language and thought

Question 1

what are the 2 key theories

Answer 1

sapir - whorf hypothesis
universalism

Question 2

what is the sapir whorf hypothesis

Answer 2

how we perceive the world is influenced by our language

Question 3

what are the 2 parts of the sapir whorf hypothesis

Answer 3

-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

Question 4

theory of universalism

Answer 4

-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

Question 5

what did the world colour survey find

Answer 5

keiger et al 2005
-large consistencies in what constituted typical red, yellow, green etc across 110 languages

Question 6

is colour universal

Answer 6

-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

Question 7

what does the initial evidence for colour support

Answer 7

theory of universalism
language does not influence perception

Question 8

contrasting evidence for colour

Answer 8

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

Question 9

winawer et al 2007 research

Answer 9

-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

Question 10

what does winawers 2007 study suggest and is there a way to remove the difference

Answer 10

language can influence perception
getting pp to silently rehearse numbers removes this difference

Question 11

how to become an expert in colours

Answer 11

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

Question 12

what are all humans experts in

Answer 12

faces, the same way as some people are for colours

Question 13

support for colour and sapir whorf hypothesis

Answer 13

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)

Question 14

space and language

Answer 14

related to frames of reference

Question 15

what are the 2 frames of reference

Answer 15

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

Question 16

cultural differences in space

Answer 16

-in UK: the fork is to the L of the plate
-aboriginal community: the fork is to the west of the plate

Question 17

which spatial frame of reference is best for keeping track of where you are

Answer 17

allocentric (even when egocentric users are in familiar landscapes)
-shows lang influences cog

Question 18

stroop

Answer 18

-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

Question 19

gender and language

Answer 19

-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

Question 19

visual memory and language research

Answer 19

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

Question 20

research to support visual memory and carmichaels research

Answer 20

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

Question 21

what is the misinformation effect

Answer 21

people distort memories of an event when later exposed to misleading qs

Question 22

face recognition and language research

Answer 22

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

Question 23

why does overshadowing occur for own race faces but not for other race faces

Answer 23

-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

Question 24

supportive research for fallshore and schooler

Answer 24

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