Thinking and language

-thinking about our own thinking Examples: 1. Learning about your own best style of learning. 2. Becoming aware of your own biases in judging others. 3. Learning which strategies are best at solving certain problems

-mental groupings -helped to simplify the world PROTOTYPES: best/most typical example of a concept

-problem-solving strategy -step-by-step procedure where guaranteed the right answer -examples: -reading a map -mathematical formulas -using recipe -can be time consuming

-shortcuts to problem-solving -rules of thumb, educated guesses -quicker but not always accurate

-sudden understanding -answer just appears -Wolfgang Kohler: chimpanzees with bananas -solve problem with no trial and error

Inductive reasoning: reason from specific to general -make conclusions about category based on some examples of the category -bad exs.=bad conclusions Deductive reasoning: reason from general to specific -good conclusions if you start with good initial assumptions

Fixation: inability to look at a problem from a fresh perspective -Mental set: tendency to approach a problem in the same way that has worked previously -Functional fixedness: can’t see a new way to use a familiar object

Representativeness heuristic: judging by how well it matches a prototype (ex. Changing your answer on a multiple choice test because it’s the 4 th A in a row) Availability heuristic: estimating how probable something is based on how easily it comes to mind (ex. Judging that people are more likely to be murdered than die of diabetes because of vivid cases) Anchoring heuristic: judging based on a previously determined reference point (negotiating a price on a car based on the original asking price, they always start higher than they want)

Confirmation bias: looking for information that supports your beliefs and ignoring what doesn’t Belief perseverance: continuing to believe even after evidence refutes it Belief bias: tendency for beliefs to distort logic Hindsight bias: to falsely believe, after the event, you knew it all along Overconfidence: to overestimate how right we are

Framing: the way that problem is presented can affect the way that you think about the problem Examples: 1. The procedure has a 95% survival rate v. 5% of the people who have this procedure die % fat free v. 10% fat 3. The majority of the students passed the test v. almost half failed.

-ability to think in new and unusual ways Convergent thinking: thinking toward one correct solution Divergent thinking: producing many solutions

System of spoken, written or signed symbols that allows for communication -transmits culture

PHONEMES: smallest unit of sound -English=about 45 -World=about 100 “a”, “b”, “ch”, “th” MORPHEMES: smallest unit of sound with meaning -small words, prefixes, suffixes -most morphemes are made up of phonemes

-rules that govern a language SYNTAX: order of words into sentences English: “beautiful girl” Spanish: “bonita chica” SEMANTICS: rules that govern meaning in a language Denotation: actual meaning Connotation: emotional associations

1. BABBLING: (4 mths.) production of phonemes 2. HOLOPHRASE: (around 1) single word 3. TELEGRAPHIC SPEECH: (about 2) 2-word sentences 4. GRAMMATICAL SPEECH: (by about 3) follow rules of grammar

Errors in language, caused by lack of knowledge -Holophrase: use 1 word for broad category Dog=all furry animals -Overregularization: apply rules to irregular verbs “I goed to the store” “I hitted the ball”

BF Skinner: -language=nurture -learned through imitation, reinforcement, and association -language is learned by shaping from parents

-nativist-language is innate -Language Acquisition Device: brains are prewired with ability to learn language -Critical Period: best time -must learn language by adolescence or cannot learn as well