1. Language and Thought Turning Thoughts into Words
Problem solving: Solutions
Decision Making: Choices/Chances

2. Phonemes- smallest unit of sound Morphemes- smallest unit of meaning
The Structure of Language: symbols that convey meaning, plus rules for combining those symbols to create meaning.
Phonemes- smallest unit of sound
Morphemes- smallest unit of meaning
Semantics-meaning of words and word combinations
Syntax- rules about how words can be arranged
Phonemes:
Humans recognize about 100 basic sounds.
Different languages use sounds
English about 40
Morphemes- fire-1, unfriendly-3
Syntax: the swimmer not swimmer the

3. Milestones in Language Development
1-5 months:cooing,laugh,cry
6-18 months: babbling (dada,mama,papa)
14months: ball
18 months: a pumpkin might be called a ball
25 months: my ball or big ball
38 months: I play ball.

4. Using Words 50 words by 18 months
Receptive vocabulary larger than productive vocabulary
Vocabulary spurt or naming explosion occurs about this time
Fast Mapping- process by which children map a word onto an underling concept after only one exposure.
Overextension- occurs when a child incorrectly uses a word to describe a wider set of objects or actions than it is meant to.  
Underextensions- when a child incorrectly uses a word to describe a narrower set of objects or actions than it is meant to.
Telegraphic speech- consists mainly of content words. Articles, prepositions omitted  ex. Give ball
Overregulations- grammatical rules are incorrectly generalized to irregular cases where they do not apply.  ex. The girl goed home.  feet, then foots, then feet
Metalinguistic awareness- ability to reflect on the use of language. (literal v implied meaning)

5. Bilingualism acquisition of two languages that use different speech sounds, vocabulary, and grammatical rules.
Does learning 2 languages in childhood slow down language development?
Does it effect Cognitive Processes and skills
Modest body of research
Bilingual students have smaller vocabularies than monolingual but when added together they are very similar or superior
May facilitate the learning of a 3rd language
Better language learners
Older studies suggest yes but they had methodological flaws
New studies advantages and disadvantages
Disadvantage- processing speed and verbal fluency
Advantage- better attentional control, working memory capacity, metalinguistic awareness, abstract reasoning and some types of problem solving
May delay onset of dementia in old age

6. Can Animals Develop Language
Washoe learned (ASL)
Could be product of imitation or operant conditioning
Kanzi – trained to use geometric symbols representing words on a computer-monitored keyboard
Distinguished between being chased and chasing someone
There capacity is dwarfed by a human toddler

7. Theories of Language Development Nature v Nurture
Behaviorists Views
Skinner – Verbal Behavior (1957)
Imitation and reinforcement through process of conditioning
Interactionists View
Biological Predispositions
Learning
Both play a role in language development
Nativist Theories (Nature)
Chomsky- overregularization is not used by caretakers
Goed, eated, thinked
Language acquisition device (LAD)
An innate mechanism or process that facilitates the learning of language
Language  acquisition is similar across cultures

8. Culture Language and Thought Whorf (1956)
LINGUISTIC RELATIVITY – the hypothesis that one's language determines the nature of one's thought.
Eskimo language has many words for snow compared to English
Critics challenge this assertion
African languages do not have a boundary blue and green and this affects their color perception
How people think about motion and shapes may also be affected by culture

9. Problem Solving: refers to active efforts to discover what must be done to achieve a goal that is not readily attainable
Types of Problems 
Problems of inducing structure- require people to discover the relations among numbers, words, symbols or ideas. (analogy, series completion)
Problems of arrangement require people to arrange the parts of a problem in a way that satisfies some criterion. (string problem, anagrams)
Problems of transformation require people to carry out a sequence of transformations in order to reach a specific goal. (hobbits and orcs, water jar problem)

10. Barriers to Effective Problem Solving
Irrelevant Information – leads to people astray so decide what is relevant and what isn't
Functional Fixedness – the tendency to perceive an item on in terms of its most common use.  Who suffers more from this? Young children, older children or adults
Mental Set – exists when people persist in using problem solving strategies that have worked in the past.  (rigid thinking) 
Unnecessary constraints- don't assume constraints exist  
Insite occurs when people suddenly discover the correct solution to a problem after struggling with it for a while.  also called Aha moment

11. Approaches to Problem Solving
Allen Newell and Herbert Simon used the term problem space to refer to possible pathways to a solution considered by the solver
Trial and Error – try all possible solutions
Algorithm- methodical step-by-step procedure for trying all possible alternatives in searching for the solution
Heuristic – is a guiding principle or "rule of thumb" used in solving problems or making decisions
Forming subgoals- example tower of Hanoi/ analogies – find relations
Working Backward- lilly pond problem

12. Working Backward- Lilly pond problem
Changing the representation of the problem- use lists, tables, equation, graph etc.
When researchers compare experts and novices they find experts do a better job of getting rid of irrelevant details,  so you try this if you don't get an answer right away   Bird and train problem
Incubation – taking a break- don't consciously think about the problem for minutes, hours or days.  It is believed the unconscious continues to work on the problem

13. Culture, Cognitive Style, and Problem Solving
Nisbett and his colleagues argue that people from East Asian cultures display a holistic cognitive style which focusses on context and relationships among elements in the field
Western Cultures exhibit analytic cognitive style that focuses on objects and their properties rather than context  
Easterners se wholes Westerners see parts
Westerners independence and individual v Eastern interdependence and group

14. Decision Making: Choices and Chances
Herbert Simon Nobel Prize winner 1978 – theory of bounded rationality asserts that people tend to use simple strategies in decision making that focus on only a few facets of available options and often result in "irrational" decisions that are less than optimal.
More choices is not always better, we can have too many!
Deciding between two alternatives?
Additive strategy – use points +3-3 on several factors and then add
Elimination strategy
Intuition may be better than careful deliberation Read Feature Study

15. Heuristics in Judging Probabilities
Availability heuristic basing the estimated probability of an event on the ease with which relevant instances come to mind
Ex. Are there more words that start with the letter k or have it as the 3rd letter   (also done with L, N, R, V)
Representativeness heuristic basing the estimated probability of an event on how similar it is to the typical prototype of that event
Base Rates – don't ignore the percentages
Conjunction fallacy- when people estimate that the odds of two uncertain events happen together are greater than the odds of either event happening alone.(ex. College teacher or college teacher who is also a politician)

16. Pitfalls
The Gamblers Fallacy – odds of a chance event increase if the event hasn't occurred recently
Overestimating the Improbable – Asthma or Tornadoes cause more deaths?
Confirmation Bias- seek information that supports our opinions  MSNBC v Fox News
The effects of Framing:  200 people saved or 400 will die
Loss aversion – generally speaking losses loom larger than gains of equal size.

17. Shaping Thought with Language
Semantic Slanting – deliberately choosing words to create specific emotional responses
Ex. Pro Life and Pro Choice   Better to be for than against something
Name Calling – religious zealots   knee-jerk liberals
Implied Threat – you take on the name if you agree
Any that you can come up with????