Chapter 8: Language and Thought Flashcards
What is fast mapping?
how children map a word onto a concept by only being exposed to it once
What is cognition?
the mental processes involved in acquiring knowledge
What is overextension of speech?
When a child incorrectly uses a word to describe a wider set of objects or actions than it is ment to
eg. ball to describe anything that is round
What is underextention of speech?
When a child incorrectly uses a word to describe a narrower set of objects or actions than it is meant to
eg. doll can only refer to a single favourite doll
What is telegraphic speech?
eg “give doll” instead of please give me the doll
What are overregularizations in speech?
when grammatical rules are incorrectly generalized to irregular cases where they do not apply.
eg. the girl goed home, I ated the cookie
Do overregularizations exist in all languages?
yes
What is metalinguistic awareness?
The ability to reflect on the use of language
Being able to make puns and jokes
What age do children start appreciate irony and sarcasm?
6-8
Does learning two languages in childhood slow down language development?
no
What is acculturation?
the degree to which a person is socially and psychologically integrated into a new culture
What 3 factors contribute to acquisition of a second language?
Age: younger the better
Acculturation: greater integration into culture=faster learning
Motivation: how imp is it to someone?
True or false, languages are symbolic, semantic, generative, and structured
True
True or false, language is structured in a hierarchy, with phenomes being at the bottom, and the morphemes
True
When do children typically start vocalizing words?
around their first birthday
When does the vocabulary spurt occur?
between 18 months and 24
When do most children start to combine their words?
After their second year
True or false, according to Pinker, humans special talent for language is a species-specific trait that is the product of natural selection
True
True or false, Dunbar argues that language evolved as a device to build and maintain relationships in a growing population
True
Explain the behaviourist theory of language acquisiton
children learn language through imitation, reinforcement, and the basic principles of conditioning
Explain the nativists (chomsky) theory of language acquisiton
Chomsky
Humans have an inborn/native predisposition to develop language
Language Acquisition device theory: innate process that facilitates language learning
What does the Language Acquisition Device theory propose?
Humans have an innate process that facilitates learning of language
We’re biologically equipped to develop language
Why does Chomsky beleive that children have an innate capacity for learning language?
Because they acquire language quickly and with little effort
Do Nativist theorists think that the Nativist theory of language acquisition is universal?
Yes
Explain the interactionist theory of language acquisition, and the 3 “flavours” the theorists come in
You need biology/genetics AND social interaction to develop language
cognitive: lang. development is part of cognitive development
Social/communication: interpersonal communication is imp
Emergentist: neural circuits 4 lang. emerge gradually in resp. 2 learning
What are the 3 “flavours” of the interactionist theory of language acquisition?
Cognitive: lang. dev. is part of cognitive development/maturation
Social/Communicative: interpersonal comm. and social env.
Emergentist: Neural circuits that deal with language emerge after learning
What is linguistic relativity?
The idea that ones language determines thought
True or false, language has some impact on how people think about motion and shapes, as well as colour
True
What is the status of the linguistic relativity hypothesis?
We don’t know if the new data is sufficient to support the original “strong” version of the hypothesis or the weaker version, but the empirical support has increased dramatically in the past few years
True or false, Savage-Rumbaugh’s work suggests that animals are capable of language acquisition
True
What is linguistic determinism?
all thinking is represented linguistically, thought can occur without language
True or false, Whorf believed that language determines thought
True
True or false, the use of profanity activates the amygdala
True
Explain the critical period theory
Language can be learned quickly before age 13
What are the 3 categories that taboo/swear words fall into?
Religious, sexual, and excremental
What is problem solving?
active efforts to find what must be done to achieve a goal that isn’t readily attainable
What 3 categories did Greeno propose problems can be categorized into?
1– Inducing structure
2– Problems of arrangement
3– Problems of transformation
What did Greeno classify as a problem of inducing structure?
a problem that requires people to discover relationships among numbers, words, symbols, or ideas.
eg. series completion or analogy problems
What did Greeno classify as a “problem of arrangement?”
A problem that requires people to arrange the parts of a problem in a way that satisfies a certain criterion
eg. the parts can usually be arranged in many ways but only one is right
What is insight?
the sudden discovery of the correct solution following incorrect attempts based primarily on trial and error
What did Greeno define as a problem of transformation?
A problem that requires people to carry out a sequence of transformations in order to reach a goal.
eg. you see the goal, but don’t know how to achieve it
What are the 4 barriers to effective problem solving?
1: irrelevant info: there’s more info than needed 2 solve a prob
2: Funtional fixedness: the tendency to see an item 4 only 1 use
3: Mental set: when people insist on using a skills that worked in the past. rigid thinking
4: Unnecessary constraints: creating constraints that don’t exist
True or false, children are less vulnerable to functional fixedness
True
True or false, mental set may explain why having expertise in an area may backfire
True
What are the 5 main approaches to problem solving?
1: using algorithms and Heuristics
2: Forming subgoals
3: Working Backward
4: Searching for analogies
5: Changing the repres. of the problem
What is a problem space?
the set of possible pathways to a solution considered by the problem solve
What is an algorithm?
step-by-step procedure for trying all possible alternatives in searching for a solution to a problem
eg. word scramble, writing out all the possible answers till you find the one.
True or false, algorithms do not exist for many problems
True
What are heuristics?
A rule of thumb used in solving problems or making decisions
allows you to discard some alternatives to problems. Narrows problem space.
What is a subgoal, and what benefit does it have?
Helps break down the problem and solve parts of it
What is the major issue surrounding searching for analogies when problem solving?
Many people fail to recognize that two problems are similar
How can you change the representation of a job?
Readjusting it, maybe you make a graph, or a drawing
What is an incubation effect?
when new solutions surface for a previously unsolved problem after a period of not thinking about the problem
True or false, the incubation effect can occur during sleep
True
Do the varied experiences of people from different cultures lead to cross-cultural variations in problem solving?
Yes, to a certain degree
What theory did Witkin create about cognitive styles and problem solving?
Dependence-independence theory
Explain Witkins dependence-independence theory
field dependent: people rely on external frames of reference + accept physical env. instead of trying to restructure it.
field independent: people rely on internal frames and analyze env.
True or false, field dependent people tend to focus on the total context of a problem instead of zeroing in, and field independent people tend to focus on specific aspects of a problem
True
True or false, studies have shown that field independent subjects outperform field independent subjects
True
True or false, Scwartz argued that people in modern sociteties are overwhelmed about having so many choices
True
What are the 2 main strategies to make choices?
Additive: counting the pros
Elimination by aspects: when something fails to meet a minimum criterion, it is eliminated
True or false, when decisions are complex, people tend to use elimination by aspects
True
True or false, to explain decisions that violate expected value, some theories replace the objective value of an outcome with its subjective utility. What does subjective utility represent?
what an outcome is personally worth to the individual
eg. if winning the lottery is imp. 2 you, you’ll buy tickets
this is a start to explain peoples risky behaviour
What are the 2 major ways we can explain or understand why people participate in risky behaviour?
1– subjective utility: how imp something is to someone
2– subjective probability: when people misperceive the chances
What is subjective probability?
When people rely on subjective estimates of probability
What does the availability heuristic have to do with judging probability?
basing the estimated probablity of an event on your personal experiences.
eg. % of marriages in 20s, look at your friends and family
What is the representativeness heuristic?
basing estimated probability of an event on how similar it is to a typical prototype of an event
eg. think of a coin flipping.. TTTTT wouldn’t be your first guess..
What are base rates? How would someone ignore them?
eg. smokers are realistic in estimating the degree to which smoking increases someone elses risk of heart attack but underestimates the risk for themselves
What is the conjunction fallacy?
when people estimate that the odds of two uncertain events happening together are greater than the odds of either event happening alone.
eg. polititian and professor theory
you’d think that he’s both, but the chances of that happening are LOW
What are behavioural economics?
a field of study that examines the effects of humans decision making on economic decisions
Explain the theory of bounded rationality?
people tend to use simple strategies in decision making that focus on a few facets of avail options can often result in irrational decidions
According to Tversky, humans depart from rationality when decision making, and that decision how decision alternatives are framed affects our decisions.. what is framing?
how decision issues are posed or how choices are structured
What do evolutionary theorists say about flaws in human decision making?
1: trad decision research has imposed an unrealistic standard of rationality.
2: humans only seem irrational b/c we’ve been asking the wrong questions, we’ve evolved to solve REAL problems
What did Gigerenzer say about “fast and frugal heuristics?”
people have to make quick decisions with little info, so they just make quick decisions that they hope to benefit financially from
What is a recognition heuristic?
if one of the two alternatives is recognized and the other is not, infer that the recognized alternative has the higher value
allows you to perform just as well with very limited info as they would have with extensive knowledge
What are dual process theories that trad decision making theorists have come up with?
people depend on two very different modes of thinking when making decisions
1: quick/effortless decsions “intuitive thinking”
2: slower, controlled judgements
What do traditional decision making theorists think about Girgenzers “fast and frugal heuristic” theory?
That there are 2 types of decisions
fast and slow, and they happen at the same time, when things are more complex, the slow thinking takes over
