Chapter 8: Language & Thought

Chapter 8: Language & Thought

1. LANGUAGE: TURNING THOUGHTS INTO WORDS

   • Language consists of symbols that convey meanging, plus rules for combining those symbols, that can be used to generate an infinite variety of messeges
   • Phonemes are the smallest speech units in a language that can be distinguished perceptually
     • Morphemes are the smallest units of MEANING in a language
       • Semantics is the area of language concerned wth UNDERSTANDING the meaning of words and word cominations
         • Syntax is a system of rules that specify HOW wards can be ARRANGED into sentences
   • FAST MAPPING is the proccess by which children map a word onto an underlying 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 occur when a child incorrectly uses a words to DESCRIBE a NARROW set of objects or actions than it is meant to.
         • TELEGRAPHIC SPEECH consists mainly of content words; articles, prepositions, and other less critical words are omitted.
           • OVERREULATION occurs when grammatical rules are incorrectly generalized to irregular cases where they do not apply
             • METALINGUISTIC AWARENESS is the ability to reflect on the use of language
               • BILINGUALISM is the aquisition of two languages that use different speech sounds, vocaublary, and grammatical rules
   • Nativist Theory proposes that humans are equipped with a language acquisiton device (LAD)- and inanimate mechanism or process that facilitates the learning of a language
     • Interactionist Theorist assert that biooogy and experience both make important contributions to the development of language:
       • Cognitive Theorists assert that language development is simply an important aspect of more general cognitive development-which depends on maturation & experience
         • Social Communications Theorists emphasize the functional value of interpersonal communication and the social context in which languages evolves
           • Emergenitist Theorists argue that the neural circuts supporting language are not prewired but emerge gradually in response to language learning experiences
     • LLINGUISTIC RELATIVETY, the hypothesis that ones language determines the nature of ones thought

2. PROBLEM SOLVING: IN SEARCH FOR SOLUTIONS & DECISION MAKING: CHOICES AND CHANCES

   • PROBLEM SOLVING refers to active efforts to discover what must be done to achieve a goal that is not readily attainable
     • 1. Problems of inducing structure require people to discover the relationshipsamong numbers, words, symbols, or ideas.
       • 2. Problems of arrangement require people to arrange the parts of a problem in a way that satisfies some criterion. INSIGHT is the sudden discover of the correct solution following incorrect attempts based primarily on trial and error
         • 3. Problems of transformation require people carry out a sequence of transformations in order to reach a specific goal.
     • Irrelevant information can lead people astray
       • FUNCTIONAL FIXEDNESS is the tendency to perceive an item only in terms of its most common use
         • MENTAL SET exists when people persist in using problem solving srategies that have worked in the past
           • Effective problem solving requires specifying all the constraints governing a problem without assuming any constraints that dont exist.
             • PROBLEM SPACE refers to the set of possible pathways to a solution considered by the problem solver
               • TRIAL & ERROR involves trying possible solutions and discarding those that are in error until one works
                 • ALGORITHM is a methodical, step-by-step procedure for trying all possible alternatives in searching for a solution to a problem.
                   • HEURISTIC is a guiding principle or rule of thumb used in solving problems or making decisions
                     • formulating SUBGOALS as intermediate steps towards a solution is a strategy as well.
                       • Problems with specific end-goals often require working from end to beginning.
                         • Searching for ANALOGIES is another of the major heuristics for solving problems
                           • INCUBATION EFFECT occurs when new solutions surface for a previously unsolved problem after a period of not consciously thinking about the problem
                             • FIELD DEPENDENCE-INDEPENDENCE refers to individuals tendency to rely primarily on external versus internal frames of reference when orienting themselves in space
   • DECISION MAKING involves evaluating and making choices among them
     • Many decisions involve choices about preferences, which can be made using a variety of strategies.
       • EMOTIONS influence decision making
         • IF they can avoid it, people prefer to not have to grapple with uncertainty
           • Judgments about the quality of various alternatives, such as consumer products, can be swayed by extraneous factors such as brand familiarity and price
             • RISKY DECISION MAKING involves making choices under conditions of uncertainty
               • AVAILABILITY HEURISTIC involves basing the estimated probability of an event on the ease with which relevant instances come to mind
                 • REPRESENTATIVE HEURISTIC involves basing the estimated probability of an event on how similar it is to the typical prototype of that event
                   • CONJUNCTION FALLACY occurs when people estimate that the odds of two uncertain events happening together are greater than the odds of either happening alone
                     • BEHAVIOURAL ECONOMICS is a field of study that examines the effects of humans' actual (not idealized) decision-making process on economic decisions
                       • THEORY OF BOUNDED RATIONALITY asserts that people tend to use simple strategies in in decision making that focus only on a few facets of available options and often result in "irriational" decisions that are less than optimal.

3. COGNITION refers to the mental processes involved in aquiring knowledge

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