language

Question 1

describe what happens in the different stages of piaget’s theory of language and thought

Answer 1

sensorimotor - babies only copy sounds e.g. ga ga

pre-operational - egocentric, use language to voice internal thoughts e.g. ‘food’ or ‘hungry’

concrete operational - language ability improved a lot, can still only talk about concrete things e.g. school or football

formal operational - language can be used to talk about abstract + theoretical things e.g. ghosts or God

Question 2

according to piaget, what leads to the growth of language?

Answer 2

matching correct words to existing knowledge that the person has, the understanding comes first, then the language

Question 3

evaluate piagets theory of language and thought

Answer 3

+ early lang is not random, ‘Mummy-sock’ demonstrates understanding of the relationship between the two before formulating full sentences, only start to use language after having some understanding

• there is an opposing theory, the Sapir-Whorf states language comes before thought as words are needed before being able to be thought about, reduces validity of the theory
• piagets theory has been criticised because of the way he collected his data, he used his own children and small samples which were unrepresentative of the wider population, he was the only one observing so personal bias could have affected conclusions, must be cautious when generalising his findings to others

Question 4

what is the Sapir-Whorf hypothesis

Answer 4

it is not possible to think about something you do not have the words for, so different cultures will have different ways of thinking and understanding things

Question 5

what are the three things language leads to according to Sapir-Whorf

Answer 5

1) helps us see and understand things in certain ways
2) it causes certain ways of thinking to become easier and more likely
3) leads to memory bias and increase/decrease the ability to recall certain information

Question 6

where did the Sapir-Whorf hypothesis get their evidence from

Answer 6

studying indigenous people and comparing their languages with english

Question 7

according to sapir-whorf, how does the language we speak affect our view of the world

Answer 7

it leads us to focus on certain ways of seeing and understanding things, as well as causing some new ways of thinking to be more likely and easier e.g recent meanings for words affecting how you use them

Question 8

evaluate the sapir-whorf hypothesis

Answer 8

+ it explains the link between language and intelligence as children from poorer backgrounds speak restricted code, which negatively affects their ability to think, middle class backgrounds speak elaborated code, which shows there is a link between language and intelligence, so language influences thought

• it does not consider why there are cultural differences in language, Inuit language has lots of words for snow as it reflects the environment, suggesting the language develops because of our perception of the environment, so thoughts come before lang which supports Piaget
• evidence could be exaggerated, in Inuit lang there are only two words for snow, english has slush, sleet etc. so challenges whether lange determines thought as differences may not be that great

Question 9

what is the two pieces of evidence to support the sapir-whorf hypothesis

Answer 9

• variation in recognition of the colour blue

- variation in recall of events

Question 10

explain the variation of the recognition of the colour blue

Answer 10

hypothesis - the language we speak leads us to focus on seeing certain things and makes certain ways of thinking more likely than others

the tarahumara tribe have only one word for blue and green and they perceive smaller differences between shades of blues and greens than english speakers

russian speakers have more words for lighter and darker blues, and are quicker to recognise differences between two shades of blue when one was perceived as darker and the other lighter

Question 11

explain the variation in recall of events

Answer 11

hypothesis - the language we speak affects our ability to recall certain information

when spanish and english speakers were asked to describe intended and accidental actions, all participants identified the person when the action was intended, but when the action was accidental, english speakers identified the person more often than spanish speakers, both speakers recalled people involved in intended actions, but english speakers had much better recall of who was involved in accidental actions

Question 12

outline Von Frisch’s bee study

Answer 12

aim: investigate how bees communicate the location of a food source to each other
method: two stations of sugar water placed at different locations, and a hive with glass sides used to observe the bees’ behaviour when they return, when bees visited a station, they were marked with that colour to make them identifiable and their movements recorded back at the hive
results: different movements occurred depending on how far food source was from the hive, round dance when food was less than 100m and a waggle dance when food was more than 100m, number of turns made in 15sec waggle communicates distance of food source
conclusion: bees use a variety of different movements to communicate the distance and direction of food sources

Question 13

evaluate Von Frisch’s bee study

Answer 13

+ other researchers have consistently found similar findings when replicating the study, which increases the validity of results

• Von Frisch overlooked the importance of sound, other researchers found that when the dance was done in silence other bees did not go looking for food, but did when sounds are used, so visual cues are only part of communication

+ the bees reacted the same way when sugar water was placed on flowers instead, which increases the validity of the results

Question 14

give three examples of animal vocalisation

Answer 14

birds - singing

insects - chirping

big cats - growling

Question 15

name similar animal and human non-verbal communication

Answer 15

facial expressions - emotion

posture - postural echo and adopting each other’s posture

touch - bonding and reassurance

Question 16

name and give examples of the four limited functions of animal communication

Answer 16

survival - the ability to continue ones life e.g. the Vervet monkeys using different calls to alert others when a specific predator is present, when the same call was played there was the same response

reproduction - producing offspring e.g. male peacocks make loud noises and open feathers to attract a mate, bright and colourful feathers represent good health

territory - marking an area e.g. cheetahs marking an area with urine discourages other animals from invading and reduces fighting for a territory, which uses lots of energy and is a risk to survival

food - drawing attention to food sources e.g. bees doing a dance to show the distance and direction of a food source

Question 17

name and define the two features of human communication

Answer 17

productivity - the ability to create unlimited numbers of different messages which allows language to be used creatively, human communication is open while animal is closed, Koko the gorilla was taught 2000 signs

displacement - the ability to discuss things that aren’t present, events in the future, and things that dont exist e.g. ghosts or God, while animals only communicate about the present e.g. food or predators

Question 18

describe productivity in animals

Answer 18

animals have planning behaviour e.g squirrels, which store nuts for winter, this is likely to be instinctive and innate rather than communicated

Koko the gorilla can use language productively and can create new signs when she doesn’t know and existing one, like the signs for ‘finger’ and ‘bracelet’ to form a ring

Question 19

evaluate the design features of language

Answer 19

+ research has found, like with Koko, shows that animals can use language productively, since she can understand and communicate with humans

• there are ethical issues about keeping animals in captivity and conducting research on them, as they are being trained to behave in ways that aren’t natural

Question 20

identify the different types of non-verbal communication

Answer 20

• eye contact
• body language
• speech with no words

Question 21

define eye contact

Answer 21

when two people look at each other’s eyes during conversation

Question 22

define body language

Answer 22

how a persons attitudes and feelings are communicated to others through unspoken movements and gestures

Question 23

give examples of aspects of speech that use no words

Answer 23

braille, sign language, facial expressions, gestures

Question 24

give examples of verbal communication

Answer 24

speaking, reading, songs

Question 25

name the functions of eye contact

Answer 25

• flow of conversation
• signalling attraction
• expressing emotion

Question 26

what are the effects of interrupting eye-contact

Answer 26

• its important in encouraging turn taking
• speakers look away when they are about to speak and prolong eye contact when about to stop talking
• this helps show whose turn it is to talk
• there would be awkward pauses if this did not happen

Question 27

what was found in research of pupil dilation

Answer 27

• pupils dilate when you see someone attractive

- it also makes you seem more attractive

Question 28

explain how eye contact expresses emotion

Answer 28

• eye contact expresses how intense the emotion is that’s being felt
• faces showing joy, anger, fear or sadness
• joy and anger were judged as most intense when there was a direct gaze
• fear and sadness were most intense when there was an averted gaze

Question 29

define personal space

Answer 29

• the distance we like to keep between ourselves and others in everyday life
• we may try to defend our personal space by moving away when someone gets too close
• it can change depending on who we are with and their professional role
• its affected by gender, culture and status

Question 30

describe and explain gender differences in personal space

Answer 30

both genders prefer greater space between themselves and members of the opposite sex

men - tend to prefer bigger personal spaces than women and prefer to sit opposite friends

women - prefer to sit behind their friends

Question 31

identify and explain the factors that affect personal space

Answer 31

status - the rank or position of someone in a society or workplace, two geography teachers have the same status, a student and teacher would be different, people of similar status tend to stand closer than people of unequal, in a manufacturing firm, those with lower status didnt approach people of a higher status as closely as those with a similar rank

culture - different cultural norms for personal space, usually only noticeable when people from two different cultures interact

Question 32

evaluate the factors that affect personal space

Answer 32

+ there are real life applications, which helps us understand cultural and gender differences to avoid offending others e.g knowing some people prefer larger amounts of personal space, so misunderstandings can be reduced

• it is oversimplistic, as it only focuses on one factor at a time, and doesnt take into consideration how multiple factors would affect personal space at once e.g. culture, gender, status, which makes research too simplistic
• studies may use unrepresentative samples, as it is difficult to use a sample that reflects all people within a culture or all men and women, so results cant be generalised to everyone

Question 33

how do animals and humans use posture

Answer 33

animals use posture to attract and scare off predators

humans use it to convey attitudes messages

Question 34

describe and explain closed posture

Answer 34

closed posture could be crossing arms in conversation and would indicate disagreement or annoyance, it makes the person appear less friendly and less attractive

Question 35

describe and explain open posture

Answer 35

arms would be uncrossed and relaxed, indicating agreement and willingness for conversation, it makes people think they are more friendly or attractive

Question 36

describe and explain a postural echo

Answer 36

people tend to copy and mirror each other’s posture, whenever someone shows postural echo its an unconscious sign of friendliness and leads to being more liked

Question 37

define touch

Answer 37

a powerful signal that can produce unconscious emotional reactions

Question 38

what did they do and find in the library study

Answer 38

the librarian briefly touched the hand of students returning a book, which created a much more positive attitude towards the library and librarian, even if they were not aware of being touched

Question 39

evaluate touch research

Answer 39

+ the findings can be applied to real life situations, as when people are trying to create good relationships with others they can use touch (as well as open posture + postural echo) to build better relationships with people, doctors and therapists can use it to reassure people

• field experiments on touch and postural echo didn’t involve informed consent and its unclear whether ppts were debriefed afterwards, so there is an ethical issue of deception as ppts shouldn’t be misled or lied to and should’ve given their permission after the study

Question 40

outline Yuki’s emoticon study

Answer 40

aim: investigate if culture affects how facial cues are used when understanding peoples emotions
method: showed american and japanese ppts emoticons and asked them to rate from 1-9 how happy each emoticon was, some had happy eyes and others had happy mouths
results: the japanese ppts gave the highest rating to faces with happy eyes and the lowest to the ones with sad eyes, while american ppts gave the highest ratings to the faces with happy mouths and lowest to sad mouths, japanese and american people focus on different parts of the face when interpreting others’ emotion, japanese focuses more on eyes while americans focus on mouth, may lead to differences in understanding facial expressions
conclusion: people learn their own cultures norms for expression + interpretation of peoples emotions, American people may be brought up to express emotion more freely e.g. using both eyes and mouths, while japanese may be brought up to hide emotions more as their eyes are the most truthful way of telling you their emotions

Question 41

evaluate Yuki’s emoticon study

Answer 41

+ the study was repeated with photographs of real people, which is a strength as Yuki was able to find similar results in both his studies and compare them, increasing the reliability of his results.

• lacks ecological validity, as the ppts were giving ratings to emoticons and not actual human faces, emoticons do not include tell-tale lines on people’s faces which give extra information about their emotions, so results of the study may lack relevance to everyday life
• it only shows limited emotions, there are so many different emotions that an individual experiences, but this study only considers happy or sad, Yuki only used two emotions, yet there are many others, like anxious or surprised, decreases the validity of his results as it doesn’t give a full insight into how people of different cultures interpret emotions

Question 42

what are the two key ideas of non-verbal behaviour

Answer 42

• natural selection means that for an organism to evolve successfully, survival and reproduction are essential, genetic characteristics which increase chances of survival + successfully reproducing will be passed on to successive generations
• survival of the fittest suggests that successfully adapted organisms that have made the best changes in order to fit the situation and environment are most likely to survive and reproduce

Question 43

describe and explain serviceable behaviours

Answer 43

a serviceable behaviour is a behaviour that has a purpose e.g. biting as an early form of self-defence, animals expose teeth as a threat signal, explains why some people bare teeth when they’re angry

Question 44

describe and explain principle of actions

Answer 44

• some forms of non-verbal communication caused by construction of the nervous system
• e.g. dilated pupils and an open mouth are part of a frightened facial expression
• also due to the effects of adrenaline being released into our bodies by the nervous system during the fight-flight response

Question 45

evaluate darwin’s theory of nvc

Answer 45

+ it is supported by research, Ekman et al identified six primary emotions: surprise, fear, anger, disgust, happiness, and sadness, if the behaviour is universal it suggests that its in our genes, which supports Darwin’s evolutionary theory

+ further support from studies of newborn babies as they are born w the ability to smile + maintain eye contact, the behaviours are present at birth which suggests they are innate and selected by evolution to help child’s survival

• darwin doesn’t take into consideration cultural differences and struggles to explain why personal space + gestures are expressed differently in different cultures, so it doesn’t explain all NVC

Question 46

define innate and neonate

Answer 46

innate - due to nature and present at birth

neonate - new-born babies

Question 47

outline and explain social releasers with an example

Answer 47

• Bewlby (1969) suggested neonates are born with social releasers
• e.g. non-verbal behaviours like smiling and eye contact, which have an effect on others which ‘make’ them want to care for the baby
• without the social releasers the baby would be ignored and could not look after itself
• social releasers are adaptive since it allows the baby to be cared for and the parents’ genes will be passed on

Question 48

outline how facial expressions of disgust show how NVB is innate

Answer 48

• Rosenstein and Oster (1988) found that babies seemed to show emotion very soon after being born
• they produced reactions when given tastes
• when given sour taste like citric acid in lemons they gave disgusted reactions
• their lips curled and nose wrinkled like an adult
• shows that facial expressions are innate to communicate

Question 49

define sensory deprived

Answer 49

children who are blind or deaf from birth and cannot imitate some forms of NVC

Question 50

outline blind vs non-blind babies research

Answer 50

• 7 to 13 week old babies showed very similar facial expressions, like surprise, whether they were blind or not
• congenitally blind babies couldn’t have learned the behaviour from watching others
• so the behaviour must be innate

Question 51

outline blind athletes research

Answer 51

• 4800 photos of sighted and blind athletes showed they both expressed emotion in similar ways
• 85% of silver medalists produced social smiles
• true smiles causes eyes to narrow + cheeks to rise
• social smiles only uses mouth muscles, which suggests the silver medalists weren’t truly happy to come second

Question 52

describe contact and non-contact cultures and describe their views on personal space

Answer 52

• Hall (1966) distinguished between contact and non-contact cultures
• italy, spain and latin american countries are close contact cultures, while UK and USA were non-contact cultures
• non-contact cultures prefer larger distances between them and others while contact cultures are more comfortable with smaller personal space
• so non verbal may not be innate, but be the product of cultural norms
• people from non-contact cultures seen as snobby and rude while contact cultures are seen as overbearing

Question 53

outline how different cultures view pointing fingers

Answer 53

• Black (2011) described how pointing a finger could mean different things depending on where you are in the world
• pointing an index finger in acceptable in western culture to emphasise what’s being said
• but is offensive in Hindu culture and they tend to point with our thumbs

Question 54

how does social learning theory explain cultural differences

Answer 54

• differences can be explained by social learning theory
• suggests people learn by observing and copying behaviour of the people around them, especially when they identify with them
• e.g. people of one cultural group observe how people of their culture interact with each other
• they imitate behaviours like greeting, touch and where they stand in relation to one another