Language, Thought And Communication Flashcards
According to Piaget, when do children learn to talk? (And what stage is this?)
In the sensorimotor stage - they speak towards the end of their first year.
According to Piaget, What can children talk about in the pre-operational stage, and what age is this?
From 2 they can talk about things not present
According to Piaget, What can children talk about in the concrete operational stage? and what age is this?
By 7 children’s language becomes mature and logical as they question things and create their own ideas.
What is Piaget’s theory on language and thought?
He believed that they develop language by matching the correct word to their knowledge so thought and understanding comes first, language develops after.
What is a strength of Piaget’s theory on thought and language?
Early language is not random, children can use two-word phrases such as ‘mummy sock’ which shows they can see how the objects relate to each other.
What are two weaknesses of Piaget’s theory of language and thought?
The Sapir-Whorf hypothesis challenges Piaget and states that language comes before thought as people need a word or phrase for an object in order to think about it.
Schema cannot be scientifically measured so it is difficult to know if they actually exist
What did Sapir and Whorf suggest?
That it isn’t possible to think about something you don’t have words for
What is the strong version of the Sapir-whorf hypothesis?
That if there are no words for a thought, object or idea then you can’t think about it which is why it is difficult to translate ideas from one language to another.
What is the weak version of the Sapir-Whorf hypothesis?
Words help to ‘carve up’ the world and they influence thought, but you can still imagine something with no words for it.
Which version of the Sapir-Whorf hypothesis is better?
The weaker one is preferred. If the words we have for a concept or idea are limited, our ability to notice or recall that idea will be limited
What are two weaknesses of the Sapir-Whorf hypothesis?
Differences between cultures may have been exaggerated by Boas as there are actually only two words for snow in the Inuit culture.
Having more words for snow doesn’t mean the words came first as they may have more words due to having more snow.
What is a strength of the Sapir-whorf hypothesis?
It explains the link between language and intelligence that Bernstein suggested.
What did Whorf discover about the Hopi tribe’s language?
It doesn’t distinguish between past, present and future and therefore it influences the way they think about time.
What is a weakness of Whorf’s discoveries of the Hopi tribe’s language?
Only one individual was studied and others have argued that the Hopi passing of time is similar to European language.
Outline Charmichael et al. ‘s study
He gave two groups of participants the same pictures but each group heard different descriptions and when asked to draw them, the pictures reflected the labels they had heard. This suggests that language influences memory.
What is a weakness of Carmichael’s study?
The materials used were ambiguous and in everyday life we would be less influenced by labels
What did Brown and Lenneberg find about the language of the Zuni people?
They only have one word for shades of yellow and orange and had difficulty recognising and recalling these colours compared to English speakers
What is a weakness of Brown and Lenneberg’s discoveries about the Zuni people’s language?
The language barrier could have affected how well the Zuni people communicated their understanding of colour to the researchers
What did Roberson et al. find about the language of the Berinmo people of New Guinea?
That they had difficulty recalling and distinguishing between a variety of colours as they only have five words for different colours in their own language.
What is a weakness of Roberson’s discoveries about the language of the Berinmo people of New Guinea?
Some researchers have found the opposite. The dani people have only two words for colour but were still as good as english- speaking participants in a colour matching task
What was the aim of Von Frisch’s study?
To describe the dances performed by honey bees to explain how they communicate information to each other.
What was the method of Von Frisch’s study?
He put a food source lose to the hive (within 10-20 metres) as well as one further away (up to 300 metres). He made 6000 observations of honey bees over 20 years.
What were the results of Von Frisch’s study?
Worker bees tell the others where pollen is located by two types of dance:
Round dance: moving in a circle to indicate doos is less than 100 metres away
Waggle dance: moving in a figure of eight, waggling its abdomen in the ‘middle’ of the eight, with this straight line pointing in the direction of the pole . The speed of the dance indicates the distance. 60% bees went to food sources at the distance indicated by the dances.
What were the conclusions of Von Frisch’s study?
Bees use a sophisticated form of animal communication. The signalling system has evolutionary value as it helps their survival
What is a strength of Von Frisch’s study?
It made important contributions to science
What are two weaknesses of Von Frisch’s study?
The importance of sound was overlooked as when the bees danced in Saile me, the others wouldn’t go to investigate the food source.
The bees do not always respond to the waggle dance so his account was incomplete
What are the four reasons for animal communication?
Survival
Reproduction
Territory
Food
