PSYCHOLOGY
(9th Edition)
David Myers
PowerPoint Slides
Aneeq Ahmad
Henderson State University
Worth Publishers, © 2010
1
Thinking and Language
Chapter 9
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Thinking and Language
Thinking
 Concepts
 Solving Problems
 Making Decisions and Forming
Judgments
Language
 Language Structure
 Language Development
 The Brain and Language
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Thinking and Language
 Language Influences Thinking
 Thinking in Images
Animal Thinking and Language
 What Do Animals Think?
 Do Animals Exhibit Language?
 The Case of the Apes
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Thinking
Thinking, or cognition, refers to a process that
involves knowing, understanding,
remembering, and communicating.
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Examples of subject areas in
cognitive psychology
Moral development - This includes how moral dilemmas change your moral reasoning in the stages
of moral development.
Eyewitness testimony - Study of how a witness’s testimony is affected by stress, focusing on a
weapon, or leading questions.
Forgetting - This area covers long and short term memory.
Selective attention - Humans have limited capacity for paying attention so this studies the selection
of what deserves our attention.
Perception - This covers the processing of sensual inputs and how the brain turns them into sensual
perceptions.
Child development - This deals with the process of cognitive processes as we grow.
Cognitive behavioral therapy - This uses the fact that thought patterns can affect behavior and tries to
help people with mental health problems.
Learning styles - This investigates the different ways in which people learn. (Is this a thing???)
Information processing - Compares humans to computers in the way we process information.
Cognitive interview - This is way of asking questions that help an eye witness remember better.
Education - Cognitive psychology can help with more effective learning techniques.
Face Recognition - An example of this is the fact that we still recognize a friend’s face even if one
aspect of it changes, like a hair cut.
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Limits of Intuition
“A bat and a ball cost
$1.10 in total. The bat
costs $1 more than the
ball. How much does the
ball cost?”
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The classic “horse-trading”
problem
A man bought a horse for
$60 and sold it for $70. Then
he bought the same horse
back for $80 and again sold
it, for $90. How much
money did he make in the
horse business?
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Cognitive Psychologists
Thinking involves a number of mental
activities, which are listed below. Cognitive
psychologists study these in great detail.
1.
2.
3.
4.
Concepts
Problem solving
Decision making
Judgment formation
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Prototypes
1. a bird
2. a color
3. a triangle (drawing a picture is just fine)
4. a motor vehicle
5. a sentence
6. a hero
7. a heroic action
8. a game
9. a philosopher
10. a writer
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Prototypes
1. a robin, sparrow, or eagle
2. red or blue
3. a picture of an equilateral triangle
4. a car
5. a short declarative statement, e.g., “The boy ran home.”
6. Superman, Batman, or possibly a fireman
7. a single act by a male, e.g. a rescue by a fireman
8. monopoly or some other board game
9. Socrates or Aristotle
10. Stephen King, or some other white male author
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Concepts
The mental grouping of similar objects, events, ideas, or
people. There are a variety of chairs but their common
features define the concept of a chair.
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Category Hierarchies
We organize concepts into category hierarchies.
Courtesy of Christine Brune
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Development of Concepts
We form some concepts with definitions. For
example, a triangle has three sides. Mostly, we
form concepts with mental images or typical
examples (prototypes). For example, a robin is
a prototype of a bird, but a penguin is not.
Bird (mental image)
J. Messerschmidt/ The Picture Cube
Daniel J. Cox/ Getty Images
Triangle (definition)
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Problem Solving
Problem solving strategies include:
1.
2.
3.
4.
Trial and Error
Algorithms
Heuristics
Insight
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Trial and Error
Edward
Thorndike’s
cat
experiment
When would trial and error be an inappropriate problem
solving strategy?
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Tower of Hanoi Problem
Your task is to move the
tower from the left peg
to the right peg, moving
only one disk at a time
and never putting a
larger disk on a smaller
one.
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Problem Solving
According to Medin and Ross, problem solving is taking place if a
person is
(a) trying to attain a goal (the three disks on the right peg arranged in the specified
order),
(b) Starting from some set of conditions (disks on the left peg arranged from largest to
smallest),
(c) with some means of transforming these conditions (moving the pegs one
at a time, not putting a larger disk on a smaller), and
(d) with no immediately available knowledge of a solution
(the problem is not solved in a single step).
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Solution to Tower of Hanoi
problem:
1. Move smallest disk to third peg.
2. Move middle disk to second peg.
3. Place smallest disk on top of middle disk.
4. Move largest disk to third peg.
5. Move smallest disk to first peg.
6. Place middle disk on top of largest disk.
7. Place smallest disk on top of middle disk, which is
on top of largest disk. The problem is solved.
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Algorithms
Algorithms, which are very time consuming,
exhaust all possibilities before arriving at a
solution. Computers use algorithms.
SPLOYOCHYG
If we were to unscramble these letters to form a word
using an algorithmic approach, we would face
907,200 possibilities.
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Heuristics
B2M Productions/Digital Version/Getty Images
Heuristics are simple,
thinking strategies
that allow us to make
judgments and solve
problems efficiently.
Heuristics are less
time consuming, but
more error-prone than
algorithms.
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Heuristics
Heuristics make it easier for us to use simple
principles to arrive at solutions to problems.
SPLOYOCHYG
S
PP
SL
YO
CH
YO
OC
LH
OGY
Put a Y at the end, and see if the word
begins to make sense.
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Insight
Insight involves a
sudden novel
realization of a
solution to a problem.
Humans and animals
have insight.
Grande using boxes to
obtain food
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Insight
From Mark Jung-Beekman, Northwestern
University and John Kounios, Drexel University
Brain imaging and EEG
studies suggest that
when an insight strikes
(the “Aha” experience), it
activates the right
temporal cortex (JungBeeman & others, 2004).
The time between not
knowing the solution
and realizing it is about
0.3 seconds.
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Insight
1.
2.
1) A soldier and a dog
passing an archway
2) A custodian cleaning
mud off the floor
A re-ordering or re-structuring of perception produces
the “aha” experience we call insight.
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Obstacles in Solving Problems
Confirmation Bias: A tendency to search for
information that confirms a personal bias.
2–4–6
Rule: Any ascending series of numbers. 1 – 2 – 3 would
comply. Wason’s students had difficulty figuring out the
rule due to a confirmation bias (Wason, 1960).
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Fixation
Fixation: An inability to see a problem from a
fresh perspective. This impedes problem
solving. An example of fixation is functional
fixedness.
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From “Problem Solving” by M. Scheerer. Copyright © 1963 by
Scientific American, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
The Matchstick
Problem: How would
you arrange six
matches to form four
equilateral triangles?
Candle-Mounting Problem
Using these materials, how would you mount the
candle on a bulletin board?
From “Problem Solving” by M. Scheerer. Copyright © 1963 by
Scientific American, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
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The Matchstick Problem: Solution
From “Problem Solving” by M. Scheerer. Copyright © 1963 by
Scientific American, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
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Candle-Mounting Problem: Solution
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Making Decision & Forming
Judgments
Each day we make hundreds of judgments and
decisions based on our intuition, seldom using
systematic reasoning.
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Using and Misusing Heuristics
Two kinds of heuristics, representative
heuristics and availability heuristics, have been
identified by cognitive psychologists.
Courtesy of Greymeyer Award, University
of Louisville and Daniel Kahneman
Courtesy of Greymeyer Award, University
of Louisville and the Tversky family
Amos Tversky
Daniel Kahneman
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Representativeness Heuristic
Judging the likelihood of things or objects in
terms of how well they seem to represent, or
match, a particular prototype.
If you meet a slim, short, man who wears glasses
Probability
that what
that person
a truck
is far
and
likes poetry,
do youisthink
hisdriver
profession
greater
than an ivy league professor just because
would
be?
there are more truck drivers than such professors.
An Ivy league professor or a truck driver?
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Availability Heuristic
Why does our availability heuristic lead us astray?
Whatever increases the ease of retrieving
information increases its perceived availability.
How is retrieval facilitated?
1. How recently we have heard about the event.
2. How distinct it is.
3. How correct it is.
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Overconfidence
Intuitive heuristics, confirmation of beliefs, and
the inclination to explain failures increase our
overconfidence. Overconfidence is a tendency to
overestimate the accuracy of our beliefs and
judgments.
In the stock market, both
the seller and the buyer
may be confident about
their decisions on a
stock.
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Availability Heuristic
Deaths per 100,000
All accidents (37.7) vs. strokes (51.1)
Suicide (10.9) vs. blood poisoning (11.2)
Homicide (5.9) vs. diabetes (24.5)
Motor vehicle accidents (15.3) vs. colorectal cancer
(17.8)
Drowning (1.3) vs. leukemia (7.1)
Morocco (34 million) vs. Saudi Arabia (28 million)
Myanmar (47 million) vs. Australia (21 million)
Vietnam (86 million) vs. South Africa (48 million)
Sri Lanka (20 million) vs. Libya (6 million)
Tanzania (38 million) vs. Iraq (28 million)
Chicago (15.6) vs. Kansas City (26.1)
Las Vegas (11.3) vs. Stockton (14.6)
Miami (13.9) vs. Phoenix (15.0)
Honolulu (1.7) vs. Raleigh (6.0)
New York (6.6) vs. Aurora (9.5)
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Exaggerated Fear
The opposite of having
overconfidence is
having an exaggerated
fear about what may
happen. Such fears may
be unfounded.
AP/ Wide World Photos
The 9/11 attacks led to a
decline in air travel due
to fear.
39
The Effects of Framing
Decisions and judgments may be
significantly affected depending upon how
an issue is framed.
Example: What is the best way to market
ground beef — as 25% fat or 75% lean?
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Framing
Decision I.
Choose between:
a. a sure gain of $240
b. a 25 percent chance of
winning $1000 and a 75
percent chance of
winning nothing.
Decision II.
Choose between:
c. a sure loss of $750
d. a 75 percent chance of
losing $1000 and a 25
percent chance of losing
nothing.
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Framing
In choosing a sure gain but gambling to avoid a loss,
three-quarters of the respondents in previous research
picked choices “a” and “d.”
The advantages these choices give can be shown by regrouping the
pairs and adding the options together.
• The total outcome of “a” and “d” is a 25 percent chance of
winning $240 and a 75 percent chance of losing $760.
• The total outcome of “b” and “c” is a 25 percent chance of
winning $250 and a 75 percent chance of losing $750.
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The Belief Perseverance
Phenomenon
Belief perseverance is the tendency to cling to
our beliefs in the face of contrary evidence.
If you see that a country is hostile, you are likely
to interpret their ambiguous actions as a sign of
hostility (Jervis, 1985).
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Confirmation Bias
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Proportion of Democrats (left) and Republicans (right) who agreed with the scientific
consensus on climate change after reading about a free-market solution (light shading) or
government regulation (dark shading). Campbell and Kay/Journal of Personality and
Social Psychology
Retrieved online from http://www.wired.com/2014/11/solutions-shape-factualbelief/ Article by Brandon Keim
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Perils & Powers of Intuition
Intuition may be perilous if unchecked, but
may also be extremely efficient and adaptive.
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Language
Language, our spoken, written, or gestured work,
is the way we communicate meaning to ourselves
and others.
M. & E. Bernheim/ Woodfin Camp & Associates
Language transmits culture.
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Language Development
Born to Talk
Time Life Pictures/ Getty Images
Children learn their
native languages much
before learning to add
2+2.
We learn, on average
(after age 1), 3,500 words
a year, amassing 60,000
words by the time we
graduate from high
school.
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When do we learn language?
Babbling Stage:
Beginning at 4 months,
the infant
spontaneously utters
various sounds, like ahgoo. Babbling is not
imitation of adult
speech.
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When do we learn language?
One-Word Stage: Beginning at or around his first
birthday, a child starts to speak one word at a
time and is able to make family members
understand him. The word doggy may mean look
at the dog out there.
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When do we learn language?
Two-Word Stage: Before the 2nd year, a child
starts to speak in two-word sentences. This
form of speech is called telegraphic speech
because the child speaks like a telegram: “Go
car,” means I would like to go for a ride in the car.
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When do we learn language?
Longer phrases: After telegraphic speech,
children begin uttering longer phrases (Mommy
get ball) with syntactical sense, and by early
elementary school they are employing humor.
You never starve in the desert because of all the
sand-which-is there.
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When do we learn language?
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Explaining Language Development
1. Operant Learning: Skinner (1957, 1985)
believed that language development may be
explained on the basis of learning principles
such as association, imitation, and
reinforcement.
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Explaining Language Development
2. Inborn Universal Grammar: Chomsky (1959,
1987) opposed Skinner’s ideas and suggested
that the rate of language acquisition is so fast
that it cannot be explained through learning
principles, and thus most of it is inborn.
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Explaining Language Development
Childhood is a critical period for fully
developing certain aspects of language.
Children never exposed to any language
(spoken or signed) by about age 7 gradually
lose their ability to master any language.
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David Hume Kennerly/ Getty Images
Michael Newman/ Photo Edit, Inc.
Eye of Science/ Photo Researchers, Inc.
Genes, Brain, & Language
Genes design the mechanisms for a
language, and experience modifies the brain.
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Critical Period
Learning new languages gets harder with age.
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Thinking & Language
Language and thinking intricately intertwine.
Rubber Ball/ Almay
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Language Influences Thinking
Linguistic Determinism: Whorf (1956) suggested
that language determines the way we think. For
example, he noted that the Hopi people do not
have the past tense for verbs. Therefore, the Hopi
cannot think readily about the past.
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Language Influences Thinking
When a language provides words for objects or events,
we can think about these objects more clearly and
remember them. It is easier to think about two colors
with two different names (A) than colors with the same
name (B) (Özgen, 2004).
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Word Power
Increasing word power pays its dividends. It
helps explain the bilingual advantage of bilingual
children to inhibit one language while using
another.
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Thinking in Images
To a large extent thinking is language-based.
When alone, we may talk to ourselves. However,
we also think in images.
We don’t think in words, when:
1. When we open the hot water tap.
2. When we are riding our bicycle.
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Images and Brain
Imagining a physical activity activates the same
brain regions as when actually performing the
activity.
Jean Duffy Decety, September 2003
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Language and Thinking
Traffic runs both ways between language and
thinking.
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Animal Thinking & Language
Do animals have a language?
Honey bees communicate by dancing. The dance
moves clearly indicate the direction of the nectar.
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Do Animals Think?
Common cognitive skills
in humans and apes
include the following:
Concept Formation
Insight
Problem Solving
Culture
William Munoz
1.
2.
3.
4.
African grey parrot assorts red
blocks from green balls.
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Insight
Chimpanzees show insightful behavior when
solving problems.
Sultan uses sticks to get food.
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Problem Solving
Courtesy of Jennifer Byrne, c/o Richard Byrne,
Department of Psychology, University of St. Andrews, Scotland
Apes are, much like
us, shaped by
reinforcement when
solving problems.
Chimpanzee fishing for ants.
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Animal Culture
Animals display customs and culture that are
learned and transmitted over generations.
Michael Nichols/ National Geographic Society
Copyright Amanda K Coakes
Dolphins using sponges as
forging tools.
Chimpanzee mother using and
teaching a young how to use
a stone hammer.
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Do Animals Exhibit Language?
There is no doubt that
animals communicate.
Copyright Baus/ Kreslowski
Vervet monkeys,
whales and even honey
bees communicate
with members of their
species and other
species.
Rico (collie) has a
200-word vocabulary
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The Case of Apes
Gardner and Gardner (1969) used
American Sign Language (ASL) to train
Washoe, a chimp, who learned 181 signs
by the age of 32.
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Gestured Communication
Animals, like humans, exhibit communication
through gestures. It is possible that vocal speech
developed from gestures during the course of
evolution.
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But Can Apes Really Talk?
1.
2.
3.
4.
Apes acquire their limited vocabularies with a
great deal of difficulty, unlike children who
develop vocabularies at amazing rates.
Chimpanzees can make signs to receive a
reward, just as a pigeon who pecks at the key
receives a reward. However, pigeons have not
learned a language.
Chimpanzees use signs meaningfully but lack
human syntax.
Presented with ambiguous information, people
tend to see what they want to see (perceptual
set).
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Sign Language
American Sign Language (ASL) is
instrumental in teaching chimpanzees a
form of communication.
Paul Fusco/ Magnum Photos
When asked, this chimpanzee uses
a sign to say it is a baby.
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Syntax Comprehension
Others have shown that pygmy chimpanzees can develop
even greater vocabularies and perhaps semantic nuances
in learning a language (Savage-Rumbaugh, 1993). Kanzi
(shown below) developed vocabulary for hundreds of
words and phrases.
Copyright of Great Ape Trust of Iowa
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Conclusions
If we say that animals can use meaningful
sequences of signs to communicate a capability
for language, our understanding would be
naive… Steven Pinker (1995) concludes, “chimps
do not develop language.”
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