Unit 7B:Cognition: Thinking, Problem

Solving, Creativity, and Language

Unit Overview• Thinking• Language• Thinking and Language

Click on the any of the above hyperlinks to go to that section in the presentation.

Introduction

• Cognition

• Cognitive psychologists

Thinking

Concepts

• Concepts–Category hierarchies–prototype

Solving Problems • Task: move the tower from the left peg to the middle peg,

moving only one disk at a time and never putting a larger disk on a smaller one

Solving ProblemsStrategies

• Algorithms–Step-by-step

• Heuristic• Insight

Solving ProblemsCreativity

• Creativity• Strernberg’s five components

• Assuming that each card has a triangle on one side and a circle on the other, which card or cards need to be turned over to test this statement:

‘Every card that has a black triangle on one side has a red circle on the other’

Solving ProblemsObstacles to Problem Solving

• Confirmation bias• Fixation

–Mental set–Functional fixedness

Functional Fixedness

Making Decisions and Forming Judgments Using and Misusing Heuristics

• The Representative Heuristic

Write down your answer – either ‘a’ or ‘b’

• Linda is 31, single, outspoken, and very bright. She majored in philosophy in college. As a student, she was deeply concerned with discrimination and other social issues, and she participated in antinuclear demonstrations. Which statement is more likely? A. Linda is a bank teller B. Linda is a bank teller and active in the feminist

movement

Making Decisions and Forming Judgments Using and Misusing Heuristics

• The Availability Heuristic

Making Decisions and Forming JudgmentsOverconfidence

• Overconfidence

Making Decisions and Forming JudgmentsThe Belief Perseverance Phenomenon

• Belief perseverance–Consider the

opposite

Making Decisions and Forming JudgmentsThe Perils and Powers of Intuition

• Intuition–Unconscious intuition

• Intuition uses past knowledge – we may make mistakes

• But it allows us to quickly respond so are thought is more automatic.

Making Decisions and Forming JudgmentsThe Effects of Framing

• Framing–Framing experiments

Language

LanguageIntroduction

• Language

Language

• With person next to you share what you did on Friday and Saturday using telegraphic speech.

• Don’t know what that means? LOOK IT UP

Language StructurePhonemes

• Phoneme–English about 40 phonemes–Learning another language’s

phonemes

Language StructureMorphemes

• Morpheme–Includes prefixes and suffixes

Language StructureGrammar

• Grammar–Semantics–Syntax

Language DevelopmentWhen Do We Learn Language?

• Receptive language• Productive language

–Babbling stage–One-word stage–Two-word stage–Telegraphic speech

Language DevelopmentWhen Do We Learn Language?

Language DevelopmentExplaining Language Development• Skinner: Operant Learning

–Learning principles• Association• Imitation• Reinforcement

Language DevelopmentExplaining Language Development

• Chomsky: Inborn Universal Grammar–Language acquisition device–Universal grammar

Language DevelopmentExplaining Language Development• Statistical Learning and Critical

Periods–Statistical learning–Critical (sensitive) period

Language Development

• Statistical Learning – Statistical aspects of human speech – breaking down

syllables to create meaning and breaks in sentences – Evidence? – 8 month infants: recognize three-syllable sequences that

appeared repeatedly (measuring attention) – 7 month infants: recognize different sequences/language

patterns – ABA verse ABB pattern (li-na-li/wo-fe-fe) – What does this show? Nature or Nurture? – Built in ability to learn grammatical rules (Noam Chomsky)

Critical Period

• No exposure to language (spoken or signed) before age seven: lose ability to master ANY language – No stimulation to a brain early on = language

learning capacity never fully develops • Second languages? • Sign language?• Conclusion? Is there a critical period of

language?

Thinking and Language

Language Influences Thinking

• Whorf’s linguistic determinism• Bilingual advantage

Thinking in Images

• Implicit memory

Thinking and Language • Benjamin Lee Whorf:

– Linguistic determinism hypothesis – Language determines thought – Evidence? Culture differences – How many words a culture has to describe something

will change our thoughts on it • Book example: Papua New Guinea Berinmo tribe: distinguish

between two shades of yellow

• Bilingual advantage:• Canadian program:

Taste

• Write down the difference between Pepsi and Coke – Typically our responses are not very useful: vague

and general comments about sweetness or level of carbonation – only an expert taster will pick up on the subtle nuances that distinguish these soft drinks

Thinking in Images

• Helps! How?

Question • Which comes first? Thought or Language? • Thinking affects our language, which then affects

our thought -Would not develop languagewithout the thought first – would not have the thought without the language to express it!

Create a timeline

• Part 1: Create a timeline demonstrating the development of language structure but also incorporating important concepts into a cohesive timeline. Must include: ages, examples of each stage/concept, and pictures.

• Part 2: Compare B.F. Skinner and Noam Chomsky’s theory of language development Examples Picture for each

The End

Definition Slides

Cognition

= the mental activities associated with thinking, knowing, remembering, and communicating.

Concept

= a mental grouping of similar objects, events, ideas, or people.

Prototype

= a mental image or best example of a category. Matching new items to a prototype provides a quick and easy method for sorting items into categories (as when comparing feathered creatures to a prototypical bird, such as a robin).

Algorithm

= a methodical, logical rule or procedure that guarantees solving a particular problem. Contrasts with the usually speedier – but also more error-prone – use of heuristics.

Heuristic

= a simple thinking strategy that often allows us to make judgments and solve problems efficiently; usually speedier but also more error-prone than algorithms.

Insight

= a sudden and often novel realization of the solution to a problem; it contrasts with strategy-based solutions.

Creativity

= the ability to produce novel and valuable ideas.

Confirmation Bias

= a tendency to search for information that supports our preconceptions and to ignore or distort contradictory evidence.

Fixation

= the inability to see a problem from a new perspective, by employing a different mental set.

Mental Set

= a tendency to approach a problem in one particular way, often a way that has been successful in the past.

Functional Fixedness

= the tendency to think of things only in terms of their usual functions; an impediment to problem solving.

Representativeness Heuristic

= judging the likelihood of things in terms of how well they seem to represent, or match, particular prototypes; may lead us to ignore other relevant information.

Availability Heuristic

= estimating the likelihood of events based on their availability in memory; if instances come readily to mind (perhaps because of their vividness), we presume such events are common

Overconfidence

= the tendency to be more confident that correct – to over-estimate the accuracy of our beliefs and judgments.

Belief Perseverance

= clinging to one’s initial conceptions after the basis on which they are formed has been discredited.

Intuition

= an effortless, immediate, automatic feeling or thought, as contrasted with explicit, conscious reasoning.

Framing

= the way an issue is posed; how an issue is framed can significantly affect decisions and judgments.

Language

= our spoken, written, or signed words and the ways we combine them to communicate meaning.

Phoneme

= in language, the smallest distinctive sound unit.

Morpheme

= in a language, the smallest unit that carries meaning; may be a word or a part of a word (such as a prefix).

Grammar

= in a language, a system of rules that enables us to communicate with and understand others.

Semantics

= the set of rules by which we derive meaning from morphemes, words, and sentences in a given language; also, the study of meaning.

Syntax

= the rules for combining words into grammatically sensible sentences in a given language.

Babbling Stage

= beginning at about 4 months, the stage of speech development in which the infant spontaneously utters various sounds at first unrelated to the household language.

One-word Stage

= the stage in speech development, from about age 1 to 2, during which a child speaks mostly in single words.

Two-word Stage

= beginning about age 2, the stage in speech development during which a child speaks mostly two-word statements.

Telegraphic Speech

= early speech state in which a child speaks like a telegram – “go car” – using mostly nouns and verbs.

Linguistic Determinism

= Whorf’s hypothesis that language determines the way we think.