMANTICS you would never say “swimmer the” instead of “the Morphemes are the smallest units of meaning in a swimmer.” How children learn the complicated rules language. There are approximately 50 000 English of syntax is one of the major puzzles investigated morphemes, which include root words as well as pre- by psychologists interested in language. Like other fixes and suffixes. Many words, such as fire, guard, and aspects of language development, children’s acqui- friend, consist of a single morpheme. Many others sition of syntax seems to progress at an amazingly represent combinations of morphemes. For example, rapid pace. Let’s look at how this remarkable devel- the word unfriendly consists of three morphemes: the opment unfolds. root word friend, the prefix un, and the suffix ly. Each of the morphemes contributes to the meaning of the entire word. Semantics is the area of language con- Milestones in Language Development cerned with understanding the meaning of words Learning to use language requires learning a and word combinations. Learning about semantics number of skills that become important at various entails learning about the infinite variety of objects points in a child’s development (Siegler, 1998). and actions that words refer to. A word’s meaning We’ll examine this developmental sequence by may consist of both its denotation, which is its looking first at how children learn to pronounce dictionary definition, and its connotation, which words, then at their use of single words, and finally includes its emotional overtones and secondary at their ability to combine words to form sentences implications. (see Table 8.1). Table 8.1 OVERVIEW OF TYPICAL LANGUAGE DEVELOPMENT AGE GENERAL CHARACTERISTICS Months 1–5 Reflexive communication: Vocalizes randomly, coos, laughs, cries, engages in vocal play, discriminates language from nonlanguage sounds 6–18 Babbling: Verbalizes in response to the speech of others; responses increasingly approximate human speech patterns 10–13 First words: Uses words, typically to refer to objects 12–18 One-word sentence stage: Vocabulary grows slowly; uses nouns primarily; overextensions begin 18–24 Vocabulary spurt: Fast mapping facilitates rapid acquisition of new words Years 2 Two-word sentence stage: Uses telegraphic speech; uses more pronouns and verbs 2.5 Three-word sentence stage: Modifies speech to take listener into account; overregularizations begin 3 Uses complete simple active sentence structure; uses sentences to tell stories that are understood by others; uses plurals 3.5 Expanded grammatical forms: Expresses concepts with words; uses four-word sentences 4 Uses five-word sentences 5 Well-developed and complex syntax: Uses more complex syntax; uses more complex forms to tell stories 6 Displays metalinguistic awareness Note: Children often show individual differences in the exact ages at which they display the various developmental achievements outlined here. Source: From Weiten. Cengage Advantage Books: Psychology, 9E. © 2013 South-Western, a part of Cengage, Inc. Reproduced by permission. www.cengage.com/permissions Language and Thought 297 02940_ch08_ptg01.indd 297 08/01/21 9:35 PM  MOVING TOWARD PRODUCING WORDS the language spoken by parents and others in the Three-month-old infants display a surprising child’s environment (Hoff, 2005). Babbling lasts Photo by Christine Dietrich, Photo courtesy of language-related talent: They can distinguish pho- until around 18 months, continuing even after chil- nemes from all of the world’s languages, including dren utter their first words. According to Laura-Ann phonemes that they do not hear in their environ- Petitto, babbling is considered to be one of the mon- ment. In contrast, adults cannot readily discriminate umental milestones in language acquisition (Petitto phonemes that are not used in their native language. et al., 2004). Janet Werker Actually, neither can one-year-old children, as this Petitto has done some important research on curious ability gradually disappears between four babbling. Some of these studies were conducted months and 12 months of age (Kuhl et al., 2008; in Montreal with normal and deaf babies. Petitto Janet Werker, Canada Werker & Tees, 1999). The exact mechanisms respon- found that the deaf babies exhibited “manual bab- Research Chair in Psychology at the sible for this transition are not understood, but it is bling”—babbling with their hands in a manner sim- University of British clear that long before infants utter their first words, ilar to the verbal babbling of hearing babies (Petitto Columbia, examines early & Marentette, 1991). She also found that the deaf processes involved in the they are making remarkable progress in learning the acquisition of languages sound structure of their native language (Mugitani et babies’ first “signed words” were continuous with in infants. She was elected al., 2007). Progress toward recognizing whole words their babbling—much like a baby who verbally as a Fellow of the Royal babbles “bababa” and whose first word is “baby” Society of Canada in 2001. also occurs during the first year. Although they don’t know what the words mean yet, by around (Vihman, 1985). This study on babbling is the focus eight months, infants begin to recognize and store of our Featured Study. Petitto also is well known for common word forms (Swingley, 2008). her work on the origins of language and on bilin- Janet Werker, a senior scientist at the University gualism (e.g., Jasinska & Petitto, 2013; Kovelman of British Columbia, has done pioneering work in et al., 2013). the development of language in infants (Choi et al., 2018; Werker, 2018; Werker et al., 2012). She argues that human infants are well prepared to learn lan- FEATURED STUDY guage and that babies have perceptual biases that Babbling in the manual mode: Evidence for the facilitate and guide the “acquisition of phonology” ontogeny of language. (Werker, 2003). Description Werker suggests that there are optimal periods for In this study, Petitto and Marentette demonstrate that the different subsystems involved in language acqui- infants born without hearing go through the bab- Courtesy of Laura Petitto sition but that they are not as rigidly absolute as is bling stage just like hearing babies, except that they sometimes thought (Werker & Tees, 2005). Thus, babble manually with their hands. while very young infants can discriminate even pho- Investigators nemes not inherent in their language context, this Petitto, L. A., & Marentette, P. F. (1991). Science, facility disappears without exposure. As they develop 251(5000), 1493–1496. Laura-Ann Petitto is a through the first year of life, the language acquisition Gallaudet University psy- chologist who conducts systems of the infant become tuned to the speech research on various aspects properties of their native language. Werker argues USING WORDS of children’s language that the question regarding the existence of critical The first year of life is critical in the child’s acquisi- acquisition. periods has been answered in the affirmative. A tion of language (Gervain & Mehler, 2010). At around critical period refers to a limited time span in the 10 to 13 months of age, most children begin to utter development of an organism when it is optimal for sounds that correspond to words. Most infants’ first certain capacities to emerge because the organism words are similar in phonetic form and meaning— is especially responsive to certain experiences. The even in different languages (Waxman, 2002). The questions to be answered now concern the nature of initial words resemble the syllables that infants most the processes that open and close these important often babble spontaneously. For example, words developmental windows (Werker & Hensch, 2015). such as dada, mama, and papa are names for parents During the first six months of life, a baby’s vocaliza- in many languages because they consist of sounds tions are dominated by crying, cooing, and laughter, that are easy to produce. which have limited value as a means of communi- After children utter their first words, their vocabu- cation. Soon, infants are babbling, producing a wide lary grows slowly for the next few months (Dapretto variety of sounds that correspond to phonemes and, & Bjork, 2000). Toddlers typically can say between 3 eventually, many repetitive consonant–vowel com- and 50 words by 18 months. However, their receptive binations, such as “lalalalalala.” Babbling gradually vocabulary is larger than their productive vocabulary. becomes more complex and increasingly resembles That is, they can comprehend more words spoken 298 CHAPTER 8 02940_ch08_ptg01.indd 298 08/01/21 9:35 PM  by others than they can actually produce to express 180 themselves (Pan & Uccelli, 2009). Thus, toddlers can understand 50 words months before they can say 160 50 words. Toddlers’ early words tend to refer most often Child A 140 to objects and secondarily to social actions (Camaioni, 2001). Children probably acquire nouns before verbs Number of words in vocabulary 120 because the meanings of nouns, which often refer to Child B distinct, concrete objects, tend to be easier to encode 100 than the meanings of verbs, which often refer to more 80 abstract relationships (Poulin-Dubois & Graham, 2007). However, this generalization may not apply to 60 all languages (Bates et al., 2001). Most youngsters’ vocabularies soon begin to 40 grow at a dizzying pace, as a vocabulary spurt often Child C 20 begins at around 18–24 months (Bates & Carnevale, 1993; Camaioni, 2001; see Figure 8.2). By Grade 1, Wayne Weiten 0 the average child has a vocabulary of approximately 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 10 000 words, which builds to an astonishing Age (months) 40 000 words by Grade 5 (Anglin, 1993; see Figure 8.3). Figure 8.2 In building these impressive vocabularies, some The vocabulary spurt. Children typically acquire their first 10–15 words very slowly, but they soon two-year-olds learn as many as 20 new words every go through a vocabulary spurt—a period during which they rapidly acquire many new words. The week. Fast mapping appears to be one factor under- vocabulary spurt usually begins at around 18–24 months, but children vary, as these graphs of three toddlers’ vocabulary growth show. lying this rapid growth of vocabulary (Carey, 2010; Source: Adapted from Goldfield, B. A., and Resnick, J. S. (1990). Early lexical acquisition: Rate, content, and the vocabulary spurt. Journal of Child Gershkoff-Stowe & Hahn, 2007). Fast mapping is Language, 17, 171–183. Copyright © 1990 by Cambridge University Press. Adapted by permission. the process by which children map a word onto an underlying concept after only one exposure. Thus, children often add words like tank, board, and tape sentences are characterized as telegraphic because to their vocabularies after their first encounter with they resemble telegrams. Telegraphic speech consists objects that illustrate these concepts. The vocabu- mainly of content words; articles, prepositions, and lary spurt may be attributable to children’s improved other less critical words are omitted. Thus, a child articulation skills, improved understanding of might say, “Give doll” rather than “Please give me the 40 000 syntax, underlying cognitive development, or some doll.” Although not unique to the English language, 35 000 combination of these factors (MacWhinney, 1998). telegraphic speech is not cross-culturally universal, as Of course, these efforts to learn new words are not was once thought (de Villiers & de Villiers, 1999). 30 000 Estimated vocabulary size flawless. Toddlers often make errors, such as over- By the end of their third year, most children can 25 000 extensions and underextensions (Harley, 2008). An express complex ideas such as the plural or the past overextension occurs when a child incorrectly uses tense. However, their efforts to learn the rules of 20 000 a word to describe a wider set of objects or actions language continue to generate revealing mistakes. 15 000 than it is meant to. For example, a child might use Overregularizations occur when grammatical rules the word ball for anything round—oranges, apples, are incorrectly generalized to irregular cases where 10 000 even the moon. Overextensions usually appear in they do not apply. For example, children will say 5000 children’s speech between ages one and two-and- things like “The girl goed home” or “I hitted the ball.” a-half. Specific overextensions typically last up to Typically, children initially use the correct noun, 0 1 3 5 several months. Toddlers also tend to be guilty of verb, or adjective forms, because they acquired them Grade underextensions, which occur when a child incor- as new items. However, when they are learning gen- rectly uses a word to describe a narrower set of Figure 8.3 eral grammatical rules (e.g., for plurals), they extend The growth of school objects or actions than it is meant to. For example, a the rules to nouns that are exceptions to the rule children’s vocabulary. child might use the word doll to refer only to a single, (e.g., “foots”). Overregularizations usually appear Vocabulary growth is rapid favourite doll. Overextensions and underextensions during the early years of grade after children begin to learn grammatical rules. Thus, school. Youngsters’ estimated show that toddlers are actively trying to learn the the progression goes from “feet” to “foots” and back vocabulary doubles about rules of language—albeit with mixed success. to “feet” when children have further mastered gram- every two years between Grade 1 and Grade 5. matical rules. COMBINING WORDS Cross-cultural research suggests that these over- Source: Anglin, J.M. (1993). Vocabulary development: A morphological analysis. Children typically begin to combine words into regularizations occur in all languages (Slobin, 1985). Child Development, 58, Serial 238. Copyright © 1993 The Society for Research in Child sentences near the end of their second year. Early Most theorists believe that overregularizations Development. Reprinted by permission. Language and Thought 299 02940_ch08_ptg01.indd 299 08/01/21 9:35 PM  demonstrate that children are working actively to of being asked to learn two languages (Gonzales & master the rules of language (Marcus, 1996). Specific Lotto, 2013; Weisleder & Fernald, 2013). Bilingualism overregularizations often linger in a child’s speech is the acquisition of two languages that use different even though the child has heard the correct con- speech sounds, vocabulary, and grammatical rules. structions many times (Maslen et al., 2004). Children Although not the norm in most of North America, don’t learn the fine points of grammar and usage in a bilingualism is quite common in Europe and many single leap but gradually acquire them in small steps other regions, and nearly half of the world’s population (Maslen et al., 2004). grows up bilingual (Grosjean, 2010). The learning of a second language is affected by many factors, including REFINING LANGUAGE SKILLS the nature of one’s attitude toward the learning situa- Youngsters make their largest strides in language tion and one’s level of interest in the other groups’ lan- development in their first four to five years. However, guage (Lalonde & Gardner, 1984). Demand for French they continue to refine their language skills during immersion continues to be very high in Canada (CBC their school-age years. They generate longer and News, 2013c). Almost 2.5 million Canadian stu- more complicated sentences as they receive formal dents study one of the official languages as a second training in written language. language, and 449, 745 of students are enrolled in As their language skills develop, school-age chil- French immersion programs outside of the province dren begin to appreciate ambiguities in language. of Quebec (Statistics Canada, 2019d). They can, for instance, recognize two possible mean- One assumption that some people have is that ings in sentences such as “Visiting relatives can be bilingualism hampers language development and has bothersome.” This interest in ambiguities indicates a negative impact on youngsters’ educational prog- that they’re developing metalinguistic awareness— ress. But does the empirical evidence support this the ability to reflect on the use of language. As met- assumption? Research on the topic of bilingualism alinguistic awareness grows, children begin to “play” is an extremely active area (Bialystok, 2015; Genesee, with language, coming up with puns and jokes. They 2015). Let’s take a look at some of the recent research begin to make more frequent and sophisticated use on bilingualism. of metaphors, such as “We were packed in the room like sardines” (Gentner, 1988). Between the ages DOES LEARNING T WO LANGUAGES IN of six and eight, most children begin to appreciate CHILDHOOD SLOW DOWN LANGUAGE irony and sarcasm (Creusere, 1999). DEVELOPMENT? If children are learning two languages simultane- Learning More than One Language: ously, does one language interfere with the other so Bilingualism that the acquisition of both is impeded? Some studies Given the complexities involved in acquiring one lan- have found that bilingual children have smaller guage, you may be wondering about the ramifications vocabularies in each of their languages than mono- lingual children have in their one language (Umbel et al., 1992). But research shows that children who learn two languages simultaneously achieve basic language CONCEPT CHECK 8.1 acquisition milestones at the same ages as monolin- gual children (Conboy & Montanari, 2016; Genesee, Tracking Language Development 2015). When their two overlapping vocabularies are Check your understanding of how language skills added, their total vocabulary is similar or slightly progress in youngsters. Number the utterances below superior to that of children learning a single language to indicate the developmental sequence in which they (Oller & Pearson, 2002). Taken as a whole, the avail- would probably occur. The answers can be found in able evidence suggests that bilingual and monolin- Appendix A near the back of the book. gual children are largely similar in the course and rate 1. “Doggie,” while pointing to a cow. of their language development (Costa & Sebastián- 2. “The dogs runned away.” Gallés, 2014). There is little empirical support for the belief that bilingualism has serious negative effects on 3. “Doggie run.” language development (Hoff, 2014). 4. “The dogs ran away.” 5. “Doggie,” while pointing to a dog. DOES BILINGUALISM AFFECT COGNITIVE PROCESSES AND SKILLS? 6. “Tommy thinks like his head is full of mashed potatoes.” Does knowing two languages make thinking more difficult, or could bilingualism enhance thought 300 CHAPTER 8 02940_ch08_ptg01.indd 300 08/01/21 9:35 PM  processes (Bobb et al., 2013)? Studies have found that bilingualism is associated with both advantages and disadvantages. The chief disadvantage is that bilin- guals appear to have a slight handicap in terms of raw language processing speed and verbal fluency (the THE CANADIAN PRESS/Aaron Harris ease with which people can think of words). Evidence suggests that when bilingual people are reading, lis- tening, or speaking in a specific language, to some extent both their first language (L1) and their second language (L2) are simultaneously active (Jacobs et al., 2016; Kroll et al., 2014). In other words, there is no way to turn off completely L1 when using L2, or vice versa. This creates some cross-language interfer- Ellen Bialystok of York University was awarded a 2010 Killam ence that slows language processing (Sandoval et al., Prize for her work on the effects of bilingualism on cognitive processes and abilities, at a ceremony at Rideau Hall in 2010). Ottawa. While the evidence is somewhat mixed, depending on the variables measured and the exact nature of the past several years (Bialystok, 2007). First, since cog- participant populations that are compared, research nitive executive processes are necessary to deal suc- suggests that bilingualism conveys some cognitive cessfully with the use of two languages, she suggests advantages (Greenberg et al., 2013) that at least argue that bilingual children should develop control over for the need for additional research on the topic. On executive processes earlier than monolingual chil- some types of tasks, bilinguals may have a slight dis- dren. They are related, in part, to our ability to con- advantage in terms of raw language-processing speed trol attention. Second, that as adults, the enhanced (Taylor & Taylor, 1990). When middle-class bilin- executive control characteristic of bilinguals should gual participants who are fluent in both languages afford them advantages in cognitive tasks implicating are studied, they tend to score somewhat higher than executive processing. Finally, since executive pro- monolingual participants on measures of cogni- cesses are one of the first cognitive abilities to decline tive flexibility, analytical reasoning, selective atten- with age, bilinguals, because of their “continued reli- tion, and metalinguistic awareness (Bialystok, 1999; ance” on executive processes for dealing with their Campbell & Sais, 1995; Lambert, 1990). two languages, should show delayed decline relative to monolingual adults. Bialystok (2001, 2007) has found that bilin- REALITY CHECK gualism is associated with higher levels of controlled processing on tasks that require control of attention. Misconception That is, bilingual children demonstrate greater facility Bilingualism undermines cognitive development. at tasks where there is some type of misleading/dis- Reality tracting information and where response choice is It is widely believed that bilingualism interferes with involved. This makes sense, given the tasks that typi- cognitive development. But when researchers control cally confront a bilingual individual. According to for social class in their comparisons, they do not find Kroll (2008; Kroll et al., 2006), the evidence suggests cognitive deficits in bilingual youngsters. Moreover, that even when bilinguals are reading, listening, or recent research suggests that bilingualism may be associated with unexpected cognitive benefits. speaking in one language, both languages remain active. She further suggests that bilinguals not only are proficient at two languages, but that they also The issue of the potential cognitive benefits of develop the cognitive control ability to “juggle” bilingualism (e.g., Green & Abutalebi, 2013; Kroll the two languages relatively easily. According to & Bialystok, 2013; Morales et al., 2013; Whitford & Bialystok, some of the executive processes implicated Luk, 2019) has been at the centre of Ellen Bialystok’s in these differences between bilingual and mono- research program. Bialystok, of York University, has lingual children are those involving selective atten- been examining the effects of bilingualism on chil- tion, attentional inhibition to distracting/misleading dren’s cognition for many years. She suggests that information, and switching among competing there are some cognitive advantages to bilingualism alternatives. for both children and adults. Her work has been Although a bilingual advantage in attentional con- guided by three hypotheses that have been sup- trol has been seen in many studies of both children ported by the results of research conducted in the and adults (Bialystok, 2017), there have also been Language and Thought 301 02940_ch08_ptg01.indd 301 08/01/21 9:35 PM  Another consideration is derived from the results of some of Bialystok’s more recent work on bilin- gualism and aging, conducted with a team of psy- chologists at York University, Dalhousie University, and the University of Toronto (Bialystok et al., 2004). Here, Bialystok and her colleagues found that the advantage conferred by bilingualism on controlled processing persists into adulthood and old age, suggesting that bilingualism may help attenuate age-related losses in certain aspects of cognition (Bialystok & Craik, 2010; Craik & Bialystok, 2008, 2010; Luk et al., 2013). For example, one influential study focused on people suffering from dementia (severe impairment of memory and cognitive func- tioning). It found that bilingual patients experienced the onset of dementia four years later, on average, than comparable monolingual patients (Bialystok et al., 2007). Bialystok notes that one of the objec- tives of her research was to determine if bilingualism “would provide a defense against the decline of these executive processes that occurs with normal cogni- © iStockphoto.com/powerofforever tive aging... the present results suggest that it does” (Bialystok et al., 2004, p. 301). Thus, an accumu- lating body of studies suggests that bilingualism may protect to some degree against age-related cognitive decline and perhaps delay the onset of Alzheimer’s disease (Duncan & Philips, 2016; Gold, 2015). Some studies suggest that bilingualism may create a “cog- The utility of bilingual education programs has been a hotly debated issue across Canada. Critics argue that bilingualism has a negative effect on children’s language and cognitive nitive reserve” that temporarily wards off or blunts development, but there is relatively little empirical support for this assertion. Recent research the symptoms of Alzheimer’s disease (Estanga et suggests that bilingualism may have some cognitive benefits. al., 2017; Kowoll et al., 2016). According to some research, bilingualism can delay the emergence of Alzheimer’s disease by about four years (Woumans failures to replicate these findings (de Bruin et al., et al., 2015). However, more research is needed on 2015; Paap et al., 2017). The inconsistent findings may this issue, as critics note that the studies in this area reflect variations in the demands of the specific tasks have some methodological weaknesses that make studied (Qu et al., 2016) or variations among partici- far-reaching conclusions premature (Calvo et al., pants in how much experience they have switching 2016; Gasquoine, 2016). between languages (Verreyt et al., 2016). This research suggests that while bilingualism Can Animals Develop Language? may not confer an advantage in all aspects of cogni- Can other species besides humans develop language? KEY LEARNING GOALS tive and linguistic processing, it is important to note Scientists have taught some language-like skills to a Describe the progress that there are some documented advantages and number of species, including dolphins (Herman et that has been made in few demonstrated disadvantages. There is evidence al., 1993), sea lions (Schusterman & Gisiner, 1988), teaching language to and an African grey parrot (Pepperberg, 1993, 2002), animals. that the cognitive effects of bilingualism extend to but their greatest success has come with the chim- Understand the con- social skills development, with bilinguals showing nection between panzee, an intelligent primate widely regarded as enhanced social skills (Fan et al., 2015; Kinzler, language and thought humans’ closest cousin. and the evolutionary 2016). In addition, research suggests that the cogni- In early studies, researchers tried to teach chimps to significance of tive effects of bilingual environments show up even language. speak (Hayes & Hayes, 1951). However, investigators before children themselves acquire language. Infants quickly concluded that chimps simply didn’t have the and “crib bilinguals” as young as seven months of appropriate vocal apparatus to acquire human speech. age show enhanced ability to control and switch Subsequently, researchers tried training chimps attention if they are raised in a bilingual home envi- to use a non-oral human language: American Sign ronment (Bialystok, 2015). Language (ASL). ASL is a complex language of hand 302 CHAPTER 8 02940_ch08_ptg01.indd 302 08/01/21 9:35 PM  combinations in a way that appeared to involve the REALITY CHECK use of grammatical rules. As the years went by, Kanzi’s trainers noticed that Misconception he often seemed to understand the normal utter- Only humans can learn language. ances that they exchanged with each other. Hence, Reality they began to systematically evaluate his compre- It has long been assumed that language is unique to hension of spoken English. At age nine, they tested humans, but over the last 50 years researchers have his understanding of 660 sentences that directed helped quite a variety of animals to acquire some Kanzi to execute simple actions, such as “Put the rudimentary language skills, including dolphins, sea collar in the water.” To make sure that he really lions, and a parrot, as well as apes and chimps. Admit- understood the sentences, they included many novel tedly, humans have a unique talent for language, constructions in which the actions were not obvious but some other species are also capable of some lan- guage learning. given the objects involved, such as “Put the raisins in the shoe,” or “Go get the balloon that’s in the micro- wave.” Kanzi correctly carried out 72 percent of the gestures and facial expressions used by thousands of 660 requests. Moreover, he demonstrated remarkable deaf people. The first effort of this sort with animals understanding of sentence structure, as he could reli- was begun by Allen and Beatrice Gardner (1967), who ably distinguish the actions requested by “Pour the worked with a chimp named Washoe. The Gardners Coke in the lemonade,” as opposed to “Pour the lem- approached the task as if Washoe were a deaf child. onade in the Coke.” They signed to her regularly, rewarded her imitations, How have the linguistics experts reacted to and taught her complex signs by physically moving Kanzi’s surprising progress in language develop- her hands through the required motions. In four ment? Many remain skeptical. Wynne (2004) has years, Washoe acquired a sign vocabulary of roughly raised questions about the scoring system used 160 words. She learned to combine these words into to determine whether Kanzi “understood” oral simple sentences, such as “Washoe sorry,” “Gimme requests, arguing that it was extremely “generous.” flower,” and “More fruit.” Wynne and other critics (Budiansky, 2004; Kako, Although these accomplishments were impres- 1999; Wallman, 1992) also question whether sive, critics expressed doubts about whether Washoe Kanzi’s communications demonstrate all the basic and the other chimps that learned ASL had really properties of a language. acquired language skills. For example, Herbert So, what can we conclude? Overall, it seems rea- Terrace (1986) argued that these chimps showed sonable to assert that the ability to use language— little evidence of mastering rules of language. in a very basic, primitive way—may not be entirely According to Terrace, the chimps’ sentences were the products of imitation and operant conditioning, rather than spontaneous generations based on lin- guistic rules. In more recent years, Sue Savage-Rumbaugh and her colleagues have reported some striking advances with bonobo pygmy chimpanzees that have fuelled additional debate (Lyn & Savage-Rumbaugh, 2000; Savage-Rumbaugh, 1991; Savage-Rumbaugh et al., 2006, 2009; Savage-Rumbaugh et al., 1998). In this line of research, the bonobos have been trained to communicate with their caretakers by touching geo- metric symbols that represent words on a computer- monitored keyboard. Savage-Rumbaugh’s star pupil has been a chimp named Kanzi, although many of his feats have been duplicated by his younger sister, Panbanisha. Kanzi has acquired hundreds of © Mike Nichols words and has used them in thousands of combi- nations. Many of these combinations were sponta- neous and seemed to follow rules of language. For Kanzi, a pygmy chimpanzee, has learned to communicate with his caretakers in surprisingly example, to specify whether he wanted to chase or sophisticated ways via computer-controlled symbol boards, thus raising some doubt about be chased, Kanzi had to differentiate between symbol whether language is unique to humans. Language and Thought 303 02940_ch08_ptg01.indd 303 08/01/21 9:36 PM  unique to humans, as has been widely assumed. 1 percent more offspring than its alternative genetic However, make no mistake, there is no comparison expression would increase in prevalence from 0.1 Courtesy of Sue Savage-Rumbaugh, Georgia State between human linguistic abilities and those of apes percent to 99.9 percent of the population in 4000 or other animals. As remarkable as the language generations. Four thousand generations may seem University Language Research Center studies with apes are, they should make us marvel like an eternity, but in the context of evolution, it is even more at the fluency, flexibility, and complexity a modest amount of time. of human language. A normal human toddler Whether or not evolution gets the credit, language quickly surpasses even the most successfully trained acquisition in humans seems remarkably rapid. As chimps. In mastering language, children outstrip you will see in the next section, this reality looms chimps the way jet airplanes outrace horse-drawn large in theories of language acquisition. buggies. Why are humans so well suited for learning SUE SAVAGE-RUMBAUGH language? According to some theorists, this talent Theories of Language Acquisition What Kanzi tells us is that “humans are not the only for language is a product of evolution. Let’s look at Since the 1950s, a great debate has raged about the species that can acquire their thinking. key processes involved in language acquisition. As language if exposed to it at with arguments we have seen in other areas of psy- an early age.” Language in an Evolutionary Context chology, this one centres on the nature versus nurture All human societies depend on complex language sys- issue. The debate was stimulated by the influential tems. Even primitive cultures employ languages that behaviourist B. F. Skinner (1957), who argued that are just as complicated as those used in modern soci- environmental factors govern language develop- eties. The universal nature of language suggests that ment. His provocative analysis brought a rejoinder it is an innate human characteristic. Consistent with from Noam Chomsky (1959), who emphasized bio- this view, Steven Pinker argues that humans’ special logical determinism. Let’s examine their views and talent for language is a species-specific trait that is subsequent theories that stake out a middle ground. the product of natural selection (Pinker, 1994, 2004; Pinker & Jackendoff, 2005). As Pinker and Bloom BEHAVIOURIST THEORIES (1992) point out, “There is an obvious advantage in The behaviourist approach to language was first out- being able to acquire information about the world lined by Skinner in his book Verbal Behavior (1957). second-hand... one can avoid having to duplicate He argued that children learn language the same way David Levenson/Getty Images the possibly time-consuming and dangerous trial- they learn everything else: through imitation, rein- and-error process that won that knowledge” (p. 460). forcement, and other established principles of condi- Dunbar (1996) argues that language evolved as tioning. According to Skinner, vocalizations that are a device to build and maintain social coalitions in not reinforced gradually decline in frequency. The increasingly larger groups. Although the impetus for remaining vocalizations are shaped with reinforcers the evolution of language remains a matter of specu- until they are correct. Behaviourists assert that by STEVEN PINKER lation and debate (Kirby, 2007), it does not take much controlling reinforcement, parents encourage their “If human language is imagination to envision how more effective commu- children to learn the correct meaning and pronun- unique in the modern ciation of words (Staats & Staats, 1963). For example, nication among our ancient ancestors could have animal kingdom, as it appears to be, the impli- aided hunting, gathering, fighting, mating, and the as children grow older, parents may insist on closer cations for a Darwinian avoidance of poisons, predators, and other dangers. and closer approximations of the word water before account of its evolution supplying the requested drink. Although the adaptive value of language seems would be as follows: none. A language instinct unique obvious, some scholars take issue with the assertion Behavioural theorists also use the principles of to modern humans poses that human language is the product of evolution. For imitation and reinforcement to explain how chil- no more of a paradox than example, David Premack (1985) has expressed skepti- dren learn syntax. According to the behaviourists’ a trunk unique to modern elephants.” cism that small differences in language skill would view, children learn how to construct sentences by influence reproductive fitness in primitive societies, imitating the sentences of adults and older chil- where all one had to communicate about was the dren. If children’s imitative statements are under- location of the closest mastodon herd. In an effort to stood, parents are able to answer their questions refute this argument, Pinker and Bloom (1992) point or respond to their requests, thus reinforcing their out that very small adaptive disparities are sufficient verbal behaviour. to fuel evolutionary change. For example, they cite an estimate that a 1 percent difference in mortality NATIVIST THEORIES rates among overlapping Neanderthal and human Skinner’s explanation of language acquisition soon populations could have led to the extinction of inspired a critique and rival explanation from Noam Neanderthals in just 30 generations. They also note Chomsky (1959, 1965). Chomsky pointed out that that a trait variation that produces on average just there are an infinite number of sentences in a language. 304 CHAPTER 8 02940_ch08_ptg01.indd 304 08/01/21 9:36 PM  It’s therefore unreasonable to expect that children (see Figure 8.4). Recent years have brought research learn language by imitation. For example, in English, that supports the assertion of both the nativists and we often add ed to the end of a verb to construct past the interactionists that humans are biologically pre- tense. Children routinely overregularize this rule, pro- pared to learn language readily. A groundbreaking Donna Coveney/MIT News Office ducing incorrect verbs such as goed, eated, and thinked. study using brain-imaging technology found that the Mistakes such as these are inconsistent with Skinner’s human brain reacts differently to artificial syllables emphasis on imitation, because most adult speakers that are good and bad word candidates (Berent et al., don’t use ungrammatical words like goed. Children 2014). This disparity is even seen in infants (Gómez can’t imitate things they don’t hear. According to et al., 2014). The findings suggest that the human Chomsky, children learn the rules of language, not spe- brain is hardwired to readily recognize the sound pat- NOAM CHOMSKY cific verbal responses, as Skinner proposed. terns that make up human languages. “Even at low levels of intel- An alternative theory favoured by Chomsky and ligence, at pathological others is that humans have an inborn or “native” Culture, Language, and Thought levels, we find a command propensity to develop language (Chomsky, 1975, Another long-running controversy in the study of of language that is totally unattainable by an ape.” 1986, 2006). In this sense, native is a variation on language concerns the relationships among culture, the word nature as it’s used in the nature versus nur- language, and thought (Fiedler, 2008). Obviously, ture debate. Nativist theory proposes that humans people from different cultures generally speak dif- are equipped with a language acquisition device ferent languages. But does your training in English (LAD)—an innate mechanism or process that facili- lead you to think about certain things differently tates the learning of language. According to this than someone who was raised to speak Chinese or view, humans learn language for the same reason French? In other words, does a cultural group’s lan- that birds learn to fly—because they’re biologically guage determine their thoughts? Or does thought equipped for it. The exact nature of the LAD has not determine language? been spelled out in nativist theories. It presumably Benjamin Lee Whorf (1956) has been the most consists of brain structures and neural wiring that prominent advocate of linguistic relativity, the leave humans well prepared to discriminate among hypothesis that one’s language determines the nature phonemes, to fast-map morphemes, to acquire rules of one’s thought. Whorf speculated that different lan- of syntax, and so on. guages lead people to view the world differently. His classic example compared English and Inuit views of INTERACTIONIST THEORIES snow. He asserted that the English language has just Like Skinner, Chomsky has his critics (Bohannon one word for snow, whereas the Inuit language has & Bonvillian, 2009). They ask: What exactly is a language acquisition device? How does the LAD work? What are the neural mechanisms involved? Biological They argue that the LAD concept is terribly vague. maturation, neural Other critics question whether the rapidity of early development language development is as exceptional as nativists assume. They assert that it isn’t fair to compare the rapid progress of toddlers, who are immersed in their Cognitive Language native language, against the struggles of older stu- deve