Chapter 9: Language and Thought

Wayne sells his tickets for tonight’s basketball game for $100. He is pleased with this sale because he bought them for only $50. A few minutes later he decides that he thinks he can get more money for them from someone else and so he buys them

back for $150. As game time approaches and desperation sets in he finds someone willing to buy

them for $200 and makes the sale. What was Wayne’s total profit for the evening?

1.$02.$503.$100

What did we use to solve this problem?

•Our knowledge about the world

•Thinking is a useful process which allows us to survive– Act on our knowledge in purposeful

ways.

•This chapter is all about understanding human thought

Cognitive Processes: What this chapter covers (LOTS!)

• Communicating with Others– Language production & comprehension

•Allows us to transmit thought, feelings, & needs•Allows us to learn & understand

• Classifying and Categorizing– Carve the world into chunks or categories

•Allows us to see similarities among things & know how to act

• Solving Problems– Steps involved & pitfalls to avoid

•Allows us to find & eat food, find & woo a mate, etc.

• Making Decisions– Strategies we use to decide between alternatives

•Allows us to choose what to do with $100. Learn consequences of choice.

Communicating with Others: Learning Goals

•Understanding the structure of language

•Isolating the factors that contribute to language comprehension

•Identifying the major milestones of language development

•Assessing language in nonhuman species

•Evaluating the possibility that language is an adaptation

Most languages in the world have different means of expressing similar thoughts. Do you feel that the

language a person speaks will:

1 2 3 4

0% 0%0%0%

1. not effect how a person thinks about the world.

2. only change a few ways in which a person thinks about the world.

3. change many ways in which a person thinks about the world.

4. significantly change how a person thinks about the world.

Language & Thought

•Language & thought are closely linked

•Language strongly influences how we think about the world– Remember “Smashed” versus “Contacted”

car crash from last chapter

•People infer & recall different things

•Linguistic relativity hypothesis (Whorf, 1956)– Language shapes how we think & perceive

the world.

The Structure of Language

•What is language?– To be language, communication must

have rules known as “grammar”.

•Grammar sets language apart from other communication systems– Set of rules that allow the communicator

to combine arbitrary symbols to convey meaning

Grammar

•Three aspects:– Phonology: Rules for combining sounds to

make words•Untie NOT Tieun

– Syntax: Rules for combining words to make sentences•“The cautious poodle barked at the nasty

man” NOT “The cautious the barked nasty man at poodle.

– Semantics: Rules used to communicate meaning•“Colorless green ideas sleep furiously”

The Hierarchical Structure of Language

•Phonemes: Smallest significant sound units in speech– Example: “ee”, “f”, “t” as in “feet”– Differ by language– Average English speaker uses 40-45

•Morphemes: Smallest units of language that carry meaning– Examples: “do,” “un”, “s”, “cool”, “warm”– Phonemes combine to make morphemes– Average English speaker knows 50,000-

80,000

Combination

•Words, phrases, and sentences– Morphemes combine to make words– Words combine to make phrases

•Example: “the interesting class” is a noun phrase

The Structure of Sentences

•Rules of syntax determine how words combine into phrases, and phrases into sentences

•Is there a single set of rules? Unlikely to be fixed & rigid

Example: “Visiting relatives can be a nuisance.”•Are we annoyed that relatives are visiting?•Is it a nuisance to visit relatives?•NOT just phrase structure that is

important

Chomsky

•Chomsky’s idea of how sentences work:– Surface structure: Superficial

appearance, literal ordering of words– Deep structure: Underlying

representation of meaning– Producing sentences requires

transformation of deep structure into a surface structure•Above sentence has 1 surface structure but 2

potential deep structures.

•Similarly, 1 deep structure can have many different surface structures.

Language Comprehension

•How do we decide what another person is trying to communicate?– Communication depends on common

knowledge among speakers– Both top-down & bottom-up

•(similar to perception)

Pragmatic rules (“Pragmatics”)

•How practical knowledge is used to comprehend speaker’s intention, produce an effective response– Example: “Could you close the window”?

•Should NOT say “Yes, I am capable of producing enough steady pressure on the window to produce closure”.

•Example pragmatic guidelines (Grice): Be informative, tell the truth, be relevant, be clear

– Above answer is not RELEVANT and so violates these rules

– We use & expect these rules to be followed in conversation.

Language Development

•Is language a product of genes or experience?– Babies follow similar milestones all over

the world but we don’t all end up speaking the same language

Development

•Babies are born producing phonemes appropriate for many languages, but soon narrow these down– From birth: Cry– By 3-5 weeks: Cooing

•Repeat vowel sounds “aaagh”; “oooh”– By 4-6 months: Babbling

•Repeat consonant-vowel combinations “kaka”; “baba”

– By 6-18 months: More like adult speech

•Restrict to sounds present in their own language

Child Speak

•By the end of the first year simple words are used– “mama”; “dada”– By 24 months know an average of 200 words

•By the end of the second year, telegraphic speech begins– Simple two-word sentences

•Articles & prepositions omitted– Word order almost always correct

•“Daddy bad”; “Give cookie” rather than “Cookie give”

Child speak continued

•Sophisticated grammar skills learned during the preschool years, with little formal teaching– Preschoolers tend to overgeneralize

rules

•Example: goed, foots

•Grammatical knowledge fine-tuned from 3 to about 6 or 7

Language in Nonhuman Species

•Nonhuman animals definitely communicate, but not all communication is language– Do convey meaning & express things

symbollically– To be language must have grammar

•Rules regarding how to combine arbitrary symbols to convey meaning

Attempts at training chimps

•Attempts to teach chimps to speak failed•Don’t have the correct vocal equipment

•Signs/symbol communication in chimps:– Chimps such as Washoe, Sarah, and

Kanzi have learned to use these

•Can produce combinations of symbols to communicate

– “More fruit”; “Gimme tickle”

•Can perform novel tasks based on symbols learned

– Put banana into pail, hide the toy gorilla, put ice in the potty

Is this REALLY language?

•Can they generate new combinations?– Washoe saw a duck for the 1st time and

generated novel combination of “water bird”

•Can they learn from other chimps?– Don’t need to be directly trained. Chimps

can learn sign language through observational learning without ever being directly trained.

•Psychologists disagree on the answer

For many years scientists have been teaching apes sign language. Do you believe

that the apes:

1 2 3

34%

11%

55%1. have learned

language just like humans.

2. have learned to communicate more effectively, but have not learned language.

3. are simply mimicking their trainers.1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20

21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40

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61 62 63 64 65 66 67 68 69 70 71 72 73 74 75 76 77 78 79 80

81 82 83 84 85 86 87 88 89 90

Quiz 8

Notes AwayGo 41 Go

According to the linguistic relativity hypothesis, language:

1 2 3 4

12%3%

78%

7%

1. shapes our perceptions of the world, but not the way we think.

2. shapes the way we think, but not our perceptions of the world.

3. shapes how we think and how we perceive the world.

4. has only a minimal influence on thought processes and perception.

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20

21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40

41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 54 55 56 57 58 59 60

61 62 63 64 65 66 67 68 69 70 71 72 73 74 75 76 77 78 79 80

81 82 83 84 85 86 87 88 89 90

With respect to spoken language, phonology refers to:

1 2 3 4

1% 3%

93%

3%

1. rules for combining words to make sentences.

2. the practical knowledge used to comprehend and produce spoken language.

3. rules for combining sounds to make words.

4. rules for communicating meaning.

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20

21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40

41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 54 55 56 57 58 59 60

61 62 63 64 65 66 67 68 69 70 71 72 73 74 75 76 77 78 79 80

81 82 83 84 85 86 87 88 89 90

The sentence, "Colorless green ideas sleep furiously," is an example of a sentence in English that has:

1 2 3 4

0%

91%

0%9%

1. correct phonology but incorrect morphology.

2. correct semantics but incorrect syntax.

3. correct pragmatics but incorrect phonology.

4. correct syntax but incorrect semantics.

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20

21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40

41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 54 55 56 57 58 59 60

61 62 63 64 65 66 67 68 69 70 71 72 73 74 75 76 77 78 79 80

81 82 83 84 85 86 87 88 89 90

With respect to language, phonemes:

1 2 3 4

93%

0%7%

0%

1. are the smallest significant sound units in spoken language.

2. provide the underlying meaning in a spoken sentence.

3. are the smallest units of language that carry meaning.

4. are the same as a language's alphabet.

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20

21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40

41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 54 55 56 57 58 59 60

61 62 63 64 65 66 67 68 69 70 71 72 73 74 75 76 77 78 79 80

81 82 83 84 85 86 87 88 89 90

The practical knowledge used to comprehend a speaker's intentions and produce an effective response is called:

1 2 3 4

85%

4%9%1%

1. pragmatics.2. syntactics.3. semantics.4. heuristics.

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20

21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40

41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 54 55 56 57 58 59 60

61 62 63 64 65 66 67 68 69 70 71 72 73 74 75 76 77 78 79 80

81 82 83 84 85 86 87 88 89 90

Classifying and Categorizing: Learning Goals

•Understanding how categories and category membership are defined

•Distinguishing between prototype and exemplar views of categorization

•Explaining the hierarchical organization of categories

Classifying and Categorizing

•Category: Class of objects that most people agree belong together– Allows us to infer properties about

objects– Allow us make predictions

•Important questions about categorizing:– What properties about an object make it

belong to a particular category?– Do we form abstract category

representations?– Are categories organized into

hierarchies?

Defining Category Membership

•Example: You know that Monopoly is an example of the category “game,” but why?; You can easily say that a sparrow is a bird—what allows you to do this? How do we know a trout is a fish?

•Defining features view: Categories are defined by features that all members share– Examples: Know that games have a board, players,

pieces; know birds have wings, feathers, beaks, fly, & lay eggs; Know fish have gills, scales, lay eggs, swim, & live underwater.

– But: Many categories don’t have features shared by all; boundaries are fuzzy; seen more as typical than defining

Family Resemblance View

•Members of a category share certain core features, but not all members have to have all these features– Examples: poker doesn’t have a board but

is still a game, ostriches don’t fly but are still birds, jellyfish don’t have scales but are still fish

Category

“Cup”Fuzzy boundaries

Do People Store Category Prototypes?

•Prototype: Best or most representative member of a category– Could categorize by storing prototypes,

comparing exemplars (examples) to them.– Example: store robin as the prototype for

bird and compare flamingo to it

Exemplar theory

•Alternative: Store all examples (exemplars) of the category– Could categorize by comparing each

exemplar to all the other ones– Store ever bird you have seen and

compare flamingo to all others.

•Fundamental difference: compare new to 1 thing or many

•Different researchers disagree on this question; perhaps we do both

The Hierarchical Structure of Categories

•Most objects can be categorized in several ways– Example: Monopoly -> “board game,”

“game,” “activity”– How do we organize different categories?

Levels

•Basic-level category: Used most often, is most useful and predictive

•Superordinate categories: More general, less descriptive

•Subordinate-level categories: Very specific– Example: square, wooden surface with 4 legs

that you eat on in your kitchen.

•Basic-level: Table

•Superordinate: Piece of household furniture

•Subordinate: Ikea “Ekhard” Oak dining table

Solving Problems: Learning Goals

•Distinguishing between well- and ill- defined problems

•Describing the pitfalls of problem representation

•Comparing algorithms and heuristics

•Describing the Aha! moment in problem solving

Problem Types

•Well-defined: Goal and starting point are clear; you know when it’s been solved– Example: Algebra problems

•Ill-defined: Goal and starting point are unclear; hard to tell when solution is reached– Many real-life problems are ill-defined– Example: What is the secret to having a

happy life?

Example problem

It’s early morning, still dark, and you’re trying to get dressed. Your 2-month old baby, snuggled in her crib at the foot of the bed, sleeps peacefully after a night of wailing. You can’t turn on the lights—she’ll wake up for sure– but the black socks & blue socks are mixed up in the drawer. Let’s see, you recall, you have 5 pairs of black socks & 4 pairs of blue socks. How many socks do you need to take out of the drawer to guarantee a matching pair?

Is this question well or ill defined? well stated goal, clear starting point, easy way to tell when solution reached.

Answer? 3 (2 colors possible– if you grab 3 you will have at least 2 of the same color).

Representing Problem Information

•To solve a problem, you need to understand what information is given and how that information can potentially be used – Sometimes tricky to get correct problem

representation– with sock problem might get caught up on 4:5 ratio.

– A father and son are in a car accident. The father dies. The son is taken to the emergency room, and then immediately to the operating room. The surgeon says "I can't operate on this boy! He's my son!". How is this possible?

Functional fixedness

•Tendency to see objects and their functions in fixed and typical ways– Failure to restructure the way you think

about elements in the problem– Doctors are men

Using only the material shown, figure out a way to mount the candle on the wall. (if you’ve already seen this problem please don’t answer)

Difficult because see box as device for holding tacks not something that you can use to solve the problem

Developing Strategies

•After represent problem need a strategy to solve

•Two kinds of strategies:– Algorithms: Step-by step procedures that

guarantee a solution

•Use when solving math problems: there are fixed rules for addition, subtraction, etc

– Heuristics: “Shortcuts” that are efficient, but don’t guarantee a solution

•Use when solving anagram: MBLOPRE (Don’t go through all 5,040 possible; use heuristic).

»PROBLEM

Mental Set

•Need to avoid “mental set”: Tendency to rely on problem-solving strategies that were successful in the past– Often need new strategy for new

situation

•Military commanders shouldn’t always use same attack plan; “never fail” study plan from high-school might not work as well in college

•Connect the 9 dots problem

Connect the 9 dots using 4 straight lines without lifting you pencil from

the paper.

Otto & the elevator

There is a man named Otto who lives on the 15th floor of his apartment building. Each day Otto takes the elevator down to the lobby.

On normal days when Otto returns home he takes the elevator up to the 10th floor & then walks the rest of the way.

On rainy days when Otto returns home he takes the elevator all the way up to the 15th floor.

Why?(If you’ve already seen this problem please don’t

answer)

Elevator Solution

Match Problem

Common Heuristics

•Means-end analysis– Find actions (means) that reduce the gap

between the current starting point and goal (ends)

•Usually requires breaking down problem into manageable subgoals

•Example: want to be a rock star.

• Subgoals: buy a guitar; learn to play; write songs; form band; etc

•Working backward– Start at goal & work back to start

•Example: cheating at mazes

Heuristics continued

•Searching for analogies– Find a connection between current

problem & some previous one you successfully solved.•Example: Man buys a horse for $60 & sells it

for $70; later buys is back for $80 & sells for $90—how much did he make?

If you are having a difficult time solving a problem, what do you do most often to solve the problem?

1 2 3 4 5

0% 0% 0%0%0%

1. keep working on the problem

2. step away for a while, then come back and work again

3. go to sleep4. consult a friend5. look for the answer on

the internet

The Aha! Moment

•Insight: Process by which solution seems to “magically” pop into mind– Tends to be sudden, rather than systematic

progression toward solution– What causes it to happen?

•Difficulty of re-creating and studying insight in laboratory studies makes this difficult to answer

•Answer is largely a mystery

Incubation effect

•Do better at solving a problem when we stop working on it for a while.– Why? A few theories:

•Continue working in back of mind

•Stop thinking of in wrong way, able to approach in new way

•During break come across new info that helps you solve

Making Decisions: Learning Goals

•Understanding how “framing” alternatives influences decision making

•Identifying common decision-making biases

•Describing the common decision-making heuristics

•Evaluating the pros and cons of using heuristics

Decision Making

•The thought process involved in evaluating & choosing from among a set of alternatives; it usually involves some kind of risk.

•Physician must decide what treatment strategy to use on a patient

•You have to decide whether you will eat chicken, steak, or fish at your friend’s upcoming wedding

The Framing of Decision Alternatives

•Framing: How alternatives (the decision) are presented– Example: Is a course of action framed as

a way to ensure a gain, or avoid a loss?– People tend to avoid risks when gain is

emphasized, take risks when loss is emphasized

•Framing can lead to irrational choices– Example: Doctors are more likely to

choose a treatment they see as preventing death, as opposed to extending life

Framing examples• Beginning of a semester a professor tells the class that

typically 75% of the class get a C or above.– Students don’t worry about how difficult the course will be

• Beginning of a semester a professor tells the class that typically 25% of the class get a D or F.– Students worry about the difficulty

• Students are given the problem:The US is preparing for an outbreak that is expected to kill

600 people. 2 alternative programs have been proposed. Which would you choose?

Program A: 200 people will be savedProgram B: 1/3 probability 600 will be saved; 2/3 probability

no people will be savedOR given options

Program A: 400 people will dieProgram B: 1/3 probability no people will die; 2/3 probability

600 people will die

72% of students choose

78% of students choose

Example

•Find the rule that generates correct 3 number sequences.

2 4 6 is a sequence that is correct

•You can test the rule by guessing 3 number sequences. I will tell you if they are correct or not.

•When you are confident you know the rule you can give your guess.

*If you’ve done this demonstration before please let your classmates figure it out

Suppose each of the cards below has a number on one side and a letter on the other, and someone tells you: “If a card has a vowel on 1 side, then it has an even number on the other side.” Which of the cards would you need to turn over in order to

decide whether the person is lying.?

E 4 K 7

*If you’ve seen this task before and already know the correct answer please allow your classmates to figure it out

Decision-Making Biases

•Confirmation bias: Tendency to seek out and use information that supports and confirms a prior decision or belief– People avoid seeking out information that

might contradict a prior belief

•Belief persistence: Tendency to cling to initial beliefs even when confronted with disconfirming evidence– People tend to try to find reasons why

beliefs could still be true, even with contradictory evidence

1 coin is flipped 6 times and the results are 6 heads in a row. A 2nd coin is flipped 6 times & the results

are: H T T H T H. Which sequence is LESS PROBABLE?

The

first

coin

’s

The

seco

nd c

oin’s

Both

are

equ

ally

pro

b...

0% 0%0%

1.The first coin’s2.The second coin’s3.Both are equally

probable.

Representativeness

•When judging likelihood of something falling into a class, compare the similarity of that thing to the average member of that class

•Example: Which is probably a random series of coin flips, H H H T T T or H T T H T H?– Both are equally likely, but one is more

representative

Mistakes due to Representativeness Heuristic

•Ignoring the base rate– Tall man has sloppily written his occupation on

the questionnaire you gave him. It either says bank president or NBA player. You assume NBA player because he is tall & doesn’t care about how sloppy his writing is– FAR less likely though

•Conjunction error – Which is more likely: 1) an all out nuclear war

between Russia & the US; 2) a situation in which neither country intends to attack the other but an all out nuclear war between Russia & the US is triggered by the actions of a 3rd country such as Iraq.

– People choose 2 even though adding more variables decreases likelihood

Are there more words that begin with the letter “k” (e.g. kitten), or words that have “k” as the third

letter (e.g. acknowledge)?

1 2 3

0% 0%0%

1. There are more words that start with “k.”

2. There are more words that have “k” was their third letter.

3. There are an equal number of words that have “k” as their third or first letter.

Which do you believe happens more frequently, death by stroke, or death by any type of accident?

1 2 3

33% 33%33%1. accident2. stroke3. they occur in the

same proportions

Availability

•Base estimates on odds of an event occurring on ease with which examples of the effect come to mind

•Example: Diseases that get a lot of publicity are estimated to be more common than other diseases

•Example: You believe it’s more likely that you will do the dishes than your roommate– You remember all the times you did the

dishes, but not as many times your roommate did them

Example

LEFT ½ of class put your heads down & don’t look at the next

slideI will tell you when to lift your

head

Is the percentage of African nations in the UN greater or less than 65%?

Gre

at th

an

Les

s th

an

50%50%1.Great than2.Less than

What percentage of African nations is in the UN? (Indicate which choice is closest to your estimate)

100 90 80 70 60 50 40 30 20

11% 11% 11% 11% 11%11%11%11%11%

1.1002.903.804.705.606.507.408.309.20

Continued

Now RIGHT ½ of class put your head down & do not look at the

next slidesI will tell you when to look again

Is the percentage of African nations in the UN greater or less than 10%?

Gre

at th

an

Les

s th

an

50%50%1.Great than2.Less than

What percentage of African nations is in the UN? (Indicate which choice is closest to your estimate)

10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90

11% 11% 11% 11% 11%11%11%11%11%

1.102.203.304.405.506.607.708.809.90

Anchoring-and-Adjustment

•Judgments are influenced by starting points, such as initial estimates

•Example: What percent of African countries belong to the United Nations?– “More than or less than 65?” -> Higher

estimate– “More than or less than 10%” -> Lower

estimate

•Correct answer: over 90% are recognized by the UN as members

•Another example: Marsh “regular” price versus “fresh-idea” price

Heuristics: Pros and Cons

•Research on heuristics emphasizes the serious mistakes we make

•Good things about heuristics:– In real life, we often make good decisions

anyway– They are faster and easier to use than

optimal reasoning strategies– Oftentimes, we don’t have the statistical

information for optimal reasoning anyway