Language and Thought L4

Question 1

What is representation?

Answer 1

Knowledge of the word which forms the content of our thoughts

Question 2

How do you re-present the world to oneself?

Answer 2

(1) Analogical representations: Mental images

(2) Symbolic representations: Propositional thoughts -“internal statements”

Question 3

What is mental imagery?

Answer 3

A representation of a stimulus that originates inside
your brain, rather than from external sensory input i.e. the image that it conjured up in your mind when you think of something you don’t need to have it directly infront of you

Question 4

What is a Analogical Mental Representation?

Answer 4

Picture of a dog represents concept of dog,

but also has many similarities to an actual dog

Question 5

What is the mental rotation study?

Answer 5

• Participants are shown a stimulus (e.g., ‘R’) that is rotated to different degrees. They must decide whether the letter is normal or a mirror image.
• The more its rotated the longer the reaction time is as we first have to rotate in our minds until straight.

Question 6

What are symbols?

Answer 6

Represent any kind of content, but don’t resemble what it is they stand for.

Question 7

What are propositions?

Answer 7

Statements that express ideas.

Question 8

What are propositions made of?

Answer 8

Concepts

There is a subject, and what’s
being asserted about that subject (predicate)

Question 9

What are concepts?

Answer 9

An unambiguous internal representation that

defines a group or set of objects or events

Question 10

What is the relationship between concepts and catergories?

Answer 10

Concepts are mental representations of

categories

Question 11

Why is categorization useful?

Answer 11

Allow us to know what to expect each time you encounter a member of the category.

Question 12

What makes propositions powerful?

Answer 12

They express the relationship between concepts (organized like a network) and so this makes them flexible as they can convey complex ideas.

Question 13

What evidence shows how information in Mental

Representations are Organised?

Answer 13

-Semantic priming studies:
Measure how long it takes to access the concept of ‘butter’

Condition 1: bread — butter
Condition 2: ball — butter
Condition 3: xxxx — butter

Condition 1 is fastest as words are related semantically
and so already a little activated

Question 14

What is reasoning?

Answer 14

• Intelligent thought
• Making decisions, problem solving
• Drawing implications from our beliefs

Question 15

What is deductive reasoning?

Answer 15

• Start with a belief → what are the implications of those beliefs
• Move from general principles or rules to specific instances

Question 16

What are logical problems?

Answer 16

Validity of conclusion follows from the premises. Use deductive reasoning.

Question 17

What are Syllogisms?

Answer 17

• A kind of logical argument that applies deductive reasoning to arrive at a conclusion based on two propositions that are asserted or assumed to be true.
• If/then problems

Question 18

What is an example of a syllogism?

Answer 18

• All animals have 4 legs= premise
• Fluffy is an animal= premise
• Fluffy has 4 legs= conclusion

Conclusions follow from the premises – valid

Question 19

What is the logical rule?

Answer 19

If something is true for all members of a category and A is a member of that category, then that something will also be true for A

Question 20

What’s important about the initial premises when applying logical reasoning?

Answer 20

Initial premises need to be correct

Question 21

What is inductive reasoning? When is it often used?

Answer 21

• Alternative to deductive reasoning
• Involves testing hypothesis by working up going from the pure data to theories
• Start with specifics and infer general principles

Question 22

Using the following data what would you infer using inductive reasoning?

Data: You observe the sun rising today, yesterday, the
day before, etc.

Answer 22

Conclusion: The sun rises every morning

Question 23

Using inductive reasoning how long do you hold a theory generated?

Answer 23

Until you get more information which disproves the theory.

Question 24

What influences our ability to reason

deductively?

Answer 24

-Belief Bias
-Confirmation Bias
-The content of what we are reasoning
about matters

Question 25

What is the belief bias?

Answer 25

-People often reason on the basis of plausibility rather than logical rules

e.g All humans are capable of evil
Children are human
All children are capable of evil

-People judge whether the conclusion is plausible
on its own, rather than following the logic

Question 26

Given the following cards:
A, 6, J, 7
and the rules:
“If a card has a vowel on one side, it must have an even number on the other side

What cards would you turn over to check the rule?

Answer 26

A and 7

Question 27

What is the confirmation bias?

Answer 27

-When people seek information that confirms what one
already believes
-People prefer to seek confirmation than to falsify hypotheses
-In other words the beliefs we hold influence how we
process information

Question 28

What is ignoring the bad parts about a relationship an example of?

Answer 28

Confirmation bias, seeking only positive information because you want it to be true

Question 29

Where does confirmation bias have an application to the real world?

Answer 29

Politics, we seek to find information that already supports our preconceived view of candidates e.g Trump

Question 30

What experiment demonstrates confirmation bias?

Answer 30

• One piece of information obtained under torture one that wasn’t
• One group oppose to torture one not.
• Group that supported torture rated both the coerced and noncoerced information as higher importance +necessity than the oppose group.

Question 31

How can confirmation bias be demonstrated in diagnosing an illness? What is an alternative?

Answer 31

• Present with symptoms
• Doctor formulates a hypothesis that you have disease X
• Confirming hypothesis → look for other symptoms that are also associated with disease X
• Disconfirming hypothesis (falsify hypothesis) → look for symptoms that are not associated with disease X

Question 32

How do computer algorithms support the confirmation bias?

Answer 32

Algorithms push information to support what you already believe into your social media feeds meaning you exist in a closed off thought bubble.

Question 33

What makes it easier to reason deductively?

Answer 33

-The content is important
-If the rules are linked to social contracts, rights
and responsibilities it is easier to think logically (would have had survival advantage)
-Abstract, like numbers = hard

Question 34

What is informal reasoning called?

Answer 34

• Heuristics = shortcuts that are correct much of the time

- Helps conserve cognitive resources

Question 35

What are you doing when making judgments?

Answer 35

drawing conclusions from experience

Question 36

What is the concept of availability heuristic?

Answer 36

• Probability (how frequently something happens) estimates are influenced by how easy it is to retrieve information
• We Formulate a judgement about risk or danger based on how easy it is to remember
• Highly salient or impactful events more easily retrieved from memory and so judged to be more frequent
  e. g after horror movie far more likely to think someone is breaking in= alters your perception of the likelihood so changes ability to reason.

Question 37

Related to the concept of availability heuristic experiences of who are easier to retrieve?

Answer 37

Friends and family

Question 38

What is a saliency bias? (use example)

Answer 38

-Trump’s use of violent imagery often associated with
immigrants
-More available then facts and figures

Question 39

Why Use Heuristics?

Answer 39

• They save time
• They often work
• They are usually efficient

Question 40

What are the two forms of reasoning?

Answer 40

• Deductive reasoning

- Inductive reasoning