3. Evolution of thought and the construction of knowlege Flashcards
Factors influencing thoughts
Biological
Brain evolution
- Encephalic quotient
- Human neocortex is the bigger and most complex one
Intelligence evolution
Factors influencing thoughts
Social
- Value system
- Social group beliefs
- Contextual factors that modulate thought: language, culture, myths, ideology, stereotypes
Factors influencing thoughts
Individual factors: subjective experience
Mood
When experiencing cognitive fatigue, we become more prone to use heuristics. Emotions also influence the core thinking process (system 2)
- Positive mood: better creative problem-solving skills, recall, verbal fluency, novel task switching and cognitive flexibility
- Negative mood: changes in attentional focus (narrower when angry, broader when depressive). decreased cognitive flexibility (depression), cortical activation (sadness) and cardiac control.
Factors influencing thoughts
Individual factors: subjective experience
Dual process
System 1 (intuition): fast, unconscious, (thalamus and amygdala). Considered as behaviour, not thinking
System 2 (reasoning: language, abstract thinking): slow, conscious, (cortical neural structure)
Factors influencing thoughts
Individual factors: subjective experience
Cognitive bias
Automatic processes:
- other-blaming
- self-blaming
- rumination
- catastrophizing
Elaborative processes:
- positive focus
- goal focus
- put into perspective
- acceptance
- reappraisal
Language and thought
Definition
Language: arbitrary system for combining symbols so that an unlimited number of meaningful statements can be made for the purpose of communication with others (productive).
Elements of language: grammar, syntax, phonemes, morphemes, pragmatics (intonation, gestures)
Properties of language: infinite creativity, displacement
Language and cognition: language not necessary for thinking, concepts can be understood without knowing the word
Language development
course
- Between 2-18: 10 new words a day
- Children learn grammar, recall words, assemble sentences, follow social rules since early
Language development
Biligualism
Bilingualism: best to begin by age 7
Advantages:
- metalinguistic skills
- learn about culture in depth
- executive functions
- cognitive reserve
Disadvantages:
- decreased efficiency in memory tasks with words, but compensation strategies, even though, slower
Theories of language-thought relation
Piaget
Thought is previous to language, depends on individual cognitive development
Theories of language-thought relation
Vigotsky
Language and thought develop separately until they come together
Theories of language-thought relation
Sapir-Whorf
Language is previous to thought: Linguistic-relativity hypothesis
Linguistic determinism:
- strong version: language determines thought and linguistic categories limit and determine cognitive categories
- weak version: linguistic categories and usage only influence thought and decisions
Theories of language-thought relation
Sapir-Whorf
Critics
- images and abstract logical propositions may be used as units of thought
- range of concepts represent priority of the language, not cognitive limitation
Theories of language-thought relation
Language’s influence on thought
- some languages have more words for interpersonal emotions than others
- bilingual people have different personality profiles when describing themselves in different languages
- native language to classify and remember colours, separation between colours may not be the same, so “more colours” in some languages
Moral cognition
Prosocial behaviour
Altruism
voluntary behaviour oriented to benefit others, implying sharing, caring, comfort and help.
motivation to increase others’ well-being
- every altruist behaviour is prosocial, but every prosocial behaviour is not altruistic
Theories of altruism and social behaviour
Psychoanalysis
Learning theories
- after oedipus phase, moral norms are interiorized by identifying ourselves with linked adults (altruism doesn’t exist)
- learnt through operant conditioning (altruism doesn’t exist)
- Bandura: social learning of moral reasoning. Reinforcement and modelling.
