language, thought and communication Flashcards
What was the aim of Yuki’s study ?
To see if facial cues are used differently to interpret emotions depending on cultural background
To see if Japanese people judged emotions using cues form eyes and American people judged emotions using cues from eyes and American people judged emotions using cues from mouth
What was the procedure of Yule et als study
Participants included 33 male and 85 female Americans, and 72 male and 21 female (plus 2 with gender not given) Japanese, all participants were psychology students. They volunteered in exchange for course credits, Alter the study, there was a debrief and participants were thanked.
Computer generated emoticons were used, such as :) for a smile.
• Americans use :) for a happy face and :( for a sad face, Japanese use
(2) for a happy face and (Li) for a sad face. Note that for Americans the ‘mouth changes and for japanese the ‘eyes’ change, which in itself supports Yuki et al’s main hypothesis.
Participants rated each computer generated emoticon on a scale of 1 (extremely sad) to 9 (extremely happy).
• Results were analysed to see if the American participants rated emoticons as happier when the focus of ‘happiness’ was the mouth and to see whether Japanese participants rated emotions as happier when the focus of
‘happiness’ was in the eye area.
What was results of Yuki et als study
• Japanese students rated the emotions as happier than the American students did when happiness was focused around the eyes. Americans rated emotions as happier than the Japanese did where happiness was focused on the mouth.
• Japanese saw the happy eyes and neutral mouth emoticon as happier than the Americans did. The Americans saw the neutral eyes and happy mouth emoticon as happier than the Japanese did.
What were conclusions of Yuki et als study
Japanese students used differences in eyes to judge emotions. The Americans used mouth positions more than the Japanese did in their judgements. This supported the idea that different cultures use facial cues differently, particularly the eyes and the mouth. Cultures where emotions are required to be hidden use eye cues more to judge emotions. Cultures where it is culturally acceptable for the mouth to show emotions use mouth cues more.
What are strengths of Yuki et als study
strength is in the use of controls, such as in the questionnaire making sure that all participants saw the same emoticons and had the same rating scale to use. If the study was to be done again, therefore, the same results should be found, giving reliability. Another strength is the study’s practical applications. The findings would explain any perceived differences in emotions shown between Japanese and American cultures. Japanese people might be better at detecting when someone is lying as they would focus on the eyes and not the mouth. It would be useful for people to be aware of these sorts of differences when interacting with other cultures.
What are weaknesses of Yuki et als study
the ‘faces’ viewed had both eyes and mouth from which to judge emotions, so the focus was not on one or the other even though analysis treated them separately. In reality, a smile includes eye changes, which was not taken into account, showing how experiments can lack validity. A further weakness is that Japanese and American psychology students were used in the study, so generalising to Eastern and Western cultures as a whole might not be justifiable and generalising beyond students could also be questioned (though perhaps being a student does not change how someone rates emotions).
What was the aim of Boroditsky’s study
The focus is on whether language affects how someone thinks about the world. The main aim was to see if setting someone up to think about things
‘vertically will mean that Mandarin speakers are quicker than native English speakers when answering ‘true’ or ‘false’ about time issues. Also, would English speakers be quicker when answering ‘true’ or ‘false’ about time issues if set up to think horizontally rather than vertically?
What was the procedure of Boroditsky’s study
Participants included 26 speakers with English as their first language (native English speakers) and 20 native Mandarin speakers (who also spoke English). They were all students at Stanford University. Boroditsky uses the idea of priming, which means setting someone up to think in a certain way. She then carried out tests to see the effect of the priming.
Pparticipants were some single slides of scenes with the scene statements for each side. They were asked whether the statement was true or false. Participants were also shown in slides with a times statement and asked if they were true or false such as March comes before April. All of the statements were true.
They were 128 priming scenes using a picture and scene statement
What were results of Borodditskys study
• Native English speakers were quicker to answer
‘time’ questions after horizontal primes (2128
milliseconds) rather than vertical primes (2300 milliseconds)
• There was no difference in the time it took Mandarin speakers to answer time questions. They took 2422
milliseconds after horizontal primes and 2428 milliseconds after vertical primes.
• However, there were differences regarding whether the time question used ‘before’ or ‘after’ or ‘earlier or later’, the latter being more time-related. Mandarin speakers answered ‘earlier/later’ time questions faster after vertical primes (2347 milliseconds) than after horizontal primes (2503 milliseconds).
What were conclusions to Boroditsky’s study
English speakers were faster to answer statements about time after being horizontally primed than when vertically primed, showing language affects thought as English speakers use a horizontal view of time.
• Native Mandarin speakers were faster to answer statements about time (only if a question used more time-related wording such as ‘earlier’ and later, not ‘before’ or ‘after) after vertical priming than after horizontal timing, also showing that language affects thought because Mandarin speakers have a vertical view of time.
• The findings were true for Mandarin speakers even when they were tested in English, which suggests that thought is affected by native language even if someone is thinking in a different language.
What were strengths of Boroditsky’s study
Using an experimental method is that variables are controlled. For example, randomising the order of the presentation of the sconsole. ides were in an order the participants might work out the trial structute and ther responses could be affected accordingly. Controling extraneous warables such as these strengthens conclusions.
The findings that the way a language talks about time affects how its users se time were supported by all three experiments used in the study, This strengthens the results and suggests they are reliable.
What were weaknesses of Boroditsky’s study
Borodisky only studied time and did not consider other concepts, which could be considered reductionist. Using a reductionist approach means findings do not consider the whole picture, limiting the conclusions.
Often with experiments, generalisability is limited. The study used Stanford University students. There is a potential for bias here depending on the student’s ability with language, thought or both. A further weakness is that the study does not represent real-life thinking - our thoughts are not usually primed in order for us to answer questions, so the study lacks validity
What is Piaget theory of respresentational thinking precedes language
Jean Piaget (1950) put forward a theory of cognitive development, which explains that children’s thinking develops in stages through building mental images of the world. Representational thinking is mental processing about objects as things in the world. The understanding of objects as ‘things’ in the world (representational thinking) comes before naming the objects (language).
What are strengths of Piaget theory of respresentational thinking precedes language
isrength is that there is a practical application of Rage’s theory about language and thought. Piaget tone that a child is not a miniature adult, which con help parents and teachers understand that a child anot do something that they are not yet ready to do. the way the child starts to develop language in the pre-operational stage and starts to use symbols in play and neal imagery is evidence that symbol use is not limited to language. This provides evidence for his claim that stinking develops first, and language comes as part of the development of thinking.
Some studies have shown that very young infants can mitate some adult actions (Shaun Gallagher and Andrew vetzoff, 1996). Jane Lymer (2014) argues that she too as found self-awareness in babies. This suggests that se awareness in infants can be seen as thought, coming before language, which supports Piaget’s ideas.
What are weaknesses of Piagetes theory of representational thinking precedes language
However, Jones (2006), cited in Lymer, has argued that such miated actions are actually reflexive and not done through effawareness. This suggests that researching with very oung children means there will be difficulties obtaining ald data. Difficulty in getting evidence for Piaget’s views can be said to be a weakness of them.
“any other theorists and philosophers put forward beidea that language is not only involved in human tinking but necessary for thinking. Peter Carruthers
202 discussed the ‘cognitive functions of language’ and suggested that it is common sense that there must ae anguage for thinking to occur. Paiget’s ideas suit the el early stages of learning language, and so for a very rung child thinking may come before thought, however, labcism is that this does not cover all human thinking mal human language use.
What is pre intellectual language according to Vgotskys theory
A child uses words, such as repeating a word or phrase, without underlying thought about the meaning
What is pre linguistic thought regarding Vgostskys theory
A child’s thinking and developing of ideas without using symbols such as words to organise thinking
How to language and thought come together
- happens when speech is internalised
- a child uses inner speech
- occurs when a child is 2-3 years old
- use egocentric speech (use of external things or talking aloud to aid thinking)
What are strengths of the Vgotsskys theory
- evidence found inner speech increases with age whereas external speech declines with age
- focus on the importance of social interaction in a child’s cognitive development
What are weaknesses of vgotsksy theory
- he wrote in Russian so we have to translate (ideas may be misinterpreted)
- his theory is not as testable as Piagets theory (vgostsky didn’t show how the developmental stages that lead to a child being able to learn form socialisation might occur)
What is linguistic relativism
The idea that our language affects our view of the world
What is some evidence for linguistic relativism theory
- Whorf saw differences in how Native Americans talk about time
- He claimed Natives had no word for time and therefore had no concept of time
- Howveere they did
What is linguistic determinism
The idea that our language limits our view of the world
What is evidence for linguistic determinism
- Dani language has two words for colours
- according to linguistic determinism , they should only perceive two colours
- later found Dani people were able to learn English words for colours
What are strengths of the linguistic relativism theory
- Enfield says that it emphasises the usefulness of knowing that our language can affect our thinking
- experiments show language has an effect on thinking - reliable
What are weaknesses of the linguistic relativism theory
- limited definition of language making it unvalid and unreliable
- very hard to study language without the language itself
What are strengths of the linguistic determinism theory
- evidence shows that even deaf children, without language, their thinking was affected
What are weaknesses of the linguistic determinism theory
- people can think about concepts without having words for them, illustrated in the Dani study
What are the four features that characterise human language suggested by Aitchison
Semanticity = use of words or symbols to represent objects or actions that are understood by others
Displacement = language must be able to discuss what is not present, that is, outside of current time and space
Structure dependence = the patterns and rules of language, such as using words and putting them in the right order
Productivity or creativity = being able to produce a new sentence or use words that someone else can understand
What are similarities between animal and human communication
Humans use language
Animals use communication i.e meerkats stand up to indicate dangers to others
What are differences between animal and human communication
Vision - gestures
Sound - alarm calls are common in animals
Smell - animals use smell to detect a source of food
Touch - animals groom one another
Heat - snakes can detect heat from prey
What are examples of non verbal communication including facial expressions
Eyebrows =
raised eyebrows show surprise
lowered and pulled together show anger
What are examples of non verbal communication including eye contact
Blinking tends to increase when people like something or someone as well as pupils dilating
A steady gaze tends to mean someone is trustworthy whereas a lack of ability to hold someone’s gaze is showing the person is lying
What are examples of non verbal communication including body language: gestures and postures
Gestures
- roll eyes to show disbelief
- hug is usually given if the friendship is stronger
Postures
- closed posture includes crossed arms and legs
- open posture includes hands spread apart and leaning forward
What are examples of non verbal communication including personal space: proxemics and cultural differences in nonverbal communication
Proxemics
- study of distances that people set between themselves and others
- interpersonal space is the space people are comfortable with between themselves and others
Cultural differences in nonverbal communication
- beckoning = using a finger to say ‘come here’ is reserved for calling dogs and offensive when used to beckon humans / Asians tend to use their whole hand when pointing
- looking people in the eye = shows honesty / can be rude in some cultures such as Asian and Hispanic
- nodding = in Japan means someone is listening / in Iran a thumbs up sign can be vulgar
What is Darwin’s theory of evolution related to explaining non verbal communication
- wide teeth and bared teeth included anger
- people no longer needed to attack by biting
- non verbal communication has a biological or social purpose
- genes with the advantage are passed on through reproduction, leading to survival of the fittest
What is survival of the fittest
Genes that aid human survival and enable reproduction are passed on as they are most fitting or suitable for that particular environment
