Cognition: language, thinking and problem solving Chapter 8

Language Acquisition One of the defining characteristics of humans is the use of complex language-our ability to communicate. Newborn children know zero words in English, or any other language. Yet they have innate abilities to become fluent speakers of any language they hear spoken, or signed regularly.

Skinner- language is learning Skinner believed that all language was learned through observation or modeled. Others disagreed….

Innateness-Theory of Language- Chomsky According to the innateness-theory of language, children acquire language not only by imitating but also by following preprogrammed steps to acquire language. Noam Chomsky-Language Acquisition Device-LAD: a mental structure that facilitates the learning of language because it is preprogrammed with fundamental language rules. Globally, all children follow the same pattern of language acquisition. LAD is flexible-any language is possible

Language parts Phoneme is the smallest distinctive sound unit Morpheme is the smallest unit that carries meaning may be a word or a part of a word (such as a prefix) -ed/-d = past tense; -s = plural Grammar, then, is a system of rules in a language that enables us to communicate with and understand other

Language Semantics is the set of rules by which we derive meaning from morphemes, words, and sentences in a given language. also, the study of meaning Syntax is the rules for combining words into grammatically sensible sentences in a given language. Do you want to go to the store? vs. Store to go want to do you?

Stages of Early language Summary of Language Development Month (approximate) Stage 4 10 12 24 24+ Babbles many speech sounds. Babbling reveals households language. One-word stage. Two-world, telegraphic speech. Language develops rapidly into complete sentences.

Language Stages There are four phases of early speech acquisition that all students pass through: Babbling Stage Beginning at 3 to 4 months The stage of speech development in which the infant spontaneously utters various sounds at first unrelated to the household language, but noises that represent every sound heard in every language One-Word Stage From about age 1 to 2 The stage in speech development during which a child speaks mostly in single words

Language Two-Word Stage Telegraphic Speech Beginning about age 2 The stage in speech development during which a child speaks in mostly two-word statements Telegraphic Speech Early speech stage in which the child speaks like a telegram-–“go car”--using mostly nouns and verbs and omitting “auxiliary” words

Language New language learning gets harder with age 100 90 80 70 60 50 Native 3-7 8-10 11-15 17-39 Percentage correct on grammar test Age at school New language learning gets harder with age

COGNITION/THINKING A concept is a mental grouping of similar objects, events, ideas, or people Prototype is a mental image or best example of a category-formed on the basis of frequently experienced features. Testing concepts can be hard since they are not observable. We must infer their influence on people’s thinking indirectly by studying their observable side effects. Concept of the color red

Types of Concepts There are two types of concepts Natural concepts: imprecise mental classifications that develop out of our everyday experiences. Most of the concepts in our everyday life Artificial concepts: concepts defined by a set of rules or characteristics, such as dictionary definition or mathematical equations. Most of the concepts learned in school!

Cognitive Maps As we saw before, cognitive maps are mental representations of a given place or situation. Just the mental image is not enough however. Ex. Answering the phone at a friends house

Making Inferences To help us figure out the episode, the context and stimulus of a situation we do have tools: Schema: General frameworks that provide expectations about topics, events, objects, people and situations. Script: Schemas about sequences of events and actions expected to occur in particular settings.

Problem Solving When we are faced with a problem, we have a few options for figuring out a solution. Algorithms: Problem solving procedures or formulas that guarantee a correct outcome if correctly applied Heuristics: Simple, basic rules that serve as shortcuts to solve complex mental tasks. They do not guarantee a correct solution

Which bet would you choose? 1 in 10 9 in 100

Who chooses the large box? Percentage of participants choosing the box with greater # of total balls (odds with small box = 10%; odds with large box = value shown on x-axis)

What is a heuristic? “Mental shortcut” used in judgment and decision making Essential for living in an uncertain world But they can lead to faulty beliefs and suboptimal decisions By looking at errors and biases, we can learn how people are reasoning under uncertainty THREE TYPES OF HEURISTICS

Affect HEURISTIC- judgment based on how your feel Judgments of life happiness: People asked 2 questions: 1) How satisfied are you with your life these days? 2) How many dates have you had in the last month? Correlation = -.12 Another group asked in opposite order – 2), then 1) Correlation = .66 Strack et al., 1993

Type of affect - The identifiable victim effect “A death of a single Russian solder is a tragedy. A million deaths is a statistic.” – Joseph Stalin

The availability heuristic Making judgments about the frequency or likelihood of an event based on the ease with which evidence or examples come to mind Example: Ebola vs Heart Disease Video- Which is deadlier, a horse or a shark? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2_wkv1 Gx2vM

Studies on Availability- don’t write this Married couples asked to allocate responsibility for: Positive events: Making breakfast, planning activities, shopping for family, making important decisions Negative events: Causing arguments, causing messes, irritating spouse Results: Overclaiming occurred for 16 of 20 activities Equivalent overclaiming for positive and negative events Ross & Sicoly, 1979; Kruger & Gilovich, 1999

The Representativeness heuristic Determining class inclusion or likelihood by similarity: A member ought to resemble the overall category An effect ought to resemble or be similar to the cause An outcome ought to resemble the process that produced it Like goes with like Often easier to assess similarity than probability Does he look like an engineer? Does it look like it could cause a clogged artery? Does it look like a random sequence?

The Linda problem Linda is 31 years old, single, outspoken, and very bright. She majored in philosophy. As a student, she was deeply concerned with issues of discrimination and criminal justice, and also participated in anti-nuclear demonstrations. Rank likelihood that Linda is: A teacher in elementary school Active in the feminist movement A member of the League of Women Voters A bank teller An insurance salesperson A bank teller and active in the feminist movement

Algorithms vs. Heuristics Unscramble S P L O Y O C H Y G Algorithm all 907,208 combinations Heuristic throw out all YY combinations other heuristics?

activities In groups of 2 or 3, come up with a solution. Write or draw it out. Did you use algorithm or heuristic?

The Matchstick Problem How would you arrange six matches to form four equilateral triangles?

The Three-Jugs Problem Using jugs A, B, and C, with the capacities shown, how would you measure out the volumes indicated?

The Candle-Mounting Problem Using these materials, how would you mount the candle on a bulletin board?

Problems with Heuristics One problem with heuristic are mental sets. When faced with problems, we have a tendency to approach it in a familiar way. Especially a way that has been successful in the past but may or may not be helpful in solving a new problem Mental set: the tendency to respond to a new problem in the manner used for previous problems.

Problems With Heuristics Another problem with relying on heuristics is called functional fixedness, a sort of mental set issue. Functional Fixedness: The inability to perceive a new use for an object associated with a different purpose.

The Matchstick Problem Solution to the matchstick problem

The Three-Jugs Problem Solution: a) All seven problems can be solved by the equation shown in (a): B - A - 2C = desired volume. b) But simpler solutions exist for problems 6 and 7, such as A - C for problem 6.

The Candle-Mounting Problem Solving this problem requires recognizing that a box need not always serve as a container

Judging and Decision making Along with mental sets, bias can make heuristics a faulty decision making tool. Confirmation bias Hindsight bias: Tendency to second guess a decision after the event has happened. Representative bias: Judging the likelihood of things in terms of how well they seem to match particular prototype Availability bias: Estimating the likelihood of events based on their availability in memory if instances come readily to mind we presume such events are common

Exit ticket On the first day of class, you see a new teacher. Explain how each of the following will affect your judgment of that person: Affect Heuristic Availability Heuristic Representativeness Heuristic