Unit 7B:Cognition: Thinking, Problem
Solving, Creativity, and Language
Unit Overview• Thinking• Language• Thinking and Language
Click on the any of the above hyperlinks to go to that section in the presentation.
Introduction
• Cognition
• Cognitive psychologists
Thinking
Concepts
• Concepts–Category hierarchies–prototype
Solving Problems • Task: move the tower from the left peg to the middle peg,
moving only one disk at a time and never putting a larger disk on a smaller one
Solving ProblemsStrategies
• Algorithms–Step-by-step
• Heuristic• Insight
Solving ProblemsCreativity
• Creativity• Strernberg’s five components
• Assuming that each card has a triangle on one side and a circle on the other, which card or cards need to be turned over to test this statement:
‘Every card that has a black triangle on one side has a red circle on the other’
Solving ProblemsObstacles to Problem Solving
• Confirmation bias• Fixation
–Mental set–Functional fixedness
Functional Fixedness
Making Decisions and Forming Judgments Using and Misusing Heuristics
• The Representative Heuristic
Write down your answer – either ‘a’ or ‘b’
• Linda is 31, single, outspoken, and very bright. She majored in philosophy in college. As a student, she was deeply concerned with discrimination and other social issues, and she participated in antinuclear demonstrations. Which statement is more likely? A. Linda is a bank teller B. Linda is a bank teller and active in the feminist
movement
Making Decisions and Forming Judgments Using and Misusing Heuristics
• The Availability Heuristic
Making Decisions and Forming JudgmentsOverconfidence
• Overconfidence
Making Decisions and Forming JudgmentsThe Belief Perseverance Phenomenon
• Belief perseverance–Consider the
opposite
Making Decisions and Forming JudgmentsThe Perils and Powers of Intuition
• Intuition–Unconscious intuition
• Intuition uses past knowledge – we may make mistakes
• But it allows us to quickly respond so are thought is more automatic.
Making Decisions and Forming JudgmentsThe Effects of Framing
• Framing–Framing experiments
Language
LanguageIntroduction
• Language
Language
• With person next to you share what you did on Friday and Saturday using telegraphic speech.
• Don’t know what that means? LOOK IT UP
Language StructurePhonemes
• Phoneme–English about 40 phonemes–Learning another language’s
phonemes
Language StructureMorphemes
• Morpheme–Includes prefixes and suffixes
Language StructureGrammar
• Grammar–Semantics–Syntax
Language DevelopmentWhen Do We Learn Language?
• Receptive language• Productive language
–Babbling stage–One-word stage–Two-word stage–Telegraphic speech
Language DevelopmentWhen Do We Learn Language?
Language DevelopmentExplaining Language Development• Skinner: Operant Learning
–Learning principles• Association• Imitation• Reinforcement
Language DevelopmentExplaining Language Development
• Chomsky: Inborn Universal Grammar–Language acquisition device–Universal grammar
Language DevelopmentExplaining Language Development• Statistical Learning and Critical
Periods–Statistical learning–Critical (sensitive) period
Language Development
• Statistical Learning – Statistical aspects of human speech – breaking down
syllables to create meaning and breaks in sentences – Evidence? – 8 month infants: recognize three-syllable sequences that
appeared repeatedly (measuring attention) – 7 month infants: recognize different sequences/language
patterns – ABA verse ABB pattern (li-na-li/wo-fe-fe) – What does this show? Nature or Nurture? – Built in ability to learn grammatical rules (Noam Chomsky)
Critical Period
• No exposure to language (spoken or signed) before age seven: lose ability to master ANY language – No stimulation to a brain early on = language
learning capacity never fully develops • Second languages? • Sign language?• Conclusion? Is there a critical period of
language?
Thinking and Language
Language Influences Thinking
• Whorf’s linguistic determinism• Bilingual advantage
Thinking in Images
• Implicit memory
Thinking and Language • Benjamin Lee Whorf:
– Linguistic determinism hypothesis – Language determines thought – Evidence? Culture differences – How many words a culture has to describe something
will change our thoughts on it • Book example: Papua New Guinea Berinmo tribe: distinguish
between two shades of yellow
• Bilingual advantage:• Canadian program:
Taste
• Write down the difference between Pepsi and Coke – Typically our responses are not very useful: vague
and general comments about sweetness or level of carbonation – only an expert taster will pick up on the subtle nuances that distinguish these soft drinks
Thinking in Images
• Helps! How?
Question • Which comes first? Thought or Language? • Thinking affects our language, which then affects
our thought -Would not develop languagewithout the thought first – would not have the thought without the language to express it!
Create a timeline
• Part 1: Create a timeline demonstrating the development of language structure but also incorporating important concepts into a cohesive timeline. Must include: ages, examples of each stage/concept, and pictures.
• Part 2: Compare B.F. Skinner and Noam Chomsky’s theory of language development Examples Picture for each
The End
Definition Slides
Cognition
= the mental activities associated with thinking, knowing, remembering, and communicating.
Concept
= a mental grouping of similar objects, events, ideas, or people.
Prototype
= a mental image or best example of a category. Matching new items to a prototype provides a quick and easy method for sorting items into categories (as when comparing feathered creatures to a prototypical bird, such as a robin).
Algorithm
= a methodical, logical rule or procedure that guarantees solving a particular problem. Contrasts with the usually speedier – but also more error-prone – use of heuristics.
Heuristic
= a simple thinking strategy that often allows us to make judgments and solve problems efficiently; usually speedier but also more error-prone than algorithms.
Insight
= a sudden and often novel realization of the solution to a problem; it contrasts with strategy-based solutions.
Creativity
= the ability to produce novel and valuable ideas.
Confirmation Bias
= a tendency to search for information that supports our preconceptions and to ignore or distort contradictory evidence.
Fixation
= the inability to see a problem from a new perspective, by employing a different mental set.
Mental Set
= a tendency to approach a problem in one particular way, often a way that has been successful in the past.
Functional Fixedness
= the tendency to think of things only in terms of their usual functions; an impediment to problem solving.
Representativeness Heuristic
= judging the likelihood of things in terms of how well they seem to represent, or match, particular prototypes; may lead us to ignore other relevant information.
Availability Heuristic
= estimating the likelihood of events based on their availability in memory; if instances come readily to mind (perhaps because of their vividness), we presume such events are common
Overconfidence
= the tendency to be more confident that correct – to over-estimate the accuracy of our beliefs and judgments.
Belief Perseverance
= clinging to one’s initial conceptions after the basis on which they are formed has been discredited.
Intuition
= an effortless, immediate, automatic feeling or thought, as contrasted with explicit, conscious reasoning.
Framing
= the way an issue is posed; how an issue is framed can significantly affect decisions and judgments.
Language
= our spoken, written, or signed words and the ways we combine them to communicate meaning.
Phoneme
= in language, the smallest distinctive sound unit.
Morpheme
= in a language, the smallest unit that carries meaning; may be a word or a part of a word (such as a prefix).
Grammar
= in a language, a system of rules that enables us to communicate with and understand others.
Semantics
= the set of rules by which we derive meaning from morphemes, words, and sentences in a given language; also, the study of meaning.
Syntax
= the rules for combining words into grammatically sensible sentences in a given language.
Babbling Stage
= beginning at about 4 months, the stage of speech development in which the infant spontaneously utters various sounds at first unrelated to the household language.
One-word Stage
= the stage in speech development, from about age 1 to 2, during which a child speaks mostly in single words.
Two-word Stage
= beginning about age 2, the stage in speech development during which a child speaks mostly two-word statements.
Telegraphic Speech
= early speech state in which a child speaks like a telegram – “go car” – using mostly nouns and verbs.
Linguistic Determinism
= Whorf’s hypothesis that language determines the way we think.