Thinking and Language

Key Term Linguistic determinism- Whorf’s hypothesis that language determines the way we think.

Language Influences Thinking According to Whorf’s linguistic determinism hypothesis, different languages impose different conception of reality. Whorf’s hypothesis would probably not occur to people who speak only one language but to those who speak two dissimilar languages, such as English and Japanese. He feels a person thinks differently in different languages. Michael Ross, Elaine Xun, and Anne Wilson demonstrated this by inviting China-born bilingual University of Waterloo students to describe themselves in English or Chinese. When describing themselves in English, their self-descriptions were typically Canadian: they expressed mostly positive self statements and moods. When responding in Chinese, they were typically Chinese: they reported more agreement with Chinese values and roughly equal positive and negative self-statements and moods.

Thinking in Images We often think in Images. For example, Pianist Lou Chi Kung showed the value of thinking in images.1 year after placing second in 1958 Tchaikousky piano competition, Lou was imprisoned during China’s cultural revolution. After his release. After seven years without touching a piano, he was back on tour, the critics judging his musicianship better than ever. How did he continue to develop without practice? “ I did practice” said Lou, “everyday, I rehearsed every piece I had ever played, note by note, in mind.”