Language and Thought L6

Question 1

What are the two ways to think about the relationship between language and thought?

Answer 1

• Language independent of cognition

- Language influences cognition

Question 2

What is some evidence of language being independent of cognition?

Answer 2

• Powerful abstract thinking can take place without language

- Babies have concepts before language

Question 3

How do we show that babies have concepts of language before speech?

Answer 3

• Present with representation of category they have learnt and one not
• They focus more on the novel object
• This shows that without language they understand the concept that the two are in different categories.
• Evidence for a universal underlying cognitive architecture independent of language

Question 4

Which scientist supported the idea of language being independent of cognition?

Answer 4

Pinker (1994), wrote the language instinct

Question 5

What are the ideas behind the concept of language influencing cognition?

Answer 5

-Language profoundly influences how we think
-Children’s conceptual development correlates strongly
with language development

Question 6

What did Stephen Levinson (2012) say?

Answer 6

The variation and diversity in human cognition is vital to

understanding how our mental processes work

Question 7

What is the Whorfian Hypothesis?

Answer 7

Having a specific language determines (strong version) or influences (weak version) how we think

Question 8

What are the three pieces of evidence that support a weak version of the Whorfian hypothesis?

Answer 8

1. Colour processing
2. Space and Time
3. Culture and Thinking style

Question 9

What did Berlin and Kay discover?

Answer 9

-Came up with the idea of the focal colour; the most
representative colour of the colour category
-Found languages to vary widely in the number of colour terms they have e.g. some languages just have terms for light and dark, while some like English have 11 basic focal tones
-They argued that basic colour terms reflect a systematic underlying order

Question 10

Explain the idea that certain focal colours are privileged for memory…

Answer 10

-Labels for colour categories have systematically evolve over time.
-There are a group of universal focal colours that
are privileged for memory

Question 11

What is the question researchers asked in terms of the relationship between colour cognition and language?

Answer 11

If you don’t have a separate label for the colour, will it be easily confused in memory with other colours?

Question 12

By asking the research question what study acts as evidence against the Whorfian hypothesis?

Answer 12

-Eleanor Rosch (aka Heider) studied the Dani tribe in Papua New Guinea.
-The Dani Tribe only use 2 colour terms (light and
dark)
-However, despite not having the language to express the colours perception, memory, and discrimination of focal colours were similar to speakers whose
language coded many colour terms

Question 13

Using colour cognition what is some evidence for the Whorfian hypothesis?

Answer 13

• Russian blues experiment
• Russians have 1 more distinct focal colour than us as they have a separate category for light and dark blue
• In the experiment you had to match varying shades of blue as fast as possible
• Russian speakers were faster to discriminate colours between categories than within categories while English speakers showed no categorical advantage
• Russian speakers’ discrimination was affected by verbal interference (prevent accessing categories) but not English speakers

Question 14

What is space interrelated with time, what question does this give rise to?

Answer 14

• Time

- Therefore, if we change a person’s way of thinking about space can we change their conception of time?

Question 15

What are the possible answers to this question and why?
:Our Wednesday lecture next week has been
moved forward two days. What day is the lecture now?

Answer 15

• Friday: an ego centered view whereby it is the person moving forward in time
• Monday: a time moving view whereby it is as though time is moving towards you

Question 16

How do priming studies show the effect of moving through space on how we think about time?

Answer 16

• Have to get the chair to X, either ride a chair to get to point X or pull the chair towards you
• The condition you have been put in influences how you answer the lecture question
• In the ego moving prime (move with the chair) you are more likely to say Friday, while with the time-moving prime (pull chair) you are more likely to say Monday
• Therefore, thinking about spatial motion appears to underlie thinking about the abstract concept of ‘time’

Question 17

What is the relationship between spatial metaphors and time? What idea does this give rise to?

Answer 17

• Temporal relations are often marked by spatial metaphors e.g. Fall behind schedule, You’re ahead of yourself, Looking forward to the holidays
• Therefore, gives rise the question of whether our concept of time is shaped by the way in which we talk about it

Question 18

How do metaphors of time using space vary between languages?

Answer 18

• Mandarin speakers: think about time vertically e.g. use a lot more metaphors with up and down to convey time
• English Speakers: think about time horizontally e.g. use a lot more metaphors with forward and behind to convey time

Question 19

What did Boroditsky (2001) discover?

Answer 19

-Primed participants with horizontal or vertical spatial primes (fish in row)
-They then had to answer a True/False target question about time e.g. Does March come earlier
than April ?
-English speakers were faster with horizontal Prime, while Mandarin speakers were faster with vertical prime as for both the prime linked to habitual way of thinking about time

Question 20

What are the two ways of thinking about cultures?

Answer 20

• Independent (western)

- Interdependent (eastern)

Question 21

How does the view of the cause of behaviour vary according to culture?

Answer 21

• Internal (personal disposition) cause of behaviour for a western independent culture
• External (situation) cause of behaviour for an eastern interdependent culture

Question 22

How does the cause of behaviour in different cultures influence thinking style?

Answer 22

• Western= Analytic, focusing on objects and properties. Links with internal cause of behaviour.
• Eastern= Holistic, emphasizing contexts and relations between elements. Links with external/situational cause of behaviour

Question 23

What experiment demonstrates a difference in thinking style according to culture?

Answer 23

• Have to either replicate an exact line length (absolute) or replicate the line in to be 1/3 of a box (relative)
• Absolute: Ignoring contextual information
• Relative: Incorporating contextual information

Results:

• Americans better at absolute task as have analytic thinking style
• Japanese better at relative task as have a holistic/situational thinking style

Question 24

In terms of contradictions how do eastern and western styles differ in thinking?

Answer 24

• Western= Preference for avoiding contradictions, determining which position is correct
• Eastern= Preference for dialectical (compromise) approaches and tolerance for contradictions

Question 25

Does the language you speak influence

your thinking style?

Answer 25

-Priming a language can activate a general cognitive
style of thinking
-Chinese-English bilinguals half assigned to English version, and half to Chinese version of dialectical test
-Chinese version – scored higher on dialectical thinking than English version.
-Therefore, language encodes different styles of thinking

Question 26

What does the dialectical self scale measure?

Answer 26

• How Malleable you are
• Eastern generally more malleable as style of thinking involves compromise and thinking of others while Western generally lower scores as centered on self, and not compromising beliefs

Question 27

To sum up how does the evidence show how language may influence thought?

Answer 27

-Colour perception: Language reinforces categories
-Time: Spatial metaphors reinforce habitual ways of
thinking about time
-Thinking style: The language one speaks can generate a specific style of thinking