10 27 You will be getting back your

10/27 • You will be getting back your midterms today • Pick up questions sheets and an outline from the front • After we review the midterm go to: http: //goo. gl/Bc 85 T 1 And fill out the 3 question survey (must be logged into school google drive)

10/28 • Pick up an outline and answer this question from the AP Psych test 2 years ago!

Chapter 10: Thinking & Language

How Are Language and Cognition Related? • Linguistic Relativism: Concerns the relationship between language and thought; specifically, that thoughts vary with language • Linguistic Determinism: Concerns the relationship between language and thought; specifically, language determines our thoughts

“Learn a New Language and Get a New Soul” • Many bilinguals report feeling like a different person when they speak a different language • Bilinguals may reveal different personalities when taking the same personality test in their two languages 1968 Interview with bilingual Japanese housewives in San Francisco

Whorf’s Linguistic Determinism • Linguist Benjamin Lee Whorf studied the Hopi tribe in 1930 s • Hypothesized that language determines the way we think. Linguistic determinism • The Hopi tribe described time in a different way than other languages. • Specifically, they did not use a past tense. Whorf found that they rarely thought about the past

The Piraha Tribe • Go to moodle and click on “Dan Everett” Article • You will take short quiz on moodle (open note) on the Piraha tribe • Be ready to discuss: 1. Why is the Piraha Tribe known as the “one, two, many” tribe? 2. Do you agree that the Piraha Tribe is ‘morally superior’ to Western cultures?

Linguistic Determinism is Highly Controversial • To say that language DETERMINES the way we think is too strong • Papua New Guineans have no words for shapes and colors, but still perceive them • Most agree that our words INFLUENCE what we think

What is thinking (cognition)? • Mental activities associated with The concept of a chair includes a variety items…. processing, understanding, remembering, and communicating. 1. Concepts (schemas)- mental groupings of similar objects, events, and people. Prototype: The best example of a concept Example: Which dog is doggier? A Golden Retriever or Chihuahua? Which sport is more representative of a sport? Football or Badminton? But they have common features that define the concept of chair

Problem Solving The mental process people go through to discover, analyze, and solve problems

Algorithms • A step by step procedure that guarantees the right solution to a problem. • Usually a formula. Examples: If you want to make a cake, you apply an algorithm called a recipes

Heuristics • A short cut or ‘rule of thumb’ to solve a problem or draw a conclusion • Fast, but is… • Prone to errors • Two types of Heuristics (college board lovessss these)

Representative Heuristic A stranger tells you about a person who is short, slim, and likes to read poetry. Do you think this person is a professor or a truck driver? • Judging a situation based on how similar the aspects are to the prototypes you hold in your mind. • Like thinking everyone from the North is rude, or someone with glasses is nerdy, or a blonde is not smart. STEREOTYPES

Availability Heuristic Which place would you be more scared of getting mugged or even murdered? • A mental shortcut that helps us make a decision based on how easy it is to bring something to mind. • Vivid examples in the news often cause an availability heuristic. The crime rate of Gary, Indiana is MUCH higher than the Bronx. But when you think of crime, which town comes to mind? Gary, Indiana The Bronx, NY

Availability Heuristic Meme • In pairs, you will create an Availability Heuristic Meme • Availability Heuristic can be on any topic ranging from: causes of death, crime, infectious diseases (Ebola…eeek!), business, etc. • Use a meme creator: www. mememaker. net or make your own. • Must put meme into a Google Presentation slide. Must be two slides: 1. Created meme 2. Explanation of Availability Heuristic and share it with me: candace. starnes@ucps. k 12. nc. us

Heuristics can lead to Overconfidence… • Confidence is not a good indicator of correctness • Belief Perseverance- maintaining a belief even after it has been proven wrong. Ex. You hear that your frenemy Rhonda is spreading rumors about you. After you find out that it was Paul, and not Rhonda, that spread the rumors you still don’t trust Rhonda. • Belief Bias- People will tend to accept any conclusions that fit in with their systems of belief without question, but reject conclusions that don’t even if they are perfectly logical.

2 nd Block

Confirmation Bias • We look for evidence to confirm our beliefs and ignore evidence that contradicts them. • For example, if one believes that all Italians party and go tanning, then they turn on MTV (confirmed) But is that a fair description of ALL Italians? Look…I knew it was true!!! But is it really?

Hurdles to problem solving

FIXATION • Inability to see a problem from a fresh perspective. • Once we incorrectly approach a problem, its hard to restructure our thought process to the correct way. • 2 types of Fixation: 1. Mental Set 2. Functional Fixedness

Mental set • a. k. a. rigidity • The tendency to fall into established thought patterns. • A tendency to approach a problem in a particular way, often a way that has been successful in the past.

Thought Puzzle #1 • Predict the next letters in this sequence. • In your notes, write down your thought process. Include any “dead ends. ” • Don’t talk about your process or your answer so that everyone can work on the puzzle. Sequence O-T-T-F-? -? -? J-F-M-A-? -? -? 22

Thought Puzzle #1 8 5 Sequence 9 1 ____ Now think about the words rather than the numbers Eight Five Nine One _________ 23

Thought Puzzle #2 – Connect ALL the dots with no more than 4 straight lines without lifting your pen. * * * * * 24

Think outside the box!

Functional Fixedness • The tendency to think things only in terms of their usual functions; an impediment to problem solving. Example: dime can work as a screw driver • Book can be used for an umbrella • Credit card can be used to break into your house

Framing • 90% of the population • The way a problem is presented can will be saved with this drastically effect the medication…. . or way we view it. • 10% of the population will die despite this medication.

Thinking in Images • To turn on the cold water in your shower/bathtub, which direction do you turn the handle? • You probably thought in images on how to do that. • Artists, composers, poets, mathematicians, athletes, and scientists use visual images. • Pianist Liu Chi Kung • Olympic Athletes • University of Tennessee foul shot increase from 52% to 65% • Mental Rehearsal

CREATIVITY • Almost impossible to define. • Little correlation between creativity and intelligence. • Convergent Thinking versus Divergent Thinking

Language A means of communication Language can be…. . spoken, written, or signed

All languages contain… Phonemes • The smallest units of sound in a language. • English has about 44 phonemes. • Ex. Bat b-a-t, chat ch-a-t • Generally consonant phonemes carry more information than vowel phonemes How many phonemes does cat have? Ship? Morphemes • The smallest unit of meaningful sound. • Can be words like a or I (also phonemes). • Can also be parts of words like prefixes or suffixes (un, ed)… • Undesirables? (4) un-desir-able-s • How many phonemes and morphemes are in cats? • http: //www. esllounge. com/pronunciation/phoneticchart. php

Example of Consonants over Vowels The treth ef thes stetement shed be evedent frem thes bref demenstretien

Fill In The Blanks Th_ C_l_r R_d _s _ p_p_l_r c_l_r _n h_m_n c_lt_r_. _t c_n symb_l_z_ l_v_, p_w_r, d_ng_r, r_y_lty, _r _n _m_rg_ncy. _t _s _ c_l_r f_r Chr_stm_s _nd V_l_nt_n_’s D_y. _t c_n b_ _ “r_d l_tt_r d_y” _r y__ c_n “b_ _n th_ r_d” W__r__ng r_d c_n b__st y__r c_nf_d_nce.

Grammar Is this the White House or the House White? • System of rules for language. • Semantics-set of rules we use to derive meaning from morphemes, words, and sentences. Ex. Adding ed to laugh means it happened in the past. • Syntax: the rules we use to order words into a sentence. Ex. White house Casa Blanca

Language Development In fantis means “not speaking” Receptive language (comprehension) before productive language (speaking) 1. Babbling Stage (4 months) many are consonant/vowel pairings such as baba or dada 2. Holophrastic Stage (12 months) § one word stage § One word a week to one word a day at about 18 months 3. Telegraphic Speech Stage (24 months) § Two word stage § Like a telegram (Mommy up, want juice) 4. Complete sentences

How do we learn language?

Operant Learning Theory • B. F. Skinner from the Behaviorist School • Association (images with sounds of words) • Baby will imitate a parent (modeling) • If they are reinforced they keep saying the word. • If they are punished, they stop saying the word.

Noam Chomsky’s Theory • Nature…inborn • Given the right environment, language acquisition just happens on its own (naturally). • Children acquire untaught words and generate sentences they have never heard (I hate you, daddy) • Universal grammar that underlies all human language. • We learn language through an Inborn universal language acquisition device (like a chip in our brains that specializes in picking up language) • Basically, our brains our prewired to learn language

• 1. While Marie and her mother are looking at a book together, Marie's mother shows her a picture of an animal and says "cow. " Marie says "cow, " and her mother praises her for her correct utterance. Two pages later, Marie spontaneously points to a picture and correctly identifies it as a cow. • 2. When his day care teacher asks 2 -year-old Jack what he did last Saturday, he responds with "We goed to the zoo. " His teacher smiles, marveling at the fact that all children Jack's age make this type of grammatical error. • 3. Nicole, who is deaf and was not exposed to sign language until age 3, lacks the manual linguistic skills of deaf children born to deaf-signing parents. • 4. Twelve-year-old Malcolm, who emigrated to the United States at age 4, understands English grammar much better than 20 -year-old Maya, who was first exposed to English at age 12.

The Critical Period • There is a critical period for learning language • From our early years to about age 7 • After age 7, it gradually closes • Cochlear implants (more effective at 2) • If not exposed to language in critical period there can be long term effects • Deaf children born to hearing/non signing parents. What problems could occur here.

Animal Thinking and Language • Do animals think? Yes, many animals have a remarkable capacity for thinking. Do they have a “Theory of Mind? ” • 2 year old humans • Dolphins

Do Animals Speak? • Yes, they communicate without a doubt • Examples? Barking leopard, coughing eagle, chuttering snake, dancing honeybee, wailing whale…. • But do they have language? Most scientists say NO • Betsy the Border Collie

The Case of the Apes • Chimpanzees closest relative • Allen Gardner and Beatrix Gardner • Teach sign language to chimpanzee named Washoe • 4 years later, Washoe, knew 132 signs

• Several critics of “talking apes” by 1979 • Everyone agrees: humans alone possess language…. apes can communicate through a meaningful sequence of symbols • Washoe and her baby • Kanzi and critical period

Apes in Mourning • Apes appear to mourn the loss of members…. is this evidence of higher thinking?