1. Chapter 8: Language and Thought

2. Language: Turning Thoughts into Words
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. There are four basic characteristics of language: Language is symbolic, that is, people use spoken sounds and written words to represent objects, actions, events, and ideas. Language is semantic, or meaningful. Language is generative, that is, a limited number of symbols can be combined in an infinite number of ways to generate new words and meanings. Language is structured; there are rules that govern arrangement of words into phrases and sentences.

3. The Hierarchical Structure of Language
Basic sounds are combined into units with meaning, which are combined into words, which are combined into phrases, which are combined into sentences, etc.
Phonemes are the smallest units of speech. Phonemes do not have any meaning – they are basic sounds. Research indicates that there are about 100 possible phonemes, but most languages use between 20-80, English somewhere between 40 and 44, depending on the source you are using.
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). Some stand alone as words, others are parts of words.
Semantics refers 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. (for example, what comes first in a sentence, the verb or the subject?). AKA grammar.

4. Language Development: Milestones
Infant vocalizations are initially similar across languages, involving all phonemes. Infants cry, coo, and make repetitive babbling vocalizations of all phonemes (babbling stage).
By the age of 6 months, the babbling sounds being to resemble those of the infants’ surrounding language – as if the infant is trying to actually communicate rather than just make noises.
By the time an infant is months of age, the first word is typically spoken, usually dada, mama, papa, etc. This is similar across cultures. This is the start of the one-word stage.
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.

5. Language Development Milestones
At about the age of months, the previously very slow acquisition of new words suddenly speeds up. 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, not other dolls.

6. Language Development Milestones
By the end of the second year, children begin combining words to produce meaningful sentences. This is the start of the telegraphic speech stage, because the communications 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 (mean length of utterance), 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 overregularization, or improperly using a real grammar rule in an improper way (ex. ”he goed home.”).

7. Bilingualism Research findings:
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
2nd languages more easily acquired early in life (2- 10 years old)
Greater acculturation/immersion facilitates new language acquisition
Teach children one language early and begin teaching the second language around the age of 5.

8. Can Animals Develop Language?
Characteristics that differentiate human language from basic animal communication are as follows:
Arbitrariness: There is not necessarily a rational relationship between a sound or sign and its meaning. (There is nothing intrinsically "housy" about the word "house". i.e. symbolism)
Cultural transmission: Language is passed from one language user to the next, consciously or unconsciously. Animal comm. is instinctive
Discreteness: Language is composed of discrete units that are used in different combinations to create meaning.
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 Gardners 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.“
New – investigators conclude that the neurological substrates underlying language may also be present in chimpanzees.
Still, chimps by no means approach the language facility of a human toddler, suggesting an evolutionary basis for human language development.

9. Can Animals Develop Language?
Displacement: Languages can be used to communicate ideas about things that are not in the immediate vicinity either spatially and/or temporally. Duality: Language works on two levels at once, a surface (structural) level and a semantic (meaningful) level. Metalinguistics: Ability to discuss and think of language itself. Generativity: A finite number of units can be used to create an infinitely large number of utterances.

10. Can Animals Develop Language?
Dolphins - no vocal chords plus no hands to use ASL; intellect is believed to exist for large (1000 words or more) vocabulary Sea lions – see above, plus lack supreme intellect of monkeys and dolphins Parrots – simple mimicry of sounds Chimpanzees – true speech, using ASL, word capacity minimum. Koko the Gorilla learned 2000 words by the end of her life.

11. Theories of Language Acquisition
According to behaviorist theory (Skinner & Bandura), children acquire language through reinforcement and imitation of models. Nativist theory, led by Noam Chomsky, assert that humans have an innate capacity to learn the rules of language, a biological blueprint for language learning that Chomsky called an LAD (Language Acquisition Device), which facilitates language development from about 2-8 years of age. Before or after this critical period, language learning is difficult at best. Interactionist theories hold that biology and experience both make important contributions. Two prominent interactionist theories are the cognitive and social communication theories.

12. Theories of Language Acquisition
Cognitive theory asserts that language development is an important aspect of more general cognitive development, which is depending on both maturation and experience just like all other aspects of cognitive development. Emergentist theory claims that neural circuits supporting language are not prewired (no LAD), but rather emerge gradually in response to learning experiences via incremental changes in neural connection networks.

13. Figure 8.4 Interactionist theories of language acquisition

14. The Cognitive Revolution
When psychology first emerged as an independent science, the focus was on the mind (Wundt, Titchner, James, and Freud). Yet introspective methods yielded unreliable results, and Freud's lack of scientific rigor and reliance on self and family analysis found his theory being dismissed by many by the time the 1920’s began.. The behaviorist focus on overt responses was empirically more sound, yet theorists argued that it provided an incomplete picture of human functioning – because it limited itself only to the study of observable behavior, it also limited the scope of psychological study Renegade theorists continued to study cognition, the mental processes involved in acquiring knowledge, however, and by the early 1950’s had risen to positions of power in American academia.

15. The Cognitive Revolution
Three major advances of this burgeoning revolution were reported at a cognitive based 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 (nativist theory), and George Miller presented his famous paper arguing for the “magic number 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. Today it is arguably the most powerful and influential perspective in psychology.

16. Effective Problem Solving
Problems vary in the degree to which they are well defined, where the initial state (the goal definition state) and the possible constraints (obstacles) 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/or the possible 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, which is usually ok, but sometimes the effectiveness wears thin; and assuming unnecessary constraints on the problem, or in other words, assuming obstacles to exist when they do not truly exist at all.

17. Approaches to Problem Solving
An algorithm is a methodical, step-by-step procedure for trying all possible alternatives in searching for a solution to a problem. It guarantees a solution, but the process of getting to the solution can be time consuming and arduous. Heuristics are guiding principles or “rules of thumb” used in solving problems. They also guarantee a solution, but because they involve using mental shortcuts, they don’t guarantee the right solution. Usually fine to use, heuristics can lead you to making mistakes. Some examples of heuristics are discussed on the next few bullets. Formulating subgoals allows one to solve part of the problem, therefore moving incrementally toward success.

18. Approaches to Problem Solving
The Hill-climbing heuristic entails selecting the alternative at each choice point that appears to lead most directly to one’s goal. The name for this heuristic derives from the notion that if you need to climb a hill with many choice points along the pathway (and limited ability to see ahead), one simple strategy would be to always choose the path with the steepest upward slope. The hill-climbing heuristic is a logical strategy that works much of the time, but it can also backfire. Sometimes the optimal solution to a problem involves an indirect pathway or even moving backward, away from one’s goal. Working backward works well for a problem that has a specified end point. You can then look at the end point and see what must occur just previous to reaching that goal, and then what must happen before that, and before that, etc. Searching for analogies involves using a solution to a previous problem to solve a current one.

19. Evaluating Alternatives – Making Choices
Simon’s theory of bounded rationality holds that human decision making strategies tend to be overly simplistic and often yield irrational and unsatisfactory results. Occam’s Razor is an ancient philosophy based heuristic methodology which states that when solving problems, the simplest explanations are usually better. These two theories obviously oppose one another. Having more alternatives increases the potential for rumination and post- decision regret. Ultimately, Simon argues, the confusion associated with choice overload undermines happiness and contributes to depression. Additive decision models are used to make choices by rating the attributes of each alternative and selecting the alternative with the most desirable attributes (pros and cons). Elimination by aspects involves making choices by gradually eliminating unattractive alternatives.

20. Evaluating Alternatives – Making Choices
People tend to use additive strategies when decisions involve relatively few options that need to be evaluated on only a few attributes, but shift to elimination by aspects when more options and factors are added to a decision making task. People will often pursue useless info that will not alter their decisions when making choices. This irrelevant information will create a barrier to problem solving and contribute to choice overload, thus hindering problem solving. Risky decision making involves making choices under conditions of uncertainty. Expected value involves what you stand to gain. Subjective utility (what you subjectively think the value of the decision is- what’s it worth to you?) and subjective probability (what you subjectively think the probability of something actually happening is – often highly inaccurate) help explain why people engage in activities that violate expected value.

21. Evaluating Alternatives – Making Choices
The Risky Shift effect occurs when people change their decisions or opinions to become more extreme and risky when acting as part of a group, compared with acting individually; this is one form of the phenomenon known as group polarization. The result is that group decisions are bolder and more adventurous than those made by individuals alone and even riskier than the average of the individuals’ opinions and decisions before group discussion. The cautious, or stingy shift effect is the opposite. Studies showed some inconsistencies with the risky shift effect in that, in some cases, group members chose a more conservative path as a group than they would have as individuals. Without question, however, the risky shift effect in the more likely effect of the two.

22. Problems With Heuristics in Judging Probabilities
The availability heuristic involves basing the estimated probability of an event on the ease with which relevant instances come to mind. For example, estimating the divorce rate by recalling the 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. For example, guessing that Steve is a librarian because he looks like a bookish nerd, even though you know that salespeople greatly outnumber librarians in the population. Both of the above frequently lead to errors in judging probabilities.

23. Pitfalls in Reasoning About Decisions
The gambler’s fallacy is the belief that the odds of a chance event increase if the event hasn’t occurred recently. Chance means random, which means that events that happen before the event in question have no effect on the next random event. The law of averages doesn’t apply when the event in question is random. Overestimating the improbable describes how people tend to greatly overestimate the likelihood of dramatic, vivid, but infrequent, events that receive heavy media coverage or are very important to them. Confirmation bias is the tendency to seek information that supports one’s decisions and beliefs, while ignoring disconfirming information.

24. Pitfalls in Reasoning About Decisions
Belief perseverance is the tendency to hang onto beliefs in the face of contradictory evidence, even when the evidence is overwhelming. 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.