Language, Thought & Communication

Question 1

Sapir-Whorf hypothesis?

Answer 1

Strong:Language determines thought. If the language for it doesn’t exist, they can’t think about it
Weak:Language influences thought, it doesn’t determine it

Question 2

Sapir-whorf hypothesis evaluation?

Answer 2

W-evidence May have been exaggerated
W-challenged by Piaget
S- there has been a link seen between language and intelligence

Question 3

Piaget’s theory?

Answer 3

Language depends on thought. You need the schema first in order to speak about it(babies can speak without knowing it but they don’t understand what they are saying and won’t be able to use language properly)

Question 4

Piaget’s theory?(development of language)

Answer 4

Sensorimotor:(0-2) interpreting sensory info and start to understand to concept of speech
Preoperational:(2-) rapid progress in language, can talk about physical things. Speech is self-centred
Concrete operational:(7-) becomes mature and logical

Question 5

Piaget’s theory evaluations?

Answer 5

S-supporting evidence that word order in children demonstrates understanding
W-opposing theory
W- schemes can’t be scientifically proven

Question 6

Native Americans:The Hopi?

Answer 6

Whorf compared it to European languages like English, Italian and French. He described the Hopi language as timeless. The Hopi did not distinguish between past, present and future. Instead of saying “I left after a week” they would say “I left on the seventh day” indicating no time passing.

Question 7

What did Whorf argue the effect of the Hopi’s language being timeless being?

Answer 7

Weird argued their lack of acknowledgement of time influenced the way they thought about time and made it harder for them to plan future events, etc.

Question 8

What did Leonard Carmichael 1932 investigate?

Answer 8

Language affects on recall of events

Question 9

What happened in Leonard Carmichael’s experiment in affects in recall of events?

Answer 9

Groups were given different labels to match pictures given. People drew the pictures from memory differently according to the label given. This shows language influences memory

Question 10

Native Americans: the Zuni, findings?

Answer 10

They only had one word for shades of yellow/orange and had more difficulty distinguishing between these colours than English people. Suggests this is due to a lac of words.

Question 11

Who studied the Zuni?

Answer 11

Lernberg+Brown

Question 12

Who studied the Burminio people of New Ginea?

Answer 12

Debi Fobertson et al.

Question 13

What did they find about the Burminio people?

Answer 13

They lived in a first and on,y had 5 colour names. When Burminio people were tested they could only recall colours which matched their names. They had difficulty distinguishing between colours not separated in their language. Eg. Green and blue. Cognitive processes influenced by language.

Question 14

Body language findings?

Answer 14

In arguments people with closed postures were less likely to change their mind in comparison to open posture
In advertising a new drink, participants who received postural echo were more likely to rate the drink higher
When you touch someone it makes them appear more likeable/positive

Question 15

Body language experiments evaluations?

Answer 15

S-real world application
W-lack of control(may like them for different reasons)
W-many are unethical due to lack of informed consent

Question 16

Eye contact findings?

Answer 16

Emotions were judged as more intense when there was eye contact
People who made eye contact were judged as more attractive
People tend to look away when they’re about to sleek and and prolonged eye contact occurs when they’re finishing speech

Question 17

Eye contact experiments evaluations?

Answer 17

S-real world application
W-artificial tasks
W-use of rating scales

Question 18

Personal space findings?

Answer 18

Women feel more uncomfortable with personal space invaded from the side, men find it worse face to face
English were found to have a bigger personal space than Arabs , and Arabs found English men more likeable if they stood closer
People with similar status stand closer than unequal

Question 19

Personal space experiments evaluation?

Answer 19

S-real world application
W-over simplistic, only searches one factors r at a time
W-unrepresentative sample

Question 20

Von Frisch’s aim?

Answer 20

Carefully describe the dances performed by bees and explain how it enabled them to communicate

Question 21

Von Frisch’s method?

Answer 21

He used controlled observation through manipulating the environment while observing bees to see how it changed their behaviour(eg putting food source 300m away or 10-20m away)

Question 22

Von Frisch’s results?

Answer 22

Waggle dance, vertical line showing direction and waggles on the straight line. The slower they go the further away the food source.
Round dance, if the food is less than 100m away bees will fly around the hive until they find it.
60% of bees understood the dance

Question 23

Von Frisch’s conclusion?

Answer 23

Showed how sophisticated animal communication was and the accuracy of the bees finding the food source shows how valuable the information was

Question 24

Von Frisch’s evaluations?

Answer 24

S-scientific value(capability of animals)
W-importance of sound was overlooked
W-they do not respond to waggle dance when food source is over water

Question 25

Reasons for animal communication

Answer 25

Survival
Reproduction
Territory
Food

Question 26

Human language properties not present in animals

Answer 26

Planning future events
Creativity
Many channels(written,sign language, spoken)

Question 27

Explanation of non verbal behaviour

Answer 27

Adaptive behaviours passed down through natural selection , eg. Wrinkling up nose when smelling something bad(stopped you from inhaling something potentially dangerous)

Question 28

Social releasers?(John Bowlby)

Answer 28

Smiling and eye contact as a baby would make your parents want to take care of you and keep you alive

Question 29

Innate non verbal behaviour

Answer 29

Blind children had similar expressions to normal children(can’t imitate)

Question 30

Learned non verbal behaviour

Answer 30

Contact+ non contact culture

Spanish and Arabs have lower personal space than English people