introduction to psychology, 7th edition, rod plotnik module 14: thought & language module 14...

Introduction to Psychology, 7th Edition, Rod PlotnikModule 14: Thought & Language

Module 14

Thought & Language


FORMING CONCEPTS

• Concept– a way to group or classify objects, events,

animals, or people based on some features, traits, or characteristics that they all share in common

• Exemplar model– form a concept of an object, event, animal, or

person by defining or making a mental list of the essential characteristics of a particular thing


FORMING CONCEPTS (CONT.)

• Prototype theory– form a concept by creating a mental image that is

based on the average characteristics of an object• Functions of concepts

– organize information– group things into categories an thus better

organize and store information in memory– avoid relearning– can be used to classify and categorize things, you

can easily classify new things without having to relearn what that thing is


SOLVING PROBLEMS

• Problem solving– involves searching for some rule, plan, or strategy

that results in our reaching a certain goal that is currently out of reach

• Different ways of thinking– algorithms– are fixed set of rules that, if followed correctly, will

eventually lead to a solution


SOLVING PROBLEMS (CONT.)

• Different ways of thinking– Heuristics

• rules of thumb, or clever and creative mental shortcuts, that reduce the number of operations and allow one to solve problems more easily and quickly

– Availability heuristic• says that we rely on information that is more

prominent or easily recalled and overlook other information that is available but less prominent or notable



• Different ways of thinking– Artificial intelligence

• means of programming machines (computers, robots) to imitate human thinking and problem-solving abilities

– Three strategies for solving problems• changing one’s mental set• functional fixedness• refers to a mental set that is characterized by

the inability to see an object as having a function different from its usual one



• Using analogies– a strategy for finding a similarity between the new

situation and an old, familiar situation• Forming subgoals

– a strategy that involves breaking down the overall problem into separate parts that, when completed in order, will result in a solution


THINKING CREATIVELY

• How is creativity defined?– Creative thinking

• combination of flexibility in thinking and reorganization of understanding to produce innovative ideas and new or novel solutions

– Creative individual• someone who regularly solves problems,

fashions products, or defines new questions that make an impact on his or her society


THINKING CREATIVELY (CONT.)

• How is creativity defined?– Psychometric approach

• uses objective problem-solving tasks to measure creativity, focuses on the distinction between two kinds of thinking—convergent and divergent

– Convergent thinking• means beginning with a problem and coming up

with a single correct solution– Divergent thinking

• means beginning with a problem and coming up with many different solutions


THINKING CREATIVELY (CONT.)

• How is creativity defined?– Case study approach

• analyzes creative persons in great depth and thus provides insight into their development, personality, motivation, and problems

– Cognitive approach• tries to build a bridge between the objective

measures of the psychometric approach and the subjective descriptions provided by case studies

• cognitive approach identifies and measures cognitive mechanisms that are used during creative thinking


LANGUAGE: BASIC RULES

• Four rules of language1. Phonology

• specifies how we make the meaningful sounds that are used by a particular language

• phonemes• basic sounds of consonants and vowels

2. Morphology• system that we use to group phonemes into

meaningful combinations of sound and words• morphene• smallest meaningful combination of sounds in a

language


LANGUAGE: BASIC RULES (CONT.)

• Four rules of language

3. Syntax, or grammar• set of rules that specifies how we combine

words to form meaningful phrases and sentences

4. Semantics• specifies the meaning of words or phrases

when they appear in various sentences or contexts



• Understanding language– Chomsky’s theory of language

• Norm Chomsky• says that all languages share a common

universal grammar and that children inherit a mental program to learn this universal grammar


p313 SPEECH CENTERS



• Understanding language– Mental grammar

• allows us to combine nouns, verbs, and objects in an endless variety of meaningful sentences

• innate brain program• makes learning the general rules of grammar

relatively easy



• Different structure, same meaning– Surface structure

• refers to the actual wording of a sentence, as it is spoken

– Deep structure• refers to an underlying meaning that is not

spoken but is present in the mind of the listener– Transformational rules

• procedures by which we convert our ideas from surface structures into deep structures and from deep structures back into surface ones


ACQUIRING LANGUAGE

• Language stages– refers to all infants going through four different

periods or stages—babbling, single words, two-word combinations, and sentences

1. begins about 6 months, is the first stage in acquiring language

2. single word• second stage in acquiring language, which

occurs at about 1 year of age


ACQUIRING LANGUAGE (CONT.)

• Language stages2. single word (cont.)– parentese (motherese)– way of speaking to young children in which the

adult speaks in a slower and higher than normal voice, emphasizes and stretches our each word, uses very simple sentences, and repeats words and phrases

3. two-word combinations– represents the third stage in acquiring language,

occurs at about 2 years of age



• Language stages

4. sentences– represents the fourth stage of acquiring language,

occurs at about 4 years of age• Telegraphic speech

– distinctive pattern of speaking in which the child omits articles (the), prepositions (in, out), and parts of verbs



• What are innate factors?– genetically programmed physiological and

neurological features that facilitate our making speech sounds and acquiring language skills

– Innate physiological factors• special adapted vocal apparatus (larynx and

pharynx) that allows us to make sounds and form words

– Innate neurological features• left hemisphere of the brain is prewired to

acquire and use language, whether spoken or signed



• What are innate factors?– Innate developmental factors

• critical language period• time from infancy to adolescence when

language is easiest to learn• more difficult to learn anytime after

adolescence



• What are environmental factors?– refer to interactions children have with parents,

peers, teachers, and others who provide feedback that rewards and encourages language development, as well as provides opportunities for children to observe, imitate, and practice language skills

• Social cognitive learning– emphasizes the acquisition of language skills

through social interactions, which give children a chance to observe, imitate, and practice the sounds, words, and sentences they hear from their parents or caregivers


REASON, THOUGHT & LANGUAGE

• Two kinds of reasoning– Reasoning

• means thinking, is a mental process that involves using and applying knowledge to solve problems, make plans or decisions, and achieve goals

– Deductive reasoning• begins with making a general assumption that

you know or believe to be true and then drawing specific conclusions based on this assumption


REASON, THOUGHT & LANGUAGE (CONT.)

• Two kinds of reasoning– Inductive reasoning

• making particular observations that you then use to draw a broader conclusion

– Theory of Linguistic Relativity• states that differences among languages result

in similar differences in how people think and perceive the world

introduction to psychology, 7th edition, rod plotnik module 14: thought & language module 14...

Documents

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thought language slide

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rod plotnik module

creative thinking slide

language forming concepts