Carlos Sosa

12/4
Per. 3

1) Language consists of symbols that convey meaning, plus rules for combining those
symbols, that can be used to generate an infinite variety of messages. Language
has the four key properties of being: symbolic, semantic, generative, and
structured.
2) Language is structured in five levels. Phonemes are the base of language, and are
the smallest speech units. They make up morphemes, the smallest units with
meaning. Those, in turn, make up the familiar words, phrases, and sentences of
language.
3) Children learn to pronounce words, then they use single words, and finally they
combine words to form sentences. Research shows, however, that even before
they utter their first words they are making remarkable progress in learning the
sound structure of their native language.
4) Young children may use telegraphic speech (which consists of content words only),
and overregulization (when grammatical rules are generalized).
5) The modest research in bilingual children generally shows no great deficiency in
the abilities of bilingual children, either in language development or in cognitive
abilities.
6) Overall, it seems reasonable to conclude that the ability to use language may not
be unique to humans, as has been widely assumed. The chimpanzee Kanzi
comprehends more than just words and sentences; he comprehends the
relationship words have with real-world objects.
7) Language in primitive human societies enabled one to acquire information second
hand, without the time-consuming and dangerous process that won that knowledge.
8) Skinner argues that humans do not have an innate ability for language, that they
learn it through conditioning. Chomsky, however, argues that Skinner's view is
hogwash and proposes that humans have an inborn propensity to develop language.
9) Whorf advocated linguistic relativity, the hypothesis that one's language
determines the nature of one's thought. However, there is little evidence for this
idea.
10) Psychologists have studied problems of inducing structure, arrangement, and
transformation.
11) Common mistakes in problem solving includes: the use of irrelevant information,
function fixedness, mental set, and unnecessary constraints.
12) An algorithm is a methodical, step-by-step procedure for trying all possible
alternatives when searching for a solution. Heuristics are a short-cut used in
solving problems.
13) Some useful strategies are: forming subgoals, working backwards, changing the
representation, and searching for analogies.
14) Field dependence-independence refers to individuals' tendency to rely primarily
on external versus internal frames of reference when orienting themselves in
space.
15) Some cultures encourage a field dependent cognitive style while others favor
field independent style.
16) Choices about preference can be made using additive and elimination strategies.
17) Risky decision making involves making choices under conditions of uncertainty.
One factor is how much you stand to gave versus what you will lose.
18) In judging probability, people use heuristics like availability and
representativeness.
19) 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 alternatives is held
constant.
20) Evolutionary psychologists have pointed out numerous flaws in the research of
cognitive psychologists, saying that the standards of rationality are too high and
that the wrong questions are being asked in the wrong ways.
21) Nature vs. nature was seen in the controversy of whether children learn language
or if they have an innate ability for it.
22) The new, creative empirical methods of the 70s started the Cognitive revolution
in psychology.
23) On one hand, language develops pretty much the same way throughout all
cultures. On the other, different cultures have different cognitive styles.
24) The decision making process is highly subjective-probabilities that are
objectively identical can seem subjectively different.