Chapter 08 - Cognition and Language
Section 1 - Thinking and Reasoning
MAIN IDEA QUESTIONS
What is thinking?
What processes underlie reasoning and decision making?
VOCABULARY
thinking - the manipulation of mental representations of information
mental images - representations in the mind of an object or event
concepts - a mental grouping of similar objects, events, or people
prototypes - typical, highly representative examples of a concept
syllogistic reasoning - formal reasoning in which people draw a conclusion from a set of assumptions
algorithm - a rule that, if applied appropriately, guarantees a solution to a problem
heuristic - a thinking strategy that may lead us to a solution to a problem or decision, but - unlike algorithms - may sometimes lead to errors
No other species contemplates, analyzes, recollects, or plans the way humans do. Understanding what we think goes beyond knowing what we are thinking. Psychologists define thinking as the manipulation of mental representations of information. A representation may take form as a word, a visual image, a sound, or data in any other sensory modality stores in memory. Thinking transforms particular representation of information into new and different forms, allowing us to answer questions, solve problems, or reach goals.
MENTAL IMAGES: EXAMINING THE MIND'S EYE
~Mental images are representations in the mind of an object or event. EX: Think of your best friend. They are not just visual representations; our ability to "hear" a tune in our heads also relies on mental images. In fact, every sensory modality may produce corresponding mental images.
~Many athletes use mental imagery in their training. A basketball player may visualize the court, the basket, the ball, the noisy crowd, and even themselves taking a foul shot. Mental imagery may improve other types of skills as well, EX: Playing the piano. The brain activity of someone who is mentally rehearsing the piano is identical to the activity of those actually playing it.
CONCEPTS: CATEGORIZING THE WORLD
What is in your kitchen cabinet? There are two types of answers you may respond with; detailed or broad. Using such categories reflects the operation of concepts - mental groupings of similar objects, events, or people.
~Concepts help us classify newly encountered objects on the basis of our past experience. EX: Someone tapping a handheld screen (we assume is using some type of computer or PDA, even though we have never encountered that specific model.
~Concepts influence behavior. EX: We would assume it to be appropriate to pet a dog, but not a wolf.
~Some concepts are clearly defined by a unique set of properties or features. EX: Equilateral triangle - it either is or isn't. However, other concepts are more ambiguous and difficult to define. EX: A robin and an ostrich are both examples of birds, but the robin is an example that comes to most people's minds far more readily. Thus, the robin is considered to be a prototype of the concept "bird." Similarly, when we are asked about the concept of a table, we are more likely to think of a coffee table rather than a drafting table. EX: Powerpoint scales of concepts.
~Suppositions we make about the reasons people behave a certain way are based on the ways in which we classify behavior. EX: A person washes their hands 20 times a day - our conclusion changes when we place the behavior within a conceptual framework of a healthcare worker vs. a mental patient.
~Concepts and prototypes facilitate our efforts to draw suitable conclusions through the next cognitive process - reasoning.
REASONING: MAKING UP YOUR MIND
Professors deciding when students' assignments are due.
An employer determining who to hire out of a pool of job applicants.
The president concluding that it is necessary to send troops to a foreign nation.
~Each of these situations require reasoning, the process by which information is used to draw conclusions. Although philosophers have considered the foundations of reasoning for centuries, it is only recently that cognitive psychologists have begun to investigate how people reason and make decisions.
Syllogistic Reasoning: The Formal Rules of Logic
If you have ever played a game of poker and tried to figure out what cards your opponent was holding, you probably used syllogistic reasoning, in which a person draws a conclusion from a set of assumptions. We begin with a general assumption that we believe is true and then derive specific implications from that assumption.
EX #1
Premise 1 - All professors are mortal
Premise 2 - Dr. Rivera is a professor
Conclusion - Therefore, Dr. Rivera is mortal
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Premise 1 - All A's are B
Premise 2 - C is an A
Conclusion - Therefore, C is a B
~Even if the premises are correct, people may apply logic incorrectly...
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Premise 1 - All A's are B
Premise 2 - C is an A
Conclusion - Therefore, all A's are C
~The conclusion is illogical, and this is easier to see if we make the syllogism more concrete;
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Premise 1 - All professors are mortal
Premise 2 - Professor Rivera is a professor
Conclusion - Therefore, all professors are Dr. Rivera
~In short, syllogistic reasoning is only as accurate as the premises and the validity of logic applied to the premises.
Algorithms and Heuristics
~When faced with making a decision, we often turn to shortcuts, known as algorithms and heuristics, to help us. An algorithm is a rule that, if applied appropriately, guarantees a solution to a problem. EX: You may know that you can find the length of the third side of a triangle by using the formula a2 + b2 = c2... but you may not have the foggiest notion of the mathematical principles behind the formula.
~When no algorithm is available, we rely on heuristics - a thinking strategy that may lead us to a solution to a problem or decision, however, it may sometimes lead to errors. EX: When playing tic-tac-toe, placing an X in the center square when you start the game. While your experience indicates it is a good strategy, it doesn't guarantee success. EX: Ignoring the reading of the text and just studying your lecture notes when preparing for a test. This strategy may or may not pay off.
~Certain kinds of heuristics may lead to inaccurate conclusions. One example is representativeness heuristic, a rule we apply when we judge people by the degree to which they represent a certain category or group of people. EX: A store owner has been robbed several times by teenagers leads him to raise his guard each time someone of this age group enters his store.
~Availability heuristic - according to this heuristic, we assume that events we remember easily are more likely to occur in the future - and are likely to have occurred more frequently in the past - than events that are harder to remember. EX: We are more afraid of dying in a plane crash than an auto accident. EX: More afraid of getting struck by lightning than falling out of bed.
COMPUTERS AND PROBLEM SOLVING: SEARCHING FOR ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE
Computers are making significant inroads in terms of the ability to solve problems and carry out some forms of intellectual activities. Some experts study artificial intelligence - the field that examines how to use technology to imitate the outcome of human thinking, problem solving, and creative activities. Computers are becoming increasingly sophisticated, ever more closely approximating human thought processes.
Section 2 - Problem Solving
MAIN IDEA QUESTIONS
How do people approach and solve problems?
What are the major obstacles to problem solving?
What is creativity?
VOCABULARY
means-ends analysis - involves repeated tests for differences between the desired outcome and what currently exists
insight - a sudden awareness of the relationships among various elements that had previously appeared to be independent of one another
functional fixedness - the tendency to think of an object only in terms of its typical use
mental set - the tendency for old patterns of problem solving to persist
confirmation bias - the tendency to seek out and weight more heavily information that supports one's initial hypotheses and to ignore contradictory information that supports alternative hypotheses or solutions
creativity - the ability to generate original ideas or solve problems in novel ways
divergent thinking - the ability to generate unusual, yet nonetheless appropriate, responses to problems or questions
convergent thinking - the ability to produce responses that are based primarily on knowledge and logic
Psychologists have found that problem solving typically involves three steps;
Preparation - understanding and diagnosing problems
Production - generating solutions
Judgment - Evaluating solutions
PREPARATION: UNDERSTANDING AND DIAGNOSING PROBLEMS
Problems vary from well-defined to ill-defined;
Well-defined - the nature of the problem itself and the information needed to solve it are available and clear. EX: Mathematical equation or jigsaw puzzle.
Ill-defined - The specific nature of the problem may be unclear, and the information required to solve the problem may be even less obvious. EX: Increasing morale on an assembly line or bringing peace to the Middle East.
Kinds of Problems
Typically, a problem falls into one of three categories; arrangement, inducing structure, and transformation.
Arrangement problems - the problem solver has to rearrange or recombine elements in a way that will satisfy certain criterion. Many arrangements can be made, but only one or a few will produce a solution. EX: Jigsaw puzzles or Scrabble
Problems of inducing structure - a person must identify the existing relationships among the elements presented and then construct a new relationship among them. The problem solver must also determine the structure and size of the elements involved. EX: Analogies or "what comes next; 1 4 2 4 3 4 4 4 5 4 6 4"
Transformation problems - these problems consist of an initial state, a goal state, and a method for changing an initial state into a goal state. EX: The Tower of Hanoi puzzle, or the water jugs (measuring 11 oz of water when you have three jugs - one with 28 oz, one with 7 oz, one with 5 oz).
Representing and Organizing the Problem
Our ability to represent a problem - and the solution we eventually come to - depends on the way the problem is phrased, or framed. EX: Surgery v. Radiation
Problem: Surgery or Radiation?
Survival Frame
Surgery - Of 100 people having surgery, 90 live through the post-operative period, 68 are alive at the end of the first year, and 34 are alive at the end of five years.
Radiation - Of 100 people having radiation therapy, all live through the treatment, 77 are alive at the end of one year, and 22 are alive at the end of five years.
RESULT: Far more people choose surgery
vs.
Mortality Frame
Surgery - Of 100 people having surgery, 10 die during surgery, 32 die by the end of the first year, and 66 die by the end of five years
Radiation - Of 100 people having radiation therapy, none die during the treatment, 23 die by the end of one year, and 78 die by the end of five years
RESULT: Far more people choose radiation
PRODUCTION: GENERATING SOLUTIONS
~After preparation, the next stage in problem solving is the production of possible solutions. If a problem is simple, we may already have the solution stored in long-term memory and we simply have to retrieve it. If not, we must generate solutions and compare them with long and short-term memory.
~At a basic level, we can attempt to solve problems through trial and error. The problem with this approach is time - certain processes could take a lifetime.
~In place of trial and error, we can use heuristics, cognitive shortcuts to generate solutions. The most frequently used is the means-end analysis. In this analysis, each step brings the problem solver closer to a resolution;
EX: I want to take my son to preschool. What's the difference between what I have and what I want? One of distance. What changes distance? My automobile. My automobile won't work. What is needed to make it work? A new battery. What has new batteries? An auto repair shop...
The means-end analysis could also be counterproductive. EX: A mountain climber might reach the top more quickly by backtracking... but using means-end analysis it would require the climber to continually forge ahead.
~For other problems, the best approach is to work backward by focusing on the goal, rather than the starting point. EX: The water lily problem...
Water lilies are growing on Blue Lake. The water lilies grow rapidly, so that the amount of water surface covered by lilies doubles every 24 hours. On the first day of summer, there was just one water lily. On the 90th day of the summer, the lake was entirely covered. On what day was the lake half covered?
Instead of starting with day 1, start with day 90. Given that the lilies double their coverage daily, on the prior day only half the lake was covered. The answer is day 89.
Forming Subgoals: Dividing Problems Into Their Parts
~Another heuristic commonly used is to divide a problem into intermediate steps, or subgoals, and solve each of those steps. EX: complicated mathematical problems. However, some problems cannot be subdivided.
Insight: Sudden Awareness
Sometimes one may experience sudden bursts of comprehension during efforts to solve a problem. EX: Chimpanzees in a room with boxes and sticks, trying to get bananas hanging on the ceiling. This demonstrates insight - a sudden awareness of the relationship among various elements that had previously appeared to be unrelated. NOTE: Prior experience and trial-and-error practice must precede insight.
JUDGMENT: EVALUATING SOLUTIONS
~The final stage is judging the adequacy of a solution. Often this solution is clear... EX: The Tower of Hanoi problem - we know immediately whether we have been successful.
~In other instances, solutions are less concrete, and we must examine if better ones exist. EX: Drug researchers and various treatments
IMPEDIMENTS TO SOLUTIONS: WHY IS PROBLEM SOLVING SUCH A PROBLEM?
Significant obstacles to problem solving can exist at each of the three major stages.
Functional Fixedness and Mental Set
Functional fixedness is the tendency to think of an object only in terms of typical use. EX: You probably think of this book as something to read, instead of its potential use as a doorstop or kindling for fire.
EX: You are given a set of tacks, candles, and matches, each in a small box, and told your goal is to place three candles at eye level on a nearby door so that wax will not drip on the floor as the candles burn. How would you approach this challenge?
Functional fixedness in the example above slows down how quickly we might figure out to tack the boxes to the wall. The purpose of the boxes is to hold the items. If the items were separated, we would be able to solve this more quickly.
~Functional fixedness is an example of a broader phenomenon known as a mental set - the tendency for old patterns in problem solving to persist. EX: Jars of water & dots on the board.
Inaccurate Evaluation of Solutions
The United States invaded Iraq because government leaders believed that Saddam Hussein possessed weapons of mass destruction. They ignored contradictory evidence and focused more on information which supported their view. This exemplifies confirmation bias - in which problem solvers favor initial hypotheses and ignore contradictory information that supports alternative hypotheses or solutions. This occurs for several reasons;
1) rethinking a problem requires extra cognitive effort
2) we give greater weight to subsequent information which supports our initial position than to information that is not supportive of it
CREATIVITY AND PROBLEM SOLVING
One enduring question that cognitive psychologists have sought to answer is what factors underlie creativity - the ability to generate original ideas or solve problems in novel ways. Consider how different the responses might be to the following question; "How many uses can you think of for a newspaper?"
~We do know that several characteristics are associated with creativity. Highly creative individuals show divergent thinking - the ability to generate unusual, yet appropriate, responses to problems or questions. Here is the response of a 10-year old boy to the above newspaper question;
"You can read it, write on it, lay it down and paint a picture on it... You could put it in yoru door for decoration, put it in the garbage can, put it on a chair if the chair is messy. If you have a puppy, you put newspaper in its box or put it in your backyard for the dog to play with. When you build something and you don't want anyone to see it, put newspaper around it. Put newspaper on the floor if you ahve no mattress, use it to pick up something hot, use it to stop bleeding, or to catch the drips from drying clothes. You can use a newspaper for curtains, put it in your shoe to cover what is hurting your foot, make a kite out of it, shade a light that is too bright. You can wrap fish in it, wipe windows, or wrap money in it... You put washed shoes in newspaper, wipe eyeglasses with it, put it under a dripping sink, put a plant on it, make a paper bowl out of it, use it for a hat if it is raining, tie it on your feet for slippers. You can put it on the sand if you had no towel, use it for bases in baseball, make paper airplanes with it, use it as a dustpan when you sweep, ball it up for the cat to play with, wrap your hands in it if it is cold."
~Divergent thinking contrasts convergent thinking - which produces responses that are based primarily on logic and knowledge. To the newspaper, they would answer "You read it."
~Cognitive complexity is a preference for elaborate, intricate, and complex stimuli and thinking patterns. Creative people often have a wider range of interests and are more independent and more interested in philosphical or abstract problems.
~One factor NOT closely related to creativity is intelligence. Highly creative people may find that traditional intelligence tests penalize their divergent thinking... as most traditional intelligence tests ask questions that have only one acceptable answer. This helps explain why researchers find that creativity is only slightly related to school grades and intelligence when measured using traditional intelligence tests.
Section 3 - Language
MAIN IDEA QUESTIONS
How do people use language?
How does language develop?
VOCABULARY
language - the communication of information through symbols arranged according to systematic rules
grammar - the system of rules that determine how our thoughts can be expressed
phonology - the study of the smallest units of speech, called phonemes
phonemes - the smallest units of speech
syntax - ways in which words and phrases can be combined to form sentences
semantics - the rules governing the meaning of words and sentences
babble - meaningless speechlike sounds made by children from around the age of 3 months through 1 year
telegraphic speech - sentences in which words not critical to the message are left out
overgeneralization - the phenomenon by which children apply language rules even when the application results in an error
learning-theory approach (to language development) - the theory that language acquisition follows the principles of reinforcement and conditioning
nativist approach (to language development) - the theory that genetically determined, innate mechanism directs language development
universal grammar - Noam Chomsky's theory that all the world's languages share a common underlying structure
language-acquisition device - a neural system of the brain hypothesized by Noam Chomsky to permit understanding of language
interactionist approach (to language development) - the view that language development is produced through a combination of genetically determined predispositions and environmental circumstances
linguistic-relativity hypothesis - the notion that language shapes and may determine the way people in a particular culture perceive and understand the world
The use of language - the communication of information through symbols arranged according to systematic rules - is a central cognitive ability, one that is indispensable for us to communicate with one another.
GRAMMAR: LANGUAGE'S LANGUAGE
The basic structure of language rests on grammar - the system of rules that determine how our thoughts can be expressed. Grammar has three major components; phonology, syntax, and semantics.
Phonology - the study of phonemes (the smallest basic units of speech that affect meaning, and of the way we use those sounds to form words and produce meaning. EX: the a sound in fat and the a sound in fate represent two different phonemes. Linquists have identified more than 800 phonemes among all the world's languages. English speakers use 52. Differences in phonemes are one reason people have difficulty learning other languages. EX: A Japanese speaker pronouncing roar - the native language has no r phoneme
Syntax - refers to the rules that indicates how words and phrases can be combined to form sentences. EX: "TV down the turn" v. "Turn down the TV"
Semantics - the meanings of words and sentences. EX: "The truck hit Laura" (if we had just seen a truck crashing into Laura") v. "Laura was hit by a truck" (if explaining why she didn't show up to the party)
LANGUAGE DEVELOPMENT: DEVELOPING A WAY WITH WORDS
Babbling
Children babble (make speech-like but meaningless sounds) from around the age of 3 months through 1 year. They may produce the sounds found in any of the world languages. After 6-8 months, infants begin to "specialize" in the language to which they are exposed as neurons in their brain reorganize to resond to the particular phonemes infants routinely hear. Some theorists argue that a critical period exists for language development early in life in which a child is particularly sensitive to language cues and most easily acquires language. EX: An abused girl named Genie was exposed to virtually no language from the age of 20 months until she was rescued at age 13. She was unable to speak at all.
Production of Language
~By the time children are 1 year old, they stop producing sounds that are not in the language to which they have been exposed. Before they produce their first words, children can understand a fair amount of the language they hear. Language comprehension precedes language production. In English, first words are typically words that start with a consonant sound such as b, d, m, p, and t - which is why mama and dada are so often among babies' first words.
~At the time children can produce short sentences, they use telegraphic speech - sentences that sound as if they were part of a telegram, in which words not critical to the message are left out. EX: "I show book" v. "I showed you the book"
~By age 3, children learn to make plurals by adding s to nouns and to form the past tense by adding -ed to verbs. This skill leads to errors as children tend to apply rules inflexibly - called overgeneralization - where they apply rules even if it results in an error. EX: Children will correctly say "he walked" and incorrectly say "he runned."
~By age 5, children have acquired the basic rules of language, but they do not attain a full vocabulary and the ability to comprehend and use subtle grammatical rules until later. EX: A 5-year old boy sees a blindfolded doll and is asked "Is the doll easy or hard to see?"... he woud have great trouble answering that question. He would probably try to remove the doll's blindfold. By the time they are 8, they have little difficulty understanding this question.
Understanding Language Acquisition: Identifying the Roots of Language
There are two competing theories developed by psychologists as to how children attain such rapid growth of language development during childhood.
-Learning Theory Approaches: Language as a Learned Skill. The first theory suggests that language acquisition follows the principles reinforcement and conditioning. EX: A child who says "mama" receives hugs and praise from her mother, which reinforce the behavior of saying "mama." The view suggests that children first learn to speak b7 being rewarded for making sounds that approximate speech.
In support of this theory, the more parents speak to their children, the more proficient they become. It is less successful in explaining how chidren acquire language rules - parents will still answer a child's incorrectly formed sentence. EX: Why the dog won't eat?
-Nativist Approaches: Language as an Innate Skill. Noam Chomsky argued that humans are born with an innate linguistic capability that emerges primarily as a function of maturation. According to his nativist approach to language, all the world's languages share a common underlying structure called universal grammar. He suggested that the human brain has a neural system - the language-acquisition device that not only lets us understand the structure language provides, but also gives us strategies and techniques for learning unique characteristics of our native language.
Evidence collected by neuroscientists suggests that the ability to use language, which was a significant evolutionary advance in human beings, is tied to specific neurological developments. Scientists have discovered a gene related to the development of language abilities that emerged roughly 100,000 years ago.
-Interactionist Approaches. Those who take the interactionist approach suggest that language development is produced through a combination of genetically determined predispositions and environmental circumstances that help teach language.
THE INFLUENCE OF LANGUAGE ON THINKING: DO ESKIMOS HAVE MORE WORDS FOR SNOW THAN TEXANS DO?
The contention that the Eskimo language is especially abundant in snow-related terms led to the linguistic-relativity hypothesis... the notion that language chapes, and, in fact, may determine the way people in a specific culture perceive and understand the world. Language provides us with categories that we use to construct our view of people and events in the world around us. Consequently, language shapes and produces thought.
~Most recent research refutes this hypothesis and suggests, instead, that thinking produces language. New anlyses of the Eskimo language suggest that Eskimos have no more words for snow than English speakers. The linguistic-relativity hypothesis has not been totally discarded yet... with evidence suggesting that speech patterns may infuence certain aspects of thinking.
DO ANIMALS USE LANGUAGE?
Many animals communicate with one another in rudimentary forms. Researchers have yet to demonstrate conclusively that these animals use true language. Psychologists, however, have been able to teach chimps to communicate at surprisingly high levels.
~A chimp named Washoe learned to make signs for 132 words and combine those signs into simple sentences.
~A pygmy chimpanzee, Kanzi, has linguistic skills that are equivalent to that of a 2-year-old human being.