Study Guide: CHP 8 -- Language and Thought

Question 1

1. ELEMENTS that MAKE UP LANGUAGE (3)

Answer 1

• PHONEMES, MORPHEMES, SYNTAX

Question 2

2.SEQUENCE of LANGUAGE DEVELOPMENT in CHILDREN (6)

Answer 2

• six to eighteen months: BABBLING: producing a wide variety of sounds that gradually becomes more complex
• 18 months: NAMING EXPLOSION: toddlers realize that everything has a name –> FAST MAPPING
• 1-2.5 years - OVEREXTENSION and UNDEREXTENSION
• 2 years: TELEGRAPHIC SPEECH
• 3 years: OVERREGULARIZATION
• SCHOOL AGE: METALINGUISTIC AWARENESS

Question 3

2. FAST MAPPING? UNDEREXTENSION? TELEGRAPHIC SPEECH? METALINGUISTIC AWARENESS? (4)

Answer 3

• fast mapping: ability to add words to vocabularies after only one exposure
• underextension: child incorrectly uses word to describe narrower set of objects than meant to e.g. use word ‘doll’ only for favorite doll
• telegraphic speech: mainly content verbs, no prepositions “give doll” “water now!”
• metalinguistic awareness: reflect on use of language –> literal meaning/implied meaning

Question 4

3. How does BILINGUAL LEARNING influence language development? (4)

Answer 4

• FACILITATE ACQUISITION OF THIRD LANGUAGE
• slight handicap in PROCESSING SPEED and VERBAL FLUENCY
• score moderately higher in ATTENTION CONTROL, WORKING MEMORY CAPACITY, ABSTRACT REASONING…
• may protect against AGE-RELATED COGNITIVE DECLINE

Question 5

5. THEORIES OF LANGUAGE ACQUISITION (3)

Answer 5

• BEHAVIORIST THEORIES –> SKINNER
• NATIVIST THEORIES (–>LAD)
• INTERACTIONIST THEORIES

Question 6

5. SKINNER argued that children learn language the same way they learn everything else, through .., .. and other established principles of .. e.g. parents may insist on closer and closer .. of the word water before supplying the requested drink

Answer 6

• IMITATION
• REINFORCEMENT
• CONDITIONING
• APPROXIMATIONS

Question 7

5. Criticism against BEHAVIORIST THEORY (2)

Answer 7

• INFINITE NUMBER OF SENTENCES, CHILDREN CAN’T LEARN BY JUST IMITATING
• OVERREGULARIZATION; NOT A RESULT OF IMITATION; ADULTS DON’T SAY “goed” “throwed”

Question 8

5. According to CHOMSKY, children learn the .. of LANGUAGE , not specific .. .., as SKINNER proposed. CHOMSKY theorized that that humans have an .. propensity to learn language. The .. theory proposes that humans are equipped with a .. .. .., an .. .. or process that facilitates the learning of language. (we are .. equipped for learning language)

Answer 8

• RULES
• VERBAL RESPONSES
• INNATE
• NATIVIST
• LANGUAGE ACQUISITION DEVICE
• INNATE MECHANISM
• BIOLOGICALLY

Question 9

5. Criticisms against NATIVIST THEORY (2)

Answer 9

• LAD AWFULLY VAGUE (what neural mechanisms are involved?
• not fair to compare rapid progress of toddlers who are completely immersed in native language to the struggles of older students who only devote 10-15 hours a week to foreign language course

Question 10

5. INTERACTIONIST THEORY maintains that a .. .. and a .. .. both contribute to language development: NATIVIST (2) BEHAVIORIST (1)

Answer 10

• BIOLOGICAL PREDISPOSITION
• SUPPORTIVE ENVIRONMENT
• biologically well equipped to learn language
• rules of language
• social exchanges with parents and others play critical role

Question 11

6. LINGUISTIC RELATIVITY?

Answer 11

• hypothesis that one’s language determines the nature of one’s thought

Question 12

6. CRITICISMS against LINGUISTIC RELATIVITY (3)

Answer 12

• CAUSALITY: does language alter thought(this is the assumption for linguistic relativity theory)? or does thought alter language?
• METHODS: assertions based on anecdotal evidence; casual observation–>overestimated the number of Eskimo words for snow
• LANGUAGE: whorf didn’t actually know the Eskimo language; lots of concepts had to be translated into English

Question 13

8. Difference between DEDUCTION and INDUCTION?

Answer 13

• induction; start with your OWN EXPERIENCE and then GENERALIZE a rule: last time i put my hand on a stove, i burned it; therefore, whenever i put my hand on a stove, i will get burned (make generalizations from small sets of information)
• deduction: start with a RULE and then apply to NEW SITUATIONS: the law of gravity says that what goes up must come down, so i bet if i throw this ball it will go back down. (follows a set of steps, e.g. algorithm, if this..then this)

Question 14

9. How is each a barrier to problem solving? IRRELEVANT INFORMATION? FUNCTIONAL FIXEDNESS? UNNECESSARY CONSTRAINTS?

Answer 14

• irrelevant information: people tend to assume that all the numerical information provided in a problem is necessary to solve it–> waste time focusing on irrelevant information: (15% unlisted phone #s; select 200; how many have unlisted?)
• functional fixedness?think of object only in terms of its usual functions; e.g. screwdriver; hard time viewing it as a weight
• unnecessary constraints: assuming there are constraints that don’t exist e.g. nine dot problem (w/out lifting pencil, draw no more than four lines that will cross all nine dots)

Question 15

10. ALGORITHM? HEURISTIC? FORMING SUBGOALS? WORKING BACKWARDS? ANALOGIES?

Answer 15

algorithm: methodical, step-by-step, try all possible solutions; guarantees a solution
heuristic: mental shortcut that allows people to make decisions quickly
making subgoals: intermediate steps toward a solution; solve the problem in parts
working backward: lily pond problem(starting with the answer)
searching for analogies: recognize the similarity b/w two problems (e.g. lazer problem; concquering the castle)

Question 16

12. How can CULTURE influence COGNITIVE STYLE? (2)

Answer 16

• ASIAN CULTURES: holistic cognitive style (group, interdependence..)
• WESTERN CULTURES: analytic cognitive style (individual experience, independence..)

Question 17

13. How does each influence making choices? ADDITIVE STRATEGY? ELIMINATION BY ASPECT? EMOTIONAL INFLUENCE?

Answer 17

• additive strategy: process of listing the attributes of each element of a decision, weighing them according to importance, adding them up, and determining which one is more appealing based on the result.
• elimination by aspect: evaluate each option one characteristic at a time beginning with whatever feature you believe is the most important. When an item fails to meet the criteria you have established, you cross the item off your list of options.
• emotional influence: ppl can be swayed by incidental emotional fluxuations

Question 18

15. How does each influence decision making? LOSS AVERSION? GAMBLER’S FALLACY? MORAL PRINCIPLES?

Answer 18

• LOSS AVERSION: people’s tendency to strongly prefer avoiding losses to acquiring gains. Some studies suggest that losses are twice as powerful, psychologically, as gains.
• GAMBLER’S FALLACY: mistaken belief that if something happens more frequently than normal during some period, then it will happen less frequently in the future (presumably as a means of balancing nature)
• MORAL PRINCIPLES: rational decision may be inhibited for moral reasons. pay more for organic food; start a company that is not very profitable, but environmentally friendly.

Question 19

17. EXAMPLES of HEURISTICS for judging probabilities (2)

Answer 19

• AVAILABILITY HEURISTIC: when people judge the frequency of something or someones occurence based on how easily the info comes to mind. Example Question: Would a person be more likely to die from a plane crash or Diptheria? (Most people would say plane crash even though it is false, because it comes more readily to mind)
  REPRESENTATIVE HEURISTIC: Basing judgements on how similar something is compared to a typical case. (As in- If it looks like a member of Group X, then it is a member of Group X)

Question 20

18. DUAL PROCESS THEORY provides an account of how a PHENOMENON can occur in .. different ways, or as a result of two different … Often, the two processes consist of an .. (automatic), UNCONSCIOUS process and an .. (controlled), CONSCIOUS process.

Answer 20

• TWO
• PROCESSES
• IMPLICIT
• EXPLICIT

Question 21

1. CHOMSKY’S “deep structure”?

Answer 21

• in addition to that “surface structure” (sounds that go together to make words), but we also look for the “deep structure” (the meaning)
  e. g. my “old” friend –> how do you know if it’s old in the literal sense of
• the fact that we can distinguish is not a function of grammar and sound; it’s a mental thing that we bring to the meaning of the word.
• how is it that we can separate this row of sounds into words? that is the “deep structure”
• we can recognize foreign language from any voice that speaks it (high-pitched, low pitched)

Question 22

CIRCLE OF THOUGHT? (5)

Answer 22

• DESCRIBE –> ELABORATE –> MAKE A DECISION –> GUIDE ACTION

Question 23

How is speech both a TOP DOWN and BOTTOM UP?

Answer 23

• MY OLD FRIEND TED –> top down (look at the context)

- CAT c-a-t –> bottom up

Question 24

16. GROUP POLARIZATION?
    GROUP THINK?
    BRAINSTORMING?

Answer 24

• majority rule leads to LYNCH MOB MENTALITY and position becomes too EXTREME; everybody feeds off of each other emotion and become extreme; NOBODY takes individual RESPONSIBILITY; conservatives who only watch fox news become more and more conservative; it important that we listen to people with different opinions.
• people just (blindly) go along with the group; political e.g. president bush; one of advisors suggested weapons of mass destruction in iraq; others just went along w/ it.
• open exchange of ideas among people. problems: sometimes, an individual’s thought process can get short-circuited.

Question 25

18. DUAL PROCESS THEORY? (Ted)

Answer 25

• e.g. learn information visually and orally –> results in dual processing which increases the likelihood of deeper processing.

Question 26

11. What makes CREATIVE THINKING DISTINCT? (5)

Answer 26

• PREPARE
• USES INCUBATION
• INCUBATION LEADS TO INSIGHT
• result of a set of PERSONAL TRAITS as well as cognitive function.
• vs. ordinary thought: has no incubation, is methodical, and the method leads to the solution

Question 27

14. What TENDENCIES characterize our ESTIMATION OF PROBABILITIES? (3)

Answer 27

• tend to overestimate unlikely (10percent going to die); i’ll probably win the lottery!
• underestimate likely (90 percent going to live); i won’t die of lung cancer
• overconfident in predictions