1. Chapter 8 Language and Thought

2. The Cognitive Revolution
19th Century focus on the mind
Introspection
Behaviorist focus on overt responses incomplete
Empirical study of cognition – 1956 conference
Simon and Newell – problem solving
Chomsky – new model of language
Miller – memory
When psychology first emerged as an independent science, the focus was on the mind. Yet introspective methods yielded unreliable results.
The behaviorist focus on overt responses was empirically more sound, yet theorists argued that it provided an incomplete picture of human functioning.
Renegade theorists continued to study cognition, the mental processes involved in acquiring knowledge.
3 major advances in this empirical study were reported at a scientific conference in 1956, a watershed in the history of psychology.
Simon and Newell described the first computer program simulating human problem solving, Noam Chomsky outlined a new model that changed the study of language, and George Miller presented his famous paper arguing for the 7 plus or minus two capacity of STM.
Cognitive science has since grown into a robust, interdisciplinary field focusing on language, problem solving, decision-making, and reasoning.

3. Language: Turning Thoughts into Words
Properties of Language
Symbolic
Semantic
Generative
Structured
Language is defined as consisting of symbols that convey meaning, plus rules for combining those symbols, that can be used to generate an infinite variety of messages.
Language is symbolic, that is, people use spoken sounds and written words to represent objects, actions, events, and ideas.
It is semantic, or meaningful.
It is generative, that is, a limited number of symbols can be combined in an infinite number of ways to generate novel messages.
It is structured; there are rules that govern arrangement of words into phrases and sentences.

4. The Hierarchical Structure of Language
Phonemes = smallest speech units
100 possible, English – about 40
Morphemes = smallest unit of meaning
50,000 in English, root words, prefixes, suffixes
Semantics = meaning of words and word combinations
Objects and actions to which words refer
Syntax = a system of rules for arranging words into sentences
Different rules for different languages
Basic sounds are combined into units with meaning, which are combined into words, which are combined into phrases, which are combined into sentences.
Phonemes are the smallest units of speech. Research indicates that there are about 100 possible phonemes, but most languages use between 20-80, English about 40.
Morphemes are the smallest units of meaning in a language, consisting of root words, prefixes, and suffixes. S has meaning beyond being a letter (pluralization).
Semantics refer to the meaning of words and word combinations. Learning semantics involves learning the variety of objects and actions to which words refer.
Syntax is a system of rules for arranging words into sentences. Different languages have different rules (verb or subject first in a sentence?)

5. Figure 8.1
An analysis of a simple English sentence. As this example shows, verbal language has a hierarchical structure. At the base of the hierarchy are the phonemes, which are units of vocal sound that do not, in themselves, have meaning. The smallest units of meaning in a language are morphemes, which include not only root words but such meaning-carrying units as the past tense suffix ed and the plural s. Complex rules of syntax govern how the words constructed from morphemes may be combined into phrases, and phrases into meaningful statements, or sentences.

8. Language Development: Milestones
Initial vocalizations similar across languages
Crying, cooing, babbling
6 months – babbling sounds begin to resemble surrounding language
1 year – first word
similar cross-culturally – words for parents
receptive vs. expressive language
Infant vocalization are initially similar across languages, involving all phonemes. Infants cry, coo, and make repetitive babbling vocalizations of phonemes.
By the age of 6 months, the babbling sounds being to resemble those of the infants’ surrounding language.
By the time an infant is 12 months of age the first word is typically spoken, usually dada, mama, papa, etc. This is similar across cultures.
While few words are spoken (expressive language) at this stage, research indicates that very young children may actually understand (receptive language) more language than they can produce.

9. Language Development: Milestones Continued
18-24 months – vocabulary spurt
fast mapping
over and underextensions
End of second year – combine words
Telegraphic speech
Mean Length of Utterance (MLU)
End of third year – complex ideas, plural, past tense
Overregularization
At about the age of months, the previously very slow acquisition of new words suddenly spurts. This proceeds at a dizzying pace, by the first grade the average child has a vocabulary of approx. 10,000 words, by the 5th grade, 40,000. Some 2-year-olds learn as many as 20 new words a week.
Fast mapping is the process by which children map a word onto an underlying concept after only one exposure.
Toddlers often make errors in using new words. Overextensions occur when a child incorrectly uses a word to describe a wider set of objects or actions than it is meant to…using the word ball for anything round.
Underextensions occur when a child incorrectly uses a word to describe a narrower set of objects or actions than it is meant to…using the word doll only to refer to a favorite doll.
By the end of the second year, children begin combining words to produce meaningful sentences. These sentences are characterized as telegraphic, because they resemble telegrams, consisting mainly of content words, with articles, prepositions, and other less critical words omitted…ex., “Give doll”.
Researchers study the language of young children by calculating the MLU, the average length of their spoken statements (measured in morphemes).
By the end of the third year, children can express complex ideas; however, they continue to make mistakes such as overregularizing…generalizing grammatical rules incorrectly to irregular cases where they do not apply…he goed home, for example.

10. Figure 8.2
The vocabulary spurt. Children typically acquire their first 10–15 words very slowly, but they soon go through a vocabulary spurt—a period during which they rapidly acquire many new words. The vocabulary spurt usually begins at around 18–24 months, but children vary, as these graphs of three toddlers’ vocabulary growth show. (Adapted from Goldfield & Reznick, 1990)

13. Bilingualism: Learning More Than One Language
Research findings:
Smaller vocabularies in one language, combined vocabularies average
Higher scores for middle-class bilingual subjects on cognitive flexibility, analytical reasoning, selective attention, and metalinguistic awareness
Slight disadvantage in terms of language processing speed
Second languages more easily acquired early in life
Greater acculturation facilitates acquisition
Does learning two languages simultaneously cause problems? There is little empirical evidence that learning two languages has a negative effect on language development.
Research findings are summarized on this slide.
Acculturation is the degree to which a person is socially and psychologically integrated into a new culture.

14. Can Animals Develop Language?
Dolphins, sea lions, parrots, chimpanzees
Vocal apparatus issue
American Sign Language
Allen and Beatrice Gardner (1969)
Chimpanzee - Washoe
160 word vocabulary
Sue Savage-Rumbaugh
Bonobo chimpanzee - Kanzi
Symbols
Receptive language – 72% of 660 requests
Researchers have attempted to teach language to a variety of animals, but the most success has been shown with chimpanzees.
One of the biggest problems in teaching human language to non-human animals is that the vocal apparatus is not the same. Researchers, therefore, began to use ASL with chimpanzees.
The Gardner’s were successful at teaching a chimpanzee, Washoe, to use ASL. In fact, Washoe developed a vocabulary of about 160 words, combining them into simple sentences, but showing little evidence of mastering the rules of language.
Sue Savage-Rumbaugh and colleagues have reported striking advances with the bonobo pygmy chimpanzees. These bonobos have been trained to use geometric symbols that represent words on a computer-monitored keyboard. Kanzi, the star pupil, has taught his younger sister much that he has learned about this system. Kanzi has acquired hundreds of words and has used them in thousands of combinations, many apparently spontaneous and rule governed. In addition, his receptive language appears much more developed, as he was able to carry out 72% of 660 spoken requests such as “Pour the Coke in the lemonade”.
Still, chimps by no means approach the language facility of a human toddler, suggesting an evolutionary basis for human language development.

15. Theories of Language Acquisition
Behaviorist
Skinner
learning of specific verbal responses
Nativist
Chomsky
learning the rules of language
Language Acquisition Device (LAD)
Interactionist
Cognitive and Social communication theories
According to Skinner and the behaviorists, children acquire language through conditioning and imitation.
Nativist theorists, led by Noam Chomsky, assert that humans have an innate capacity to learn the rules of language, a LAD, which facilitates language development.
Interactionist theories hold that biology and experience both make important contributions. Two prominent interactionist theories are the cognitive and social communication theories.
Cognitive theory asserts that language development is an important aspect of more general cognitive development, depending, like all development, on both maturation and experience.
Social communication theory holds that interpersonal communication has functional value and emphasizes the social context in which language evolves.
Launch
Video

16. Figure 8.5
Interactionist theories of language acquisition. The interactionist view is that nature and nurture are both important to language acquisition. Maturation is thought to drive language development directly and to influence it indirectly by fostering cognitive development. Meanwhile, verbal exchanges between parents and others are also thought to play a critical role in molding language skills. The complex interrelations depicted here shed some light on why there is room for extensive debate about the crucial factors in language acquisition.

17. Problem Solving: Types of Problems
Greeno (1978) – three basic classes
Problems of inducing structure
Series completion and analogy problems
Problems of arrangement
String problem and Anagrams
Often solved through insight
Problems of transformation
Hobbits and orcs problem
Water jar problem
Jim Greeno, 1978, proposed that there are 3 basic types of problems:
Problems of inducing structure – where people are required to discover relations among numbers, words, symbols, or ideas.
Problems of arrangement – where people arrange the parts of a problem in a way that satisfies some criterion. These types of problems are often solved by insight, a sudden discovery of the correct solution following incorrect attempts based primarily on trial and error.
Problems of transformation involve carrying out a sequence of transformations in order to reach a specific goal.
Examples of each of these are depicted in the following slides.

18. Figure 8.6
Six standard problems used in studies of problem solving. Try solving the problems and identifying which class each belongs to before reading further. The problems can be classified as follows. The analogy problems and series completion problems are problems of inducing structure. The solutions for the analogy problems are Buy and Patient. The solutions for the series completion problems are 4 and E.

19. (continued) The string problem and the anagram problems are problems of arrangement. To solve the string problem, attach the screwdriver to one string and set it swinging as a pendulum. Hold the other string and catch the swinging screwdriver. Then you need only untie the screwdriver and tie the strings together. The solutions for the anagram problems are WATER and JOKER. The hobbits and orcs problem and the water jar problem are problems of transformation. The solutions for these problems are outlined in Figures 8.7 and 8.8.

20. Figure 8.7
Solution to the hobbits and orcs problem. This problem is difficult because it is necessary to temporarily work “away” from the goal, which frustrates a straightforward approach.

21. Figure 8.8
The method for solving the water jar problem. The formula is B – A – 2C.

22. Effective Problem Solving
Well defined vs ill defined problems
Barriers to effective problem solving:
Irrelevant information
Functional fixedness
Mental Set
Unnecessary Constraints
Problems vary in the degree to which they are well defined, where the initial state, the goal state, and the constraints are clearly specified; most problems in the real world are ill-defined, that is, one or more elements among the initial state, the goal state, and the constraints are incompletely or unclearly specified.
Common barriers to problem solving include getting bogged down in irrelevant information; functional fixedness, which is the tendency to perceive an item only in terms of its most common use; mental set, which exists when people persist in using problem-solving strategies that have worked in the past; and assuming unnecessary constraints on the problem, as in the 9 dots problem and the matchstick problem depicted on the following slides.

23. Figure 8.10
The nine-dot problem. Without lifting your pencil from the paper, draw no more than four lines that will cross through all nine dots. For possible solutions, see Figure 8.14.

24. Figure 8.11
The matchstick problem. Move two matches to form four equal squares. For possible solutions, see Figure 8.15.

25. Figure 8.14
Two solutions to the nine-dot problem. The key to solving the problem is to recognize that nothing in the problem statement forbids going outside the imaginary boundary surrounding the dots.

26. Approaches to Problem Solving
Algorithms
Systematic trial-and-error
Guaranteed solution
Heuristics
Shortcuts
No guaranteed solution
Forming subgoals
Working backward
Searching for analogies
Changing the representation of a problem
An algorithm is a methodical, step-by-step procedure for trying all possible alternatives in searching for a solution to a problem…guarantees a solution
Heuristics are guiding principles or “rules of thumb” used in solving problems…don’t guarantee success.
Formulating subgoals allows one to solve part of the problem, therefore moving toward success.
Working backward works well for a problem that has a specified end point.
Searching for analogies involves using a solution to a previous problem to solve a current one.
The following figure depicts the representation of a problem heuristic.

27. Figure 8.16
Representing the bird and train problem. The typical inclination is to envision this problem spatially, as shown here. However, this representation makes the problem much more difficult than it really is.

28. Culture, Cognitive Style, and Problem Solving
Field dependence – relying on external frames of reference
Focus on the total context
Field independence – relying on internal frames of reference
Focus on specific features
Western cultures inspire field independence
Cultural influence based in ecological demands
Some cultures, because of ecological demands (the necessary survival skills in a culture), foster field dependence, a reliance on external frames of reference. Others foster field independence, reliance on internal frames of reference. People who are field independent tend to analyze and restructure problems more than those who are field dependent.

29. Decision Making: Evaluating Alternatives and Making Choices
Simon (1957) – theory of bounded rationality
Making Choices
Additive strategies
Compensatory decision models
Noncompensatory decision models
Risky decision making
Expected value
Subjective utility
Subjective probability
Simon’s theory of bounded rationality holds that human decision making strategies are simplistic and often yield irrational results.
Additive decision models are used to make choices by rating the attributes of each alternative and selecting the alternative with the highest sum.
Compensatory decision models allow attractive attributes to compensate for unattractive ones.
Noncompensatory decision models do not allow some attributes to compensate for others…an example of this is elimination by aspects, in which choices are made by gradually eliminating unattractive alternatives.
Risky decision making involves making choices under conditions of uncertainty.
Expected value involves what you stand to gain…Subjective utility and subjective probability help explain why people engage in activities that violate expected value.
Subjective utility represents what an outcome is personally worth to an individual…insurance and sense of security.
Subjective probability involves personal estimates of probabilities…often quite inaccurate.
Figure 8.3 depicts application of the additive model to choosing among alternatives.

31. Heuristics in Judging Probabilities
The availability heuristic
The representativeness heuristic
The tendency to ignore base rates
The conjunction fallacy
The alternative outcomes effect
The availability heuristic involves basing the estimated probability of an event on the ease with which relevant instances come to mind…estimate divorce rate by recalling number of divorces among your friends’ parents.
The representativeness heuristic involves basing the estimated probability of an event on how similar it is to the typical prototype of that event…this plays into the tendency to ignore base rates...guessing that Steve is a librarian because he looks like a librarian, even though you know that salespeople greatly outnumber librarians in the population.
The conjunction fallacy occurs when people estimate that the odds of two uncertain events happening together are greater than the odds of either event happening alone…this also appears to be due to the powerful nature of the representativeness heuristic.
The alternative outcomes effect occurs when people’s belief about whether an outcome will occur changes depending on how alternative outcomes are distributed, even though the summed probability of the alternative outcomes is held constant.

32. Understanding Pitfalls in Reasoning About Decisions
The gambler’s fallacy
The law of small numbers
Overestimating the improbable
Confirmation bias and belief perseverance
The overconfidence effect
Framing
The gambler’s fallacy is the belief that the odds of a chance event increase if the event hasn’t occurred recently.
The law of small numbers holds that people assume that results based on small samples are representative of the population.
Overestimating the improbable describes how people tend to greatly overestimate the likelihood of dramatic, vivid, but infrequent, events that receive heavy media coverage.
Confirmation bias is the tendency to seek information that supports one’s decisions and beliefs, while ignoring disconfirming information.
Belief perseverance is the tendency to hang onto beliefs in the face of contradictory evidence.
The overconfidence effect is the tendency for people to put too much faith in their estimates, beliefs, and decisions, even when they should know better.
Framing refers to how decision issues are posed or how choices are structured. People often allow a decision to be shaped by context or by the language in which it is presented.
Figure 8.21, presented on the next slide, depicts confirmation bias and belief perseverance.

33. Figure 8.21
Confirmation bias and belief perseverance. Confirmation bias is a two-pronged process in which people react favorably to information that supports their beliefs and unfavorably to information that is inconsistent with their beliefs. The latter process leads to belief perseverance—the tendency to cling to beliefs in spite of exposure to contradictory evidence.