1 Thinking and Language Unit VII (part 2) Modules 34, 35, 36 Thinking and Concepts Cognition (thinking) Concepts Prototypes 4 Thinking Thinking, or cognition, refers to a process that involves knowing, understanding, remembering, and communicating. 5 COGNITION The early settlers on the Isle of Begile were a rather conservative group who established the Islands bylaws. One of the first laws passed was that all the men were to be clean-shaven, and furthermore, no man was allowed to shave himself. To make matters even more trying, the bylaws stipulated that all men must be shaved by a licensed barber. 6 COGNITION For whatever reason, the Isle only issued one barbers license, and that was to an elder who was nearing eighty years of age. Strangely enough, everything seemed to work until a landed immigrant lawyer arrived on the scene and asked the overlooked question, If no man is allowed to shave himself, who then shaves the barber? How did the Begilers avoid this paradox? 7 Cognitive Psychologists Thinking involves a number of mental activities, which are listed below. Cognitive psychologists study these in great detail. Concepts Problem solving Decision making Judgment formation 8 Concept The mental grouping of similar objects, events, ideas, or people. There are a variety of chairs but their common features define the concept of a chair. Concepts provide us with a lot of information without much cognitive effort. 9 Category Hierarchies We organize concepts into category hierarchies. Courtesy of Christine Brune Activity Scrap Paper Number from 11 ACTIVITY: RESPOND WITH THE VERY FIRST EXAMPLE THAT COMES TO MIND: 1. a bird 2. a color 3. a triangle (you may draw a picture) 4. a motor vehicle 5. a sentence 6. a hero 7. a heroic action 8. a game 9. a philosopher 10. a writer ANSWERS 1.robin, sparrow, or eagle 2.Red or blue 3.A picture of an equilateral triangle 4.a car 5.a short declarative sentence 6.Superman, Batman or possibly a fireman 7.A single act by a male, e.g. rescue by a fireman 8.Monopoly or some board game 9.Socrates or Aristotle 10.Stephen King or some other white male author 12 13 Development of Concepts We form some concepts with definitions. For example, a triangle has three sides. Mostly, we form concepts with mental images or typical examples (prototypes). For example, a robin is a prototype of a bird, but a penguin is not. Triangle (definition) Bird (mental image) Daniel J. Cox/ Getty Images J. Messerschmidt/ The Picture Cube 14 Categories Once we place an item in a category, our memory shifts toward the category prototype. This affects recognition time. We are slow to recognize information that doesnt fit our prototype (leads to prejudice) A computer generated face that was 70 percent Caucasian led people to classify it as Caucasian. Courtesy of Oliver Corneille Creativity Convergent thinking Divergent thinking Creativity Sternbergs five components of creativity Expertise Imaginative thinking skills A venturesome personality Intrinsic motivation A creative environment Creativity Ways to boost creativity Develop your expertise Allow time for incubation Set aside time for the mind to roam freely Experience other cultures and ways of thinking 19 COGNITION COMPLETE 9-18a and 9-18b. Pay attention to your thought processes as you solve the puzzles. 20 Ways to Problem Solve Algorithms: Methodical, logical rules or procedures that guarantee solving a particular problem. Heuristics speedier, more efficient methods for solving problems; more error prone 21 Algorithms Algorithms, which are very time consuming, exhaust all possibilities before arriving at a solution. Computers use algorithms. S P L O Y O C H Y G If we were to unscramble these letters to form a word using an algorithmic approach, we would face 907,208 possibilities. 22 Heuristics Heuristics are simple, thinking strategies that allow us to make judgments and solve problems efficiently. Heuristics are less time consuming, but more error-prone than algorithms. B2M Productions/Digital Version/Getty Images 23 Heuristics Heuristics make it easier for us to use simple principles to arrive at solutions to problems. S P L O Y O C H Y G S P L O Y O C H G YP S L O Y O C H G YP S Y C H O L O G Y Put a Y at the end, and see if the word begins to make sense. 24 HEURISTICS We use heuristics to reduce our options Then we use trial and error 25 Ways to Problem Solve (other factors involved) 1. Insight sudden realization of a solution (remember the monkey?) 2. Confirmation bias looking for info that supports already held opinions 3. Mental set using a method that has worked in the past 26 1. Insight (Ah-ha moment) Insight involves a sudden novel realization of a solution to a problem. Humans and animals have insight. Kohlers experiment with Sultan to the right: Grande using boxes to obtain food 27 Insight Brain imaging (fMRI) and EEG (electrical signature) studies suggest that when an insight strikes (the Aha experience), it activates the right temporal cortex (Jung- Beeman, 2004). The time between not knowing the solution and realizing it is 0.3 seconds. Provides a sense of satisfaction. From Mark Jung-Beekman, Northwestern University and John Kounios, Drexel University 28 : A tendency to search for information that confirms a personal bias. 2 4 6 Rule: Any ascending series of numbers. 1 2 3 would comply. Subjects had difficulty figuring out the rule due to a confirmation bias (Wason, 1960). 2. Confirmation Bias 29 CAUSES OF CONFIRMATION BIAS COGNITIVE CONCEIT Of course Im right COGNITIVE LAZINESS Why waste time reevaluating ? We seek evidence verifying our ideas more eagerly than evidence refuting our ideas Examples: WMD/Iraq; Therapists; Gun control, welfare, etc. 30 3. Mental Set A tendency to approach a problem in a particular way, especially if that way was successful in the past. 31 Fixation Fixation: An inability to see a problem from a fresh perspective. This impedes problem solving. Two examples of fixation are mental set and functional fixedness. The Matchstick Problem: How would you arrange six matches to form four equilateral triangles? From Problem Solving by M. Scheerer. Copyright 1963 by Scientific American, Inc. All Rights Reserved. 32 The Matchstick Problem: Solution From Problem Solving by M. Scheerer. Copyright 1963 by Scientific American, Inc. All Rights Reserved. 33 Using these materials, how would you mount the candle on a bulletin board? Candle-Mounting Problem From Problem Solving by M. Scheerer. Copyright 1963 by Scientific American, Inc. All Rights Reserved. 34 Candle-Mounting Problem: Solution The Point 1.Sometimes what worked in the past (mental set) doesnt always work. (3D) 2.Sometimes our understanding of the purpose (functional fixedness) of something is limiting. (use of a box) 35 36 UNSCRAMBLE THE WORDS #1 NYPAS FELA DUB KTALS LOBSOMS LTEPA Turn your paper over and wait. 37 UNSCRAMBLE THE WORDS #2 FINEK OPONS KROF PUC ECUSAR LTEPA Turn your paper over and wait. 38 Functional Fixedness A tendency to think only of the familiar functions of an object. ? Problem: Tie the two ropes together. Use a screw driver, cotton balls and a matchbox. 39 PsychSim Go to my Web Page; open AP Psych PsychSim Link Complete PsychSim: My Head is Spinning 40 Functional Fixedness Use the screwdriver as a weight, and tie it to the end of one rope. Swing it toward the other rope to tie the knot. ? The inability to think of the screwdriver as a weight is functional fixedness. Another example? 41 FUNCTIONAL FIXEDNESS 42 Forming Good & Bad Decisions and Judgements Intuition Representative heuristics Availability heuristics Overconfidence Belief perseverance Framing 43 Forming Good & Bad Decisions and Judgements Intuition using your gut due to a lack of time to reason systematically Should I wear a coat today? 44 Intuition Each day we make hundreds of judgments and decisions based on our intuition, seldom using systematic reasoning. Affects our social judgments. A lot of important decisions involve judgments of risk. (Profiling? Stereotyping? Prejudice?) 45 Two kinds of heuristics, representative heuristics and availability heuristics, have been identified by cognitive psychologists. KNOW THEIR NAMES! Amos TverskyDaniel Kahneman Courtesy of Greymeyer Award, University of Louisville and the Tversky family Courtesy of Greymeyer Award, University of Louisville and Daniel Kahneman 46 Probability that that person is a truck driver is far greater than an ivy league professor just because there are more truck drivers than such professors. Representativeness Heuristic Judging the likelihood of things or objects in terms of how well they seem to represent, or match, a particular prototype. If you meet a slim, short, man who wears glasses and likes poetry, what do you think his profession would be? An Ivy league professor or a truck driver? 47 Availability Heuristic Why does our availability heuristic lead us astray? Whatever increases the ease of retrieving information increases its perceived availability. Example: I have mono! (explain) How is retrieval facilitated? How recently we have heard about the event. How distinct it is. How correct it is. 48 ANCHORING HEURISTIC (BASE RATE FALLACY) not in book Definition: estimate the probability of an event, not by starting from scratch but by adjusting an earlier estimate Ex: When you begin AP Psychology, you assume . By comparison AP Psych is easier or AP Psych is more interesting Point: Your development of an opinion did not start at zero. 49 50 IGNORING NEGATIVE EVIDENCE Dont forget: negative means removal or absence not bad The absence of symptoms can provide important evidence for or against a hypothesis, but symptoms or events that do not occur are less likely to be noticed and observed Example: FREE College tuition 51 MULTIPLE HYPOTHESES May be due to limited capacity of short- term memory. If time: multi-attribute exercise Choosing a college: Pro/Con list 52 GAMBLERS FALLACY Definition: Belief that events in a random process will correct themselves Example: Coin Toss tails, heads, heads, heads, heads Whats more likely to come next? 53 DECISION MAKING PITFALL ACTIVITY Write a dialogue to illustrate some flaws in thinking. Possible scenarios might include a criminal, a gambler, or a movie star discussing events from their lives with another individual (Reporter? Attorney? Etc). Include at least three of the following pitfalls. Do not identify them by name. Anchoring heuristic Representativeness heuristic Gamblers fallacy Availability heuristic 54 DECISION MAKING PITFALLS ACTIVITY Team up with another group. Read your dialogue to this group. The second group should analyze your dialogue and determine how it illustrates the decision making pitfalls, and label each. Reverse roles. 55 Overconfidence Intuitive heuristics, confirmation of beliefs, and the inclination to explain failures increase our overconfidence. Overconfidence is a tendency to overestimate the accuracy of our beliefs and judgments. At a stock market, both the seller and the buyer may be confident about their decisions on a stock. 56 OVERCONFIDENCE Can have devastating consequences (political example?) However, overconfidence does have adaptive value: Happier Easier to make tough decisions Seem more credible 57 OVERCONDIFENCE Researchers have found that people with high self-confidence are more susceptible to flattery than those with low self-confidence. In a sentence or two, why do you think this is true? Confidence Activity Telling the Truth or Lying? 58 59 Exaggerated Fear The opposite of having overconfidence is having an exaggerated fear about what may happen. Such fears may be unfounded. The 9/11 attacks led to a decline in air travel due to fear. AP/ Wide World Photos 60 FEAR FACTOR FOUR INFLUENCES ON OUR INTUITIONS ABOUT RISK. WE FEAR: What our ancestral history has prepared us to fear What we cannot control What is immediate What is most readily available in memory* 61 FEAR FACTOR Vivid events distort our comprehension of risks and probably outcomes We fear too much those things that have killed people dramatically, in bunches, and recently We fear too little threats that claim lives undramatically, one by one, and in the distant past/future 62 FEAR FACTOR Cotton swabs injure more people than razor blades or shavers! Chairs are more than 13 times as likely to cause injuries as chain saws. 411,689 Americans in one year experienced injuries related to beds, mattresses, and pillows. Texting while driving Graphic Organizer Handout 63 64 Belief Bias The tendency of ones preexisting beliefs to distort logical reasoning by making invalid conclusions. We more easily see the illogic of conclusions that run counter to our beliefs than of those that agree with our beliefs. 65 Belief Perseverance Belief perseverance is the tendency to cling to our beliefs in the face of contrary evidence. Often fuels social conflict. If you see that a country is hostile, you are likely to interpret their ambiguous actions as a sign of hostility (Jervis, 1985). 66 DECISION Youve decided to see a Broadway play and have bought a $100 ticket. As you enter the theater, you realize youve lost your ticket. You cant remember the seat number so you cant prove to the management that you bought a ticket. Would you spend $100 for a new ticket? 67 DECISION Youve reserved a seat for a Broadway play for which the ticket price is $100. As you enter the theater to buy your ticket, you discover youve lost $100 from your pocket. Would you still buy the ticket, assuming you have enough cash left to do so? 68 DECISION Most people will buy a ticket after losing cash but not after losing the ticket. Why? Tversky suggests people set up a mental account. In problem (a) that account has already been charged $100; to replace the ticket would double the account. In the second problem the $100 loss is charged to some other account, such as next months lunch money or next years vacation. 69 Framing Decisions Decisions and judgments may be significantly affected depending upon how an issue is framed. Example: What is the best way to market ground beef as 25% fat or 75% lean? 70 FRAMING Give an example from the Blink article to illustrate framing and thin slicing (inferring the motivations and intentions of others with subtle, fleeting cues) Give an example from the Blink article to illustrate the importance of facial expressions. 71 Blink Why is Gladwells book titled Blink? According to Gladwell, what caused the shooting of Armadou Diallo? What was the relationship between autism and the Diallo shooting? What are some recommendations for dealing with stressful situation according to the information presented in the article? Summarize in a few sentences the conclusions of Gladwell regarding decision making. 72 Perils & Powers of Intuition Intuition may be perilous if unchecked, but may also be extremely efficient and adaptive. 74 Language Language, our spoken, written, or gestured work, is the way we communicate meaning to ourselves and others. Language transmits culture. M. & E. Bernheim/ Woodfin Camp & Associates 75 Nonverbal Communication Demonstration of meaningful body language Non-verbal communication - slides Smiling experiment notice anything? Compare to research results Conclusions? 76 Nonverbal Communication 77 Nonverbal Communication 78 Nonverbal Communication 79 Nonverbal Communication 80 Nonverbal Communication 81 Nonverbal Communication 82 Nonverbal Communication 83 Nonverbal Communication Film: Language DevelopmentLanguage Development 84 Reading Faces Paul Ekman video https://www.youtube.com/wat ch?v=J9i-9_QuetA 85 86 GENDER AND COMMUNICATION Read the handout: Gender and the Communication Process What are the differences between men and women in their communication patterns? Do you agree? Have things changed since this article was written? What evidence supports the statement that gender differences in social power affect cross-sex conversations? 87 Language Structure Phonemes: The smallest distinct sound unit in a spoken language. For example: bat, has three phonemes b a t chat, has three phonemes ch a t 88 Language Structure Morpheme: The smallest unit that carries a meaning. It may be a word or part of a word. For example: Milk = milk Pumpkin = pump. kin Unforgettable = un for get table 89 Structuring Language Phrase Sentence Meaningful units (290,500) meat, pumpkin. Words Smallest meaningful units (100,000) un, for. Morphemes Basic sounds (about 40) ea, sh. Phonemes Composed of two or more words (326,000) meat eater. Composed of many words (infinite) She opened the jewelry box. 90 Grammar Grammar is the system of rules in a language that enable us to communicate with and understand others. Grammar SyntaxSemantics 91 Semantics Semantics is the set of rules by which we derive meaning from morphemes, words, and sentences. For example: Semantic rule tells us that adding ed to the word laugh means that it happened in the past. 92 Syntax Syntax consists of the rules for combining words into grammatically sensible sentences. For example: In English, syntactical rule says that adjectives come before nouns; white house. In Spanish, it is reversed; casa blanca. 93 Language Development Children learn their native languages much before learning to add 2+2. We learn, on average (after age 1), 3,500 words a year, amassing 60,000 words by the time we graduate from high school. Time Life Pictures/ Getty Images Language Development Receptive language the ability to understand what Is said to you and about you - Facial expressions, lip reading Language Development Productive language Babbling stage One-word stage Two-word stage Telegraphic speech 96 When do we learn language? Babbling Stage: Beginning at 4 months, the infant spontaneously utters various sounds, like ah-goo. Babbling is not imitation of adult speech. 97 When do we learn language? One-Word Stage: Beginning at or around his first birthday, a child starts to speak one word at a time and is able to make family members understand him. The word doggy may mean look at the dog out there. 98 When do we learn language? Two-Word Stage: Before the 2nd year a child starts to speak in two-word sentences. This form of speech is called telegraphic speech because the child speaks like a telegram: Go car, means I would like to go for a ride in the car. 99 When do we learn language? Longer phrases: After telegraphic speech, children begin uttering longer phrases (Mommy get ball) with syntactical sense, and by early elementary school they are employing humor. You never starve in the desert because of all the sand-which-is there. Language Development 101 Explaining Language Development 1.Operant Learning: Skinner (1957, 1985) believed that language development may be explained on the basis of learning principles such as association, imitation, and reinforcement. 102 Explaining Language Development 2.Inborn Universal Grammar: Chomsky (1959, 1987) opposed Skinners ideas and suggested that the rate of language acquisition is so fast that it cannot be explained through learning principles, and thus most of it is inborn. Overgeneralizing (-ed added, etc) is support for this theory LAD (language acquisition device) Surface vs deep structure 103 Explaining Language Development 3.Statistical Learning and Critical Periods: Well before our first birthday, our brains are discerning word breaks by statistically analyzing which syllables in hap-py-ba-by go together. These statistical analyses are learned during critical periods of child development. The Brain and Language Aphasia language impairment Brocas Area - Wernickes Area - The Brain and Language Note: The brain spreads out language processing over several areas of the brain Remember vision? Depth, movement, form, & color processed in different areas Damage to one area may cause lose in one aspect of processing language 106 Language & Age Learning new languages gets harder with age. 107 Language & Thinking Language and thinking intricately intertwine. Rubber Ball/ Almay Does this make a case for political correctness in our speech? Hey guys, come here. Guard your man on the field. 108 Language Influences Thinking Linguistic Determinism: Whorf (1956) suggested that language determines the way we think. For example, he noted that the Hopi people do not have the past tense for verbs. Therefore, the Hopi cannot think readily about the past. 109 Language Influences Thinking When a language provides words for objects or events, we can think about these objects more clearly and remember them. It is easier to think about two colors with two different names (A) than colors with the same name (B) (zgen, 2004). 110 Word Power Increasing word power pays its dividends. It pays for speakers and deaf individuals who learn sign language. Helps explain the bilingual advantage: learning to inhibit one language while using their other language. 111 Linguistic Determinism Questioned Although people from Papua New Guinea do not use our words for colors and shapes, they still perceive them as we do (Rosch, 1974). 112 Thinking in Images To a large extent thinking is language-based. When alone, we may talk to ourselves. However, we also think in images. 2. When we are riding our bicycle. 1. When we open the hot water tap. We dont think in words, 113 Images and Brain Imagining a physical activity activates the same brain regions as when actually performing the activity. Jean Duffy Decety, September 2003 114 Language and Thinking Traffic runs both ways between language and thinking. Process simulation is superior to outcome simulation. The End