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Chapter Nine- Thinking and Language

Overview
Concepts
Language and Thought
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Thinking
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Problem Solving: Strategies

 An algorithm is a methodical, logical rule or

procedure that guarantees a solution to a
problem.
 A heuristic is a simpler strategy that is usually
speedier than an algorithm but is also more error
prone.
 Insight is not a strategy-based solution, but
rather a sudden flash of inspiration that solves a
problem.
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Problem Solving: Obstacles

 Confirmation bias predisposes us to verify

rather than challenge our hypotheses.
 Fixation, such as mental set, may prevent us
from taking the fresh perspective that would lead
to a solution.
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Forming Good and Bad Decisions and

Judgments
 Intuition is an effortless, immediate, automatic
feeling or thought, as contrasted with explicit,
conscious reasoning.
 Availability heuristics can distort judgment by
estimating event likelihood based on memory
availability.
 Overconfidence can impact decisions when
confidence outweighs correctness.
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Forming Good and Bad Decisions and

Judgments
 Belief perseverance occurs when we cling to
beliefs and ignore evidence that proves these
are wrong.
 Framing sways decisions and judgments by
influencing the way an issue is posed. It can
also influence beneficial decisions.
Can you think of any such decisions?
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THE FEAR FACTOR—

WHY WE FEAR THE
WRONG THINGS

1. We fear what our ancestral

history has prepared us to
fear.
2. We fear what we cannot
control.
3. We fear what is immediate.
SCARING US ONTO DEADLY
4. We fear what is most
HIGHWAYS In the three months
readily available in after 9/11, those faulty
memory. perceptions led more Americans
to travel, and some to die, by car.
(Adapted from Gigerenzer, 2004.)
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The Perils and Powers of Intuition

 Intuition is analysis “frozen into habit.”
 Intuition is implicit knowledge.
 Intuition is usually adaptive, enabling
quick reactions.
 Learned associations surface as “gut”
feelings.
 Intuition is huge.
 Critical thinkers are often guided by intuition.
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And so…

Smart, critical thinking listens to the unseen mind,

and then evaluates evidence, tests conclusions,
and plans for the future.
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Thinking Creatively
 Creativity is the ability to produce new and
valuable ideas.
 It is supported by
 Aptitude or the ability to learn
 Intelligence
 Working memory
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Thinking Creatively
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Thinking Creatively

 Robert Sternberg and his colleagues propose

five ingredients of creativity.
 Expertise
 Imaginative thinking skills
 Venturesome personality
 Intrinsic motivation
 Creative environment
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Language and Thought

 Language
 Involves our spoken, written, or signed words and the
ways we combine them to communicate meaning
 Is used to transmit civilization’s knowledge from one
generation to the next
 Connect humans
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Language Structure
 Three building blocks of spoken language
 Phonemes are smallest distinctive sound units in
language
 Morphemes are smallest language unit that carry
meaning.
 Grammar is the system of rules that enables humans
to communicate with one another.
 Semantics: Deriving meaning from sounds
 Syntax: Ordering words into sentences
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When do we learn language?

 Receptive language: Infant ability to understand
what is said to them around 4 months
 Production language: Infant ability to produce
words begin around 10 months.
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Productive Language
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Explaining Language Development

 Language diversity
 700+ languages worldwide; structurally very different
 Chomsky
 Argued all languages share basic elements called a
universal grammar
 Theorized humans are born with predisposition to
learn grammar rules; not a built-in specific language
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Explaining Language
Development
 Statistical learning
 Human infants display
the ability to learn
statistical aspects of
human speech.
 Infant brains discern
word breaks and
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analyze which syllables
most often go together.
 Seven-month-olds can
learn simple sentence
Human infants come with a structures (ABA
remarkable capacity to soak up pattern).
language. But the particular language
they learn will reflect their unique
interactions with others.
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How Do We Learn Grammar?

 Critical periods suggest childhood represents
critical period for mastering certain aspects of
language
 People who learn a second language as adults
usually speak it with the accent of their native
language, and they also have difficulty mastering the
new grammar.
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Critical Periods

NEW LANGUAGE LEARNING GETS HARDER

WITH AGE Young children have a readiness
to learn language. Ten years after coming
to the United States, Asian immigrants took
a grammar test. Those who arrived before
age 8 understood American English
grammar as well as native speakers
did. Those who arrived later did not. (From
Johnson & Newport, 1991.)
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Deafness and Language Development

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The Brain and Language

 Damage to any one of several areas of the

brain’s cortex can impair language.
 Today’s neuroscience has confirmed brain
activity in Broca’s and Wernicke’s areas during
language processing.
 In processing language, the brain operates by
dividing its mental functions into smaller tasks.
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Language and Thought

 Whorf’s linguistic determinism hypothesis:
Language determines basic ideas
 Evidence from bilingual speakers suggest people
think differently in different languages
 Bilingual parents often switch language to express
emotions
 Words influence, but do not determine, thinking
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Thinking About
Colors
• Colors seen in same
way but native
language used to

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classify and remember
them
• Perceived differences
In Papua New Guinea, Berinmo children expand as different
have words for different shades of “yellow,”
which might enable them to spot and recall
names assigned
yellow variations more quickly. Here and
everywhere, “the languages we speak
profoundly shape the way we think, the way
we see the world, the way we live our lives,”
notes psychologist Lera Boroditsky (2009).
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Language and Thought

• Expanding language expands ability to think

• Bilingual speakers use executive control over
language (bilingual advantage) to inhibit
attention to irrelevant information
• Language connects the past and the future
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Thinking in Images
• After learning a skill, watching the activity
activates the brain’s internal stimulation of it
(fMRI research of Calvo-Merino and colleagues,
2004)
• Mental rehearsal can aid in academic goal
achievement (process stimulation)