Language, Thought and Communication Flashcards
Communication
Passing information from one person to another
Language
System of communication used by a specific group
Thought
Mental activity that produces ideas and opinions
Piaget’s theory of thought and language PARTS
- thought comes first
- schemas
- stages of development
Piaget’s theory of thought and language THOUGHT COMES FIRST
- children understand concept of language before using it
- they start talking towards the end of the first year
Piaget’s theory of thought and language SCHEMAS
- children develop knowledge of world through schemas long before language
- produce language by matching correct words to schemas
- e.g child can understand and play with balls before saying ‘ball’
Piaget’s theory of thought and language STAGES
- sensorimotor - explore world, copy sounds from others, make schemas to understand language
- pre-operational - egocentric, use internal voice, only use language to talk about themselves
- concrete-operational - more logical language
- formal-operational - talk about abstract things, question and criticise
Piaget’s theory of thought and language STRENGTHS
- evidence from natural experiment
- set in natural environment so children would have behaved naturally as they didn’t know they were being studied, wouldn’t have behaved falsely
- conclusions that children talk when schemas develop most likely valid, increased theory validity
+ - supporting evidence
- when children start speaking they use 2-words phrases like ‘mummy sock’ describing mummy’s sock, understanding relationships between words before properly talking
- suggests children can only talk when schemas developed, supporting theory
Piaget’s theory of thought and language WEAKNESS
- opposing theory
- Sapir-Whorf hypothesis states that language comes before thought and how we think is influenced/determined by it, backed up by Boas’ (1911) inuit study
- potentially reduces validity, provides alternative explanation for thought/lang development
Sapir-Whorf hypothesis DATE
1929
Sapir-Whorf hypothesis PARTS
- linguistic determinism
- linguistic relativism
- strong version
- weak version
Sapir-Whorf hypothesis LINGUISTIC DETERMINISM
- language comes before thought
- it determines how we think + see world
- use more words for things we value more - Solomon Islands have 9 words for coconuts
Sapir-Whorf hypothesis LINGUISTIC RELATIVISM
- as language determines perception, different language speakers see world differently
- if culture has specific word for something, they can talk in more detail - Mandarin ‘lao’ (respect for elderly)
Sapir-Whorf hypothesis STRONG VERSION
- if language doesn’t have word for something, it can’t be thought about - English doesn’t have ‘lao’ so can’t think about elderly
Sapir-Whorf hypothesis WEAK VERSION
- language influences thought - can imagine different types of coconut despite not having words but can’t talk in detail
- preferred by Sapir-Whorf
Sapir-Whorf hypothesis STRENGTH
- explains link between language and intelligence
- Bernstein (1961) found children from poorer backgrounds spoke with restricted language, negatively affecting how they thought, opposite with middle class children
- if there is link between language and intelligence, language must influence thought
Sapir-Whorf hypothesis WEAKNESSES
- didn’t consider why there are cultural differences in language
- Inuit language has many words for snow as it reflects their environment
- suggests language develops because of how we perceive environment, thought comes before language, opposes Sapir-Whorf
+ - evidence from Boas (1911) may have exaggerated language differences between cultures
- Pullman (1989) argued Inuits have 2 snow words - quanik (in air), aput (on ground), English also have many words for snow - slush, slurry
- conclusion that language determines thought not as strong as differences not that great
Ways language affects our view of the world
- recall of events
- recognition of colours
Different recall of events examples
- Hopi
- Carmichael
Hopi
- Whorf
- timeless language
- no concept of past/present/future
- their culture doesn’t think about time in same way as Westerners
Carmichael
- 1932
- showed ambiguous pictures to Ps
- e.g - told pic was either glasses or dumbbell
- language used affected memory
Different recognition of colours examples
- Zuni
- Berinmo
Zuni
- only 1 word for ‘yellow’ and ‘orange’
- couldn’t distinguish between 2 colours
Berinmo
- only have 5 colours
- can’t distinguish between others - e.g. blue/green
Purposes of animal and human communication
- survival
- reproduction
- territory
- food
Animal communication for survival example
- rabbits
- lift tails, pin ears back, leap forward to warn other rabbits of danger
Animal communication for reproduction example
- male peacock
- stretch out plumage, revealing pattern (brighter colours indicate health) to attract female mates
Animal communication for territory example
- rhinos
- pile dung, producing 20-30 piles to show occupied area, drag feet though dung too spread scent
Animal communication for food example
- bees
- perform dance to signal where nearby pollen sources are
Von Frisch’s bee study DATE
1967
Von Frisch’s bee study AIM
To investigate how bees communicate things like locations of food sources to each other
Von Frisch’s bee study METHOD
- natural observations
- controlled observations - put some food closer to hive (with 10-20m), some food further away (up to 300m)
- bees being studied marked with tiny dot of paint
- 600 honey bee observations over 20 years
Von Frisch’s bee study RESULTS
- round dance - food less that 100m away, move in circle, sometimes changing direction
- waggle dance - move in figure of 8, straight part of this shows food direction, slower dance = food further away
- after watching dance 60% of bees went to food source
Von Frisch’s bee study CONCLUSION
- bees have sophisticated form of communication
- this has evolutionary value as it aids survival
Von Frisch’s bee study STRENGTH
- collected much data over many years
- understanding of animals improved, people knew bees danced but didn’t know function
- study contributed to knowledge of animal communication
Von Frisch’s bee study WEAKNESSES
- failed to consider other factors that could contribute to bees’ communication
- e.g - sound crucial in bee dance, if silent, may not have had same effect, location of food source also influential
- dance may only be 1 part of their communication, difficult to draw conclusion
+ - used artificial materials
- bees in glass beehive, food source in glass container, not bee’s natural habitat
- unrepresentative of bee’s communication in real life, lacks external validity
Purposes of human only communication
- plan making
- talk about future
- be creative
- tell a lie
Verbal communication
Exchanging information using words
Non-verbal communication
Exchanging information without words
Types of non-verbal communication
- eye contact
- body language
- personal space
Eye contact
Two people looking at each other’s eyes at the same time
Functions of eye contact
- regulating flow of conversation
- signaling attraction
- expressing emotion
Body language
Communication through gestures such as posture and touch
Types of posture
- open
- closed
- postural echo
Open posture
- arms relaxed
- shows approval/acceptance
Closed posture
- arms and/or legs crossed
- shows rejection/disagreement
Postural echo
- mirroring another persons body during a social interaction
- suggests 2 people are getting on
Examples of touch
- handshake when meeting
- high five of congratulation
Personal space
Invisible bubble around us which is the distance we prefer to keep between ourselves and others to feel comfortable
Factors affecting personal space
- culture
- gender
- status
How does culture affect personal space
- white English people prefer to have conversations at 1/1.5 metres
- much less for Arabs
How does gender affect personal space
- men tend to have bigger personal space boundaries, prefer friends sit opposite, have personal space boundary invaded less, feel more uncomfortable when personal space invaded from front
- women tend to have smaller personal space boundary, prefer friends sit by side, have personal space invaded more, feel more uncomfortable when personal space invaded from side
- both prefer more distance between them and members of opposite sex
How does status affect personal space
- people tend to stand closer to people they deem to be a similar status
- people of higher status feel more free to choose how close they are to someone
Darwin’s evolutionary theory DATE
1872
Darwin’s evolutionary theory PARTS
- evolution
- adaptive
- serviceable habits
- innate
- universal
Darwin’s evolutionary theory EVOLUTION
- gradual development of a species
- survival of a creature isn’t important, reproduction is
- anything leading to successful reproduction is naturally selected and genetics for that characteristic will be passed on
Darwin’s evolutionary theory ADAPTIVE
Characteristics + behaviours that promote survival and reproduction are adaptive, give individuals genetic advantage
Darwin’s evolutionary theory SERVICEABLE HABITS
- elements of non-verbal behaviour that serve purpose
- e.g. threat signal - animals bare teeth to indicate they are
about to bite so is a sign of aggression, communicates
same message in humans - as useful for survival, genetics passed on through reproduction
Darwin’s evolutionary theory INNATE
As NVC has been naturally selected, we are born with these traits as product of our genetics
Darwin’s evolutionary theory UNIVERSAL
As NVC is naturally selected, same traits exist across all of same species, regardless of environmental influences
Darwin’s evolutionary theory STRENGTHS
- supporting research into facial expressions
- Ekman et al (1972) found 6 primary facial expressions (surprise, fear, disgust, anger, happines, sadness) associated with same emotion in every culture
- supports idea that the habits are universal and in our genes
+ - supporting research from newborn babies
- suggests many aspects of NVC present at birth, babies don’t have to learn to smile / maintain eye contact - have survival value to encourage baby to be cared for so have been naturally selected
- supports idea that NVC is innate
Darwin’s evolutionary theory WEAKNESS
- difficulty in explaining cultural differences in NVC
- if all cultures are biologically same/similar and NVC is genetically determined, it should be same in every culture - personal space preferences between Whites (1/1.5) and Arabs (much less) differ for example
- evolutionary explanation can’t explain all NVC
Yuki’s emoticon study DATE
2007
Yuki’s emoticon study AIM
To see if there is difference in interpreting emotions in different cultures, East (Japan) and West (USA)
Yuki’s emoticon study METHOD
- lab study
- independent groups (Japan/USA)
- 118 students from Ohio uni, 95 students from Hokkaido uni
- shown 6 emoticons with different combos of eyes/mouths - happy/sad/neutral, made to rate from 1-9, 1(very sad), 9(very happy)
- IV - whether students where from Japan/USA
- DV - how Ps rated emotions 1-9
Yuki’s emoticon study RESULTS
- USA Ps gave higher rating when mouth happy
- Japan Ps gave higher rating when eyes happy
Yuki’s emoticon study CONCLUSION
- cultural norms in interpretation on expression of emotion is learnt
- cultural differences exist
Yuki’s emoticon study WEAKNESSES
- artificial task
- emoticons not real faces, don’t have things like lines on faces giving extra interpretation information
- lacks ecological validity
+ - only tested 2 emotion types - happy/sad
- faces express wider range in real life (fear,surprise,disgust), just because Japanese focus on eyes for happy/sad, may not for all emotions
- less ecological application
Yuki’s emoticon study STRENGTH
- good reliability
- conducted follow-up research with real faces, also other research done into cultural differences of NVC like Hall’s personal space study
- Yuki’s conclusions NVC interpretation is learnt more valid
