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PSYC100 > Week 12: Language > Flashcards

Week 12: Language Flashcards

1
Q

What is the main capacity of humans regarding language?

A

Humans have the capacity to use complex language far more than any other species on Earth.

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2
Q

How is language used in human society?

A

Language is used to communicate and construct social relationships.

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3
Q

What is the ‘common ground’ in a conversation?

A

Common ground is a set of knowledge that the speaker and listener share.

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4
Q

What is meant by ‘audience design’ in language use?

A

Speakers design their utterances based on the audience’s knowledge.

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5
Q

What happens to common ground as conversations progress?

A

Common ground shifts and changes as participants add new information.

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6
Q

True or False: Most conversations occur in groups larger than four.

A

False

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7
Q

What percentage of everyday conversation is estimated to be gossip?

A

60%–70%

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8
Q

What is the significance of gossip in human communication?

A

Gossip helps share representations about social worlds and maintain social relationships.

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9
Q

According to Dunbar’s social brain hypothesis, what is the estimated group size humans can support?

A

Approximately 150

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10
Q

Fill in the blank: Language, brain, and human group living have _______.

A

[co-evolved]

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11
Q

What is ‘linguistic intergroup bias’?

A

A tendency to describe ingroup members positively and outgroup members negatively.

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12
Q

What are situation models in the context of conversation?

A

Representations about the topic of a conversation.

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13
Q

What does priming in conversation refer to?

A

Thinking about one concept reminds you of related concepts.

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14
Q

How do people coordinate language use in conversation?

A

By interactively aligning each other’s actions at different levels of language use.

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15
Q

What is one way that language use can affect social relationships?

A

It can regulate social dynamics by reinforcing ingroup and outgroup distinctions.

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16
Q

Who proposed the concept that gossip is the human equivalent of grooming in primates?

A

Dunbar

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17
Q

What is the primary form of language use according to the text?

A

Interpersonal communication

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18
Q

What is the role of emotional stories in gossip?

A

They can spread through broader social networks.

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19
Q

According to Semin and Fiedler, what do action verbs convey?

A

Particularity of an action.

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20
Q

According to Semin and Fiedler, what do adjectives convey?

A

Permanency of an actor’s tendency.

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21
Q

What is the significance of the Nicaraguan Sign Language example?

A

It illustrates that language can develop spontaneously among individuals.

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22
Q

What is the relationship between language use and psychological consequences?

A

Language use can have psychological impacts on individuals and their social interactions.

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23
Q

What is the ingroup bias?

A

Ingroup members are typically good, and if they do anything bad, that’s more an exception; outgroup members are typically bad, and if they do anything good, that’s more an exception.

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24
Q

How does gossip spread through social networks?

A

Gossip can be transmitted from one person to another, creating a chain of communication, often spreading emotive stories.

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25
Q

What happens to stories as they travel through communication chains?

A

They tend to become conventionalized.

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26
Q

What is an example of a mythic tale that transformed through retelling?

A

The Native American tale of the ‘War of the Ghosts’ transformed from a warrior’s encounter with ghosts to a story of a young warrior going to a battlefield.

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27
Q

What does the term ‘common ground’ refer to?

A

Information that is shared by people who engage in a conversation.

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28
Q

What was Kashima’s (2000) experiment about?

A

It involved a story with stereotypical and counter-stereotypical actions, revealing that counter-stereotypical information was often dropped in retellings.

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29
Q

What are the psychological consequences of language use?

A

Language shapes thoughts and feelings, and can bias memory of experiences.

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30
Q

What effect does verbally explaining emotions have on memory?

A

It leads to remembering the emotion more intensely.

31
Q

What brain structure is involved in processing negative emotions?

A

Amygdala.

32
Q

How does linguistic labeling of negative experiences affect psychological well-being?

A

It can improve psychological well-being compared to merely thinking about them.

33
Q

What is the Sapir-Whorf hypothesis?

A

The hypothesis that the language that people use determines their thoughts.

34
Q

How can language influence memory according to Hoffman, Lau, and Johnson (1986)?

A

Language can enhance memory retention, as seen in the example of describing Steven in Chinese vs. English.

35
Q

What is an example of a linguistic practice influencing cultural values?

A

Pronoun drop in languages like Japanese is associated with collectivistic values.

36
Q

Fill in the blank: Language is an essential tool that enables us to live the kind of life we _______.

A

[do].

37
Q

True or False: Language completely determines our thoughts.

A

False.

38
Q

What is ‘audience design’ in language use?

A

Constructing utterances to suit the audience’s knowledge.

39
Q

What does ‘lexicon’ refer to?

A

Words and expressions.

40
Q

What is ‘linguistic intergroup bias’?

A

A tendency for people to characterize positive things about their ingroup using more abstract expressions, and negative things about their outgroups using more abstract expressions.

41
Q

What is a ‘situation model’?

A

A mental representation of an event, object, or situation constructed at the time of comprehending a linguistic description.

42
Q

What is the ‘social brain hypothesis’?

A

The hypothesis that the human brain has evolved to maintain larger ingroups.

43
Q

What are ‘social networks’?

A

Networks of social relationships among individuals through which information can travel.

44
Q

What does ‘syntax’ refer to?

A

Rules by which words are strung together to form sentences.

45
Q

What is theory of mind?

A

The capacity to perceive and understand mental states

Theory of mind involves a range of psychological processes essential for social life.

46
Q

Why is theory of mind critical in social life?

A

It helps infer what others are thinking and feeling, facilitating complex social interactions

This includes activities like teaching, collaborating, and sharing experiences.

47
Q

How do individuals with autism differ in their processing of others’ minds?

A

They often have difficulties with automatic processing of facial expressions and inferring intentions

This can lead to a more analytical and slower processing of social interactions.

48
Q

What is the role of theory of mind in language acquisition?

A

It is considered a prerequisite for natural language acquisition

Understanding mental states aids in learning words and their meanings.

49
Q

What is the significance of understanding intentionality?

A

Intentionality involves recognizing that behaviors can be goal-directed and require specific beliefs

It helps differentiate between intentional actions and those resulting from luck.

50
Q

Fill in the blank: The capacity to understand others’ minds is often referred to as _______.

A

[theory of mind]

51
Q

What are some components of the theory of mind?

A
  • Agents
  • Goals
  • Intentionality
  • Imitation
  • Empathy
  • Joint attention
  • Visual perspective taking
  • Simulation

These components range from simple, automatic processes to more complex, deliberate ones.

52
Q

What is the relationship between imitation and empathy?

A

Imitation can lead to automatic empathy by mimicking emotional expressions

This process allows individuals to feel emotions similar to those being expressed by others.

53
Q

True or False: Theory of mind is a single, well-defined process.

A

False

It is a complex set of processes and tools for understanding mental states.

54
Q

What is joint attention?

A

The shared focus of two individuals on an object

It is critical for learning object meanings and language.

55
Q

What is visual perspective taking?

A

The ability to consider another person’s viewpoint in determining spatial relationships

It helps in understanding how the world appears from someone else’s perspective.

56
Q

Fill in the blank: The process of using one’s own mental states as a model for understanding others is called _______.

A

[simulation]

57
Q

What is the impact of synchrony in social interactions?

A

Increased synchrony can enhance enjoyment of interactions

It occurs when individuals unconsciously mimic each other’s behaviors.

58
Q

What is simulation in the context of understanding others’ mental states?

A

Using one’s own mental states as a model for others’ mental states

This allows individuals to imagine how they would feel in another’s situation.

59
Q

What is the ‘like-me’ assumption?

A

The inclination to assume that others think, feel, and want what we do

This can lead to egocentrism in perspective taking.

60
Q

What is egocentrism in perspective taking?

A

The failure to recognize that others have different perspectives from our own

It can result in misjudging others’ thoughts and feelings.

61
Q

What does the Sally-Anne task assess?

A

Children’s ability to pass a false-belief test

It tests whether a child understands that others can hold beliefs that differ from their own.

62
Q

What is the primary challenge in understanding others’ mental states?

A

Separating one’s own knowledge, feelings, and beliefs from those of the other person

This requires recognizing that others may have different perspectives.

63
Q

What are some tools humans use to understand other minds?

A

Motion, faces, gestures, imitation, joint attention, projection, simulation, mental-state inference

These tools help link observed behavior to inferred mental states.

64
Q

What is a folk explanation of behavior?

A

Natural explanations for why somebody acted or felt a certain way

This differs for unintentional versus intentional behaviors.

65
Q

What is intentionality?

A

The quality of performing a behavior intentionally, with skill and awareness

It involves executing an intention based on a desire and relevant beliefs.

66
Q

What is the role of joint attention in social interaction?

A

Two people focusing on the same object and being aware of each other’s focus

This facilitates shared understanding and communication.

67
Q

What are mirror neurons?

A

Neurons that fire both when an action is performed and when it is observed in others

They play a role in understanding others’ actions and intentions.

68
Q

What does projection refer to in social perception?

A

Assuming that another person wants, knows, or feels the same as oneself

This can lead to inaccurate assumptions about others’ mental states.

69
Q

What is the definition of simulation in social understanding?

A

The process of representing the other person’s mental state

It allows individuals to empathize and understand others’ experiences.

70
Q

What is the significance of theory of mind?

A

The capacity to understand minds and infer mental states

It encompasses concepts like agent, intentionality, and processes like empathy and perspective taking.

71
Q

Fill in the blank: Automatic empathy is when a social perceiver unwittingly takes on the _______ of another person.

A

[internal state]

72
Q

True or False: The need to explain behaviors is absent when it comes to understanding a criminal’s actions.

A

False

People feel compelled to find meaning in all behaviors, including puzzling ones.

73
Q

What cognitive effort is typically required for adults to recognize false beliefs?

A

Adults often need to engage in cognitive effort to infer another’s false belief

This process can be challenging even for adults.

74
Q

What is visual perspective taking?

A

Perceiving something from another person’s spatial vantage point or inferring their mental state

It involves effortful mental state inference.

PSYC100 (13 decks)

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