language and thought Flashcards
what are the 2 key theories
sapir - whorf hypothesis
universalism
what is the sapir whorf hypothesis
how we perceive the world is influenced by our language
what are the 2 parts of the sapir whorf hypothesis
-strong form (linguistic determinism): language determines thought
e.g you can only experience different things if you have the language to describe them such as different types of coffee
weak form (linguistic relativity): language influences thought
e.g having words for different coffees may change your experience of them
theory of universalism
-proposed by chomsky
-all languages share the same underlying structure (universal grammar)
-perceived differences are only surface phenomena
e.g labelling doesnt change peoples perception of coffee, it tastes the same whether you label it or not
what did the world colour survey find
keiger et al 2005
-large consistencies in what constituted typical red, yellow, green etc across 110 languages
is colour universal
-berlin and kay 1969: universal trends in colour naming across different languages
-all languages have primary colours e.g black white green red and derived colours e.g pink grey brown
-colour categories are arranged around universal focal colours (prototypes): black white red green etc
what does the initial evidence for colour support
theory of universalism
language does not influence perception
contrasting evidence for colour
roberson et al 2000, 2005
-stone age tribe in new guinea did not have better memory for focal colours
-their perception and grouping of colours was determined by their languages 5 colour terms
-supports sapir whorf hypothesis, lang can influence perception s
winawer et al 2007 research
-scale of different blues presented
-english speakers only see blue
-russian speakers see goloboy (light blue) and siniy (dark blue) as 2 separate colours
-26 russian speakers, 24 english
-pp have to match which of 2 colours match the target colour
-for english speakers each square is blue (within category)
-for russian speakers some trials are within category (e.g both options goloboy) or across category (target = goloboy, one options is siniy)
-russian speakers were faster across category
what does winawers 2007 study suggest and is there a way to remove the difference
language can influence perception
getting pp to silently rehearse numbers removes this difference
how to become an expert in colours
the more colour labels we have, the better perceptions of colours we have
we become colour experts
e.g
superordinate: colours
basic level: purple, blue, green
subordinate (from purple): plum, lavender, indigo
what are all humans experts in
faces, the same way as some people are for colours
support for colour and sapir whorf hypothesis
gilbert et al 2006
-lang processed by L hemisphere
-if lang does influence colour perception then its more likely to do so when colours are presented to R visual field which projects to L hemisphere
STUDY
-english speaking pp presented with cross category judgement (one square blue, rest are green) OR within category judgement (one square light blue, rest dark blue)
-task to identify if target is on L or R
-squares presented in circular fashion
-across category judgement = faster RT, fastest for across category in R visual field
(lang can influence perception in R visual field)
space and language
related to frames of reference
what are the 2 frames of reference
1.allocentric: in relation to each other e.g the dog is under the table
2.egocentrci: in relation to you e.g the cake is to the L of me
cultural differences in space
-in UK: the fork is to the L of the plate
-aboriginal community: the fork is to the west of the plate
which spatial frame of reference is best for keeping track of where you are
allocentric (even when egocentric users are in familiar landscapes)
-shows lang influences cog
stroop
-set 1 = colour matches word
-set 2 = colour does not match word
-time yourself whilst naming colours
-languages interferes with naming colours, it influences thought and cog
gender and language
-konishi 1993: some words have diff genders in diff languages
-generally not the case in UK
-sometimes depends on characteristics e.g germans think of bridges and clocks as slender or elegant so these are female
-shows lang influences cog
visual memory and language research
carmichael et al 1932
-pp shown series of abstract images
-group 1 and 2 given diff labels for same images
-pp then told to draw images from memory
-drawings were different for each group, similar to the labels each image was given even though stimuli was identical
-labels bias our perception of objects
research to support visual memory and carmichaels research
loftus and palmer 1974
-pp viewed video of car accident, asked how far the car was going when it smashed (41mph) or hit (34mph) into the other car
-1 week later pp asked if there was broken glass present, in smashed cond pp reported more glass than hit cond
-supports sapir whorf as what we perceive is influenced by lang
what is the misinformation effect
people distort memories of an event when later exposed to misleading qs
face recognition and language research
fallshore and schooler 1995
-pp viewed video of bank robbery
-group 1 (verbal) = watch video, describe robber, identify robber
-group 2 (non verbal) = watch video, wrote irrelevant list, identify robber
-2 conditions: own race, cross race
-non verbal own race were best at identifying robber
-no diff in identifying robber in cross race cond for verbal/ non verbal conditions
why does overshadowing occur for own race faces but not for other race faces
-verbalisation may create shift from configural to feature based visual processing (brown and lloyd jones 2002)
-feature based processing is less helpful as breaks faces down into indiv parts rather than looking at it as a whole
-other race faces are already processed by features so no diff here
supportive research for fallshore and schooler
wickham and swift 2006
-group that were tapping their finger recognised face better than those using language
-lang influences and interferes with recognising faces
-lang can influence percpetion, supporting sapir whorf hypoth
