chapter 10 cognition and language. what is cognition? cognition – all mental activities that are...
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Chapter 10
Cognition and Language
What is Cognition? Cognition – all mental activities that are
associated with processing, knowing, remembering,
understanding, communicating
Metacognition – thinking about one’s thinking
CONCEPTS Concepts – mental groupings of similar
objects, events, ideas, people Ex. – “Shoe” (Shoe String, Tennis Shoe, Shoe
Store, Horseshoe, Shoe polish) Concepts give us much information without a
lot cognitive effort Concepts are organized into more broad
hierarchies Concepts allow us to avoid relearning
Forming Concepts Ways to form concepts:
By Prototypes – a mental image or best example of a category
Ex. A Rose is a prototype flower Ex. A Robin is a prototype bird Ex. A lab is a prototype dog
Prototypes give mental pictures of average features that make it easier and quicker to determine if another object fits into that category.
PROBLEM SOLVING Algorithm – a step-by-step procedure or logical
rule that guarantees solving a particular problem Algorithms oftentimes consume large amounts of time Ex. Unscrambling the word SPLOYOCHYG you place each letter in every possible position. Ex. Solving 10 x 2 can be determined by adding 2 + 2 + 2 + 2 + 2 + 2 + 2 + 2 + 2 + 2 Ex. Computer chess may use algorithms to determine its
next move How could you use an algorithm to find toothpicks at
Harris Teeter?
PROBLEM SOLVING Heuristic – a simple thinking strategy (rule of
thumb, shortcut) that often allows us to make judgments and solve problems efficiently. Heuristics are speedier but also more error prone than algorithms Ex. Unscramble the word SPLOYOCHYG but eliminating
various possibilities like placing the two Ys Together
Ex. Work backwards – hypothesize an answer and see what you find How could you use a heuristic to find toothpicks at Harris
Teeter?
PROBLEM SOLVING During problem
solving we often experience insight…
Insight – a sudden realization of the solutions to a problem (Aha..) Insight contrasts with
strategy based solutions. – The answer just comes to us!
Obstacles to Problem Solving sometimes we are mislead as we search for
solutions to problems. Solve Divorce Problem Confirmation Bias – tendency to search
for information that confirms our preconceptions Peter Watson’s Confirmation Bias
experiment Pg. 388 – Can you guess the rule? 2 – 4 – 6 Give more examples that confirm your hypothesis The actual rule…. Any three ascending numbers
Obstacles to Problem Solving Fixation – the inability to see a problem
from a new perspective Using a box of matches, thumbtacks, and a
candle – think of how to mount the candle on a bulletin board. The candle must be able to be lit in a certain way without falling over
Obstacles to Problem Solving Mental Set – continuing to use problem
solving strategies that have worked in the past rather than trying new ones. O-T-T-F…. what are the next 3 letters? F (Five),
S(Six), S(Seven) Try this one… J-F-M-A. what are the next 3
letters? (M, J, J)
Obstacles to Problem Solving Functional Fixedness – the tendency to
think of things only in terms of their usual functions Use a paper towel when you ran out of coffee
filters Not recognizing that the box of matches could
be used in assembling a candleholder.
Using/Misusing Heuristics Heuristics could cause us to make quick /
poor decisions. Representativeness heuristic – judging
the likelihood of things in terms of how well they seem to match particular prototypes. A person is short, slim and likes poetry? Would
you guess that this person is an ivy league professor or a truck driver? (pg. 390)
Using/Misusing Heuristics Availability heuristic – we base our
judgments on the availability of information in our memories. We assume information and experiences that are readily available in our minds are common. Do more words in the English alphabet begin
with k or have k as their third letter? (page 402)
Availability heuristics can affect our social judgments. Re: p 392-3
We have the tendency to be overconfident… Overconfidence – our tendency to
overestimate the accuracy of our knowledge and judgments
Framing Framing – the way an issue is posed
Framing can greatly affect our decisions and judgments.
Ex. Which ground beef would you most likely buy – 75% lean or 25% fat?
Bush Tax Cuts – 25% of our deficit comes from these cuts which almost exclusively were given to those in top 1% of wealth. Tax Cuts expired 2 weeks ago. Obama extended them backed by 100% Republicans. “extend the tax cuts” OR “800 Billion dollar spending package”.
Belief Bias Belief Bias – the tendency for our beliefs to
distort logical reasoning – sometimes this affects our conclusions. Valid conclusions seem invalid and invalid conclusions seem valid. Example:
Some Professors wear ties. Some men wear ties. Some professors are men. (true statement but this flow of thinking is not always
correct) Some Prof. wear ties. Some scarecrows wear ties. Some
prof. are scarecrows. Belief bias is related to Confirmation Bias – seek to
confirm our beliefs.
Belief Perseverance Belief perseverance – clinging to one’s
initial conceptions after the basis on which they were formed has been discredited. Belief perseverance may fuel social conflict. Ex. Belief about yourself – you may stick to it
even though others have tried to discredit your belief
Ex. Belief that you should invest in a stock or that a child is academically gifted
Language Language – our spoken, written, or
signed words and the way we combine them to communicate meaning
Components of Language Phonemes – the smallest distinctive
sound unit in spoken language English language has about 40 See phoneme handout Changes in phonemes = changes in meaning
Ex. Wall, Well, Will But in and of themselves, phonemes do not mean
anything
English PhonemesA/a/b/k/d/E/e/f/g/h/I/i/j/l/m/n/O/o/p/kw/r//s/t/
U/u/v/w/ks/gz/y/z/OO/oo/oi/ou/aw/ ar/sh/hw/ch/th/ng/zh/
Components of Language Morpheme – the smallest unit in
language that carries meaning; may be a word or part of a word In English, there are only a few phonemes that
are also morphemes Ex. “A” or “I”
A morpheme could be a complete word or part of a word (Prefix/Suffix)
Ex. “hat” or “pre”
Grammar – rules that enable communication
Semantics – set of rules by which we derive meaning from morphemes, words, and sentences
Add –ed for the past tense Limb – arm? Or a tree branch?
Context can affect meaning
Syntax – the rules for combining words into grammatically sensible sentences.
Ex. Adjectives before nouns Ex. I am happy instead of Happy am I
Language Development Children’s language development moves
from simple to complex By age 4 months –
Babbling stage – infants spontaneously utter sounds at age 3-4 months
At first, these sounds are unlike household language Cannot distinguish between Chinese babies babbling
and English babies babbling Nature vs. Nurture
Nature allows us to create consonant-vowel pairs (ma, da, goo, ba)
Nurture eventually molds our language Eventually, babbling begins to resemble the household
language
Some words Charlie knows at 24 mo. Mama/Dada – Mother/father Nana/TA – Deanna/TJ me yummy – food Hello - phone Doe doe – sleep Meenu – cat (Cajun) Poowoo – I pooped Bobo - dog Ball Juice Noonee – pacifier Meimei – Maddie made a mess Bye bye – let’s go Eye Nose Bo – elbow Back Knees Hello – yellow Blue Red Toke – Coke Iiiik – something yucky Sucker – ice cream Buden buden – 4 wheeler Bath – bath Boops - boots
Language Development 10 months – phoneme sounds outside the
infant’s household language begin to disappear One year old – child enters the one-word
stage “juice” – I am thirsty
Two years old – child enters the two-word stage (combination of a verb and noun)
“want sleep” – I am ready to go to bed Telegraphic speech – two word sentences that
contain the most necessary words Older than two years old – begin to form
complete sentences
Explaining language development BF Skinner – operant learning
Children learn to speak through imitation, association, and reinforcement
Imitation – saying words as mom and dad say them Association – associating sound with pictures Reinforcement – hugs, smiles, high fives
Explaining language development Noam Chomsky – language is almost
entirely inborn, children are “prewired” to learn language Children acquire untaught words and grammar
rules quickly Video – Scientific American Frontier – “Born to
Talk” #21 Ex. – incorrectly adding –ed (Cindy hitted me)
Overgeneralization – the misapplication of grammar rules
Children have a Language Acquisition Device (LAD) that allows them to extract the basic rules of grammar. (aka language acquisition or the nativist theory)
Language and Thinking Linguistic determinism hypothesis
(aka linguistic relativity hypothesis)– Benjamin Whorf theorized that language can control or limit our thinking Hopi Indians have no past tense verbs. This
affects their ability to a Hopi’s ability the think in the past tense.
English is a language of many self-focus emotions whereas Japanese has many words for interpersonal emotions (sympathy)
Bilinguals report having a different sense of self when speaking two different languages
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