Language, Thought and Communication Flashcards
What was Piaget’s theory?
- Thought comes before language
- Language develop in 4 stages
- Language is developed through development stages in our childhood
- Conducted research using his own kids
- We learn through schemas
What is the sensorimotor stage?
- 0-2 yrs
- Making sounds and copy sounds others make
What is the preoperational stage?
- 2-7 yrs
- Kids are egocentric
- They use language to voice their internal thoughts > communicate with others
What is the concrete operational stage?
- 7 - 11 yrs
- Kids have the ability to apply logic to physical concrete objects to solve probs
What is the formal operational stage?
- 11+ yrs
- Solve probs in a systematic way
- Apply logic in an abstract way eg mental calc
Whats language?
System of communication used by specific group of ppl
Whats thought?
Mental activity of thinking which involves reasoning, considering and producing ideas and opinions
Limitations of Piaget’s Theory
- The sample he used - used his own kids when conducting experiments - small sample, cant be generalised to the whole pop - has an effect on his findings due to observer bias, HOWEVER natural behaviour
- He carried out observations by himself - no inter - observer reliability, reduces reliability of observations + validity
What is Sapir-Whorf Hypothesis?
- States our thoughts and behaviours are affected and formed by the language we speak
- Means that diff cultures with a diff lang and vocab will have diff ways of thinking and understandings than we do
- Lead to a memory bias where the ability to recall/retrieve certain infor is increased/decreased
Strength of Sapir-Whorf Hypothesis
- There is evidence to support it -Compared Native American Lang with English and found out they have 1 word for blue whereas we have 2 separate words - due to out lang we view the 2 colours as diff and they dont - adds validity, furthermore English hash diff shades for each colour due to their lang ability
Limitations of Sapir-Whorf’s Hypothesis
- Methods are unreliable - Eskimo’s have nearly same number of words for snow as ppl who speak English - Whorf has never met anyone from the Hopi tribe
- Books and other forms of written literature can be translated into completely different languages without them losing their meaning to readers - lowers validity
- Doesnt consider ppl who dont have the ability to speak like ppl with a stroke - theory states that lang comes before cognition and lang dictates the way we understand things - prob cuz it reduces calidity doesnt reflect how ppl irl think and behave - still able to think
Whats posture?
Positioning of the body, often regarded as a non-v communication signal
Whats territory?
An area defended by an animal or group of animals against others
Touch
non-v com. in which info in conveyed by physical contact between ppl
Diff between human and animal communication
Animals use vocalisations ( com. by sound)
What types of msgs do animals communicate through their vocalisations?
- Expressing interest in a mate
- Showing alarm/ telling others to back off
Similarities between human non v com. and animals
- Facial expressions to show emotion
- Body posture to show dominance/submission
- Use of touch for bonding/reassurance
4 main reasons why animals communicate
- Survival
- Reproduction
- Territory
- Food
Examples of survival
- Alarm calls to signal presence of predators + threat signals to warn others to back off
Examples of territory
- Monkeys use eye contact to show dominance
- Unbroken eye contact makes them aggresive
Examples of reproduction
- Colours to attract a mate - peacocks + warn off predators
Examples of food
- Bees dance (movement) to tell where food is
- Ants send chemical smells (pheromones) to send msgs and location of food
Properties only part of human communication
- Productivity - abillity to create unlimited number of diff msgs - allowed lang to be used creatively
- Displacement - abaility to comm. about things in the future, planning ahead
Limitations of Design Features of Lang
- We don’t know which properties of language are desgin features used only by humans cuz we dont fully understand animal com - research constantly being changed
- Although some animals, such as Koko the gorilla, can use the same properties of communication as humans, this behaviour is not naturally occurring behaviour and such animals may therefore be simply imitating humans.
- Ethical concerns, keeping wild animals and training them to behave in ways is ethically cruel
Aim of Von Frisch’s Bee Study 1950
Investigate how bees ocmmunicate the location of a food source to each other
Methods of Von Frisch Bee Study
- Food sources for a hive of bees were created by placing glass containers of sugar water at diff locations
- HIve with glass sides used so bees can be observed
- When bees visitied containers of sugar, they were marked with diff coloured paints
- Made it easy to identify which container to went to when they reached the hive
Dependant variable of Von Frisch
How bees communicate the location of a food source to each other
Independant variable of Von Frisch
Location of sugar water
Type of experiment and why - Von Frisch
Field - water has deliberately been placed in a certain location, no naturally occuring
Results of Von Frisch
- Bees made diff movements that seemed to depend on how far away the fource source was from the hive
- Food less than 100m = round dance, turning rapidly in circles to the right then left
- Food more than 100m = waggle dance
- Straight part of the dance to communicate where food was in relation to current position of the sun
Strengths of Von Frisch
- Von Frisch’s research is important as it was one of the primary studies into animal communication and influenced other researchers to conduct research into animal communication.
- Reliable, others have recreated it, similar results, reliability = trustworthy and valid results
Limitations of Von Frisch
- Lacks ecological validity - not normal for bees to gather sugar water from glass containers - means it wont naturally occur in the bees environment - HOWEVER results are same when sugarr solution is put on flowers, shows sugar solution in glass is accurate
- Use of glass hives - may have affected behaviour HOWEVER results are similar when using wooden hives, - bees may have use cognitive maps based on their memory of landmarks to find food
Body lang
Term to describe aspects of non v com
Eye contact
2 ppl looking at each others eyes in a convo
non v com.
conveying msg without words
verbal com
conveying msg using words
How to we use eye movement to signal turn-taking in a convo?
When smn is about to finish speaking, they give the other person a prolonged look. Without seeing eyes, we are unsure when their turn to speak is finishing and ours is starting
Research about importance of eyecontact for convo to flow
- Pairs of ptcps observed having a convo
- Some wore dark glasses
- Results = more pauses and interruptions during the dark glasses convos
Research about pupil dilation
- Men shown pics of same girl but in 1, girls pupils were altered to look more dilated
- Men found dilated pupil more attractives, their pupils also dilated
Research about looking at ppl
- PPl preder those who look at them more frequently - high level of looking = sign of attraction
Closed posture
- Folded/crossed arms/legs
- Shows rejection, disagreement, feeling threatened
Open posture
- Not crossing legs/arms
- Friendliness
Why is touch important in NVC?
Invokes emotional reacitions
What do cultural diff show us?
British society is more restricted than other Western cultures to com.
Power of touch
Builds a more positibe attitude when they had been touched - librarian briefly touching hand of student when retuning books
Confederate
Actor in a study
Problem with using confederates in studies
- Lacks EV - doesnt reflect real life
- May act unnaturally
Benefits of ptcps not knowing whats going on in a study
- No DC - dont know aim
- However unethical, no consent
Study to prove that if you briefly touch smn they are more likely to accept request
- Man touched womans arms for a second while asking them for a dance
- More likely to agree than those who werent touched
Factors affecting personal space
- Culture
- Status
- Gender
- Age
- Personality
How does status affect PS?
- PPl stand closer to ppl of the same status than ppl of a higher status
- Ppl of a higher status feel more free to choose how close they are to smn
How does personality affect PS?
- Introverts = larger PS boundary compared to extroverts
How does culture affect PS?
- Convo distance for English was 1-1.5 m
- Arabs was less + made more eye contact
How does age affect PS?
More likely to stand near smn of a smaller age
How does gender affect PS?
- Men prefer a larger PS to women
- Men side opposite with friends, women sit side by side
- Women feel uncomfortable when PS invaded from side, men from front
Strengths of NVC in PS
- Help us learn how to interact with pplo in our everyday lives eg understanding gender/cultural diff helps us avoid offending others - has real world value
Limitatation of NVC in PS
- Unethical - posture and touch use confederates and ptcps is no aware they are in a study - ptcps are deceived, didnt give consent
- Each study just looks for one factors - prob cuz several factors may be affecting personal space diff at the same time - lowers validity of results by not taking them all into account
Strengths of eye contact in NVC
- Can explain an important feature of autism - eg autistic find it hard to “read” emotions, dont use eye contact - research helps manage social situations better which can be taught to autistic
Adaptive
Physical/psychological characteristic that enhances survival/reproduction, thus liekly to be naturally selected
Evolutionary theory
Explains how species have adapted to their environment over ml of yrs, behaviours that increase chance of survivial are passed on to next gen
Innate
inborn, product of genetic factors
What is the round dance in bees?
- The bees would have turned rapidly in circles (to the right and then the left).
What is Darwins Evolutionary Theory?
Any genes/behaviour that improve an animals chance of reproduction and survival are passed to the next gen. Genes are selected through a “natural” process that needs no thought. Behaviours are adaptive because they give individuals an adaptaive advantage
NVC in animals baring teeth
- When animals feel threatened by intruder
- Tells intruder they will bite and attack - scares intruder
- Baring teeth gives animal an adaptive advantage - more likely to survive + genes passed on
Darwins comparison with human and animal behaviour
- We wrinkle nose when we see smth or smell smth disgusting
- This is a naturally selected behaviour because it meant that an animal didnt breathe in smth possibly fatal
- Both open eyes when scared or surprised - allowed us to take in as much info about surroundings and find possible routes out of threatening situation
What are serviceable habits?
- Wrinkling noses and baring teeth
- Habits that would be useful in animal kingdom to ensure survival - now we have evolved as use them as a way of expressing how we feel
- Animals bare teeth, humans dont but still shows we are angry
Strengths of Darwins theory
- Research supports it - found out there are 6 primary emotions across all cultures - shows that they way of com through facial exp is innate cuz its universally shown in all cultures - + serviceable habits can be eg of adaptive haviour which would support D theory
- Supported by studies of newborn babies - making eye contact which is NVC which they have not had the time to learn - shows behaviours alr have survival value hence they’re adaptive and innate HOWEVER ppl with ASD struggle to maintain eye contact which is smth D didnt take into account for, suggesting his theory may not be as strong
Limitations of Darwins theory
- A criticism is that non-verbal behaviours can also easily be explained by learning through observation rather than genetics. Social learning theory believes behaviours are learned through the observation and replication of other people.
- Possible behaviours are innate and learned. Born with ability to cry and laugh but control them to fit in social and cultural normas - some behvaiours serve no purpose eg gestures in survival
Evidence that NV behaviour is innate in neonates?
- Born with social releasers like smiling , making eye contact
- Purpose = want adults to look after them - means behaviours are adaptive since they ensure survival of the baby
- Babies are likely to pass on genes to their future gens too
Studies of facial expressions shown us about innate behaviours
- Researchers gave newborns smth sour when they were a few weeks old
- Noses wrinkled, lips curled up - suggests NVB like FE are a form of com emotions and are innate
What does Thompsons study tell us about behaviour being innate?
- Jane Thompson studied blind kids 7-13 with kids with normal viison
- Similarities like FE surprise suggests behaviours are innate
- Blind kids couldnt have learnt these behaviours from watching others, thus innate
Aim of Yukis study of Emoticons and why
Wanted to find out whether Japanese ppl and American ppl would understand emoticons in diff ways
BECAUSE
previous reasearch tells us that J ppl focus on eyes when judging emotions wheras A look at mouths
Methods of Yukis Study
- 95 Japanese students + 181 American
- Ptcps presented with a set of 6 emoticons which has a diff combo of eyes and mouths (happy, sad, neutral mouths/eyes)
- Ptcps told to rate how happy each emoticon was (9= v happy)
What kind of experiment was Yukis Study?
Repeated measures - all exposed to the emoticons/conditions
Results of Yuki
- J ptcps gave higher ratings to faces with happy eyes than A ptcps
- A ptcps gave higher ratings when mouths were happy than J ptcps
Conclusion of Yuki
- Diff cultures have diff norms for expressing emotions and interprt. of NVC
- Nurture, not innate due to culture
- Yuki suggested the results may be related to how openly a culture expresses emotion.
Limitations of Yuki
- Emoticons used instead of real face, lacks EV, interpreting emoticon isnt everyday life haviour
- Ptcps were aware they were in a study, DC, researcher may have given suble clues as to the answers to ptcps– invalidates results
- Study only looked at basic emotions of happiness and sadness - findings ant be generalised to other FE and emotions
- Ptcps wwas limited and only students - results not generalised to other age ranges
- Yuki used rating scales - lacks validity include eg - oversimplifies the way we understand and interpret FE - ppl dont interpret each number as meaning the same thing on a scale
Strengths of Yuki
- When Yuki used photos of people instead, results were the same
- Yuki’s study is important as it provides support for the theory that non-verbal behaviour is learned to some extent.
