Unit 8: Language & Cognition Flashcards
What is Language/what does it consist of?
A language consists of symbols that convey meaning, plus rules for combining those symbols that can be used to generate an infinite variety of messages.
How is Language Symbolic?
Language uses spoken sounds and words to represent objects, actions, events and ideas (Ex: “Tape” has many different meanings).
How is Language Semantic?
Language has meaning, but the symbols used are arbitrary (There is no built-in relationship between the look and sound of words and the objects they stand for).
How is Language Generative?
A limited number of symbols can be combined in a infinite variety of ways to generate an endless array of messages (Ex: Shakespeare’s vocabulary/invention of new words & phrases).
How is Language Structured?
There are rules that govern the arrangement of words (Ex: Yoda’s order of speaking).
Phonemes
The smallest speech units in a language that can be distinguished perceptually. (ex. Vowel Sounds).
Morphemes
The smallest units of meaning (Ex: “Friend” has 1 meaning, while “Unfriendly” has 3).
Semantics
Understanding the meaning of words and word combinations (Ex: Denotation - Dictionary Definition vs. Connotation - Emotional overtones & secondary implications).
Syntax
A system of rules that specify how words can be arranged into sentences (Ex: A sentence must have a noun phrase and a verb phrase).
Why are babies better at learning a language than adults?
Infants are better at distinguishing Phonemes.
What stage occurs at 6 months?
The Babbling Stage.
What stage occurs at 10 months?
First words corresponding to Babble (Dadda, Bubba, etc.), as well as Holophrases.
What is a Holophrase?
A 1-word utterance.
What stage occurs at 18 months?
Speaking 3-50 words, learning nouns before verbs.
What stages occur at 1.5 - 2 years?
Word Spurt & Fast Mapping, learning as many as 20 words a day.
Overextension
Child incorrectly uses a word to describe a wider set of objects (Ex: “Mom” for all women or “Ball” for all round objects).
Underextension
Describe a narrower set of
objects or actions (Ex: Doll for one specific doll).
Telegraphic Speech
Talking in direct commands (Ex: “Give Doll”).
Overregulation
Grammatical rules incorrectly generalized (Ex: The girl goed home”).
Metalinguistic
The ability to reflect on Language - complex sentences, metaphors, puns & being sarcastic.
What are the benefits of bilingualism?
Better attention control and decreased onset of dementia.
What is the big problem with bilingualism?
People who are bilingual tend to have a decreased vocabulary.
Who is Kanzi?
Kanzi is an ape who learned to communicate via a keyboard/lexigram, understanding as many as 72% of the 660 requests that were available on the board.
What is the Behaviorist (Skinner) Theory of Acquisition?
Language is learned through imitation, reinforcement, & modeling.
What is the Nativist Theory of Acquisition?
Parents respond to meaning, not grammar. This means humans are made to talk (just like how birds are made to fly), and that language development is the same across all cultures.
Noah Chomsky
A psychologist who created the Nativist version of Theory of Acquisition.
Language Acquisition Device (LAD)
Noah Chomsky’s idea that Humans are made to talk (just like how birds are made to fly).
Cognitive Theory
Language parallels children’s thought development based on maturation & experience.
Social Communication Theories
Functional value of interpersonal communication and social context (Ex: Quiet societies vs. talkative societies).
Emergentist Theory
Language is not prewired but rather develops gradually (Biological) (Ex: Neurons emerge with exposure).
Linguistic Determinism (Linguistic Relativity Hypothesis)
The idea that language determines thought (Ex: There are many ways to communicate the idea of “snow” through different languages).
Benjamin Lee Whorf
A linguist who noticed that the more words that you have for a certain type of thing, the more subtle the distinctions you recognize in it.
Convergent Thinking
A cognitive process in which a person attempts to find a single, correct answer to a problem by bringing facts & data together from various sources and then applying logic & knowledge to solve problems.
Divergent Thinking
A cognitive process in which a person generates many unique, creative responses to a single question or problem. Divergent Thinking is correlated with openness and extraversion.
Inductive Reasoning (Bottom - Up Logic)
A kind of reasoning that constructs or evaluates general propositions that are derived from specific examples (Ex: Making assumptions or stereotypes).
Deductive Reasoning (Top - Down Logic)
The process of reasoning from one or more general statements (premises) to reach a logically certain conclusion (Ex: All men or mortal, and Aristotle is a man. Therefore, Aristotle is a mortal).
Mental Set
Using a strategy that had worked in the past.
Functional Fixedness
Perceiving an item in terms of its most common use (Ex. Cabin [yes, literally]).
Algorithm
Methodical step by step procedures for trying all possible alternatives. Inefficient in large space problems (Ex: Following a recipe when baking or searching the entire house for something by starting with the basement & moving up floors).
Heuristics
Shortcuts, guiding principle or rule of thumb. Makes decisions/problem solving easier (Ex: Blind Little People).
Herbert Simon
A psychologist who created the Theory of Bound Rationality.
Theory of Bound Rationality
The idea that people tend to use simple strategies and only focus on a few pieces of information (Ex: Teaser Rates).
Additive Decision-Making Strategies
A strategy of decision making that focuses on the pros of certain decisions and choosing based on those pros (Ex: Which college has more activities that I can join?)
Elimination Decision-Making Strategies
A strategy of decision making that focuses on the cons of certain decisions and choosing based on those cons (Ex: Which colleges don’t have activities that I can join? Narrowing down the colleges to join).
Availability Heuristics
Basing the estimated probability on the case of an event coming to mind (Ex: Not going in the water at the beach during shark week).
Daniel Kahneman
A psychologist who specializes and published novels centered around Availability Heuristics.
Representative Heuristics
A judgment based on how well it fits a prototype of similar event or person. Can lead to stereotyping situation or people (Ex: Gambler’s Fallacy).
Gambler’s Fallacy
The belief that the odds of a chance event increase if the event hasn’t occurred recently (Ex: Flipping 4 tails in a row means the next flip is likely to be tails as well).
Recognition Heuristics
The recognized alternative has a higher value (Ex: if choosing ketchup, you’ll choose Heinz since you recognize it & are familiar with it).
Framing
How decision issues are posed or how choices are structured (Ex: Introducing good information before bad information to make it seem better than it actually is).
Anchoring
The human tendency to rely too heavily on the first piece of information offered (the “anchor”) when making decisions (Ex: Kohl’s Cash).
Belief Perseverance Phenomenon
Clinging to ones beliefs despite evidence to the contrary (Ex: Political Allegiance).
Confirmation Bias
Looking for evidence to support your conclusion (Ex: Suspect in a crime).
Overconfidence Bias
An overestimate of abilities (Ex: How long it takes to finish a project/homework).
Sunken Cost Fallacy
A cognitive bias that causes people to continue investing in something even when it’s no longer beneficial (Ex: Finishing a bad movie because you’re already more than half way through).
